thefictionvixens 001 The dot is gone.
001 The dot is gone.
After dropping the guests off at Xiaoshan International Airport, Yu greeted them and checked the time; it was exactly seven in the morning.
He hurried towards the city center, entered the airport expressway and drove straight until he reached the Shixin Road interchange, where he turned right to leave the airport expressway and continued along Shixin North Road. When he saw that he was already in front of the Qingchun River Crossing Tunnel, Yu Wenhao breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking at the time again, it was only 7:20. Yu Wenhao stepped on the brake and slowed down the car.
The Qingchun River-Crossing Tunnel has a speed limit of 60 km/h and is full of cameras. Even changing lanes or throwing trash out of the car will result in being photographed and fined, so Yu Wenhao dared not be careless. A flash of light from a camera could mean his entire day's work was for nothing.
He drove at a speed of 58 or 59 miles per hour. After exiting the tunnel, he immediately stepped on the gas to increase the speed, but soon had to slow down again. It was rush hour, and Qingchun East Road was already packed with cars.
Yu followed the traffic, waited until the intersection of Qingchun East Road and Qianjiang Road, made a U-turn, entered the auxiliary road of Qingchun East Road on the opposite side, then turned right onto Minxin Road, drove to the entrance of Wanxiangcheng Yuefu Community, and parked the car.
Across from the main gate of the residential complex is MixC Mall, which was not yet open at this time. The open space between the complex and MixC Mall was completely empty, and cars could be parked anywhere. However, I decided to park my car in a temporary parking space.
He checked the time; it was exactly 7:30. Yu Wenhao let out a soft sigh of relief before picking up the phone and calling Diandian.
Dian Dian's phone was off. Yu Wenhao grinned, thinking to herself, "This little girl hasn't shaken off her carelessness." Every night before bed, her mother would check her phone and make her turn it off. The first thing she was supposed to do when her alarm clock woke her up in the morning was to turn her phone on so that Yu Wenhao's calls could come in.
Yu Wenhao shook his head. He had come here more than once and tried to call Diandian, but the call wouldn't go through. When she got in the car, Yu Wenhao asked her, and she exclaimed "Ah!" with her big eyes looking at Yu Wenhao and her mouth forming an "O".
Yu Wen chuckled and quickly said, "It's okay, it's okay. Even if you had it on, I'd still remind you to turn it off now."
This is also what Dian Dian's mother asked him to remind Dian Dian.
Yu asked without turning off the engine, reached out and turned on the passenger seat heater, then reclined his own seat slightly and sat there to wait.
His eyes were fixed on the gate of the residential compound. Two security guards in maroon coats stood outside the guard post, saluting respectfully at every car and pedestrian exiting the compound. People coming and going were used to it and wouldn't even glance at them before hurrying past.
It was so cold that both security guards had wisps of steam rising from their mouths.
In a few minutes, no later than 7:40, Dian Dian will definitely appear at the gate with her schoolbag on her back. The two security guards will salute her, and Dian Dian will turn around, stand up straight with her feet together, and solemnly return their Young Pioneers salute.
Her actions always made the two security guards and Yu Wenhao laugh, but she herself kept a straight face and looked very serious.
After waiting for five or six minutes, Yu Wenhao did not see Dian Dian come out, but instead saw a woman in her thirties wearing a cashmere coat come out, followed by a policeman.
Yu Wenhao recognized the woman as Dian Dian's mother and quickly got out of the car.
As the two approached, Dian Dian's mother, pale-faced, nodded slightly to Yu, saying, "We've arrived, Master Yu."
Yu Wenhao said, his eyes full of doubt. He looked at Dian Dian's mother, then at the policeman, and asked, "Where's Dian Dian?"
Suddenly, Dian Dian's mother's eyes reddened. She nodded to the police officer, who greeted Yu Wenhao and said, "Come up with us for a moment. We need to ask you some questions."
"What's going on?" Yu asked.
"The child is missing," the police officer said.
Yu greeted her with an "Ah," and asked, "Dian Dian? When did this happen?"
"Last night," the police officer said, staring at Yu Wenhao, "so I need to ask you some questions. Please cooperate."
Yu said, "Okay, okay, I'll go turn off the car."
Yu Wenhao walked back to the car, turned off the engine, and followed Dian Dian's mother and the policeman into the residential area.
Yu Wenhao comes here every morning to pick up and drop off Diandian at school. She always waits outside the community gate and has never entered the community before. Today is the first time.
The three of them entered the elevator. Neither Dian Dian's mother nor the policeman spoke. The policeman kept staring at Yu Wenhao, which made him feel a little suffocated. It didn't seem right to turn his head away, but it didn't seem right to not turn his head away either. In the end, he could only look at Dian Dian's mother.
"When did Dian Dian disappear?" Yu asked.
"Last night. After dinner, she said she wanted to drink Heytea, so I took her to the MixC shopping mall across the street. We queued up and bought Heytea, and the two of us drank it while shopping. When we got to the second floor, she said she needed to go to the restroom, so I waited for her at the entrance of the corridor. She disappeared and never came out again. I went inside to look for her but couldn't find her. Her milk tea is still in my hand."
Dian Dian's mother spoke weakly, she had probably given this answer to others countless times, her words were a completely mechanical response.
The door was ajar. The three people went in. There was a policeman and a man in the living room. The man was probably Dian Dian's father. Yu Wenhao had never met him before, and no one thought to introduce them to each other.
The policeman who came up with him asked Yu Wenhao to sit down. Yu Wenhao sat down on the sofa, and the policeman also sat down. He asked Yu Wenhao:
When was the last time you saw Dian Dian?
Yu Wenhao said, "It was yesterday morning. It's the same time every day. I pick her up and drop her off at school."
As Yu Wenhao spoke, she glanced at Dian Dian's mother, hoping that she could confirm her opinion. Dian Dian's mother turned her head away.
"Can you recall the whole situation from yesterday? Please be as detailed as possible, such as what Dian Dian said and did yesterday. Please recall the whole process," the police officer said.
Yu nodded and said okay.
He then continued to think and talk, saying that there was actually no need to think too much, as the process of delivering snacks every day was more or less the same, and there was nothing unusual yesterday.
Yu Wenhao recounted the entire scene from when Diandian appeared at the entrance of the community, the security guards saluted her, she stopped and returned the salute, until he pulled over to the side of Tiyuchang Road, Diandian got out of the car, said goodbye to him, and then walked into Taohua Lane with her schoolbag on her back.
Peach Blossom Lane is a one-way street, very narrow, allowing only one vehicle to pass at a time. At the end of Peach Blossom Lane is the gate of Baochuta Experimental School. When students are going to and from school, no one drives into the lane, nor is it allowed. All parents dropping off their children park their cars temporarily on Tiyuchang Road.
Yu Wenhao emphasized that there were traffic police and school security guards on duty at the entrance of Peach Blossom Lane. He had seen Diandian meet her classmate on the road, and the two of them walked in together while talking. He wanted to use this to prove that Diandian had been safe all day yesterday.
After he finished speaking, Yu Wenhao realized, "Hey, of course it's safe. If it weren't safe, her mother wouldn't have been able to pick her up yesterday afternoon. How could they have dinner together, and how could they go shopping at MixC after dinner?" Yu Wenhao felt that he was really overthinking things. He wanted to laugh at himself as if to make fun of himself, but then he felt it was inappropriate, so he shut up.