"Mom, Xiao Chi is not in the Capital City. He went to the port, and we can’t reach him now." Mei Shuping sat wearily on the sofa, rubbing the corner of his eye.

"What? Not in the Capital City? Xiao Zhi, didn’t you say Xiao Chi had been staying in the courtyard and didn’t want to come out? How did the child suddenly run to the port?" Old Mrs. Mei was confused for a moment.

Xie Lingzhi sighed and said, "We were deceived by Xiao Chi. Since he was discharged from the hospital, he went straight to the port. The one in the courtyard is his assistant, who has been giving us the runaround. We can’t reach Xiao Chi now; he has no fixed abode there."

"What, can’t get in touch? What to do now? The situation is urgent, what should we do? Hua Hua, we don’t even know where Aunt Li’s people have taken Hua Hua." Old Mrs. Mei hoped Hua Hua was her grandson’s child, so they could at least report to the police for help. Otherwise, she’d never allow the eldest to call the police.

When Hua Hua was a few months old, they brought the child back, and in the end made such a scene. Although not many people knew, the incident still ended up in the papers. The papers didn’t have photos, but the description was quite detailed.

In the conversation, they all criticized the adults for neglecting the child, letting him go three days without food.

In the end, when they met the family, they actually ran away with the child over some ten bucks for remodeling.

She hadn’t seen the newspaper, but she heard people in the compound talk about it, seemingly enjoying it.

At that time, to avoid the Tao Family, they acted very discreetly, not letting people in the compound know much.

But this time, she wasn’t going to let people in the compound know either. How embarrassing, losing face for the Mei Family.

If word got out that Hua Hua wasn’t their Mei Family grandson, the Mei Family wouldn’t be able to stand tall before the Tao Family people.

Then, they would be even more pleased. She wouldn’t let this matter disgrace the Mei Family.

Mei Shuping thought of Aunt Li and understood where she came from.

"That Aunt Li is probably from S City; Xiao Yi and Lin Wan should know about this. I’ll go later..."

"You can’t go, Shuping. Aren’t you embarrassed enough? If they know, I don’t know how they’ll laugh behind our backs about Xiao Chi. You can’t go ask them." Going to quiz Han Yi Lin Wan, she couldn’t bear the shame.

"They’re both brothers, what’s there to laugh about? Only they know now."

"No way, didn’t you forget they just had a fight? If you go over asking them now, isn’t that slapping our own face? I won’t let you go."

"What if we don’t go? The child’s missing, and you won’t let us call the police. What should we do?" Mei Shuping was overwhelmed, holding his head down thinking intently.

"Anyway, you can’t go ask them." Xie Lingzhi turned her head to one side, stubbornly.

Old Mrs. Mei sighed, worrying "Hua Hua has been taken out for so long, surely out of the Capital City, it’s not something that can be solved quickly. Try to get in touch with Xiao Chi as soon as possible, also, second brother has taken your father to the hospital, wonder how things are now."

Mei Shuping rubbed his face, stood up, and said, "I’ll go check at the hospital, Xiao Zhi, help mom to get some sleep, we’ll talk about this tomorrow."

Xie Lingzhi was more anxious than anyone, but she had no way out now.

Even then, she was stubbornly keeping Mei Shuping from looking into it.

When Mei Shuping reached the hospital, the old man was already asleep, Mei Shuqing and Liang Qian were sitting in the corridor.

"How’s dad?"

Mei Shuqing frowned slightly, "The doctor said it’s not looking good, signs of a mild stroke. He’ll move slower in the limbs later, and with the mouth too, he can’t respond when we talk to him, can’t hear what he’s saying."

Mei Shuping didn’t expect this result, feeling suffocated and uncomfortable.

"How are things on your end, what did Xiao Chi say?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Xiao Chi is not in the Capital City at all, he went to the port. Oh right, second brother, isn’t Hai Chang at the port? Do you have his contact, can you ask him to check on Xiao Chi’s whereabouts there, quickly notify Xiao Chi, and get him to call home?"

Mei Shuqing shook his head, "Even though Hai Chang is willing to say a few words to us, we really don’t know his phone number at the port." Mei Shuqing said, paused, "This is something Xiao Yi should know."

