Chapter 57: Little Tadpoles Looking for Their Mom
When she reached the main gate, she saw a familiar figure standing in the open area from far away, looking around like he was searching for someone.
Ye Dong.
Why was he here?
And why was she even worrying about this right now?!
Today had already been terrible enough, and now she ran into him too. Bai Xi only wanted peace and quiet, so she slightly changed direction, planning to walk past him unnoticed. But at that exact moment, Ye Dong sensed her presence and turned around.
“Hey!”
It felt like a thunderclap beside her ear. Bai Xi felt completely defeated inside. It really was true, the more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen.
She turned around. The anger in her heart had no way of disappearing so quickly, so her expression naturally looked awful.
“What do you want?”
Her tone was rude right from the start. But Ye Dong seemed prepared for it. Seeing her terrible face, he showed none of the irritation from last time. He pulled out a black phone and a woman’s handbag from his pocket and stuffed them into Bai Xi’s hands.
Bai Xi froze.
Weren’t these the things that had been stolen?
Ye Dong still looked calm, as if he had expected this reaction.
“You stole my phone?”
Ye Dong felt like his head exploded with a loud buzz. He absolutely never expected her to say something like that.
“Teacher Bai! Your phone was stolen in the women’s changing room, right? Even if I dressed like a woman, there’s no way a grown man like me could sneak past security into that place!”
Excitement made his blood boil, and anger made his eyes look even wider than before. The fire Bai Xi had been holding back finally exploded. Her reason was almost breaking apart.
So it really wasn’t him?!
“Look at what was sent to me!” Ye Dong pulled out his own phone and showed her.
The message talked about heartbreak, problems at work, family pressuring her to marry, having no way to keep living, being cheated out of all her money and buried in debt, feeling too ashamed to face friends and family, and planning to end everything if she couldn’t repay the money today.
Bai Xi felt extremely embarrassed inside.
What kind of person stole her phone?!
She did not even have a boyfriend, so where did this “heartbreak” come from?
Only after checking her own phone did she realize the truth. The message had not only been sent to close friends. It had been mass-sent to almost everyone in her contacts and group chats.
The purpose was obvious.
The thief wanted money. They were trying the classic “cast a wide net” trick, hoping that among all the relatives and friends, someone would panic and accidentally send money.
Even Ye Dong had received it. He was only added because of Cheng Fei, and they had never even properly chatted before.
Today, Vice President Ye had been busy at the company handling the work Boss Gao assigned him. He had finally handed over the job of watching the “rat” to Zhou Lin and gotten a chance to rest when suddenly this shocking message appeared.
Bai Xi had actually sent him a message.
Ye Dong was curious. He wondered if this cold and proud Teacher Bai had finally lowered her head for once. But after reading the message, he felt like he had been struck by lightning and froze on the spot.
He did not know Bai Xi very well. He only knew she was a middle school teacher. At first, he thought she was beautiful and elegant, but after what happened between them earlier, their relationship had become terrible, and he had completely lost interest in knowing her better.
Still, the message sounded believable enough.
When he imagined all those “misfortunes” happening to Bai Xi, he could actually picture her being pushed into the same frightening state she had shown before, almost like she was possessed by an evil spirit. It even seemed possible that she might be driven to suicide.
With Zheng Qi and Cheng Fei around, would something really happen to her?
But what if she found a chance to slip away?
A person determined to die could not be stopped so easily, even if someone stayed beside them all the time. And right now, one friend was busy dealing with wedding preparations, while the other was trying hard to contact the police and chase down that scumbag.
Who would have time to watch Bai Xi carefully?
Could the message be real?
Probably not.
But who could guarantee there would not be an accident?
After thinking through all the possibilities, the kindness in Ye Dong’s heart won in the end.
Even though he disliked her, she was still a living person. If he ignored this and tomorrow saw news about “a young woman drowning” on local media, he knew his conscience would never feel peaceful again.
So even if he found her annoying, he still felt he had to do something to stop a tragedy from happening.
She did not reply to messages.
When he called, the phone immediately hung up.
To Ye Dong, who knew nothing about the theft, this only made the message seem even more real.
So Ye Dong decided to act.
As for how to save someone?
Simple.
Breaking into a person’s phone to see what they were doing was not difficult for him at all. Even turning on the camera remotely was manageable.
Very quickly, he found the location. The phone was near Shuohua’s Water World.
Showing up personally felt awkward, but finding Bai Xi’s two close friends would take too long. Right now, the fastest person who could stop a possible tragedy was him.
So he rushed over as fast as possible.
But after arriving outside Water World’s entrance, the tracking alert popped up right in front of him. He looked around. There were not many people nearby, yet Bai Xi was nowhere to be seen.
Ye Dong was briefly confused, so he continued following the signal. Among the people leaving the crowd, he finally identified who was carrying the phone.
Only after following the person did he realize it was a strange woman acting suspiciously.
“I felt something was wrong, so I casually messaged if the ‘person’ was okay. And guess what? She directly replied, ‘She’s working overtime at school’.”
Bai Xi looked completely confused for a moment, then suddenly gave a cold laugh.
