Chapter 339: A Missing Child

2022-05-20

Old Hu said, “With weather like this, there’s no way a child could make it home. Just look at how rough the roads are. A few years back our village started asking for a new road, and now every household has a computer, but the road’s still a muddy mess. Anytime it rains or snows, nobody can get in or out.”

At that, Gu Chen’s father looked pretty irritated too. “Exactly. Every year, they say they’ll fix it, then every year nothing happens. It just drags on and on. Efficiency is terrible. We’ve stopped expecting anything, honestly. Who knows what those people are thinking.”

Old Hu glanced at Gu Chen’s father and lowered his voice. “You just don’t get it. Our village isn’t all that big, but it’s not poor either. Maybe we’re not middle class, but we get by fine. We eat and drink whatever we want, even buy TVs and computers if we feel like it. But the road—no matter how many times we ask—never gets fixed. You’re missing the real reason why.”

“You know why?” Gu Chen’s father asked.

Old Hu grinned. “Of course I do. We’re pretty well taken care of around here, you know? Every year we get free rice and flour.”

“It’s not bad,” Gu Chen’s father agreed. “I don’t know about the other villages though.”

Old Hu said, “Way better than most. You know why we get all that? It’s because of this road. As long as the road stays like this, we’re officially labeled as a poor village. If they actually fix it, all that help goes away. That’s how we keep collecting money every year. But don’t go telling anyone I said that.”

Hearing all this, I finally understood. I’d heard Zhi Li Village was a poor village, but when I got here, every house had a computer and a TV, except the road was a disaster. People seemed self-sufficient, and now I see why things are the way they are.

I’ve heard these kinds of stories before, but it’s something else to see them in person. Old Hu sounded pretty interested in the whole thing, talking like an expert. It reminded me of the cab drivers back in Dongxing City—always in the know, nothing escapes them.

Old Hu seemed to have forgotten why we were here in the first place. And to be honest, Gu Hui’s death didn’t really seem to affect him much. You couldn’t see a hint of sadness on his face. Gu Chen’s father just sat there, face heavy, lost in thought—after all, she wasn’t his granddaughter.

When something happens to someone else, you might feel sympathy, but you’ll never truly understand their pain.

While Old Hu chatted on, I was mentally measuring the distance from the windowsill to the ground. Every house in the village was built the same, so it should be about the same everywhere. But then a question popped into my head.

Old Hu kept rambling, lost in his own stories, and I drifted off a bit. Noticing I wasn’t saying anything, Gu Chen got impatient and coughed a few times before speaking up. “Uncle Hu, we can talk about this stuff later. Where’s Hu Ningning? Is she still at school?”

That finally snapped Old Hu out of it. “At school. Her parents bring her back on weekends, but during the week she stays at school, just like I said earlier.”

Just then, the phone rang, and Old Hu’s wife went to answer it.

Gu Chen nudged me, dragging me back to reality. I asked, “After all this, has Hu Ningning reacted differently? Like maybe she doesn’t want to go to school anymore or seems scared of something?”

“Nope,” Old Hu said. “Nothing like that. She’s just a little girl, what does she know? Probably just thinks the whole thing was like playing house. I bet she’s already forgotten all about it. Kids’ memories aren’t that great after all.”

I shrugged. “Nothing else I need to ask then.”

As soon as I finished, a thunderclap crashed outside. The thunder was so loud it made everyone look toward the window. After a few deafening rumbles, a torrential downpour started up. Rain hammered the ground, making all sorts of noise. The storm chased away the stuffy heat and made the house feel cool and comfortable—almost refreshing.

Another flash lit up the sky, followed by another earth-shattering crash of thunder. But just as the thunder faded, there was a sudden “thud” from inside the house. We spun around and saw Old Hu’s wife had collapsed on the floor.

“What’s wrong with you? That thunder scared you that bad?” Old Hu rushed over to her, grumbling, “Your nerves are way too weak.”

“No, that’s not it!” Old Hu’s wife cried. “No, it’s the phone—the phone call!”

A bad feeling crept over me.

