Chapter 75
Just as the three of them were talking together, another car turned in from the winding mountain road. The dazzling light shone on the faces of the three people, and the seriousness and worry on them were immediately exposed.
The driver said "Huh", first waved his hand to signal Luo Jingyao and the others to wait under the eaves, and then rushed into the rain.
"Achao, what were you doing outside just now?" He greeted one of them in the local dialect, probably meeting an acquaintance.
The man called Ah Chao was a lean-looking man in his thirties, with dark skin and a buzz cut. Unprotected from the rain, he was completely soaked.
The rain kept dripping down his hair, making it difficult for him to even open his eyes.
The driver clearly didn't have the composure of the other three. As soon as he asked, he hurriedly dragged them back under the eaves and pressed, "What did you just say?"
Ah Chao raised his hand to wipe the water off his face and responded casually: "A child is lost!"
"Whose kid is it?"
"He's the kid we rescued! He's been living here for over ten days, and suddenly he's gone when I woke up this morning!" Ah Chao's face was filled with worry. He turned to look at the man in the raincoat, "Why don't we call the police, Brother Li?"
"This kind of situation has happened before. You know these kids. Basically, they don't want to stay here and run away. It's difficult for us to call the police to find them and then run away again." The man in the raincoat, Brother Li, had a helpless tone.
"And this kid has family. We've already contacted them, but they haven't come to pick him up yet."
The implication of his words was that he suspected the child had secretly run back home.
"With this horrible weather today, if the kid really gets lost and runs into the mountains, he might get killed!" Achao was still worried.
"Okay, okay, let's send someone out to look for it." Brother Li compromised, turned around and went into the second floor to call for help.
The driver looked at Ah Chao and said comfortingly, "It's probably just like Brother Li said. The person didn't want to stay and ran away. After I send the two ladies to the Huaxijian B&B upstairs, I will come down and help you look for them."
Following the driver's gaze, Achao also looked at Luo Jingyao and the others, and nodded politely.
Luo Jingyao waved her hand awkwardly in response. After thinking for a moment, she pulled the shop assistant closer as if they were familiar with each other. "Excuse me, I just overheard something. Is it really true that we don't need to call the police for something as serious as a missing child?"
With a heavy sigh, Ah Chao explained, "Aren't there two temples on Black Wind Mountain? Many years ago, many people started abandoning their babies here. The scenic area couldn't do anything about it, so they called the police. If the police could find the family, they would send the child back. If they couldn't find the child, they would contact the orphanage and send the child to the family."
"Sometimes the welfare home is really full, so our association will take the initiative to take some of the children in and let them stay temporarily. These children are very difficult to deal with. They often want to run away to find their parents. After a long time, even calling the police is useless. So we will try to find them first, and then ask the police for help if we can't find them."
“Basically, they can all be found.”
Luo Jingyao moved her lips and wanted to ask if this would not miss the best time to find someone, but then she felt that she was a little ignorant of the sufferings of the world.
There is not enough police force at the grassroots level. From what Achao said, private charitable organizations like theirs really have little control over the rescued people. Children often run away, so the police have a headache just helping to find people every day, let alone maintaining public order.
Besides, organizations like theirs already have the corresponding search and rescue qualifications, and sometimes they even help the police. They are quite professional in this regard.
"What does the lost child look like? Aren't we going to the B&B? What if he ends up there? If we see him, we can contact you in time." She came to her senses and found a perfect excuse.
"About this height." Ah Chao gestured at his chest: "It's a boy, and his hair is quite long."
After talking for a long time, the image of the lost child was still very abstract. Finally, he seemed to remember something and took out his mobile phone and found a photo.
It was a group photo. Ah Chao pointed at one of the children beside him and said, "That's him. Please keep an eye on him."
Luo Jingyao took a closer look and found that this little boy was not the same as the little boy she had seen at the crime scene earlier. The missing boy looked older, and his eyes, which were mostly covered by his hair, were filled with a strong sense of defiance.
She responded softly, unable to tell whether she was relieved or disappointed in her heart.
Fortunately, what she saw seemed to be a simple case of rescuing a missing child, but she was disappointed that she didn't know where the child she saw was.
