tomorrow afternoonAh Bao held the pen and swiftly marked out a few spots on the map as he spoke with a lowered voice.
The black-clothed man followed the pen with his eyes and imprinted every location into his mind as he nodded from time to time.
“Especially these blind spots, check them thoroughly. Once you notice anything, report it to me right away. More than a day has passed now, and with the continuous rain, many small traces can easily be neglected. Tell everyone to be sharper,” Ah Bao said as he suddenly turned to look out at the downpour. The rain poured along the car window. It was a heavy shower.
Ah Bao frowned, then said, “Forget it. The rain’s too heavy right now. Tell the brothers to rest in the car first and search again when the sun’s up.”
“Yes, Bro Bao!” that person responded, then swiftly took out his phone to call a number. After some quick orders, the other end understood, so he hung up.
“Bro Bao, on Master’s end…”
“Master’s rushing over right away,. He’ll reach City B on the direct flight tomorrow afternoon. Before that, I’m hoping to find some valuable clues.”
When he thought about how Master was coming over the next day, Ah Bao began to worry. The rain was so heavy. Even if there were any traces left behind, it would mostly have been washed away by the rain, and they would not find anything useful.
“Bro Ba, we can get the CCTV recordings. Perhaps they didn’t come from this road, or maybe, they never even left City B.”
“Do you think Master wouldn’t have thought of that? Master Su’s already thinking of ways to get the CCTV footage. Right now, it’s best to just rest first. You’ll be busy again once the skies brighten up. Stay in contact with the people that Missus and Chairman Mu have delegated over and work together. That way, you can be more efficient.”
“Yes, Bro Bao! Don’t worry. I’ve already sent the word. They’ll keep searching once it stops raining. With this weather now, I’m sure that even if they were kidnapped, the kidnappers wouldn’t be so dumb to move them away. As long as we watch every exit, perhaps…”
“Perhaps, your a*s. Looking over here, there are mountains there. It’s an area with villages scattered all over. If they want to hide a person or two, wouldn’t that be easy? Be more alert!” Ah Bao shot that man an angry glance as he kept the map with a frown.
That man dared not say anymore and just kept quiet…
…
The next day, Xi Xiaye still woke up quite early. The whole night, she actually did not get any shut-eye because she had been worried about Qi Lei and Ah Mo. Up till midnight, she still could not sleep, so she started to work.
After an all-nighter, she gained some eyebags and looked quite wan and sallow, so she put on some makeup and managed to conceal it.
Inside the CEO office of Fuhua Real Estate building, Xi Xiaye handed a document that she had browsed through to Xiao Mei before she ordered, “Deliver this document to VP Liang, and then called Assistant Lan over.”
“Got it, CEO Xi!”
Xiao Mei quickly left the room. After a while, there was a knock on the door.
Xi Xiaye had just set aside the documents, so she responded, “Come in!”
Lan Zilang’s figure soon appeared before her.
“What is it? Uncle Lan? Is there any news?” Xi Xiaye asked anxiously.
Lan Zilang’s expression was solemn as he responded in a lowered voice, “The weather’s not too good over there. We’ve sent people out but haven’t found anything useful yet. They’ve been looking for an entire night.”
“It’s been two days. How can there be no news at all? Can we still get through the phone lines?” Xi Xiaye’s face could not help but flash a hint of frustration as her brows furrowed into a knot.
“The calls can’t get through. Now, the less information we have on them, it might actually be better for them. Hopefully, nothing’s happened to them,” Lan Zilang said.
“What about the Qi family? How did they react? Hasn’t Qi Qiming noticed yet?” Xi Xiaye looked up at Lan Zilang.
“Qi Qiming’s not been in City Z these few days, it seems. He didn’t go home for dinner on the day Gu Lingsha was released either. Because of this, Gu Lingsha’s not too happy about it. Right, Gu Lingsha knows that her daughter, Qi Weier, has been hospitalized. She fought with Qi Feng again, so he’s been staying in Qi Kai till very late at night these past two days,” Lan Zilang quickly reported the general situation of the Qi family to her.
With a sigh, Xi Xiaye slowly propped herself up with the desk, and then massaged between her brows with the other hand. “Uncle Lan, who do you think is most likely behind this?”
Upon hearing that, Lan Zilang gave it some serious thought, and then responded, “That’s hard to say because right now there’s no news of them being kidnapped. There are many types of motives. The Qi family does have some background in the underground. Even if they’re clean now, they used to have many enemies. Besides, Qi Qiming’s recent ways have put Qi Lei in the media limelight. If Qi Lei were to be kidnapped, that would’ve been normal. As for Ah Mo, I can’t think of anything immediately.
“This situation is a little tricky, but, Xiaye, you have to take good care of yourself too. You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you? You don’t look too well.”
Xi Xiaye sighed softly and helplessly. “How can I sleep well knowing that this has happened? Okay, Uncle Lan, you go settle your things first. Just let me know if there’s any news from over there.”
“Okay, right, I heard that you’re going back to the Shen residence tonight, aren’t you?” Lan Zilang was about to leave when he remembered this.
Xi Xiaye paused, then answered, “Yeah, Grandpa’s gotten a slight cold recently and he’s not in a great mood, so I wanted to go home to visit.”
“That’ll be good. Let’s go together then. I haven’t seen the Elder CEO for almost half a month now, and I do miss him.”
“Alright, when it’s time, I’ll get Xiao Mei to inform you.”
Then, Lan Zilang slowly retreated while Xi Xiaye felt limp and leaned back on her chair in a daze.
…
In the afternoon, City B remained bleak with rain. When the sky had brightened up, Ah Bao and the rest continued their search once again, but they got nothing after an entire morning.
Su Chen’s side quickly got the CCTV recordings, but they did not find anything relevant either though they did see the scene of Qi Lei and Ah Mo getting into the car one after another to leave for the airport.
It was past 4 p.m. at the local time when Mu Yuchen’s flight landed in City B. He did not rest and went straight to the hotel where Qi Lei and Ah Mo had stayed at.
Ah Bao waited there for him. Since he did not find any relevant information, the entire row of them was all nervous, worried about how to tell the Master this.
