Beishan Village, the Yuan Family.
The main room of the house.
Mrs. Zeng sat on the kang, mending a jacket of Old Yuan’s, when she suddenly pricked her finger with the needle.
The sudden sharp pain made Mrs. Zeng exclaim.
Old Yuan sat at the corner of the kang, leaning against the quilts piled by the wall. Hearing Mrs. Zeng’s exclamation, he looked up and said, "What happened? Pricked your hand?"
Mrs. Zeng responded, then put down the needle and jacket, looked up at Old Yuan, pursed her lips, and said, "I haven’t heard Jiaojiao’s voice all day, nor seen her. I feel uneasy!"
"What’s there to feel uneasy about?"
Old Yuan sighed, "We’ve already divided the family. The fourth one and his wife have always been good to Jiaojiao. Maybe it’s cold, and they’ve kept her inside."
"Jiaojiao is so obedient and never makes trouble. What could those two possibly do to her?"
"This morning, Shouhu came back crying from outside!"
Mrs. Zeng decisively moved the things beside her, got off the kang, and said, "I don’t believe it. I have to go take a look!"
"Alright, if you want to go see, then go see!" Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel✦fire.net
Old Yuan leaned back onto the quilts and didn’t stop Mrs. Zeng.
In fact, if not for his pride, he would have gone along too.
Having not heard his precious granddaughter’s noise the whole day, if anyone in the family felt most uneasy, it was naturally Old Yuan. But since the family had just been divided yesterday, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Mrs. Zeng went out, heading straight for Yuan Zhaodi’s room.
In the room, Mrs. Xiao Li and Yuan Zhaodi were staring at each other because Yuan Bao had not returned. It was already late afternoon, and soon, it would be getting dark.
"Fourth son, fourth son’s wife!"
Mrs. Zeng pushed the door open and entered, her eyes not yet adjusted to the change in light, and immediately said, "I haven’t heard Jiaojiao all day, I miss her terribly."
As she spoke, Mrs. Zeng adjusted to the slightly dim light in the room and saw the situation on the kang.
Mrs. Xiao Li and Yuan Zhaodi sat on the edge of the kang, with little grandson Yuan Shouhu sleeping at the head of it, but her precious granddaughter was nowhere to be seen.
"Where’s my Jiaojiao?"
Not seeing Yuan Bao on the kang, Mrs. Zeng felt her legs go weak and sensed something was terribly wrong, leaning against the door frame, glaring at Yuan Zhaodi.
"Fourth son, tell me, where’s Jiaojiao?"
Yuan Zhaodi glanced at his mother, a bit embarrassed.
Mrs. Zeng suddenly raised her voice.
"Jiaojiao, Jiaojiao is missing!"
Seeing his mother angry, Yuan Zhaodi quickly recounted the events of the morning, "Mom, don’t worry, I’ll go find her right away. That girl must be hiding somewhere!"
"Don’t worry, I’ll find her soon!"
Mrs. Zeng directly slapped Yuan Zhaodi across the face, glaring at him, "If anything happens to Jiaojiao, I don’t have a son like you!"
"What are you standing there for? Go find her now!"
Mrs. Zeng yelled at Yuan Zhaodi, turned around, and ran outside, shouting for people as she went, tears already streaming down her face.
It was at this moment that the members of the Yuan Family realized Yuan Bao was missing.
Soon after Yuan Shouhu came home crying in the morning, Yuan Bao went missing, and now it was almost a whole day later.
While the Yuan Family rushed around the village searching for the child, the villagers of Beishan, feeling indebted to the Yuan Family as they had taken over all the semi-managed land, joined in the search.
They turned over haystacks, searched abandoned houses...
Yet, even as night fell, there was still no sign of the child.