Song Tan's Notes

The newly transplanted tangerines are now growing lushly. It is clear that the high transportation costs meant that the soil balls were large when they were dug up, and the root system was not damaged, so the seedlings are in excellent condition for recovery.

Now, everyone is holding scissors, looking at the lush foliage, but they all hesitate:
"The aroma is quite pleasant, but if we cut them, won't it affect the yield?"

"will not."

Song Tan wasn't one to be overly polite; he pointed to the small fruits already hanging above:

"The fruit has already been planted, and as long as they get enough nutrition later on, there won't be any problems. Pruning them now will actually benefit them."

Besides, they only cut a few branches to put in a vase in their room, plucking a little from each tree, so it didn't cost them anything at all.

Everyone immediately became interested!

Putting everything else aside, strolling through the mountains and forests, gently trimming the flower branches, evokes a poetic and romantic feeling.

A gentle breeze carries the faint fragrance of the fruit, and looking at the hillsides covered with fruit that will soon be harvested and enjoyed by the farmers, their joy and anticipation are at their peak.

Until, in the distance, Qiaoqiao's voice came—

"Sister! The spinning top is gone!"

Everyone: ?!

Qin Yun and Yun Feng felt like the sky had fallen!
Song Tan and Lu Chuan exchanged a glance, and Lu Chuan quickly said, "Don't worry, there are surveillance cameras everywhere on the mountain, and there aren't any dangerous ditches or bumps. The pond at the bottom is also being watched..."

She sighed and raised her hand to interrupt him, "It's alright, I'm used to it. We can look for it slowly, it won't cause any trouble..."

His voice was heavy with sorrow and lamentation, as if he had been numbed and exhausted by life's hardships.

At that moment, Qiaoqiao quickly stepped forward with her two children, her cheeks flushed and her anxiety evident in her eyes.

“We were spinning tops, then he said he was going to teach us something else and ran off. A little while later we couldn't find him... We've been looking for him in the vegetable garden for ages…”

This made Qiao Qiao feel very guilty, since he was supposed to be taking care of them.

But his wife patted his arm and said, "It's okay, Qiaoqiao, it's not your fault. He often gets lost... Generally speaking, even if you don't look for him, he'll show up when he's hungry."

Looking at the elderly people in the family, although they looked a little anxious, they didn't seem like they had lost a child at all.

Grandpa even chuckled, "When we took him shopping, he would get lost two or three times a year. After that, we always put him on a leash when we went out..."

Later, when they got older, the rope couldn't be tied anymore, and they would untie themselves, so the rope was simply tied to their death.

The family now feels no anxiety about losing their child, only guilt for disturbing everyone's mood and causing trouble for the host family.

Everyone:...

For a moment, no one knew what to say, so they could only look at the vast mountains and fields and comfort each other, saying, "There are surveillance cameras everywhere, so there's definitely no external danger..."

The problem is that the children are too small, so it takes them quite a while to figure out how to keep an eye on the monitor.

Song Tan took out her phone and sent a message to Chen Yuan, the head of security, while also reassuring Qiao Qiao: "It's okay, ask the dogs to help look for it."

"Oh." Seeing that everyone had calmed down, Qiaoqiao's mood gradually calmed down as well. So she quickly retreated to the edge of the vegetable garden, placing her hands on her cheeks as if to amplify her voice:

"My darlings! We've got jobs!"

No sooner had this loud voice rang out than, in the next instant, several enormous dog heads suddenly appeared out of the fields they had been ignoring!
They were excited and jubilant, and they seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, darting around the vegetable patch with their tongues lolling out, like streaks of glossy lightning.

Song Tan glanced around and said, "The ones on duty nearby are Si Bao and Shi Yi! Then you don't need to worry. Si Bao has a strong jumping ability, and Shi Yi is very smart. They'll be able to find it."

He then told He Kuang's family, "We not only have surveillance cameras on our mountain, but also people patrolling and dogs constantly watching this area."

"It seems that the two of them are in charge today. The child won't be able to escape from this mountain anytime soon, so let them search for him first."

Moreover, he breathed a sigh of relief—he was truly afraid of causing everyone to launch a large-scale search, and at this moment he could only offer barely any clues:

“When he was in the supermarket, he liked to climb onto the shelves, push the goods forward, and hide himself at the very back.”

At first, it was a gift pack of snacks and potato chips, then it was rice, flour, and cooking oil—basically, they'd find a way to get to any nook or cranny. Raising a child like that, the whole family would be undergoing a spiritual journey just from apologizing to everyone they met.

