Chapter 21

However, the police reviewed the surveillance footage from that day, and it only captured the two children being carried away, without showing the faces of the kidnappers, let alone the car.
They first drugged Xiao Yu and then grabbed Shui Shui. Lin Miao shouted once, but because there were so many people on their side, no one heard her.
At that moment, how desperate Shui Shui must have felt, surrounded by so many people, yet no one could help them. She watched the crowd helplessly, managed to shout once, and was still carried away. She disappeared around the corner, where there was no surveillance.
The Yu family had already reviewed this footage, and when they looked at it again, no new leads appeared.
The doctor said pessimistically, "The young master’s health, if he doesn't take medicine, I don't know if he can hold on..."
Hearing this, Mother Yu fainted again. The grandmother hurriedly called the master again, pleading with him to help.
The master agreed immediately. He had received a good sum of money from the Yu family for helping this young master, and more importantly, one of the children was from their village, he had personally sent them away, so naturally, he was truly committed to helping find them.
It wasn’t like what he told the grandmother, where he would set up a ritual to ask the heavens for protection.
Instead, he called his colleagues, asking them to keep an eye out. He had many colleagues, like the time they were looking for a child born on the same day as the young master, and they had helped a lot.
Just when everyone was at their wit's end, an anonymous tip came in.
The caller reported seeing two suspicious individuals at the East City Street corner. They overheard them talking on the phone, mentioning hiding two children, with a car plate number of SB1xxxxx.
The police rushed over, and after a chase, they really caught the two men. However, they couldn’t get anything out of them. The two men insisted that they hadn't kidnapped anyone, didn’t understand what the police were saying, and had fled out of instinct.
The police weren’t easily fooled, though. From the information gathered from the Yu family, the most useful clue was that the kidnappers had already left the city and taken the children to a remote place.
It was most likely that they had gone back to their hometown, so the police hurriedly sent people to check the two men's backgrounds.
On the internet, there were still many small media outlets reporting on the incident. The mainstream media's headline was, "The film queen is forced to retire from acting just to bring her child back," criticizing unscrupulous marketing accounts who used the kidnapping incident to boost their own popularity.
However, in reality, they were still riding the hype, just using a different method.
The Yu family had already found the right way. Father Yu had arranged for all the reports related to Mother Yu to be suppressed.
With money to manage the public relations, much of the hype was suppressed.
But the attention on the incident was still very high.
Many people were not optimistic about the children’s situation. On one hand, Xiao Yu's health was bad, and after being troubled for two days like this, no one knew what might happen to him. On the other hand, the nationwide attention would certainly put a lot of pressure on the kidnappers, increasing the risk when they returned the children, and they might very well decide to kill them all to cover their tracks.
What they didn’t know was that the children who had actually been kidnapped were two little ones. After all, everyone only knew that the Yu family had one child.
The child in focus was currently eating. Yes, still eating, rice with cured meat and stir-fried vegetables. It was already cold, but this wasn’t the time to be picky.
They ate in a refined manner, chewing slowly, mainly because the food was cold after such a long journey.
Meanwhile, two young men with their faces covered in coal dust were going crazy. The more they looked at the news online, the more anxious they became, pacing back and forth inside the house. Not only had the sixty million slipped away, but now that so many people knew about it, they had no idea what their third uncle would do.
Yu Jingxuan glanced at them and continued to sit quietly in the corner with Lin Miao, eating without saying a word, just trying to keep a low profile.
The young man gave them a look, especially noticing that they were still eating slowly. His anger, which had no outlet, finally flared up. He suddenly remembered that when he went to grab them, this little girl had bitten him. At first, he had let it slide because of the sixty million, but now his temper was really about to snap, and he moved toward them to strike.
Yu Jingxuan immediately stood up and positioned himself in front of Lin Miao.
"We weren’t planning to make things difficult for you. It’s just bad luck! Since we can’t get the money now, we’ll settle for a punch to vent our frustration!" He raised his fist toward them.
Lin Miao hurriedly spoke, her voice clear, "Wait!"
The young woman approached them as well.
Lin Miao pulled out two hundred and fifty yuan from her pocket.
"I’ll give you the money, just don’t hit us," Lin Miao said.
This money was from her mother, who had given her five hundred yuan when she went to the hospital that night. She had spent twenty yuan on the taxi and thirty on an apple at the hospital, leaving her with four hundred and fifty yuan. She’d kept it with her ever since.
