After waiting two more days, not just Mu Dai but almost everyone began to worry.

Cao Yanhua truly seemed to have disappeared. Even if he had been detained by his family, to prevent his friends from worrying, he could still have asked his parents or siblings to make a phone call to them.

Yi Wansan couldn’t help thinking the worst: In the fourth water shadow, there was a wedding sedan chair, and Cao Yanhua’s second cousin was getting married—could there be a connection between them? Both involved marriage.

He shared this concern with Mu Dai. She didn’t think so—the periods didn’t match. The water shadows about the dog must have been from at least a hundred years ago. However, regardless of whether there was a connection or not, the trip to Cao Family Village seemed inevitable now.

Several of them agreed to depart the next day. Yan Hongsha hadn’t finished her business yet, but promised to speed things up and head to Chongqing as soon as she was done.

The night before departure, Mu Dai was packing her luggage when she told Huo Zihong she was going on a trip. Huo Zihong asked her: “Is it again for those strange, inexplicable things?”

Back when the puppet murder case happened, Huo Zihong had known early on that there must have been some unexplainable mysteries involved, but she never delved too deeply. Occasionally when she mentioned it, she only referred to them as “those strange things of yours.”

This was better. Mu Dai felt that Huo Zihong had a rare quality of deliberate muddleheadedness, yet she understood more than anyone.

Yi Wansan also hesitantly mentioned the trip to Zhang Shu, prepared to be scolded, but surprisingly, Zhang Shu didn’t even look up and just said: “Oh, I see.”

Yi Wansan figured that Zhang Shu had already given up hope on him.

Before going to bed, Mu Dai received a call from Luo Ren confirming their departure time the next day and instructing her about some things to bring—everything seemed smooth.

The surprise happened at the last second, when she and Yi Wansan, carrying their luggage under the dim dawn light, got into Luo Ren’s car. Luo Ren suddenly said, “I’ll drive you to the airport.”

They had originally planned to drive the whole way, so Yi Wansan thought the plan had changed: “Are we flying now?”

“No, I have some urgent business and can’t… accompany you, so I’ve bought plane tickets for you both at the last minute.”

Yi Wansan was stunned for a moment, unable to process this statement immediately. There were a few seconds of awkward silence in the car.

After a while, Mu Dai said softly: “That’s fine. You go take care of your business, and you can join us when you’re done.”

The rest of the drive was silent. Luo Ren dropped them off at the departure terminal but didn’t get out of the car, merely watching them enter.

Mu Dai walked a few steps, then turned back. Luo Ren found this strange and instinctively leaned toward her, opening the window.

She stood framed in the car window, as if she had stepped into a television screen, and said: “Whatever business you’re attending to, please be careful, Luo Ren. I had a bad dream about you a few days ago.”

At this point, she paused: “It seemed like you slipped and fell. Wherever you go, please be mindful of this.”

Luo Ren said, “You didn’t even ask me what the urgent business is.”

Mu Dai smiled: “Even if I asked, you wouldn’t tell me.”

She turned and left, walking quickly to catch up with Yi Wansan, who had stopped to wait for her. Yi Wansan quietly asked her: “What urgent business does Luo Ren have?”

“I don’t know.”

Yi Wansan was startled: “You don’t know?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And you didn’t ask him?”

“Everyone has their own business to attend to. If someone doesn’t say, why chase after them to ask?”

Yi Wansan drew in a sharp breath, emphasizing: “That’s not just ‘someone’—that’s your boyfriend!”

Then he muttered softly: “Are you two dating or not?”

Mu Dai asked him in return: “Do you think we look like we’re dating?”

Yi Wansan hesitated for a moment, saying: “Do you want me to be honest?”

Yi Wansan felt that it depended on what kind of relationship you wanted.

When a man and a woman are together, holding hands, kissing, appearing together in public—all that’s called dating. But whether you’re discussing the clouds in the sky or the mud beneath your feet, only you know.

“Boss Lady, I’m not afraid of you calling me shallow, but I’ve had more girlfriends than I can count on both hands.”

Looking out through the glass of the departure lounge, blue sky and white clouds were visible, with planes taking off and landing.

Mu Dai asked him: “You’ve had feelings that many times?”

Yi Wansan shrugged: “How could that be?”

