Insights Chapter 131:  The Holy Grail

Chapter 131:  The Holy Grail

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

On the afternoon of the Mid-Autumn Festival, at Gu Yanchen’s parents’ home.

“I never thought I’d have to remember this. So many years have passed.” Even to this day, Gu Yanchen’s mom remembered, still occasionally woke up from nightmares. Mo Xueqing sighed, took off her coat, unbuttoned the cuffs, and showed Gu Yanchen and Shen Junci her shoulder, where she had the same mark. And that symbol was clearer; they could see that it was a cup-like pattern, somewhat resembling an hourglass.

“This is the symbol of the container. I asked the doctor; tattoos can be removed, but this kind of branding will follow us for a lifetime.” Mo Xueqing’s expression returned to its usual calmness; she gently touched the scar with her fingers. “As a container woman, you lose your own name and only have a number left. I used to be a container too. My number back then was 82.”

“In fact, you are not my biological child,” Mo Xueqing put on her clothes and spoke. Gu Yanchen nodded. Mo Xueqing smiled bitterly, “Yes, you are so smart and sensitive; you must have known this for a long time.”

Whether someone is biological or not, children can perceive it. Despite Mo Xueqing’s meticulous care for Gu Yanchen when he was young, he always had a firm belief in being good to his mother. But blood, it’s something that can’t be described, irreplaceable.

Gu Yanchen had heard some fragments from relatives before. Mo Xueqing had disappeared for a while, and one day she suddenly returned with a child. She never mentioned to anyone what happened during that time. Nor did she tell anyone who the child’s father was. She let her relatives misunderstand, saying she had a child with a man outside.

That child was Gu Yanchen. Grandma and grandpa helped Mo Xueqing raise him gradually. This was the first time Mo Xueqing had openly told him about his origins.

Shen Junci hesitated for a moment before asking, “Do I need to…?”

He considered, he could avoid it. But Gu Yanchen reached out and placed his hand on his, his tone firm, “It’s okay.”

He felt that Shen Junci was not an outsider, and he also hoped he could know these things.

Mo Xueqing took a sip of the tea in front of her, stabilized her emotions, and began, “First, I want to tell you how I became a container. That happened in the summer when I was twenty-two years old, thirty years ago. I had just quit my first job that year, preparing to find a new one, sending out resumes every day and going out for interviews. One evening, I came out of the subway station and met an elderly couple on the way… I still remember to this day, they had white hair, cloudy eyes, hunched backs, and wore dusty tattered coats. They had accents from another region and said they were looking for their son, handing me a piece of paper with an address written on it, asking for help in identifying it. I realized the address written on it was nearby, but no matter how I explained it to them, they didn’t understand how to get there. The old lady cried anxiously, the old man begged me non-stop, almost kneeling down. At that time, I felt compassionate and wanted to help them cross the street.”

At this point, Gu Yanchen already knew what was going to happen; it was a scam that had been around for years, targeting kind-hearted single women. The elderly couple seemed like a trap set there, using people’s kindness. Once a woman helped them, she would fall into the trap.

Mo Xueqing continued, “When we reached an alley, I was shoved into a van by two men. I was terrified at the time; I thought of many news stories about girls being abducted and sold in the mountains. But later I didn’t expect that the place they took me to was even more frightening than the mountains. They used anesthesia on me, causing me to lose consciousness. Later, I found out that those people used my phone to send messages to my parents, saying that I had eloped with a man. Then they confiscated my phone, wallet, clothes, and identification. There weren’t as many surveillance cameras near the subway entrance at that time, and there were no witnesses, so I disappeared like that. My parents reported it to the police, and initially, the police classified me as a runaway. It was only after my parents insisted that it was changed to missing.”

Before that, Mo Xueqing had never imagined how simple and easy it was to kidnap a girl in the city. Even now, she still educates her daughter not to be alone, not to walk in deserted alleys at night. Bringing up this matter again, Mo Xueqing still felt some emotional fluctuations. Her breath involuntarily quickened, her fingers silently tightening, “You may not be able to imagine, but while I was unconscious, I found myself on a boat, smuggled out of the country.”

