Born in the 1980s, she was remarried and became a stepmother; a cold, rough man doted on her, pinchi

Chapter 25 Tie Dan is Missing

"Iron Egg!"

"Tie Dan, where are you?!"

In the mountains, the villagers walked and called out Tiedan's name, their voices echoing through the valleys, but there was no response for a long time.

The children who had been playing hide-and-seek together during the day were also taken up the mountain by the adults. The two little girls, Da Niu and Er Niu, were already crying because of the tense atmosphere. Their little faces were red from crying, and their eyes were swollen like walnuts. They could not speak clearly because of their sobs. They just kept crying and calling out "Tiedan" indistinctly.

Sun Meifen looked impatient. Holding her child Qin Hua's hand, she muttered, "You can't even keep an eye on your child, and now you're dragging the whole village into the search. Maybe you hit the child yourself, which is why he ran away!"

As soon as she said those words, the air around them seemed to freeze for a moment, and the villagers paused in their steps, their eyes involuntarily turning to Tiedan's mother.

Tie Dan's mother was already extremely anxious, and upon hearing Sun Meifen's words, she immediately flew into a rage.

She was indeed strict with Tiedan on a daily basis, and she often spanked him when he was naughty, but those were all light punishments, and she never used excessive force. She considered herself a reasonable person, so how could she tolerate such unwarranted accusations?

Her face flushed red, her eyes widened, and like an enraged lioness, she charged forward, reaching out to grab Sun Meifen's collar, shouting, "What are you saying! How could I possibly do that to my Tiedan? Don't make false accusations!"

Sun Meifen didn't expect her to rush over suddenly. She didn't react in time and was grabbed by the collar. Not to be outdone, she raised her hand to push Tiedan's mother, and the two of them started fighting.

"Don't you love hitting kids the most? Your Tiedan has been hit by you countless times!"

"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll tear your mouth apart! You're a good person! A good person who has spoiled your child into a bully! Aren't you afraid of being laughed at by others?!"

Seeing this, the surrounding villagers rushed forward and, with great effort, managed to pull them apart.

Tie Dan's mother's hair was disheveled, her eyes were red, and she was breathing heavily. She wanted to rush over to argue, but several aunties next to her held her back tightly and advised, "Finding Tie Dan is the priority now. Don't argue here. We can talk about other things after we find the child."

On the other side, Jiang Man frowned slightly as she looked at the chaotic scene. She knew that now was not the time to pursue these matters; the most urgent task was to find Tie Dan as soon as possible.

She crouched down and looked at Shi An and Shi Ning, who were also filled with fear and tension, huddled together tightly.

Jiang Man tried to keep her voice gentle and said, "You all said you wanted to play hide-and-seek together today, what happened? Tell us so we can find Tie Dan."

Shi An bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, looked at her younger sister Shi Ning, and then whispered, "We... we were just playing hide-and-seek in the woods on the mountain. Everything was fine at first, but Tie Dan hid very well. We searched for a long time but couldn't find him."

Shi Ning added timidly, "Later, we called him out many times, but he didn't answer. We thought he was trying to cheat, so we searched for a while longer, but we still couldn't find him. We got scared and quickly went back to the village to tell the adults."

Jiang Man frowned even more as she listened to the siblings' words.

Shi An suddenly thought of something and looked at Qin Hua, who was hiding next to Sun Meifen.

The villagers noticed his gaze and looked over as well.

Sun Meifen's hair was a mess. When she saw Shi An staring at her son, she immediately protected him and angrily said, "What are you looking at!"

"What's wrong with looking? Or are you and your son hiding something from people?" Jiang Mancai, not to be trifled with, glared back sharply.

"Shi An, what's on your mind? Say it in front of everyone."

Shi An gripped Jiang Man's hand tightly, as if that would give him the courage to speak. He looked at Qin Hua's gaze, which seemed to want to devour him, and spoke with some fear.

"We didn't plan to bring Qin Hua along this afternoon; he wanted to join in himself and even brought us up the mountain, saying that playing hide-and-seek here would be more fun."

"When we went up the mountain, Da Niu and Er Niu said it was dangerous, but Qin Hua said it was fine and nothing would happen here. He often comes up here to play."

Instantly, several suspicious gazes turned to Qin Hua.

A flicker of panic crossed Sun Meifen's mind, but she knew that although her son had been taught to be somewhat cunning, lazy, greedy, and sly, he was not capable of harming anyone.

Besides, Tie Dan had no grudge against him, and his own son would never be so foolish as to kill someone!
"So what? Isn't it normal for kids to play together and share fun places?"

Sun Meifen protected Qin Hua and, forcing herself to speak, shouted to the people around her.

The village chief spoke up, looking at Qin Hua: "Qin Hua, tell us the truth, is this matter related to you or not? Do you know where Tie Dan is right now?"

Qin Hua was only seven years old; he had never seen anything like this before.

But he also knew that Tie Dan probably wouldn't survive falling from such a height, and that he himself might be arrested and executed...

"I...I don't know. I was in charge of catching them, but who knew that in the end we still didn't see Tie Dan..."

Qin Hua started crying as he spoke, but he was genuinely crying out of fear and guilt.

With Da Niu and Er Niu crying before him, his crying didn't raise as much suspicion.

The village chief's brows were furrowed with worry. He sighed and said, "You guys follow Da Niu and Er Niu to their hiding places. Jiang Man and I will go to Shi An and Shi Ning's hiding places. As for the rest of you, follow Qin Hua to the places he has already searched."

"Everyone, meet here in an hour. If you can't find us, call the police."

Upon hearing that the police were to be called, Qin Hua's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.

The group dispersed, parting the grass as they called out Tie Dan's name. The calls rose and fell, but apart from the occasional startled bird taking flight, there was still no response.

Tie Dan's mother cried out, "Tie Dan, where are you? I was wrong. I will never hit you again. Come out here. Don't scare me."

The voice was full of regret and worry, which brought tears to the eyes of others as well.

As darkness fell and the temperature in the mountains gradually dropped, the villagers' hearts grew colder and colder.

"Could Tiedan have encountered some danger? Could he have fallen into a trap in the mountains, or been carried off by a wild animal?"