Lu Jiaping was now fully awake. Holding her phone, she felt utterly lost, unsure of what to do. It took her a long moment to react. She immediately dialed Jiang Yuxin’s smartwatch, but the call wouldn’t go through—it was turned off, and the location tracking was unavailable.
Lu Jiaping put on her coat and took Jiang Yuchen out with her. “Hurry, let’s go find your sister.”
She sent messages to every group she was in—the neighborhood group, the school group, the tutoring group—asking if anyone had seen Yuxin. But everyone replied that they hadn’t. Lu Jiaping felt as if ice-cold water had been poured over her from head to toe. Where had her Yuxin gone?
All the online crime reports she had seen before flooded her mind. There were so many pedophiles these days, specifically targeting children, especially those who were fair-skinned, thin, and young. Yuxin was tall and slender, with delicate features. Apart from being tanned from playing sports, she fit that description perfectly.
Panicking, Lu Jiaping quickly dialed 110 to report the incident.
However, the police merely took a polite record of the situation. Upon hearing that the child had been missing for less than an hour, they showed no intention of helping to search.
Jiang Yuchen now understood that his sister was missing. He obediently held onto the hem of his mother’s clothes, running until he was drenched in sweat, yet he didn’t complain once about being tired.
By the time Lu Jiaping had searched everywhere and returned to the tutoring school, it was already past nine in the evening. The children had long since gone home.
The teacher was also very worried. “Yuxin seemed a bit off today, as if she had been crying. Our homeroom teacher asked her about it, but she said she was fine. However, her math grades have always been good, but she didn’t do well in the Olympiad math practice during the first class today. Usually, if she doesn’t do well, she pays extra attention in the second class. I don’t know why she didn’t come back afterward.”
Lu Jiaping stood at the front desk of the tutoring center, holding Jiang Yuchen’s hand. She had asked everyone she could think of, even calling a few girls who were close friends with Jiang Yuxin, but none of them had seen her.
The teacher asked, “Sometimes her father picks her up. We were wondering if he might have taken her.”
That’s right—Father. Jiang Yuxin adored her father.
Lu Jiaping quickly took out her phone. “I’ll call her father and ask.”
The teacher was slightly surprised. Hadn’t she informed the child’s father even though Yuxin had been missing for over an hour?
After two or three calls, Jiang Cheng’s phone remained unanswered. Lu Jiaping sighed helplessly. “He has a business dinner tonight. He probably didn’t hear the phone.”
Leaving the tutoring school, Lu Jiaping decided to check out Jiali Plaza. There was an indoor zoo there that Yuxin used to love visiting. Later, with her heavy workload, she hadn’t had much time to go. Thinking back, Lu Jiaping realized she hadn’t taken Yuxin there in over a year.
If she found Yuxin, she would definitely make time to take her there again.
It was Friday, and even at this late hour, it was hard to hail a taxi. Lu Jiaping anxiously checked her phone app while looking around. Two teachers from the tutoring school came out, not noticing Lu Jiaping and Jiang Yuchen as they chatted while walking.
“Look at Yuxin’s mother—she really has it tough. She’s called a stay-at-home mom, but she’s busy from morning till night, taking care of both kids. Even when something as serious as a child going missing happens, it’s all on her.”
“I saw Yuxin’s father before, and he seemed like a really good person. Yuxin loves her father too, so it doesn’t seem like he’s neglecting his duties.”
“This is often the sorrow of women. Women toil tirelessly for their children, while men only need to come home after work and play with the kids for a bit to earn their respect and love.”
“That’s true. Yuxin’s father is still considered good. Many men can’t even spare a moment to play with their children, leaving stay-at-home mothers living like single parents.”
“All I can say is, even after marriage and having children, women must not give up their careers.”
The two women walked away, chatting back and forth, their voices fading until they were no longer audible. Lu Jiaping stood there in a daze, not even noticing when the car arrived.
The driver rolled down the window. “Did you book a ride online to Jiali Plaza?”
Lu Jiaping snapped back to reality and quickly nodded. “Yes, yes, that’s us. Yuchen, hurry, get in the car.”
As the car drove forward, Jiang Yuchen leaned against his mother. It was already very late—he usually bathed and went to bed by nine o’clock—and he was now sleepy.
He mumbled drowsily, “Grand…”
Lu Jiaping looked down at him, her nose tingling with emotion, and asked softly, “Was Grandmother good to you these past few days while Mommy was away?”
“Good…” Jiang Yuchen lifted his head. “It rained yesterday, and Grandmother brought my favorite Ledi umbrella to pick me up. But she went too early! I wanted to play a bit longer with Teacher Yuanyuan and Xiaoli. Xiaoli even cried because I didn’t wait for her.”
Lu Jiaping’s heart sank. Elementary school and kindergarten had different dismissal times, and there was a walking distance between the two schools. She had reminded her mother-in-law to pick up Yuxin first and then Yuchen, as Yuchen would stay and play at school for a while—she had already arranged this with the teacher in advance.
If Yuchen was picked up first and Yuxin later, they would return home late, leaving Yuxin with less time to do her homework. Was that why Yuxin had stayed up so late doing her homework yesterday?
“Did Grandmother pick you up first and then your sister?”
Jiang Yuchen shook his head. “No, Grandmother didn’t pick up Sister. She said the rain was too heavy and was afraid I’d get wet. She also said Sister was grown up and could come home by herself, but Sister never came back. In the end, Father went to pick her up.”
Lu Jiaping was completely stunned. She should have realized it earlier—Yuxin was so obedient and sensible that even in her absence, she wouldn’t slack off on her homework. How could she have yelled at Yuxin like that? It was all her fault. She should have called more often to remind her mother-in-law and Jiang Cheng.
Her heart ached even more. That silly child—why didn’t she come home on her own when no one picked her up? Why didn’t she call Grandmother or Father?
Jiang Yuchen saw his mother’s eyes redden and didn’t dare to bother her further. He leaned against the car window, looking outside. After a while, he suddenly sat up straight and pointed outside. “Mom, look, that’s Father.”
The car stopped at a red light at the intersection. Lu Jiaping followed Jiang Yuchen’s finger and looked outside. Sure enough, she saw Jiang Cheng standing there, next to a young woman. Even from this distance, she could tell the woman was elegant and refined.
Lu Jiaping instinctively looked down at herself. Her clothes had wrinkled on the high-speed train, and after returning home, she had been busy with chores, seeing her mother-in-law off, and picking up the children. She hadn’t had time to change her coat and didn’t know when a large stain had appeared on her lapel. Rough, unattractive, and crumpled—a typical housewife. Her figure might not look too out of shape at first glance, but Lu Jiaping knew exactly what it was really like.
The red light soon turned green, and when Lu Jiaping looked up again, she could only see two blurry figures.
She didn’t continue calling, nor did she even ask Jiang Cheng who that person was. She was too tired, and only wanted to find her daughter as quickly as possible—faster, even faster.