775 Zhang Qin Is Missing
The next day, Qiao Mei woke up, tidied up the house, cooked and ate. Her life was very relaxed and comfortable. She then fried the remaining seeds she had in the storeroom so that she could send everything to the capital. The ones she sent to Xia He the last time were still the old variety.
By the time she finished frying the seeds, it was already noon. Before she could clean up the kitchen, she heard a commotion outside. There were only two families near her house, Li Gui and Auntie Dong. Could it be that someone from Old Madam Li’s family came again? Or was there a problem with Li Gui collecting the seeds?
Qiao Mei walked out of the house curiously and saw Zhang Wei running towards her anxiously.
“What happened? Shouldn’t you be at school at this time? Why did you run back?” Qiao Mei asked.
The school was tens of miles away from home, so it was impossible for Zhang Wei to walk back alone. He had only gone to school for a few hours, so why was he back alone? Where were the other children?
“Elder sister… Zhang Qin… Zhang Qin is missing!” Zhang Wei said while panting.
“What! Aren’t you all at school? How can she go missing! Have you gone around the school to look for her?” Qiao Mei asked in shock.
Zhang Wei shook his head. In the morning, the three of them had set off for school together. As the three of them were of different grades, they were in different classes. They only gathered together to eat at noon and go home after school.
At noontime, he realized that Zhang Qin was not in the classroom. He could not find her no matter where he looked. The teacher also helped in the search, but there was no sign of her. That was why he had brought Zhang Chao home with him in a hurry, thinking that Zhang Qin might be at home.
“The teacher has already helped us to look around but we can’t find her. We’ve already searched all the places that Zhang Qin might have gone…” Zhang Wei said fearfully.
He had already lost Zhang Qin once. He was afraid that Zhang Qin might be captured by those human traffickers again. It was all his fault as the eldest brother. If not for the fact that he did not take good care of Zhang Qin, she would not have suddenly disappeared.
Zhang Wei was trembling in fear. He was afraid that something would happen to Zhang Qin and whispered, “Elder sister… can it be that my father…”
“No, he’s still in prison. Go to the places that Zhang Qin likes to go around the village. I’ll call Uncle Zhao,” Qiao Mei said calmly.
Now that such a big thing had happened, she had to remain calm. At this moment, Li Gui must be so flustered that she did not know what to do. If Qiao Mei was also unable to stay calm, they would waste even more time instead of focusing on finding Zhang Qin.
The most important thing now was to get more people to go and look for the child.
Qiao Mei quickly returned to the house and called the village office. Soon, Zhao Liang picked up the call.
“Uncle Zhao, bad news! My Zhang Qin is missing!” Qiao Mei said anxiously.
“The child is missing? Don’t be anxious. I’ll do a broadcast to inform all the villagers to gather now so that we can all go and look for the child together. Don’t be anxious, I’ll be at your house soon.” After saying that, Zhao Liang went to make arrangements.
Qiao Mei was certain that this matter had nothing to do with Zhang Qian. Zhang Qian was still in jail and even if Zhang Cong wanted to avenge his father, he did not have the guts to do so.
Zhang Qin was the most obedient among the children. She definitely did not run off on her own accord.
Qiao Mei walked to the corner of the courtyard and gently touched the flowers and plants on the ground. She focused on the big tree outside Qiao Zhuang’s house but she did not find any traces of Zhang Qin, nor did she see any memories of Zhang Qin walking past this big tree.
“Strange… Can I have wronged their family?” Qiao Mei muttered to herself.
After the broadcast, the villagers gathered at the door of Li Gui’s house. Everyone was very worried about Zhang Qin’s safety. Qiao Mei usually took good care of everyone, so it was only right for all of them to help out now.
Qiao Mei quickly walked to Li Gui’s courtyard while supporting her stomach. Li Gui was already crying in the courtyard. Her eyes were so swollen that she could barely open them and her clothes were wet from the tears.
“My child! If anything happens to you… I won’t be able to live!” Li Gui said as she wept.
“Mom, I’m here. Have you gone to all the places that Zhang Qin frequents?” Qiao Mei asked.
Li Gui sobbed and said, “Yes… we did… we searched the entire village. The villagers also kept a lookout on the way here but there’s no trace of her anywhere. Tell me… Where else do you think this child can go…”
