Ye Xiaoxiao got up to cook as soon as it was light.
"Wife, you don't need to do my work anymore. I'm going to help Dad and the others harvest wheat. It'll be finished in a couple of days. Someone will bring us food from the fields."
Li Chenyang washed his face and informed Ye Xiaoxiao.
"Then you go ahead. Have Lao Wu and Yan Ni come over later to eat here. I'm going to buy some goods today."
She's going to the county to buy goods today, so she needs to make arrangements at home.
The two children arrived shortly after. Li Chenhao is almost nine months old now and can crawl very fast on the ground.
He gets covered in mud every day, looking like a mud monkey.
"Fifth brother, you watch the shop today. If anyone comes to repair a car, tell them to leave it there for now. Your brother will fix it when he gets back," Ye Xiaoxiao said while tidying up her basket.
The fifth brother nodded: "Don't worry, sister-in-law."
Ye Xiaoxiao then called Li Yanni over:
"Yanni, could you watch Hao Hao for me today? If he cries, hold him; if he's hungry, give him formula. I've prepared it all for you."
"Okay, sister-in-law." Li Yanni is already nine years old, and she usually takes care of the children when there are no other kids around. "Don't worry, go ahead."
After explaining everything, Ye Xiaoxiao got on her bicycle and headed to the county town.
Since opening her small shop, she can now ride her bike very skillfully and can get to the county town in an hour.
Seeing Ye Xiaoxiao ride away on her bike, Ma Yanling immediately came over and bought a pink hair accessory.
"Where did your sister-in-law go today? She went out on her bike so early."
"My sister-in-law went to buy supplies," the fifth brother said truthfully.
Upon arriving at the supply and marketing cooperative, Director Zhang warmly received her:
"Sister Ye, you've come at the perfect time. A new batch of goods just arrived a couple of days ago."
Ye Xiaoxiao followed Director Zhang into the warehouse and started picking through the items. Candy and biscuits were essentials, along with some daily necessities.
She also plans to stock up on some spare parts, which Li Chenyang will need for car repairs.
It's summer, and there's even soft drink available.
Ye Xiaoxiao couldn't carry many on her bicycle; she only took one basket of 20 bottles, planning to try it out when she got back to see if anyone wanted to drink them.
After a busy morning, she finally finished loading all the goods. Ye Xiaoxiao rode her bicycle back home, feeling uneasy and wanting to get home as soon as possible to see her child.
It was almost noon when I got home. I only saw Lao Wu sitting in the shop, reading a book and minding the shop.
"Where's Yanni?"
"My third sister-in-law came over just now, took the child away, and told Yanni to go to the fields to deliver water. They've all gone there."
Ye Xiaoxiao frowned upon hearing this. She always had a bad feeling whenever Sun Xiuju was involved.
There are still those two mischievous kids, the sixth and seventh sons, at home. They wouldn't let them deliver water, but they insisted on running all the way to find Yanni. They even took the child away.
Ye Xiaoxiao put the goods inside, said goodbye to Lao Wu, and left. She felt a little uneasy.
As soon as I entered, I saw Li Yanni standing there in a daze.
"Where's Hao Hao?" Ye Xiaoxiao asked.
"Huh?" Li Yanni was startled.
"My third sister-in-law asked me to deliver water to the fields, but when I came back, Hao Hao was gone. Oh... Sister-in-law, I've been looking for him for ages, Hao Hao is nowhere to be found!"
"What?!" Ye Xiaoxiao's legs went weak. "Where's your third sister-in-law?"
"Third Sister-in-law said he went to the fields to look for Mom and Dad, and they're coming back to look for Hao Hao. Sister-in-law, Hao Hao is missing..."
Li Yanni was so scared that all she could do was cry. She was crying so hard she looked like she was about to pass out.
Ye Xiaoxiao didn't have time to comfort Li Yanni. She went out and looked around, not knowing where to look for the child, so she immediately headed west. After walking a few steps, she saw that the Li family had all returned, all looking anxious.
Ye Xiaoxiao spotted Sun Xiuju immediately and rushed over, grabbing her by the collar.
Where did you take my child?
Sun Xiuju's eyes darted around, and she stammered:
"She was playing under the tree in the backyard. I went inside to get something, and when I came out, she was gone."
"What?!" Ye Xiaoxiao felt dizzy. "You...you want my child back?"
Sun Xiuju looked completely innocent:
"I don't know either. This child can crawl and walk; maybe he's gone off to play somewhere."
Ye Xiaoxiao laughed in anger upon hearing this, and slapped Sun Xiuju across the face:
"He's so young, where could he possibly go to play?"
Just then, Li Chenhui returned from the fields and saw his sister-in-law hitting Sun Xiuju. He looked displeased and asked, "What happened?"
Ye Xiaoxiao cried, "Your wife lost my Hao Hao!"
Li Chenhui immediately panicked upon hearing this: "Haohao is missing? Xiuju, what happened?"
Sun Xiuju stammered, "I...I just went inside to get something, and when I came out, the child was gone..."
Just then, Li Chenyang returned from town. Upon hearing that the child was missing, he immediately tried to beat Sun Xiuju.
"Tell me, where did you take my son?" Li Chenyang's eyes were red.
When Li Jianguo heard about it, he was furious. He told them to stop arguing and immediately organized a search party. The whole village mobilized, searching house by house.
"Haohao!"
"Haohao!"
The shouts echoed throughout the entire village. Everyone was sweating profusely with anxiety.
Ye Xiaoxiao followed the crowd, searching everywhere, tears streaming down her face.
Her Hao Hao is only eight months old and has just learned to crawl. How could he possibly run far away by himself?
"Honey, don't worry," Li Chenyang comforted her. "We'll definitely find it."
They searched all afternoon, but still found nothing. As darkness fell, the village chief told everyone to light torches and continue the search.
"Do you think they might be human traffickers?" someone said.
"That's right, I heard these past few days that a child went missing in the next village."
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