“Sometimes it’s loneliness, sometimes it’s to save face, sometimes a friend comes to me and says, ‘This girl wants to meet you.’ I take a look, see she’s not bad-looking, and so we get together. Let me tell you, men and women aren’t that complicated. After you like the look of each other, you spend a day together, think ‘that’s not bad,’ so you spend another day together. Those who spend a lifetime together, well, that becomes a lifetime.”

Mu Dai smiled.

Yi Wansan suddenly grew wistful: “But there was truly one time when I had real feelings. That time was different.”

Mu Dai seemed to have heard Yi Wansan mention this before, though not in detail. She only knew it was a very nice girl whom Yi Wansan had met while traveling. Later, the girl went back home, met a new boyfriend, married, and even had children.

“Can you imagine? Sometimes even now, I deliberately use a stranger’s identity to open her page and check her updates. When I open it, my heart pounds heavily.”

Mu Dai didn’t speak, slightly tilting her head to look at Yi Wansan’s profile.

It was strange—initially, she had disliked Yi Wansan so much, finding fault with everything about him. But now, they could sit together like this, even discussing what could be considered private topics.

“So, sometimes I feel that Luo Ren’s attitude toward you, how should I describe it… he holds back too easily.”

He tried to explain what he meant by “holds back easily”: “It’s like he doesn’t put in much effort, gets you very quickly. Think about it—has he ever had his heart flutter for you? Been shy? Blushed? Had sleepless nights tossing and turning?”

Mu Dai said: “You’re describing me, aren’t you?”

She sighed: “I can’t imagine Luo Ren with his heart fluttering or blushing.”

Yi Wansan said: “So, at the beginning, I was quite worried for you, because often, the one who is easily held back is the one who loves more. You know, the one who loves more is also the one who gets hurt easily.”

“So in your eyes, what kind of state are Luo Ren and I in now?”

Yi Wansan thought for a moment and used two words to describe it.

Ethereal.

“It’s like, there’s nothing wrong you can point out, everyone’s cordial, you don’t even argue, but when you think about it carefully, something just doesn’t seem quite right…” He couldn’t articulate it clearly and didn’t want to be too explicit. “Ethereal is the right word.”

Mu Dai laughed heartily. The boarding gate opened, and they began queuing up.

As they slowly moved forward in the line, she asked Yi Wansan: “What kind of girl would you like? Someone like Pin Ting? For a while, we all thought you especially liked her.”

Pin Ting? Yi Wansan was momentarily confused.

There had been a period when he couldn’t get along with anyone, and especially enjoyed being with Pin Ting—she was the only one who didn’t criticize him.

But actually, she didn’t even know his name and only called him “Knife Brother.”

And later, suddenly, everyone around him became lovable. Yi Wansan couldn’t explain whether he had changed or the world had changed.

Since they had left early in the morning and caught an early flight, they landed in Chongqing before noon. They immediately took a minibus, continuing without rest, and by sunset, they had already reached the station before Cao Family Village—that small grocery store.

This location was particularly important. From now on, every step required extra caution.

Mu Dai claimed that the two of them were Qingshan’s friends from the city, coming specially to attend the wedding.

When asking the shopkeeper about Cao Yanhua, she no longer mentioned his name but emphasized his physical characteristics.

“Fat, sturdy, not as tall as me, arrived about five days ago, made a phone call here.”

The shopkeeper quickly remembered: “Yes, yes, there was someone like that. He looked unfamiliar but spoke with a local accent. He went toward Cao Family Village, arriving right before or after the Cao family’s eldest daughter.”

Yi Wansan interjected: “Cao family’s eldest daughter?”

“Yes, Cao Jinhua… no, Cao Jenny… Why change a perfectly good name? Sounds like alkaline soil…”

Arriving before or after Cao Jinhua, and then Cao Yanhua had gone silent. Could it be related to this, Cao Jinhua?

Unexpectedly, Cao Family Village had set up a Coca-Cola umbrella tent at the village entrance, with someone specifically assigned to register visitors.

Yi Wansan approached boldly, declaring they were Qingshan’s friends from Beijing.

Beijing, such a major city! The registrar became excited. The children standing around ran off toward the village, shouting as they ran: “Brother Qingshan, Brother Qingshan, people from Beijing!”

About five minutes later, Qingshan came toward them, surrounded by even more children, walking quickly, both excited and puzzled: he didn’t remember having any friends from Beijing.

Seeing Yi Wansan and Mu Dai from a distance, he was even more confused.

