Xu Shu picked up the explanation: “Here’s what happened. After dinner, a few of us went out for a walk and met an older woman. When it started raining, she wanted to go home. Lili and Taozi were worried, so they went to escort her back—but they still haven’t returned.”
Suo Tian looked at Xu Shu. “How far is it from here?”
“About ten to twenty minutes on foot.”
Hearing that, Suo Tian thought for a moment, then stood up and signaled to Xu Shu and Han Xue. “You lead the way. We’ll go take a look.”
I was just about to get up and go with them when Suo Tian turned to me. “Go upstairs and change your clothes.”
“But—”
“Go change!” His expression clearly showed displeasure.
…
There had indeed been a lot of trouble lately.
Even if Suo Tian didn’t say it outright, it was obvious from his recent behavior that, compared to my carelessness, he was far more anxious and concerned about the baby.
Seeing everyone giving me looks, I could only sigh. “Then I’ll change and wait here for you to come back.”
“Mm.” Maybe because I gave in so easily, Suo Tian’s expression softened a little.
After reminding me to put on something warm, he left with Han Xue, Zhou Wen, Shen Feng, and Yangyang.
Xu Shu had originally intended to go with them, but after pacing around the house for a bit, her face darkened.
When they set off, she didn’t follow.
Instead, after glancing at the clock, she hurried upstairs to change into another set of clothes, then came back down and leaned against the wall in the living room, her face full of anger.
I was about to ask her what was wrong when I suddenly realized…
Chen Pu wasn’t in the house.
I walked over to Uncle Gazi and asked quietly, “Uncle Gazi, where’s Xiao Pu?”
He thought for a moment and said, “Not long after you all went out, he left too. I figured Xu Shu had been keeping a tight leash on him lately, so letting the kid go out for some air would be good. Huh… now that you mention it, why hasn’t he come back yet?”
Uncle Gazi’s voice wasn’t quiet, and Xu Shu heard him.
Her expression darkened even more.
At that moment, Chen Pu came rushing in from outside, soaked like a drowned rat.
As he entered, he stomped his feet a couple of times, shaking mud off his pants.
He was still wiping his face when Xu Shu, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened up and walked toward him, her voice cold as she asked, “Where did you go?”
Startled by her sudden question, Chen Pu looked up at her, then glanced at me and Uncle Gazi before shaking his head. “Just went out for a walk.”
“A walk takes that long?”
“It started raining outside, so I took shelter for a while.”
Apparently finding no easy way to refute that, Xu Shu stared at him for a moment before continuing, “Where did you go? Can anyone confirm you were there? Is there anyone who can prove it?”
“Xu girl, what are you doing?” Uncle Gazi didn’t understand her line of questioning and interrupted.
Xu Shu waved him off. “Uncle Gazi, there are things you don’t know. Stay out of this—I need to get to the bottom of this today.”
Chen Pu glanced at the now-silent Uncle Gazi, then frowned at Xu Shu.
“Sis, what do you mean? I go out for a walk and I need a witness now?”
“Yes.” Xu Shu’s voice dropped even lower. “If no one can prove it, who knows what you went out to do?”
“…Girl, what are you saying? He’s just a kid going out for a walk—what are you suspecting?” Uncle Gazi couldn’t help but speak up again.
This time, neither Xu Shu nor Chen Pu turned to look at him.
The siblings stood facing each other, their expressions tense.
After a long moment, Chen Pu spoke in a low voice, “I just went out to clear my head. I didn’t go anywhere, and no one can prove anything. Believe it or not.”
After saying that, he shot Xu Shu a fierce glare and moved to go upstairs.
But as he passed her, Xu Shu suddenly grabbed his arm and yanked him hard, throwing him to the ground.
Although Chen Pu was a boy, he was still young.
Xu Shu, having been trained before, was strong—and she didn’t hold back.
He fell heavily to the floor, his face filled with disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe she would treat him so harshly.
Xu Shu clenched her teeth tightly.
It was hard to tell whether there was any trace of pain on her face, but I knew that, given her personality, she must have been hurting even more than Chen Pu at that moment.
“Where are Lili and Taozi?”
The moment she said that, I sucked in a sharp breath and looked at Xu Shu in shock…
I had thought she was this angry because Chen Pu had gone out alone behind everyone’s back, maybe meeting with some shady people again—that was why she was so furious.
Now it seemed that the real reason Xu Shu was so furious was that, in her mind, Lili and Taozi’s disappearance was connected to Chen Pu.
“Xiao Shu, what are you saying? How could Chen Pu possibly have anything to do with this?” I couldn’t help but speak up for him.
Uncle Gazi was even more shocked than I was.
He looked at Xu Shu in disbelief—he couldn’t understand how she could link the usually well-behaved Chen Pu to Lili and Taozi’s disappearance.
