Chapter 42

Chapter 42

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Xiang Nuan came out of her room, intending to have lunch. But when she walked out, she realized that Weng ShuLi wasn’t in the living room, and her bedroom door was closed.

This was rare. Although Weng ShuLi hadn’t left the house since she became ill, she would still spend most of her time out of her room, and would always be out when it was time to eat. Although Xiang Nuan found it strange, she guessed that her mother wasn’t in a good mood because of what happened with Xu Lian yesterday.

Xiang Nuan didn’t take it to heart. She went into the kitchen, heated up their meals, then knocked on Weng ShuLi’s door. “Mom, it’s time for lunch.”

Usually, after a few seconds, there would be some sort of movement from inside. But Xiang Nuan stood by the door for a full minute and didn’t hear anything. She knocked on the door again and shouted: “Mom, lunch.”

The room still remained silent. Xiang Nuan finally felt that something was wrong. She grabbed the door handle and slowly twisted. Like Xiang ChangKong, Weng ShuLi would close her door but never lock it.

“Mom?” Xiang Nuan opened the door and peered inside, but she couldn’t find even a shadow of Weng ShuLi’s figure.

Her mother wasn’t in her room.

Xiang Nuan became anxious. This house only had two bedrooms, one bathroom, and one small room that was Xiang ChangKong’s- a total of five rooms. Xiang Nuan went and checked each room one by one, but there was no sign of Weng ShuLi anywhere.

Weng ShuLu usually wore slippers at home. Although her mother never went out, Weng ShuLu still had a few outdoor shoes stowed away in the shoe cabinet. Xiang Nuan rushed towards the front door and opened the shoe cabinet next to it. Weng ShuLi’s shoes were all there and accounted for.

Did she go out in her slippers?

Xiang Nuan looked through all the rooms again. There were only five rooms in their small house; there was no place to hide.

Now Xiang Nuan was really in a panic. She had always hoped that Weng ShuLi would someday venture out of this house, but she never expected her mother to leave without a word.

She ran back into her room, grabbed her cell phone, and dialed Xiang ChangKong.

Xiang ChangKong was in the middle of his shift’s peak delivery times, but seeing that it was Xiang Nuan who was calling, Xiang ChangKong answered his phone. “Xiang Nuan? What’s the matter?”

After hearing her brother’s voice, all the anxiety and uneasiness in Xiang Nuan’s heart gushed out. “Brother, Mother is gone.”

Xiang ChangKong was somewhat taken aback and had to ask: “What? Speak more clearly.”

When Xiang Nuan spoke again, her voice trembled. “I don’t know when she left. I’ve been studying in my room before, and when I noticed it was time for lunch, I went out. I heated up the food and called for her, but no one was in her room. I’ve looked all over the house, but she’s not here. I even checked the closet.”

Xiang ChangKong’s expression gradually sank. The house they rented wasn’t big. Someone as big as a person shouldn’t be hard to find. If Xiang Nuan really couldn’t find Weng ShuLi in the house, then she truly wasn’t there.

Xiang ChangKong comforted his sister and said: “Don’t worry. Mom probably didn’t go too far. Go downstairs and look around.”

“Alright.”

“I’m coming back right now. Take your cell phone with you so you can call me straight away if you need to.”

“Un.”

Xiang ChangKong ended the call and immediately changed his status so that he wouldn’t receive any more orders. He asked his superiors for a leave of absence, handed all his current orders to his coworkers, then hurriedly rode his scooter home.

As he was doing this, Xiang Nuan ran downstairs to look for her mother. They’ve lived in this house for two years already, but her mother had never left the building once. Weng ShuLi may not even know where they lived. Xiang Nuan circled their neighborhood first, but after failing to find Weng ShuLi, she ran towards the neighborhood gate to ask the around.

The gate usually had aunties and grandfathers milling about, chatting, and playing chess. But since it was lunchtime, there were very few people at the door.

However, an uncle did remember seeing Weng ShuLi when Xiang Nuan gave him a description of her. The uncle had seen Weng ShuLi leave the neighborhood and, at the time, actually thought that she was acting a little strange. The uncle explained: “I saw her leave. I remember looking at her a few times because she was only wearing house slippers.”

“Which way did she go?” Xiang Nuan asked.

After a moment’s thought, the uncle said: “I’m pretty sure she went east.”

“Ok, thank you.” Xiang Nuan quickly walked past the gate. She didn’t dare run though, because the street was filled with roadside stalls and had a variety of shops open. Tea shops, stationery store, a flower shop…Xiang Nuan had to peer at each shop just in case her mother went into one of them.

As she did so, Xiang Nuan realized that her mother didn’t have a phone or even any money. Weng ShuLi would also be unfamiliar with the place and would be totally clueless. A worried Xiang Nuan walked all the way to the small park, but she still didn’t find Weng ShuLi. Anxious, she called Xiang ChangKong again.

As Xiang ChangKong drove his scooter, he heard his phone ring. He parked his scooter to the side and answered: “Xiang Nuan, have you found mom?”

“No. An uncle by the gate said that he saw her go out, but I’ve walked all the way to the park and still haven’t found her.” In the end, Xiang Nuan was only a high school student. Unable to cope, she started to cry. “Brother, what happened to mom?”

Xiang ChangKong heard her sobs and tried to comfort her: “Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll definitely find her. And if we don’t, we’ll immediately call the police.”

“Ok…” Xiang Nuan wiped away her tears and, after a few more words, hung up her phone to continue her search.

