Chapter 369 Inauguration Ceremony (4)

The mayor and his entourage arrived at the village around 10 a.m. When they arrived, Tian Xin was being carried out of the scenic area exit by Liu Bo.

Tian Fushun couldn't get through to him on the phone, so he asked Li Dongmei to go out and look for him.

Li Dongmei looked around but couldn't find it.

The mayor's secretary said that time was urgent and they had other things to do in the afternoon, so the group didn't even go into the reception room and went directly to the central square for the unveiling ceremony.

This unveiling ceremony is of vital importance to Xiaowan Village.

Firstly, during the preparation process over the past few months, the county has conducted a preliminary evaluation of all villages. Xiaowan Village has been developing continuously in the past two years, and the villagers' income has increased rapidly. It has taken the lead among many villages and become the only village in Huayuan County eligible to participate in the municipal selection.

Secondly, as long as the mayor announces the opening at the unveiling ceremony, Xiaowan Village Resort will officially begin operations.

All of the resort's small shops and stores, providing essential services for food, clothing, housing, and transportation, are owned by the villagers themselves. Once open, they will generate a steady stream of income. As long as the per capita annual income reaches 20,000 yuan by the end of the year, they will meet the city's selection criteria. Once this standard is achieved, the city will recommend the resort to the provincial government. The widespread exposure will attract even more tourists, and the dried persimmon cakes, Hanfu clothing, online shops, and resort will become even more widely known. This surge in income will give Xiaowan Village a chance to receive provincial and even national promotion.

Tian Xin was responsible for all aspects of the selection process from beginning to end. Therefore, today's unveiling ceremony could only be hosted by her.

Tian Fushun couldn't find the person, so he was so anxious that he mobilized all the security guards to look for him block by block.

The mayor and his entourage have been taken to the central square. They cannot make too much noise when searching for someone and have to do it quietly.

He asked Li Dongmei to broadcast a notice to all merchants to stop all activities and officially resume business after the opening ceremony.

Another newly arrived college-educated village official was arranged to serve as the host, and the mayors and county heads were allowed to speak first to buy time to find someone.

The scenic area’s broadcasts are well-connected, and all entertainment facilities will stop immediately upon hearing the notice.

Tourists gathered in the central square and scrambled to get in front of the safety warning signs, hoping to have a chance to catch a glimpse of the mayor.

Zhang Shuai and Li Jing were among them, along with Gao Wen and her husband, who had just reunited.

The ceremony was tense, solemn and orderly.

First the mayor spoke.

"Hello, fellow villagers—"

The mayor began to talk incessantly in his slangy Mandarin.

It starts from the tombs of the Five Emperors of Yan and Huang and ends with the unification of the six kingdoms by Qin Shi Huang; it then moves on to the ruins of the Han Dynasty and the Kaiyuan Period of Prosperity; and finally it returns to Jiangjun Mountain, where it talks about the outstanding people and simple folk customs of Xiaowan Village.

Li Jing became annoyed and turned around to leave.

Zhang Shuai was so distracted by what had just happened that he didn't notice Tian Xin wasn't on stage. Seeing Li Jing trying to leave, he quickly grabbed her and said, "Hey, where are you going?"

"Don't worry about it!" Li Jing pushed him away and squeezed out of the crowd.

"What happened just now was a pure misunderstanding. I didn't mean to do anything to you, so don't overthink it." Zhang Shuai chased after her and grabbed her again, warning her, "And don't tell the boss, or she'll think too much."

"So you chased me here just to tell me this?" Li Jing turned around, looked at him with amusement, and said disdainfully: "Who do you take me, Li Jing? A nosy woman? It's just a kiss, what's the big deal? Do I need to spread it everywhere? Besides..."

She suddenly approached Zhang Shuai, stretched out a hand to pinch his chin, and whispered, "Even if I like you, if you insist on being Tian Xin's backup, then I don't care. I, Li Jing, am open and clear about who I like. If you look down on me, it only shows that you are blind."

After saying that, she let go and walked away with big strides.

Zhang Shuai was shocked by her sudden confession. He stood there stupidly, at a loss, and as stiff as a stone statue.

After being stunned for a while, he saw Li Jing was about to go out, so he hurriedly chased after her.

The mayor hadn't finished his speech yet, and he was still talking at length.

