Episode Summary
The episode follows Yin Jiansheng's relentless pursuit of a 20-year-old human trafficking case. A new lead reveals the victim, Yang Caiyun, was sold multiple times. The investigation leads the police to her current home, where she lives under a new name with an abusive husband. The officers intervene during a violent domestic dispute, arresting the husband and finally rescuing Yang Caiyun, bringing the decades-long search to an emotional close.
Spoiler Alert
The episode opens with a major breakthrough in a twenty-year-old case that has haunted Yin Jiansheng of the Anti-trafficking Office. A man named Huang Chuan confesses to kidnapping Yang Caiyun two decades ago and selling her in Wushun County. This was Yin's first case, and its unresolved nature has been a deep source of pain for him ever since. He personally travels to Wushun County to follow the new lead, but due to the passage of time, the local police's efforts are fruitless. They introduce Yin to a local woman known for knowing everything, Hu Caihua, who immediately identifies the woman in the photo as the one who was with a man named Zhang Hanzi.
Meanwhile, Deng Yan visits the Reunion Diner, where Auntie Zhang gratefully serves her a bowl of noodles for her work in rescuing trafficked children. However, it's clear Auntie Zhang is struggling; she puts too much salt in a customer's food and, according to Luo Xiaoxing, has been making many mistakes recently due to her worsening memory. Deng Yan advises Luo to take her to a hospital for a check-up.
Following the lead, Chang Rui finds Zhang Hanzi at a construction site. Zhang admits he bought Yang Caiyun for one thousand yuan twenty years ago. He claims she refused to eat or drink, desperate to return home. Frustrated because the money was hard-earned, he locked her in the house. Shortly after, a peddler named Xu Tenglong came to the village, heard about the "bought wife," and, struck by Yang Caiyun's beauty, purchased her from Zhang.
Armed with Xu Tenglong's address, Deng Yan, Chang Rui, and Yin Jiansheng confront him. He denies everything until Yin presents Zhang Hanzi's testimony. Xu then confesses he bought Yang Caiyun, but she was cold and distant. He sold her for twenty thousand yuan to a man named Liang Wei, who he only knows lives in Huangjiagou Village in Hongxi City.
The news that Yang Caiyun was sold multiple times devastates Yin, who vows not to return to his home city of Linshan until she is found. Deng Yan is called back to Linshan, and Ai Xin arrives to take her place. At the Huangjiagou police station, Yin and Ai discover that Liang Wei's wife is registered as Wen Sujuan and that she gave birth to a daughter, Liang Xiaoyun, soon after their marriage.
They rush to Liang Wei's home and question Wen Sujuan, asking if she is Yang Caiyun. She vehemently denies it, even when shown her childhood photo and told about her harrowing journey of being sold repeatedly. She insists she and Liang Wei are in a loving relationship. Sensing she is hiding a painful secret, Yin tells her that her parents have passed away, but she remains silent. After the officers leave, Wen Sujuan retreats to her room, clutching her daughter and weeping. Liang Wei, who had been hiding and watching, then returns home.
Yin and Ai learn from the neighborhood committee director that Liang Wei is known to be abusive towards his wife and that their interventions have been useless. They decide to approach Wen Sujuan again. Just as they do, Liang Wei, drunk, confronts his wife about the police visit. When she downplays it, he brutally beats her and threatens to kill their daughter. Yin and Ai intervene at the critical moment, and the police arrest Liang Wei. Finally safe, Wen Sujuan breaks down and admits she is Yang Caiyun. Yin and Ai comfort her, telling her she can finally come home with her daughter, and she cries tears of joy and relief.
