Finally, Ji Rui managed to endure until the end of the workday, tidying up the docunts on the desk and hesitating whether to call and ask how the investigation was going. Just then, the phone rang.
"Mr. Ji..."
"How is it, have you found her?" Ji Rui hurriedly asked as the other person paused.
"Mr. Ji, we haven’t found her yet..." The person on the other side of the line seed a bit hesitant, perhaps worried about being scolded by Ji Rui after having previously spoken so confidently.
"Didn’t you boast about being the best detective in the country? It’s just one woman; how can you not find her in R City?" Ji Rui was so angry he wanted to slam the phone down.
The person paused for a mont, "Mr. Ji, it’s not difficult to find soone, but it’s very hard to find soone who is intentionally hiding from you."
Ji Rui’s face darkened, "What do you an? Explain clearly!"
Ji Rui’s voice was icy, even through the phone, it made the person on the other side shiver.
"Mr. Ji, I asked Miss Le’s landlord, who said she paid a year’s rent five days ago and entrusted her ho’s few small plants to the landlord for care. It seems she had planned to leave for a while five days ago..."
Ji Rui slamd his palm onto the desk, his face ironclad as he stared at the one penny frad on it, shouting coldly, "Chase her down!"
The person on the other side was silent for a mont before saying, "Mr. Ji, it’s not that I don’t want to chase, but I’ve checked all the traffic records from the past few days, yet can’t trace Miss Le’s whereabouts."
Ji Rui cursed with a dark face, "A bunch of useless people!"
After cursing, he slamd the phone down.
On one side, Ji Rui’s people turned R City upside down but couldn’t find a trace of Le Tong.
Elsewhere, in a small northern town over a thousand kiloters from R City, a twenty-sothing young woman was sweeping the snow in the yard, followed by a little girl dressed in round, puffy clothes like a ball.
"Sister... Wenwen sweep..."
The little girl clung to the young woman’s pant leg like a little tail, reaching out to try to grab the broom from her.
"Wenwen, be good, it’s very cold outside, go inside and play."
The woman put down the broom, bent down, picked up the round, puffy little girl, and walked towards the house.
As she opened the door, the busy eldest sister inside heard the sound and looked up at the woman.
"Tongtong, the food’s ready, co and eat while it’s hot."
Yes, this young woman was exactly the Le Tong that President Ji couldn’t find even after searching everywhere.
Le Tong placed Wenwen on a chair and said to the eldest sister busy cooking, "Let’s wait for Brother Zhang to co back and eat together. I’ll go finish sweeping the snow in the yard, or Wenwen might trip."
This eldest sister in front of Le Tong was her across-the-street neighbor in R City, Sister-in-law Zhang.
On the day she left the Ji Family, Le Tong sat in the cetery for a whole day, thought through a lot of things, cried, and decided to temporarily leave R City. First, to avoid Ji Rui, and second, she wanted to travel outside and try to forget about the nightmares lingering on her mind.
Zhang Yi and his wife enthusiastically suggested she co to their old ho, a remote, inconveniently trafficked town, when they heard her plan to travel.
Le Tong agreed without a second thought.
In her mind, as long as she was far from R City, it didn’t matter where she went.
Moreover, Zhang Yi and his wife were good to her, and she indeed liked Wenwen a lot.
She spent three days sorting her affairs. On the fourth day, she traveled with Zhang Yi and his wife, renting a car and taking two days to reach this unfamiliar small town.
"No need to wait for him, today he went to find so people in the village to see if he can lease a mountain to plant sothing. He might co back in the evening."
Sister-in-law Zhang said as she brought out steaming hot food and set it on the table.
Le Tong listened and said nothing more, picked Wenwen up to wash her hands, returned to settle Wenwen, and helped serve the food.
Le Tong scooped up a bite of food and asked, "How co I haven’t heard Brother Zhang ntion this?"
Sister-in-law Zhang placed so at into Le Tong’s bowl, "Because it’s still undecided, so he didn’t dare tell you. What you said to him that day was very right, so he’s been thinking about finding sothing to do in town these days. You’re right, no matter how good the big city is outside, it’s ultimately not our ho."
Le Tong nodded, took a few more bites, and suddenly thought of sothing, "Sister Zhang, tell Brother Zhang if things work out, see if I can take an equity stake. If you need my help, just ask. After all, I don’t have any plans right now, and I can’t keep freeloading off you here."
Sister-in-law Zhang was surprised, and put a big chopstick full of vegetables into Le Tong’s bowl.
"Oh dear, Tongtong, talking like that makes you an outsider! You’ve helped us so much, and we can’t do anything for you, still owing you money that’s not paid off, and you care about these small things with us."
Le Tong smiled, "Alright then, I’ll shalessly freeload for a lifeti here, and when Wenwen grows up, let her support !"
The hungry Wenwen had been quietly eating her al, probably finding the adults’ conversation boring. When Le Tong ntioned her, she imdiately lifted her head, blinked her bright eyes, tugged at Le Tong’s sleeve, "Sister! Wenwen support..."
Le Tong and Sister-in-law Zhang were amused by Wenwen’s innocent words, laughing heartily, and Le Tong reached out to pinch Wenwen’s chubby cheeks, joking, "Alright, sister will wait for you to support then!"
Le Tong had been in this small town for two or three days already. Although resources here were scarce and transportation inconvenient, the people were simple and honest, and the air and environnt were excellent. Honestly, spending a lifeti here wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
"Okay! Wenwen support!"
A one-year-old little kid couldn’t understand support or not, saying it purely out of instinct to please the adults.
Of course, Le Tong didn’t take the child’s words seriously, but Wenwen’s words indeed made her consider the idea of staying longer.
Initially, she didn’t have any long-term plans; she just wanted to leave R City for a while.
She knew very well that if she didn’t agree to Ji Rui’s proposal, she certainly couldn’t stay at the Ji Family. Moreover, given Ji Rui’s temperant and twisted personality, he might suppress her, and if she wanted to continue living in R City, she would probably have to rely on the Luo siblings.
But she really didn’t want to owe a favor to anyone, especially a favor to Luo Yifan, so she quickly agreed when Zhang Yi suggested she stay with them for a while.
Unexpectedly, after staying in this seemingly isolated small town for two days, her heart felt unprecedented peace and tranquility.
Therefore, she thought that even staying here for a lifeti was no problem!
[Nearly forgot, today is Winter Solstice, happy Winter Solstice to all the girls! Three updates with six thousand words, all delivered to you, rember, love Zhu Zi well! Haha!]
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