Free Web NovelChapter 445: Chapter 445: The Little Girl Who Ran Out of the House Alone
After bidding farewell to the tiger and He, Yi Roujing and her group went down the mountain. They walked for over an hour and caught a bus to Daigong County. It’s rare to come, so they intended to visit the county town and the city.
Daigong County itself doesn’t have much worth visiting. It’s a small county town, and the Department Store seemed about the same size as the supply and marketing cooperatives back in Tongxian Commune, according to Yi Roujing.
But they were lucky to come at the right time. It happened to be market day, and many people brought their homemade pickles, cured meats, and even handmade baskets and wooden buckets to sell.
Yi Roujing took a liking to a stall that sold pickled spicy vegetables. She tried the taste, bought two jars, and since Ni Yanqing knew someone in the county where they could store everything, they decided to come back for it after visiting the city. So everyone bought freely to their heart’s content.
Besides the spicy vegetables, Yi Roujing bought quite a few dried goods, mainly dried mushrooms and black fungus. Then there was another household making cloth shoes that caught Yi Roujing’s eye; the soles were soft yet sturdy. Luckily, they had her size, so she bought two pairs and also got pairs for Baozi, Xu Ancheng, and the others.
Ding Anmin and the others also bought a lot, almost filling up the main room of the host’s house.
Today, everyone went out together, turning the trip into a near-private bus ride as the vehicle was filled with their group.
It took two hours by bus from Daigong County to Dai City. By the time they reached the city, it was already twelve thirty. The group found a nearby state-owned restaurant to have lunch. With so many people, they occupied three tables.
Having spent the ride sitting or shopping around, everyone was hungry. By then, the restaurant had run out of most dishes, leaving only plain noodles, Mantou, and scrambled eggs as the simple solutions to fill their stomachs.
Thinking it might get too late to return, they collectively decided to stay overnight in the city. Before they started shopping, they visited the guesthouse, ensuring they had rooms; otherwise, they’d have to journey back under the stars to the mountain.
After securing the rooms, the group split into several directions. The women were more interested in the Department Store, while the men quietly headed to the black market to gather information. The kids, drowsy and ready to nap, stayed back at the guesthouse with Huang Xiaobao and Xu Ancheng to watch over them.
The Department Store in Dai City was incomparable to that in Jing City. Yi Roujing and her group browsed but found nothing particularly appealing to buy.
"Sis-in-law, I want to go to the restroom. Can you accompany me?" Ding Anmin tugged at Yi Roujing, said goodbye to Hua Yiran and the others, and headed towards the public restrooms in the city.
The public restroom wasn’t far from the Department Store but also not very close, requiring a ten-minute walk. Ding Anmin had some stomach issues, possibly due to the good food recently. Today’s simple lunch might have included a bad egg, and unfortunately, Ding Anmin ate it.
Yi Roujing waited outside. Fifteen minutes later, Ding Anmin emerged, visibly relieved.
"Oh dear—" Ding Anmin accidentally bumped into a child coming from the side, knocking her over.
"Are you okay, kid?" Ding Anmin helped the girl, who had fallen flat on her back, and brushed the dust off her clothes.
The girl seemed to be around five or six years old, with yellowing hair hanging loose. Her face was dirty, and her clothes were greasy and patched in layers, the original color no longer discernible, and it was unclear how long it had been since they were last washed.
"Little one, I’m sorry, Auntie didn’t mean to. Are you hurt anywhere?" Caring as a mother would, Ding Anmin meticulously checked the girl’s elbows and the back of her head. Although it looked like she hadn’t hit her head, she still felt relieved after examining her, er, having Yi Roujing check as well.
"Sis-in-law, come check if the child is hurt."
Yi Roujing had been somewhat stunned at first, seeing the child wearing a padded jacket in summer. Once ding Anmin called her, she snapped out of it and came over for a closer look. Since the child was warmly dressed, there were only some abrasions on her exposed palms, nothing serious.
"Where are your parents?" Ding Anmin asked.
"I can’t find them." The girl suddenly started crying. "Just now, just now they were here."
"Where were you just now?" Yi Roujing asked.
"At home."
Hearing this, Yi Roujing and Ding Anmin instinctively thought that the girl’s parents had left while she was asleep, and she woke up to find them gone, so she went out to look for them.
"Little one, where’s your house? Auntie will take you back," Ding Anmin said gently.
"In a lane. I can walk there, but I can’t read yet," the girl sniffed.
Then the two led the child, or rather, the child led them home.
They were expecting the house to be nearby, so neither Yi Roujing nor Ding Anmin thought to inform Hua Yiran and the others first. But after walking for half an hour, they were already out of the city, appearing to be in the urban-rural fringe where some houses were a bit dilapidated. After turning into a narrow alley, the girl smiled back, saying, "Almost there."
Yi Roujing noticed the girl’s intertwined hands, as if nervous and scared; her smile was different too than it was in the city, making Yi Roujing wary.
"Auntie, this is my, my home. I can go in myself. You can go back." The girl spoke softly with her head slightly lowered, shuffling her feet uneasily.
Earlier, passing by a marketplace, Ding Anmin bought the girl some candied hawthorns and a piece of cake. The girl, seeming very hungry, finished the food on their way back.
"Oh, we’re here then, so we’ll..."
"Mancao, where have you been? Mommy was worried sick." Before Ding Anmin could finish speaking, the main door opened from the inside. A woman in her early thirties, wearing an apron and sporting a Liu Hulan hairstyle with a plastic hairband, stood there.
"And you are?" Yi Roujing could clearly see a fleeting smile flash across the woman’s face when she spotted her and Anmin, but it was quickly replaced by confusion.
"Big sister, your daughter ran out alone, and we ran into her in the city," Ding Anmin explained.
"Oh dear, so that’s what happened. Thank you so much." The woman smiled, came down, and took hold of Ding Anmin, "Please, both of you, come in. Let me make you some sugar water. This child must have gone out looking for her dad and me. We just went to buy some sugar; we ran out of it at home."
Dragged by the woman, Ding Anmin entered the courtyard, and Yi Roujing followed suit.
The small courtyard was tidy, perhaps too tidy, as there were no clothes hung out to dry or dried vegetables being sun-cured. Even the firewood stacked in the corner was sparse, and strangely, the room next to the firewood had a lock on the outside.
The woman led Yi Roujing and Ding Anmin to the main room, brought out a thermos, and poured water into enamel mugs in front of them. There was already a spoonful of brown sugar in the mugs, and once the water was poured, the sugar dissolved quickly.
"I’m just making Baozi, they’ll be ready soon. You must eat a couple before you go," the woman said warmly. "This is freshly bought brown sugar; the water is hot, sip slowly."
