Unsurprisingly, the room was empty of the two women.
They must have gone downstairs for a meal.
Tang Si didn't overthink it and immediately went downstairs. Seeing Qing Muyie sitting in the living room, he asked, "Where's Ran Bao'er? I don't see her. Have you had breakfast?"
Qing Muyie had a laptop on his lap, his long fingers typing rapidly on the keyboard. Hearing Tang Si speak, he finally looked up and glanced at him. "Lunch? We haven't eaten yet."
"Lunch?"
Tang Si's eyes widened. "Damn, what time is it?" he instinctively asked, his gaze sweeping around the living room. He looked at the Western clock hanging on the east wall and couldn't help but curse, "Ten-thirty?!"
He put a hand on his hip in anger and pointed at Qing Muyie. "Second Brother, you're really not decent. It's already ten-thirty, and you didn't even call me to get up."
"I did call you, you just didn't hear me."
Heaven and earth as witness, Qing Muyie had indeed gone to wake Tang Si, but he was sleeping very soundly.
Qing Muyie reasoned that he hadn't had a good rest lately due to being busy with company matters, so he thought he'd let him sleep a bit longer.
"Forget it, I can't be bothered to argue with you. I'm going to find Ran Bao'er. Where are they?" Tang Si asked.
"Don't know."
Qing Muyie was engrossed in handling company matters and hadn't actually asked where Meng Jingwei and Shi Ran had gone.
"You..."
Tang Si pointed at Qing Muyie, his finger trembling, about to say something more, but finally threw his hand away. "Forget it, I can't be bothered with your nonsense, I'll go find them myself."
Even though the New Year had passed, it was still bitterly cold.
Tang Si, wearing only his pajamas, walked out of the living room. Without the heating, he shivered, his shoulders hunching, and he let out a chill.
Walking down the living room steps, he looked around but didn't see the two women.
He spotted a servant and immediately asked, "Have you seen where Meng Jingwei is?"
"Young Madam? She went out with Miss Shi."
The servant replied truthfully.
"Went out? When did she go?"
"About an hour or two ago."
"So long?" Tang Si waved his hand in exasperation. "Alright, alright, I know." He turned and trotted back to the living room, went upstairs, put on a jacket, and grabbed his phone to call Shi Ran.
The phone was dialed, but a mechanical voice came from the other end. "Hello, the user you have dialed is switched off."
The mechanical voice, yet Tang Si felt this scene was unusually familiar.
His heart trembled, and a bad premonition arose.
In his panic, he fumbled with his phone to find Meng Jingwei's number, but accidentally called Qing Muyie.
"Damn it."
Tang Si cursed, hung up the phone, and dialed Meng Jingwei's mobile number again.
"Doo doo doo..."
The phone rang three times, and the person on the other end answered, "Tang Si?"
"Little Chili, where are you? I can't get through to Ran Bao'er, why is her phone switched off?"
"Her phone is out of battery. I'm back, I'm downstairs."
As soon as he heard she was downstairs, Tang Si hastily hung up the phone and immediately turned to run out of the room and go downstairs.
On the spiral staircase, Tang Si held the handrail, descending quickly, his gaze constantly scanning the living room.
When he reached the first floor, he still didn't see Shi Ran and asked with confusion, "Little Chili, where's Ran Bao'er?"
For some reason, since waking up in the morning, Tang Si had felt a sense of unease, an emptiness in his heart, as if something was being pulled from his body.
Meng Jingwei raised her hand and untied the scarf around her neck. She met Qing Muyie's gaze as he sat on the sofa. Only then did she lower her eyes and say thoughtfully, "She left."