Lu Chuan had also heard about it, and his expression was complicated: "I've heard you talk about it, but I didn't expect his energy to be so strong..."

For example, you can't find it now.

These vegetable fields stretching across the mountains are quite large.

He watched helplessly as the group of children moved from the cucumber patch to the tomato patch, then to the eggplant patch, cowpea patch, and potato patch, and even ran back and forth playing around.

All told, this commotion lasted for an hour without stopping.

If we're talking about adult steps, that's at least three to five thousand steps...

With such a high level of activity, he still managed to disappear.

Looking at Qiaoqiao, he was covered in sweat and was patting each dog's head: "There's a little kid playing hide-and-seek here, you have to find him quickly."

The two dogs, who were in charge of security here today, are now taking on this important task, panting and puffing out their chests.

Even the usually playful and mischievous Eleventh was all serious.

Clearly, they really enjoy the task of finding the children.

At that moment, Chen Yuan also arrived quickly on his electric scooter.

He was always decisive and efficient. He stepped forward and said directly, "I've already told the monitoring room to focus on the surveillance footage in this area. We'll let everyone know as soon as there's any movement."

He had dark skin and a strong physique. After a period of recuperation and exercise, the abnormality in his feet was no longer noticeable.

Now, with such a well-trained and professional attitude, exuding a strong sense of professionalism, it makes people feel very safe.

Moreover, the maternal grandparents were both guilty and sighed, saying, "Thank you for your trouble."

When their grandson was born, they even thought, what if we could have a granddaughter someday?
But after He Tuoluo turned one year old, no one would have such thoughts anymore.

Because the family of six adults takes turns watching over the monkey, it's just enough for them to keep an eye on it.

He ruined what should have been a pleasant morning outing.

Seeing this, Lu Chuan quickly comforted him, "It's okay, isn't it just for fun? You can see the scenery on this mountain every day, and after a while, it won't seem so special anymore."

"Kids playing hide-and-seek won't interfere with our work. Just think of it as a little game for us. Don't worry, it's fine."

After finishing speaking, Chen Yuan said to Song Tan:

"Children may not be fast, but their energy is beyond what most people can imagine. Unless they have no strength left, they may still be jumping and shouting a second before they go to sleep."

"So, don't just look at the vegetable garden. I'll go and tell the two boys to look around the orchard too."

The vegetation there is lush, so the surveillance cameras don't get as thorough a look as the dogs do.

In short, he should mobilize everyone who can, and make proper arrangements to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation.

No one was in the mood to pick anything else. Chen Yuan took out his walkie-talkie and told someone to take all the baskets of fruit, big and small, back to Old Song's house, along with the freshly cut tea citrus branches and leaves.

"Take it to Lu Chuan's place and tell Auntie to keep it in a vase." She lingered in the crowd, sensing the spiritual energy in all directions, and soon spotted the child playing hide-and-seek.

After all, the child is unlikely to be lost, but he is too young, and there's no guarantee that something might happen. It's best to assess the situation first.

Now look at it? Things are going quite well.

Just ...

She looked at the He Kuang family—although they were also shouting loudly, their expressions showed more guilt than anxiety, and they had clearly become numb to the fact that the child would not be hurt, but would only cause trouble for everyone.

Song Tan: ...

"Let's go check over in the orchard first, just in case the child climbs a tree."

He sighed, "Probably not. This child has so much energy, we've deliberately avoided sports that involve climbing and going up and down—we plan to wait until he graduates from elementary school to see what interests him. If he really learns these now, even the six of us can't keep an eye on him."

He pointed to the eggplant field ahead: "If it were really the usual practice, we might be planting eggplants in the eggplant field."

As soon as he said that, everyone rushed over again, clearly having figured it out as well, especially since the family wasn't in a hurry at all.

Song Tan: ...Alright then.

Since there was no rush and the child was alright, she focused her attention on keeping a close eye on the situation to ensure nothing went wrong, and decided to take her time searching.

Playing this game on the first day of my vacation is really exciting.

He then added to Lu Chuan, "If we take them to the riverbank, we'll need to arrange for two dogs to watch over them as well."

Lu Chuan also slowly exhaled: "Let's arrange for Xiao Shi to follow us around. It's smart and does the best herding sheep. Otherwise, I'm really afraid that while everyone is taking a nap or eating, this little top will spin away again."

The sun is about to rise.

