Chapter 81 Chapter 81 Bai Qingqing is just a child
The door of the ward was slightly opened, and vague voices from the door could be heard inside.
Zuo Xingchi recognized his father's voice and glanced at the dim door. Bright light from the corridor leaked in through a gap.
He lay down, turned his back to the outside, pulled the quilt up, and closed his eyes.
Ao Teng closed the door again and turned around.
"The child himself is not very willing, he still wants to swim. I think the direction of his development should be based on his own wishes."
Father Zuo interrupted him anxiously: "He can't swim now. Xiaochi is still a child. What does he know? Of course, he has to listen to the adults. Xiaochi is already in the second grade of junior high school. He will be in the third grade when school starts. He didn't put much effort into swimming lessons. How can he compare with others?"
"We as parents are not being snobbish. It is not easy for a big film and television company like yours to take a fancy to our Xiaochi. Most children don't even have this opportunity. This is indeed a good direction for future development, right? We are all doing this for the good of the child."
Zuo's mother agreed, "Yes, Xiaochi is such a good swimmer, he will soon join the provincial team! And such a big accident happened in the swimming pool, we don't want him to swim anymore."
Ao Teng was silent for a moment.
What Zuo Xingchi's parents said does make sense, but as an outsider, he is neither the child himself nor a member of his family, and he has no right to make decisions for anyone.
At that moment, he just said, "I had a little contact with the child today. He is a little emotionally unstable and has strong resistance. You parents should not be anxious. Wait until Xingchi is more stable, then you can have a good communication with him."
After Ao Teng finished speaking, his brows turned cold, as if he didn't intend to say anything more. He nodded politely to them and opened the door of the ward.
The couple whispered behind him, their voices were tiny and fragmented, each one more urgent than the last.
"Why are you pulling me? Ask the boss if he still wants our son if Xiaochi is willing."
"What they meant was don't ask first, don't say anything because everyone has heard it."
"You are just thin-skinned. Let me ask you! He can't just take his son away and give up on him just because his face is injured!" Father Zuo said, pressing his wife's hand down and raising his head to continue speaking.
The light in the ward was dim, with only a night light on.
The big boss, who seemed so approachable just now, now looked at them calmly with cold eyes, as if he could see through the couple's thoughts at a glance.
Father Zuo suddenly fell silent.
Mother Zuo glanced at him and didn't dare to speak. She quietly walked to the bedside, patted her son who had his back to them, and asked in a low voice: "Xiao Chi, are you asleep? Mom and Dad are here."
Zuo Xingchi didn't move.
Mother Zuo smiled at Ao Teng somewhat awkwardly, then walked around to the other side of the bed. She saw a palm-sized piece of white gauze on her son's sleeping face, which was stuck from the corner of his eye to his philtrum. Her pupils shrank and she let out a sigh of worry.
“Oh, the sticker is so big, doesn’t that mean…” Mother Zuo looked at Ao Teng, her heart pounding.
The sound of a cell phone vibrating could be heard in the quiet ward. Ao Teng saw what Mother Zuo meant, and while touching his phone, he comforted her, "It's not that serious, it was a little too big. I'll ask Xiao Liu to send you the photos of Xing Chi's injury later. Answer the phone."
Zuo's mother had no choice but to nod. The couple looked at Ao Teng's back as he hurried out of the ward. Zuo's father also walked around to the other side of the bed to look at his son's face.
Both faces were filled with worry.
Outside the ward.
The person who called was Mr. Zhang, who had broken his appointment during the day, and Zhang agreed.
It was almost midnight. Ao Teng was quite surprised to receive a call from Mr. Zhang. He found a deserted place to answer the call. As soon as he heard his voice, he knew it was an urgent matter.
Mr. Zhang didn't say a word and went straight to the point. "Brother Ao, I'm really sorry to bother you so late. I have something urgent to do. I want to ask if it's convenient for Master Bai to tell me a fortune now. Money and everything are fine. I just want to trouble her."
When I told Zhang Zancheng that I couldn't go today, he smiled and said it was okay.
Now when I listen to the sound, it’s not so calm anymore.
Ao Teng's brain reacted for a moment: "Now? What's the matter that makes you so anxious? Why don't you tell me first?"
Things were happening one after another in the middle of the night, making Ao Teng laugh.
How come you all got together?
Zhang Zancheng hesitated for a moment and said, "It's not a big deal. Miss Bai came to my place this morning, so I gathered all the children together for Miss Bai to see. These children don't usually interact with each other, so this is just a small friction."
"Now one of my favorite little sons is missing. I haven't found him since this afternoon. I'm a little panicked and I don't feel very good."
Ao Teng understood: "Oh...the child is missing."
