"Qingqing, I'm heading back," Zhao Zhijie said as he put the sleeping Hua Bao onto a small bed, tucked her in with a blanket, and turned to bid farewell to Jiang Qingqing, who was waiting outside the door.
"Uncle Zhao, take care," Jiang Qingqing could now walk around the room.
"Leaving," Zhao Zhijie waved his hand, thinking his niece-in-law was still so polite, and returned to the adjacent apartment.
However, Zhao Zhijie was unaware that shortly after his departure, someone else knocked on Zhang Liunian's door.
"Mom, Xiao Bao is missing. Did he run over here?" The visitor was Liu Sanniu, who had just returned to Liu Family Village from the county town.
Two hours earlier, she and her sister went home to cook. They waited for a long time, but their younger brother Liu Xiao Bao never returned from school. They searched everywhere, but found no trace of him.
With no other options, Liu Sanniu borrowed the village chief's bicycle and rode to the county town to find Zhang Guihua.
"What? Xiao Bao is missing? Impossible! He's thirteen years old, how could he go missing?" Liu Guihua was extremely panicked upon hearing her precious son was missing. He was the apple of her eye, how could he be gone?
"Aunt, why don't you go home and check. The child's matters are urgent," Jiang Qingqing heard their conversation and proactively suggested.
Hearing this, Zhang Guihua immediately took off her apron and said in a flustered voice, "Qingqing, I'll be right back." With that, she left in a hurry, forgetting to even close the door.
Seeing this, Jiang Qingqing sighed, "I hope Xiao Bao will be alright." After sighing, she was about to close the door when a large hand appeared from nowhere, pressing against the door and holding it open…
An hour later, Zhang Liunian unlocked the door with his key and walked towards the master bedroom. However, upon seeing only his son lying on the bed, he paused, then turned and walked out, "Qingqing?"
He first checked the bathroom, but found no one there. He then went to the kitchen, still no one. Next, he went to his daughter's room, but she wasn't there either.
Wait, where was his daughter?
Why wasn't his daughter here? Could she be at Uncle Zhao's place?
And, was his aunt not here either? He had searched the entire house earlier, and no one was around.
Zhang Liunian suddenly felt a sense of unease. He then turned and went to Zhao Zhijie's house.
"Qingqing and Hua Bao aren't home? Impossible! An hour ago, Hua Bao was already asleep, and I personally put her in the room and covered her with a blanket. Qingqing was also at home, and your aunt was here too. How could they not be here?
In the middle of the night, they wouldn't just go out for a stroll."
When Zhao Zhijie heard Zhang Liunian say his wife and daughter were not home, he looked bewildered. He even went to Zhang Liunian's house to take a look, but indeed, they were not there.
"What's going on?" Zhao Zhijie was also stunned when he realized that only a newborn infant was left in the house.
He hadn't heard any commotion in the past hour. Ah, right, after he sent Hua Bao in, he went to take a bath. Could it be that whatever happened, happened while he was bathing?
"As you said, Uncle Zhao, in the middle of the night, they wouldn't go out on their own without leaving someone to look after the newborn Shao Hua. So, the most likely possibility is that something has happened to all of them."
Thinking of this, Zhang Liunian's face darkened, veins bulging on his forehead, looking as if he was about to explode. But then, he seemed to recall something, turned, and picked up the phone in the house to make a call.
"I am Zhang Liunian, nephew of Liu Dazhu's wife. I'd like to ask if my aunt has returned to your Liu Family Village?" As soon as the call connected, Zhang Liunian immediately identified himself.
"She just returned. Her youngest son went missing, and everyone in our village is helping them look for him!"
"Did only my aunt return?"
"Who else could it be?"
"I understand, thank you." After hanging up the phone, Zhang Liunian became even more convinced that someone had plotted to take Jiang Qingqing and Hua Bao away.
Who could it be?
Could it be the Tang family?
Besides the Tang family, there weren't many others with such capabilities.
"Did your aunt return to Liu's house? And Qingqing and the others didn't go with her? Then something might have truly happened. I'll go ask Ma Erduo to help look."
As Zhang Liunian was on the phone, Zhao Zhijie stood beside him and naturally heard that Zhang Liunian's aunt had returned home, but Qingqing and her daughter had not.
"Thank you, Uncle Zhao. I'll go ask around the neighborhood if anyone saw any outsiders. If someone wanted to grab them, they wouldn't leave without a trace." Zhang Liunian didn't refuse. Just as he was about to leave, he saw his son lying on the bed and felt uneasy. He decided to tie his son to his chest with a piece of cloth before heading out.
"Elder, you live on the first floor. Did you see any strangers going upstairs in our building?" Zhang Liunian's first stop was a resident on the first floor.
A family of five lived there. The person who opened the door was an elderly man, so Zhang Liunian naturally inquired with him first.
The old man shook his head, "I didn't see anything."
Zhang Liunian looked at the people peeking out from behind him and took the opportunity to ask them as well, but still, no one had seen anything.
After bidding farewell to this family, Zhang Liunian went to the opposite first floor, the adjacent first floor, and several households in the building opposite his own. Only one child claimed to have seen someone.
"I was watching a little spider by the window and saw a few uncles go across the street, and then a few more people came out later." This child saw it by chance, and he didn't know the specifics, after all, he was only six years old.
However, Zhang Liunian was delighted to have found some clues. He took out a five-yuan bill from his pocket and gave it to the child, "Thank you, little friend, for telling me about this."
The little boy looked at the five-yuan bill in his hand, somewhat at a loss. He raised his hand to return it to Zhang Liunian, but Zhang Liunian refused.
After saying goodbye to this family, Zhang Liunian continued to inquire for clues. Not long after, he received another piece of information.
"I remember there was another woman inside. After they came out, they were holding a child. It was too dark and too far away, so I couldn't see clearly. I only knew there were three of them, two men and one woman, because the woman had very long hair, which is how I identified them."
The informant was a young woman who saw them while cleaning her house.
"Thank you, comrade, for telling me this. Please accept this small token of my gratitude. If you have any new information, please come find me at Building 3, Unit 201." Zhang Liunian informed her of his address and then left to continue searching.
However, it was already midnight, and most households were asleep. Even when Zhang Liunian knocked on doors, no one came out. If someone did come out, they would just curse.
Seeing that he couldn't find any more information, Zhang Liunian handed his son over to Zhao Zhijie and drove to Nancheng overnight.
If the perpetrators were from the Tang family, they would likely head to Nancheng first after capturing the individuals. Zhang Liunian planned to infiltrate the Tang family under the cover of night.
In Nancheng, at the Tang family's old residence, Tang Shikang looked at the three bags of pickled vegetable seasonings on the table and then glanced at Tang Lei beside him. The latter took them and inspected them, then nodded.
"Although we didn't get the recipe, we have the ingredient packs. As long as we have time to study them, we will definitely be able to figure out the real recipe.
This matter is truly thanks to Comrade Zhang Liuxing." Tang Shikang looked at Zhang Liuxing, who was sitting opposite him, and smiled flatteringly.
Zhang Liuxing waved his hands in flattered submission, saying, "It is my honor to serve Director Tang."