Missing daughter

The sunlight, like liquid gold, fell on his side, its gentle warmth spreading like a long vine.

My heart suddenly felt a strange sensation, like it had been pinched.

As she stood there in a daze, the car stopped at the green light and started moving forward. Turning her gaze back to the man ahead, she added, "What I'm saying doesn't mean I like you; it's just an objective statement. The reason I didn't tell you I prepared breakfast was because I was afraid you'd misunderstand and think I liked you. I was just making breakfast at the time, and the toast sandwiches I made could be cut into two portions. I couldn't finish them, so I just grabbed some to bring to you. It's better not to overthink things, after all—"

He glanced at me sideways, his fox-like eyes, adorned with a beauty mark, revealing a mischievous glint in them, and drawled out, "It's quite awkward."

It was clearly time for Wen Dai to jump up and retort, but the images flashing through her mind robbed her of the ability to think.

A small pond, with lotus flowers right next to the artificial hill. From a first-person perspective, you can see a slender white hand reaching into the pond and stirring the water.

There seemed to be other voices, with a tone of earnest advice: "Miss, please don't be so greedy for coolness. You've just recovered from a serious illness and you're already running around playing in the water. If the master and mistress see this, they'll be angry! Miss, it's not you who will be punished, but me!"

"What are you afraid of? I will protect you. How can you let the innocent bear the responsibility for your own mistakes?" The voice from the body echoed. In a daze, her gaze followed the body as it changed. After standing up, she turned around, and a man with a blurry face suddenly appeared in her overlapping vision.

His dark robe swayed with his movements, and when he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, the wide sleeves fell down. His melancholy voice sounded very familiar: "Heh—you know how to say you won't let the innocent be punished, but when it really comes time to punish, will your protection and obstruction be effective? I'm afraid it's just empty talk."

Perhaps it was her spoiled upbringing that made her so temperamental. She trotted up to the man, raised her chin, and said reproachfully, "What's it to you? Your incompetence doesn't mean others are incompetent. I always keep my word!"

"Truly lacking in elegance whatsoever." The man's mocking tone infuriated the man.

A slender, white arm emerged from the sleeve of the lake-blue dress, and a fist pounded on the man's chest several times. She gritted her teeth and said, "What does it matter to you whether I am refined or not? You, an outsider, have barged into someone's residence and been talking to a lady. You are the one who has committed a grave offense, and you are trying to drag me into this."

As they drew closer, the man's face gradually enlarged in their field of vision, and the thin mist-like presence covering his skin seemed to fade.

Suddenly, as if her heel had hit the man's heel, her body, which was still leaning forward, fell straight into the chest of the person in front of her. Her hand, which had been instinctively on the man's shoulder, became the culprit that overturned the support.

The feeling of collapsing to the ground wasn't pleasant, and what followed was even more unexpected.

The man who was her cushion fell backward, while she lunged forward. The hand that pushed the man down was still on his shoulder. Instinctively, she pressed down on his shoulder, making it seem as if she was climbing on him. As a result, she had a forward tendency and her body lunged forward a distance, which was just enough for her to land on the man's face.

What was pressing down on the man's face was not her face, but her chest; and the face being pressed down was not her whole face, but the lower half of her face.

"Holy shit!"

Suddenly snapping back to her senses, Wen Dai leaned forward, but the seatbelt pulled her back.

"Tsk, hiss..." Startled by the sudden exclamation, Chen Sizhe tightened his fingers, narrowly avoiding stepping on the gas. He glanced at her face for a moment, his tone displeased: "What are you doing?"

With her hand raised to her chest, Wen Dai's wide eyes hadn't calmed down yet. She swallowed hard and slowly turned her face toward Chen Sizhe, the fear and shock in her eyes still lingering.

"...N-nothing, I'm sorry." The voice was weak and insincere.

The feeling of being groped was so real, it was as if it were copied onto her body.

Wen Dai rubbed her chest uncomfortably, her brows furrowed and her eyes filled with confusion.

I can never see that face clearly, and images of that person keep replaying in my mind. When I ask the spirits, all I get is the vague reply, "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed."

"Hey, Chen Sizhe, do you... always dream about or suddenly see the same person?" The question was directed at Chen Sizhe. Since a doctor cannot heal himself, Wen Dai decided to ask the Taoist priest who was readily available beside her.

