"Oh, I see. Well, that's all then. I'll head back now."
Ignoring the noise outside, Su Tian busied herself cooking noodles to fill her stomach.
The captain and his men searched until 10 p.m., but still couldn't find it.
"Captain, it's too dark. It's not safe on the mountain. Let's go back first."
"Yeah, we haven't eaten yet, we're starving."
"Yeah, let's look for it again tomorrow. We can't find it now anyway."
Seeing that everyone was getting impatient with the search, the brigade leader could only nod helplessly, "Alright, that's enough for today. Everyone's worked hard. Let's go back to the village."
"But we haven't found my Yingzi yet, and you're already going back?"
"Uncle Zou, let's go back first. Everyone is tired. If we don't see him tomorrow, let's go to town and report it to the police."
"Dad, let's go back first. It's not safe on this mountain. What if a wild boar runs out? Let's look for it again tomorrow."
"Fine then." Accountant Zou returned home dejectedly.
"Old man, what's wrong? Didn't you find him?"
"Mom, I couldn't find it. Is there any food? Dad and I haven't eaten yet."
"Yes, I'll bring it out for you now."
"Let's eat first, we'll talk about Yingzi's matter tomorrow," Accountant Zou said helplessly.
The next morning, the winter sun shone on Songjia Village.
Accountant Zou rushed over to the brigade leader at the crack of dawn, saying anxiously, "Aidang, Yingzi hasn't returned yet. Can you ask them to go up the mountain and check again?"
"Uncle Zou, don't worry, I'll go to the drying ground right now and ask them for help."
The brigade leader quickly went to the drying ground and rang the bell.
Once most of the villagers had arrived, he stood on the drying ground, his expression solemn, and in a loud voice assigned tasks to them.
"Song Qiang, you ride your bicycle to the town to report it to the police first. The rest of you come with me to the mountain to search again."
"After being missing for so long, I'm afraid he's probably in grave danger," Ma Dazui whispered to the people around him.
"Isn't that right? We haven't seen a soul since yesterday noon. Could they have been eaten by wolves?"
"No way, do we have wolves around here?"
Everyone was talking about it, and no one had to go to work today.
The captain quickly organized them together. The team included experienced hunters, old hunters familiar with the mountains and forests, and young men from the village.
After the team leader briefly assigned tasks, he led everyone up the winding mountain road.
He walked at the front of the group, carefully searching every possible hiding place.
Along the way, everyone split up, making sure to check every corner.
Some followed the path, while others wandered through the dense woods.
People were calling out the names of Zou Daying, Chen Gang, and He Hua from time to time.
Suddenly, someone spotted some traces. "Captain, we've found something here!"
The captain immediately led his team over and said worriedly, "There's a small piece of cloth hanging from this vine, could it be...?"
He carefully used a stick to push aside the vines that had mostly fallen over, and discovered that behind the vines was a cliff.
"Captain, did they fall down?"
"Don't say anything rash. Let's stand here and wait for the police to arrive before we talk."
"Dazhou, go down the mountain and see if the police have arrived. If not, wait at the village entrance. When they come, bring them here, understand?"
"Okay, I understand, I'll go now."
The captain thought with deep concern that the three of them were probably in grave danger.
Everyone waited patiently for the police to arrive. Thirty minutes later, Song Dazhou finally brought the four policemen up the mountain.
"Are you the brigade leader of Songjia Village?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Please explain this matter in detail."
"good."
So the captain told the police officers about how they discovered the three of them were missing yesterday at noon.
After careful observation, they already had a clear idea of what was going on.
“Where can we get down from this cliff?” one of the officers asked.
"I haven't done this before, so I don't know," the captain replied.
“I know this cliff, I’ll take you there,” an old hunter suddenly said.
"Okay, brother, please take them down there."
"Okay, sure."
"Officer, should we come along?"
"We don't need too many, just three or four people with us."
"Dazhou, you young people come with me, the rest of you come back to work with me."
"Yes, Captain."
The captain led the remaining men back to the threshing ground and assigned them their tasks for the day.
"Hey, Captain, what brings you back?" Aunt Li asked curiously.
"The police officers went to investigate, and they said they didn't need so many people, so we came back to work."
"Get to work quickly, or you'll lose your work points again."
Accountant Zou and his wife sat at home waiting. After not seeing anyone for so long, they had a feeling that their daughter was probably gone.
"Old man, will Yingzi be eaten by wolves?" Zou's mother asked with tears in her eyes.
"Don't talk nonsense, the police have already gone to investigate."
"My poor daughter..."
"Why are you crying? The person isn't dead yet."
"I'm just worried. She's perfectly fine at home, why would she go looking for that Chen Gang kid?"
"How should I know? What's so great about this kid? Even a chicken is better than him."
When Su Tian and Ma Chunling returned to the educated youth settlement at noon after school, they heard them talking about this.
"How did it go? About what happened last night?"
"Chunling, it's hard to say. The police have already started investigating."
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