The only person truly happy during lunch today was Taiyang; everyone else had their minds on things other than the food.
Having promised to take Taiyang to the zoo to see the gorillas, Li Ningjun did not want to break her word to the child. However, looking at the person standing next to her daughter, she felt uneasy no matter what. Xiaoyue was quite oblivious to these matters and did not realize that the one named Qin was harboring ulterior motives. Ningjun knew she should offer a warning, but she was wary that doing so might reveal the events of seven years ago to Xiaoyue.
In the end, Li Ningjun took Taiyang to the zoo, while Li Sangyue accompanied Xi Wei’s group on a tour around the county seat. The area was not very large, so there was not much to see. Since Xi Wei and the others had no interest in conquering high peaks, the physically taxing activity of mountain climbing was ruled out. Li Sangyue did her best to introduce them to the local customs and cuisine instead.
Xi Wei was quite discerning. Sensing the timing, she suggested returning to the hotel to rest rather than continuing to play the “third wheel,” giving Qin Nian and Li Sangyue some space to be alone. This made Li Sangyue feel incredibly awkward. Xi Wei had clearly misunderstood her relationship with Qin Nian; all her previous explanations had been in vain. Xi Wei’s excessive enthusiasm toward her was likely mostly for Qin Nian’s sake.
“Are you going back to the hotel, or do you have other plans?” Li Sangyue asked, standing by the car now that it was just her and Qin Nian.
There were still three or four hours until dinner. She wanted to head to the zoo to find her mother and Taiyang; they should have finished seeing the gorillas by now. She could send them home first and then come back to take Xi Wei’s group out for local specialties.
Qin Nian spread her hands. “I have no other plans.”
“What did my mother say to you at lunch?” Li Sangyue asked as she began driving.
During the meal, her mother and Qin Nian had left the table one after the other, claiming to use the restroom, but they were gone for a long time.
Qin Nian was surprised she had guessed. “It was nothing much. Your mother just asked if I had a partner.”
The traffic light at the intersection suddenly turned red. Li Sangyue slammed on the brakes; her body lurched forward before being pulled back by the seatbelt.
“What? Why would my mother ask you that? She never gossips about other people’s private business.” It truly gave her a fright.
Qin Nian did not elaborate on the conversation but offered a clarification of her own: “I am currently single.”
“Oh.”
It had nothing to do with her, so why bother explaining? Yet, her fingers moving restlessly on the steering wheel betrayed her inner turmoil.
Qin Nian noticed this, and her crimson lips curled into a pleasant arc. “I believe I told you once that I have someone I like.”
“You did, back at my house when you were talking to my grandma.”
“Aren’t you going to ask who it is?”
The light turned green. Li Sangyue kept her eyes on the road and continued driving, appearing calm. “Why would I ask? It is none of my business.”
“What if it does concern you?”
At this point, even someone as slow as Li Sangyue understood the implication. However, she still did not believe it. “Haha, you could not possibly mean me, right? Do not joke like that; it is not funny at all.”
“I am not joking.”
After a moment of silence, Li Sangyue gave a non-sequitur response: “When did the county zoo get gorillas? I did not even know.”
The subject change was incredibly blunt, but she had no choice. It was too sudden, and she was not mentally prepared. She truly regretted asking that one extra question.
Qin Nian knew when to stop and did not press for an answer. She could give Li Sangyue enough time to think slowly. In the meantime, she could figure out how to get past Li Ningjun; back in the stairwell at noon, the murderous look in Li Ningjun’s eyes had signaled a difficult path ahead.
Halfway through their drive, Li Sangyue received a call from Zhang Mei. A barrage of accusations followed immediately. No matter how good Li Sangyue’s temper was, she could not help but explode.
It turned out that Zhang Mei was still worried about her daughter, who had been missing for several days. She followed the address Li Sangyue had provided to the hotel but could not find Zhang Jiajia. The front desk informed her that a girl in her late teens had indeed checked in that morning but checked out at noon. As for where she went, they did not know; hotel staff cannot keep track of where guests go after they check out.
Zhang Jiajia’s phone was off, causing the already sensitive Zhang Mei to lose her mind completely. She called the police and demanded the hotel surveillance footage. Even after confirming that Zhang Jiajia had left the hotel of her own accord, Zhang Mei refused to accept it. In a fit of hysteria, she accused Li Sangyue of kidnapping her daughter and demanded the police arrest her immediately. The police, of course, would not listen to her. Even more absurdly, Xue Hongyu did not stop Zhang Mei; instead, she called Li Ninghuai in front of the officers, telling her to order the police to make an arrest.
This call put Li Ninghuai in a very difficult position. She was currently at a critical stage for a promotion and had to be extremely cautious. If someone filmed the scene and posted it online, and the resulting public outcry involved her, she would be ruined. So many careers have been ended by public opinion. Did those two “stupid pigs,” Zhang Mei and Xue Hongyu, understand that at all?
Li Ninghuai was beyond furious. She told Xue Hongyu over the phone that the police handle matters according to the law and she had no power to tell them what to do. She also urged them to stop making a scene before hanging up abruptly.
The more Li Ninghuai thought about it, the angrier she became, so she made a call back to the village.
