After crossing, I was forced to hold on to my thighs and build a kingdom

When Wang Weiyou ran back to Sun's house, Wang Ernao and his father, as well as Liu Fudan's grandfather and father who had returned from outside, all arrived in the yard one after another.

Several people knew what had happened, and now they all looked solemn.

Jinchu asked everyone to prepare a few lanterns, and with Fudan and Ernao leading the way, the group hurried towards the back mountain.

Before they reached the back mountain, it was completely dark. Everyone lit the lanterns in their hands, held the lanterns, and continued forward, calling Zhao'er's name all the way.

After another cup of tea, they arrived at a small forest at the foot of the mountain. Fudan and Ernao pointed towards a large tree in the middle and said to everyone, "We tied Zhao'er under that tree."

Everyone around started calling Zhao'er's name loudly and dispersed to look for Zhao'er.

Jin Chu didn't go looking for it. She walked forward, went to the tree, and walked around it. There was no obvious sign of struggle on the ground except a cut rope.

This shows that Zhao'er did not break free by slowly wearing down the rope, but someone cut the rope with a knife and let him down.

Who is going to save Zhao'er now?

Jin Chu held half of the rope in his hand, frowned and fell into deep thought.

If he was a kind-hearted person, where would he take Zhao'er?

If Zhao'er met someone with bad intentions, where would he take her?

If a kind person were to ask Zhao'er where he came from, even if he didn't send him home in person, he would definitely send him to the village entrance before leaving. No matter what the choice was, Zhao'er should be staying at home safely at this time.

However, there was no news of Zhao'er at home at this time.

That leaves only the worst and most undesirable possibility!

Zhao'er met a bad person and was taken away directly.

If that were the case, Zhao'er would definitely not go with him obediently, but there were no signs of struggle or fighting under the big tree, so this person must have coaxed Zhao'er to leave this place before making trouble.

What kind of person could possibly make Zhao'er submit obediently and follow him away from here?

It must be someone Zhaoer knows!

Jin Chu's mind raced, trying to think of the families Zhao'er might know. However, she had just arrived and couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she racked her brains.

what can we do about it?

Jin Chu lowered her head and paced back and forth, her mind racing as she muttered: Someone I know, someone I know...

Suddenly her eyes lit up, she raised her head, looked at Wang Weiyue who was not far away, and shouted, "Brother Yue, come back!"

When Wang Weiyou heard Jin Chu's cry, he stopped looking and ran back to her.

Jin Chu leaned close to Wang Weiyue's ear and whispered something to him.

Wang Weiyue nodded repeatedly and said, "Sister Jin'er, I'll go back first."

Jin Chu nodded and reminded him: "It's getting late, walk slowly on the road and be careful."

"Okay, the road in the forest is not easy to walk on, so Sister Jin'er should be careful." After Wang Weiyou replied, he picked up the lantern and walked back quickly.

Ernao and Fudan stood dejectedly not far away, stealing glances at Jinchu but not daring to go forward.

Jin Chu waved at them, and the two of them came over hesitantly.

"Fudan, when did you and Ernou tie Zhao'er here?" Jinchu asked.

Fudan and Ernao looked at each other and replied, "It's around the end of the afternoon and the beginning of the evening."

"Then when did you return here to look for Zhao'er?"

Er Nao scratched his head and answered uncertainly, "Maybe it's 1:15 PM, or 2:15 PM."

"Did Zhao'er disappear at that time?" Jin Chu asked again.

The two nodded in unison: "We didn't see Zhao'er from a distance and thought he was hiding nearby, so we quickly ran over to look for him."

Fudan pointed at the rope on the ground and said, "When we ran over here, this broken rope was the only thing left on the ground!"

Er Nao also agreed and said, "We thought Zhao'er was hiding nearby, so we searched everywhere for another quarter of an hour, until it got dark, but we still couldn't find any trace of Zhao'er."

"We thought he might have run back home, so we quickly ran back after him. We paced back and forth in front of your house several times, but didn't hear Zhao'er's voice. We only saw Wang Weiyue anxiously pacing in the yard. We were sure then that Zhao'er hadn't returned home either."

Fudan shrank his head, his face pale. "We were both terrified at the time. We didn't dare tell the adults, and we were afraid of being beaten. We didn't even dare to go home. We waited at the village entrance until we couldn't wait any longer, so we had to come back."

"Did you meet any familiar neighbors along the way?"

"Ah?" Both of them were stunned by Jin Chu's irrelevant question.

"No." Fudan subconsciously shook his head.

Er Nao, standing by, tugged at his sleeve and warned, "Brother Fudan, wait a minute. When we tied up Zhao'er and went back to the river to play, didn't we run into that Li Hunzi from the west end of the village? Have you forgotten? He had a hatchet on his waist and looked like he was going up the mountain."

"Li Hunzi?" Jin Chu asked in surprise.

"Right, right, right!" Fudan slapped his head and shouted, "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten about it. We did run into Li Hunzi on our way back to the river!"

He looked up at Jinchu and said, "Sister Jin'er, Li Hunzi is a bachelor in our village who is almost thirty and still hasn't found a wife. He's lazy and has dirty hands. He's always stealing chickens from one house and catching ducks from another. No one in the village wants to pay attention to him."

"I think if you continue like this, you will become the second or third Li Hunzi in the future!" Jin Chu looked at the two of them and sneered.

Fudan blushed and defended himself in a low voice: "Sister Jin'er, Ernao and I never steal anything."

"Alright, Fudan, go tell your mother to let the adults continue searching nearby. The two of you come back to the village with me and ask that idiot Li if he's seen Zhao'er!"

Fudan conveyed Jinchu's words to Sun who was not far away, and then followed Jinchu back to the village with a resigned look on his face.

Huizhen was waiting anxiously at home. Seeing Jinchu and the other two return home, she was delighted at first and asked hurriedly, "Did you find Zhao'er?"

Jinchu shook his head, and Huizhen's face suddenly showed disappointment again.

"Is Brother Yue back?" Jin Chu turned to Huizhen and asked.

"He's back. He said he would go and ask the families nearby whose children are about Zhao'er's age. He hasn't come back yet, so we don't know what the situation is." Huizhen said quickly.

"If Brother Yue comes back, tell him that there is no need to look for the other families anymore. I have new clues." Jin Chu instructed Huizhen and hurried out the door.

"Let's go and take a look at the house of Li Hunzi you mentioned!" She stretched out her hand and pushed the two of them, and the three of them walked out the door together.