"This child is so disobedient, running off alone without a word. When she gets back, I'll have to teach her a good lesson," Di Jianhan said from the sofa, his face full of anger.
Without contact, he and Qianqian had no bond.
The old lady next to him paced restlessly, unable to sit still.
"Mom, don't worry. If she dared to run away from home, she's capable of coming back on her own," Di Jianhan tried to comfort her.
The old lady shot him a glare and banged her cane forcefully on the floor. "Shut up!"
"Scolding me won't help. Everyone followed your instructions and didn't tell Jiang Ziyu anything about that matter. She snuck out on her own. If we could have guessed beforehand, we wouldn't have let her have the chance to leave," Di Jianhan grumbled.
They had all been paying too little attention to Qianqian these days. She had been clamoring for Jiang Ziyu, her longing becoming a sickness, making her unable to eat or sleep.
They all knew, and they thought she would get used to it after a few days. They had neglected their attention to her, which gave her the opportunity to leave home.
If anything happened to Qianqian while she was out, the old lady wouldn't know how to explain it to Di Mingjue.
Lu Sisi emerged from a corner, her face etched with worry, and suggested, "We can't just sit here and wait. Let's go out and search too. Many hands make light work."
"Yes, Jianhan, you take all the men in the household and search around the vicinity of the Di residence," the old lady commanded.
It had only been a little over an hour since Qianqian left. She was small and walked slowly, so she couldn't have gone far.
To please the old lady, Lu Sisi personally went out to search.
Meanwhile, Di Mingjue drove from his company to Jiang Ziyu's former residence. After failing to find Qianqian in the residential complex, he headed towards the Di residence, scanning pedestrians along the roadside as he drove.
He didn't dare to relax on any street along the way, fearing he would miss Qianqian. Thus, he drove back to the Di residence without seeing any sign of her.
"Did Qianqian return?" Di Mingjue grabbed a servant in the yard, urgently questioning him.
Leaving red marks on his wrist, the servant stammered, "Ju... just now someone called and said, said Miss Qianqian is with them."
As he finished speaking, the old lady hobbled out from the front hall, leaning on her cane. "Mingjue, something has happened."
Not long after Di Jianhan and Lu Sisi left, the old lady received a call from a stranger at home. She had initially thought it was a kind person who had found Qianqian, but the caller demanded five million yuan for her release, threatening to harm her otherwise.
Before she could ask for the caller's address, the phone was hung up. Di Mingjue also returned at that moment.
Upon learning the situation from the old lady, Di Mingjue went to the front hall to check the recent number.
The caller's number had been masked, making it impossible to trace the IP address or to call them back.
The current situation was that if the other party didn't contact them, they couldn't reach them.
"What should we do? Should we call the police?" the old lady asked helplessly.
Di Mingjue took out his phone from his pocket and contacted Shen Lin at the company. He instructed him to prepare five million yuan in cash and then said to the old lady, "We cannot call the police. No one else can know about this matter at present. Especially not the reporters."
Given the Di residence's status in Didu, any slightest disturbance would cause an uproar. If the situation escalated uncontrollably and the other party became desperate and harmed her, they would have no room for negotiation.
Di Mingjue waited by the phone, his mind in turmoil. During the period when the other party did not call again, he tried his best to contact Jiang Ziyu.
He attempted to call and text her, hoping she would see them in time.
It was the middle of the night in another country. Jiang Ziyu had just finished her company matters. Looking at her phone, she couldn't resist reinserting her domestic SIM card.