"Second brother, second sister-in-law, look, could you please ask second sister-in-law to go to Xiao Yi tomorrow and help us inquire. Ask Hai Chang to help, and, Aunt Li is from S City, might be Ye Qing’s old flame’s parents, Xiao Yi and Lin Wan might know something about this, please help and inquire, see if they have a specific location."

Liang Qian raised her eyebrows in response, "How would Xiao Yi and Lin Wan know about Ye Qing and her old flame’s affairs?"

"Sister-in-law, Ye Qing and Lin Wan are from the same village, later both in S City. In between there were some issues among them, perhaps, they know something. Now, whether they know or not, asking is a guarantee."

Mei Shuqing heard this and understood, his parents and eldest brother were again trying to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. Disapprovingly, he said, "Since we know the name and they’re from S City, why not just call the police? Whether the child is Xiao Chi’s or not. We have a reason to call the police."

"Calling the police is fine, if it turns out Hua Hua is our child all well and good, if not, won’t it be known throughout the Capital City? Recently the Mei Family has been making enough trouble, lost plenty of face, and in the end, having a grandson raised for years that’s someone else’s. This joke would be even bigger, I can’t bear this embarrassment."

"What matters now if there is face, hmm, I’ve had nothing to say about all your affairs, you do what you want." Mei Shuqing got angry upon hearing his elder brother’s words. He couldn’t stand his parents and elder brother’s family caring about face more than anything.

Didn’t really think carefully, the faces they cared about had long been lost.

"Second brother, if this happened to you, you wouldn’t understand the elder brother’s troubles. Alright, ask Xiao Yi about this matter, tomorrow we leave it up to you and sister-in-law." Mei Shuping was helpless, he wished to live a quiet life, but Heaven didn’t give him the chance.

.....

"The child is asleep, you should sleep too." Han Yi personally took care every night now, hardly sleeping well. Lin Wan watched him leave early and return late every day, the shadows under his eyes growing darker, hurting to see. Today she wouldn’t let Han Yi touch the child, holding him to feed, wrapping tightly, putting him aside. She said to Han Yi lying on the bed.

Han Yi squinted his eyes, felt Lin Wan lay down, lifted his arm and pulled her into his embrace, "Can’t sleep."

Lin Wan chuckled at his words. Clearly with squinted eyes, fatigued, yet saying he can’t sleep.

"Sleep, I’m here with you." Lin Wan patted Han Yi’s back intermittently.

The next day, before Han Yi could leave, they saw Second Aunt bringing pork trotters over.

She asked if he had time and if he did, to wait for a few minutes.

Han Yi frowned in confusion but still listened to Second Aunt and stayed.

"What’s wrong, why come so early today?" Liang Hongmei was cooking red sugar eggs in the kitchen, Shen Qing got up early to wash diapers for the child. Seeing Liang Qian come so early and heavy-hearted.

"Oh, it’s not because of some family matter, the eldest had a problem again last night. Hua Hua was taken by that nanny early, and their family didn’t know until the night."

"What, met a trafficker?" Her young grandson just born, Shen Qing and Liang Hongmei were quite concerned.

"What trafficker, this matter is complicated. Today I’m here to find Xiao Yi and Lin Wan, it’s the elder brother who asked me to come and ask you." Liang Qian said, explaining the Aunt Li situation to them.

Lin Wan and Han Yi exchanged a glance in realization, unexpectedly understanding that Li Liang’s parents would pull such a move, poking the Mei family’s sore spot.

They hadn’t been over these days, didn’t know the nanny would be Li Liang’s mom. Tsk tsk...

"Your dad asked us to see if you know Li Liang’s parents’ address."

"That I know, call the S City police station, have them go over and check the situation." Han Yi didn’t conceal, nodded.

"The elder brother doesn’t want to call the police, it’s hard to reach Xiao Chi now. They’re not sure if the child is Xiao Chi’s, afraid if they call the police and the child isn’t, it will blow up, they’d lose face."

"The child has been taken away, whether biologically related or not, you must call the police, catch the people. What they’re doing is wrong." Liang Hongmei frowned, not understanding what the Mei Family meant.

"Outsiders understand, but they’re confused and refuse to report, so our advice is useless." Liang Qian didn’t understand, nor wanted to handle these.