To be honest, Song Tan originally planned to have them stroll around the factory, check out the canteen, and then take a leisurely walk down the mountain during this time.

After all, I've already sweated quite a bit.

But now, she could only go to a nearby factory and get a stack of hats to distribute to everyone: "Wear straw hats before you look for people."

The golden sunrise was now scorching hot, and everyone stopped being polite, wiping the sweat from their heads and faces. They looked not only anxious but also a bit disheveled.

Song Tan pointed to the woods ahead again:
"Let's go take a look at the orchard."

"That tree trunk is thick and strong. What if someone actually climbs up it and hides there?"

Besides, his family waved their hands, saying, "No, he can't climb trees yet. If he went to the children's climbing wall in the mall, he would fall down very quickly."

These words didn't sound disappointing at all; on the contrary, they conveyed a sense of relief.

Helpless, Song Tan pointed forward again:
"Then let's go search in the woods. It'll be faster if we split up."

Besides, his wife waved her hand and said, "There are too many branches and twigs. I heard that Lu Chuan's immune system has been a bit problematic since he started recuperating last year, and he's prone to allergies. Let's not go there. If we really want to look, let's go after we finish searching this area."

So considerate.

Song Tan glanced at Lu Chuan, who was still wearing long sleeves and trousers, and knew that he just had sensitive skin and was prone to discomfort, but it was definitely not an allergic reaction.

But we can only accept their good intentions now.

Everyone dug around in the vegetable garden, squatted down, and shouted.

The children ran around the vegetable garden, sniffing the air, and finally stood at the edge of the orchard.

Lu Chuan was somewhat surprised: "Could it be that they really went to the orchard?"

Fortunately, the fermentation of fertilizer is now concentrated in fermentation tanks on the riverbank; otherwise, according to last year's practice, withered branches, rotten leaves, weeds, and spoiled fruits on the mountain would have to be composted at high temperatures on the side.

This kid loves to crawl around, what if he pries it open and crawls inside? That would be such a headache!

Everyone trusted the He family's experience, but since they hadn't found the person yet, the dog was obviously more reliable, so they gradually headed into the orchard.

This time, Song Tan did not interfere.

The dogs were previously confined to the vegetable garden, but now that they've been allowed to come here to find people, they immediately circled around a few times before heading straight to their destination and stopping under a tree!
And it barked at the top.

Their voices were powerful and clear in the open forest.

The crowd gradually gathered around, staring at the lush green pear tree in front of them. They looked at the branches above, which were completely still, but couldn't find any children there.

Sibao whimpered and slowly took a few steps back.

With its jumping ability, it's not impossible for it to kick up a tree!

But Song Tan stopped him.

"No, no, no, my dear, I know you've found it. Let's not jump, or we'll scare the child and make him fall."

Sibao snorted, feeling a little aggrieved, but ultimately retreated.

Qiaoqiao also looked up, holding a sweet and juicy cherry tomato in her hand, and casually stuffed it into the mouth of the aggrieved Sibao.

The subtle, sour fragrance went unnoticed by anyone except for Little Eleven, who also looked up at the tree and then snuggled up to Qiao Qiao's side.

Song Tan noticed the little commotion between the person and the two dogs, but she didn't say anything. She simply took out her phone, snapped a picture, and then zoomed in on a particular part of the image.
"Look, aren't these children's clothes?"

Everyone quickly gathered around.

Between the leaves and the fruit bag, it seemed that a corner of the child's black pants was indeed peeking out.

Because it's close to the tree trunk, you wouldn't really notice it unless you zoomed in.

As for the limbs—the child's head was hidden by a cluster of leaves, but his four hands and feet were cleverly covered with yellow paper bags.

There were clearly a few small green pears on top, now exposed to the sunlight, suffering this undeserved misfortune.

But looking at those branches and forks, I can't even imagine how my son managed to do such a difficult move up there!

In an instant, his anger was suppressed into panic, and he didn't even dare to scold them.

After everyone saw it clearly, they also gasped.

No one spoke after that; they just stared at each other, afraid of frightening the child.

Because he really climbed very high.

Fruit tree planting generally selects shorter plants for easier harvesting and management.

However, the local Daqing pear was selected here because the variety is a bit old, and the trees are mostly tall and strong during the peak fruiting period.

Otherwise, He Tuolu wouldn't have been able to climb so high so quickly.

But for now, after pondering for a while, everyone could only ask in hushed tones:
"Should we bring a tall ladder over?"

Besides, his face was genuinely pale this time. (End of Chapter)