Xiaoyu forgot she was still carrying groceries for An Ran. When Qu Jing asked, her face showed a trace of unease, but she quickly smiled, "I don’t like eating it, but doesn’t Taotao like it? I can’t just stop the child from eating loofah because of , right? By the way, where is Taotao?"
"He went out to play. He should be back soon. Why don’t you peel the loofah, and I’ll cook it later," Qu Jing said, then went back into the kitchen.
Xiaoyu patted her chest, feeling a bit flustered.
The setting sun dyed the sky half-red with its fiery glow. A convoy of off-road vehicles drove down the road. As they neared the Guard Team, the car at the front suddenly stopped.
A man pushed open the door and got out, frowning as he looked at a familiar woman’s purse by the roadside.
"Boss, what’s up?"
Liu Hu got out and walked over to Mu Xingfeng, looking at him in confusion.
Mu Xingfeng’s sharp eyes scanned the river surface, and upon seeing a flash of white in the grass by the riverbank, he almost sprinted over there.
In the grass lay a pair of white lace-up flat shoes, haphazardly left there, the laces not even undone, one shoe turned face down.
It was the sa pair of flats An Ran liked to wear.
Looking out at the calm river surface, a chill rose from the bottom of Mu Xingfeng’s heart. He opened the small purse, and the phone was still inside.
"Get in the car, drive downstream along the river. Soone fell into the water. Start the search and rescue imdiately, notify the helicopter," Mu Xingfeng ran back to the SUV in large strides, started the car, and turned around.
"What happened?" Lin Junyang jumped out from a military vehicle behind them and asked, watching the car that drove directly past the road and along the riverbank.
"Lin Tou," Liu Hu saluted, "The Boss said soone fell into the water and ordered us to notify the helicopter for search and rescue. Our team will now join the search and rescue efforts."
Lin Junyang also noticed the shoes on the riverbank. An Ran and Xiao Xiao shared a trait: despite how good their small feet looked, they both loved wearing sneakers, even in sumr.
There was no need to guess who would make Mu Xingfeng imdiately realize soone fell into the water and make him so anxious.
"Notify the Guard Team to deploy the helicopter for the search and rescue imdiately. The rest should turn around and follow along the river," Lin Junyang waved his hand, then got into a car as well.
anwhile, Mu Xingfeng’s mind was racing. The groceries and the purse were left by the road, showing An Ran must have been in a hurry. The shoes were left by the riverbank; the little one must have seen soone fall in and gone into the river to rescue them.
If the person had been rescued, she should have returned to retrieve her purse and shoes. Even in an ergency, she would have gone to the roadside for help. Since they hadn’t seen anyone asking for help or a crowd gathered on the river during their drive, it only pointed to two possibilities.
One was that the little one hadn’t rescued the person yet, and the other was...
Mu Xingfeng dared not think further, controlling the bouncing SUV as they drove downstream.
When An Ran climbed up the riverbank again, Huang Tao was crouching beside her, so worried he was in tears.
"Auntie, you should take a break, I’m afraid you won’t be able to get up later, I don’t want you to be washed away by the water."
An Ran lifted her head; river water dripped from her drenched hair down her forehead. "I won’t be. This spot is right where the river opens up, so the current is slow. Maybe the child is nearby. You stay here and don’t wander off. The lady who was with just called, soone will likely co looking for us soon. I’ll go back into the water to look."
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