By the time Xiang ChangKong arrived home, Xiang Nuan still couldn’t find Weng ShuLi. Xiang ChangKong called and asked where she was, and after picking up his sister, he drove them towards a nearby police station.

The policemen asked for a recent photo of Weng ShuLi and a description of the clothes she was wearing at the time of her disappearance. Xiang Nuan readily gave a description of the clothes Weng ShuLi was wearing at breakfast this morning, but as for a recent photo…

“Is a photo from three years ago alright?” Xiang Nuan subconsciously tugged at the corner of Xiang ChangKong’s sleeve as she asked the police uncle opposite her.

The policeman looked up from his notepad and said: “Say that again?”

“….” Xiang Nuan could only look at her brother. Xiang ChangKong explained: “My mother became ill three years ago and had only slightly improved recently. She hasn’t had a photo taken of her for a long time.”

The policeman replied: “Alright, send me the photo. We’ll put it in our database so people in our network will see it. If someone finds her, they’ll contact us.”

Xiang Nuan had received one of those ‘missing persons’ notifications before. The police system would automatically push these notifications to nearby citizens in a target area to quickly find the missing person. As Xiang Nuan and her brother left the police station, she suddenly had a thought. “Brother, why don’t I ask my circle of friends to look out for mom?”

“Un, go ahead. I’ll go try circling the area again and look for mom.”

“Alright. Let’s split up.”

“Have you had lunch?” Xiang ChangKong asked.

Xiang Nuan shook her head. “I was in the middle of microwaving the food when I realized that mom was missing. Why would I think of eating at a time like this, ah.”

Xiang ChangKong sighed. “You have to eat lunch first. You’re going back to school in the afternoon, so you need to eat something. Don’t worry so much, I’ll find mom.”

Weng ShuLi was gone! There was no way that Xiang Nuan was in the mood to just go back to school. But after seeing Xiang ChangKong’s expression, Xiang Nuan could only nod. “I understand. But please let me know if you have any news.”

“Of course. You can rest assured.” Xiang ChangKong patted Xiang Nuan’s head and sent her off. Once Xiang Nuan returned home, she sent out a notice to all her friends. After she had done this, Xiang Nuan went into the kitchen and looked at the dishes on the table. Too lazy to warm up the food, she simply made do and ate the food cold.

Meanwhile, Xu Lian was taking a leisurely break. Picking up her phone, she casually looked through her notifications and saw that an hour ago, Xiang Nuan had sent something to all her friends. Unexpectedly, it was a notice saying that Weng ShuLi was missing. Xu Lian sat up and read through the message several times, and after confirming that it was indeed Xiang Nuan who sent it, called the young girl immediately.

Xiang Nuan picked up on the first ring. “Sister Xu Lian.”

Her uneasy tone made Xu Lian’s heart sink. The mass message was sent out an hour ago. It seems that Weng ShuLi still hadn’t been found. “Xiang Nuan, Auntie Weng is missing?”

“Un. I knocked on her door for lunch and found her gone. I already went to the police with my brother.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m at home. My brother’s still looking for mom, but there’s no news yet.”

Xu Lian thought for a moment, then said: “Don’t worry. I’ll go right now and help your brother look for her.”

As she said this, Xu Lian was already rushing downstairs with her car keys. Zhang GuoEr had something to do today and wasn’t at work, so Xu Lian directly closed her store. Once she got into her car, Xu Lian called Xiang ChangKong. The phone rang twice before he answered: “Xu Lian?”

“Have you found Auntie Weng?”

Xiang ChangKong was somewhat startled at her words, but he didn’t ask how she knew. Instead, he replied: “Not yet, but I just talked to a shopkeeper who saw her, so I think she hasn’t gone too far.”

“I’ll come and help you look.”

“Alright.” Xiang ChangKong paused, then added: “Thank you.”

“Things don’t need to be so formal between us, ah.” Xu Lian started the car and said: “I’m going to start driving, so I’m hanging up.”

Xiang ChangKong put his cell phone back in his bag after Xu Lian hung up.

He had already driven around the area twice. Since he still couldn’t find her, he may have to go further out. As if realizing something, Xiang ChangKong blinked and reached for his phone again. He wanted to call Xiang Nuan and remind her to stay alert. Maybe Weng ShuLi will walk home on her own. Just as Xiang ChangKong was about to dial Xiang Nuan’s phone, he noticed someone sitting on a bench nearby.

Xiang Nuan had already checked this small park once before. He had also gone looking in this area and hadn’t found Weng ShuLi. But at this moment, wasn’t that person sitting on the bench Weng ShuLi? Xiang ChangKong slowly put down his phone and walked towards her.

Weng ShuLi was watching a father-son pair playing with a remote control plane. The little boy seemed to be very interested int he plane. Whenever the toy plane took off, the little boy would yell incessantly.

She thought of Xiang ChangKong while she watched this scene. When Xiang ChangKong had been a child, he would shout just like this whenever he heard his father’s stories.

“Mom.” Xiang ChangKong approached her and called out. Weng ShuLi raised her head and hesitantly looked up at the person standing in front of her.

He was no longer that excited child in her thoughts. He had already grown so big.

Xiang ChangKong sat down next to her and asked: “Why’d you come here?”

Weng ShuLi turned away and didn’t answer.

Xiang ChangKong spoke again: “You left so suddenly that you scared us all, ah. Especially Xiang Nuan. She got so scared she started to cry. Next time you want to go out, remember to tell her…”

Weng ShuLi was still silent. After a while, Xiang ChangKong stood up and helped her up. “You still haven’t eaten…let’s go home.”