Reborn as the Villain's Wife, I Shine in 80s-Chapter 565 - 549 Yanyan ran away from home

Snowflakes, take you bravely across the world.

This home had been taken over by that little rascal, leaving no place for him anymore. Meng Shuyan felt that even if he vanished now, neither Mom nor Chun Zisu would notice his absence.

And so, Meng Shuyan decided to run away from home.

The little guy knew though, running away required careful planning and couldn’t be done recklessly. So he didn’t leave immediately; instead, he sat in his room that afternoon, thinking through his strategy and route for leaving home.

Early the next morning, Meng Shuyan took some change out of his piggy bank—money Mom had given him—there was quite a bit of it, all pieced together and saved by him. From the living room, he grabbed a bottle of milk and an apple and stuffed them into his schoolbag. From the dining table, he also took a tea egg. Of course, the tea egg was something his Mom had made, carrying the flavor of tea leaves~

Meng Shuyan was dropped off by Tian Sangsang at the cultural palace entrance. Watching his Mom walk away, he immediately turned around to leave. He lowered his little head in disappointment; from yesterday to today, Mom hadn’t noticed anything unusual about him. This further solidified his resolve to leave.

He didn’t enter the cultural palace but instead walked into a narrow alleyway nearby.

With his little schoolbag on his back, his tender little face set in determination, and his hands tucked into the pockets of his cotton jacket, Meng Shuyan stared coolly but intently at the ground as he walked. Reaching the mouth of the alley, he leaned against the wall and sat on the ground, curling himself into a ball.

He poked his little head out for a look, just enough to see the entrance of the cultural palace.

Then he shrank back again, like a lost little dog with drooping head and spirits.

The sun gradually rose higher and higher, its light becoming more and more radiant. Outside, just stepping out into the open would have allowed the sunlight to warm him. But he could only hide in this darkened corner, where the light couldn’t reach him, and he felt a bit cold.

He was waiting for Mom and Chun Zisu to come find him.

Time passed slowly, painfully slowly. Meng Shuyan kept staring at the ground, staring until his eyes felt tired. He closed his eyes and took a nap. How much time had passed? He couldn’t tell, but when he woke up, the alley was bustling with voices.

Meng Shuyan rubbed his eyes and looked out of the alley. It turned out to be noon already. People were coming and going, some even glanced at him. But none of them were Mom or Chun Zisu.

The little guy suddenly realized that out here, everyone was a stranger. No one out here was like Mom or Chun Zisu—people he cared about, people who treated him so well. His heart began to fill with unease. He wanted to return to the cultural palace entrance, so he poked his little head out again.

A flash of white.

It was Mom!

Meng Shuyan’s eyes lit up; his heart was about to leap out of his chest.

Mom was wearing a white down jacket! Mom was standing at the cultural palace entrance, talking to someone!

Meng Shuyan bit his lip, stared for a few moments, then steeled his resolve and began running deeper into the alley. His hands gripped the straps of his schoolbag, bouncing painfully against his back as he ran. The bag wasn’t heavy; it was just the way it jostled while he sprinted that hurt him.

He pursed his little lips tightly and kept running. Behind the alley was an unexpected area—a different street near the roadside, opposite of where the cultural palace was.

**

At her usual time, Tian Sangsang left Yipin Xiangju to head to the cultural palace.

But the spot she expected didn’t have that little person standing there.

She hurried over, looking around in confusion. "Yanyan?"

She leaned toward the idea that her son was playing a game of hide-and-seek with her, secretly hiding somewhere so she’d have to look for him. But he had almost never done such a thing before. A sense of alarm rose in her chest!

Meng Shuyan had always been obedient. The fact that he wasn’t at the entrance suddenly threw her into disarray.

Inside, she found his teacher and explained the situation, only for the teacher to be shocked as well: "Yanyan didn’t come to class this morning. I thought he was just taking the day off." Here at the cultural palace, when a child didn’t show up, teachers usually assumed it was a day off. Classes there weren’t held daily, and attendance was up to the students themselves.

