Gu Zhiyuan rode his bicycle and arrived at the department store as quickly as possible.
In the courtyard, a car was ready to go. Li Jianguo leaned against the car, smoking, his face ashen, glancing at the gate from time to time.
Upon seeing Gu Zhiyuan, Li Jianguo took a deep drag on his cigarette, threw the half-smoked cigarette on the ground, crushed it with his heel, and walked towards Gu Zhiyuan.
Gu Zhiyuan spotted Li Jianguo immediately, tossed his bicycle aside, and walked over to him in a few steps: "What exactly happened?"
Li Jianguo frowned and grabbed Gu Zhiyuan, saying, "We'll talk about this on the way. We've been waiting for you!"
As he spoke, he casually called over a passerby and asked him to put Gu Zhiyuan's bicycle in the guard room for safekeeping until they returned.
He then dragged Gu Zhiyuan into the car.
The driver waited for the two to get in the car, and before they were even settled in, he started the engine, stepped on the gas, and drove off towards the Mercedes-Benz at the Red Star Commune.
“We just received a call from the Red Star Commune. They said that Xiao Yan went to inspect a production brigade this morning with a clerk named Cao Yang from their commune. They went to a place called Yanchi Production Brigade, and then she disappeared.”
"According to the schedule, they were supposed to go to Matang Production Brigade today, but I don't know why they went to Yanchi Production Brigade instead."
"It was only when the people from the Matang production brigade who were waiting to receive Xiaoyan and Caoyang didn't see them that they called the commune and that's how the commune found out."
"The commune initially thought they might have switched production teams for inspection, but to be on the safe side, they still sent people to each brigade to inquire if they had seen the two. They asked a passerby who said he saw Xiaoyan and Cao Yang heading in the direction of Yanchi production team."
"The commune quickly sent people to the Yanchi production brigade, but the brigade said they hadn't seen either of them. The two sides didn't match up, and the commune realized something was wrong. They sent people everywhere to search, but there's still no news—"
Seeing Gu Zhiyuan's gloomy face and silent demeanor, Li Jianguo felt overwhelmed by the oppressive atmosphere around him and couldn't continue speaking.
"It's been eight or nine hours since Aning left, hasn't it? Is Yanchi Production Brigade near the mountains? Besides that passerby, has anyone else seen her and that clerk? How is the commune handling this now? How many people have they sent to search? Have they drawn up a general search area, or are they searching blindly?"
Gu Zhiyuan took a deep breath to calm himself down and started asking questions one after another.
Li Jianguo was dumbfounded, and it took him a long time to find his voice: "I... I don't know yet. We'll only know the specifics after we get an estimate from the Red Star Commune."
Gu Zhiyuan could no longer maintain his usual composed expression. He closed his eyes, rubbed his temples with one hand, and unconsciously tapped his leg with the other, his mind racing as he calculated how many people the Red Star Commune had and how many could be transferred...
Li Jianguo stood to the side, not daring to breathe. He had previously thought that Gu Zhiyuan, though young, seemed to be someone of great potential.
Today I truly witnessed the extraordinary aura of this young man.
For a moment just now, he broke out in a cold sweat. His imposing presence was comparable to that of many high-ranking and powerful leaders he had ever met.
Needless to say, the driver in front had seen a lot of people and things from his travels. When something happened to someone in the family, the one who wasn't in trouble would either cry and make a scene or be completely stunned. The better ones were lucky if they could maintain a semblance of dignity.
There is no one like Gu Zhiyuan who is both imposing and able to calmly analyze and question each point.
Seeing that even Section Chief Li was too frightened to speak, he dared not even glance back, and pressed the accelerator as hard as if it were his lifeline, wishing he could fly to the Red Star Commune in an instant.
The journey that would normally take two or three hours by bus was accomplished by the driver, who managed to get there in just over an hour.
In February and March, it gets dark early.
By five o'clock, it was almost completely dark.
The commune was brightly lit, and there were many people in the courtyard. Everyone knew that something serious had happened. If they didn't find the person, they were afraid that no one in their commune, from the leaders to the clerks, would have a good time.
The atmosphere was extremely tense. Director Zhang was slamming his fist on the table and yelling at people in his office. The people being yelled at were sprayed with spittle in their faces, but none of them dared to wipe it off.
The car practically veered into the commune's courtyard, screeching to a halt that echoed throughout the entire yard.
Director Zhang was about to yell at someone, but upon hearing the sound of brakes, he realized what was happening and quickly came out of his office.
Then I saw Li Jianguo and Gu Zhiyuan get out of the car.
Director Zhang stepped forward with a wry smile: "I'm so sorry, this accident happened because we didn't do our job properly! Don't worry, we've already arranged for people to search in several nearby brigades. We'll search the entire Hongxing Commune to find them—"
Gu Zhiyuan interrupted Director Zhang: "Where is the person who last saw Aning and Cao Yang?"
Director Zhang was interrupted, but he didn't dare to get angry. He waved his hand and asked, "Secretary He, what about the fellow villager who last saw Comrade Xu and Cao Yang?"
Secretary He understood immediately and soon brought over a man who looked honest and unassuming.
The man had never seen anything like it before. He wrung his hands and stood there anxiously, asking, "Leader, you...you're looking for me?"
He regretted it a little. If he had known it would be this scary, he shouldn't have spoken so quickly. Otherwise, he would be at home with his wife, sleeping soundly, instead of standing here in the cold wind.
Gu Zhiyuan tried to calm himself down, took out a few bills from his pocket, and spread them out in front of the man. "Fellow villager, please tell us again what you saw in detail. The more detailed you are, the more clues you can provide, and the greater the reward!"
By the light shining from the commune office, the man saw several banknotes: one-yuan notes, two-yuan notes, five-yuan notes, and even one over ten-yuan note.
His eyes lit up instantly, and he swallowed hard: "Are you serious?"
Gu Zhiyuan nodded, then took out a one-yuan note and gave it to the man.
The man grabbed the money tightly, thought for a moment, and then began to speak.
Instead of keeping his story brief to the people in the commune, he wanted to tell them everything he had eaten that morning.
It turns out he was from Wangqiao Production Brigade, next to Yanchi Brigade, and his name was Wang Laowu.
Because I was lazy, I soaked the leftover rice from last night in hot water and ate it this morning. Not long after I went to work, I had a stomachache.
He took leave and went to the bushes by the roadside to take care of his personal needs.
Then I heard a man and a woman passing by the roadside. The man was introducing something to the woman, saying that he was going to inspect something and that he was going to the Yanchi Production Brigade.
At the time, Wang Laowu wondered to himself, "Could it be that higher-ups have come down to inspect? But why Yanchi Brigade? Isn't their Wangqiao Brigade stronger than Yanchi Brigade?"
However, he was defecating and couldn't make a sound, but the woman asked him a few questions about the situation of the Yanchi Brigade.
After they had gone a little further away, Wang Laowu pulled up his pants and looked in that direction.
I saw the backs of a man and a woman heading in the direction of the Yanchi Brigade.
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