Chapter 29:
Jin Guijuan: May I ask, where is your face?

Jing Qizhen couldn’t explain the principle of taking pictures with a mobile phone, so he simply made a V sign and took a selfie for himself. Then he took another picture of the little boy, and then explained briefly, “Look, this is the latest camera for taking pictures!”

The little boy looked at his picture on the phone screen in disbelief and whispered very softly, “Can I touch it?”

“Yes.” As Jing Qizhen spoke, he asked the little boy to put his hand on the phone screen.

The little boy looked at his clear image on the screen and was very careful with the movements of his fingers, as if he was afraid of damaging himself in the picture.

While the little boy was looking at the photo, Jing Qizhen continued to ask, “Do you know the little girl in the photo just now?”

The little boy’s attention was obviously still on the photo, but he subconsciously replied, “Is she Xu Siya?”

Jing Qizhen was slightly startled. “Siya(fourth girl)?” He immediately asked keenly, “Do they have Daya(first girl), Erya(second girl), and Sanya(third girl) at home? Does Xu Siya have three more sisters?”

The little boy said, “Maybe!” The little boy thought for a moment, then shook his head and said to Jing Qizhen, “But I haven’t played with them, so I don’t know them very well.”

Jing Qizhen said, “What about Xu Siya? Have you ever played with her?”

The little boy explained, “No one in the village plays with her. Everyone doesn’t like her. Xu Siya is too weird and dirty.”

Due to the generation gap, while the parents in the village were not completely negligent in raising children in this era, they were definitely not very meticulous in their care.

In the village where there were not many things to play with, they could only play climbing the walls, climbing the trees, swinging, playing mud hopscotch, and throwing beanbags. Ordinary children’s clothes would inevitably get dirty with a lot of leaves, grass blades, and soil every time they play.

The children in the village who were used to crawling around the dirt actually told him that Xu Siya was dirty and no one wanted to play with her. Perhaps Xu Siya’s actual situation was far worse than they imagined.

At that moment, the little boy finally and reluctantly took his hand away from Jing Qizhen’s phone and whispered to him, “Actually, the little girl in the photo only looks a bit like Xu Siya but she is more beautiful than her. Does Xu Siya have a relative or sister in the city?”

Children of his age couldn’t tell the difference between home and abroad. For him, the market was the city, the most prosperous and lively place he had ever seen. The so-called big city was actually too far away from him. The city mentioned by his parents and elders was already the most magical place in the little boy’s mind.

Jing Qizhen’s eyes fell on the little girl captured in the photo.

Ill-fitting clothes and shoes, dry cheeks, and frostbitten fingers. Apart from the scars, the little girl’s skin was extraordinarily delicate. Her eyes also looked brighter when she smiled. With her eyes partially covered, it was no wonder that the little boy thought she was very similar to Xu Siya yet also prettier than Xu Siya.

If Jing Qizhen were to describe her, the little girl in the photo was like an image that had been beautified with filters or edited with Photoshop. After artistically highlighting the scars and facial features, it produced a girl with a strange beauty.

Considering the little girl’s strange disappearance yesterday, Jing Qizhen made up his mind to go to Xu family’s house during the day to see the girl in reality.

After recalling the village’s gossip appendix, Jing Qizhen suddenly realized that most of the people in the village were surnamed Wang and He, so most of the people in the appendix also had the two surnames.

Based on the formation and origin of ordinary villages, since there were very few people with the surname Xu in the village—perhaps Xu Siya’s family was the only one—then they were most likely from outside. Inevitably, there would be some distance between them and the people with the same surname in the village.

Pondering on that, Jing Qizhen asked the little boy directly, “Where is Xu Siya’s home?”

After saying that, he deliberately stuffed a piece of chocolate to the little boy for the mother to see, and said with a smile, “Big brother bought this from outside. Try some!”

The woman who was talking to Grandma Fang and Jin Guijuan suddenly showed a smile. Seeing what her son was holding, she playfully scolded, “Hurry and thank the big brother!”

In their group, basically only Grandma Fang, who had rich life experience, and Jin Guijuan, who hailed from the countryside, could strike up a conversation with the woman about household matters. While Manman had flexible thinking, she lacked an understanding of rural life.

The little boy said excitedly, “Thank you, big brother!” Then he whispered to Jing Qizhen, “Xu Siya’s house is the last house just down the road.”

Jing Qizhen nodded.

When he turned around, he happened to catch a glimpse of Lu Lingxi’s notebook. The cadet had actually sketched the overall layout of the village, marking the locations of the little boy’s home and Xu Siya’s home.

Jing Qizhen: …

He admired Lu Lingxi’s skill in taking notes.

After the woman made breakfast, she took out the two bowls for herself and her son.

Jing Qizhen and the others were also happy to see progress, and the seven of them chatted lively in the west room and ate their breakfast.

In that period, Jing Qizhen shared all the information he had just obtained from the little boy.

Jin Guijuan added, “I have just asked. In this village, the surname Xu is indeed a foreign surname, and the fact that the Xu family treats their daughter harshly is not something that other ordinary families in the village can stand. However, since it’s a family matter, other people in the village can’t say anything. Usually, only the village chief may stop it when he sees it.”

Jing Qizhen: “Let’s wait a bit. After breakfast, we can walk around the village to find more clues. As for now, it seems that there is nothing unusual about the villagers’ life here. As for the Xu family, Little Lu and I will try to meet the ‘real’ Xu Siya if we can.”

Everyone nodded.

Jin Guijuan stopped holding the chopsticks in her hand for a moment and said, “I’ll go to the Xu family with you!”

There were certain feelings that only she could easily relate to.

