The next day, early in the morning.
Jin Xiaoxi heard Su Ding knocking on the door outside and vaguely reached out a small hand.
Suddenly, he found the space beside him empty.
He opened his eyes, and the blurry vision gradually cleared, but Tang Ran, who was beside him, was nowhere to be seen.
Moreover, the blanket was already cold.
It seemed she had been gone for a long time.
"Where's Tang Tang?"
Jin Xiaoxi asked, a little confused, and quickly got out of bed to put on his clothes. "We're going home today. Tang Tang must have been very excited yesterday and got up early this morning."
After getting dressed, he pushed open the door, and Su Ding was standing at the entrance.
"Mom, where did Tang Tang go?" Jin Xiaoxi asked in confusion.
"Tang Tang? Isn't she in her room?"
Su Ding was also taken aback. From when she woke up and finished her grooming to calling the little ones at the door to wake up, she hadn't seen Tang Tang at all.
"No, Tang Tang seems to have been out for a long time."
Jin Xiaoxi frowned, then turned to ask a passing maid, "Where is Tang Tang? Did you see her this morning?"
"Young Master Xiaoxiao, I've been here since past five this morning and haven't seen Miss Tang Tang."
The maid said, puzzled. She didn't remember anyone coming out of the room.
Jin Xiaoxi became a little worried and looked at Su Ding. "Mom, where exactly did Tang Tang go? Did she have a sleepwalking episode again?"
He remembered that Tang Tang had caught the snake and taken it away last night, which had saved them from that disaster.
Could it be that Tang Tang had gone out again this time?
But if she had gone out, she shouldn't still be gone by now.
"Don't worry, I'll go ask."
Su Ding patted Jin Xiaoxi's head and instructed the maid, "Go and ask all the maids cleaning the main house if they've seen Tang Ran."
The maid responded and hurried off.
Now Su Ding's status in the Jin family was very noble. Not only was the old master fond of her, but even the young lady, who had always been at odds with her, had grown closer to her.
When Su Ding and the others went downstairs, Jin Xiao learned of this and also ordered people to check the surveillance footage.
An hour passed.
The maids had finished their inquiries, and none of them had seen Tang Ran.
The surveillance footage also yielded no clues, except that the camera went black for a few minutes around two in the morning.
"How could this happen!"
Su Ding frowned. She really couldn't imagine who would take Tang Ran away in the middle of the night.
Jin Ye said in a deep voice, "Could it be someone from the Tang family?"
"It's not anyone from the Tang family. I already called to ask," Jin Xiao's expression was also a little worried. "This surveillance footage has clearly been tampered with. Tang Ran couldn't have disappeared out of thin air."
"But who would take a child in the middle of the night?"
Su Ding's brows were tightly knit, clearly a little anxious. "Who could appear in the house in the middle of the night? This is too dangerous."
Tang Tang, a little girl, if she were abducted by some bad person, the consequences would be unimaginable.
And there was Xiaoxi, who had also been in a very dangerous situation last night.
But for some reason, that person only abducted Tang Ran. What was their purpose?
Did they have enmity with the Tang family, or with the Jin family...
"What's going on? What's too dangerous?"
Old Master Jin had slept late last night and only now heard the commotion, walking out.
Seeing everyone's serious expressions, he couldn't help but feel puzzled.
"Great-Grandpa, Sister Tang Tang is missing. She suddenly disappeared last night!" Jin Xiaoxi said anxiously.
"Missing?"
Old Master Jin's brows furrowed into a deep沟壑. "How could she be missing? How could a person just disappear out of thin air? Let's look for her again."
"Father, the surveillance footage was tampered with. It was around two in the morning. Look..."
Jin Xiao pulled the surveillance footage to the section where something was amiss.
Old Master Jin leaned closer to watch carefully. Upon seeing the time, his brow twitched. He seemed to recall something, but at the same time, a trace of doubt arose in his heart.
Could it be him?
No, what would he do by taking Tang Ran?