Chapter 009 Playing Hide and Seek

The noisy crowd around suddenly quieted down, and everyone looked at the woman who had lost her child. The woman was wearing pajamas, and it seemed that she had just run out after receiving the news, and she didn't even have time to change her clothes.

When Weng Xuhua heard the woman say this, he quickly asked her to sit down and said, "Don't worry, tell me what happened slowly."

The woman had no time to sit down. She grabbed Bai Mian's hand and said anxiously, "Master, my child is seven years old this year, a boy. This afternoon, after I sent him to school, he disappeared. Can't you take a pulse? Please take my pulse and find out where he is!"

An old lady stepped forward and reminded the woman: "Who can understand you if you say that? What about going to school and what about disappearing? You'd better calm down and make your words clear. This will save the master's time."

The woman nodded, took a few deep breaths, and spoke again: "My name is Xu Lian, I'm a housewife. My son is Huang Ziyi, and he goes to the No. 1 Primary School in Qingshui Town. This afternoon, I sent him to the school gate as usual, watched him enter the school, and then I went home. In the afternoon, when I was doing housework at home, I suddenly received a call from my son's class teacher, who said that my son did not go to school in the afternoon."

"I was so frightened that my mind went blank. I ran out without even changing my clothes. The child's father is a construction worker. Because of work, he often can't go home for a month, so he left the child to me to take care of. I haven't dared to tell the child's father about this yet. If he knew such a big thing happened, I don't know how he would blame me!"

"I have already reported the incident to the police station, and the police have also gone to look for people around the school. My neighbor's old lady said that you are very accurate in fortune-telling, so I came to find you. I thought, at this critical moment, I have to try any method!"

The crowd eating melons were all in an uproar, and began to talk among themselves.

"No way, it's just a short distance from the school gate to the classroom door, how could he get lost?"

"There are security guards at the school gate, so bad guys definitely can't get in. I guess the kid ran away on his own."

"Did the child have an argument with his parents before he left, so he ran away in anger?"

"Kids these days are all outrageous. Take my unlucky grandson for example. Last semester, while others were taking final exams, he climbed over the wall to go to the Internet cafe to play games!"

Xu Lian retorted, "Don't make wild guesses. Our Ziyi is not that kind of person. He is very well behaved and never plays games. He doesn't even have a cell phone. He usually only uses a children's watch to contact me. We didn't have a fight before he left the house today, so he definitely wouldn't run away on his own!"

"That's even worse!" A lady lowered her voice and said to the people around her, "Have you heard that there is a gang of people traffickers in Qingshui Town. Many children in the town have gone missing in the past two years. It's all their fault!"

A master replied, "I heard that these guys don't even let go of corpses. They often go to the mountains to dig graves. If the child falls into their hands, how can it be good?"

After hearing this, Xu Lian's legs went limp and she sat on the ground crying, "Oh my God, how can I live like this? If anything happens to Ziyi, I won't live either..."

"Don't scare her!" Bai Mian stopped everyone and reached out to pull Xu Lian up. "I'll help you take your pulse."

Bai Mian placed two fingers on Xu Lian's pulse. Xu Lian held her breath nervously, not even daring to breathe. The people around her also tensed up, waiting for Bai Mian to speak.

"The child is in danger now." Bai Mian described what he saw. "He was at a construction site. There was a dirt pit on the ground. The child was in the pit. There were construction vehicles all around him. A forklift was driving towards him."

After hearing Bai Mian's description, Xu Lian's eyes rolled back and she almost fainted.

Bai Mian continued, "In two minutes, the forklift will come down and take the child away and dump him into the blender next to it."

"Ah——" Xu Lian let out a sharp cry, and Weng Xuhua signaled Bai Mian with his eyes to stop talking.

Bai Mian stopped talking, and the uncle and aunt next to him started talking.

"It's outrageous that he could actually get to the construction site. How did he get there?"

"I've seen news reports of people being bulldozed by trucks. The chassis of such large trucks is too high, so the driver can't see the child at all. The construction site is also noisy, so no one can hear the child's cry for help."

"Pour it into a blender? Doesn't that make it minced meat? Oh my goodness, how can I say that, Amitabha..."

Listening to people's discussions, Xu Lian's face turned paler. Bai Mian reminded her, "The child is still alive. The most urgent thing is to find where he is and stop the forklift. Think about it, which construction site is the child most likely to be at?"

"I understand!" Xu Lian slapped her thigh and stood up immediately. "Blue sky and blue water! This is the project my husband is working on now. I have told my children about it before, and I guess they have remembered it. I completely understand what is going on——"

"The child usually can't see his father, and he always says he misses his father. This morning I just taught him how to use the watch to pay with WeChat, and he disappeared in the afternoon. He must have pretended to enter the school gate, but actually ran out of the school when I left, and took a taxi to find his father!"

After figuring it out, Xu Lian immediately called the police to tell them the clue. The police immediately contacted the person in charge of the Blue Sky and Blue Water project department, who stopped all activities at the construction site. They formed a group and entered the construction site to search for a long time. Finally, they really found the little boy in the pit that Bai Mian mentioned.

After finding the person, the couple brought their child to Cixin Hall to thank Bai Mian. Xu Lian cried and laughed, holding the child tightly in her arms. She first wiped the child's dirty face, then patted the child's back a few times, cursing:

"Who told you to run so far alone? What if something happened? You scared me to death!"

The little boy burst into tears, pointing at his father and saying, "Dad... find... Dad!"

Huang Dali, the child's father, was sweating profusely. He wiped the sweat off his head and began to blame himself. "It's all my fault. I can't go home once a month, causing the child to run so far to find me. But I can't help it. Honey, I also want to make money. We have to live as a family. I can't stay at home with you every day."

