“The child’s parents entrusted the child to me. I didn’t dare to tell the child’s parents when something like this happened. It’s been three days…” The old woman touched the corner of her eye and was hardly able to speak when she looked at the photo.
“Don’t worry, old lady, we’ll definitely find the child. He might even appear tonight and give you a surprise,” Ye Lingchen comforted.
It seemed that the group of people were all looking for children. Although Ye Lingchen wanted to tell the old lady about her child’s situation, he had to wait until Xu Nan arrived in order to avoid confusion.
It would not be good if the child was falsely claimed as one’s own amidst all the chaos.
“Young man, you haven’t graduated from university yet, have you? No wonder you’re so naïve!” A middle-aged uncle looked at Ye Lingchen from one side. His mood was obviously extremely bad and his words were very rude. “What surprise could there be? I’ve been waiting here for days and nights, but I haven’t received any news at all!”
“Yeah! When we came here, those fellas either shut the door and refrained from coming out or they simply sidestepped the issue. If we put our hope on them, we won’t even know when they’ll manage to find them!” someone shouted in response.
“Is it that easy to take our taxpayers’ money? What use are they? My child suffered, sob sob…”
“The bottom line is, if we aren’t given an answer today, we must seek justice. They’re too inefficient in their duties and let criminals get away scot-free. This is much too hard on us!”
“It’s been five days and I don’t even know what my child has become now.”
“My child is only five months old! Huhuhu…I’ve only barely held him a few times…”
“Goddamn bunch! What kind of world is this? Who else can we count on?!”
Many people were riled up as they spoke and even kicked the door a few times to vent.
Some people had already stopped crying, but could not help shedding tears after bringing it up again. On the other hand, some couples hugged each other and were silent.
Ye Lingchen finally knew how the footprints and spray paint came about. Someone had already raised a banner ‘Please find our children’ and stood in front of the door.
Despair, anger, helplessness, worry, fear—all kinds of negative emotions surfaced in the hearts of that group of people, making their mentality extremely chaotic.
“Don’t worry, everyone! The children will definitely be found! Trust in our government servants!” Ye Lingchen could not help but comfort them.
“I believed it at first, but it’s been a long time since then. This is bitterly disappointing!”
“Can’t you just use a police dog to sniff them out like in the movie? Why aren’t they doing it?”
“This issue is dragged on by the day. They’re not even opening their doors now. How can we count on them?”
Everyone exchanged remarks and became increasingly riled up as they talked.
“There are always procedures when doing things and this issue is not a trivial one. Gathering here in a large group will only affect their work. It’s certain that inside there, they’re actively helping each of you find your children. Perhaps they’ll even find them today,” Ye Lingchen continued.
“Easy for you to say. The problem right now is that there isn’t any news at all! If we ask them, they’ll dodge our questions with high-sounding words. What else are we supposed to do?!”
“You’re not the party involved, so of course you’re not anxious. Our children are missing. Do you know how much we’re suffering? Huhuhu…”
“My baby, Mommy has let you down. Mommy is incompetent…”
Ye Lingchen took a deep breath and said bluntly, “I’m here to assure you that your children will be fine, and that they’ll be found soon, as long as you’re cooperating with me. Please trust me!”
He knew that it was useless to say anything else at that juncture. What that group of people wanted was reassurance—it did not matter whether those words were true or false, but the most crucial part of it was reassurance!
Sure enough, Ye Lingchen’s words calmed most of them down and they looked at Ye Lingchen in surprise.
“Young… Young man, are you telling the truth? Are they really alright?” The old woman looked at Ye Lingchen with an expectant look.
“Don’t worry, old lady, they’re absolutely fine! As long as you cooperate, the child will return to you soon,” Ye Lingchen said with conviction.
“Okay, we’ll cooperate! We must cooperate!” The old woman nodded eagerly.
Ye Lingchen let out a long sigh. The situation was finally in control for the time being.
He glanced at the crowd with complicated looks and his heart was slightly heavy.
Although he never experienced the pain of losing children, he vaguely understood the grief that the group of people was going through. In fact, the greatest luxury for old commonfolk was to be able to live their lives in peace.
As an old saying went, ‘Peace is a blessing’. It may be difficult to understand when Ye Lingchen was still a child, but as he grew up, he could appreciate the preciousness of peace.
Since he was someone capable and with ability, he would not be merciful if he encountered such morally-corrupt bastards!
At this moment, a man in a crisp suit walked toward Ye Lingchen quietly with a flippant look in his eyes.
“Not bad bro. You’re a master? You came here to snatch away my business?”
Ye Lingchen was in a bad mood and his brows frowned suddenly. He kept quiet and his eyes shot a glance at the man.
“Hehe, you seem to think you’re the sh*t!” The man was surprised at first, then he sneered and said, “We’ve been contracted for this business here. Want to interfere? I think you should take a good look at the situation!”
Then, he no longer looked at Ye Lingchen, but fished out his business card and instantly transformed into a good-natured person to hide the maliciousness within. He then handed the business card to the old woman.
“Hello granny, I’m from Eagle Eye Detective Agency. This is my business card.”
The old woman took the business card suspiciously.
The man continued, “our Eagle Eye Detective Agency is called Eagle Eye because it’s the best at helping people find lost items, especially children or the elderly!”
His words immediately caused the old woman’s eyes to light up. She passed the photo as fast as she could and said, “Can you find my child?”
The man took the photo and put on a show while looking at it for a moment, as if thinking. “How long has your child been lost?”
“Three days.”
“Where did you lose him?”
“De’Longhi Mall, third floor.”
“It hasn’t been that long yet and the location is a mall, no less. I can request for the surveillance footage from the mall. It won’t be difficult to find this child!” The man analyzed for a while before asserting.
“REALLY?!” The joy was evident on that old woman’s face.
“Our detective agency relies on word-of-mouth. If we get word out, we will definitely find him!” the man said firmly, but seemed to hesitate after a brief pause. “It’s just that… If you want to locate a person, the preliminary preparations that we need to do require lots of funds…”
