Xu Zijiang looked at the children in front of him and spoke with an imposing air. As soon as his face darkened, his eyebrows and eyes became much sharper, and he exuded a powerful aura. How could Ma Zi and the other children dare to lie to him? They all shook their heads tremblingly.
"No, Captain, really no. He didn't miss home, he didn't cry, and he didn't argue with us. We all enjoy playing with him now, and we don't argue."
"Yes, yes, Xiao Rong is very obedient. He does whatever we ask him to do. We really like this little brother."
"Did you see him go home with your own eyes?"
Xu Zi pointed to the side of his leg with his finger and continued to ask.
"No, we were playing hopscotch in front of Ma Zi's house at that time. He said he was hungry and wanted to go home for dinner, so we agreed, and then I saw him walk in the direction of his house."
"You haven't seen him since then, have you? Did he say he would go home, have dinner, and then come back to see you?"
Yu Jiu continued to ask, her voice urgent yet gentle. Ma Zi and the others were not afraid. They tried desperately to recall the scene from that morning, and then shook their heads vigorously.
He said he was hungry and wanted to go home for dinner.
Lin Zheng returned quickly, shaking his head in disappointment. He said Lin Rong wasn't home, and nothing in the house had been touched; the money and clothes were all intact. Lin Rong was young, but not stupid. If he wanted to sneak home to find his parents, he should know that he needed a train ticket, and tickets cost money. He would have taken some money with him.
Lin Zheng certainly couldn't tell his brother where all his money was, but he still put a few loose coins at the bottom of a small drawer. In case he wasn't home and Lin Rong needed money, she could take it from there. But the money there was perfectly fine and untouched.
"Has the food at home been touched? Xiao Rong said he was coming home for dinner, did he eat? Did he eat much this morning? Why is he hungry again around 10 o'clock? Does he usually get hungry around 10 o'clock?"
Yu Jiu continued to ask questions in rapid succession, and these were the key questions.
“Xiao Rong and I ate breakfast together. He ate his usual amount of food. He had a bowl of sweet potato porridge and quite a lot of vegetables. His little belly was bulging. He usually eats like this. I've never seen him complain of being hungry before lunch. He doesn't eat much. There's only leftover food from breakfast at home, which is still in the pot and hasn't been touched.”
Lin Zheng reported everything in great detail.
"That's terrible. Xiao Rong said he was going home for dinner, but he probably didn't even go home. He was either tricked or taken away."
Yu Jiu pursed her lips and said nervously, "Both possibilities are very likely. Lin Rong wouldn't lie to his friends and run away from home for no reason, would he? What would he be after?"
“I’ll go and call half of the people back, half will continue searching on the mountain, and the other half will come with me to search outside. Honey, ask everyone if any unfamiliar faces have come to the team today. If so, ask them clearly. I’m going to Xitang team to ask Captain Lin for help.”
Xu Zijiang quickly made arrangements.
"good."
Yu Jiu nodded, and Lin Zheng quickly added.
"Then I'll stay and help too."
"OK."
Xu Zi and his men split up. He strode off to the neighboring Xitang brigade to gather more manpower. Two or three hours had passed since Lin Rong disappeared; if they didn't hurry, and if human traffickers had indeed taken her away, she might never be found again.
Yu Jiu and Lin Zheng first went to ask the old man next door to Lin Zheng's house.
"Grandpa, have you seen Lin Rong this morning?"
The old man said he hadn't seen him before; he only saw him go out to play in the morning and hadn't seen him come back. Yu Jiu and Lin Zheng asked all the owners of the houses along the road from Ma Zi's house to Lin Zheng's house.
But at that time, most people were working in the fields. Only a small number of elderly people and children would be in the team, but they weren't necessarily at home. Instead, they would be outside enjoying the cool air or playing wildly with other children in the team.
So after asking around, very few people had seen Lin Rong in the morning. The last person to see Lin Rong was a teenage girl who was also engaged and staying at home to take care of her skin, so she didn't have to go out during this time.
She said she saw Lin Rong around 10:30. Lin Rong was walking with a bouncy gait as she passed by her house. She seemed to be in a good mood. After that, there were no more clues.
It was 10:30, which was the time between Lin Rong's return home from Ma Zi's house and his passing by her house. This proves that Lin Rong was in a good mood at that time; he would never have run away from home for no reason, and he couldn't have gotten lost.
He was already at the little girl's house; he could simply walk straight along the road in front of her house and return to his own home. It was unlikely that she was on the mountain, unless he was playing around and decided to skip going home for dinner and suddenly had the urge to go up the mountain.
Yu Jiu was almost certain that someone had taken the child away. That's precisely why she was so anxious. Human traffickers deserve to die! Could the abducted child ever be found?
"Little Rong, Little Rong, where are you, my Little Rong?"
Even a young man like Lin Zhen couldn't hold back his tears. His face was flushed, and tears streamed down his cheeks. What would he do if his younger brother was never found? How could he face his parents? He had insisted on bringing his brother with him in the first place, thinking he could take good care of him, but he never expected…
"Alright, stop crying. It's not too late to cry when we can't find her. Now hurry up and find Xu Zijiang and tell him about this. I'll go to the back mountain and find her. There's no need to search the back mountain anymore. We should search towards the commune and the train station."
Yu Jiu said decisively.
"Okay, I'll go find the captain."
Lin Zheng was infected by Yu Jiu's calm demeanor. He clenched his fist tightly and tried to calm himself down. He silently told himself that there was still a chance, there was still a chance, there definitely would be.
The two then went their separate ways.
Meanwhile, Xu Zijiang had already arrived at the Xitang team and found Captain Lin. Captain Lin—oh no, he should be called Young Captain Lin now. His son had taken over the captaincy; he was no longer the captain.
He saw Xu Zijiang, that menacing figure, arrive, wondering what it was for. He felt a pang of guilt as he thought of his captaincy and couldn't help but complain.
"Xu Zijiang, what are you doing here again? I can't help you next time. I lost my captain's position for your little thing. It's not worth losing more than I gained."
"Alright, I really have something important to tell you this time. A child from our team has gone missing, and it's my little cousin. Please gather your team members quickly and help us look for him. He's about four or five years old. He's just over a meter tall, short, round, fair-skinned, and delicate, with long hair that reaches his neck. He's wearing blue clothes today, and there are no patches on his clothes."
His name is Lin Rong, Rong as in fluffy. Quickly get your whole team to look for him. Once we find him, I'll personally bring you some gifts to thank you all. Thank you so much, your whole team.
Xu Zijiang had no time to listen to his complaints and went straight to the point.
"What? The child is lost? How could the child be lost!"
Captain Lin had originally decided that no matter what Xu Zijiang said, he would not help him anymore. However, when he heard that the child was missing, he immediately became anxious. The child was the lifeblood of the family. If the child was lost, what difference would it be from the destruction of the family?
Captain Lin nodded quickly.
"I'll go right now. I'll have my son call everyone back!"
Xu Zijiang combined the strength of the two production teams, determined to find Lin Rong!
Even though Lin Rong didn't know that his older brother and a bunch of people were looking for him, he still wanted to go home. He looked at the completely unfamiliar place and felt a little scared.
"Brother, I want to go home. Will you take me home?"
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