She tilted her head slightly, her furrowed brows and puzzled eyes saying, "It's not a real person. I don't see it in reality. It's just that those images inexplicably pop into my head, like memories, but also like a personal experience. It's not Yin Peach Blossom, it's just very strange."

The driver, Chen, suddenly fell silent. The foxy eyes that had previously glanced at her while she was describing her now seemed to ignore her completely.

He silently turned the steering wheel and made the car turn, and after a moment he responded: "Tell me what you saw first."

Unable to see the thoughts in Chen Sizhe's eyes, the innocent and unguarded Wen Dai recalled, "It was like in ancient times. It happened several times, but not very frequently. It wasn't exactly continuous either. In short, I was always in contact with the same person, and I couldn't see their face clearly. It was very blurry. Sometimes their features would become clearer, like their eyes, and their voice would sound very familiar. I felt a sense of familiarity, but I just couldn't remember who it was."

Do you remember what his eyes looked like?

"Well—I'll look for it for you."

She took out her phone and instinctively tried to find a reference point by flipping through her photo album, but unfortunately there weren't even any photos of herself in the album. She then searched for various actors and singers, but still couldn't find anything similar.

Wen Dai, who had given up searching for pictures on her phone, looked up and turned to look at him, preparing to describe him verbally. But she suddenly stopped when she caught sight of the beauty mark under his eye.

Her gaze slowly shifted, and she pulled her seatbelt forward a short distance, then leaned out to peer into his eyes.

The deep creases of her double eyelids blended with her upturned eyes, and her long, not narrow, fox-like eyes glanced at her face again. The owner of those eyes looked away first after meeting her dazed gaze.

Chen Sizhe shifted his posture uncomfortably, pursed his lips twice, and then opened them: "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Because his eyes look a lot like yours.

Her lips parted slightly, almost letting out the words stuck in her throat. Suddenly snapping back to reality, Wen Dai loosened the seatbelt she had been holding and leaned back against it.

Her eyes flickered, and she said dryly, "Nothing. I just couldn't find anyone whose eyes look like his, but he's pretty unique." It was a hasty explanation.

Her fingertips unconsciously brushed against the seatbelt. She lowered her head, and strands of hair partially obscured her face.

The instinct is not to be honest.

Her sixth sense told her that she was afraid the "him" who was puzzling her was related to him.

Still focused on scanning the road conditions, Chen Sizhe asked seemingly casually, "Don't you have a spirit guide? Why don't you ask him?"

“I can’t get an answer. Not everything will be answered. Many questions will get the same response—” Disturbed by her chaotic thoughts, Wen Dai’s slumped shoulders and bent back regained their strength. She spread her hands and said in a serious tone, “Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed.”

She leaned back in her chair, dejected, fiddled with her fingers a couple of times, and then glanced at him suddenly. "I'm not omniscient either... Hey, don't you have a master too? You can go ask your master, just to help me, your 'ordinary friend,' with a small favor."

The light that had just faded returned, sparkling again in her pupils as she looked at him.

Chen Sizhe turned his slightly turned face back to the present moment, his eyelashes trembled, and the emotions in his eyes were obscured.

He smiled and said, "If you have time, that's fine, but it's best to ask in person."

The person asking for help readily agreed: "No problem."

Chen Sizhe followed up with his clear statement: "You owe me a favor."

It felt like his throat was stuffed with cotton. Wen Dai's slightly open mouth changed shape before it could close. The corners of her upturned lips were pulled to the left and right, and her tongue swept across her teeth.

She glanced at the person who looked completely at her as if it were nothing, and sneered, "Fine, just ask me whenever you need me." The emphasis on "just" made it sound rather reluctant.

Unfortunately, before I could arrange a meeting with Master Chen Sizhe, an unexpected person called first.

Wen Dai, who had been livestreaming all night, leaned back in the chair in front of her computer desk. She had bent her knees and tried to hug her chest, but her arms, which had lost their strength, had already fallen. Her head, neck, and shoulders were at an acute angle as she leaned against the back of the chair, and her loose hair covered her face, making her look like a dozing female ghost.

Her body, which was heaving with each breath, froze for a moment when the phone suddenly rang. System music echoed in the unlit room. Wen Dai first slapped her face, then slapped the phone on the table.

She grabbed the phone, closed her eyes, and answered it, weakly raising her voice: "Hello."