Xu Shu kept staring at Chen Pu on the ground.
She waved her hand at me, signaling me not to speak, then asked him again, “Cat got your tongue? Can’t you talk?”
After a long moment, Chen Pu finally snapped back to his senses.
His eyes burned with anger as he stared at Xu Shu.
“What exactly are you talking about? How would I know where Lili and Taozi are?”
Then he froze for a second, as if something had just occurred to him.
He looked up in disbelief, his lips trembling before he continued, “Sis… did something happen to Lili and Taozi… and because I happened to go out, you think I did something to them?”
Seeing that Xu Shu didn’t respond, his voice immediately choked up as he shouted, “Is that it?!”
Xu Shu’s gaze wavered for a moment, but quickly steadied. She looked at Chen Pu and nodded. “Yes.”
“Heh…” Chen Pu finally let out a bitter laugh.
After a while, it was as if all the strength drained out of him.
The anger from before disappeared as he said, “Where they are, what happened to them—it has nothing to do with me… I just went out for a walk. I didn’t see anyone. Believe it or not… that’s the truth. I didn’t do it.”
At that moment, Chen Pu’s expression and tone made him seem nothing like a boy who hadn’t even turned seventeen yet.
My heart tightened, and I finally couldn’t hold back.
I stepped forward and pulled Xu Shu slightly.
“Xiao Shu! You can’t pin everything on Xiao Pu just because of one or two past mistakes. Be rational! When we left, he was still at home. And at the park, I personally saw Taozi and the others escort Aunt Qing away. And think about it—Chen Pu is just a skinny kid. If he really wanted to do something, could he even handle Taozi?”
After Chen Pu showed that exhausted, helpless look, Xu Shu became even more tense.
When she heard my words and looked up at me, tears suddenly fell.
Xu Shu… was crying.
It was filled with helplessness, with overwhelming pressure.
The usually composed Xu Shu now looked completely lost and distraught as she stared at me.
After a long moment, choking with emotion, she tremblingly raised her hand and pointed at Chen Pu.
Her lips quivered as she forced the words out:
“He… he could even drug you… what couldn’t he do?”
Before she could finish, it was as if she could no longer hold it in—she broke down completely, crying uncontrollably.
Filled with deep helplessness and remorse over what Chen Pu had done, she crouched on the ground, covering her face as she cried bitterly.
Between sobs and a trembling voice, she spoke in broken fragments, repeating over and over:
“It’s my fault as his sister… all of it is my fault… I didn’t discipline him… I didn’t raise him properly… it’s all my fault… I can’t let him hurt anyone else…”
Uncle Ga, who had been about to speak, froze in shock upon hearing Xu Shu’s words.
He stared blankly at Chen Pu, who was sitting on the ground, and in the end, said nothing more.
“I didn’t do it! It wasn’t me, not me, not me!” Chen Pu kept shaking his head, his face full of anguish after hearing Xu Shu’s accusation.
“Sis… it really wasn’t me, I swear it wasn’t! I don’t know anything!”
Xu Shu had probably discovered Chen Pu’s problem a long time ago.
Under the constant mental pressure she’d been enduring, she had already been pushed to the brink the night Suo Tian, Han Xue, and I found out.
In order to keep Chen Pu from losing his life because of his mistakes, she had forced herself to stay on edge, watching everyone’s reactions carefully, and had become even stricter in controlling the still-immature Chen Pu.
And finally, that tightly stretched string snapped the moment Taozi and the others went missing today—and she realized that Chen Pu just happened to be absent at the same time.
When fear reaches its peak, it robs a person of the ability to think clearly.
Every possible bad outcome began to connect itself, uncontrollably, to Chen Pu in her mind—as if she could no longer stop it.
…
When Shen Feng and the others returned, this was the scene they saw: Xu Shu and Chen Pu, both sitting on the ground.
Everyone looked stunned, but after Uncle Gazi gave them a look, no one spoke or asked anything unnecessary.
The rain outside was still pouring heavily.
Even with umbrellas, everyone was practically soaked through.
When Shen Feng saw Xu Shu, he paused for a moment, then walked over and helped her up from the ground.
He didn’t ask what had happened—he simply said gently, “Alright, stop crying.”
I didn’t look at Xu Shu. Instead, I glanced at the empty doorway, then back at everyone in the room, and asked in confusion:
“Where are Suo Tian and Han Xue?”
Yangyang frowned and answered, “Brother Suo Tian had us split into teams to check the area around that house. Sister Han Xue is timid, so he kept her with him. After we finished checking the surroundings, we went back to wait, but we still haven’t seen them. We thought they might’ve come back early…”
“They haven’t. They didn’t come back.”
Uncle Gazi answered that same question for the second time tonight, and his entire expression finally darkened completely.
— The end of the Chapter–
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