Chapter 202 - 146: Capital City? Capital City

’Eight kids... Oh, now it’s ten.’

A few tens of thousands of yuan was nowhere near enough to properly raise this many people. Losing that money would be utterly devastating.

"What’s the word from on high?" Xu Huo asked.

After a case this massive, Linlan City had to have some sort of response.

To be honest, with a case of this magnitude... if Hanhai Province wasn’t somewhat accustomed to this sort of thing, heads would have rolled long ago. It was nothing like now, where they weren’t even pressured during the investigation.

And now that the case was solved, it was only natural that there would be corresponding reforms.

"A few private orphanages will be nationalized and expanded. Linlan City’s homeless and orphans will be sent there to receive their nine years of compulsory education."

"We’re setting up two teams to oversee where the welfare funds go. While we can’t completely stamp out certain incidents, it should at least reduce the chances of them happening," Li Jianye said.

When he finished, he ticked off the points on his fingers.

"All in all, it’s a pretty major overhaul."

"Right, prison management needs to be tightened up too. But Hanhai Province doesn’t have many large prisons, so we don’t need to be too stressed about it."

"We also have to thoroughly investigate the fraudulent acquisition of government subsidies. Now that this has come to light, I reckon a lot of people are about to go down."

Xu Huo nodded.

The orphanage was pocketing government subsidies, accepting public donations, and selling children. This triple stream of profit had a group of people so blinded by greed they couldn’t tell right from wrong.

Cases like this were all too common back then. After all, human trafficking was at its most rampant around 2003.

If you were good-looking and fit their target profile, a van would pull up, two or three people would jump out, and they’d just drag you inside!

Hmph. Thinking of running?

You couldn’t escape.

The traffickers had knockout drugs.

There was a reason for the old slang for traffickers, which literally translates to "flower patters." The name came from their method.

They would mix special chemical cocktails that could be absorbed through the skin. A few seconds after they patted their target, the person would pass out.

Then they’d carry the person off without a sound.

As for knockout drugs...

There were many kinds. Anything that could knock someone unconscious and render them helpless could be called a knockout drug!

Just like anesthetics.

Whether you get an injection of anesthetic with your eyes closed or get knocked out by a punch to the head, the end result looks the same from the outside.

Of course, absorption through the skin was a bit slower, so the trafficker would usually make small talk to kill some time.

And these traffickers were exactly the kind of people those so-called orphanage directors collaborated with.

"Looks like you don’t need me for the wrap-up."

Xu Huo finished his meal, wiped his mouth, and looked at him.

"I’m heading out. I haven’t been home in a week. Don’t call me for the next couple of days unless it’s important."

Li Jianye nodded, watching him go.

But just as he reached the door, Xu Huo stopped and turned back to ask another question.

"By the way, what’s the plan for Huang Song and his crew?"

"Not much of a plan. We can’t release them, so they’ll stay in prison. The only difference is their treatment will be a bit better," Li Jianye replied.

"Good."

Xu Huo didn’t comment further.

He walked out of the Municipal Bureau, hailed a taxi, and headed toward the dessert shop.

’He understood that dealing with Huang Song and his crew would be a headache.’

’Especially Huang Song. The man’s no saint. The second he gets out, he’ll go right back to stealing. That’s practically a hundred-percent guarantee!’

’Besides, he was as good as dead already. He only saved his own skin by turning over those cultural relics.’

’If his life sentence gets commuted to a fixed term, and that term gets reduced, it would seriously undermine the court’s authority.’

’Most importantly...’

’Even if they let him out, he wouldn’t make it.’

’He’s almost seventy, with no wife or kids. His old thieving techniques are useless against modern technology. If he got out, he’d be dead in the water, forced to survive by petty theft.’

’How long could he last like that? Two or three years? The moment he’s too weak to move, it’s a death sentence either way.’

’In contrast, he’s better off staying in prison until he dies.’

...

「Eleven in the morning.」

Xu Huo returned to the dessert shop.

After five days of airing the place out and having Wang Chao hand out free samples of Chu Xi’s bread and other desserts on the street, business at the shop was booming.

The nearby office buildings and kindergarten provided a very stable customer base. The morning and afternoon rushes were the peaks of their daily sales.

Their daily revenue could reach a thousand!

The net profit was a few hundred a day.

A day and a half of that was equivalent to an average person’s monthly salary. That kind of money went a long way back then!

Some chain stores definitely weren’t making as much as Xu Huo.

CREAK~

The door opened, and everyone inside the dessert shop thought it was a customer.

But the moment they looked up, they saw it was Xu Huo.

"Here... tasty."

Niuniu, who had been sitting quietly in the corner hugging a piece of bread, crawled over to Xu Huo’s feet. She tugged on his pant leg, looked up, and held the bread out to him.

Xu Huo chuckled at the sight.

He took a bite before handing it back to her, then scooped her up into his arms.

’The girl was still so young, and with no proper upbringing, she couldn’t even speak clearly yet.’

’But she knew enough to share delicious food.’

"Where are the other kids?"

Xu Huo looked at Wang Chao, puzzled.

"Captain Li arranged for the younger ones to go to an orphanage. As for Master Du’e, I’ve hired him."

"Xiao Bai is recovering in the hospital right now. Xiao Long and Xiao Hu are there with her."

"Niuniu has trouble getting around, so it’s not a good idea for her to be at the hospital. I’m looking after her for the time being," Wang Chao explained.

Hearing this, Xu Huo raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.

"Heard you paid for half the medical bills?"

"Whoa, Boss Wang, you’re rolling in it, huh?"

Xiao Bai’s eye injury wasn’t severe, but it was still a significant expense. For an ordinary person, footing that bill would be a major financial blow.

The money from the higher-ups had already been distributed last time. The funds were handled by the official foundation set up after the previous ’bombing case’.