NOVPUB
Chapter 90: Chapter 90: These Need Not Be Mentioned
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Returning to the city, Si Chen and Tong Yao headed straight to the police station. Upon learning that they were the ones who had reported the incident at the town, the policemen interviewed them once again. This time, an experienced policeman in his forties led the questioning.
After reviewing the clues provided by Tong Yao, he raised a question, "How did you know that they had left from Lutun Town and planned to go to Hai City along the mountain road?"
Tong Yao cast a glance to Si Chen, who remained silent, before replying hesitantly, "Ma Xiulan revealed it accidentally when chatting with me. I didn’t pay much attention at first, but it came to me when I reported the police so I mentioned it."
On their way, Tong Yao had anticipated that some officers might question her narrative as Si Chen did, so she had prepared a response in advance.
Indeed, it came in handy.
The officer pondered for a moment before further questioning, "What else did she say?"
Tong Yao blushed slightly, then muttered, "She commented that I was pretty and well-educated, like a fairy descending to earth, and I could make a fortune in Jiang City. Non-exhausting office work could earn me a hundred yuan a month easily. In a year or two, I could return to build a new house, and my family would be the richest in the village..."
"..." These typical lies used to deceive girls offered no investigative value. The officer coughed to cut off her words, "That’s enough, you don’t need to tell us these parts."
"Okay!" Tong Yao blinked and closed her mouth immediately.
Seeing her look so sincere and straightforward, the officer dismissed his doubts. Knowing he could not extract any more valuable information, he advised, "Officers are already on their way to Lutun Town. You don’t have to worry too much. We will catch the traffickers and rescue your sister. Head home and wait for the news!"
If the information provided by Tong Yao was indeed useful, their team could catch up with the kidnappers and rescue the abducted victims soon.
"Thank you, officer." Tong Yao bowed politely and left the station with Si Chen.
Si Chen walked up to his bicycle, "I’ll take you home first. I may not be back for dinner tonight, you..."
Tong Yao interrupted him, "You plan to wait here for updates, don’t you? I’ll wait with you!"
Tong Yao knew, despite not saying it, Si Chen must be deeply worried about Si Xiaohui.
Since Si Chen hadn’t exposed her lie in front of the police, she decided to keep him company this time.
Si Chen knitted his brow, "We don’t know how long we’re going to wait." It was too hot to have another person endure the heat here.
I don’t have anything to do at home, so I’ll wait! Xiaohui might be touched to see me waiting for her when she returns. Maybe then she won’t dislike me that much.". Even Tong Yao herself didn’t believe the last few sentences she said.
Tong Yao didn’t like Si Xiaohui, but she didn’t want anything bad to happen to her either. If something did happen to Xiaohui, even if Si Chen didn’t blame her, Lin Fengying and Si Boyi definitely would.
Some people tend to express their resentment onto others when their hatred has no outlet. When Si Fusi got into trouble which was related to the Tong Family, if anything happened to Si Xiaohui now, Lin Fengying would probably want to kill her.
She would definitely consider her as a adversary, not an ally.
It was already past four in the afternoon, but it was still sweltering outside. Si Chen attempted to persuade Tong Yao to go home, but as he met her star-like eyes, his words turned into "Are you hungry? I’ll get you something to eat first."
"Yeah, I’m a bit hungry. Let’s get takeout and eat here!" As soon as Tong Yao mentioned it, her stomach started growling like a goldfish. It made her feel like a refugee.
Si Chen said, "You tell me what you want, I’ll get it."
"Just get me a bowl of stir-fried noodles with pork!"
Under the blazing sun, the outside was like a furnace. Tong Yao didn’t want to stir and stood under the shade of a tree by the police station door. An occasional breeze brought coolness, making her narrow her eyes in comfort.
The fiery sunshine cast a golden glow on Si Chen. Tong Yao couldn’t help but marvel at his charisma.
Interestingly, though Si Chen and his two siblings had the same mother, they didn’t look alike at all. Si Boyi resembled Lin Fengying. He had a darker skin tone, and despite his handsome features, his constant laboring in the field left him with a rough air, not particularly appealing to Tong Yao’s taste. If anything, he appeared more of a tough guy.
Si Xiaohui didn’t resemble Lin Fengying or Si Chen. Despite being pretty, she could only be considered as delicate rather than extremely beautiful.
As for Si Chen, Tong Yao had no idea who he resembled. She was at a loss as to how this heartthrob got his striking looks. He didn’t resemble Lin Fengying, and if Lin Fengying did not appear to be inconstant, Tong Yao would have suspected the three siblings in Si’s family had different fathers.
Of course, she would never dare to voice these thoughts. Even the most easy-going man would bristle upon hearing such comments.
It took Si Chen about twenty minutes to return with two servings of stir-fried noodles with pork, two boiled eggs, and two bottles of mineral water.
Tong Yao was really hungry and dug into the food immediately upon receiving it. Si Chen silently peeled an egg for her, and upon noticing she was eating fast, he raised his eyebrows and warned, "Slow down, eating too fast is not good for the stomach. It can cause indigestion."
Tong Yao slurped her noodles without even lifting her head, "I’m so hungry, there isn’t enough for my body to absorb, so there won’t be extra food to accumulate!"
She didn’t take long to finish one large bowl of noodles and an egg, and she drank half a bottle of soda at once.
After a satisfying belch, she noticed Si Chen still had half a bowl left. Looking at this disparity, she felt like a pig which hadn’t eaten for days, finishing a bowl of noodles in no time.
Tong Yao stood up and stretched lazily to mask her awkwardness. She also took several high-knee marches to aid digestion.
Watching her small gestures, a hint of indulgence flickered in Si Chen’s eyes.
The two stayed from sunset till nightfall. When Tong Yao got tired of standing, she would lean on Si Chen’s shoulder and nap. The breeze was comfortable at night, but there were more mosquitoes around the tree. With Si Chen being there, Tong Yao could not communicate with small animals as usual and had to endure the mosquitoes’ attacks while gossiping with him.
By eight in the evening, Tong Yao started to doze off leaning on Si Chen’s shoulder. A gradually more discernible sound of a siren woke her up, "The police are back. They must have found Xiaohui."
"They should have." Si Chen’s knitted eyebrows slightly relaxed.
The siren grew louder, and soon several police cars stopped in front of them. The bright lights made Tong Yao blink, unable to open her eyes. Officers escorted several men from the car. The last one to come out was none other than Ma Xiulan, who had kidnapped Si Xiaohui.
At this moment, Ma Xiulan, unlike her radiant appearance earlier in the day, looked deflated and ragged.