After saying goodbye to Achao and others, the driver took them on the winding mountain road to the B&B again.
The rain is indeed lighter now than before, and most importantly, the fog in the mountains is gradually dissipating. With the clear vision, the car speed has also increased.
More than ten minutes later, the van arrived at Huaxijian B&B smoothly.
Everywhere you look around here, you can see neon signs, and various homestays and farmhouses are next to each other, which is a rare sense of home in the mountains.
After bidding farewell to the driver, Luo Jingyao and the shop assistant carried their luggage and walked towards the small building with the words "Hua Xijian" hanging on it.
The layout of the first floor is like that of an ordinary house. When you enter, you see a living room, but in addition to the sofa, there is also a small bar.
Probably having heard the noise, the woman sitting on the sofa stood up and came over with a warm smile on her face: "Ms. Luo, right? I knew that cars would drive slower in this weather, so I didn't call you to hurry you up."
"Oh, you're all wet! Come on, wipe it with a towel." The proprietress was middle-aged, with traces of time on her eyebrows and eyes. She hurriedly turned around and took out two towels from the disinfection cabinet beside her.
"The room you booked is at the back, and it will take you two or three minutes to walk there!" As the proprietress spoke, she took out two umbrellas from behind the bar and handed them over.
Luo Jingyao thanked the shop assistant and followed the proprietress out of the back door. They were greeted by a deep stone staircase.
After walking up the stairs for a while, I finally arrived outside a two-story building.
The proprietress casually pushed open the small wooden gate and took out a room card from her trouser pocket. "Turn on the electricity before entering the room. Tell me what you want to eat tomorrow. The room is fully equipped. If you bring your own ingredients, you can cook it yourself."
"Go down the steps you came in, turn left at the fork in the road, and walk a few hundred meters. You'll see the camping and barbecue area. There's a stream over there, which is great for taking photos."
After explaining all the precautions clearly and making sure nothing was missed, the proprietress left with an umbrella.
It is said to be a mountain view villa, but in fact it is just a private house with a rather unique appearance. The area is not very large, with the upstairs and downstairs together only about 70 or 80 square meters.
There are two bedrooms upstairs and a living room and kitchen downstairs.
Luo Jingyao and the other two were really tired today. They quickly ate some instant noodles, washed up, and went to bed.
A dreamless night.
The next day, Luo Jingyao was awakened by the sound of birds singing outside the window. When she got up, the room next door was still quiet, so she tiptoed downstairs and came to the small courtyard overgrown with weeds.
The air in the mountains is especially fresh after the rain. Although it is late autumn, the yellow and green scenery is still poetic.
After doing a set of boxing and stretching a little, when Luo Jingyao returned to the house, the shop assistant also woke up with sleepy eyes.
The two of them ate some bread and milk, packed up and went out.
First, they took a lot of photos in the mountains, and then Luo Jingyao went to find the boss's wife to pick up the barbecue ingredients and tools that she had ordered yesterday, a whole cart full of things.
The two of them pulled the cart and followed the route given by the proprietress to the campsite by the stream.
Not long after they walked, they heard the sound of gurgling water ahead. When they walked out of the forest path, the view in front of them suddenly became clear.
The camping area was filled with lively voices. Luo Jingyao had not expected that there would be so many people here on a weekday.
She and the shop assistant dragged the cart to a spot under the shade of a tree, set up the barbecue grill, and lit the charcoal fire.
The little girl was so excited that after making sure she didn't need help, she ran to the stream and started taking beautiful selfies.
After putting the lit charcoal fire into the stove, Luo Jingyao placed the lamb skewers on the stove one by one. The skewers began to sizzle, and soon the tempting meat aroma was emitted.
The waitress soon came back after smelling the food, and while drooling, she helped sprinkle various seasonings on the skewers.
The two of them hadn't had a proper meal since yesterday, and in just a few minutes, they had finished dozens of skewers of meat.
At least they had some food in their stomachs, and they felt a little more relaxed. They took out two bottles of Coke from the cart and clinked their glasses with each other.
However, just when Luo Jingyao squinted her eyes and sighed that the world was still beautiful, there was a commotion not far away, and many people dropped the things in their hands and ran forward.
She craned her neck suspiciously and looked over there.
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