thefictionvixens Chapter 21 Was the person really missing?
Chapter 21 Was the person really missing?
Why is it off?!
Is it out of battery or is the phone lost somewhere?
A drunken young woman wandering the alleys in the middle of the night, unable to find her way home?
Countless terrifying thoughts pierced Wang Haowen's mind. He urged the driver to hurry up while clutching his phone and redialing again and again, only to be met with the same cold, death-dealing mechanical voice.
The car finally arrived at Zeng Jiafa's location, but it was completely empty, not a soul in sight, except for a lonely lamppost standing there, like someone watching a joke.
"Zeng Xiaojia, where are you?!"
Wang Haowen searched the entire alley but found no one, so he had no choice but to run home. He burst through the door and called out "Zeng Xiaojia," but the house was dark and the electric heater was cold, so she clearly hadn't returned.
There was no familiar breathing sound, no sign of her coat tossed on the sofa, no sight of her mismatched high heels, only his panting breaths and his pounding heartbeat.
Wang Haowen stood frozen in the middle of the room, a chilling fear instantly gripping him. In that short moment, his mind was filled with all sorts of frightening news headlines.
#Woman walking alone late at night dies tragically; a young life lost#
#Woman living alone goes missing late at night; family arrives but has already passed away#
He turned abruptly and rushed out the door, standing in the dark, cold alley, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Zeng Jia!!!"
"Sorry, the number you dialed is currently switched off..."
The repetitive mechanical sounds, like strong coffee, drained all his energy, leaving him wandering aimlessly through the alleys like a headless fly. Finally, his legs cramped from all the turning, and he could no longer walk. Leaning against the peeling, mottled wall, he slumped to the ground.
Wang Haowen was so angry he choked up. He slapped himself twice hard across the face, yelling, "I shouldn't have come back after finishing decorating that lousy cat house! I'll fucking kill you!"
He didn't know how long he had been lying there, but the sky was already turning a pale white, and smoke was rising from the breakfast stalls on the street, wafting the fragrant aroma of fried soybeans. Wang Haowen was frozen like a ribbonfish pulled out of an ice hole. He looked down and saw that his phone was out of battery, so he had to move to a stall to borrow a charging cable and get a bowl of hot soy milk to calm himself down.
He simply couldn't understand where Zeng Xiaojia had gone. How could someone disappear in such a small place as Beijing? It was bizarre!
Zeng Jia woke up at this moment, she woke up at the police station.
Last night, while waiting for Wang Haowen, she got too drunk and couldn't hold on any longer, so she dozed off on the curb. She doesn't know how long she slept, but a neighbor who was returning home late saw her and immediately called 110 (the police emergency number) to have a police car take her away.
She was so drunk she had no memory of anything and couldn't answer any questions. The police took her to the emergency room of a nearby hospital for gastric lavage, and after that, they took her back to the police station. She vaguely remembers pulling on a phone charging cable, tilting her head to the side, and falling asleep. She couldn't even hear the thunder in the sky.
She woke up and, after a moment's thought, realized this wasn't home. Sitting up, she realized she was at the police station. So, the person who'd been taking her everywhere last night wasn't Wang Haowen! She checked her phone—over a hundred missed calls, all from Wang Haowen!
She rubbed her aching temples, trying to piece together fragments of memory. Before she could even properly recall what had happened, the early shift police officers, seeing she was awake, immediately surrounded her and gave her a lecture.
"Young lady, no matter what, you can't ruin your health by drinking, can you? Is it really worth risking your life like this?" The police officer handed her a glass of water.
"Sleeping on the side of the road in the dead of winter, how dangerous! Luckily it's not the coldest time of winter, otherwise you'd freeze to death and it would be a problem if you couldn't get pregnant in the future," the policewoman chimed in.
"At first we thought there was some kind of conflict, that you were drinking like this and acting like you were going to die, but you were laughing so hard while you were getting your stomach pumped, and you even signed a big deal with us, so we felt relieved to leave you here and let you sleep soundly." The older brother laughed and got to the point.
"Okay, no matter what, your health comes first. How about you grab a bowl of hot porridge at the cafeteria before you leave?" The older woman even kindly invited her to stay for a meal.
Zeng Jia blushed deeply and didn't dare to look up: "Thank you so much, officer! How much were the medical bills yesterday? I'll transfer them to you! I'm so sorry for causing you trouble in my excitement!"
She quickly paid the medical bills she had advanced, grabbed her bag, and slipped out. No matter how thick-skinned she was, she wouldn't dare to eat at the police station's canteen. She wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground.
