Chapter 711: Chapter 609 Missing
Both Jiang Ning’s studio and the show crew have issued statements.
If the guests still claim to be unaware, it would be hard to believe.
Upon the reminder from the program staff, Yuan Xingyao, Hao Meng, and Chen Yunlu, who were still livestreaming, ended their broadcasts.
Having nothing to do, they called Zhu Rui and went to chat with Jiang Ning, mainly out of curiosity about what happened this afternoon.
Hao Meng said, “Jiang Ning, I’ve always seen your videos on the internet catching bad guys. They always get me so hyped!”
“Hahaha, me too,” Yuan Xingyao replied with a laugh. “When I first heard Director Shen invited Jiang Ning, I wondered if I could see him catch a bad guy in person. With that Conan’s physique, after half a month of peace, I almost forgot about it, but then Jiang Ning made his move again!”
He sighed with regret, “If I had known, I would have gone along. Witnessing Jiang Ning’s charm up close might have helped a bit.”
Chen Yunlu playfully teased him, “Are you sure you’d be helpful? And not just another Director Shen?”
“What do you mean?” Yuan Xingyao didn’t quite get it.
“I think I know a bit,” Zhu Rui kindly explained, “In those videos on Douyin where Jiang Ning catches scammers, there’s one video capturing not only Jiang Ning and Qi Xingzhou but also Director Shen. Director Shen stood outside the crowd, holding two glasses of lemonade, looking completely stunned.”
Chen Yunlu nodded, “Yes, that’s exactly it. The sharp-eyed netizens spotted Director Shen and even edited a clip of him looking dumbfounded into a meme.”
“What? There’s such a thing?” Yuan Xingyao immediately pulled out his phone, intending to check it out on Douyin.
“Are you guys talking behind my back?”
Shen Zha’s voice was heard even before he appeared.
Originally relaxed, Chen Yunlu’s face suddenly showed a trace of nervousness and guilty conscience.
The only time she joked, the subject heard it!
Could anything be more embarrassing?
Watching Shen Zha walk in, Chen Yunlu almost wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground.
Zhu Rui didn’t expect this coincidence either, and his expression almost broke.
Just as the two were thinking about how to apologize to Shen Zha, he skipped the topic and started talking about something else, “Have you seen Ji He, Xue Lin, or Lou Yingyan?”
Yuan Xingyao shook his head, “No, what’s up?”
Hao Meng spoke up, “Ji He and Xue Lin have been learning ventriloquism from Master Shi all morning and probably continued in the afternoon. I haven’t seen them come out.”
Chen Yunlu shared what she knew, “I ran into Ji He and Xue Lin during lunch. They said they were very interested in ventriloquism. I also bumped into Lou Yingyan; he was going into the mountains with the villagers to pick mushrooms.”
Knowing the whereabouts of the guests, Shen Zha breathed a sigh of relief, “No worries then.”
However, his relief was premature.
Because an hour later, the villagers suddenly received news from people up in the mountains: Aunt Tian’s nine-year-old granddaughter was missing!
As the village chief, Shi Qing was informed earlier.
Aunt Tian’s granddaughter is named Xiao Hua. Though she’s only nine, a poor child grows up fast, able to handle all sorts of household chores and often helps her family.
Today was the weekend, with school off, Xiao Hua saw her grandma and the villagers going up the mountain to pick mushrooms, so she happily joined them.
Aunt Tian had taken her into the mountains to pick mushrooms before, and not just Xiao Hua, but several kids around ten years old from the village were there too. Sometimes, these kids would go into the mountains to pick mushrooms together during time off, so nobody thought it was a dangerous thing.
No one expected that when everyone was ready to descend the mountain, Aunt Tian discovered that Xiao Hua was missing at some point!
“When did she go missing! And why only notice now!” Shi Qing, standing under the eaves, glanced at the slightly darkening sky, clearly angry.
The person on the other end of the phone, another villager from Sanwan Village, was also helpless, “I don’t know. I’ve been busy in the fields all day. My wife just called to tell me, and asked me to inform you as soon as possible.”