Chapter 73

The orphanage where Xu Gui and his family live is surrounded by residential buildings. It's busiest in the morning and afternoon, but there are fewer people around at noon. Especially since it's been so hot lately, people are even less willing to go out at that time.

It was too hot, so Uncle Liu from the orphanage simply took some tools and ran a cable from the yard to Xu Gui and the others. He connected it to a power strip, plugged in an electric fan, and the fan immediately started whirring.

Feeling the cold wind blowing in his face, Xu Gui couldn't help but praise Uncle Liu, "Uncle Liu, you're amazing!"

Uncle Liu is mute, but he is very skilled with his hands. He is especially good at woodworking and can carve all kinds of small animals out of wood. Many of the toys for the children in the orphanage are made by him. He also knows basic electrical work. Although he has not studied it systematically and cannot be compared with professional electricians, it is enough to solve the daily circuit problems in the orphanage.

When Xu Gui praised him, Uncle Liu smiled shyly and gestured with his hand: "If you get hot, go inside."

Xu Gui nodded and said, "Don't worry, I'll keep watch for a while. If no one is there after that, I'll go in."

Uncle Liu nodded. As for the children at the orphanage, seeing that it was hot, the director and staff had already coaxed them inside to prevent them from getting heatstroke while wandering around outside.

After Uncle Liu left, only Xu Gui, the cameraman, and her assistant Yuan Lu remained.

Yuan Lu was sitting with the person filming, but not in the shot. Under the camera's lens, Xu Gui was sitting lazily, her upper body leaning on the table, poking at the roly-poly toy that Uncle Liu had given her to play with.

As she touched it, the roly-poly toy swayed, looking quite adorable.

It was indeed hot today, but with the shade of the big locust tree and the fan blowing, Xu Gui could still bear it. The only problem was: there were no guests.

She had just been thinking about making money to build the orphanage into the world's number one orphanage, and at the time she felt ambitious and full of fighting spirit. However, after waiting for half an hour and no customers came, her fighting spirit gradually declined, and now she only felt disheartened.

Finally, she succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep on the table.

The electric fan was blowing loudly, and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. Her pink cheeks were flushed red from the heat, and her thin skin looked as if it had been coated with rouge, translucent and rosy.

Sleepiness is contagious. Watching Xu Gui sleeping soundly, and hearing the faint chirping of cicadas in the live stream, many viewers in the live stream couldn't help but yawn... well, they were feeling sleepy too.

Even the person filming couldn't help but yawn silently. He rubbed his face and looked at Xu Gui's fortune-telling stall, which was deserted, and felt that this scene was somewhat familiar.

Back when Xu Guigang was setting up his fortune-telling stall, the situation was similar to now; he wouldn't see a single customer all morning.

In this weather, at this time, there might not be any customers all afternoon... Just as the photographer was thinking this, he heard a panicked voice coming from the street.

"Mom, Mom! Have you seen Xiaobao? Xiaobao is gone!"

"What? I just went up to check and she was still asleep in her little bed... Did you see clearly? Is she really gone?"

"She's really gone!! I went to check, her little bed is empty, she really isn't in her little bed!"

"..."

After a suffocating silence, Grandma Xiaobao's panicked voice rang out: "Ah! Grandpa, our Xiaobao is gone! Grandma's Xiaobao!"

...

Xu Gui's fortune-telling stall faced a street that was the busiest street in the area, selling all sorts of things, including food, clothes, and shoes. There was also a small shop near Xu Gui's orphanage, and it was the family running that was causing the commotion.

It was midday, and because of the heat, there were few people on the street. The people in the shops were all drowsy, and the street was very quiet. But then the old lady at the corner store suddenly yelled, instantly breaking the silence.

"What happened?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Is it an earthquake?"

"Which family is crying?"

The sound of crying startled the residents on both sides of the street, who came out to see what had happened. This was the old town, and the people living here had known each other for decades. There was a strong sense of community, and if something happened to any family, no one would stand idly by.

When they came out, they saw the family of three who owned the convenience store standing on the street. The family looked extremely anxious, and the grandmother was wiping away tears, calling out, "Grandma's little treasure!"

Those who knew the family who ran the convenience store came over to ask what had happened.

"My little one is lost!" the child's mother said, fighting back tears. "I went out to buy some things, and she fell asleep, so I put her in her crib and asked my mom to watch her... But I just came back from buying things and went upstairs to check, but I found that she wasn't in her crib, and the crib was empty!"

"What?"

These words stunned everyone.

Some people who didn't know about the family's child at the convenience store couldn't help but say, "Maybe the child just went out on his own? There's no need to make such a fuss."

Upon hearing this, tears welled up in the child's mother's eyes instantly. She cried, "But my little one is only three months old! She can't walk at all!" At this age, she can't even roll over properly.