Last time, Jing Qizhen relied on the poisonous chicken soup of scientific logic to successfully persuade the weird little girl to leave. This time, if he met the ‘real’ Xu Siya, the same thing might not happen.

Jing Qizhen glanced at Jin Guijuan.

Jin Guijuan smiled and said, “I’m really fine. My mood has calmed down a long time ago. Maybe I can enlighten that little girl!”

Jing Qizhen nodded. “Alright, that’s fine.”

Old Xiao held his rice bowl, feeling somewhat emotional. “If it weren’t for the background music ‘Jingle Bells’ in this village, I would be mistaken this place as reality, not an erosion area.”

After breakfast, the seven split up.

Grandma Fang, Old Xiao, Yan Hong, and Manman went to chat with the village chief. Jing Qizhen, Jin Guijuan, and Lu Lingxi went straight toward the Xu family’s house the little boy had pointed out with the excuse of wandering around the village.

Just as they walked outside the Xu family’s courtyard, they could hear the sound of a woman shouting curses inside.

The courtyard wall was not high. Jing Qizhen found a low part to peek inside and could catch a glimpse of a child with the same body shape as the weird little girl yesterday. She was wearing dirty old clothes that didn’t fit her and was pulling on her oversized pant legs and shoes. Amidst the impatient cursing from the woman, she stumbled and her fingers were trembling as she hung the clothes on the clothesline in the yard.

The chapped and frostbite symptoms on the strange little girl last night might be purely descriptive, but on the working child, they definitely caused real pain.

The little girl’s hanging clothes had her rough and chapped cheeks red from the cold, and her eyes looked dull and empty.

For children in the village, obviously having their clothes stained with leaves and mud was a trivial matter. However, the little girl’s shoes did not fit her feet, making it difficult for her to walk. When others started running like a gust of wind, she was lagging behind. Coupled with the daily curses and interruptions from her parents, naturally, no one would want to play with her after a long time.

Lu Lingxi’s eyes were even sharper as he looked at the situation of the Xu family carefully. Suddenly he became startled and said in disbelief, “In the middle layer of the little girl’s cotton-padded clothes, there is actually damaged newspaper around her shoulder?”

Although Jing Qizhen and the others didn’t make any loud noise outside, the sound of footsteps and whispers still attracted the little girl’s attention.

Xu Siya raised her head subconsciously, her eyes dazed and desolated, lacking the innocence, liveliness, and agility of a child.

Jing Qizhen whispered in worry, “Let’s go in and take a look!”

He knocked twice on the door of the Xu family’s house. The woman inside who had been cursing at Xu Siya just now immediately stopped. In a calm tone, she responded loudly, “Who is it?”

Jing Qizhen opened the door. With a smile on his face, he used the same words he used yesterday to explain that he was traveling with relatives and friends and happened to get lost until they arrived at the village. They noticed that the scenery around the village was quite unique, so they walked around and chatted with local fellows from time to time to ask for directions and interesting stories about the countryside.

The woman obviously didn’t have a kind temperament. She suddenly saw two unknown young men, Jing Qizhen and Lu Lingxi, and was a little awkward for a moment. At the same time, she glanced at Jin Guijuan several times. Although she didn’t say anything out loud, her scrutinizing eyes and furrowed brows clearly conveyed a nasty and inquiring meaning.

Jin Guijuan calmly whispered to Lu Lingxi beside her, “She must be thinking how a woman like me can hang out with two grown men like you. She probably thinks I do not come from a good family.”

Lu Lingxi was in shock and with a lowered voice, he whispered to Jin Guijuan, “What’s wrong with this woman?”

Jin Guijuan said, “I’ve seen many people like this.”

Although Jing Qizhen was chatting with the woman, his attention was mainly focused on Xu Siya, who stayed silent.

Moreover, as soon as he walked into the courtyard of the Xu family, Jing Qizhen keenly noticed another thing. The BGM ‘Jingle Bells’ that lasted from last night until now—to the point of appearing in his sleep—had suddenly disappeared.

Although Xu Siya’s mother was extremely harsh to her daughter, her attitude towards strangers like Jing Qizhen was more friendly and polite.

Jing Qizhen asked her about the mountain scenery near the village while Lu Lingxi quickly scanned the entire layout of the Xu family courtyard, eager to study every brick thoroughly.

Jin Guijuan intentionally walked to Xu Siya’s side, helped her put on two pieces of clothes on the cloth lines, and then said in a complimentary tone, “You are helping your parents with housework at such a young age? You are so sensible.”

Hearing Jin Guijuan’s words, Xu Siya became stunned for a moment.

Jin Guijuan imitated Jing Qizhen’s behavior that morning and stuffed Xu Siya’s hand with chocolate. “Candy for you!”

Xu Siya subconsciously wanted to reach out but before she even touched the chocolate, she seemed to be frightened. Like a small animal, her shoulders shrank and she suddenly took her hand back.

When Xu Siya’s mother saw the scene, she immediately rushed over and took the chocolate from Jin Guijuan’s hand unceremoniously.

Facing the unexpected move, even Jin Guijuan who was well prepared was shocked and speechless.

At the same time, the woman scrunched her face and said sternly to Xu Siya, “Just kindly take anything people give you and say thank you to them properly. You are acting timid all day, anyone who sees you will be angry!”

Jing Qizhen and Lu Lingxi frowned at the same time.

Jin Guijuan took a deep breath and immediately snatched the chocolate back from the woman’s hand.

Jing Qizhen and Lu Lingxi: =口=???

The two grown men never expected such a move.

After Jin Guijuan snatched the chocolate back, the woman’s face filled with confusion. “You—”

Jin Guijuan straightened up, put her hands on her hips, and when she raised her voice, her voice was no weaker than that of the woman just now.

“What are you doing, snatching things from others? Where is your face?”