Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 392; Lin mansion 3

Understanding the task’s importance, Yuyan followed her father up the stairs, though she looked back multiple times with tears still flowing down her cheeks her heart hurting.

Alone now except for the mass of traumatized children, Shuyin sat fully on the floor, making herself vulnerable in a way that might register as non-threatening. "My name is Shuyin," she said quietly. "I didn’t know you were down here. The people who put you in this place did it without my knowledge. But I’m the owner of this house now, and I’m going to fix this. You’re going to have clean rooms with beds. Food, real food, as much as you need. Water. Medicine for anyone who’s sick. And nobody is going to hit you or hurt you or lock you in darkness ever again."

Still no response. The children watched her with those empty, hopeless eyes, perhaps hearing her words but unable to believe them.

"I know you can’t trust me yet," Shuyin continued. "I understand that. But I’m going to prove it through actions. Starting right now. We’re moving you upstairs to clean rooms. It’s going to take time because there are so many of you, but we’re going to move everyone. Nobody gets left behind."

She stood slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements. From the chamber, she could hear the sounds of organized chaos as servants rushed to prepare spaces. Good. At least the machinery of rescue was in motion.

The first group of children needed to be moved, but how? They were too weak to walk, too traumatized to follow directions, too frightened to cooperate. They would need to be carried, which meant physical contact that would terrify them further.

Shuyin activated her jade eyes, scanning the room for the children in most urgent need. Several appeared critically ill, fever-flushed faces, labored breathing, bodies too still even in this cramped space. They needed medical attention immediately, before the general evacuation.

She moved carefully toward one small girl, perhaps six years old, who lay unresponsive against the wall. When Shuyin reached toward her, she flinched violently despite being barely conscious. "I’m just going to carry you upstairs," Shuyin said softly. "To a clean room with a bed. I promise I won’t hurt you."

The girl didn’t resist when Shuyin lifted her, probably too weak to resist, not actual acceptance. Her body weighed almost nothing, bones prominent beneath skin that burned with fever. How long had she been sick without treatment?

Shuyin carried her up the stairs, moving carefully, speaking quietly even though the child seemed beyond hearing. "You’re safe now. We’re getting you help. A doctor is coming. You’re going to be okay."

At the top of the stairs, a servant waited. "The first guest room is ready, Miss. Clean sheets, fresh water...."

"Show me." Shuyin followed her through corridors to the guest wing where a room stood open. Clean. Bright with afternoon sunlight through large windows. A proper bed with clean linens. So completely different from the hell below that it seemed to exist in another world entirely.

She laid the sick child on the bed, covering her with blankets that were probably the softest thing the girl had felt in months. "A doctor is coming," she repeated. "You’re safe here. I promise."

The girl’s eyes opened briefly, focusing on Shuyin’s face with confusion and desperate hope warring in their fever-bright depths. Then they closed again, exhaustion or illness pulling her back into unconsciousness.

Shuyin returned to the chamber immediately. One down. Approximately one hundred ninety-nine to go.

"If any one of you dares to say anything about this evacuation, I will turn the case against you!" Shuyin immediately warned all the servants who had seen the scene.

They had better kept their mouth shut or else, tne situation would be even more complicated.

They didn’t know how many people this situation was going to implicate, and who was behind this entire operation.

"Yes Young Miss." They hurriedly nodded their heads. They didn’t dare say a word to anyone. This situation wasn’t something they were seeing in a live TV but it was a real situation.

Over the next two hours, organized chaos reigned throughout the mansion. Servants and workers formed an evacuation line, carefully carrying children up from the hidden chamber to prepared rooms. The children couldn’t walk, most were too weak, too sick, or too psychologically damaged to navigate stairs and corridors on their own.

Each child flinched when touched. Each one cowered, expecting blows that didn’t come. None spoke. None cried. They’d been beaten past the point of vocal expression, trained through violence to be silent and submissive.

Guest rooms filled rapidly. Two children per room in most cases, three in larger spaces, always trying to keep those who’d been huddled together in the chamber together in their new accommodations. Some children were obviously older than others, appeared to have been protecting younger ones in that cramped hell. Those protective instincts needed to be honored in the room assignments.

By the time Lu Yuze’s medical associates began arriving, four doctors summoned on emergency notice, bringing bags of supplies and asking no questions, nearly half the children had been moved. The doctors started their assessments immediately, moving from room to room, their expressions growing grimmer with each examination.

"Severe malnutrition across the board," one doctor reported to Shuyin after examining the first dozen children. "Most haven’t had adequate food in months. Based on their condition, I’d estimate they’re being fed once every three to four days, minimal portions. It’s a wonder any of them are still alive."

"Six months," another doctor added, checking a girl who appeared to be about twelve but was so stunted from starvation she could have been eight. "Based on muscle atrophy and developmental delays, I’d estimate most of these children have been held in those conditions for approximately six months. Some possibly longer."

Six months in that cramped room. Fed once every three to four days. Beaten into silence. The systematic cruelty required to maintain such conditions was staggering.

"What do they need immediately?" Shuyin asked, forcing herself to focus on practical solutions rather than drowning in rage.

"Hydration first, IV fluids for the most severe cases, oral rehydration for those who can drink. Then very careful refeeding. Their bodies can’t handle normal portions after prolonged starvation. We’ll need to start with small amounts, specific nutrients, building up gradually over days or weeks. Anyone with active infections needs antibiotics. Several have pneumonia, many have skin infections, at least a dozen show signs of more serious illnesses that will require ongoing treatment."

"Do whatever you need to do," Shuyin said. "Cost is not a concern. Use any resources required. I want every child stabilized and receiving proper care."

The doctors nodded and returned to their work, moving through rooms with professional efficiency while maintaining gentle demeanors that wouldn’t further traumatize already terrified children.

By early evening, all two hundred children had been extracted from the hidden chamber and distributed throughout the mansion’s guest wing. The chamber below stood empty, its filthy evidence of months of suffering preserved for whatever legal action would eventually follow.

Shuyin stood in the now-crowded hallway of the guest wing, watching servants deliver food and water to rooms, doctors moving between patients, trying to absorb the magnitude of what they’d discovered. Two hundred children. Two hundred lives stolen, destroyed, reduced to this state by people who’d operated with complete impunity in her family’s home.

She needed to understand their situations. Needed to know who could be returned to families and who required different solutions. But approaching traumatized children who couldn’t speak, who flinched from every adult interaction, would require extreme care.

Shuyin entered one of the rooms where two girls, perhaps ten and twelve years old, sat on a bed together. They’d been huddled near each other in the chamber, clearly bonded through shared suffering. Both flinched when she entered but didn’t try to flee, they were too weak for flight.

She sat on the floor, making herself lower than them, less threatening. "I need to ask you some questions," she said very softly. "Not right now if you’re not ready. But eventually, I need to understand how you came to be in that place. Some children are taken from their families, kidnapped. Those children, we can try to return home safely. Other children are sold by their families. Those children need different help because home isn’t safe for them. Do you understand what I’m asking?"