The person who just spoke: ?

No wonder their family was in such a hurry.

"Since the child is so small, he definitely can't walk. Could he have fallen under the bed?" someone else said.

The child's mother shook her head: "My crib has railings, she couldn't possibly climb out! Besides, I've searched under the bed and throughout the entire room, but she's not there!"

The child's grandmother was even more heartbroken, crying out, "My little one..."

Someone asked, "When was the last time you saw your child?"

The child's mother looked at the crying grandmother. She had gone out to buy things and the child had been looked after by the grandmother, so only the grandmother could answer this question.

The child's grandmother wiped away her tears and said, "It wasn't long ago. I went to check on him just ten minutes ago. He was sleeping peacefully in his crib when I came downstairs to get a pack of cigarettes for the guests..."

Ten minutes?

In ten minutes, where could a toddler who hasn't even learned to roll over yet go? They could only have been secretly taken away, right?

Everyone looked at each other, a sense of foreboding creeping over them.

"Could it have been carried away by some animal?" someone whispered, suggesting this possibility. "Didn't we hear in the news before that a baby was snatched away by a monkey and killed by it..."

Before he could speak, someone next to him elbowed him. He only came to his senses when he saw the family in the convenience store looking utterly devastated.

"Ha, I was just talking nonsense..." the man chuckled dryly, "We don't have monkeys around in City A, so it shouldn't be a monkey!"

"Maybe it's a monkey that escaped from the zoo? Or maybe it's a dog... Otherwise, how could a baby lying at home suddenly disappear?"

"Could it be that someone secretly took it away? Grandma Zhou, think carefully, did anyone come to your house today?"

The child's grandmother, Grandma Zhou, recalled: "No, apart from customers who come to the convenience store to buy things, no one comes to my house. As for the customers, they didn't go upstairs at all, so it's impossible for them to take my baby away."

"Didn't you hear anything before?"

"No...not a sound at all!"

The matter is now shrouded in mystery. A three-month-old baby, who was being peacefully placed in bed by his parents, suddenly disappeared. If it wasn't taken by a person or an animal... then how could the child just vanish into thin air for no reason?

"...I think we should call the police! In this situation, there's a high chance the child was deliberately abducted."

"Yes! Call the police and let them check the surveillance footage. We have so many surveillance cameras here; if anyone took the child, they'll definitely see it on the cameras."

"Yes, Grandma Zhou, don't worry, the child will be fine."

Everyone comforted the family—the family's surname was Zhou, so everyone called the two elderly people Grandpa Zhou and Grandma Zhou.

At this moment, Grandma Zhou blamed herself, saying, "It's all my fault. I should have kept a close eye on Xiaobao the whole time. She's so small. What if something happened to her if someone took her away? It's my fault! Why did I run down?"

Grandpa Zhou said with a sorrowful expression, "If anyone is at fault, it's my fault. I had diarrhea, otherwise you wouldn't have come down..."

Originally, Grandpa Zhou was in charge of the convenience store while Grandma Zhou was upstairs watching her granddaughter. But Grandpa Zhou suddenly had a stomachache and went to the toilet. Just then, a customer came into the convenience store, so Grandma Zhou had no choice but to come downstairs to help serve the customer.

In just over ten minutes, who could have imagined that something would happen to the child?

Xiao Bao's mother stood to the side, listening to her in-laws' words, her expression tragic, tears streaming down her face.

Xu Gui was awakened at this moment. The sound of sobbing reached her ears and was hard to ignore. She struggled to open her eyelids and asked sleepily, "Why do I think I heard someone crying?"

The viewers in the live stream were also curious:

【Turtle, you're finally awake!! I was just about to ask what happened!】 But Xu Gui was sleeping soundly at that time, and being separated by the internet, it was really agonizing.

I just heard crying, but it seemed to be some distance away, and the sound was too faint to hear what was being said.

[The volume is turned up; it sounds like they're saying a child is lost?]

[I think they're saying the child is lost too. Gui Gui, why don't you go over and check? See what happened, maybe the child really is lost.]

Some netizens are concerned about this matter.

The cameraman and assistant Yuan Lu also noticed that Xu Gui had woken up. The two of them, who were craning their necks and listening intently, turned around.

Upon hearing Xu Gui ask what had happened, Yuan Lu hurriedly replied, "It seems that family's child has gone missing..."

They noticed the commotion over there and listened carefully for a while. They roughly understood what had happened and said, "I heard that the child was sleeping upstairs when the grandmother came down to greet the guests. When the child's mother came back, she found that the child was gone."

After he finished speaking, he paused and added, "The child, it seems, is only three months old. Right now, they're discussing whether the child was secretly taken away by someone, or whether some animal ran upstairs to their house and carried the child away."