Gu Yanchen understood. That was decades ago, in Penang, when coastal supervision wasn’t as strict as it is now. There were many private ports by the sea, as well as many illegal immigrants. There were several smuggling routes there, sometimes using cargo ships to smuggle in luxury cars to evade tariffs, and various channels for smuggling contraband.

To this day, the Penang police occasionally still arrest people who have illegally immigrated.

“When I woke up again, I found myself on an island in a neighboring country. I had been changed into different clothes and was tied to a hospital bed. My shoulder was sore, it was where this mark was branded. That hospital appeared to be a mental institution. In reality, it was filled with young women kidnapped from nearby countries.” Mo Xueqing closed her eyes in pain, “My nightmare began from that moment. The so-called patients inside each had a bed, and the bed number was their ID, their name. In there, I was number 82, not the last one.”

This also meant that there could be more victims than just 82.

“There were many guards inside. Before getting pregnant, girls were tied to the beds and only had a brief respite for going to the bathroom and eating. Only pregnant women were allowed to move freely. However, it was only within the building.” Mo Xueqing recalled the eerie mental hospital, feeling a chill run down her spine, her chest tightening. She thought of those pregnant women, their pale and haggard faces, their numb expressions, not daring to speak or converse in the corridors, like walking corpses, “After being locked in, I found that every woman there wore striped patient gowns. There were guards, doctors, and nurses in the hospital. Food was provided. Because it was claimed to be a mental hospital externally, our identities, medical records, and files were all forged by those people. Even if we cried for help inside, no one would come to our aid. If outsiders came to check, they wouldn’t find any problems from those records. Our families didn’t know we were sent abroad and locked up there.”

A mental hospital was a good disguise; occasionally, someone passing by, hearing cries and screams, wouldn’t suspect anything. Even if someone went to verify, they would at most just glance at those records. They gave each woman a name, age, background, and forged signatures from parents or guardians consenting to treatment. The process seemed flawless.

No one would believe what these “mentally ill patients” said. Occasionally, foreigners passed by the window, looking at the women inside wearing patient gowns with strange, fearful, and curious eyes. No one regarded them as humans, and no one reported it to the authorities.

“We were barefooted, and the doors and windows were barred with iron grids. Looking out from the window, there were only mountains and wastelands. There was no way to escape. The only purpose of the women inside was to get pregnant. Every weekend, men would come to select suitable ‘containers’ and try every means to impregnate us. Among the visitors were people from various countries, including some elderly and middle-aged people, wearing expensive clothes and masks. Sometimes, one person would select several ‘containers’. Some people came to feed us medicine. If we refused, we would be shocked with electric batons. To facilitate monitoring the menstrual cycles of these girls and for the lust of the men, the clothes worn by women who weren’t pregnant didn’t have bras. If it wasn’t easy to get pregnant, they would use auxiliary methods.”

Mo Xueqing described it. Her voice was gentle, but what she described was so terrifying. More frightening than the physical torture was a kind of mental torment. It weakened all the self-esteem and dignity of women. All they were left with was one purpose: to give birth.

“They usually chose women from their own country. The women inside were repeatedly exploited. After giving birth to a child, they would be forced to conceive again within two to three months. The most I knew of, one woman gave birth to a total of four children. Their lives were drained dry by those babies. Another girl, only eighteen years old, her child wasn’t even full-term, and suddenly she had an emergency cesarean section. The doctors were so hurried that they didn’t have time for anesthesia. She cried out miserably, losing a lot of blood. I’ve seen women inside giving birth to babies, and shortly after giving birth, at most until the baby was a month old, they would be taken away.”

Mo Xueqing recounted some of her experiences in that hospital. Her tone tried to remain calm, but Gu Yanchen could sense that even after many years, these events still had a profound impact on her. Even to this day, Mo Xueqing couldn’t forget those women, their eyes filled with only one emotion: despair. But there, someone was always watching them; they couldn’t seek death. It was a hell on earth where they couldn’t survive or die.

“Soon, I was also chosen by a masked person. He was an elderly man with gray hair, seemed unwell, and kept coughing. He told me I was his hope. I became pregnant with his child, suffering from unbearable morning sickness. When I was four months pregnant, a turning point appeared.”

