From the handwriting, Li Zhiyuan could discern the emotions of the diary's owner when they wrote these words.
The young man lifted his head to look at the window in front of him.
An old-fashioned wooden window, sowhat dilapidated, with visible gaps.
The diary owner must have been crouching behind this window then, cautiously peering through the gaps.
The earth building's courtyard was large, with a bonfire pit in the middle where people likely gathered during etings.
Among them, the diary owner saw himself.
It must have been a mont of sheer terror for him.
Li Zhiyuan turned to the previous entries in the diary, noting that it's not a workbook, so many people wouldn't write their nas on the opening page. Furthermore, the diary entries were mostly described from the first-person perspective of "I".
However, Li Zhiyuan was fortunate; he quickly found the diary owner's na.
"When Mr. Zhao shouted 'Cui Hao' and 'Li Ren', I turned to glance at Li Ren, and in his eyes, I saw resignation and dissatisfaction. I think my eyes must have held the sa emotions at the ti.
This probably was the price we paid for not contributing to Mr. Zhao's son's birth banquet, who was born back at ho.
Sigh, I really don't understand how his son, born at ho, could warrant a banquet at the construction site, and with the nerve to accept gifts.
If I'd known, I should have given sothing.
Now, being made to stay on duty, I can't even go ho for the New Year."
The diary owner is nad Cui Hao, and the person staying with him is nad Li Ren.
Ran Dacheng initially invited the two to his ho for the New Year, only to find they were both missing before the festival.
He suspected they had slipped away.
Everyone misses ho during festive tis, and with tough conditions locally, sneaking back ho to celebrate is understandable.
But now, according to the diary's content, things aren't as simple.
The question now is:
Where are Cui Hao and Li Ren now?
Even if they were frightened back ho, they shouldn't have vanished without a trace. At the very least, Xue Liangliang should have been inford beforehand.
Those living here aren't ordinary workers; they're technicians or managers. Even if they slipped away, it's unlikely they'd forgo their work identity entirely?
This is a construction team, not a military unit.
So, these two have most likely truly gone missing.
Li Zhiyuan quickly browsed through the diary entries from before the New Year.
Cui Hao's diary was filled with dissatisfaction towards superiors and coworkers, explicitly naming over a dozen people.
However, amid the extensive complaints, there was also a lot of work detail.
A major reason the construction progress slowed was frequent accidents on site.
One day soone broke a leg, another lost a hand, and soone even fell into the mixer and died.
Scanning through, there were over a dozen seriously injured from accidents and three fatalities.
Given the scale of the project, this is quite dramatic.
Under these circumstances, if the construction progress were still on track, it would truly be a miracle.
Moreover, Cui Hao's diary docunted another matter.
The construction team had hired many local young workers, and from a nearby Miao village, quite a few ca here to work. In one accident, one villager was critically injured, and two died.
Later, the Miao Family collectively demanded an explanation, halting the project for half a month.
This is a labor dispute, which isn't currently Li Zhiyuan's focus.
Li Zhiyuan noted Cui Hao's description in the diary:
It rained heavily today, halting construction. At night, for so unknown reason, the Miao Family ca to the site, singing and dancing with torches, causing a commotion, then fell from scaffolding, resulting in two deaths and one injury.
Cui Hao said they were probably drunk that night.
No wonder the sides disputed for so long; the Miao Family felt the incident was the site's fault, while the construction unit felt wronged.
Moreover, this wasn't resolved by the year's end, with occasional confrontations.
Li Zhiyuan couldn't help but suspect, they asked not for technical support, but for soone to pass the buck. Perhaps they didn't expect Xue Liangliang to resolve it but hoped he couldn't, prompting others to step in.
As for why the accidents were frequent, he hadn't visited the site yet, so it's unclear if it's due to poor equipnt conditions or lack of safety protocols.
Of course, it could be neither and instead so other peculiar problem.
Li Zhiyuan, holding the diary, went downstairs to call everyone in, handing the diary to Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin for review, while briefly introducing the situation verbally.
They all sat in the courtyard, with a fire crackling in the middle, cooking a al in the pot.
Ran Dacheng had brought so preserved ribs and vegetables. With enough rice and flour in the store, Run Sheng quickly prepared a pot of stew.
After skimming through the diary's highlights, Xue Liangliang handed it to Tan Wenbin, picked up a ladle, and as he served everyone, said to Li Zhiyuan:
"Xiao Yuan, if this case truly escalates, I'll have to follow your lead."
Li Zhiyuan: "Cui Hao and Li Ren need to be found; we must uncover what exactly happened before the New Year.
Additionally, we must investigate the Miao village angle; I suspect the accident that night wasn't simply due to drunkenness.
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