Xie Huibing took the documents and was shocked when she opened them. The Bai family's companies had lost a staggering one hundred million yuan in the past two years.
She immediately understood the gravity of the situation. "How could this happen?"
Her father-in-law sighed beside her.
Her mother-in-law, with tears welling up, said, "We didn't know until now. We found these documents by chance in Chengyi's study. This child is too proud for his own good, always hiding things and not telling us the truth."
"What can we do? My mother can't say anything at Xie's Group. And she's currently in conflict with my father, so I can't ask her for help." Xie Huibing didn't know how to help the Bai family at this moment.
Earlier, when she learned that Qi Ning was in trouble, she had returned to help her mother, hoping to get some assistance from Xie's for Bai Chengyi.
But who knew that her father was now acting stubbornly and refused to return to the family. Her earlier actions to help her mother deal with the mistress had instead offended her father.
Her mother-in-law quickly said, "Then you should go find your father and ask him to help our Bai family."
Xie Huibing sat stunned, not responding.
How could she possibly ask her father for help in this situation? Even if she did, he might not agree.
She hadn't told her in-laws about her father's affair and illegitimate child.
It was a rather disgraceful matter, and she was too embarrassed to spread her family's dirty laundry.
Seeing her silence, her mother-in-law continued, "Huibing, it's not that I want to make things difficult for you. How have we treated you since you married into the Bai family? We haven't blamed you for not giving us grandchildren, have we? Now the company is truly in trouble. It should be very simple for you to ask your father for help."
Xie Huibing lowered her head. After marriage, she was diagnosed with blocked fallopian tubes, making it difficult to conceive.
She was trying various treatments, and it might eventually come down to artificial insemination or IVF.
Her in-laws had indeed not blamed her, but she felt ashamed herself.
Facing her in-laws' expectant gazes, she could only nod and agree, "Alright, I'll go and ask my father."
After speaking, she got up and returned to her room. Feeling that her chances were slim, continuing to talk with her in-laws would only increase the pressure.
As for why the Bai family's company had incurred such heavy losses, she would have to ask Bai Chengyi carefully when he returned.
...
Over the next week, Tianyi and An Jing, along with the private investigator they hired, searched the islands at sea.
The private investigator was somewhat familiar with the islands at sea. They consulted maps and first ruled out islands that were frequently visited by tourists.
Some islands had rich mineral resources and were being developed by private enterprises or governments, so these were not considered deserted islands.
After eliminating these islands, they only needed to visit six or seven islands marked on the map, significantly narrowing down the search area.
After many days of rough seas, everyone felt exhausted, but by crossing off the islands on the map one by one, only one or two remained.
Their boat was sailing according to the wind direction and ocean currents for the season, so their speed was quite fast.
Just as An Jing started to feel seasick, they finally spotted another deserted island in the distance.
As the boat sailed closer, Tianyi stood at the bow and saw no one on the shore. It looked no different from the other deserted islands they had visited.
However, they couldn't afford to miss any deserted island. Regardless of whether there were people on the shore, they had to land and search the entire island.
The weather at sea was good today, the sea breeze was warm, and the sea surface was calm.
After they docked the boat, seabirds flew and circled their sails, letting out long cries.
A private investigator remarked, "There are so many seabirds around this deserted island. It seems this sea area has food that seabirds need."
Tianyi, not having lived at sea for long, didn't understand much and merely nodded slightly without responding, signaling An Jing to get the equipment.
If the island was very large, they might not be able to cover it in a day and would have to camp on the island overnight.
At this moment, a private investigator exclaimed, "Quick, look! What is that on the beach over there?"
Everyone couldn't help but look in the direction he pointed.
A flock of seabirds scattered, revealing a skeleton on the beach, startling everyone.
Tianyi quickly rushed to the skeleton, which had little flesh left, and observed it calmly. He noticed that this complete skeleton looked much smaller than a normal adult's body. It should be a child's.
The others also followed and all identified it as the remains of a child, its flesh eaten by seabirds.
Xiao An Jing felt a chill run down his spine and said, "It seems this should be the deserted island that person mentioned."
Everyone became vigilant and looked around, but still saw no one.
Tianyi analyzed, "Those human traffickers and kidnapped children should be hiding on this island. If they discover us in advance, it might be detrimental to the children. Take your walkie-talkies and split up."
Everyone nodded in agreement. An Jing reminded him, "Since we've found this island, I'll contact the police immediately and ask them to send ships and officers."
"Good," Tianyi instructed everyone, "First, let's dock the boat in a hidden spot. We must rescue all the children still alive on the island; no more children should be harmed."
Everyone agreed and cooperated, and they began to search along the island's coastline for a hidden place to dock the boat.
While searching for a docking spot, they discovered a small cargo ship used for transportation, also docked by the shore, hidden by trees.
It appeared to be the cargo ship used by the traffickers to transport the children. Tianyi boarded the ship and drained all the fuel. As he passed the deck, he smelled an unpleasant odor.
He judged that it was coming from the ship's cabin below the deck and opened the cabin door.
Seeing him about to enter the cabin, An Jing followed him down.
They shone their flashlights around the cabin and found it filled with iron cages, and the air was thick with the smell of excrement and urine.
The children must have been transported here, confined in iron cages. The thought of Xiao Xing being treated like an animal by traffickers made Tianyi both heartbroken and furious.
"Tianyi, come and see," An Jing called out, his voice clearly trembling.
Tianyi walked to the iron cage An Jing was pointing at and also saw the corpse of a child, who had died an unknown time ago. The body's surface showed it had long passed the decomposition stage and had become a mummy.
Having seen and feared nothing, Tianyi himself felt nauseous at the sight.
An Jing, unable to hold it in any longer, turned and vomited violently.
"Beasts, a group of inhuman beasts!" Tianyi, extremely enraged, was still carefully examining the child's corpse.
He was even more worried that it might be Xiao Xing, but looking at the child's size, it should be much younger than Xiao Xing, at most three or four years old.
Only then did his heart relax slightly.
An Jing dared not look any further and tugged at him, "Let's go. We need to hurry and rescue Xiao Xing. Every second he remains in the hands of those beasts is dangerous."
"Let's go." Tianyi couldn't stay a moment longer, but his reason told him he couldn't act rashly.