Three months old?

[Holy crap, how could such a young child get lost at home?]

If it really was an animal that carried the child away, I think this family needs to prepare themselves mentally. I've heard of cases before where monkeys or dogs have carried away children, and those children almost always died.

[No, a three-month-old baby should be under constant supervision by the family elders, how could the baby be taken away by someone?]

[Didn't I say the child was sleeping upstairs? Who would have thought someone would take the child away from home?]

[Didn't this family call the police? What are they still crying about? Call the police now!]

[Xu Gui! They can ask Xu Gui for help! Xu Gui can definitely find out where the child is. Xu Gui, please help them! If this family really can't find their child, it will be a huge blow to them.]

*

After listening to the reporter's account, Xu Gui roughly understood what had happened.

She rubbed her eyes, stood up and walked over there. Seeing this, the photographer quickly grabbed the camera that was lying to the side, carried it and followed. As for Yuan Lu, she naturally followed as well.

The three of them crossed the road and arrived at the other side of the street.

By this time, a large crowd had gathered around the convenience store. They were all from the street, and they were asking each other if they had seen anyone suspicious, but all of them gave negative answers.

The family of three who ran the convenience store looked increasingly gloomy. The grandfather blamed himself, the grandmother was sad, and the mother was desperate. Seeing their condition, everyone felt sorry for them and couldn't help but feel sorry for them.

"How could this happen in broad daylight?"

"That damned child trafficker, how on earth did it steal the child? Everyone, think quickly, was there anyone suspicious today? Maybe that person is the one who stole Zhou's little treasure."

"I've already called the police, and they said they'll be here soon..."

The people around were talking amongst themselves, but the child's three elders remained silent, unable to utter a word.

Xu Gui stood in the crowd and listened for a moment. Seeing the family's desperate appearance, she did some calculations and immediately frowned, her expression becoming somewhat stern.

“…I know where your child is,” she said.

As soon as she said this, the crowd that was discussing suddenly fell silent, and the next second, countless gazes fell on Xu Gui.

Standing frozen in the crowd, the mother, who seemed to have lost her soul, suddenly snapped back to reality, staring intently at Xu Gui. The next second, she lunged at Xu Gui and grabbed her arm tightly.

"Do you know where my little one is?" she asked anxiously.

Xu Gui nodded.

The woman, breathing rapidly and with tears streaming down her face, anxiously asked, "Where is she? Tell me, where is she right now? Is she alright?"

Xu Gui was about to answer when the person next to her looked at her suspiciously and questioned, "How do you know where Xiao Bao is? Did you see her being taken away? If you saw it, why didn't you speak up and stop it? Instead, you're only now coming out to play the good guy?"

The others listened and couldn't help but nod, agreeing that what the speaker said made a lot of sense.

“Xiao Bao’s mother,” someone else spoke up, “Don’t panic. Who knows if this girl is telling the truth? Your child is missing, and you don’t even know how he got lost, so how would she know where he is? Unless…”

"She's connected to the person who took the child!" the man declared emphatically. "Therefore, what she's saying now is absolutely unreliable; she might just be buying time for the traffickers!"

Xu Gui: "..."

very

Feeling the gazes falling on him change and become hostile, Xu Gui pointed to the orphanage behind him and said helplessly, "You may have misunderstood something. I am from that orphanage and have absolutely nothing to do with human traffickers."

She really is a turtle.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd looked at her, pointed at her, and said, "Ah, I remember now, you're that mentally challenged girl from the orphanage?"

"..."

【Idiot?】Xu Gui’s fans were a little confused, not understanding where this nickname came from. After all, no matter how they looked at it, Xu Gui had nothing to do with being an idiot; he seemed very clever.

Xu Gui knew why.

She used to rely solely on instinct to drive her physical "shell," and her reactions to the outside world were somewhat slow. Over time, everyone began to think she was stupid, and the term "stupid" was coined by the other children around her.

Of course, she was definitely much better than a fool back then, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to finish high school.

Xu Gui thought to himself, and couldn't help but explain his past self: "I was just a little slow to react back then, but I wasn't stupid at all..."

The person who had called her an idiot laughed awkwardly upon hearing this, and said, "I only heard it from someone else..."

"So, how did you know where her child is?" Some people still had doubts about this.

"Why do you have so many questions?" Xu Gui tilted his head and asked, "At this time, shouldn't you be more concerned about where the child is and whether she is safe?"

Everyone was speechless, and had to admit that what she said was true. Now, the most important thing was indeed where the missing person was and whether he was safe.

"...Then where is my little baby?" The child's mother asked anxiously and excitedly, gripping Xu Gui's arm so tightly that it hurt.

