甜蜜的小狐狸

Xu Xinran nodded with teary eyes, “Yes, her name is Zhenzhen. She is very well-behaved and obedient.

A year ago, Zhenzhen’s kindergarten teacher called to inform me that she wasn’t feeling well. At that time, the maid happened to be on leave, so I took her to see the doctor and brought her back home.

After putting her to sleep, I received a call from work about some urgent matters. I calculated the time and thought I could return home before she woke up, so I left her alone at home and went to the office.

But when I rushed back home, Zhenzhen was already gone.”

Lu Miao looked at the photo in her hand and asked, “Does your house and the residential area have surveillance cameras?”

“After Zhenzhen went missing, I checked the surveillance in the residential area. Unfortunately, during that time, the cameras were under maintenance and were not operational.

The only footage from our home’s surveillance showed Zhenzhen crying as she went downstairs and then finding her shoes near the dog hole in the small garden.

The police came and speculated that she might have been unable to open the main gate and crawled out through the dog hole to find me.

It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have left her alone at home.

If I hadn’t abandoned her and gone to the office, Zhenzhen wouldn’t have disappeared. ”

Xu Xinran said, tears streaming down her face like broken beads.

“Master Lu, do you have any way to help me find Zhenzhen?”

However, Lu Miao didn’t respond to her question and casually asked, “What about your husband? Why haven’t I seen him?”

“Yao Yang went to the hospital to buy medicine for me,” Xu Xinran replied.

“Half a year ago, my leg had problems, and I needed to take medication every day. Yao Yang didn’t trust the maid to get the medicine, so he personally went to the hospital to buy it after work.”

When mentioning Wen Yao Yang, a hint of tenderness finally appeared on Xu Xinran’s haggard and pale face.

It seemed that their marital relationship was very good.

Lu Miao paused for a moment and casually said, “He must love you very much, being so attentive.”

“He is very good to me. He never blamed me for Zhenzhen’s incident and has always been there to comfort me.

Even during my prolonged illness, he never complained,” Xu Xinran replied. Lu Miao nodded and asked, “Why haven’t I seen your wedding photos?”

Normally, with such a good marital relationship, there should be some traces of the other person in the house. But since she entered the house, Lu Miao hadn’t seen any evidence of another person.

“When Yao Yang and I met, he was just a junior employee in my father’s company. We were together, but my parents never approved of him.

Later, I became pregnant, and my parents reluctantly accepted him, but on the condition that our child would have my surname.

By then, my belly had already grown, and shortly after, my parents were involved in a car accident, so we missed the opportunity to take wedding photos.”

Thinking about her parents, Xu Xinran couldn’t help but feel bitter in her heart.

She had caused her parents a lot of distress back then for the sake of Wen Yao Yang. She never expected that in this lifetime, she wouldn’t even have the chance to make amends.

Lu Miao lightly tapped the frame with his fingertip and asked, “Do you have any individual photos of him?”

Before Xu Xinran could respond, they heard the crisp sound of a ringing bell from outside, followed by footsteps climbing up the stairs.

Lu Miao’s fingertip glided over the chubby face of the little girl in the photo as she turned her head towards the direction of the door.

Wen Yao Yang entered the room, carrying a bag of medicine. The little girl, dressed in a pink dress, sat on his shoulder. When she saw Xu Xinran, she immediately hopped down and crawled into her arms, nibbling on her fingers while curiously and mischievously looking at Lu Miao.

It was the same man and little girl she had encountered at the hospital on two previous occasions.

Wen Yao Yang approached and bent down to embrace Xu Xinran before turning to Lu Miao and asking, “Who is this?”

Xu Xinran gave a brief introduction, and Wen Yao Yang nodded, his face filled with warmth as he said, “Master Lu, I’m entrusting Zhenzhen’s case to you. You can continue your work. Xinran likes to eat taro, so I’ll go down and ask the nanny to prepare it while I’m out buying groceries.” Gentle and refined, he appeared to be a perfect husband.

“Mr. Wen, please wait a moment, ” Lu Miao interjected directly.

Wen Yao Yang turned around and asked, “Master Lu, is there something I can

Lu Miao looked at him and said, “I’d like to ask, where were you and what were you doing when Zhenzhen went missing a year ago?”

“I happened to be away on a business trip for the company during those days. I only found out that Zhenzhen was missing when I received Xinran’s call,” Wen Yaoyang replied.

Lu Miao nodded and observed the little girl as she jumped down from Xu

Xinran’s embrace and playfully ran to the side to play on a rocking horse.

She was still young and perhaps couldn’t understand why her mother, who had always loved her, would ignore her, so she could only run to the other side to play alone.

He handed the frame to Wen Yaoyang and pointed to the photo on top. “Is this what she was wearing on the day she went missing?

Wen Yaoyang quickly glanced at the photo before placing the frame back on the nearby table and shaking his head. “No, on the day Zhenzhen went missing, she was wearing a pink princess dress and white shoes with butterfly bows.

She also had a small bell necklace around her neck, a gift from Zhenzhen’s grandmother before she was even born. It’s a family heirloom of the Xu family.”

“Oh, right! There was also a little strawberry hair clip on her ear,” Wen Yaoyang said after giving it some thought.

“You have a keen eye. It’s impressive that you remember such details when Zhenzhen went missing and you weren’t even at home,” Lu Miao remarked, looking at him.

Wen Yaoyang stiffened for a moment. “After all, Zhenzhen is our only daughter. After she went missing, I watched the surveillance footage many times, afraid that I might miss her if I went out looking for her and didn’t recognize her.”

Lu Miao raised his hand and rubbed his chin. “I apologize for being presumptuous, but may I ask why, after one year since Zhenzhen’s disappearance, you and Miss Xu haven’t had another child? You are both still young.”

“At that time, both Xinran and I were devastated. And not long after, Xinran fell ill, and her leg had problems. I was worried about her health and didn’t want a pregnancy to burden her body,” Wen Yaoyang answered fluently as if he had already answered this question a million times without needing to think.

However, the Xu couple passed away several years ago, and only Wen Yao Yang and Xu Xinran lived here. There shouldn’t be anyone pressuring them every day about this.

Lu Miao glanced at Xu Xinran’s leg and then walked up to her. “I have some knowledge of medicine. Perhaps I can take a look at your condition, Miss Xu.”

“Really?” Xu Xinran’s eyes lit up. “The doctor diagnosed me with sudden-onset myasthenia gravis, but in the past six months, despite taking a lot of medication, my condition hasn’t improved. In fact, it’s been getting worse.”

However, Wen Yaoyang suddenly stepped forward. “I have already made an appointment with Director Zhang from Beijing’s Xihua Hospital for Xinran’s examination the day after tomorrow. We don’t have the necessary medical equipment at home for this kind of examination. We are already immensely grateful to Master Lu for helping us find Zhenzhen. We don’t want to trouble you further..”