With the Dragon Scale active, Zhao Nuanyue followed closely behind Wang Dadan. But she was just a girl. Even if she caught Wang Dadan in the act, she wouldn't be able to save Wang Yuan and Li Qiong. Instead, she would just be putting herself in danger.
So, Zhao Nuanyue quickly changed course and found Yang Guanghui and the village chief, telling them that Wang Yuan and Li Qiong were missing and hadn't come back yet.
At that moment, Liu Lanhua's eyelid twitched as she looked at Zhao Nuanyue. 'I worked too hard on this plan to let this little brat ruin it.'
"Heh, I just saw Li Qiong and Wang Yuan heading south. They said there were more fish over there and they wanted to catch more to become this month's model workers." Liu Lanhua deliberately gave them the opposite direction. That way, even if Zhao Nuanyue led people to search, they wouldn't find anyone because they'd be going the wrong way.
After hearing this, Village Chief Miao smiled and said, "Since they went to work, they should be fine. You don't need to worry. Go on and eat."
Zhao Nuanyue knew perfectly well that Liu Lanhua was lying, so of course, she couldn't just let it go. "Village Chief Miao," she said, "but I clearly saw them go north!"
Yang Guanghui nodded. "Village Chief Miao, I saw them too."
Village Chief Miao frowned and asked, "Where did you see them?"
"Just near the second bridge north of the village, like Zhao Nuanyue said," Yang Guanghui replied. He'd thought it was strange earlier but hadn't realized they still weren't back. "Da Zhuzi's wife was with them. If you don't believe me, you can ask her."
Village Chief Miao didn't dare to be careless and went to ask Da Zhuzi's wife.
Da Zhuzi's wife was a straightforward woman who said whatever was on her mind. "It was near the second bridge, but before we reached the third bridge, someone called me away. I got busy with other things afterward and didn't stay with them. As for where they went, I'm not sure either."
She, too, thought it was strange. Someone had told her to take the two young women to work, but then she'd been called away halfway there.
She had been busy at the time and hadn't paid it any mind.
Village Chief Miao thought for a moment. He felt something was amiss and decided it was better to be cautious. He didn't want anything to happen to the two young women. "Alright," he said, "we'll send out two groups to search—one to the south and one to the north!"
Liu Lanhua was shocked to hear this. 'Even though the place is well-hidden and they might not find it, things could go wrong if there are too many people searching.'
"We're so busy right now, and they're both adults. There's no need to make such a big fuss! After all, there's so much work to do in the village. We need to take advantage of the good weather, dry the salted fish, and hand it over to our superiors," Liu Lanhua said with a smile, trying to stop the village chief from sending too many people to search.
Zhao Nuanyue wasn't having any of it. "Wang Yuan and Li Qiong only just learned to swim," she said urgently. "I'm worried they're not strong swimmers. By the way, Aunt Liu, you usually seem so concerned about Li Qiong and Wang Yuan. Now that they're missing, how come you don't seem worried?"
Liu Lanhua froze. She cursed Zhao Nuanyue inwardly, 'What a meddling busybody!'
"It's just that Nianqiao Village is usually very safe. We don't have any crooks or shirkers here. I just don't think it's anything serious, that's all. It's not that I don't care about them," Liu Lanhua explained with a smile, her demeanor composed and magnanimous.
"Enough," Miao Cunzheng said in a low voice. "No matter how busy we are with work, it's not more important than a person's life. We're not sending out the whole village, just a dozen or so people to search north and south. It won't take long."
It was an order from the village chief; there was nothing Liu Lanhua could do to stop it.
Zhao Nuanyue shot Yang Guanghui a look, and he understood immediately. Liu Lanhua clearly didn't want them to search. She had insisted that Wang Yuan and Li Qiong had gone south, deliberately trying to lead everyone that way. That must mean there was something fishy going on to the north.
So Yang Guanghui shouted, "Folks, thank you! I'll take a group and search to the north!"
With that, he charged ahead, taking the lead. Zhao Nuanyue pulled Zhao Nuanyang along, following right behind him. A few able-bodied men and women from the village followed them, while the other group went to search the south side of the village.
Zhao Nuanyue's consciousness trailed Wang Dadan. She saw him stop his small boat at the mouth of a little river, jump ashore, and run impatiently toward a thick patch of grass at the foot of the mountain. After about a few hundred meters along the mountain's base, there was a cave.
Zhao Nuanyue's Divine Sense could only watch; it couldn't offer any help. After all, she was too far from a water source, and kicking up a small splash would be useless.
Seeing this scene through her Divine Sense, Zhao Nuanyue was so frantic and furious she felt she could cough up blood. But she wasn't an immortal; she couldn't fly. All she could do was hurry over as fast as possible.
Worried that Yang Guanghui wouldn't find the place, Zhao Nuanyue took the lead, rowing at the front of a boat. Zhao Nuanyang helped his sister. Being twins, they rowed with a perfectly matched rhythm, so the small boat shot across the water's surface like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Yang Guanghui and the villagers followed behind, shouting Wang Yuan's and Li Qiong's names everywhere.
Seeing this, Liu Lanhua was secretly alarmed. 'The direction Zhao Nuanyue is heading is exactly where I arranged for Wang Dadan to do his dirty work!'
'How did that Zhao Nuanyue and Yang Guanghui know?'
'Has my plot been discovered?'
She couldn't afford to overthink it. Seeing that they were about to reach the river mouth, Liu Lanhua put on an anxious expression and shouted loudly, "Li Qiong! Wang Yuan! Where are you?"
Her voice was loud, and her expression was frantic, as if she were genuinely worried about Wang Yuan and Li Qiong.
The other villagers thought Liu Lanhua was worried about the two young women. Only Zhao Nuanyue knew the truth: they were about to find the spot, and Liu Lanhua was afraid of them being caught in the act. That's why she was shouting—to warn Wang Dadan in the cave!
"Look, there's a small boat over there." Zhao Nuanyue looked around and pointed ahead, directing everyone's attention to the small boat in the distance. "That's Li Qiong and Wang Yuan's boat."