"Should we go look for her nearby? It's not safe for her, a woman, to be alone in the mountains!"
Jiang Wenming scratched his head. "But what if we leave here to look for her and she comes back and doesn't see us? Besides, even if we leave someone to keep watch, when she comes back, we'll have to find other people to look for her. Let's wait here for a while, and if it doesn't work, we can go down the mountain and ask the villagers to help us look."
Qiao Yu shared the same sentiment: "Liangzi, it's alright, don't worry, let's wait a bit."
He knew perfectly well what his silly brother was thinking.
Seeing this, Li Xingyue covered her mouth and chuckled, "Comrade Zhao, you're really attentive to Comrade Bai! Have you taken a liking to her? Hehehe."
Zhao Liang's steps faltered abruptly at her teasing, his entire body turning bright red. He stammered, "Don't talk nonsense! I, I didn't! Saying that is... it's bad for that woman's reputation!"
His words didn't stop Li Xingyue from teasing him; instead, they made the other two laugh as well.
Zhao Liang became increasingly embarrassed, and finally stopped talking altogether. Not wanting to keep pacing around, he simply sat down on the ground and waited.
The group had been waiting for half an hour, but no one had come. Zhao Liang couldn't sit still any longer. He got up and headed down the mountain. "Let's go find the villagers for help; they know the terrain!"
"Hey, Liangzi, wait for me!"
Qiao Yu quickly picked up his basket and followed.
Jiang Wenming and Li Xingyue followed behind, quickly descending the mountain.
After everyone had left, Bai Yajing climbed down from a tree with dense branches and leaves not far away.
She saw everything that just happened.
It seems we can rule out Zhao Liang as a suspect for now. Given his personality, it's unlikely he'd go to such lengths to stage something like this. The only possibility is that he genuinely didn't know.
He dusted off his hands and went back to guard that spot.
She didn't have to wait long before a figure crept over furtively.
After Zhao Liang and his group descended the mountain, they shouted in the village, "Comrade Bai has gone missing in the mountains! Help!"
Qiao Yu turned to the others and said, "I'm going to find the village chief and the brigade leader. You guys keep calling for help!"
"Okay, go quickly."
"Help! Someone, please help! Comrade Bai has disappeared!"
At the foot of the mountain, there were several households. The people who were cooking all put down their work and quickly grabbed their utensils and ran out.
Meanwhile, the Xiao family of three, who were in the cowshed, also heard it and were extremely anxious.
"Dad, are they saying that Comrade Xiaobai is missing? In this village, only Xiaobai and her uncle and grandfather have the surname Bai!"
Grandpa Xiao went out of the courtyard and peered out the door at the commotion over there.
Hearing this, he frowned and pondered, "Bai Jia'er is very clever. Those vegetables and melons are all fine, so she shouldn't be in trouble. Besides, she's been to this back mountain countless times since she was a child; she wouldn't easily get into trouble. Something must have happened to her."
Then he asked, "That brat and the Kang family haven't returned yet?"
Mr. Xiao had calmed down a bit by now. "Dad's right. Something must have been holding her up. A-Che and the others should be back by now. I'll go wait for them at the village entrance!"
Since it was inconvenient for them to go there, they simply waited for the others at the village entrance. This way, they could promptly notify the Kang and Bai families.
"Okay, go ahead. Tell them to come home first when they return, and have the rascal and Bai Xiaosi go to the mountains to meet them."
"good."
Although Xiao's mother was anxious, she knew that it was precisely at times like these that she couldn't afford to panic.
“Dad, Uncle Niu and the others just took their tools and went into the mountains. I’m going to call more people to come and help.”
She couldn't reveal her family's and villagers' relationships to those educated youths, but since she saw what happened to this person and helped call for help, it was still understandable.
"Go."
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