By the time Li Sangyue arrived at the hotel, the police had already calmed Zhang Mei and Xue Hongyu down and moved them into an empty meeting room arranged by the hotel manager. Otherwise, if they continued making a scene in the lobby, the hotel would not be able to do business.
As soon as Li Sangyue entered, Zhang Mei stood up abruptly and tried to rush her. “Where did you kidnap my daughter? Li Sangyue, it is bad enough that you have no sense of propriety yourself, but if you lead Jiajia astray, I am not done with you!”
Li Sangyue ignored the frantic Zhang Mei, but that sentence caused Qin Nian, who had followed her inside, to darken her expression.
Li Sangyue took the initiative to explain the situation to the officers. The look they gave her was full of sympathy; having relatives like this was truly a stroke of bad luck. Her daughter runs away, finds her cousin when she runs out of money, and the cousin spends time and effort to arrange everything and notifies the family. Now that the daughter is missing because the mother did not pick her up in time, she blames the cousin.
“We have other colleagues reviewing nearby surveillance; we should find her soon,” the officer said.
Li Sangyue nodded. “Thank you for your hard work.”
This whole ordeal was incredibly distressing. She swore she would never meddle in other people’s business again, only to end up being smeared like this.
A short while later, the police received a call saying the girl had been found in a nearby park and was being brought back.
Only then did Zhang Mei quiet down. She knew she was in the wrong, but the more that was true, the louder she shouted. She directed many nasty comments at Li Sangyue, even blaming Zhang Jiajia’s rebellious behavior on her. She suspected that Li Sangyue must have said something to Jiajia back at the village that encouraged her to talk back to her parents.
Li Sangyue did not want to engage with such a person, but Zhang Mei was going too far. She could no longer endure it. Rolling her eyes, she said, “This is truly a case of biting the hand that feeds you. I really should not have meddled in your family’s business. Zhang Jiajia found me herself. Was I supposed to watch her starve on the streets? I am not as cold-hearted as you two; your daughter was gone for days and you did not care until today. My mother called you this morning to pick her up and you did not come. Was it wrong of me to put her in a hotel? Would it have been right to leave her on the street? I did not even ask you to pay me back, yet you are trying to settle a score with me.”
Having a mother with explosive combat power meant that Li Sangyue usually never had to fight or argue. If someone bullied her, her mother would immediately enter battle mode, leaving her no room to act.
As a result, friends and relatives all thought she had a gentle temper. She indeed rarely argued with anyone, but that did not mean she was a pushover. If Zhang Mei was going to throw mud at her, she was certainly going to throw it back. She was not a weak person.
Zhang Mei’s face turned pale and then flushed with anger.
Xue Hongyu frowned. “Xiaoyue, we are your elders after all. How can you speak to your elders like that? You have no manners.”
“Little Auntie, which part of what I said was inappropriate?” Li Sangyue flashed a bright, fake smile.
Xue Hongyu felt extremely uncomfortable being addressed that way. She wanted to argue back, but remembering being slapped by Li Ningjun previously, she was still fearful and did not dare look for more faults in Li Sangyue.
“Jiajia is young and does not know better. Since she found you, you should have sent her home instead of putting her in a hotel and leaving her alone. She calls you her second sister, after all.”
“I did not even know where your house was.”
This one sentence left Xue Hongyu’s face looking grim. Her family’s relationship with Li Sangyue’s was so poor that they had never invited them over. Knowing she was in the wrong, any further talk would only be more embarrassing, so Xue Hongyu could only shut her mouth.
Zhang Jiajia was brought in by two other officers. She looked stunned. Seeing her two mothers, she did not call out to them. She kept her neck stiff and remained stubborn, refusing to admit any fault. After learning her mother had accused Li Sangyue of kidnapping her, she was furious and started arguing with Zhang Mei on the spot. Even the police could not stop them.
Li Sangyue stood aside with her arms crossed. Later, seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, with Zhang Jiajia even standing on the windowsill threatening to jump, she hesitated, thinking she should go over and advise them to take their argument home. This was a hotel; was not today’s display embarrassing enough already?
She had just moved her leg when her arm was gently caught by Qin Nian. “It is getting late; it is time to pick up Taiyang and your mother.”
Why bother with people like that who seek their own destruction? It would be a blessing if they were gone.
“But…” If something really happened, she would not be able to face Great-Auntie.
“The police are here.”
“Then… alright.” She decided it was best not to meddle further. Why help only to be scolded?
Coming out of the hotel, Li Sangyue’s expression was poor. Qin Nian did not let her drive and took the car keys herself.
After picking up her mother and Taiyang at the zoo, Tuan-jie called. Her voice was urgent as she told Li Sangyue there was an emergency at home.
“Sangyue, where are you? Go wait at the entrance of the County People’s Hospital immediately! Lin Yin and I are on our way in the small truck with Grandma and Grandma Li. Grandma fainted at home, and Grandma Li fell while rushing out to find help; it is quite serious. You and Auntie need to get there now.”
Only the two elders were at home today; Tuan-jie and Lin Yin had gone to the small warehouse. If Little Wangcai had not been barking in the yard, sounding so wrong that Auntie Li from next door came to check, no one would have discovered that the two elders had been hurt.