RYEY -Chapter 324 Little Cheng Li Is Missing

Cheng Qiao wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and walked inside with Li Huan, only to find that Cheng Liguo had already fallen asleep. She covered him with a quilt, carefully checked the kang bed, opened the window a crack, closed the door, and left.

The twins, being young, had already reached their limit and were put to sleep in the side rooms under Mother Li’s arrangement. The others were resting in the rear rooms, just waiting for midnight to set off fireworks and firecrackers to welcome the new year.

From afar, the sporadic sound of firecrackers could already be heard. Mother Li went to the kitchen and put the prepared dumplings into the pot. In northern China, the first meal of the New Year had to be dumplings.

The front gate of the Cheng family courtyard had been opened. Li Huan, along with Xu Hui, little Cheng Li, Li Le, Zhao Qijun, Zhao Xiaobao, and Zhao Xiaobei, began setting off firecrackers and fireworks.

With each pop of firecrackers, the old year was bid farewell; each burst of fireworks welcomed the spring. The children shouted and jumped in delight, releasing their happiness to the fullest. Only when the brilliant flowers of fireworks faded into the night did they, still reluctant, return to the spacious dining room.

“Time to eat dumplings! Whoever finds the coin in their dumpling will double their New Year’s money this year.”

Mother Li said with a smile. Each person had a bowl of dumplings. Even the heavily drunk Cheng Liguo and the sleeping twins were roused to pick up spoons and eat.

But when the last bowl was left untouched, everyone realized that little Cheng Li was not at the table. Li Huan shook his head with a smile and went out to call him in.

He first checked the master bedroom. Tonight, little Cheng Li had promised to sleep with Cheng Liguo, but aside from Cheng Liguo snoring, he was nowhere to be found.

He checked both side rooms adjacent to the master bedroom—also empty. Li Huan felt an inexplicable heaviness in his heart. The west wing housed Mother Li and grandmother, and today Qin Yue and a few of the Zhao girls were also staying there.

Little Cheng Li would never go there, but Li Huan still opened the doors to check carefully—nothing. Not in the rear rooms, not in the backyard.

Even the firewood shed and warehouse were searched thoroughly, but there was no sign of little Cheng Li. Cheng Qiao felt her heart sink; she seemed to understand something.

“Master, let’s go to your place and check.”

Ye Jun nodded heavily. An image of one person appeared in his mind: Wu Fan. He had long experienced the shamelessness of the Wu family, but he never imagined it could be so utterly without bottom.

The car’s headlights came on. Apart from Mother Li, grandmother, Qin Yue, and a few Zhao girls staying behind to watch the children, everyone else stood up.

The car soon arrived at Ye Jun’s courtyard. The front gate was pitch black, but in the glare of the headlights, a letter had been placed on the bronze ring, making it extremely conspicuous.

Cheng Qiao hurriedly jumped out of the car, walked briskly over, and opened the letter. A single line was written on the paper:

**I like this boy, from now on, he is my son.**

Li Huan was so angry he wanted to tear the letter apart, but Cheng Qiao stopped him, carefully placing it in an envelope and storing it in the space.

“I need to go to Xiangyang Village once.”

Zhao Hui didn’t understand why Cheng Qiao wanted to go to Xiangyang Village at such a critical moment, but Li Huan already knew—Little Redhead and Hai Dongqing were up on Xiangyang Mountain.

They refused to come to the city, preferring the vastness and freedom of Xiangyang Mountain. So Cheng Qiao had promised that once she went to Hexi, she would bring them to the Qilian Mountains.

This time, Cheng Qiao wanted to bring Little Redhead back because he had grown up with little Cheng Li and was very familiar with his scent.

Ye Jun, meanwhile, took Li Huan to Wu Fan’s guesthouse. The staff there, upon hearing someone was looking for Wu Fan, happily handed over a letter:

“May I ask if your surname is Ye, Li, or Cheng? Comrade Wu said that if anyone with these surnames comes looking for him, I should give them this letter.”

“My surname is Ye, his is Li.”

Ye Jun took the letter and tore it open immediately. He had a premonition that Wu Fan was hiding in another guesthouse, playing guerrilla games with them.

*“Uncle Ye, by the time you read this letter, I will have taken Cheng Li away. Don’t worry, I won’t harm the child. This child is really beautiful, and I sincerely like him.*

*Of course, since he is Li family’s child, I won’t really treat him as my son. But I have passed my thirties and desperately want my own child.*

*So, if the Li family wants their son back, they must exchange him for my child. A daughter works too—any child that is mine, I want.”*

Li Huan clenched his fists so tightly at his sides that they ached. If Wu Fan were present, he would have beaten him until he couldn’t even recognize his parents. Unfortunately, all that hatred could only be bottled up inside.

“Comrade, when did Comrade Wu Fan leave? Did he say where he went?”

The staff was delighted. Wu Fan had given her five yuan to wait for someone to pick up the letter—a week’s salary in those days.

“Comrade Wu Fan left just after nine at night. He said he had to catch a train and was in a hurry.”

After nine o’clock… So this guy had planned it long ago, and noticing no one was home at the Ye residence, he hid outside the Cheng family courtyard, waiting for the right moment.

“Let’s go to the train station.”

Li Huan shook his head. Because he frequently traveled to the capital, he knew the train schedules by heart. Tonight, no trains would be arriving or departing.

“There are no trains leaving the capital tonight.”

“Let’s still check the train station. What if he’s hiding there, waiting for tomorrow’s train?”

“Let’s go!”

The train station was empty. Aside from patrolling security guards, there were no passengers. Li Huan asked anyway—the answer, unsurprisingly, was no.

“Uncle Ye, can you ask the police to check all the guesthouses and find this person?”

Ye Jun shook his head. He was only a director at the Chinese medicine hospital. His influence wasn’t that big. Even Ye Chengying would have to think twice before acting here.

To deploy so many personnel for a single child, and on New Year’s Eve no less, you’d have to be quite a figure to wear such a hat.

“The Wu family no longer has any roots in the capital. Their assets have all been seized. But crafty as a fox, their secret holdings… only they know.”

Li Huan nodded. Like Zhao Hui, he had already exchanged dozens of gold bars twice, but no one knew where he had hidden them.

The next day, the first day of the New Year, Cheng Qiao boarded a train to Spring City under her family’s worried gaze. By evening, she arrived at the grocery store. The store was closed, and the clerks had gone home.

Cheng Qiao used her key to open the doors to several rear warehouses. Only she and Li Huan had keys—Mother Li didn’t even have one—so Cheng Qiao boldly expanded the space, filling several warehouses.

Then she returned to her room. She didn’t light the kang bed but entered the space directly, lying on the large bed in the lounge and closing her eyes to sleep.

She needed to conserve her energy. The moment she found little Cheng Li would be the day of reckoning for this Wu Fan fellow. After all, she was not without blood on her hands.