Zhang agreed: "Yes! My son usually lives in South City. He has no relatives or friends in East Market. He has only been here a few times. This time I brought him to East Market specially. After he meets Miss Bai, I will also take him to worship the ancestral grave. It is impossible for him not to go home now!
He didn't touch the card, except for filling up the gas tank shortly after leaving home, he didn't make any other purchases. He still needs to eat the meal and drink a sip of water. He didn't spend any money, so I'm worried!"
"Please ask your niece, Miss Bai, to help me tell my son's fortune." Zhang Zan said, and asked anxiously, "Young people go to bed late nowadays. Your niece should not be asleep yet, right?"
"My niece is really not an ordinary young person. She is probably asleep."
Ao Teng laughed: "How old is your son? Have you called the police since he was found? This is not a big deal for you or the police, right?"
Zhang Zancheng’s favorite son is probably the one he wants to take over the Zhang family business. He can even drive himself, so he must be quite old.
Ao Teng didn’t think it was a big deal if the young man didn’t go home for a while.
He didn't like Zhang Zan's behavior of having a bunch of lovers and children outside, and he didn't want his niece to get involved in his affairs in the middle of the night and lose sleep.
"You can't call the police!" Zhang Zan said in an awkward voice, "Didn't I say that at the beginning... There was a little friction between the children, don't you understand?"
Ao Teng: "..."
Understood.
It's not just the conflicts between the children that caused the child to run away from home. It may also be because Zhang Zanzheng, one of his many children, secretly attacked his favorite son.
"I understand. I'll ask Master Bai for you. If she doesn't answer the phone, she must be asleep. There's nothing we can do about it. Please send me your son's name, photo, date of birth.
There is also the location where the child was last seen, the surveillance video, and the license plate number of the car that drove away. My own people will also help you find it. "
"Thank you, Brother Ao! Please, Brother Ao, please help me ask Miss Bai."
After the call was hung up, Zhang Zan sent the child's photos and information to his mobile phone.
She is fair and pretty, 14 years old, and her name is Zhang Minda.
Ao Teng couldn't even laugh.
No wonder Zhang Zancheng didn't call the police. Even if it wasn't his other children who did the crime, Zhang Minda would be charged for driving without a license if the police found him.
The punishment is not a big deal, but it would be bad if it gets out, and it would prevent the children from inheriting the family business.
Zhang agreed with him. Ao Teng never interacted with him, but he had heard a thing or two about him.
He is extremely loyal and filial, but also superstitious.
The family background was not small to begin with, and when it came to Zhang Zancheng's hands, it became even bigger, jumping from a well-known detergent company in East City to the list of China's richest people. This was a happy event that brought honor to Zhang Zancheng's family.
He immediately invited the best Feng Shui master to return to his hometown to move the ancestral tombs, repair the ancestral hall, and build his own Zhang clan ancestral hall. He also repaired houses and roads for the entire village. This even made the news at the time.
Zhang agreed to have a total of seventeen children.
This time, he wanted to ask Qingqing to look at the next generation for him, pick out one or two who can inherit the family business, and bring them back to see the ancestors and visit the ancestral tomb.
This was also a big deal for his seventeen children.
Normally, I have to visit my ancestral graves later, so I won't run around in the next two days. Even if I ran out because I was angry, I should go home now.
Ao Teng glanced at Zhang Minda's photo, closed it after taking a look, and forwarded it to his secretary, asking him to mobilize people to help Zhang Zan find someone. At the same time, he sent a message to Bai Qingqing to see if she was asleep.
Ao Teng had a bad feeling.
Zhang Zancheng has influence in East City, and his speed in finding people is no slower than that of the police. Unless the child has already left the city, he should be able to find him.
He thought about it and got in the car, asked his secretary to tell the Zuo couple, and then asked the driver to drive back to the Bai family.
*
In the quiet bedroom, the cell phone buzzed.
The cell phone emitted a bright white light, illuminating a small area beside the bed. Just as it was about to go out, a hand tapped the screen, and a glowing ID photo suddenly appeared on it.
White light is extremely dazzling in a dark room.
Bai Qingqing took the phone and clicked on the message. Before she could read it clearly, her fingertips touched the photo sent by Ao Teng.
The handsome 14-year-old boy is wearing a white school uniform, a short-sleeved shirt, and a tie. He faces the camera and smiles slightly. The white background and white clothes make the entire screen dazzling.
However, she did not lower the brightness. She sat up, held the phone in both hands, pursed her lips silently, closed the photo, and checked the text message sent by Ao Teng in the middle of the night.
Zhang Minda, age 14, was born at 4:20 am on October 17, 2011, in Nancheng Maternal and Child Health Hospital by caesarean section.
