Do you know how difficult it is to find one person among 1.4 billion people across 9.6 million square kilometers of land?
Ever since Zhan Jingchun went missing, Zhan Bei Jue and Jiang Nan Fang have been on a relentless search for their daughter.
Initially, they were confident. Walls have ears, and perfect crimes leave no evidence. If they put their minds to it, they were sure they could find their daughter.
But as they investigated, their confidence dwindled.
The day of the incident was rainy and overcast. The village where Zhan Jingchun and her group were located, in an effort to preserve its pristine natural charm, had no surveillance cameras along the route. Consequently, not a single piece of evidence was left behind.
They encountered immense difficulties right from the start. With no other recourse, they began by meticulously examining vehicles passing through monitored intersections.
For a week before and after the incident, dozens of traffic police units worked through the night, reviewing tens of thousands of vehicles and the information of their drivers. No anomalies were found.
Two days had already passed. The optimal time for rescuing their daughter had gone. Zhan Bei Jue and Jiang Nan Fang braced themselves for the worst: kidnapping, human trafficking, or even…
But whatever their daughter had endured, it was not her fault. She was their most beloved daughter.
No matter how much effort, money, or time it took, they would not give up. They would find her!
However, searching for a needle in a haystack was truly arduous.
Beyond the first, second, and third-tier cities, there were countless districts, countless streets, countless buildings in city-level municipalities with permanent populations exceeding half a million. And then there were countless counties, towns, and villages awaiting their meticulous search.
The Zhan family, after all, was a prominent entity. Every move, every ripple, no matter how small, affected stock prices and the entire industry. They had to search quietly.
With the exception of Jiang Jing Yu, who remained to manage the group's principal affairs, everyone else was mobilized.
Each led a team, cooperating with local law enforcement, with regional responsibilities covering North China, Northwest China, South China, Southwest China, and so on.
They strove for depth, detail, and thoroughness in their investigations, ensuring not to miss any trace, determined to find Zhan Jingchun.
A month passed, and they had finished canvassing every household in the urban areas. They then turned their attention to the more probable county-level regions.
As of 2021 statistics, China had 1,472 counties and 394 county-level cities, totaling 1,866.
The nation comprised 691,510 administrative villages and 2,617,000 natural villages.
Undoubtedly, for the Zhan family, the true challenge had just begun.
Daddy, Mommy, and siblings were making efforts, and Zhan Jingchun herself was also trying.
Unfortunately, her efforts lacked a bit of luck.
At this moment, in the cold hospital room bathed in the dim dawn light, she and Peng Fei met eyes. The two, who had been acting as a couple just the day before, were now glaring at each other like sworn enemies.
In her eyes, there was an unspeakable terror and blankness as she looked at Peng Fei.
As for Peng Fei, his gaze towards her was filled with anger and sorrow.
He couldn't comprehend why, after all the kindness he had shown Zhan Jingchun, she still tried to escape.
Although her family was poor, he had given her all the good things he could.
He heated bathwater for her, bought her what she wanted, attended to her every need, his mind solely focused on her, his heart filled with plans for their future.
Yet, why was Zhan Jingchun still unsatisfied?
He had never dared to lay a finger on her, unwilling to treat her like others treated their wives.
Why couldn't she understand gratitude?
Zhang Wei, having just given birth, was incredibly weak, yet Zhan Jingchun had still managed to drag her along to escape. His brotherhood with Wang Kang was likely at its end because of this incident.
Watching Wang Kang furiously slap Zhang Wei, he felt an urge to hit her too, but ultimately, he couldn't bear to.
Seeing her hair, now shorn close to her scalp, so drastically different from her initial appearance, his heart ached intensely.
He loved her hair so much that he was willing to borrow money for her to give Zhang Wei a red envelope, yet he couldn't bear to see her cut it.
But to escape, she had actually cut it like this.
After Wang Kang’s angry beating, he dragged Zhang Wei back home.
Zhang Wei's desperate wails were filled with unwillingness as she stumbled and clung to the ground, refusing to leave.
"I don't want to go back, I don't want to be with you anymore, I hate that place, I hate that home, I'd rather die than go back! Wang Kang, please, just let me go! I admit I've wronged you, wronged your family, I'll kowtow to you, okay? Please, let me go! You'll definitely find someone better, please!"
But Wang Kang was unmoved.
Pretty girls like them, girls who came from big cities, couldn't truly understand the importance of a wife to a family.
Wang Kang knew that if he let her go, he would never find anyone better. She was his lifeline, and he would never let her go, not even in death.
If Zhang Wei refused to go, he would carry her away.
Perhaps accustomed to such scenes, none of the hospital pedestrians uttered a word of protest.
Soon, only Zhan Jingchun and Peng Fei remained in the lobby.
Peng Fei, having stared at Zhan Jingchun long enough, finally moved.
"Are you walking yourself, or shall I carry you?"
With Zhang Wei as a precedent, Zhan Jingchun knew pleading would be useless.
Looking at the advancing Peng Fei, she felt only anger.
"Peng Fei, you're young, strong, and healthy. It's not like you can't find a wife. Why do you insist on having me? You know you can't keep me, and even if you keep my body, you can't keep my heart. Why must you be like this?"
Her words were like sharp knives piercing Peng Fei's heart, causing him pain with every step he took.
Yet, he refused to give up.
Everyone had different standpoints, and everyone was self-interested. As long as he could achieve his goal, as long as he could possess her, he didn't care what unpleasant things she said.
"Then I'll carry you."
He walked over, grabbed Zhan Jingchun's arm, and hoisted her onto his shoulder.
Zhan Jingchun didn't struggle, as she was no match for him.
He carried her out of the hospital like this.
On the way back, she felt drowsy.
Perhaps it was due to lack of sleep the previous night, being too tired, or perhaps her heart had turned to ashes, but Zhan Jingchun slept the entire way.
In her dream, she saw her Daddy, Mommy, and siblings again.
They stood on the other side of a crowd, looking over countless heads, anxiously scanning in her direction.
Though they were so close, and Zhan Jingchun could see them, they couldn't see her.
She tried desperately to push through the crowd, but there were so many people. No matter how much she squeezed, she couldn't move, and she couldn't get closer to them…
After a long night, news of the simultaneous escape of two wives had already spread throughout the village.
When Peng Fei appeared in the village carrying Zhan Jingchun, people were waiting along the path to watch the spectacle.
Peng Fei's mother, utterly disgraced, began to scold them the moment she saw them appear.
Peng Fei maintained a stern expression, not responding to anyone, and walked quickly, taking Zhan Jingchun back to that room.
Then, he went out and found several planks, which he then nailed noisily, reinforcing the window and door.