Chapter 045 Found
"Please help me find Xiaobei, Public Security Bureau comrade. If you can't find Xiaobei, I won't live anymore!"
"Comrade Public Security, you have to help me find my Lily first. My Lily is still a girl. Comrade, I beg you!"
The two parents surrounded the police officer on duty, crying and shouting from both sides. The officer was overwhelmed. He swallowed hard, gathered his composure, and said, "Comrade, comrades, don't get excited. Calm down. Calm down. Don't worry, we will help find your children. I'll call our captain back. Please wait a moment."
The child was missing, which was a big deal. A newly-employed police officer like him really couldn't handle it, so he quickly went into the office and called someone.
Instead, another police officer on duty brought two glasses of water to comfort the parents of both families. Shi Yue stood beside Ma Yulan and also joined in the comfort.
"Auntie Ma, don't worry. We've already been to the Public Security Bureau. They will definitely help you find your child. Your Xiaobei will definitely be fine..."
The neighbors who had come with him also advised, "That's right, Old Ma, don't worry about it. Don't get sick from worrying before you even find the child."
"Yes, Lao Ma, drink some water. You've been running all afternoon and you haven't even had a sip of water."
"Yes, Mom, please drink some water first..."
Everyone tried to persuade her, but Ma Yulan, who was worried about Niu Xiaobei's safety, didn't listen to a word. She held the water cup with a frown on her face, her face full of anxiety.
Soon, a man walked in from the gate of the Public Security Bureau. He strode up to Shi Yue, and Shi Yue realized that it was Captain Xu.
Captain Xu saw Shi Yue and nodded and greeted him: "Hey, Shi Yue."
Shi Yue nodded at him, "Hey, Captain Xu."
Captain Xu skipped the pleasantries and asked directly, "I heard a child is missing? What happened?"
Shi Yue: "Captain Xu, this is what happened. The family that lost their child is our neighbor, this one." He pointed at Ma Yulan and said, "This lady is the child's relative. Let her tell you."
Ma Yulan knew that Captain Xu was capable of handling the situation, so she cried and held Captain Xu's hand, saying, "Comrade, my child is missing. He left home this morning and hasn't come back yet..."
Seeing this, another parent came over and grabbed Captain Xu's arm. "Comrade, my child is missing too. She went to school this morning with her schoolbag on her back, but she didn't come back home after school that evening. Her father and I went to the school to look for her, only to find out she hadn't been there at all..."
Captain Xu: "Okay, both of you calm down. I'm going to ask you some questions. First, what are your children's names, what school do they attend, how old are they, and where were they last seen..."
Captain Xu questioned the families of both families and found out that both children were senior high school students at the nearby No. 2 Middle School, but they were not in the same class, so the parents did not know each other.
By this time, he had already sensed something was amiss. When he first arrived, he'd assumed it was another case of human traffickers. However, these two children were already in their third year of high school, about seventeen or eighteen years old. Traffickers generally wouldn't kidnap children this young. Furthermore, the two students, a boy and a girl, had disappeared together, so he instinctively felt the disappearances of these two children were connected.
What's more, according to parents on both sides, the last place the children appeared was a bus stop near their home, which further increased Captain Xu's suspicion.
Could it be that these two children had agreed to run away from home?
Captain Xu thought so in his heart and asked this question.
As soon as Captain Xu finished speaking, the other parent became anxious, especially the mother. She pointed at Captain Xu's nose and said, "What do you mean? Are you saying that my daughter ran away from home with her son? That's impossible. My daughter is very well-behaved and has been a three-good student in school every year. She would never do such a thing. Don't even think about slandering my daughter!"
Ma Yulan and Niu Xiaodong's faces were also full of dissatisfaction. To put it nicely, the two children ran away from home, but to put it bluntly, two children, a boy and a girl, didn't it elope? Her children would definitely not do such a thing as elopement!
Niu Xiaodong said in a muffled voice, "Our Xiaobei is also a good kid. His grades have always been in the top ten in his grade. He definitely wouldn't run away from home with someone else!"
"Well……"
Captain Xu hadn't expected the two parents to react so strongly to this incident. He remained silent for a moment, but decided not to offend them. Instead, he called the police officer on duty and instructed him, "Go to the bus station and ask the bus drivers there if they have any impression of these two children."
Then he said to Fang Xiaoke who had come running up behind him, "Disciple, let's split up. You and Xiao Zhang will go to the house of the missing child in Shi Yue's courtyard to look for clues, and I'll take Xiao Li to Zhao Li's house."
Zhao Li is the name of another lost child.
Fang Xiaoke nodded and quickly followed Shi Yue back to the compound. She took Xiao Zhang to Ma Yulan's house. Ma Yulan's house had four spacious main rooms. Ma Yulan and Old Niutou lived in one, Niu Xiaodong lived in another with his wife and children. There was also a living room, and the remaining room was divided into two small rooms, which served as bedrooms for Niu Xiaoxi and Niu Xiaobei.
Fang Xiaoke and Public Security Officer Xiao Zhang searched Niu Xiaobei's bedroom carefully and soon found a thick stack of letters in the locked drawer under Niu Xiaobei's desk.