I drove away from home alone at 11:00 noon today and refueled at the Huixi District gas station in Dongshi at 12:00.
Qingqing, this is Mr. Zhang’s son. We haven’t been able to contact the child yet. He hasn’t returned home and we can’t find him. It seems like he’s missing. The Zhang family can’t call the police, so I’d like you to figure out where the child is.
[Video 01]
Bai Qingqing's brain was half asleep, but she was awakened by Zhang Minda's ID.
In fact, she didn't need to read the text anymore, as she could reply to Ao Teng right now, but with a glimmer of possibility in mind, she still clicked on the video to watch it.
This is a surveillance video from a gas station.
A black coupe drove into the gas station and stopped. The young man in the driving seat, wearing a baseball cap, was sitting in the car and waiting for someone to fill up his gas tank. Not long after, the gas station attendant pulled out his gun, as if there was a problem with the payment, and asked him to go to the counter inside to pay.
The fourteen-year-old boy was already very tall, and he looked around when he got off the bus, which allowed the surveillance camera to capture his face.
Bai Qingqing pressed the pause button, checked the boy's face again in the video, and didn't look back.
After a moment of silence, he replied to Ao Teng.
[The person is gone, please be mentally prepared, Mr. Zhang.]
[You go back to Bai's house to pick me up, and ask Mr. Zhang to meet you at that gas station. Also, ask Mr. Zhang to bring me an item that Zhang Minda often uses.]
After the message was sent, there was no response from the other side for a long time.
Bai Qingqing turned on the light in the room, changed into simple clothes, put on sneakers, and finally took a coat in her hand. She stood leaning against the table, tapping her fingertips on the table, waiting for Ao Teng to come back.
Her brows have been furrowed ever since she saw the photo of Zhang Minda.
I never thought that... the same facial features would appear on two people's faces.
There is a swimming boy in front.
In the evening, when Ao Teng told her that he was going to have dinner with the child who went swimming, she felt that something might happen to the child, so she told him a fortune.
Following the changes in the hexagram, the face in her memory that was still lying in the ambulance also changed in her mind.
So she told Ao Teng that he would be in trouble soon, and tonight might be a turning point for the child.
Unexpectedly, five hours later, the facial features of the swimming boy that she deduced in her mind would appear on the boy named Zhang Minda.
There is always one person and one divination, and there is no logic in which if one person cannot answer it, another person will answer it.
Half an hour later.
Ao Teng's car drove back to the Bai family's door. The headlights illuminated the flower bed in front of the door. Ao Teng got out of the car, stood beside the car and looked up.
Bai Qingqing put on her coat and went downstairs directly. She walked hurriedly to the car, and she and Ao Teng got in on each side.
"How about dinner tonight?"
It’s past twelve o’clock, actually it was yesterday.
Something happened to Zuo Xingchi while he was eating. He burned his face and was admitted to the hospital. Ao Teng originally didn't plan to tell Bai Qingqing.
If my niece knew about this, she would have told the child's fortune in advance and picked a place that was close to open flames and away from water. As a result, the child's face was disfigured by the sparks from the open flames.
Ao Teng was afraid that Bai Qingqing would blame herself for not calculating correctly.
But now when she meets him, the first thing she says is this.
Ao Teng couldn't hide it, so he had to tell her the truth. After he finished speaking, he paused and comforted her, "Sometimes people are like this. Even though they have calculated and know what will happen in the future, they still can't avoid it. This is fate. Qingqing, don't take it to heart."
Bai Qingqing was confused by Ao Teng's words, but they sounded like he was comforting her.
Some things were still unclear, and she didn't intend to say too much before reaching a clear conclusion. She just nodded as a response.
The uncle and nephew drove in silence all the way to the Huixi District gas station.
There were more than a dozen black cars parked in front of the gas station, blocking it completely.
The 24-hour gas station was brightly lit. The person in charge and two gas station attendants were standing face to face with a middle-aged man at the door. Neither side spoke to each other, but the atmosphere was obviously tense.
Seeing another car coming on the road, the middle-aged man quickly turned around and looked at the oncoming car. He walked past seven or eight bodyguards in black in a few strides and came to the side of the road. His face was angry and complicated.
Ao Teng and Bai Qingqing glanced at him through the car window.
Ao Teng said: "This is Zhang Zancheng."
Bai Qingqing nodded: "Yeah, I see."
Their car stopped beside Zhang Zancheng, and Ao Teng and Bai Qingqing got out one after another. As soon as the car door opened, they saw Zhang eagerly opening their car door as wide as possible, saying anxiously, "I finally waited for you to come."
Zhang Zan saw that Ao Teng was the first to come down, so he looked back and saw Bai Qingqing who showed up after him.
