Even hybrid monsters have their day

Geng Miaowan suddenly felt an urge to kick it away. This thing really knew nothing when asked, and even shook its head when asked again. As an old monster that had lived for tens of millions of years, it was actually a combination of lacking knowledge and common sense. She figured it must have been dozing off the whole time for the past tens of millions of years.

Just then, the street outside suddenly became noisy again. Geng Miaowan went to the window and saw a woman supporting a man, crying and sobbing as they walked eastward. Before she could go out to ask what had happened, the murmurs from the side of the street reached her ears.

"Isn't this Yan Xuyuan from the east? What happened here?"

"Oh, you don't know, do you? This morning, the Yan family lost a child, so Yan Xuyuan went to the county magistrate and asked the government to send people to help him find the child."

"Huh? How dare he go to see the county magistrate?"

"That's right, judging from the situation, he must have been beaten and kicked out by the county magistrate."

"Alas, Madam Lu is a pitiful person. She just lost her child, and now her husband has been beaten. Life is so hard for her."

"Who says it isn't?"

……

The discussion continued, but Geng Miaowan couldn't listen anymore. How could there be such an official? Not only did he not help search for someone else's lost child, but he also assaulted them.

Although Geng Miaowan was not one to meddle in other people's business, she had a strong sense of justice at heart; otherwise, she wouldn't have died saving a child. She simply said "I'm leaving" to Xiaobai and stepped out of the room first, completely ignoring Xiaobai's constant questions in her mind about where she was going.

She felt that the phrase "playing the lute to a cow" could sometimes be applied to this situation as well.

After leaving the house and changing into men's clothing, Geng Miaowan arrived at the Yan family's residence to the east. At that moment, Madam Lu was weeping while boiling water.

Upon seeing her, Madam Lu hurriedly wiped away her tears and looked at her with suspicion, "Who is this young man...?"

"Oh, I am an official from Yonghe Town. Children have been going missing in our town frequently. I heard today that your family has also lost a child, so I came here to investigate the situation and see if there are any clues." Geng Miaowan had heard from the waiter that the imperial court had sent an official to Yonghe Town next door to investigate the disappearance of children, so she temporarily borrowed him.

"The officials from Yonghe Town?" Madam Lu hesitated for a moment before glancing at her. Then, remembering what had been circulating in the town recently, her face showed a mixture of joy and sorrow. She knelt down before Geng Miaowan and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "Your Honor, Your Honor, you must do us justice!"

“Madam, please rise quickly,” Geng Miaowan helped Madam Lu up. “I am just a lowly servant; how can I possibly be worthy of such a position?”

Without paying any attention to anything else, Madam Lu got up and pulled her hand into the house, calling out, "Lian'er's father, Lian'er's father, officials have come to help us find someone!"

Upon entering the room, Geng Miaowan saw Yan Xuyuan struggling to get off the bed to greet her after hearing his wife's words. She quickly stepped forward to support him and pressed him back onto the bed, saying, "Brother, there's no need for such formalities."

Only when they were so close did Geng Miaowan realize that this person was actually the middle-aged man who had dined with Lao Ge at the inn that day.

Yan Xuyuan grabbed her arm and shouted at Madam Lu, "What are you standing there for, you old woman? Hurry up and pour the official a cup of water." Madam Lu hurriedly replied "Yes," turned around and went out, and returned with a bowl of water in a short while.

Madam Lu handed the water to Geng Miaowan, her voice choked with emotion, "Sir, you must save our Lian'er! She's only seven years old..."

"Yes, sir, please save our Lian'er..." Yan Xuyuan's voice also revealed a hint of sorrow.

"Please don't be in a hurry, gentlemen. Could you please tell me what happened in detail?"

Madam Lu nodded and slowly began to recount her story, “Our Lian’er usually gets up very early. This morning, I made breakfast, but she hadn’t gotten up yet, so I went to her room to call her. But she wasn’t there. There was only a messy quilt in the room.”

"Could it be that the child went out to play early in the morning?"

"No, Lian'er always tells us beforehand where she's going to play. And even if she did go out, it's been almost a day now, and she hasn't come back yet," Madam Lu said with certainty.

"Have you made any enemies? Could it be that someone deliberately kidnapped your child as revenge?" Geng Miaowan boldly speculated.

"No, my husband and I get along very well with our neighbors and have never made enemies with anyone."

"Did anything unusual happen last night?"

Madam Lu thought for a moment and said, "Lian'er was out playing all day yesterday. She came back and went straight to bed without even eating. Her father and I went to check on her before we finished tidying up and went to bed, and we tucked her in. Everything was pretty much the same as usual, and nothing unusual happened."

"What about at night? Did you hear any unusual noises or anything like that?"

Lu and Yan Xuyuan exchanged a glance and shook their heads simultaneously.

That's strange. Could a child really just disappear into thin air? Geng Miaowan naturally didn't believe in that idea. After thinking for a moment, she said to Madam Lu, "May I go to the child's room to take a look?"

Madam Lu glanced at Yan Xuyuan, who nodded, and then she led Geng Miaowan to Lian'er's room.

The room remained exactly as it had been that morning. Geng Miaowan looked around but couldn't figure out what had happened. Apart from the slightly disheveled blankets on the bed, the entire room was spotless, without a trace. She went to the window and carefully examined the window frame and sills—places prone to leaving marks.

The window was ajar, with no signs of it being pried open from the outside. Geng Miaowan casually pushed the window open and asked, "Was this window open last night?"

Madam Lu also came to the window and said in surprise, "I clearly locked this window before I went to bed last night, how come it's open?"

Geng Miaowan looked out the window. Outside was the backyard, and beyond that was a wall. Although it wasn't high, it was impossible for a seven-year-old child to climb over it.

"Think carefully again about whether there was anything unusual about your child from when they came home yesterday until they went to bed."

Hearing her say that, Madam Lu stood there, recalling the events of the previous night, her expression gradually becoming serious. "Now that you mention it, I do remember. Usually, Lian'er would only go to sleep after eating dinner, but when she came back last night, she hadn't eaten a single bite, nor had she said a word to me or her father. She just went straight to her room to sleep, her head down. I noticed that she looked a little pale, so I assumed she was tired from playing and didn't call her to eat."

"Do you know where she went yesterday?"