Chapter 1029: Chapter 1029: Ruyan Disappears

Xiang Ming’s eyes gleamed with excitement as he asked eagerly, "What’s interesting?"

"Earlier, I said your horse stance was terrible, yet you insisted on arguing with me. Weren’t you saying this old geezer is worthless? Now you need to make up for three hours."

"What?!" Xiang Ming exclaimed, his mouth agape with disbelief, and protested, "You tricked me! What’s interesting about this?"

"Balancing a bowl of water on each fist and your head. If the water spills, you have to maintain a handstand for half an hour. Isn’t that much more interesting than your previous exercise?"

"..."

In the end, with some feigned whining and stubbornness, Xiang Ming avoided practicing the horse stance, primarily because it was lunchtime.

Regarding what Xiang Ming might endure in the afternoon training, Lin Tian was quite curious.

At the lunch table, a feast was prepared, a gratitude banquet for the teacher from Xv Baiping for Xiang Ming.

But there was one person missing from the table, Mei Ruyan.

Lin Tian called her, but her phone was off. Miaoqiu also tried to call her, but it was still off.

Immediately, Lin Tian frowned because Mei Ruyan’s phone should not be off, given that although she left Kanyue City, there were many business matters that still needed her involvement.

Then Lin Tian called Eagle Eye to track Mei Ruyan’s phone location.

Because Bai Shishi was frequently kidnapped, Lin Tian had installed very advanced tracking devices on both of their phones, capable of pinpointing within two meters.

Soon, the query results from Eagle Eye were in. The location was less than fifty meters away from Lin Tian’s phone, just to the southwest.

Having obtained the exact location, Lin Tian said to everyone, "I’ll go find her."

Miaoqiu quickly chimed in, "I’ll go too!"

Xv Baiping nodded, "Go ahead. If Ruyan isn’t feeling well, don’t call her over here. I’ll send some food to her later."

"Okay," Miaoqiu agreed.

At this point, Xiang Ming stood up from his chair and shouted, "I’ll go too!"

Perhaps this kid was unwilling to give Lin Tian and Miaoqiu a chance to be alone.

No one stopped him, so the little rascal tagged along.

Eagle Eye had already sent the location to Lin Tian’s phone, but the position was right in Lin Tian’s room, where Mei Ruyan had slept before. But now, she was gone. Lin Tian had thought she had gone out for some fresh air.

But upon opening the door, there was no one inside, and her phone was dropped by the bed, turned off.

Lin Tian turned on the phone, seeing it had forty-three percent battery left, indicating she had turned it off deliberately.

The three went to the room where Mei Ruyan had slept yesterday; all her luggage was there, not even her wallet was missing. Where could she have gone?

Suddenly Lin Tian shouted, "Oh no!"

This startled Miaoqiu, "What is it? What did you find?"

"That silly girl didn’t sleep all night yesterday, her eyes were swollen from crying. Could it be that your mom said something that triggered her to commit suicide?"

"What nonsense are you saying?" Miaoqiu retorted indignantly, then paused to suggest, "Should we go ask my mom?"

Lin Tian wasn’t in the mood to joke anymore and quickly nodded, "I think that’s a good idea."

With that, the two quickly returned to the dining hall. Some things cannot be clearly explained over the phone.

As they watched the two leave, Xiang Ming felt utterly disregarded. Despite being so lively and adorable, he was treated like a transparent person!

Back in the dining hall, Miaoqiu asked Xv Baiping about what she discussed with Mei Ruyan last night.

Xv Baiping’s response was quite normal, saying they talked about some old memories, mentioning Mei Ruyan’s mother, mostly discussing their generation’s hardships and the many things beyond their control.

Listening to this, Mei Ruyan probably recalled the difficulties she faced in her childhood, hence her heart-wrenching tears. Similarly, Xv Baiping also had a restless night’s sleep.

But it was improbable for Mei Ruyan to commit suicide over such matters.

This led everyone to a new question: Where did that silly girl go?

It wasn’t something they could simply figure out. So everyone skipped lunch and began searching in Xu Family Stream immediately.

At Miaoqiu’s home, excluding the critically ill Xu Shaohui, even the cook, the butler, and several disciples including Nao Nao—twelve people in total—went out searching.

The Xu Family Stream was about the size of a small village, with around a hundred houses. But due to the large land area each house occupied and the wide roads and some crops, the village appeared slightly larger.

However, even after searching around, in less than half an hour, they still couldn’t spot anyone.

Actually, Lin Tian thought the greatest threat to Mei Ruyan was the elder, considering his prior intentions to kill her, and though he had promised Lin Tian not to harm her, who could say if it was true?

But the elder’s suspicion had been ruled out since he had spent the morning with Nan Qiu and Nao Nao. Later, he was with Xiang Ming, completely excluding him from suspicion.

"Should we ask around door by door?" Miaoqiu suggested.

"That’s probably our best option," Lin Tian nodded in agreement.

They went around, including at Xu Beishan’s home, but still couldn’t find her. Everyone claimed they hadn’t seen her.

The group then checked the field, the streamside, and the mountains, circling around for another three hours as dusk approached, without any trace of her.

The most anxious and worried was Xv Baiping, whose frail body succumbed to fatigue and mental strain after a whole afternoon of searching and being unfed since noon. Eventually, she fainted from exhaustion.

Grumble grumble...

That was the sound of a rumbling stomach.

Xiang Ming held Miaoqiu’s hand, playfully swinging it twice, and said, "Sis, we’ve searched all afternoon, I’m starving. How about we eat first?"

Instinctively, Miaoqiu glanced at Lin Tian, unsure when she started considering him as her anchor.

"Let’s go back, have something to eat, and rest for a while," Lin Tian advised.

Nobody opposed this suggestion, as honesty, many were considering it but felt embarrassed to say so.

Back at the Xu Family, Lin Tian used Spiritual Qi to massage Xv Baiping’s temples, with surprising effects; she woke up shortly, apart from her stomach grumbling from hunger, there was nothing amiss.

It was time for dinner.

Xiang Ming, Nao Nao, and others couldn’t wait for the dishes to be cooked, so they made fried rice with the leftover lunch and heated the dishes, indulging in a hearty feast.

The meal was eaten in silence, everyone felt heavy-hearted.

After dinner, Xiang Ming rubbed his round belly and suddenly wondered, "Could Xu Beishan, that big villain, have kidnapped Mei?"

Hmm?

Every eye immediately focused on him.