With tears streaming down her face, she said, "Even if, even if it's related to you that my baby was taken away, but, but as long as you tell me where my baby is, I won't pursue the matter, and I won't call the police! So, please tell me, tell me where my baby is... I'm begging you on my knees!"

After the mother finished speaking, she actually knelt down in front of Xu Gui, which startled Xu Gui so much that he took several steps back.

"I, I'll kneel down with you too!" Grandma Zhou also came over, crying as she knelt down on the ground with a thud. The sound made Xu Gui's teeth ache, and his knees even hurt a little.

Xu Gui watched this scene and felt it was absurd: So, they all think the child's disappearance is related to him? But how does he seem to have anything to do with human traffickers?

Xu Gui was somewhat angry.

"Don't kneel before me. Your child's disappearance has nothing to do with me or anyone else." Xu Gui took a step back and said to the woman, "Your child was taken away by your son."

The child's mother's tears were still streaming down her face when she heard Xu Gui's words. Her expression froze, and she stared blankly at Xu Gui, uttering a sound that seemed to come from the depths of her soul: "Huh?"

What did she just hear?

"Me, my son?"

"Yes, your son."

woman:? ? ?

"You, you must be joking with me. How could my son have secretly taken his sister away?" she said stiffly, her face showing great panic.

Xu Gui stared at her, his eyes clear and firm, and said, word by word, "I didn't lie!"

She stood there, composed and unperturbed, accepting the stares of those around her without being affected by their gazes.

“Compared to me, I think you should be more concerned about your youngest daughter… Aren’t you worried about what might happen to her if her brother takes her away?” Xu Gui said earnestly, “Your youngest daughter is in great danger right now, I mean it.”

"She will die!"

"You really can die!"

Xu Gui had foreseen it; he had foreseen the woman's daughter's untimely death... If the child couldn't be found soon, this three-year-old would truly die.

Xu Gui tried her best to express her seriousness to the child's mother, but the other woman was stunned when she heard her words. Then, after exchanging a glance with Xu Gui, she suddenly took out her phone and started calling her child—her eldest child was wearing a children's smartwatch.

The child's mother seemed to believe Xu Gui's words, but the others still felt that Xu Gui was very problematic.

"I feel like this woman is talking nonsense. What's with all this talk about the child being in danger? How does she know the child is in danger? I don't think she's stupid, she's mentally ill."

"Exactly, why did Da Bao take his little sister out? Kids his age hate children younger than themselves."

"This person might really be a liar. Otherwise, how would she know the child was taken away by Da Bao if she didn't see it? After all, who says that people from orphanages aren't liars? My relative even tricked me into joining a pyramid scheme back then."

If even your own relatives can lie to you, then what about the children in this orphanage? Who knows what she's thinking?

The onlookers were clearly still suspicious of Xu Gui; not only were their gazes towards her somewhat hostile, but their comments about her were also full of doubt.

Hearing this, Yuan Lu couldn't help but step forward, blocking Xu Gui's path, and loudly proclaimed to the others, "You've really misunderstood! The child's disappearance has absolutely nothing to do with our Teacher Xu! Our Teacher Xu was asleep the whole time. Look, do you see this machine?"

She pointed to the camera in the cameraman's hand and said, "Millions of netizens can testify that our teacher Xu was sleeping during her live stream!"

[Yes, we can testify! We saw Xu Gui sleep from 1 a.m. to 2:30 a.m.!]

[Keep your voice down. Do you think it's honorable to watch someone sleep for so long?]

[Hilarious! If someone had told me before that I could watch someone sleep for over an hour, I definitely wouldn't have believed it! Sure enough, the saying "lust bewitches the heart" is true; I was completely bewitched by turtle's good looks!]

I'm just curious, why did the son of this family take his sister away?

[Hiss, hearing this, countless tragic cases of second-child families flashed through my mind, and I suddenly had a bad feeling.]

*

Grandma Zhou couldn't help but glare at Xu Gui when she heard her words, her eyes blazing with anger as she questioned, "What do you mean by that? What do you mean by danger? Are you saying that my Da Bao would hurt his sister? Ha, that's ridiculous! How could my Da Bao possibly do that!"

She retorted angrily, "You're trying to sow discord!"

The old lady even knew the term "sowing discord."

Grandpa Zhou couldn't help but look around and ask, "By the way, where's Da Bao? I haven't seen him at all."

Upon hearing this, Grandma Zhou said nonchalantly, "He probably went out to play with his friends. Since summer vacation started, he hardly stays at home all day. In this hot weather, he's always out playing. Doesn't he worry about getting heatstroke?"

"He went out after lunch today and just came back briefly. I don't know what he took with him..."

At this point, Grandma Zhou's voice suddenly stopped, and the expression on her face stiffened.

No, that's impossible...