"I feel like that child and I have gotten a little closer."
"I couldn't bear to let her keep standing there."
"And it was so cold."
"The child's face had gone pale from the cold."
"I walked over and asked her why she hadn't gone home yet."
"She seemed startled by me and ran off right away."
"I thought she'd gone home, but I never imagined..."
Brother Jin fell silent.
Then he slowly continued, "I never imagined that child would run into the woods."
"What?!"
Su Xun was shocked. The unease in his heart grew even stronger.
"She ran into the woods?"
"At night?"
"Where is she now?"
"Did she come back?"
"Did you go look for her?"
"She—"
Seeing the heavy look on Brother Jin's face, the words "Is she all right?" caught in Su Xun's throat.
They wouldn't come out, but they wouldn't go down, either.
The discomfort was so intense that Su Xun felt nauseated.
Brother Jin spoke with some difficulty. "She's missing."
"Just like her older sister."
"She's gone."
"We got the whole village to search the nearby mountains and woods."
"We also called the police."
Seeing Su Xun's troubled expression, Brother Jin explained with a bitter smile, "We did everything we could."
"But we still couldn't find her."
"Just like her older sister, that child vanished without a trace."
"She didn't leave behind a single clue."
"And you just gave up?"
He looked around. Everything was still just as he'd seen it at first.
Bright red lanterns, vermilion couplets, the character for fortune, and exquisite paper cuttings. Everyone's faces were alight with joy. It was a lively, festive New Year scene.
But what about that child?
Who still remembered the missing child?
"After just one night?"
He could hardly believe it.
A living,