Chapter 13 Thirteen

Summer vacation officially began, and Yunyun went to City A with Ren Yanyu.

Before leaving, they had dinner at Renyi and Ruan Mianmian's house.

Ruan Mianmian hadn't seen her for a long time, so she pulled her aside in the kitchen and talked for a while. She felt a chill down her spine.

"Auntie Xiao Xuan, how do you draw a cat's mouth?" Ren Yunyou asked, holding his sketchbook and nudging Li Xuanyin, who was lost in thought.

Li Xuanyin snapped out of his reverie, picked up his paintbrush and casually sketched a few lines, and a kitten catching a butterfly leaped onto the paper.

"Are you really not coming back to City A with me?" Ren Yanyu invited them again.

"No, thank you." He casually poured the chilled juice into the sparkling water. "I can avoid it for now."

As the bubbles burst open, Ren Yanyu poured herself a glass and added a few ice cubes.

"If anything happens, remember to contact me."

This was the first time Ren Yunyou had left her mother's side. Ren Yi and Ruan Mianmian were worried that she would miss her, but Yunyou was even more carefree than her mother.

"Mommy, Mommy, I'll miss you." Ren Yunyou hugged Renyi and Ruan Mianmian and kissed them each, then followed his aunt and Aunt Xiaoxuan without looking back.

Only the two of them were left at home; the mother was kept at home by her husband.

The two did not engage in any intimate behavior, not even kissing.

Ruan Mianmian wasn't in a hurry. She followed Ren Yi like a little puppy, going wherever Ren Yi went.

She laid everything bare to Renyi, which lightened her burden considerably.

But fearing that those people would come knocking on her door again, Ruan Mianmian still rarely went out. Sometimes, when she was really bored, she would choose to go out at night to go shopping in crowded malls.

I arbitrarily compiled what happened into a text and asked friends who were involved, but the answers I received were not very satisfactory.

Those people's behavior has not yet reached a particularly egregious level.

Disciplinary measures in rules and regulations are only effective for those who understand and respect them.

For those people, it's better than nothing.

We still have to figure it out ourselves.

"Have they come looking for you before?"

"No."

"They haven't shown up for so many years, and then suddenly they come knocking on my door this year... something must have happened." He picked up a piece of paper at random, intending to sort out his thoughts.

She wrote down the relationships between the relevant people on a piece of paper.

Does my second or third uncle suddenly fall seriously ill and need money?

Ruan Mianmian denied this conjecture, saying they looked very healthy.

Is there something at home that needs money to settle?

Ruan Mianmian had never known about the situation there. When she asked Qiao Jianing, Qiao Jianing didn't know much either, only that her father had remarried and apparently had another child.

“I’ll go over there and see if I can find out anything,” Renyi said.

She wanted to go back to Ruan Mianmian's father's hometown to investigate everything.

"It's too dangerous," Ruan Mianmian tried to stop her.

It was a very remote mountain village. You had to walk a long, muddy mountain path and pass through several dark bamboo groves to find those houses.

The nearest town is almost 20 kilometers away.

“Xiao Zhang from the neighborhood office has a senior from my university who lives there. I’ll contact her when I get there.”

"Then I'll go with you."

She knew that Renyi didn't intend for her to go with them, since all those relatives knew her.

"I want to go with you." Ruan Mianmian squatted down in front of Ren Yi, took her hand and pleaded with her.

Knowing that your loved one may be in danger but having no choice but to wait for news from her is an agonizing experience.

Swallow your refusal and nod.

Getting there requires taking a high-speed train for over an hour, then transferring to a bus, and finally a village bus.

A colleague who had worked with Xiao Zhang from the neighborhood office was waiting for the two of them there.

"Hello, my surname is Wang." She was dressed casually and politely extended her hand to the two of them. "You can call me Lao Wang."

"I've heard some general information from Xiao Zhang, but we can discuss the details later."

She took the two to the best hotel in town, checked the door locks for them, and reminded the hotel owner to keep an eye on any visitors recently.

Seeing that Ruan Mianmian was feeling unwell due to motion sickness, Lao Wang packed some food for them and took it directly to their room.

"Have you seen him before?" After the two finished their meal, Old Wang showed them a photograph.

He was a boy who looked like a high school student.

Ruan Mianmian shook her head in denial.

“At the end of last year, a heinous crime occurred at the town's middle school. He was one of the suspects, but he's still at large.” Old Wang swiped to the next picture and handed it to Ruan Mianmian. “And what about him?”

"He is my second uncle's son."

"He is the suspect's father."

"They have repeatedly asked you for money, perhaps to raise funds for the suspect's escape."

"I heard from Xiao Zhang that you have preserved video evidence. Can I see it now?"

The person in the video was Uncle San. After thinking for a long time, Lao Wang told the two of them to rest first, and that he would tell them anything that happened.

The next morning, Ren Yi woke up first, while Ruan Mianmian snuggled into her blanket in the middle of the night and slept soundly.

The sounds of vendors calling out their wares drifted from the nearby farmers' market. After a quick wash, I prepared to buy breakfast.

"Big white steamed buns are one yuan each! Small red bean paste steamed buns are two yuan for five!"

"Fresh braised pork buns, five yuan a basket, six in a basket!"

The shop owners and vendors enthusiastically called out their wares, and people stopped at the noodle stalls at will, wanting to eat a bowl of vegetarian noodles.

"Eat a bowl of vegetarian noodles here, and take a bowl of beef noodles to go."

"Okay, just a moment, it will be ready soon."

She casually found a place to sit down when Ruan Mianmian called, asking where she was.

"I'm buying breakfast, don't worry." Ren Yi unconsciously softened his tone.

"You need to come back soon."

"Okay, I understand."

The shop owner brought her a steaming bowl of noodles and a cup of soy milk.

Another customer sat down at the noodle stall.

He was wearing a hat and hadn't ordered anything. When the owner saw him, he obsequiously went up to greet him.

"Long time no see, Brother Tian. Still the same big bowl of noodles with minced meat sauce?"

She glanced up at him.

It looks somewhat familiar.