This time, when they mentioned going out for food, she specifically brought the money with her, hoping to buy something nice for her brother, who often got her good food. She was also thinking about how the New Year was just a few months away and wanted to buy some candy to share with her friends when the time came. But now, she hadn’t had a chance to use it before being kidnapped.
She knew these people were after money, so she’d hidden two hundred and fifty yuan in her left pocket and another two hundred in her shoe, in case she would need it later.
When Yu Jingxuan saw the money, he suddenly had an idea. He quickly took the pendant from around his neck. "This is a family heirloom. Although it won’t cover the sixty million, it’s worth a few hundred thousand."
It was a lie, his family had no heirlooms. This was a charm that a con artist had given to his grandmother, who had given it to them, claiming it would protect their lives. Of course, his real point was something else.
The young woman immediately grabbed it. "You’re serious? Just this little piece?"
Yu Jingxuan said without changing his expression, "If you don’t believe me, you can check online. High-quality jade is expensive. My family can afford sixty million. Do you think I would wear a pendant worth just a few dozen yuan?"
The young man thought this made sense, but still snatched the money from Lin Miao’s hand. A little was better than nothing.
Yu Jingxuan hated that he took the money, but kept his calm. "I just gave you the price so you wouldn’t get cheated. Just don’t hit me or my sister."
Now that they had money, it was easier to talk. They were after the money anyway.
At this point, the young woman noticed a red string around Lin Miao’s neck.
She quickly reached for it.
Yu Jingxuan, fearing she might hurt Lin Miao, said, "Shui Shui, give her yours too."
Lin Miao obediently took off her pendant and handed it to them.
One pendant worth a few hundred thousand, and the two of them were ecstatic. If it was worth this much, then they might just have hit the jackpot.
After all, the 10 million is still ahead, not in their hands yet, while this few hundred thousand is already in their hands.
They closed the door, and the dog started barking at the two people, probably because it was hungry and wanted food.
Both were in a hurry to exchange the money, and the young man, impatient with the barking, kicked at the dog and then left with his sister.
The dog lay on the ground, whining twice, probably because its belly was too big to turn over.
Lin Miao peeked through the crack in the door and felt sorry for the dog.
The dog had never been treated like this before. Even when it caused trouble, the village chief would only scold it, and every time it was scolded, it would bark back. Woof woof woof...
Yu Jingxuan saw that they were leaving and said to Lin Miao, "Shui Shui, let's pack up. We might have to leave."
Although his mother was unreliable, she would never hype this situation.
The only thing that was certain was that they would definitely not get their money this time. If they didn’t get it now, they most likely wouldn’t get it next time either. And since this was such a big scene, it had definitely attracted the police.
These people were not desperadoes; they might very well give up on asking for money.
Although Lin Miao didn’t understand, she trusted her brother very much. Her brother was the kind of person who knew everything and understood everything.
So, she nodded and quickly took a couple of bites of rice.
Today was still a bright sunny day.
Then the two of them peered outside through the crack in the door. Sunlight streamed in, warming their faces.
When the dog saw them near the door, it immediately started barking again.
The two of them confirmed that the other two people had already walked far away.
So, they hurriedly dug open the hole again.
Yu Jingxuan also quickly packed up the remaining sweet potatoes and food.
Lin Miao took two sweet potatoes and tossed them to the dog, distracting it.
Then the two of them quickly crawled out through the hole. Lin Miao had experience, so she crawled out first and demonstrated for her brother.
What they didn’t expect was that the dog, which had been eating the sweet potatoes on the other side, suddenly charged toward them.
It had probably been near the wooden door and sensed that they had run away.
The dog was tied with a long rope, as those people had never considered the possibility that they wouldn’t go through the wooden door.
So, as long as they were fast enough, there wouldn’t be a problem.
Yu Jingxuan was startled, quickly crawling out and pulling Lin Miao to run.
But the two of them could never outrun the dog. Hand in hand, they couldn’t run faster than four legs.
When the dog lunged at them, and there was no way to dodge, Yu Jingxuan pulled Lin Miao into his arms, using his back to shield her from the dog.
When the two kids were shivering, they realized the dog didn’t bite them; it only whimpered twice.
Lin Miao broke free from her brother's embrace and saw that the dog had a large wound around its neck, caused by the rope tightening, exposing red flesh. It was quite frightening.
