novelAbuy Chapter 128: Intended to save one, but ended up saving a whole group.
Chapter 128: Intended to save one, but ended up saving a whole group.
Chapter 128 Intended to save one, but ended up saving a whole group
The fat woman's face twitched, and her eyes flickered: "What...what do you want with them?"
"I'm here on someone's behalf." Tom stepped forward. "A child you injured asked me to find his friend."
"I'm not a bad person, you might not believe me! But I must take these children with me!"
Tom's meaning was clear: I must take this person with me!
"If you take the children back, are you going to leave them to wander the streets?"
"No!" Tom replied without hesitation.
The fat woman's probing gaze seemed to pierce through Tom's very soul.
"Would you really give them a home?"
"Yes!" His expression remained normal, so calm that no one could tell anything was amiss.
The sudden silence made time slowly slip away, second by second.
final!
The fat woman led Tom through the chaotic brothel and silently to an inconspicuous little farm on the outskirts of town.
The farm was small, at most a few hundred acres, and the simple wooden cabins looked lonely in the twilight.
However, when the fat woman pushed open the creaking gate, the scene before Tom's eyes made him pause slightly. More than twenty children of different ages, dressed in tattered but relatively clean clothes, were quietly playing or doing chores in the yard.
Although they were thin, their eyes did not have the utter despair of street children.
"Can you really support so many people?"
Tom's gaze swept over the children before returning to the fat woman's face.
Although these children lived in poverty, at least there were no signs of abuse, and the fat woman seemed to be genuinely trying her best.
The fat woman fell silent!
Tom took out his wallet, pulled out a large wad of banknotes from a thick stack, and slammed it onto the wooden stump next to him.
“My name is Tom Dutton,” his voice was deep and clear, “and I live in Paradise Valley near Livingston. Here’s the money. If you ever can’t hold on any longer, or—if you feel this is no longer a place for them—send the children here.”
The fat woman suddenly raised her head, her cloudy eyes fixed on Tom's face, as if she wanted to etch every pore of his skin into her heart.
In the twilight, her eyes held a complex and unreadable expression, a mixture of shock, doubt, and perhaps—a faint glimmer of hope.
"Wait! Can you guarantee these children won't be sold?" The fat woman's voice boomed through the desolate farm.
Tom met her gaze and said firmly, "No!"
The fat woman choked and stood there stunned.
"You can't even guarantee what will happen tomorrow," Tom said coldly. "Why should I make any promises for a bunch of complete strangers?"
After saying that, he turned to leave.
"Wait! The child—the child is in your hands!" The fat woman cried out anxiously, hurriedly stopping him.
Tom paused.
"Are you really sure? Don't let me leave with them and then you go to the sheriff and accuse me of human trafficking!" He turned around, his eyes sharp as knives.
"No! Absolutely not!" The fat woman's expression was almost like she was swearing an oath, as if she were about to ask God to be her witness.
Tom's gaze swept over the silent children: "What about them? Are they willing to come with me?"
"Yes!" the fat woman answered readily.
This was unexpected for Tom.
The plump woman noticed his confusion and lowered her voice, "I know that with my limited abilities, who knows when they'll be discovered by truly evil people and dragged into hell?"
Ultimately, she knew perfectly well that her fragile protection wouldn't last long.
Tom nodded. "I understand."
Just as dawn was breaking, Tom, along with the injured little boy and another child, joined the group of children.
On the way, they met up with the guard.
"Tom," Thomas, the leader, frowned, "I really don't understand what you're after. Raising such a large group of pups is no joke!"
His concerns are not unfounded.
In this world, it's already difficult enough to feed and clothe children, let alone protect them from disease and disaster.
On the way back, Tom discovered something interesting.
Even within this group of children, cliques have formed!
The little guy who had recovered from his injury, the four- or five-year-old toddler, and the three "friends" that Tom rescued from the fat woman, the five of them huddled together.
They have become a force to be reckoned with among these twenty-one children.
The carriage rumbled along, its compartments crammed with children and supplies.
In order to get a more comfortable spot, the five little tyrants took advantage of Tom's inattention and started punching the other children!
They were ruthless and cruel, showing no mercy.
The other children, terrified of being beaten, could only cower and give up their space.
Although the oldest of them is only seven or eight years old and the youngest is only four or five, their fighting skills are top-notch among this group of children.
Fortunately, Tom was observant.
A cold glance swept over them, and the little ones immediately wilted, shrinking their necks and not daring to move.
"Hey, Tom, didn't you see?" Cooper, standing next to him, chuckled.
Tom shook his head: "No rush, we'll deal with them when we get back to Paradise Valley."
The journey back was slow, but much drier and flatter than the way there.
The people of Paradise Valley never dreamed that Tom's trip would not only bring back glittering gold coins, but also a truckload of "little radish heads".
Tom finally breathed a sigh of relief after unloading the goods, settling the final payment with the Pinkerton firm's guards, and watching them ride away.
"Oh my God!" Claire was the first to rush over, excitedly grabbing Tom's arm. "Tom, what—what happened?"
"We found them on the road. The ranch just happens to be short-handed." Tom's answer drew a chorus of eye rolls. These kids were skinny and looked like they could be blown over by the wind. They didn't look like they could do any work.
"Take them to take a bath first!" Mother Margaret made a quick decision, leading the group of dirty little ones to the small bathhouse specifically for children.
Claire and Mary quickly followed to help.
"Tom! A man needs to come!" Claire's shout quickly echoed from inside the bathhouse. "There are some children in here, we can't use the facilities!"
Tom's gaze swept over the men present, each one looking away, eager to slip away.
"Cooper!" Tom called out precisely to the cowboy who was trying to slip away.
"Go and see what's going on."
Cooper looked reluctant and dawdled as he walked toward the bathhouse.
But not long after, he rushed out in a disheveled state, his face flushed red, as if he had been burned on the buttocks!
"A girl—a girl! Tom!" Cooper rushed up to Tom, babbling incoherently, "There's a girl in the group of kids!"
'
"What?" Tom frowned.
"Girls! There are girls among those children!" Cooper stamped his feet anxiously and repeated himself.
Tom's heart sank.
That fat woman clearly said they were all boys!
Was he scammed?
Just as he and Cooper were about to rush into the bathhouse, the door was blocked from the inside by Aunt Claire with a "bang"!
Claire poked her head out, her eyebrows furrowed: "Men, no entry!"
The door was slammed shut.
Tom and Cooper looked at each other, then had no choice but to leave.
"Is the stuff hidden?" Tom saw his father, James, standing in the doorway, looking around.
"Hmm," James responded, glancing towards the bathhouse. "Where did these kids come from?"
Tom recounted the whole story in detail.
James paused for a moment, then asked, "What are you planning to do?"
Tom's gaze drifted to the distant pasture, where the grass was lush and vibrant with life!