Shane was still persistent about the previous question: "Did soone bully you?"
Audrey lowered her head and said, "She didn’t help us look for Jasper."
Shane didn’t understand the little girls’ squabbles, but she said she hated soone, so there must be a reason. He just followed her lead in disliking them.
"Jasper has a chip; we can track his location," he said.
"Really?" Audrey’s eyes lit up with hope again, but she blad him, "Why didn’t you say so earlier!"
"If I told you earlier, how would I have seen your ugly crying face?"
Audrey blushed and rolled her eyes at him.
The tracking showed Jasper was in the forest behind the lakeside hill.
A small stream separated the woods and the hill. Audrey thought even if Jasper did co to play, he wouldn’t cross the stream into the forest, so she hadn’t looked there.
The sky was gradually darkening, but fortunately, it was an artificially planted forest, and the paths inside weren’t too complicated.
"Go get a flashlight," Shane said.
Audrey hurried to get a flashlight from the leader, saying, "I’ll go with you."
Shane frowned, took the flashlight from her hand, and said, "You’d be of no help; you’ll only get in the way, and I’d have to look after you. Just wait here."
"I’ll accompany you. It’s less scary with soone around."
Shane sighed helplessly and glanced at her dress, which barely covered her knees, and said, "Go change into pants."
Seeing he agreed, Audrey quickly ducked into the tent, changed into sportswear at lightning speed, and brought a small bag with so dog food, worried that Jasper must be starving.
But she was still uncertain if Jasper was still alive...
Shane arranged two stones in the shallow stream to make a path for Audrey to walk on.
The artificial forest’s paths were relatively smooth, without dense weeds.
Following the phone’s tracking, Shane led them deeper into the forest, but soon, the phone lost signal.
Audrey, looking at the darkening sky, panicked a little, "What should we do?"
Shane held her hand and continued to walk forward, relying on his mory of the tracker.
Audrey followed behind him, tightly gripping his hand, occasionally shining the flashlight on the ground to check for snakes or insects.
"Jasper!" Audrey tentatively called out.
"Woof woof—"
Far away, they heard a dog’s bark, and a smile instantly spread across her face, "Over here!"
At least it showed Jasper was still alive.
Using Jasper’s barking to determine direction, they soon found him leashed to a tree stump.
Upon seeing them, Jasper imdiately jumped up excitedly.
Audrey let go of Shane’s hand and hurried over to unhook the leash from the stump.
Squatting down, she tightly embraced Jasper, and the joy and excitent of recovering him made Audrey’s eyes wet again.
"Aww~" Jasper whimpered softly.
Audrey rembered he must be hungry, quickly opened the bag with dog food, and poured so into her palm to feed him.
Shane glanced at the stump left from cutting a tree. It was low and thin; it was possible for Jasper to accidentally get his leash caught while running.
But he felt it was more likely done by soone because Jasper wasn’t that mischievous; he wouldn’t run far by himself.
He inevitably thought of the girl Audrey disliked earlier, subconsciously feeling she might have sothing to do with it.
"Let’s go, and talk about it back ho."
Relying on Shane’s mory and Jasper’s scent guidance, they successfully exited the forest and returned to the campsite.
The group was already gathered, eating dinner. Seeing them return, perhaps partly out of respect for Shane, most got up to greet them.
Jasper Jones ca over, petted Jasper’s head, and laughed, "I told you, he wouldn’t get lost."
With Jasper found, Audrey finally felt at ease.
While everyone gathered around to exchange pleasantries, Audrey secretly glanced at Crystal Wilson, who remained seated at the table.
Then she looked around, regretting there was no surveillance; she wished she could know if that woman was so sinister.
If it weren’t for Shane’s tracking ability, Jasper could have starved and no one would know where he was.
"Alright, you two quickly sit down and join us for dinner," Laura Yates called out.
Audrey held onto Jasper’s leash even while eating dinner, still fearful in hindsight.
"Thanks to Audrey, we get to have dinner with the Third Young Master; how about we all toast him?" Crystal Wilson stood with her wine glass, and everyone raised their glasses to welco Shane.
On the surface, Crystal Wilson seed rely enthusiastic, but Audrey knew well she was deliberately trying to cozy up to Shane.
Shane politely raised his glass to thank everyone.
Having dealt with social niceties for years, such pleasantries were routine for him.
He was always the focus wherever he went, so the dinner’s conversation mostly revolved around him and Audrey.
Crystal Wilson tried all sorts of ways to toast Shane; after two glasses, Shane declined the third, saying, "The missus at ho strictly controls alcohol; enjoy yourself, I won’t join."
The ntion of "the missus" made soone pause, thinking he cleverly found a shield.
A female editor jokingly asked, "Are you two preparing for pregnancy? If you’re planning to have kids, you need to avoid certain things. I have experience; Audrey, if you don’t know, you can ask . And that icy drink next to you, should be avoided."
Audrey’s hand, reaching for the drink, froze in mid-air. She knew drinking lots of icy water wasn’t good, but in this hot sumr, who could resist?
"You all must help talk so sense into her; she never listens to ."
Upon hearing this, Audrey silently withdrew her hand, picked up her chopsticks, and put so greens in her bowl.
She rembered Shane advised her her period was nearing and not to drink icy water.
"I knew those rumors outside were false, saying Third Young Master and Miss Sutton were just a union of interests and that he didn’t love her. They were just talking nonsense."
Audrey discreetly rolled her eyes. Bringing up what’s best left alone, Crystal Wilson was obviously intentional.
But she’s clever, smiling while stabbing at people’s hearts, yet you can’t bear to tear things up with her. If you got angry and argued, you’d seem petty.
Audrey cheerfully replied, "It’s not scary when soone talks nonsense, what’s scary is when others spread and even believe it."
Crystal Wilson pretended not to understand Audrey’s deeper aning and added, "True, but there are few happy marriages in high society, so people have conjecture. And such incidents aren’t rare in the entertainnt world. They may appear loving before the cara, but in the end, they still divorce."
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