Shen Junci listened silently on the side. When he heard this, his brows furrowed, a sense of foreboding creeping in. He seemed to guess what those children were for.

Mo Xueqing paused and said, “In the past, women had thought about resisting, but every time they resisted, the guards would intensify their beatings, and they might even be killed. It was a foreign country, unfamiliar territory, so in the past, no one successfully escaped. The turning point came in September that year, when a boy was born on the 15th.”

Only then did Mo Xueqing remember that she hadn’t told Gu Yanchen about this woman, “I don’t know her name, only that she was called Number 15. Among the many women I met there, Number 15 was the most beautiful. She was a smart and careful woman, also from Penang, but could speak the local language. After I became pregnant, I couldn’t eat the food prepared by those people. She helped me communicate with the doctors and got my lunch changed to plain congee. Once, I almost slipped in the bathroom, and she supported me. The relationship between her and others was also very good. Everyone was willing to listen to her if anything happened. Among those women, she was like a natural leader. But even such a Number 15 couldn’t escape the fate of the container. Her belly gradually grew, and she gave birth to a child. One night, I was vomiting too severely, couldn’t sleep, so I walked in the corridor for a while. There were doctors on duty that day. I hid in a corner and heard two doctors talking in English. From their conversation, I learned that the babies taken away would soon be killed. They also mentioned several terms I didn’t understand; I tried hard to remember them.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Junci pressed his chest, his complexion growing paler. He completely understood now. Those people didn’t impregnate those women to raise children, so this wasn’t surrogacy. Their purpose wasn’t to raise these children. Because of his experience with organ transplants, he understood this better.

Thirty years ago, transplant technology had gradually matured, but the problem of rejection had always been unsolved. Patients often died before suitable organs became available. The best way to reduce rejection was to use a donor with a blood relationship. The organs of infants and young children could be transplanted into other infants and young children. Under suitable conditions, they could also be supplied to adults, and even provide better transplant results than adult organs.

These children were vessels for organs; they could provide fresh hearts, livers, eyes, kidneys, bone marrow. So, among those who came here, some were elderly. That’s why the man said Mo Xueqing was his hope. That’s why the employer couldn’t wait and urgently performed the cesarean section on the pregnant woman.

Wealthy people gave up searching for suitable organs from ordinary people. They created more suitable organs in this way. Perhaps some of them weren’t doing it for themselves, but for their beloved sons and daughters. From birth, these babies faced death. They were merely tools created to prolong the lives of others.

Only children with high compatibility could get a temporary chance of survival, but this chance would also sow the seeds of their future demise. In other words, all the children would be killed.¹

Shen Junci also understood the meaning of “container”; it not only represented a woman’s womb, but also how they were continuously impregnated like vessels. The symbol on the shoulder was drawn as the Holy Grail. Symbolizing the Holy Grail of eternal life. People can do incredibly cruel things in order to prolong their lives.

“I didn’t quite understand what those people were saying, but I still secretly told Number 15 about it. I tried my best to reproduce those terms for her. That night, while holding her child, she cried for half the night. As a mother, she couldn’t bear the thought of her child facing death shortly after turning one month old. The next day, she asked me if I wanted to escape. It turns out that Number 15 had always wanted to escape. She had already determined the location of the harbor and begged a kind-hearted vegetable farmer who came in to deliver food to help her escape. But escaping required a long journey to reach the port. For the sake of the child, she decided to advance the plan.”

Mo Xueqing had seen the child born to Number 15. It was a boy, unlike many newborns who looked wrinkled; that baby was born beautiful and adorable. Even though the mothers, as containers, and the children they bore had only a brief connection, Mo Xueqing could tell that Number 15 loved that child very much. After all, the bond between mother and child, coupled with enduring so much suffering, made the child a spiritual solace for the mother.

“I remember the day I talked to her was September 20th. The men were coming on September 25th. In less than five days, a few of us familiar women united for the first time and devised a plan—to escape. We started stocking up on water and food. After prolonged observation, we summarized the number of doctors and guards inside, their shift changes. We also judged the general direction based on the sunrise and sunset, and drew maps of the inside and outside.” Mo Xueqing’s eyes sparkled at this point.

It was an uplifting process for the women. They were fighting for themselves and their children, striving for a way out.

