Previously on the bus, a particularly attractive boy was smitten with his own charms (Yue Jiannan emphasized), and chattered on and on without ceasing, clinging to his sleeve even when they arrived at the station.
They thought this was just a chance occurrence.
Two months later, however, Yue Jiannan received an anonymous letter, abrupt and without preamble, containing only a piece of paper with a phone number on it.
When he called, the voice of that same persistent boy haunted the other end of the line.
Yue Jiannan hung up the phone in a hurry, frightened.
And then there was today...
Tired of the school cafeteria, Yue Jiannan decided to go to a nearby restaurant to treat his taste buds.
Just as he was leaving the school gates, he saw quite a crowd of people gathered at the roadside.
With Yue Jiannan’s character of loving to join in the excitement, he naturally joined the crowd of onlookers.
A private car came into view from afar.
In those days, only a few families had a car, and this car seemed especially cool, as if it was a brand he had seen on TV before.
A car is a man’s eternal dream lover, a timeless law.
The eyes of the boys around him were glued to the car, completely ignoring the school belle passing by.
Just as Yue Jiannan was drooling and imagining himself in the driver’s seat, the car suddenly stopped right in front of him.
Could it be that such a wishful coincidence actually happened?
But in the next second, the little boy who dashed out from the passenger seat made him bolt.
Gong Qiming had finally gotten a break from the film set and immediately flew to Linguang City, getting his father’s friend’s driver to send him over.
"Don’t run, don’t run, stop! I’ve been searching for you with difficulty. I’ve been inquiring about your whereabouts for days, and I was even prepared to visit your dormitory, but what a coincidence, we just happened to meet here," Gong Qiming said while running, with the boys’ gaze still on the car and the girls now fixated on the little boy.
"Wow, isn’t he so cute? Whose child is this?"
"Quick, where’s that dummy camera in the bag? Take it out quickly, it would be a crime not to capture this!"
"Why does he look so familiar... Where have I seen him before? Couldn’t he be a child celebrity?"
Amidst the girls’ screams, Yue Jiannan was running out of breath.
Gong Qiming’s face was filled with a sense of grievance, like a little girl abandoned by a faithless lover, which made the girls almost want to stop Yue Jiannan for him.
"Stop... Stop chasing me," Yue Jiannan thought he was going to cry—the boy had too much stamina.
"I’ll stop chasing if you stop running," Gong Qiming said, biting his teeth tightly, without much else to say.
"I’ll stop running if you stop chasing!"
As they exchanged verbal shots, Yue Jiannan was finally stopped by Gong Qiming under his dormitory building.
"What on earth do you want?" Yue Jiannan looked miserable, completely clueless about why he had attracted this plague.
"So, your little niece is Yue Qingqing, right? What does she look like? Is her skin exceptionally white, very good-looking, with two cowlicks on her head making her seem very smart, a bit greedy, and never picky but especially fond of meat?"
The more Yue Jiannan listened, the more horrified he became; the description matched his little niece exactly.
The words "child trafficker" flashed through his mind.
Don’t be fooled by the luxury car this kid rode in; who knows, it might be funded by kidnapping children.
He must have seen or heard about his little niece by chance. Given Qingqing’s appearance, she could definitely fetch a good price.
Heh, even if you manage to kidnap her, it’s of no use; beware of being eaten out of house and home!
Yue Jiannan remained vigilant.
He had heard before that some traffickers who kidnapped children would train them to be thieves, as people wouldn’t usually suspect such young children.
Maybe this boy’s gang had also trained him to be a young trafficker, relying on his good looks to fish for information and then plan to snatch children once they had gathered enough details.