hotmtlnovel Chapter 709 Qin Huairu is Sick
Chapter 709 Qin Huairu is Sick
As for the child, Jia Cai… she muttered to herself. He was Qin Huairu's precious darling, treated like a precious gem, not her own grandson. Although she had taken Jia Cai to play at the alley entrance and had been distracted by the Li family's arguments, causing the child to wander off, his father, Jia Dongxu, was now calm and collected, eating and sleeping as usual, and even asking for water. Why should she, an outsider, worry about it? She'd only been slapped; she'd just stop gossiping in front of Qin Huairu and mind her own business.
Thinking this way, most of the resentment in her heart dissipated, and her steps became lighter. With her head hanging low, like a defeated rooster, she slowly moved back into the house, determined to keep her mouth shut from now on and not get involved in the Jia family's affairs, no matter how exciting they were.
Meanwhile, Qin Huairu and Xiao Dang were frantically searching outside. They searched from the alleyway to the vegetable market, then from the riverbank to the scrap yard. Qin Huairu's voice was hoarse from shouting, almost broken. She clutched a small photograph of Jia Cai, taken in the spring at a photo studio. The child was wearing a blue cotton jacket, smiling and showing two small tiger teeth. She pulled it out for everyone she met, pointing at the photo with trembling fingers: "Grandpa, have you seen this child? So tall, wearing a blue cotton jacket..."
Her eyes were red like a rabbit's, bloodshot. Whenever she saw a child wearing the same little jacket, she would rush forward, grabbing the child's arm and asking, "Is this Cai'er?" The parents would impatiently push her away, saying, "Are you crazy?" She would then let go, her tears falling like broken beads, splashing onto the ground and leaving a small wet patch on the dust.
Xiao Dang followed behind, clutching a hard, dry cornbread in her little hand. She'd taken it from the stove before leaving, and it was so hard it hurt her gums, but she nibbled on it half-heartedly. She knew perfectly well what was going on—she'd already secretly sent Jia Cai to that childless old couple outside the city. Before leaving, she'd given the child half a piece of candy, and the kind-looking couple had even said they'd buy the child a doll. Right now, Jia Cai was probably rolling around on the kang (heated brick bed) with his new toy, completely lost in this alley.
But she couldn't say anything. That day, watching her aunt secretly take her mother's savings, watching her father lie on the kang (heated brick bed) indifferent to everything at home, she knew she couldn't stay there any longer. Jia Cai was still young; he couldn't suffer poverty and mistreatment along with her. She could only lower her head and follow Qin Huairu, knocking on each door, repeating over and over, "Have you seen a little boy this tall? With a short haircut…", her voice weak like willow catkins drifting in the wind, even she felt it was fake.
Several times, Qin Huairu sat on a roadside stone, sobbing uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking, almost fainting from crying. Xiao Dang squatted beside her, patting her back with her little hand as if to comfort her, but her heart felt heavy, like a stone pressing down on it, making it hard to breathe. She knew she was lying to her mother, completely fooling her, but now, she couldn't think of any other way but to continue the charade.
Seeing the few new gray hairs at Qin Huairu's temples, gleaming dazzlingly silver in the setting sun, Xiao Dang bit her lip, swallowing back the words that were on the tip of her tongue. The words lingered on her tongue, tinged with bitterness—"Mom, don't look anymore, Cai'er has gone to a good place." She simply held the cornbread in her hand to her mother's mouth, her voice barely audible: "Mom, eat something, you need strength to keep looking."
Qin Huairu shook her head, pushed her hand away, tears still streaming down her face, and murmured, "If we can't find Cai'er, I won't live anymore..."
The setting sun cast long shadows of the two, like two elongated sighs. Qin Huairu's sobs mingled with the evening breeze, a mournful wailing that made passersby in the alley feel a pang of unease, shaking their heads and turning away. Xiao Dang gazed at the distant, gray city walls, the wild grass at their base swaying in the wind, mirroring her own feelings. Only one thought occupied her mind: to tire herself out quickly and go home. Every moment this hopeless search lasted increased her guilt, like countless fine needles piercing her heart, making it almost impossible to breathe.
He Feng handed over the case of Jia Cai's disappearance to one of his young officers, while he stood by the office window, gazing at the gray sky outside. He knew the difficulty of the case—if it were an organized abduction, they might be able to find some clues by following the leads at the train station and the dock; but it was just a teenager who had vanished into thin air, without witnesses, without any suspicious footprints, not even a trace at the alleyway where he was last seen. It was like a drop of water disappearing into the ocean, leaving no sound, making it extremely difficult to find. In the end, the case could only be temporarily classified as a mystery, stamped with a bright red "pending investigation" mark, and stacked at the bottom of the filing cabinet with other unsolved cases, shelved for the time being.
Time is like sand slipping through your fingers; no matter how tightly you grasp it, you can't stop it from flowing away. Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and Qin Huairu was still frantically searching for Jia Cai. She stopped going to work at the factory, wandering the alleys like a lost soul, grabbing anyone she saw and asking, "Have you seen my Jia Cai? Wearing a blue cotton jacket, with a short haircut, and a smile that reveals two tiger teeth..." Her eyes were unfocused, as if veiled by mist, a neurotic smile playing on her lips. She was emaciated, her once-fitting jacket hanging loosely, making her look somewhat insane. After all, Banggeng had long since become a hopeless case, and now even the youngest Jia Cai was gone, leaving only her daughter, Xiaodang, at home. She often stared blankly at the empty house; the stove was cold, the kang (heated brick bed) was cold, and she repeatedly asked herself: What's the point of living? It would be better to die, to end it all.
That day, the autumn wind swirled with withered yellow leaves, sending them stinging down people's necks. Qin Huairu led Xiaodang to the moat. The water was murky and greenish, and fallen leaves floated on the surface, creating ripples that spread out and disappeared without a trace. She gazed at the river, then suddenly turned to Xiaodang, her voice light and airy, like a leaf that might be blown away at any moment: "Xiaodang, tell me… your brother Jia Cai is missing. Is it all my fault? Is it because I, as his mother, am incompetent, unable to protect you, that I couldn't keep him?"
Xiao Dang didn't fully understand the deeper meaning behind her mother's words, but she saw the despair in her eyes—an emptiness so profound that she couldn't even cry. She quickly grabbed her mother's cold hand and shook it forcefully, her voice trembling with tears: "Mom, what are you saying! What does this have to do with you? It's all my brother's bad luck that he was kidnapped by bad people. It has nothing to do with you! When we find him, I'll give him a piece of my mind and scold him for running away!"