Ma Yulan looked at the scene in surprise. She didn't know that her child had hidden so many letters in the drawer. She took a step forward and wanted to snatch the letters, but considering Fang Xiaoke's identity as a public security officer, she still couldn't do it.
Fang Xiaoke didn't notice Ma Yulan's actions. She looked at the stack of letters carefully. There was no signature, address or stamp on the outside of the envelope. It was obvious that they were not sent from the post office, but were handed directly to Niu Xiaobei by the other party.
These letters were all opened, which made things easier for Fang Xiaoke. She opened a letter, took out the letter paper, and immediately noticed the signature at the bottom of the letter paper - Zhao Li.
Her master was right, these two children were indeed related!
She patiently read the contents of the letter carefully. She looked at each page one by one, and the expression on her face kept changing. Sometimes her eyebrows were twisted into a knot, and sometimes she pouted in disgust.
The others present couldn't help but get nervous as they watched Fang Xiaoke's expression change. What on earth could be written on this piece of paper? The most nervous, of course, was Ma Yulan. Her heart was in a knot as she peered curiously, wondering if these letters would contain any information that would help them find Niu Xiaobei.
After a long while, Fang Xiaoke finally finished reading all the letters. She let out a long sigh, handed one of the letters to Niu Xiaodong, and said, "I found it! It says on this piece of paper that Niu Xiaobei and Zhao Li have made an appointment to go to Tanzhe Temple to burn incense and pray for success in their studies!"
Being able to find clues about the two missing children made all the effort she put into reading through that pile of sour and disgusting letters worthwhile!
Thinking of the cheesy words in the letter, Fang Xiaoke got goosebumps. Kids nowadays are really amazing. They are in love before they even graduate from high school. She has been working for two years and still has no boyfriend.
Niu Xiaodong took the letter, and before he could react to what Fang Xiaoke meant, he saw what was written on it: "Xiaobei, I don't want to be separated from you, not even for a second. We must go to the same university, okay?" "Xiaobei, I love you so much. Being separated by a classroom is the farthest distance I can tolerate from you. I can't imagine what would happen to me if we were separated."
His old face turned red. Oh my God, these words are too disgusting. He doesn’t even talk to his wife in such a disgusting way.
He sheepishly handed the letter to Ma Yulan, trying to calm the blush on his face, and said seriously, "I left this morning. Even though Tanzhe Temple is in the mountains west of the city, they took the bus there, so they should be back by now."
"That's right. It's already dark now, and they haven't come back yet. Something must have happened. Let's quickly look over there."
"Well, that's not necessarily true. There are only a few buses in the west of the city, only two a day. Maybe the child just missed the bus back home!"
"We have to go find them. The west side of the city is full of mountains. If they can't catch the bus, it will be very dangerous to walk on the road at night!"
"Yes, there might be wolves on that mountain!"
Hearing what everyone said, Ma Yulan's face turned pale. She didn't even have time to read the contents of the letter handed to her, let alone think about why Niu Xiaobei would make an appointment with Zhao Li to skip school and go to Tanzhe Temple to burn incense. She was in a hurry to rush to Tanzhe Temple.
Shi Yue stopped her and said, "Auntie Ma, all the buses to the west city have stopped running. Are you going to walk there?"
Ma Yulan was extremely anxious: "What should I do, I..."
Fang Xiaoke: "Don't worry, Auntie. We have a car at the Public Security Bureau. Come with me to the Public Security Bureau and take our car."
Ma Yulan: "Okay, okay, let's go..."
Everyone rushed to the Public Security Bureau. When they arrived at the bureau, Xiao Wang who went to the bus station to investigate and Captain Xu who went to Zhao Li's home to investigate had also returned. When they met and summarized the information they had, they learned that Niu Xiaobei and Zhao Li had indeed gone to Tanzhe Temple.
Because they were two students in school uniforms, the conductor on the bus remembered clearly that the bus they took in the morning was No. 21 bus heading to Tanzhe Temple, and they did get off the bus at Tanzhe Temple.
At this point, they were completely certain that the two children had gone to Tanzhe Temple during the day. Everyone quickly got on the Public Security Bureau's van and headed to Tanzhe Temple.
Shi Yue got into the van with the neighbors in the compound. This was mainly because they were not sure what had happened to the two children and why they hadn't returned, so they wanted to bring more people with them in case they needed to look for the children later.
The van accelerated at full speed and rushed to the west of the city. It drove out of the city and into the mountains. Everyone saw that the road under their feet had changed from an asphalt road to a mountain road, and the houses on both sides of the road had turned into dark mountains. Everyone's spirits were tense, and their eyes were fixed on both sides of the road, for fear of missing the figures of Niu Xiaobei and Zhao Li.
Suddenly, Shi Yue, who was sitting in the passenger seat, pointed to the front and shouted, "Hey! Is that Xiaobei?"
Everyone looked up and looked ahead, and saw that not far away, illuminated by the car lights, Niu Xiaobei was protecting a strange girl and confronting two strong men.
Ma Yulan stared: "Yes! This is my Xiaobei!"
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