Even though he knew that Master Bai was the niece of Mr. Ao and the same age as the other little princess of the Bai family, only eighteen years old, the age for the college entrance examination, when Zhang Zan still felt that Bai Qingqing was too young when he saw her face.
He is a child who has not grown up.
She was wearing a T-shirt and trousers, a short, loose windbreaker, and her hair was tied behind her head, which made her look more childish.
Zhang Zancheng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the child coming out. His anxious expression eased a little and he called her calmly, "Miss Bai."
"It's really troublesome to ask you to come out so late," Zhang Zan gave Ao Teng enough face and treated the little girl respectfully. He said solemnly, "I don't know what Miss Bai meant when she said that I... my son is gone and I need to be mentally prepared?"
"Did Mr. Zhang bring the things?" Bai Qingqing nodded to him as a greeting and asked him for Zhang Minda's things.
A dead person is easier to find than a living one. The breath is weak and Zhang Minda’s body keeps changing positions.
Seeing that the little girl was avoiding the question, Zhang Zan didn't bother to talk to her. He immediately took his son's schoolbag and handed it to her: "This schoolbag is what my son carries to school every day. He brought it with him to Dongshi this time. He was still using it to do his homework before he disappeared yesterday morning.
Miss Bai, how are you going to find my son for me? "
The schoolbag was quite heavy, so Ao Teng caught it steadily for her. Bai Qingqing opened his schoolbag, took out a pen from the pencil case, and looked at the dark road in the distance.
"Mr. Zhang, please get in our car. It will be more convenient. Let your people follow behind."
The fountain pen has Zhang Minda's scent, and this is probably the pen he uses most often.
Bai Qingqing sat in the passenger seat, leading the way, and opened the pen cap with a helpless smile.
It's an electronic cigarette.
Huixi District is as its name suggests. Going out is the national highway out of Dongshi, and you can see rivers and streams passing through Dongshi in the surrounding area.
Bai Qingqing still had the tablet on her lap, displaying a map of the area. She held the e-cigarette in one hand and made hand gestures in her palm while swiping the map with the other hand, directing the driver: "Go to the reservoir ahead."
Zhang Zancheng was very unsure about Bai Qingqing.
On the one hand, she was young, and on the other hand, he had heard that Bai Qingqing had some abilities. She had brought Huo Wen back to life and helped change Lu Da's fortune. Now she was a guest of honor in the Lu family.
Although the other families who had come into contact with Miss Bai did not make her sound magical, they were indeed polite to her.
Now Zhang Zancheng mainly doesn't believe it. Miss Bai said that his son was dead.
But now she was really serious about looking for someone.
Otherwise, with all the people sitting in the car like this, Miss Bai has to end it. She can't just tell them she can't find it anymore, right? Then she has to meet someone.
Zhang Zancheng was in a state of panic. When he heard her say that they were going to the reservoir, he immediately leaned over the back of the front seat and leaned forward to ask, "Going to the reservoir? My son is going to the reservoir?"
Bai Qingqing finally had time to reply, "Boss Zhang should have checked the surveillance cameras at several toll booths and roads out of the city. Boss Zhang has turned the entire city upside down."
Zhang Zan agreed and hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
After all, the East Market was too big, and it couldn't be said that he searched the entire East Market in less than a day.
If those guys of his wanted to do something bad and hide Minda, they would definitely choose a remote place to hide her, and would release Minda after visiting the ancestral grave.
He was anxious to find someone, mainly because he didn't want Minda to miss the ancestor worship.
How could it be as scary as what Miss Bai said...
Zhang Zansheng looked unimpressed.
Ao Teng sighed in his heart and saw their car leading Mr. Zhang's men into Huixi Reservoir one after another.
There was no light around, and the road along the river was illuminated only by the headlights of the convoy.
The driver slowed down, listened to Miss Qingqing's soft voice "a little more over there", changed direction slightly, and slowly stopped forty meters away.
The car seen in the surveillance video was parked next to the reservoir.
The front of the car stopped, and the entire convoy stopped with it.
Zhang Zancheng couldn't wait to rush out of the car, and ran to the side of the sports car a little clumsily, his eyes wide open, taking in the empty car clearly.
The surroundings were so desolate that not even a bird flew, let alone the nearby houses.
My son's car is here late at night...but no one is there...
Zhang Zancheng's expression finally became panic again. He stared blankly at Bai Qingqing and Ao Teng who were walking towards him from behind.
Bai Qingqing still held Zhang Minda's pen in her hand. She looked at the gurgling river and wrapped her thin coat tighter around herself. "I think we can only find it in the water."
"The current is not strong tonight. Mr. Zhang, please go into the water and look for someone."
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