Seeing that the dog didn’t bite them, Yu Jingxuan quickly pulled Lin Miao and tried to leave.
Lin Miao struggled for a moment, afraid of provoking the dog, and said quietly, "Brother, it doesn’t seem like it wants to bite us... and it’s really pitiful..."
While speaking, Lin Miao reached out to touch the dog.
Yu Jingxuan thought, the dog is still a dog. What if it goes crazy?
But it was too late, Lin Miao carefully petted its head, "Your neck hurts, right? Don’t bite us, I’ll help you untie the rope..."
The dog whimpered once, then rubbed its head against Lin Miao’s little hand.
Yu Jingxuan stayed close, prepared to grab Lin Miao and run if anything went wrong.
Lin Miao turned her head and looked at her brother. "Brother, it won’t bite us... Can I untie the rope around its neck? It looks really painful..."
Dogs are different from humans; they don’t deceive, and their emotions are very straightforward. They don’t intentionally plan things.
Yu Jingxuan could tell what she wanted to do. He sighed, it’s fine, adding one more variable wouldn’t hurt.
He nodded, "I’ll do it," worried the dog might get violent and bite Lin Miao.
Lin Miao shook her head, "Brother, I’ll do it. I’m more familiar with dogs. You stay back."
Yu Jingxuan couldn’t just stay back while she was in danger, but Lin Miao wouldn’t listen. There was nothing he could do but turn his head, squat down, and gently touch the dog’s head, speaking softly, "Don’t be scared, I’ll carefully untie the rope. Once it’s untied, you won’t hurt anymore."
Lin Miao didn’t just start untangling the rope; she petted it for a while, calming it, and observed how to untie the knot the fastest, mentally simulating the process twice.
Then, while the dog lay down, she quickly untied the rope.
Fortunately, the dog didn’t get upset.
Yu Jingxuan sighed in relief and pulled Lin Miao away.
The dog got up and followed them.
Lin Miao said, "Brother, can we take it home? It didn’t keep guard over us, and if it stays here, it’ll definitely get beaten."
Yu Jingxuan couldn’t quite figure out what to make of this, but he felt like Shui Shui had somehow turned a bad dog from someone else’s house into an ally.
But since Shui Shui had said so, there was nothing else to do, "Alright, if it doesn’t bite us, let’s take it home."
If it doesn’t bite people, having a dog with them might actually be a good thing for them right now.
Lin Miao was very happy, petting the dog’s head, "Big Huang, you can come home with us!"
Yu Jingxuan thought the dog seemed to understand human speech, so he added, "Don’t bark randomly, okay?"
"Woof woof woof!"
Yu Jingxuan: "..." As expected, he overthought it. This dog still doesn’t understand human speech.
Luckily, it only barked those three times and then stopped.
So, the two kids walked with the dog, through the thick, dry grass, heading forward.
The sky was a pure blue, and the sunlight was very warm. The valley forest kept its most primitive look, lush and green. If it weren’t for the kidnapping, it would have been a breathtakingly beautiful place.
Then they realized that the house was actually below a cliff. No wonder it was so isolated here, and no one came down to cut the grass or feed the cows.
At that moment, they heard someone’s voice.
Yu Jingxuan quickly pulled Lin Miao into the nearby bushes.
Lin Miao gently whispered to the dog to stay quiet and nervously said, "Don’t bark, understand?"
By now, they could already hear the voices outside, "Sister, do you think that person betrayed us? Otherwise, how could the police catch Uncle San so quickly?"
"We can’t worry about that now. If the police find them, we’ll end up in jail. Let’s throw them both into the reservoir. If the police can’t find them, we’ll just deny everything! Didn’t Uncle San say he could buy some time? Let’s hurry and handle things."
"Sister, we won’t tell Uncle San about these two jade pendants. We’ll split them between us."
Lin Miao covered her mouth, listening as the two people walked further away.
As soon as they left, Yu Jingxuan grabbed Lin Miao and urged her to run quickly. The place wasn’t far from the earthen house, and they would soon realize that the person was gone and would turn back to chase after them.
There was still a path on the cliff side, although it was overgrown with weeds, making it hard to walk. But at the moment, who cared about such things, especially since the two young men had already caught up.
Two kids and a dog, running fast.
Once they reached the cliff, it was a forest.
Yu Jingxuan stopped. Naturally, once they crossed the forest, it wouldn’t be long before they reached the village.