But after leaving the police station, she stood by the roadside, bewildered and confused.
She scrolled through Wang Haowen's call history. She had called him at 11 PM last night, and his appointment at the hospital emergency room was at 1:30 AM. Yu Li's house was a 40-minute drive away, and two hours had passed, yet Wang Haowen hadn't come to get her. Where had he been?
Too busy with work to get away?
Are we just going to let her dry by the roadside?
The question "Is it worth it?" had barely formed in her mind when Zhang Zhishan's voice call came in.
"Go to Xinda Logistics right now! They specialize in the Northeast route. Check their quotes along the way, and try to finalize the deal today! I'll be there in half an hour, so hurry up too!" Zhang Zhishan's voice was urgent, and he even sent over an address.
Zeng Jia looked at the time: 7:10! The traffic on the street was already a little congested.
She hurriedly checked the location of Xinda Logistics; it was almost 40 kilometers away. She'd be lucky to get there before 9 a.m.! She didn't even have time to marvel at how early Zhang Zhishan had been up this week, but instead turned and headed for the subway station. Calling a Didi was out of the question; traffic jams would give her a heart attack. Fortunately, the journey was long enough, and she'd have enough time to check the logistics information.
When she received Wang Haowen's call, she had just rushed to the logistics park to meet Zhang Zhishan.
Hearing her say "feed," Wang Haowen almost burst into tears, but his heart calmed down. Then, a surge of anger rose within him: "Zeng Xiaojia! Don't you have a heart?! Your phone had battery and you didn't even call back?! What were you doing last night? Where are you now?! You're driving me crazy!"
Zeng Jia was relieved that the phone volume wasn't too loud, otherwise her ears would have been deafened. She quickly covered the microphone and whispered, "I just arrived in Tongzhou, at Xinda Logistics Park. Zhang Zhishan is there too. I'll tell you more later, bye!"
Before the other end could yell again, Zeng Jia quickly hung up. The urgency in his voice made her feel less resentful in the morning. However, since Zhang Zhishan had already shown up, she didn't have time to think about it and quickly ran over.
It's no wonder Zhang Zhishan made a fortune this week; he arrived forty minutes earlier than her and was already on friendly terms with logistics boss Zheng Shanhe, discussing the logistics line for "Tianyi".
"Mr. Zheng, this is Zeng, who works here. She will be in charge of coordinating and negotiating with you on the follow-up matters."
Zeng Jia's recent training has made her speak without thinking, and she can just blurt things out. She added Zheng Shanhe on WeChat and chatted casually, trying to find out where the bottom line for logistics costs was.
"Logistics in Northeast China is unique, especially during the harsh winters when transport vehicles require special anti-freezing measures. Mr. Zheng's decision to open up a transport route specifically for Northeast China shows great courage and determination. As a fellow Northeasterner, I have to give you a big thumbs up!"
"Hey, fellow Northeasterners, huh?" Zheng Shanhe was a middle-aged man in his fifties, tall and strong, with a booming voice like an ox. "What else is there to say! We Northeasterners are just so straightforward! From now on, if anything comes up, just tell me straight, everything's negotiable!"
Zeng Jia smiled and thanked him, "That's wonderful! Brother Zheng is so generous; I'll have to learn a lot from you!"
"Since we're already here, why don't we take a look around and learn a bit more? Look at Mr. Zheng's place, it's all operated by AI robots. Technology drives productivity, it's much more efficient than humans!"
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhang Zhishan couldn't help but glare at Zeng Jia a couple of times. Her clothes were from last night, and her face was as pale as wall ash. In particular, she had a strange smell about her. What kind of perfume was that? It smelled like hospital disinfectant. Fortunately, this was a logistics company, and the group of roughnecks weren't that fussy. If it were a more formal occasion, he would definitely have to say something.
Zheng Shanhe was delighted to have secured such a major client and immediately led Zhang Zhishan and Zeng Jia into the industrial park, explaining things as they walked. Zeng Jia took notes as they went, her mind racing, trying to figure out how low the bottom line for the price could be. Zhang Zhishan would have to leave this to her sooner or later anyway, so she might as well keep an eye on things beforehand.
But after wandering around the park for only a short while, a group of people suddenly rushed towards us. They were all employees of the logistics park, their faces full of anger, standing there stubbornly and defiantly!
Zeng Jia and Zhang Zhishan exchanged a glance. What was going on? Had they stumbled upon a strike while visiting a tourist site?