The night had been long, lasting for several hours until both parties, utterly exhausted, finally fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, after waking up, Qin Chuan and Li Ya left the hotel and found a breakfast shop. Qin Chuan ate ravenously, consuming three baskets of soup dumplings and two bowls of egg soup before feeling significantly recovered.
Li Ya, on the other hand, only ate one basket of dumplings and half a bowl of mung bean porridge before stopping. She watched Qin Chuan devour his food with her beautiful eyes fixed on him.
After settling the bill, the two headed back to the clothing store, as it was still promotion day.
Similar to the supermarket, the branch's promotion was for three days.
Upon arriving at the clothing store, all the employees were already present. With the generous bonuses from the previous day and the celebratory feast, everyone was energized and their morale was high.
At eight o'clock, the store officially opened for business.
Customers flooded into the clothing store like a tide. Although not as frenzied as yesterday, there were still many, signifying another busy and fulfilling day.
Time flew by when busy. It was already noon before they knew it.
Li Ya had pre-ordered lunch, and everyone took turns eating.
"Xiao Chuan, come eat with us!"
In the休息室 on the second floor, Li Ya called Qin Chuan to join her for lunch.
The lunch consisted of two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, a soup, and rice.
During the meal, Li Ya mentioned that she would be returning after the opening promotion here to prepare for the matters concerning other county branches.
The success of this branch had greatly boosted Li Ya's confidence, and she planned to seize the opportunity to expand the market and solidify the reputation of Jin Die Fushi.
Qin Chuan agreed, recognizing that in business, it was crucial to seize opportunities firmly.
In this era, with information bottlenecks, many county markets were still very much untapped. This presented a golden opportunity for Jin Die Fushi's growth. Missing it would be a true regret!
However, as Li Ya spoke, a hint of hesitation appeared on her face.
Finally, she said, "Xiao Chuan, we now have two stores plus the factory. If we want to open a third one, our funds might be a bit tight."
"When will your building project be ready for sale?"
Qin Chuan understood immediately what Li Ya meant. The clothing factory's funds were likely insufficient, as opening each flagship store required a significant amount of capital, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.
At this time, this was a considerable expense. The Butterfly Clothing Factory was actually quite weak financially, and it also had to support the numerous workers, maintain machinery, and manage inventory.
All these were substantial expenses. Opening a third branch had encountered financial difficulties.
"Sister, the first phase of construction for our building project, weather permitting, should be fine in about a week."
Qin Chuan replied, "I'll arrange a pre-sale then, and I believe some funds can be recovered. You can have as much as you need."
Li Ya held a fifty percent stake in the building project, so having access to the funds was not an issue.
"A week's time, then it should be fine."
Li Ya nodded. At this moment, Qin Chuan's phone rang.
"Hello, this is Qin Chuan!"
Qin Chuan answered the call.
"Boss, something's wrong, Feng Lei is missing!"
As soon as the call was connected, Yao Dong's voice came through.
"What did you say?"
Qin Chuan's expression changed instantly. "Where are you right now?"
"Okay, stay put. I'll be there immediately!"
"Xiao Chuan? What happened?"
Li Ya noticed the change in Qin Chuan's expression and asked with concern.
"Feng Lei is missing!"
Qin Chuan said with a grim face, "Sister, give me the car keys, I need to go to the hospital right away."
"Okay, hurry up and go!"
Li Ya rummaged through her bag, found the car keys, and told Qin Chuan to drive carefully.
When Qin Chuan arrived at the hospital by car, he saw Yao Dong standing at the entrance.
Yao Dong, seeing Qin Chuan, looked full of guilt. "I'm sorry, boss. It's all my negligence. I failed to keep an eye on Feng Lei."
"What exactly happened? Tell me everything!"
Qin Chuan's face was grim, but he knew this wasn't the time to get angry.
"It's like this, boss..."
Yao Dong immediately recounted the sequence of events.
It turned out that about half an hour ago, he had gone out to buy food, and Feng Lei had been waiting in the hospital as he had been the day before. To his surprise, when Yao Dong returned with the food, the room was empty, and Feng Lei was gone.
At first, Yao Dong thought Feng Lei had gone to the restroom and didn't pay much attention. However, after waiting for more than ten minutes and still not seeing Feng Lei, Yao Dong realized something was wrong and immediately went to search the restroom.
As expected, Feng Lei was not found in the restroom. Yao Dong then searched the entire hospital but still couldn't find him.
He then found a public phone, first calling Feng Lei's phone, which was turned off, and then reporting to Qin Chuan.
"I'm sorry, boss. It's all my carelessness. If I had known, I should have taken him with me when I went to buy food..."
After finishing his explanation, Yao Dong's face turned red with guilt and self-recrimination.
Qin Chuan took out a cigarette and offered one to Yao Dong, who dared not smoke and immediately refused.
Qin Chuan didn't insist. He lit one himself and took a deep drag. "During the time you were with Feng Lei, did you encounter anyone?"
"Or did Feng Lei exhibit any unusual behavior?"
Yao Dong thought carefully for a moment and quickly shook his head. "No! Everything was normal!"
"Before I went to buy lunch, Feng Lei was chatting and laughing with me, urging me to hurry, as he was very hungry."
"Then the most likely time for something to happen was during the period you went to buy food!"
Qin Chuan frowned. "Have you checked with the on-duty doctors and the security guards to inquire about the situation?"
"I've already asked them, but they said so many people enter and leave the hospital every day, who would notice!"
Yao Dong said anxiously. It was evident he was truly blaming himself.
"Don't worry, Feng Lei is a grown man. He wouldn't just disappear for no reason."
Qin Chuan comforted him, his pitch-black eyes gleaming. "The most likely scenario is that our arch-nemesis is behind this!"
"Boss, are you saying this was all orchestrated by Han Shifei's people?"
Yao Dong's head snapped up, his face filled with anger and his fists clenched.
Qin Chuan sneered. "Besides them, we have no other enemies in Ning County, and Feng Lei likely doesn't either. Who else would have reason to target us?"
"Let's go. We'll head to the police station now."
With that, Qin Chuan directly went to start the car, and Yao Dong quickly followed.