“Ningning’s missing! Ningning’s gone!” Old Hu’s wife cried.

“What?” Old Hu almost couldn’t stand up either. Gu Chen quickly jumped up to steady him.

Pointing toward the phone, Old Hu’s wife gasped, “The call—the call was from her elementary school teacher. She said Ningning hasn’t been seen anywhere since school let out. None of the students saw her leave, and now the whole school is out looking for her.”

“Is the line still open?” I asked.

“Yes, yes,” Old Hu’s wife said.

I nodded, picked up the receiver, and said, “Hello, I just overheard your call. What exactly happened? When did Hu Ningning go missing? Who was the last to see her?”

The voice on the other end was a clear, young woman. “Hello, I’m Hu Ningning’s homeroom teacher, Sun Qingqing. This afternoon at five, when classes let out, Ningning was supposed to stay at school. She’s been staying in the classroom all week. We’ve had teachers keep her company when she does her homework, but today we had a big meeting—all of the teachers had to attend.”

She paused for a moment, then continued, “Since everyone had to go to the meeting, no one could watch over Ningning. I told her to stay and do her homework in the classroom, then after that I’d take her to the school dorm where she usually sleeps with another female teacher.”

“The meeting was for an inspection, so it went on for a long time, at least two hours, maybe more,” Sun Qingqing went on. “I was anxious to check on Ningning—couldn’t just leave a child alone that long.”

“And then?” I prompted.

Sun Qingqing sounded worried now. “When I finally got back, it was already past seven. The classroom lights were off, so I tiptoed inside thinking maybe she’d fallen asleep. But when I turned on the light, the room was empty. I was confused—where had she gone?”

“Ningning’s a model student and always listens to her teachers. She never messes around, so I figured maybe she went to the bathroom and waited a bit. But she never came back. Then I noticed her backpack was gone too, and that’s when I realized something was wrong. What kid takes their backpack just to use the bathroom?”

“So that’s when Ningning went missing?” I asked.

“Exactly,” Sun Qingqing replied. “That was when no one could find her. We searched the whole school, but she was just gone. We reported it up, then went to check the surveillance cameras. But because of the inspection, they’d been doing maintenance on the cameras all afternoon—none of them were running. So we have no idea where Ningning went.”

I frowned. “Did you call the police?”

Sun Qingqing said, “Of course. We did get a glimpse on the cameras—Ningning left the school just after five. Lots of students went home at the same time, so nobody noticed whether she left with a parent or not. She just walked out, and we have no clue what happened after that. The investigation is ongoing.”

“We traced her on the cameras heading north by herself after leaving the school, but past a certain point, there are no more cameras. So right now, we don’t know where she went.”

“Alright,” I told Sun Qingqing, “I understand the situation. Keep supporting the investigation. If Ningning isn’t found by tomorrow, we’ll step in and take over. Have you told her parents yet?”

“Not yet. I’m just about to contact them,” Sun Qingqing said.

I nodded, gave her Gu Chen’s phone number, and said, “This is my contact. If you learn anything new, call this number, okay?”

“Understood,” Sun Qingqing said, then hung up.

Old Hu’s wife was still on the floor, her face drained of color as she muttered, “Why is my life so hard? Why is my life so hard? What did my granddaughter ever do to deserve this? Why would heaven treat her like this?”

I frowned. “When did Ningning get sent away?”

Old Hu answered, looking worried. “The 27th, I think.”

I nodded. That meant it was the day after Gu Hui’s death.

Old Hu finally managed to get his wife settled on the bed. She lay there moaning and saying, “You must find my granddaughter. Bring her back to us.”

“We will,” I promised quietly.

Outside, the storm raged on. Lightning, thunder, pouring rain—there was no end in sight. In weather like this, what was Hu Ningning doing, walking out of the campus on her own?

Suddenly, the phone rang again. The caller ID flashed—it was Sun Qingqing.

“Hello, are you still there?” Sun Qingqing asked.

“Yes,” I answered quickly. “Did you find her?”

Sun Qingqing replied, “No. Another child has gone missing…”