Cheng Qiao wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and walked in with Li Huan, only to find that Cheng Liguo had fallen asleep. She covered him with a quilt, carefully checked the kang, opened the window a crack, closed the door and left.
The twins were too young to hold on any longer, so under the arrangement of Li's mother, they slept in the ear room. The others also rested in the back room, waiting for twelve o'clock in the evening so that they could set off fireworks to welcome the arrival of the new year.
There were sporadic firecrackers in the distance. Li's mother went to the kitchen and put the dumplings into the pot. Dumplings are the first meal of the New Year in the north.
The gate of the Cheng family courtyard has been opened. Li Huan, Xuhui, little Chengli, Li Le, Zhao Qijun, Zhao Xiaobao and Zhao Xiaobei started to set off firecrackers and fireworks.
The sound of firecrackers bid farewell to the old year, and the blooming fireworks welcomed the new year. The children were shouting and dancing, releasing the happiness in their hearts. It was not until the colorful flowers disappeared into the night that they returned to the large dining room with a sense of unfulfilled desire.
"It's time to eat dumplings. Whoever eats the coin in the dumpling will have his New Year's money doubled."
Mother Li said with a smile that everyone had a bowl of dumplings. Except for Cheng Liguo who was very drunk, even the sleeping twins were woken up and picked up spoons to eat dumplings.
It was only when the last bowl of dumplings was left uneaten that everyone realized that Xiao Chengli was not at the table. Li Huan smiled and shook his head, preparing to go out and call someone in.
He went to the master bedroom first. Today, little Cheng Li had promised that she would sleep with Cheng Liguo at night, but apart from the snoring Cheng Liguo, little Cheng Li was not in the master bedroom.
He went to the side rooms on both sides of the master bedroom, but they were also empty. Li Huan felt inexplicably heavy. Li's mother and grandmother lived in the west wing, and today Qin Yue and several girls from the Zhao family also lived here.
Little Chengli would definitely not go there, but Li Huan still opened the door and took a closer look. There was no one there, not even in the back house or the backyard.
They even searched the woodshed and the warehouse, but there was no trace of little Cheng Li. Cheng Qiao's heart sank, and she seemed to understand something.
"Master, let's go to your place and take a look."
Ye Jun nodded heavily, and a shadow of a person appeared in his mind, Wu Fan. He had long experienced the Wu family's despicable and shameless nature, but he did not expect that they would be so shameless.
The car lights came on, and everyone stood up except for Li's mother and grandmother, Qin Yue, and several girls from the Zhao family who stayed at Cheng's house to look after the children.
The car soon arrived at Ye Jun's courtyard. The entrance to the courtyard was pitch black, but under the light of the car lights, a letter inserted on the copper ring looked extremely eye-catching.
Cheng Qiao quickly jumped out of the car, walked forward quickly, opened the letter, and there was a line of words written on the letter: I like this boy, he will be my son from now on.
Li Huan was so angry that he wanted to tear up the letter, but Cheng Qiao stopped him, put the letter carefully into the envelope, and put it directly into the space.
"I want to go back to Xiangyang Village once."
Zhao Hui was a little confused as to why Cheng Qiao wanted to go back to Xiangyang Village at this critical moment, but Li Huan already understood, because Little Redhead and Saker Falcon were in Xiangyang Mountain.
They didn't want to come to the city and liked the vastness and freedom of Xiangyang Mountain, so Cheng Qiao promised to take them to Qilian Mountain when she went to Hexi in the future.
This time, Cheng Qiao wanted to take Little Redhead back, because Little Redhead grew up with Little Chengli and was very familiar with the smell of him.
Ye Jun took Li Huan to Wu Fan's guesthouse. However, when the waiter at the guesthouse heard that someone was looking for Wu Fan, he happily took out a letter:
"Excuse me, is your last name Ye, Li, or Cheng? Comrade Wu said that if anyone with these last names comes to see him, he will let me give you the letter."
"My last name is Ye, and his last name is Li."
Ye Jun took the letter and tore it open. He had a hunch that Wu Fan must be hiding in another guesthouse and fighting a guerrilla war with them.
"Uncle Ye, by the time you see this letter, I will have already taken Cheng Li away. Don't worry, I won't abuse the child. This child is so cute, I really like him.
Of course, he is the child of the Li family after all, and I would not really treat him as my own son, but I am already over thirty years old and I really want my own child.
So, if the Li family wants this son back, let my son be exchanged. Of course, a girl is also fine. As long as it is my own, I like it. "
Li Huan clenched his fists tightly at his sides. If Wu Fan was present, he would definitely beat him so badly that he wouldn't even recognize his parents. Unfortunately, he could only hide his hatred in his chest and had nowhere to vent it.
"Comrade, when did Comrade Wu Fan leave? Did he say where he went?"
The waitress was very happy. Wu Fan gave her five dollars and asked her to wait for someone to pick up the letter. Five dollars was worth a week's salary.
"Comrade Wu Fan left at around 9pm. He said he was in a hurry to catch a train."
It was past nine o'clock. It turned out that this guy had been prepared for a long time. When he found that there was no one at the Ye family, he hid outside the Cheng family's courtyard, waiting for the opportunity.
"Let's go to the train station."
Li Huan shook his head. He often traveled to Beijing and had memorized the train station timetable. There were no trains coming in or out tonight.
"There are no trains leaving the capital tonight."
"Let's go to the train station and check, just in case we are hiding there, waiting for tomorrow's train."
"Walk!"
The train station was empty. Apart from the security guards patrolling back and forth, there was not a single passenger to be seen. However, Li Huan still went up to ask, and the answer was of course, "I don't know."
"Uncle Ye, can you ask the police to investigate all the guesthouses and make sure to find the person?"
Ye Jun shook his head. He was just the director of a traditional Chinese medicine hospital and didn't have that much influence. Not to mention him, even Ye Chengying would have to think twice before coming here.
Just for a child, so many police officers have to be mobilized, and it's New Year's Eve. How big a head do you have to have to be able to wear this hat
"The Wu family no longer has any roots in the capital. Their property has been confiscated, but a cunning rabbit has three burrows. No one knows what they are doing in secret except them."
Li Huan nodded. Like Zhao Hui, he had taken out dozens of gold bars to exchange for money twice, but no one knew where he hid the gold bars.
The next day, the first day of the Lunar New Year, Cheng Qiao boarded the train to Chuncheng amid the worried eyes of her family. She arrived at the grocery store in the evening, but it was closed and the salesperson had already gone home from get off work.
Cheng Qiao used the key to open the doors of several warehouses in the back row. Only Li Huan and he had the keys here, not even Li's mother, so Cheng Qiao boldly transferred the houses out of the space and filled up several warehouses.
Then he returned to his room, but without heating the kang, he went straight into the space, lay on the big bed in the lounge, closed his eyes and went to sleep.
She needed to conserve her energy because the moment she found little Cheng Li would be the anniversary of the death of this guy named Wu Mingfan. After all, it wasn't like she had never lost a life on her hands.