Aunt Zhang had always been grateful to the An Family for their care over the years and had grown fond of them, so she agreed to help, even going so far as to pay for Xu Huwen’s medical treatments.
But unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Xu Huwen died.
Aunt Zhang buried her, then went to the mental institution to visit An Xin and even left her phone number with the doctors there.
Yesterday, the staff from the mental institution informed her that An Xin was missing and asked her to come look for her.
She had searched the whole day without finding her, and now, having no other choice, she had to swallow her pride and trouble An Ruo.
"Miss An, I know I shouldn’t bother you with this, but I really couldn’t find Miss An Xin, otherwise I wouldn’t trouble you."
After listening to her story, An Ruo felt somewhat stunned.
She had forgotten about them in these past few years; she hadn’t expected Xu Huwen to have died, and in such a manner at that.
It went to show that no matter how glorious and proud one’s life was, once misfortune struck, they could end up even worse off than the average person.
"Aunt Zhang, did you call the police?" An Ruo asked her, genuinely not wanting to get involved with An Xin’s affairs.
"I did, the police said they would help look for her, but you know, they definitely won’t put in their best effort. I just came from the station, where they said they’ve dispatched two people to look, adding that for cases , it’s best for family members to look around as well, and they could only offer some assistance."
Hearing the weariness in Aunt Zhang’s voice, An Ruo couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
If it were anyone else asking for her help, she surely wouldn’t have softened, but Aunt Zhang was different; she had always been kind to her.
"Aunt Zhang, where are you right now? I’ll come to you and we can look for her together."
Taking a taxi to the place Aunt Zhang had mentioned, An Ruo spotted her immediately. Two years had passed and she seemed to have aged, which made An Ruo’s heart suddenly feel a bit of sorrow.
"Miss An, how is your child doing?" Aunt Zhang made small talk for a while before smiling and asking her this question.
An Ruo’s expression stiffened slightly, and she looked away, smiling, "It’s getting late now, let’s hurry up and search for the person."
"Oh, right." Aunt Zhang was distracted by the change of subject and dropped the topic they’d been on.
They started by visiting the mental institution, where someone said the last time they saw An Xin was in the garden, where she was playing with another female patient.
The nurse had to leave for a moment and by the time she came back, she discovered that An Xin was gone.
The nurse who often looked after An Xin mentioned that she liked children a lot and might have gone to a place where there were many children, citing a previous instance where a patient who loved fishing went to a fishing spot.
There were many such examples, so whenever someone went missing, they would first look in places the patients were interested in.
An Ruo and Aunt Zhang left the mental institution, and An Ruo checked her phone for nearby kindergartens, finding several of them.
She also found there was an amusement park nearby.
Going to each one to search was definitely not realistic, nor was it certain they would find anyone.
However, not searching at all would make it even less likely to find her.
They decided to start with the nearest kindergarten, but after checking two, they found no one.
"Miss An, what’s that over there?" While driving past a place, Aunt Zhang pointed at something and asked her.
An Ruo looked only to catch a glimpse of the words ’Welfare Institute.’
A thought flashed through her mind, wondering if An Xin might have gone to the Welfare Institute, as it also had many children.
They quickly asked the driver to stop, and they got out and walked toward the Welfare Institute.