Early in the morning, the Huo family compound was bustling. Sister Hu was waiting downstairs while Yang Qian went to knock on Gu Sisi's door.
"Sisi, Sisi? Are you in there? I'm coming in."
Yang Qian then opened the door and walked in. Once inside, she felt something was off. Looking around Gu Sisi's room, it seemed as if Gu Sisi hadn't stayed there last night.
The bed was neatly made, and nothing seemed to have been touched. She checked every corner, but there was no sign of Gu Sisi.
Had she already gotten up?
Yang Qian scratched her head. She got up so early!
As soon as she stepped out of the room, she bumped right into Jiang Lihao who was passing by.
"Ouch!" Yang Qian covered her head and stared at Jiang Lihao crossly. "It's all your fault. Why did you suddenly appear in front of me?"
"Hey, you're the one who's being unreasonable. You were walking carelessly with your head down. You didn't even look where you were going."
Jiang Lihao pulled her into his arms and rubbed her head. "Is it here?"
"Yeah. Ouch, it hurts. Be gentle."
"Okay, I'll be gentle. You seem so distracted. What happened?"
"Nothing. I just find it a bit strange. Sisi got up so early. I went to her room this morning, but she wasn't there. Everything was in place, as if nothing had been touched. It's really strange."
"Come on, what's so strange about that? There have been so many things going on in the Huo family recently. Maybe she just got up earlier than usual. There's nothing to be surprised about." Jiang Lihao was still trying to comfort Yang Qian, but the next second, he realized something was wrong.
"Wait, what did you say? You mean everything was untouched and in perfect order?" Jiang Lihao grabbed Yang Qian's hand.
"Yeah, that's why I said it's so strange."
"Ouch, let go of me. You're hurting me."
"Something's wrong, Yang Qian!" Jiang Lihao grabbed Yang Qian and rushed to Gu Sisi's room.
Sure enough, just as Yang Qian had said, everything in the room was in its place. The bed was neatly made, but that was exactly the problem - it was too tidy.
Jiang Lihao rushed into the bathroom. The trash can inside was clean.
Oh no! Alarm bells went off in Jiang Lihao's mind.
"What's going on? Why did you suddenly rush in?" Yang Qian was still confused.
"Yang Qian, look at this room. What do you think?" Jiang Lihao pulled Yang Qian around the room.
"It just... it just seems too tidy. It seems as if no one stayed here last night." Yang Qian replied hesitantly.
Jiang Lihao clapped his hands. "That's right. That's exactly what I'm worried about. I'm afraid something bad has happened."
"You, what do you mean? You mean Sisi didn't stay here last night? That's impossible. Where else could she have gone?" Yang Qian still couldn't believe it, even though it seemed to be the only possibility.
"Maybe we should go downstairs and see if she's there. Maybe she just didn't sleep here."
Jiang Lihao prayed silently in his heart that it wasn't the worst - case scenario.
"What do you mean? If she didn't sleep here, where could she have gone? What are you thinking?" Yang Qian still didn't understand what Jiang Lihao meant.
"You're so stupid. With what happened to Huo Cheng, how could Gu Sisi be at ease? Don't you remember the time in the Valley of Death? She went there even though she was pregnant and it was so far away. Let alone this time." Jiang Lihao tapped Yang Qian on the head.
Yang Qian covered her head and suddenly realized. "Then let's go downstairs quickly and check."
"Wait. I'll go downstairs and have a look. You go and check if the baby is still there."
"Okay."
The two of them split up. One rushed to the baby's room while the other rushed downstairs. Both of them were praying in their hearts that nothing bad would happen at this moment.
Yang Qian dashed to the baby's room. She braked in front of the door and gently pushed it open. Seeing the baby sleeping soundly in the room, she let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew~ Fortunately, the baby is still here."
The baby had already woken up by then. He blinked his big eyes and stared at Yang Qian. His cute appearance made Yang Qian couldn't help but want to hug him.
"Come here, let auntie hug you." The little baby seemed to understand what Yang Qian said. He let Yang Qian pick him up without crying or making a fuss.
After picking up the baby, Yang Qian saw a piece of paper on the crib. It seemed to have been under the baby before.
"Who's so careless? They didn't even notice the paper under our baby. They're so careless, aren't they, baby?" Yang Qian was teasing the baby while picking up the paper.
After seeing the content on the paper, Yang Qian was shocked. She rushed downstairs in a hurry.
After running a few steps, she suddenly realized something was wrong. She turned back, put the baby down, and then rushed downstairs with the paper in her hand.
As soon as she got downstairs, she saw Jiang Lihao standing at the staircase looking worried. As soon as he saw Yang Qian running down, he said:
"Gu Sisi isn't at home. I've already sent people to look for her."
"I know. Look at this." Yang Qian waved the paper in her hand breathlessly.
"What's this?" Jiang Lihao asked curiously as he took the paper. After reading the content, he fell silent.
Sister Hu thought it was strange and walked over to ask.
"What's going on? Where's the young mistress?"
Jiang Lihao handed the paper to Sister Hu. After Sister Hu read it, she covered her mouth and almost cried.
"The young mistress, she... I, I..."
"Sister Hu, don't be too sad. Maybe she'll be okay." Yang Qian's voice got softer and softer towards the end. In fact, even she wasn't sure.
Sister Hu looked at the table full of dishes. After what happened yesterday, Sister Hu had been busy preparing a table - full of dishes for Gu Sisi early in the morning, but Gu Sisi was nowhere to be seen.
...
"She still went." The atmosphere instantly became heavy. One could say they had guessed it, or one could say they were still surprised.
Not long after, Gu Chenfei arrived with Gu Yangtao and Ji Ling.
"What's going on?" Gu Chenfei asked as soon as she came.
"You came quite quickly. You must have planted a lot of your informants in the Huo family, right?"
"This isn't the time to mock me. We grew up together after all." Gu Chenfei, with a calm face, really didn't seem suitable to say such emotional words.
"Humph, grew up together. Gu Chenfei, you have the nerve to say that. The fact that I can stay calm in the same place as you is already pretty good." Jiang Lihao rolled his eyes.
Looking at the two of them, everyone present was confused. It seemed there was a story between them.
But with Gu Sisi's situation at hand, no one had the time to care about that.
Yang Qian thought that Gu Chenfei might be able to help. Although she had never met Gu Chenfei before, she had heard Gu Sisi talk about her.
"Miss Gu, please take a look at this." Yang Qian took the paper from Jiang Lihao and handed it to Gu Chenfei.
Gu Chenfei took the paper and glanced at it. Her expression changed. Gu Yangtao thought it was strange and leaned over to take a look. She had the same expression as Gu Chenfei.
"What's going on? What does this paper say? Why do you look like this?"
Gu Yangtao threw the paper to Ji Ling with a dejected look on her face. "Read it for yourself."
After Ji Ling took the paper, he even annoyingly read out the content.