Yi Wansan didn’t give him a chance to ask questions, greeting him with a bear hug and heavily patting his back: “Brother Qingshan, long time no see!”

Seizing an opportunity, he whispered in Qingshan’s ear: “Actually, we’re friends of your cousin Cao Yanhua… Tudun.”

Cao Yanhua had mentioned that he had a good relationship with this second cousin, communicating family information through him for many years. Yi Wansan believed that regardless of whether Qingshan had participated in tricking Cao Yanhua to return home, given their deep brotherly bond, he wouldn’t harm Cao Yanhua.

Qingshan was shocked, then delighted. He wasn’t that old, twenty-five or twenty-six, but perhaps due to long-term sun exposure and labor, when he smiled, his eyes were full of wrinkles, making him look older.

He dispersed the surrounding children, both excited and puzzled.

“Did you come with my cousin? Where is he? Is he afraid to enter the village? I told him long ago, my uncle just talks tough, threatening to break his legs, but he’d never actually do it. He should have come back long ago.”

At this point, he grinned widely: “Is he really afraid that my uncle will beat him, so he specifically brought friends, even from Beijing? With outsiders present, my uncle wouldn’t dare to lay a hand on him?”

He stretched his neck, looking around: “Where is he? Where is my cousin?”

This expression didn’t seem feigned. Beside him, Mu Dai frowned almost imperceptibly. If Cao Yanhua had returned to the village and wanted to contact someone, the only choice would have been Qingshan.

If even Qingshan didn’t know he had returned, could he have been kidnapped before reaching the village? Who would have kidnapped him? Cao Jinhua?

Yi Wansan made light of it: “There’s no rush, no rush. We’ll talk about it in detail later.”

Qingshan couldn’t quite make sense of it, but his simple and hospitable nature quickly overcame everything: “Then let’s go inside and sit. For now, let’s just say you’re my friends.”

He was delighted, leading Mu Dai and Yi Wansan toward his home. Whenever they met someone on the way, he never missed a chance to proudly introduce them: “They’re from Beijing!”

Along the way, Mu Dai carefully observed their surroundings.

The village was surrounded by mountains of varying heights. Cao Family Village was actually nestled in a mountain hollow but wasn’t isolated—there were roads for coming and going, with approximately thirty households. It wasn’t a large village.

But small had its advantages—when hosting a wedding, everyone was exceptionally united.

On the way, Mu Dai asked: “Where’s the bride?”

Qingshan said, “She’s at home.”

He explained further: “The wedding is in just a few days. According to our local custom, the bride and groom don’t see each other for several days before the wedding. I always have to entertain guests outside, so she stays at home and doesn’t go out at all.”

He also gestured to explain that the layout of the house had front and back courtyards. During these days, to avoid seeing each other, he hadn’t even stepped through the back courtyard door.

Mu Dai was thinking about how to casually ask Qingshan about Cao Jinhua when, unexpectedly, she came to find them herself.

At that time, she and Yi Wansan had already arrived at Qingshan’s home and were drinking tea in the main hall when Cao Jinhua’s voice was heard outside.

Her voice brimmed with uncontainable joy.

“I heard there are two guests from Beijing? We’re half-hometown folks!”

Before her words had finished, she stepped through the door and, among all the villagers, immediately spotted Mu Dai and Yi Wansan.

She introduced herself: “My name is Jenny, Cao Jenny. I’ve been working in Beijing for five or six years. You’re from Beijing? We’re half-hometown folks!”

Then, acting very familiar, she sat beside Mu Dai: “Little sister, how old are you? Are you friends with Qingshan? How did you meet?”

She asked many questions but didn’t seem to expect answers, immediately chattering on, jumping between topics—Beijing’s crowded subways, expensive rent, poor air quality, and so on.

Mu Dai carefully responded to each statement, observing her expressions and mannerisms closely: Was this person hiding daggers behind her smile?

Sure enough, suddenly, Cao Jinhua changed the topic.

“Living in this world, we face risks every day. Unexpectedly, sometimes people leave home perfectly fine and never return. Walking along a path, you might just disappear.”

Mu Dai’s heart tightened, but her face remained expressionless: “Indeed.”

Cao Jinhua held her hand, speaking with profound seriousness: “So, little sister, preparing in advance and planning are very important…”

She handed over a business card.

Beijing Atlantic Life Insurance Co., Ltd., Sales Representative Y. Cao.