But the problem was, if they encountered others, would those people help them?
On one side, there were strangers, and on the other side, there was someone from the village, perhaps even with relatives there.
Yu Jingxuan dragged Lin Miao deeper into the forest. Since the police had already caught the third uncle, they would probably arrive soon to look for them. It was very likely they had already contacted the local police. They just needed to hold on for a few more hours and not be found by those people before the police arrived.
Lin Miao decided to listen to her brother.
So, she ran off into the forest, and the dog followed closely behind.
On the other side, the police who had caught the criminal suspect had indeed contacted the police from the third uncle’s hometown to help with the investigation.
However, there was a problem. The so-called third uncle was not actually related to the two young men; he was someone they knew from the same factory.
Because of this, the police started a large-scale search, but it was for a different mountain and village altogether.
The situation had escalated so quickly, catching the Yu family by surprise. However, the nationwide attention wasn’t entirely bad. After all, the situation had gotten so serious that there was no room for reconciliation.
Yu’s father and mother had rushed to the third uncle’s hometown, bringing people and police to search the mountains.
Meanwhile, the two kids hiding in the mountains had waited for four hours without any sign of anyone.
They found a hidden cave to hide in. Yu Jingxuan thought that when people came to look for them, they would make a lot of noise.
Lin Miao treated the dog’s wounds by simply wrapping them up and telling it, “You mustn’t bark.”
Yu Jingxuan stood nearby, watching the surroundings, looking for any signs of people coming to look for them.
Inside the cave, there was a place where water was dripping. Lin Miao found a large leaf, shaped it into a cone, and started collecting the water.
She had filled half a leaf with water when she handed it to her brother. “Brother, brother, drink.”
Yu Jingxuan felt anxious. What was going on? By now, the police should have arrived, right? But the entire mountain was silent, with nothing but bird calls.
“Water, drink it yourself,” Yu Jingxuan handed the water to Lin Miao. He couldn’t be wrong, could he?
He thought it through.
Now that the police had caught the person who went to withdraw the money, the third uncle, those people were in a panic, wanting to drown them in the reservoir so the police wouldn’t find them.
But the police had already found the third uncle, so logically, they should be coming here soon, right?
The young man had brought a dog from his home, which meant this was his hometown. They even called the man “third uncle,” which meant he also lived here.
How could the police not find them? It didn’t make sense.
The more Yu Jingxuan thought, the more it didn’t add up. Even if the man didn’t give up the others, the police would surely find their way here, right?
But even by nightfall, no one had arrived. Fortunately, the police hadn’t found them, and the two young men hadn’t either.
They wouldn’t have guessed that Yu Jingxuan hadn’t actually left the forest. The two young men were now guarding the road from the village to the highway.
Lin Miao’s wilderness survival skills were decent. Although she had never spent the night in the wild, some skills were innate for children raised in the mountains. When the sun was out in the afternoon, Lin Miao had already gathered dry leaves and stacked them in the innermost part of the cave.
Yu Jingxuan helped her because they were definitely going to stay there for the night.
That night, the two kids huddled among the dry leaves, with the dog sleeping beside them.
Meanwhile, everyone was still searching the mountain, drumming and searching tirelessly through the night.
But still, no sign.
The third uncle and the other suspect refused to reveal where the children were.
The third uncle’s contact list didn’t yield any useful information, and the phone number that called in earlier also didn’t lead anywhere.
The police were still investigating the suspect’s network, hoping to find a lead, but this man had been unemployed for half a year, and there were no traces to follow.
At this point, many believed the children must have met with an unfortunate end. With such an extensive search and no results, the hope of finding them alive seemed very slim.
Early the next morning, when Yu Jingxuan woke up, he found that Lin Miao and the dog were gone!
Yu Jingxuan, though experienced, was still startled.
He rushed outside and saw Lin Miao running back with a bundle of round, muddy things wrapped in her clothes, with the dog running alongside her.
“Brother, I dug up sweet potatoes,” Lin Miao said immediately as she ran toward him.
She threw the bundle of sweet potatoes on the ground, then checked to see if her brother had a fever, only to realize her hands were covered in mud!
So, she stood on tiptoe and touched her brother’s forehead, just like her mom used to check if she had a fever.
Hmm, no fever! Another happy day!
Yu Jingxuan was momentarily stunned, then his mood lifted.
