The next day, the peaceful village was swept up in a series of major gossip.
A group of women were washing clothes and chatting by the small river next to the village entrance.
"Have you heard? Er Laizi confessed to killing someone!"
"Didn't he say that the woman died by running into a tree?"
"Are you stupid?" the first woman said, exasperated. "Why would someone who was perfectly fine crash into a tree? It was all because of what that scoundrel did that drove him to his death! Didn't you see the authorities have already arrested him?"
Er Laizi is a petty thug, and many of the people present have been harassed by him, which makes them feel quite vindictive.
"It seems like the sentence is quite heavy, is it five or ten years?" the third woman asked while washing clothes.
"Ten years," the person who answered replied with a smile.
"However, he also talked a lot about Diao Yi. Do you think it's true or not?"
Everyone lowered their voices because Li Chunhua was not far away.
"It's probably true."
"Diao Yi also said that Li Chunhua instructed him to take revenge on Jiang Bai. He's really a scoundrel."
As women ourselves, we all scoffed at this approach.
"Could Jiang Bai have caused her husband's illness? I always felt that the illness came on very suddenly, especially since she had just argued with Jiang Bai during the day."
"Shh," a superstitious woman pointed to the sky, "It is said that Jiang Bai came down from above to undergo tribulation, and is now gradually recovering her magical power. Don't offend her if you have nothing to do."
Remembering Diao Yi and Er Laizi's unusual behavior, and recalling Wang Da Niang's radiant appearance, everyone solemnly bowed in the direction of Jiang Bai's house.
-
Jiang Bai has no time to care about the villagers treating her like a goddess.
While she was making dinner, she asked Zhao Ping'an to take Zhao Xile outside to play. In the short time it took Zhao Ping'an to go to the toilet, the little girl disappeared.
At first, Zhao Ping'an thought she had run off to play somewhere. He searched her house and Wang Da Niang's house carefully, inside and outside the walls, twice, but didn't see her. Only then did he realize that something was wrong.
Zhao Xile is timid and usually doesn't go far away.
Zhao Ping'an quickly called Jiang Bai and Aunt Wang out. The three of them circled the village three times before Jiang Bai finally admitted that Zhao Xile had disappeared.
The three of them sat at the table with worried expressions. Jiang Bai carefully tried to think of who might have kidnapped the little girl. She didn't dare to think about what might happen to Zhao Xile after she was kidnapped, and forced herself to stay calm.
Aunt Wang steadied herself and suddenly remembered her meeting with Jiang Cheng that day. She said, "Jiang Bai, when you went to the county town last time, your brother was spotted around here. I asked him what he wanted, but he couldn't give me a clear answer. He was acting suspiciously. Do you think it could be him..."
She didn't continue, after all, she couldn't guarantee that Jiang Cheng was the one who did it.
After all, Jiang Cheng is Jiang Bai's younger brother, and she must have her own plans.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Ping'an couldn't sit still any longer. He stood up and said, "I'm going to the Jiang family to find Xiao Le."
“Wait,” Jiang Bai stopped him. “There is absolutely no evidence to prove that my brother took Xiao Le away. Going there now will be useless. If the other party denies it, you will only alert them.”
Upon hearing Jiang Bai's words, Zhao Ping'an's composure completely crumbled.
He already felt guilty; if he hadn't gone to take care of his physical needs and left Zhao Xile alone in the yard, she wouldn't have disappeared.
Hearing Jiang Bai's seemingly evasive words, her anger towards herself instantly transformed into anger towards Jiang Bai.
He shouted, "You haven't changed at all! You just don't want to save Xiao Le!"
Jiang Bai was also annoyed. Every minute Zhao Xile was missing meant another minute of danger. She said irritably, "If I didn't want to save her, I would have taken her out and sold her for money long ago."
"This matter requires careful consideration, you understand? We can't just bring Zhao Xile back by rushing in blindly."
Zhao Ping'an did not respond. He gritted his teeth and went back into the house with a resentful expression.
Jiang Bai thought Zhao Ping'an understood what she said. She didn't sleep all night, recalling everyone she had come into contact with, thinking about their possible actions and motives, and sorting out the complicated relationships.
The next day, before dawn, when the rooster crowed for the first time, she sat up and got out of bed to check on Zhao Ping'an.
Zhao Ping'an's bed was spotless, with no trace of anyone having slept on it.
—He also disappeared.
Jiang Bai completely lost her temper. She couldn't be bothered to think about the suspects from yesterday, so she grabbed the axe from her house and charged towards the most suspicious house.
She went to her parents' home.
Wang Xiufen wasn't from Zhao Yi's village, but she wasn't far away either; the two villages were only a dozen miles apart.
By the time Jiang Bai arrived at the Jiang family's doorstep, it was already broad daylight. Wang Xiufen had just finished breakfast and was sitting on the doorstep chatting and laughing with others, cracking melon seeds and basking in the sun.
Upon seeing Jiang Bai, she pretended to widen her eyes and exclaimed, "Oh, this is a rare guest! What brings you here?"
Jiang Bai was too lazy to waste words with her, so he picked up the axe behind him and slammed it hard on the threshold.
With a "crack", the wooden threshold broke into two pieces.
She stared intently into Wang Xiufen's eyes: "Where are Zhao Ping'an and Zhao Xile?"
Wang Xiufen was so frightened that her legs went weak. She realized that Jiang Bai was serious and tried to run away, but she couldn't move her body at all.
The neighbors who had just been chatting and laughing with her had already run back to their homes the instant Jiang Bai pulled out the axe. Wang Xiufen could still hear a few clanging sounds, the sound of a chain locking the door.
Wang Xiufen said, trembling, "I don't know where they are?"
"Oh?" Jiang Bai pulled out the axe and weighed it in his hand.
Wang Xiufen hurriedly said, "Zhao Ping'an is in the house now. He came over in the middle of the night yesterday and turned the house upside down. I told him I didn't know where his sister was, but he didn't believe me and refused to leave."
Jiang Bai walked past her and into the house. As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw Zhao Ping'an with a complicated expression.
This person must have overheard the entire conversation from the doorway.
Jiang Bai gave Zhao Ping'an a quick look and saw that he was unharmed, except that his pants were a little dirty. He must have fallen a few times because he had rushed over in the middle of the night without any lighting and was in a state of panic.
She felt somewhat relieved and turned to ask Wang Xiufen, "Since you don't know where Xiao Le is, you must know where Jiang Cheng is, right?"
When Wang Xiufen saw that she was still holding the axe, she thought to herself that this girl was hopeless and had gone mad.
She shook her head honestly, and when she mentioned her son, her face showed worry: "Your brother didn't come back all night yesterday, I'm afraid he's missing too!"
Missing my ass.
Jiang Bai was so angry he was grinding his teeth. Now he was pretty sure that Zhao Xile had been taken away by Jiang Cheng.
But where is Jiangcheng?
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