“Me?”
“So I knew something was off and kept asking questions. That woman’s mental strength was terrible. Right away she pulled out the phone and wallet, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed three times. I was almost starting to feel bad for her, but then she suddenly turned around and ran. I thought getting the stuff back was enough, so I didn’t chase far. But that thief had really bad luck. Before she got very far, two patrol police officers came from the other side. They recognized her as a regular at the police station, and seeing her panic like that, they immediately knew something was wrong. Once they caught her, she just stared at me. She barely said anything before confessing everything on the spot.”
After finishing, Ye Dong finally let out a breath of relief.
Bai Xi thought carefully about it. Aside from the parts where he made random guesses that annoyed her, everything else sounded reasonable. It did not seem like he was lying.
Seeing Bai Xi stay silent with a stiff face, Ye Dong helplessly shook his head and mocked himself inside.
Seriously, he had worried for nothing.
He rushed all the way here, yet not only did he get no thanks, she was still doubting him. It honestly felt discouraging.
“If you don’t believe me, go ask at the police station yourself. They haven’t sent her to jail yet!” After saying that, he turned and started walking away.
“Wait.”
Ye Dong turned back.
“What now?”
No matter what, he helped recover her things. Whether she liked him or hated him was one matter, but this was another. Bai Xi had always been taught to repay kindness.
At the very least, she should say thank you.
“Thank you.”
People were people, and matters were matters. They should be separated. But in reality, it was not that simple. Bai Xi’s thanks sounded very forced, and Ye Dong did not like hearing it either. He gave a mocking laugh and turned away again.
Bai Xi became even more annoyed.
She already thanked him, what more did he want?!
The problem was clearly her tone. Sure, her money was recovered, but she had been scared, worried, and angry the whole time. Who could stay in a good mood after dealing with something like this?
She silently complained to herself and rubbed her still slightly wet hair. Part of her wanted to call him back and properly thank him again in a respectful way, but her pride stopped the words from leaving her mouth.
Under the dim lights, a flash of white suddenly ran up in front of them.
“Ah!”
Bai Xi had been lost in thought and was startled into screaming.
Looking carefully, it was a little girl wearing a white dress.
Her features were delicate and pretty. It was easy to tell she would grow into a beautiful woman someday.
The girl held a photo. In it was a mother and daughter together. The little girl was clearly herself, and beside her stood a woman whose beauty was unlike anything Bai Xi had ever seen before, enough to outshine over ninety percent of female celebrities.
“Auntie, this is my mom. Her name is Xiao Wenwen. Have you seen her?”
Like a little tadpole searching for its mother?
Bai Xi secretly joked to herself and honestly shook her head.
“There are lots of people and cars around here, and there are bad people at night too. You should go to the police station over there. The police officers can help you find your mom.”
The little girl sniffled. Her disappointment and sadness were written all over her face.
She did not answer them. Instead, she politely bowed deeply toward them.
“Sorry for wasting your time, Auntie. Thank you.”
Before either of them could respond, the girl walked toward another man and woman nearby.
“Uncle, Auntie…”
The same question again.
The same heartbreaking politeness.
And after hearing the answer, the same disappointment and sadness.
Some things were hard even for adults to accept again and again, let alone a child. When no one else came over, the girl lowered her head and quietly squatted beside the wall near the entrance.
At some point, two tears slid down her small face to her chin before falling to the ground like shining crystal drops, breaking apart into pieces.
Her helpless and pitiful appearance made people feel heavy inside. She looked at most seven years old, one of the weakest times in a person’s life.
Someone called the well-known emergency number and stayed nearby waiting. But before the police arrived, someone with bad intentions noticed the girl searching for her mother.
Among the few people leaving Water World, a middle-aged man wearing slippers, smoking a cigarette, and dressed in a loud floral shirt and shorts stopped when he saw the girl sitting by the wall.
He rubbed the stubble on his chin and watched quietly for a while.
Then he flicked away some ash, walked over, and crouched down beside her.
“Little girl, are you looking for your parents?”
“Yes. Uncle, do you know my mom?”
The thug held the cigarette at the corner of his mouth while looking at the photo in the girl’s hand.
Smoke curled around his face, making his expression hard to see.
But from the way he swallowed, it was obvious he was attracted to the girl’s mother’s appearance.
He flicked the nearly finished cigarette onto the grass.
“Come on, I’ll take you to find her.” As he spoke, he reached for the girl’s hand.
Before he even explained things clearly, he was already acting overly familiar. The girl instinctively felt something was wrong and quickly pulled her hand back, snatching the photo away too.
“Do you really know where my mom is?”
“Tch, of course I know! Otherwise how could I take you there, little beauty?” Teasing strangers like that was especially annoying, and people naturally disliked it.
“Where did you see her?”
“At the intersection up ahead.”
“When?”
“Today!”
The girl stared at the thug’s face for a long moment, then simply walked toward the roadside as if avoiding an obstacle.
The thug gave a mocking laugh and suddenly grabbed the back of her neck.
“Little girl, trust me, okay?”