He then noticed that the dripping water had been collected in a ceramic basin that Lin Miao had found, though it was cracked, and it was now filled with water.
“I picked it up!” Lin Miao proudly said.
Lin Miao had woken up at dawn, hearing the birds, feeling like she had returned home. She had woken up early because she used to go pick mushrooms at this time.
Since she couldn’t sleep, she quietly got up, took the dog, and went out to explore.
Lin Miao was a child of the mountains, and even though she had lived in the city with her brother for a few months, returning to the mountains felt like a fish returning to water. Back at the villa, she used to hold back, trying not to upset anyone. But now, this was her territory, and she did things according to her own understanding.
Yu Jingxuan looked at her and thought, maybe that scammer wasn’t entirely a scammer.
He wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, “Next time, don’t go out alone. Take me with you.”
Lin Miao nodded. Actually, she didn’t want to wake her brother up, he was sleeping so peacefully.
She then placed the sweet potatoes next to the broken ceramic basin, took the water from the basin, and started washing the sweet potatoes.
Yu Jingxuan followed her and helped wash the sweet potatoes.
After cleaning four large sweet potatoes, Lin Miao gave one to the dog and told her brother, “Brother, this can be eaten raw. My mom says it’s good for the body, but it’s a bit hard to digest, so we should chew slowly.”
The two of them began munching on the raw sweet potatoes. They were crunchy and not bad at all.
Yu Jingxuan thought it tasted a bit like lotus root, but without the sweetness or the water content of lotus root.
Still, seeing Lin Miao enjoy it so much, Yu Jingxuan felt that overall, it wasn’t bad.
After finishing the sweet potatoes, Lin Miao waited for her brother’s instructions. To her, she didn’t know as much as her brother, so she could only do small tasks. The big decisions were still up to him.
Yu Jingxuan looked at the sky. It was cloudy, and there was a high chance it would rain. If it rained, it would be a headache. What should they do?
Although the rain would make it harder for the kidnappers to find them, the police would also have trouble.
Lin Miao thought about this too. The rain was coming, and she noticed the moving ants, which meant it was likely to be a heavy rain.
“Brother, let’s go collect some food,” Lin Miao suggested. “What do you want to eat? Sweet potatoes or radishes?”
The dog was still munching on a raw sweet potato, munching happily.
Yu Jingxuan looked at Lin Miao’s pink jacket, then took off his white jacket, which had turned brown after getting dirty yesterday.
“You wear my jacket,” he said. “It won’t stand out as much.”
The two of them headed toward the sweet potato field that Lin Miao had found.
Though it was remote, they were still very cautious.
It was Yu Jingxuan’s first time seeing how the sweet potatoes were planted in the ground.
Lin Miao taught him to take a stick and dig the soil, then pull the root stalk, and there they were, two or three sweet potatoes hanging from the stem.
The dog also followed and dug up a large sweet potato with its paws.
Yu Jingxuan couldn’t help but laugh. No wonder the dog had betrayed them; its intelligence was different from ordinary dogs.
The two of them worked hard, pulling up a dozen sweet potatoes, then excitedly headed back.
As they passed through the mountains, Lin Miao suddenly stopped. “Chestnuts!”
The chestnuts were covered in spiny shells, but once they ripened, the shells would crack open, and the fruit would fall out. There were plenty of prickly shells on the ground. “Brother, be careful, don’t get pricked.”
“Mm, you too,” Yu Jingxuan replied.
They were lucky and gathered a whole bundle of chestnuts.
Returning to the cave, they placed the chestnuts next to the ceramic basin.
Then Lin Miao took a stone and cracked the chestnuts open, handing the flesh to her brother. “Brother, this tastes better than sweet potatoes!”
Yu Jingxuan took a bite, and it was indeed delicious. He followed her example, cracked open a chestnut, and handed the flesh to Lin Miao. “Shui Shui, eat.”
At that moment, it started pouring rain outside.
They were in the cave, but it felt like they were in a waterfall cave.
The dog came over and wanted to eat too.
Lin Miao gave it a chestnut and then said to her brother, “Brother, can we take it home with us?”
“Of course,” Yu Jingxuan replied.
He was now looking at the dog with newfound respect; it was definitely smarter than any dog he had seen.
However, as Yu Jingxuan looked at the heavy rain outside, he couldn’t help but wonder whether this downpour would be good or bad for them.