"What?" The teacher’s words only deepened Tian Sangsang’s anxiety. She asked nervously, "I dropped him off at the entrance this morning; how could he not have come to class?"

The teacher frowned. "Could he have gone back home? Or maybe there’s a relative nearby?"

Clinging to the best-case scenario, Tian Sangsang searched the surrounding area along with the teacher.

Their search yielded no results, so she headed back toward home.

The courtyard house where she lived was locked. Tian Sangsang knocked on the door of Zhao Chun’s courtyard house next door, the "Bang bang bang" sound striking her heart sharply with each knock.

The door quickly opened, Zhao Chun holding Little Tangyuan in his arms. "Sangsang?"

He looked concerned. What’s wrong?

Tian Sangsang peeked inside, her eyes burning in desperation as she asked, "Has Yanyan come back?"

Her voice trembled.

Zhao Chun furrowed his brow and solemnly shook his head.

Her face grew paler. "Just now, I went to the cultural palace to pick him up, but he wasn’t there. I asked his teacher, and she said he didn’t show up for class this morning. But how could he not have gone to class? I’m the one who dropped him off! And now he hasn’t come home either... what the heck is going on?"

"Yanyan didn’t go to class this morning?"

Zhao Chun’s body froze, startled. "Could it be his grandmother took him away?"

Tian Sangsang nodded. "That’s possible."

But even this possibility didn’t feel very hopeful to them. They didn’t have many relatives in Beijing, just the Jiang Family on Jiang Jinghuai’s side. Aunt and Uncle wouldn’t have picked up Yanyan without letting them know, and Ye Binyi wouldn’t pick him up so early in the day—she usually came around noon. Morning pickups didn’t make sense.

"Let’s keep looking. This child Yanyan is very well-behaved; it couldn’t be that he wandered off on his own," Zhao Chun said, his parched lips trembling slightly as he tried to remain composed. "Either he was taken, or something’s gone wrong."

The two exchanged glances, both reminded of the incident with the black-clad men. Their faith in Meng Shuyan’s character was unshaken—he was a sensible child. Ruling out issues on his end meant a possible connection to the black-clad men.

Kunling was still missing and hadn’t returned. Could the black-clad men have come back?

Yet now the map wasn’t in her hands anymore. She’d given the map to Jiang Jinghuai.

"Let’s stay optimistic for now. I’ll go check with his grandmother. If he’s not there, we’ll report it to the police. From there, we’ll split up and search," Zhao Chun said quickly. Considering the harsh winds of winter and the fact that Little Tangyuan was still so young, Zhao Chun dashed inside, grabbed a heavy coat to wrap the little one in, and promptly locked the door.

Tian Sangsang stood unsteadily, glancing at the bundled-up Little Tangyuan in Zhao Chun’s arms and then up at him. "Be careful," she urged.

Zhao Chun nodded. "You too."

"Yanyan—"

"Yanyan—"

Tian Sangsang didn’t know how she ended up wandering aimlessly down the street. She stopped every passerby she met, asked every stranger, combed through every corner. She resembled a ghost, but one with palpable emotion. Her mind seemed to have stopped working; it was flooded with memories of her son.

**

Jiang Jinghuai and Hua Jun had just left the hospital. Side by side, they walked along the roadside, and at the same time, they spotted the figure of a tiny child across the street, carrying a schoolbag and looking pitiful.

Jiang Jinghuai glanced at Hua Jun, his voice heavy: "Is that the Jiang Family’s child?"

Hua Jun couldn’t deny it: "Yes, it’s him, all alone by the roadside. Ye Binyi must be worried."

"Dad!" Meng Shuyan clutched his schoolbag straps tightly, his big eyes brimming with tears, as if light and hope had returned to him. Forgetting he was beside the busy road, he started running toward them on his little legs.