“Wen Dai…it’s me.” The pause was filled with sobs; she cried until she was hoarse, each sob escaping her throat with a sharp, gasping sound: “Please, help me. I was wrong before, I shouldn’t have been so selfish…My daughter, what will happen to my daughter? I don’t know how she is. I’ve asked so many people, but their answers are vague and incomprehensible…”

Wen Dai brushed the messy hair from her face and sat up straight, holding her phone.

"Calm down first. Tell me what happened in detail, okay? I'll hang up now. Get yourself in a better state of mind. Add me on WeChat and we'll talk about the details."

She pressed the hang-up button almost ruthlessly, and the sobbing from the receiver abruptly stopped. Wen Dai covered her face with her hand to calm her eyes and thoughts. She freed one hand to pull open the curtains, and the dazzling sunlight from outside poured in.

The sentence that rolled out of my chest was—

"Her daughter was abducted by human traffickers."

Given her temperament, she would definitely see this as retribution. People who only seek self-preservation but are inherently gentle are often like this: they etch past regrets into their memories, and when they encounter problems they cannot solve and need to ask for help from people they feel guilty towards, they will think it is retribution.

Wen Dai sat hunched over in the chair, her back bent, her neck bent, and her head lowered.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking... I need to call Chen Sizhe and tell him that the time to meet his master needs to be postponed again. I don't know exactly when we can meet."

After a moment of silence, she was met with a cold snort from the immortals.

Wen Dai got up from the chair, her body, which had only slept for two hours, forced to go through the morning washing and grooming routine. Just as she tied her hair up with a hair tie, the phone rang again from the room.

As if she couldn't stay still, Wen Dai rushed back to her room, picked up her phone, glanced at the name at the top, and quickly swiped to answer, "I was just about to call you. You haven't made an appointment with your master yet, have you? If you have, please tell your master to postpone it. There's something I need to take care of. If you're free, we can meet up."

"My master hasn't returned to Lizhou yet. You already know that?" Chen Sizhe was best at being concise, but to anyone other than him, it was like a riddle.

Caught off guard by his sudden change of topic, Wen Dai took a moment to process it: "Know what? Oh—I know, she just called me. I guess Aunt Qi gave her my number. How did you know?"

“I stayed at my parents’ place last night, and I heard about it from my mom this morning. This matter may take some time; I have a case to handle and can’t delay. I’ll contact you again after I’ve finished dealing with it. Be careful and don’t try to get involved yourself.” With a somewhat serious tone, Chen Sizhe had developed the ability to anticipate Wen Dai’s actions after nearly a year of getting to know her.

However, the person involved remained nonchalant: "It's okay, don't forget that I also went to Pletikamu Village alone last year."

"Ha." The short laugh was clearly from anger. Chen Sizhe, true to his lawyer nature, bombarded the receiver with a barrage of questions: "Do you know who you're dealing with this time? You want to throw yourself into this mess? Do you even know what human traffickers are? By the time you realize what's happening, you'll be in a village even more deserted than Kamu Village, where you'll be completely helpless and have no one to turn to?"

Fortunately, Wen Dai knew that Chen Sizhe was probably just lecturing out of concern, otherwise she probably would have snapped back, even though her words were not much different from a retort.

"How do you know I'm going to get involved? I never said I was going to get involved, and even if I were, how do you know I would choose to be stupid enough to let myself be kidnapped by human traffickers? Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to offer myself up. Of course, the primary thing to do in a human trafficking case is to report it to the police. All I need to do is use some 'evil magic' that the investigators don't trust to help them narrow down the scope."

"She has already called the police. Do you think the investigators would believe the words of someone who is socially defined as a charlatan?"

“I know, but I guess, the Changxi incident happened not long ago, and the criminal gang that abducted Changxi has not yet been caught. Now they have lost face again. The various district-level police stations in Lizhou should assist each other in the investigation. Among the officers in our Feng'an District, there are some who trust me. I am only responsible for confirming the location and providing information. Some people will choose to believe me and take a gamble.”

Standing by the window, Wen Dai was bathed in sunlight, her tone firm and confident.

She wasn't sure about the other investigators, but she was more likely to trust the female investigators who had talked to her about the matter and the male investigators who had struck up a conversation with her, after all—she was the one who discovered the lonely old man's death in a non-scientific way.