"Please sit down. Why be so polite in your own home?" The bed was only a few steps away from the door. Old Mrs. Zhu put the dinner plate on the bedside table and then sat down on the chair beside the bed. "Xiaoling, eat something first. You collapsed. What should I do about finding Niuniu? I can't leave you."

Ji Ling's tears fell again.

After she woke up, she didn't cry or make a fuss, but her defenses were broken by her grandmother's words.

"Grandma." Ji Ling covered her face.

Old Mrs. Zhu wiped the tears from her eyes, stood up, took the person into her arms, and patted him gently, "Cry, then eat, and be strong."

It was unknown how much time had passed before Ji Ling finally vented the sadness in her heart and stopped crying. However, tears started to fall whenever she thought of her daughter.

Old Mrs. Zhu picked up the bowl and said, "Eat some porridge first. Look at how thin you are now. Can you survive if you don't eat?"

Ji Ling really had no appetite, but she knew in her heart that she couldn't fall down, so she forced herself to eat half a bowl of porridge. She couldn't swallow the remaining half.

"It's good that you can eat. You have to hold your breath until Niu Niu comes back." Old Mrs. Zhu sighed, "Your father and your eldest brother have been here for half a month, and you don't recognize anyone. They are always worried and have given up the family business. The school is also very worried about your situation. They call you every few days, and your classmates have also visited your home several times. The school is also organizing people through their connections to help find Niu Niu's whereabouts. Your grandfather's hair turned white overnight. He hasn't returned home since Niu Niu went missing, and he has been looking for her outside."

"Everyone in the family is trying hard to find Niuniu. You are the mother, and grandma understands how sad you are. That's why you have to hold on and not fall down." Grandma Zhu became more and more sad as she spoke, and tears fell. "You are right to blame Weidong. If it weren't for his illness, how could Niuniu be lost? Now that you are divorced, how can grandma feel at ease if I let you go out alone?"

"Grandma, I don't blame him, I just can't forgive myself." Ji Ling lowered her head and stared blankly at the bed sheet, "I took Niuniu out. I didn't take good care of her. It's my fault."

"I always knew he was ill, but I didn't take it seriously. It was because of my carelessness that Niuniu got lost."

"Good child, grandma understands everything, I understand." Old Mrs. Zhu hugged the man and cried.

This time it was Ji Ling who comforted the old man.

It was not until the evening that Grandma Zhu came down from upstairs. She forced herself to signal to everyone that everything was fine, and then went back to her bedroom.

Ji Ling did not sleep a wink that night. She was thinking about what to do and where to find her daughter.

The Zhu family was so powerful that they wanted to turn the entire capital upside down, but they still couldn't find their daughter. So where did their daughter go? And who wanted to steal their daughter? Ji Ling sat up suddenly.

Her action was too sudden, and Zhu Weidong, who was guarding the bed, was startled. He turned on the light, "Xiaoling, what's wrong?"

Ji Ling looked at Zhu Weidong with a heavy gaze, "It was Chi Fangping who stole Niuniu. It must be her."

Without waiting for Zhu Weidong to speak, she said, "Not everyone can enter the Railway General Administration. It must be someone in the General Administration who did it. Our family has no grudges against others. It was because of me that Chi Fangping was transferred back to the General Administration in the northwest. How did the General Administration deal with her? So she harbored a grudge and stole our daughter away."

"Why don't you say anything? Do you think what I said is wrong? Are you still on Chi Fangping's side?"

"You believe her, not me?"

"Xiaoling, calm down. I didn't say I didn't believe you. It's just that after Chi Fangping was transferred back from the northwest, she was promoted to department director."

"Department Director? She got promoted?" Ji Ling was stunned and murmured, "That's not right. She did something wrong, how could she not be punished and get promoted?"

"Then what am I?"

Ji Ling laughed, "So my trip to the Northwest was a joke? I suspect she's a joke too, right?"

She pushed Zhu Weidong away fiercely, "You also think I'm a joke, don't you?"

"Don't come over here, don't touch me."

Zhu Weidong sat there not daring to move. Seeing his wife's emotional fluctuations, he recalled the events of the past month and his eyes were filled with worry.

"I have already reported this matter to the General Administration, and they promised to give you a reply after you recover."

"What answer?" Ji Ling didn't want to hear that at all. "Just because I don't have a backer, Chi Fangping did this and still wanted to get promoted, right? So she bullied me, so she stole my child, so it's not worth suspecting, right?"

"I believe you." Zhu Weidong's voice was low and deep, and his expression was particularly serious. "From the moment Niu Niu went missing, I had people keep an eye on Chi Fangping. I also had Yao Wu and others keep an eye on anyone related to Chi Fangping. They haven't revealed anything yet, but I believe they can't hold on forever. They will eventually show their tails."

Excitement, anger, injustice, all emotions turned into bubbles in an instant and disappeared without a trace.

Ji Ling didn't know that after her scream in the middle of the night, all the Zhu family members were awakened. They all thought she was having another attack and they hardly slept a wink that night.

The next day, everyone was stunned when they saw Ji Ling coming downstairs.

Ji Ling walked up to Kong Siya and said, "Mom, I want to start my investigation from Chi Fangping."

"Okay, whatever you want to do, Mom will support you."

"Mom, I'm sorry. I've been waiting for more than a month."

"We are a family. No matter what happens to you, no one in the family will complain or blame you. This is not your fault." Kong Siya paused, "It's all right."

"Mom, it must be Chi Fangping who did it. She hasn't made any move because she knows we can't find Niuniu, so she's not worried. If she doesn't move, then we'll force her to move." Ji Ling pursed her lips. "Chi Fangping made a mistake in the northwest, but she wasn't punished and was even promoted. Then let her be demoted, or even better, lose her job. I don't believe she can remain calm even if we push her to this point."

Kong Siya was stunned for a moment, and her eyes lit up.

Hope also rose in the eyes of others present.

They also wanted to find clues, but Chi Fangping was just like going to school as usual, with no response at all, and her family became anxious.

Xiaoling's words broke the peace. Why didn't they think of this solution?

Zhu Weidong immediately called his grandfather, and after hanging up, he called his father.

After receiving the call, both sides rushed back that day.

Mr. Zhu's hair used to be gray, but it turned silver in just one month, and he lost a lot of weight.

(End of this chapter)