“We began to plan everything. Apart from Number 15, there were several women who had just given birth to children. Those weak mothers couldn’t embark on a long journey. So, those mothers decided to stay behind and try to delay time to allow us to go further. I and several women with smaller pregnancies were each assigned a child. We learned how to calm them down. The day of September 25th arrived quickly. In the evening, taking advantage of the guards’ weakest moment as the men were about to arrive, we cooperated, knocked out the guards, tied up the doctors there, found the keys, and opened the doors of the cells. A group of women in patient gowns, wearing shoes taken from doctors and guards, ran out in the dark. To prevent being caught and brought back, we split up and fled. I heard the screams of women being caught and taken back. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to escape.”

Even now, Mo Xueqing remembered everything she experienced that night. The sky was especially dark, without the moon, and the wind was blowing continuously, making a whooshing sound in her ears. Her heart was pounding with fear and anxiety. As she fled, she cleverly pulled down a curtain to cover herself, wrapping her body in it. This made her white patient gown less conspicuous in the darkness of the night. She carried the child and chose to walk in secluded places. She heard dogs barking, saw flashlights in the distance, knowing that people were looking for the escaped women. When she heard footsteps, she stopped and crouched in the bushes.

“When there were no sounds outside, I crawled out. On that pitch-black night, I held you all the way, walking a long, long road. You were warm in my arms. I finally saw streetlights, then I walked alone for two hours and arrived at the port, finding that ship. Eight pregnant women escaped with me. We rescued five children.” Mo Xueqing’s face showed a smile, tears streaming down as she smiled, “My luck was good. After two days of twists and turns, I finally returned home.”

Number 15, who provided them with an escape route, and many other women didn’t make it out, “Ten days later, I decided to abort the child I was carrying. I met Gu Wenbin in the hospital. I raised you alone, initially not wanting to marry, but your father pursued me persistently. He knew about my past and didn’t mind. When you were twelve, I agreed to his proposal and married him.”

Mo Xueqing, now fifty years old, still had a slightly shy expression when talking about these things. If it weren’t for Gu Wenbin’s appearance, she might have never escaped the shadow of being treated as a container for her whole life. It was that man who encouraged her, loved her, and gradually helped her regain the dignity of being a woman.

Gu Yanchen asked, “Why didn’t you report it to the police after returning to the country?”

Mo Xueqing smiled bitterly, “At that time, before escaping, Number 15 made two agreements for us to abide by. The first was not to report to the police, and the second was for the women who brought out the children to raise them. As for the reason for not reporting to the police, Number 15 told us that, first, those men were very powerful, and reporting to the police might expose us and bring us danger. Second, that night, in order for us to escape with the children, she and several mothers decided to kill. She said these two agreements were the price of saving us. We had to abide by these two agreements for the rest of our lives. She forced us to make a vow.”

On that chaotic night, the portrayal was far bloodier than she had casually described. The women paid a heavy price to escape, their hands stained with blood. One way to survive facing beasts is to turn oneself into a beast as well. If they reported it to the police, they themselves would end up in jail.

Shen Junci understood. Mo Xueqing and Gu Yanchen did not know the true meaning behind the container and the baby, but Number 15 should. She understood that if the women reported to the authorities, even if they seemed to obtain temporary justice, it would pose great danger to the children. So she had informed the women of the two agreements they must adhere to.

Mo Xueqing whispered, “Yanchen, I hope you can forgive Mom. I’m just an ordinary person who can also feel fear. I buried these experiences deep in my heart and never told you. When you said you wanted to join the police academy and become a police officer, I was incredibly proud. I hope that one day, you can protect yourself, become an upright person, and uncover these truths, making those behind pay the price.”

Gu Yanchen reached out and hugged Mo Xueqing. In that situation, he couldn’t blame her for not going to the police and revealing the truth. She raised him, not only with the care of a mother but also with the debt of saving his life. His arms encircled Mo Xueqing as he spoke, “Thank you, you will always be my mother.”

Mo Xueqing’s gaze fell on the photograph, “That woman should be one of the women who escaped with me that night. I can’t remember which one she was, but I have the impression she also returned to China. I don’t know what happened to her afterward, but I hope what I’ve said can give you some clues.”