“Sister Ruoxin said that she would be back in the morning, but who knew that she would just disappear until now?”
Chu Lui took out his phone and tried to give Xia Ruoxin a call, but like what Du Jingtang said, her phone was turned off.
Suddenly, Chu Lui had an uneasy feeling in his heart. His intuition told him that Xia Ruoxin was in trouble; if not, she would not ignore Rainy. She could be harsh to anyone, but she could not leave Rainy alone.
“Uncle, where’s Mommy? Rainy wants Mommy.” Rainy raised her pitiful face and asked Chu Lui with her puffy eyes.
“Uncle, Rainy wants Mommy…” She clenched her first and sniffed from time to time.
“Give her a milk bottle.” Chu Lui told Du Jingtang.
“Okay, right on it.” Du Jingtang hurriedly stood up and took it.
He came back rather quickly and passed the milk bottle to Chu Lui.
“Are you dumb?” Chu Lui really wanted to kick him. “What is she going to drink from an empty bottle? Make some milk with the milk powder.”
Du Jingtang was scolded until he had no temper left. He was still thinking of what the use of an empty milk bottle was; it turned out that it was supposed to be used to store milk powder.
“Where’s Mommy? Uncle, where did Rainy’s Mommy go?” Rainy pouted and cried until her voice was almost gone.
“Mommy will be back real soon.” Chu Lui held his daughter tighter. “Rainy, you need to behave. Your Mommy will come back when you behave. If she knows that you cried, she won’t come back anymore.”
“Really?” Rainy sniffed a few times, and tears welled up in her eyes—even her lashes were wet.
“Yes. Uncle won’t lie to Rainy.” He gently ruffled his daughter’s soft hair, but the uneasiness in his heart almost suffocated him.
He said that to his daughter, but in reality, he could not even be responsible for whatever he told Rainy.
In a while, Du Jingtang came over with a bottle of milk.
Chu Lui took it over and placed it in his daughter’s hands. Obediently, Rainy took the bottle with both of her hands and started drinking it. Perhaps she was too tired from crying so as she drank her milk, her eyelashes started fluttering; and she closed her eyes in the end. Sometimes, her mouth would move a little as if she was drinking milk and looked like she was asleep. However, no one could touch her milk bottle. She would wake up once they did.
Chu Lui took the blanket from the sofa and covered her daughter with it. His face was darkened, and the silence was paired with anxiety. As time passed, the colder the atmosphere got.
“Cousin, what are you going to do now? Are we going to look for her?”
Du Jingtang also felt that something was amiss, and as time passed, this feeling became especially obvious.
If her phone had no battery, she could charge it. Even if there was no charging port, she could borrow one. Even if she could not borrow any, there were also public phones. It was going to be a day and a night.
“Let’s wait for a while more.” When Chu Lui said this, his eyebrows knitted even more tightly together.
However, a simple ‘wait’ would require immense self-control and determination. Du Jingtang could not even sit still. He would stand up from time to time and walk to the window, then to another sofa and to the entrance.
Time still passed, minute by minute and seconds by seconds. Rainy was still asleep, and on her eyelashes, there were still some tear droplets.
…
“Rainy…” Suddenly, Xia Ruoxin sat up straight in fright and broke into cold sweat.
“Did you have a nightmare?” Shen Wei opened her eyes as if she did not sleep. She had been calm the whole time, too calm to even be human. If she was human, she would be worried, scared, and frightened; but she seemed as though she did not feel anything and went on eating and sleeping as usual.
“Mm, I dreamed of Rainy.” Xia Ruoxin sat up and wiped the sweat off her forehead before taking a bunch of dirt and rubbing it on her face. When the dirt and water mixed, it would be even more disgusting.
However, at this place where they could not even see the light of day, who would care about their faces?
“Chu Lui is there. Nothing would happen to her.” Shen Wei raised her lips slightly. Some things did not need questioning: that type of men could be harsh to no end at times, but when they settled on something, they would never change their minds.
“Really?” Xia Ruoxin expressed her doubts.
He settled on Xia Yixuan and then Li Manni, but who did he put in his heart in the end? Probably no one.
“Whether it is or not, you know it yourself.”
Shen Wei shut her eyes again and could not help remind this woman to not believe others too easily at times and also not deny herself at other times. Would it kill humans to be more truthful to themselves?
Xia Ruoxin also followed her and relaxed her body. Suddenly, there was a tinge of mockery in the smile on her face. What kind of time was it now? How could she still think about that kind of stuff? No matter if it was love or money, she and Shen Wei’s lives now lay in the hands of God-knows-who. No one would know if they would be dead or alive in the future, and she did not even know if she could see her daughter again in this life.
Every time she thought of this, a hole would be punctured in her heart.
Her Rainy had just lost a kidney, and she lost her mother so soon. What was she going to do? What could she do?
Perhaps, Shen Wei was right. At the very least, there was still Chu Lui. She knew that he really loved Rainy. With this father around, Rainy would not come into any harm and would be safe and healthy.
“Chu Lui…” She placed her hands on her knees. “I forgive you. I forgave you long ago. I don’t hate you anymore so please treat my daughter well and not let her get hurt again, okay?”
At that time, she hugged her knees tightly and cried without a sound.
Shen Wei reached out to pat her shoulders.
“It’s okay, we can definitely make it out.”
“Can we?” Xia Ruoxin asked Shen Wei and herself.
“Definitely will.” Shen Wei sighed lightly, and her lack of confidence made their feet step on the edge of hell. Even she could not confirm herself, who could?
At that time, it was their third day of being lost.
Rainy had already cried for three days straight. Every time she opened her eyes, the first thing she would do was to find her mother. The second thing was also to find her mother, and the third was to cry. After crying for three days, she stopped talking and only hugged her doll. She sat on a stool and would not listen to anyone or say anything.
“Rainy, come eat.”