Xu Lian rolled her eyes at Huang Dali, stood up with the child in her arms, and bowed to Bai Mian with the child:

"Thank you, Master. You are worthy of your reputation. Today you saved my son. From now on, you will be the benefactor of our whole family. If you need us anywhere, just let me know!"

After saying this, the family of three showed signs of leaving. After watching the show, the grandparents also prepared to leave.

"Don't go," Bai Mian suddenly said, "The child hasn't finished what he wanted to say just now."

"Ah?" Xu Lian was stunned for a moment, then explained embarrassedly, "Oh, it's like this, our Ziyi's situation is a bit special. The doctor said that he is slow to develop and has expression disorders. He can only say a few words and cannot say complex sentences. In short, most people can't understand what he wants to express."

"Really? But I can understand it," Bai Mian frowned and said, "This child wants to say--"

"I was playing hide-and-seek with my dad. I hid there, waiting for him to find me."

"What?" Xu Lian sat back in front of Bai Mian and lowered her head to ask the child in her arms, "Is this what you mean?"

The little boy nodded happily and gave Bai Mian a thumbs up.

Xu Lian was confused. "How is this possible? Son, didn't you go to the construction site to look for your father, and then you accidentally fell into the pit? You never saw your father from beginning to end. When did your father tell you that he wanted to play hide-and-seek?"

"That's because your speculation is not the truth. At least, not all of it."

Bai Mian glanced at Huang Dali and saw that the man was sweating profusely and his shirt was wet in a large area.

"Your son did learn how to pay with his watch, so he took a taxi to the construction site. Although he has an expression disorder, it is enough for him to say the name Blue Sky and Blue Water."

"The kid was short, and the guard couldn't see him from the window of the guard room, so he got in easily."

"Contrary to what you guessed, after entering the scene, your son found his father. He is actually smarter than you thought. When you talked to him before, he not only remembered the name of his father's project, but also his position and office."

"After finding his father, his father told him that he wanted to play hide-and-seek with him at the construction site outside and asked him to hide first."

Xu Lian's eyes turned blood red in an instant. She turned around and stared at the man standing behind her: "Huang Dali! What are you thinking?"

"For the child, he had no idea what was going on. He foolishly hid in the pit, waiting for his father to find him. He didn't expect that the police would come instead, and you all blamed him, so of course the child felt very aggrieved," said Bai Mian.

After hearing this, Xu Lian slapped Huang Dali in the face: "Huang Dali, are you still a human being? Letting such a young child mess around at the construction site is basically sending him to his death! How can you be so cruel? Is it because our Ziyi is developing slower than other children that you think he is a burden and want to get rid of him?!"

"It's not because of this," Bai Mian Zheng said, "it's because of money."

"When he saw the child at the door of the office, this vicious plan came into his mind. When the child was born, you provided a full set of insurance for the child. If the child died accidentally, the insurance would pay a lot of money. Moreover, the child died at the construction site, and the construction company is also responsible. When a lawsuit is filed, the construction company will also have to pay you a sum of money."

"Anyway, the child has an expression disorder and can't speak clearly. Even if the plan fails, no one will know that it was planned by him."

"What nonsense!" Huang Dali's face flushed, and he was about to hit Bai Mian, but was stopped by Lame Brother. Huang Dali turned around and shouted to Xu Lian, "Wife, you can't believe her. This kind of quack, under the banner of fortune-telling, is cheating and instigating our marital relationship. She must have said this to make you suspicious and then trick you into buying some amulet or something like that!"

"No way, Master Bai is a real master with a conscience. She was the one who figured out the child's position just now, and she didn't ask me for money!" Xu Lian retorted.

Huang Dali spread his arms: "If it's not for money, then it's for other purposes. I don't care what she does it for. Anyway, she is just smearing me! Wife, you know me. We have been married for so many years. Apart from other things, I have never treated you badly in terms of money. I have always been the one supporting the family. I have never asked you for a penny. How could I harm my son for money now?" When he said this, Xu Lian also shook. She looked at him helplessly. Bai Mian explained for Huang Dali, "Master, I'm not trying to protect him, but I really want to say something for my husband. Don't be fooled by the fact that we are dressed in ordinary clothes. In fact, our family is financially sound. Although he is the only one working, he has done very well. He is a small leader on the construction site, managing the salaries of more than 20 people, and he takes home a lot of money every month. If you say he poisoned the child for money, I really don't believe it."

"What you said was all in the past," Bai Mian said leisurely, "Why don't you ask him about the current financial situation of his family?"

Xu Lian looked at the man, and the man said with all his might: "What's wrong now? It's good at home now. I live in a big house and drive a nice car! Isn't this good?"

Xu Lian nodded repeatedly. Bai Mian sneered: "I'm afraid you don't know yet, but the house you've been living in has actually been mortgaged a long time ago. As for the car at home, it has been missing for a few months, right? Even the wages of his workers have been squandered by him a long time ago. In order to pay off the losses as soon as possible, he is almost crazy for money."

"Bullshit! You're just scaremongering!" This time Huang Dali just cursed but didn't refute it with facts.

Xu Lian's heart almost stopped beating after hearing this. She breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed Huang Dali's collar and asked, "Could it be true what she said? Has our family really come to this?"

Huang Dali comforted her, "It's nothing, wife, don't worry, our family is financially stable!"

"It's easy to judge this. Just take a look at his balance." Bai Mian pointed at Huang Dali's mobile phone.

Before Huang Dali could say anything, Xu Lian snatched the phone from his hand and opened the bank's app with facial recognition while trembling.