On the other side, the security team looking for Tian Xin had turned the entire resort upside down but still couldn't find her.

Tian Fushun was more anxious than an ant on a hot pan, and he wanted to go look for her himself. But he couldn't leave, so he could only keep looking around the stage, hoping to see Tian Xin suddenly appear.

Tian Xin did not show up.

But when he took a casual glance, he unexpectedly saw many entrepreneurs sitting aside waiting for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, including Lin Zhou.

He immediately went over and patted him.

Lin Zhou had the same frown on his face as him, and was fiddling with his phone, seemingly sending a text message.

"Lin Zhou, have you seen Xinxin today?" He leaned close to Lin Zhou's ear and asked in a low voice.

Lin Zhou looked up and saw it was him, and immediately prepared to stand up. He pressed his shoulders and made him sit down, saying, "Don't stand up, sit down and talk. Have you seen Xinxin just now?"

"You mean, Tian Xin?"

"Yes, did you see her just now? I don't know where this girl ran off to. She said a reporter was coming, but she didn't come back for a long time, and her phone was unreachable."

"What happened? You mean, she's missing?"

Lin Zhou screamed in shock, jumped up from the stool and was about to walk out.

The people around him were startled by his voice and turned their heads to look at the two of them.

Tian Fushun smiled and waved to everyone, then pulled Lin Zhou to sit down.

"Don't worry." Tian Fushun lowered his voice and leaned close to him and said, "We've asked the security team to look for her. Didn't you see her this morning?"

Lin Zhou shook his head and whispered to him, "I'll go find her." Then he got up and left.

The central square is located in the heart of the resort.

If you start from here to look for someone, there are many ways to go and the distance in each direction is about the same.

But at this time the square was packed with people and the roads were blocked. If you wanted to go in any direction you had to squeeze through the crowd first.

Lin Zhou squeezed for a long time before he got out. He first called Li Jing, Lin Hai and Gao Cheng, and then hurried to the nearest Hanfu Street.

There are not many people on Hanfu Street. Apart from the shop owners and a small number of tourists trying on clothes, the rest is empty.

He kept going in and out, shuttling between every store. For some reason, his eyelids twitched violently the whole way, and he always felt that something was going to happen.

At that time, he received a text message from the person who had been responsible for monitoring Liu Bo's whereabouts, saying that the guy had disappeared after leaving the casino this morning. They chased him for a long time, but finally found that he had returned home, so they stopped chasing him.

Unexpectedly, because of this carelessness, Tian Xin disappeared.

He couldn't help but connect the two things together, thinking about the possibility and probability of such a thing happening. At the same time, he called Lin Hai again.

After running around all the stores on Hanfu Street, Tian Xin still didn't show up.

Inside, he ran into Zhang Ying and Li Xiaoyan, who owned the largest shop, with a very elaborately decorated one.

When they heard him say he was looking for Tian Xin, the two said that Tian Xin called them early in the morning and said that she was too busy to come today. She also specifically asked them to maintain order in each family today and not to cause any more trouble.

Lin Zhou quickly went to another street.

The three people who received his call also split up and went in different directions.

Lin Hai had been waiting in the car for Lin Zhou, originally planning to leave after the ceremony. The parking lot was outside the scenic area, so he looked for one in the village.

Gao Wen was not able to move around easily, so Gao Cheng asked Li Jing to take care of her while he and Zhang Shuai went to the specialty street and persimmon orchard separately. These two places were close to the village committee reception room and were also where Tian Xin often went.

Zhang Shuai kept looking for him and scolding himself, regretting it to death.

Damn, he's really asking for death.

Why are you chasing Li Jing for no reason?

Knowing what day it is today, you still let the boss run around alone.

What if...

"Asshole, what are you thinking?" He slapped himself again, frantically searching everywhere while comforting himself: "No, no, that bastard is being watched by Lin Zhou's men, so he shouldn't be able to come here. Besides, even if he came, the security guard at the door has warned him not to let him in. Even if the boss saw him, there are so many people in the scenic area, and he wouldn't dare to do anything with just a shout."

His self-consolation hit the mark.

Liu Bo really didn't dare to do anything wrong, it was another person who did it.

Just when everyone was looking for Tian Xin and was about to call the police, the security guard at the entrance of the scenic area called Tian Fushun and said that Tian Xin had returned alone...