The Mangdian Police Station is very simple, with just a few small bungalows surrounding a courtyard.
Meng Yan asked Shi Dazhuang if he wanted to get a tetanus shot first. There was no hospital in Mangdian, but there were still tetanus shots in the health center.
Shi Dazhuang said that this injury was nothing. When a grenade shrapnel penetrated his belly, he dug it out with tweezers and applied some medicine on it.
Meng Yan first asked someone to get a set of clothes for the crazy woman, and then asked Shi Dazhuang: "Team Shi, how do you want to handle this matter today? Is it according to procedure, or..."
Shi Dazhuang said: "Of course we will follow the procedures. We will do whatever we need to do."
Meng Yan said: "That's okay."
He went out for a while, and when he came back he brought a pen and paper and said, "I have written down everything you told me. You can see if there are any mistakes. If so, you can sign it for me."
Shi Dazhuang took it over and took a look at it, nodded, and said with a smile while signing, "This can be considered my confession."
Meng Yan touched his short crew cut and said sheepishly: "The procedure is just a procedure!"
Shi Dazhuang asked: "What to do next? I can't spend too long here."
Meng Yan said: "Don't worry, you can leave after the situation is verified. But the two women have to stay for a few days. We are investigating and arresting the traffickers, and we need them to be witnesses."
Shi Dazhuang said with concern: "I brought these people out, and you have to ensure their safety and freedom for me. In addition, I'm afraid not only Qianziba is in this situation in Mangdian!"
Meng Yan said: "I know a little bit about this situation. When I first came here the year before last, I checked it carefully."
"It's not difficult!" he lamented. "As soon as we went there, they hid people in the mountains. If you couldn't find them, you had to take the team back. There were less than ten people in our office including household registration police and internal staff. The assisting police officers are all locals and fellow villagers, so who wants to offend others?"
Shi Dazhuang also knew Meng Yan's difficulties and said, "It's not your fault."
Meng Yan said: "Actually, I also know who the human trafficker is, but there is no solid evidence and it is not easy to catch him."
Shi Dazhuang said curiously: "Oh? This is not like your temperament."
Meng Yan smiled, with a strange expression on his face: "In your eyes, she is a heinous human trafficker, but in the eyes of the people in the 28th Village of Sanxiang, Mangdian, she is a good person and a living Bodhisattva! "
At this time, a policeman came in and reported: "Director, the confession has been recorded." He handed the confession to Meng Yan.
Meng Yan took the confession and read it over, and then gave the order: "Detain Hanbo, you are such a bear, you are doing something under my nose!"
Then he said: "Go and invite the medicine lady later. Remember, don't make any noise first, so as not to cause trouble."
The policeman said "yes" and had the same strange expression on his face as Meng Yan when he went out.
While the police went to call for help, Meng Yan explained the origin of this medicine lady to Shi Dazhuang and the others.
This man is a herbalist who has a shop on Yanma Street that specializes in selling earthy herbs to treat diseases. It is said that her ancestor was a doctor accompanying the Yunnan Army and she was a close confidant of Tang Jiyao. After Tang Jiyao collapsed and died of illness, he lived in seclusion in Mangdian and made a living by collecting medicines and treating diseases. He was considered a highly respected person.
By her generation, there was little medical skill left, and they could only rely on a few folk remedies to survive.
But Mengdian is a poor place with poor medical conditions. When people get sick, most of them come to her for advice. If someone is cured, they say she is a miracle doctor. If they are not cured, they blame their own bad luck.
As word spread, her fame grew. Since she only sells medicine, everyone calls her "Medicine Lady". As time goes by, few people remember her real name.
The medicine woman spends several months every year collecting medicines in other places. When she comes back from collecting medicines, she often brings back some strange women and children. It is said that she has a bodhisattva heart. When she encounters a lonely and helpless crazy woman or a beggar child outside, she brings her back and raises her. People from nearby villages who couldn't get a wife or have children came to beg her.
"Don't be ridiculous! People in the mountains don't understand the law. They can even grow marijuana in their own yards. What else can't happen?" Meng Yan said.
In order to verify these things, Meng Yan took the household registration police to visit all the villages after taking office, and found that most of the people brought by the medicine woman in the early years were from Myanmar and Vietnam.
It was poor there, and most of the women came here voluntarily. They found a man here and secretly married each other. After a few years, they found that there were better lives in the north, so they went north again and married richer people.
If this kind of thing happens frequently, the people in the mountains will treat their mothers-in-law very seriously. If one runs away, the whole village will chase her. If she is caught, she will be locked in the house. Sometimes she will be beaten.
These women originally wanted to live a wealthy life, so they came across the border. The police are not easy to control those who are married and have children. Most of the time they turn a blind eye, and sometimes they have to help them find ways to register.
Meng Yan also heard that there were some women from the north, but most of the villagers were tight-lipped, and the manpower and material resources in the village were really limited, so they had no choice but to come and ignore the officials.
"Have you ever found this medicine woman?" Shi Dazhuang asked.
"I've looked for it!" Meng Yan said, "But we can't do anything to her without evidence. I also had a showdown with her. I said that as long as no one comes to sue for the past, I don't have to pursue it, but in the future, she will , we don’t allow even one such thing to happen. I thought there had been no such thing in the past two years, but if it weren’t for you, Captain Shi, I would have been kept in the dark by these beasts this time!”
At this time, the police officer from earlier came back and said that Yao Lao had arrived and was waiting in the reception room.
Meng Yan stood up and called to Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu: "Let's go and see together."
When he arrived at the reception room, Aoki saw a woman wearing a floral shirt sitting there, with short curly hair, a chubby face, and a somewhat kind look.
When the woman saw Meng Yan, she clasped her hands together and said in standard Mandarin: "Hello, Mr. Meng, why did you call this old lady?"
Meng Yan asked Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu to sit down, and motioned to the police who came in together not to take notes yet, and asked: "Mr. Yao, why did you promise me in the first place? Why did you start doing your old business again?"
The medicine woman said, "What did Director Meng say? The old lady doesn't understand."
Meng Yan slapped the table: "Don't be pretentious with me! Tell me, how many people have you abducted in total and sold them?"
Yao Po said, "Hey, Director Meng wants to settle an old score with me!"
Meng Yan said: "What an old score? Do you have to bring witnesses here?"
The medicine woman smiled, closed her eyes, and stopped talking.
Meng Yan snorted and asked the police to bring Yang Lijuan and Xiaoqin.
Yang Lijuan was a little panicked when she came in, but when she saw Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu there, she became bolder. She pointed at Yao Po and said, "It's her! It's her! I know her even when she turns to ashes."
Yao Po opened her eyelids and glanced at her, then closed her eyes again and said, "I don't recognize you."
