Chapter 221: Gathering Information

Jiang Lai told Ke Zhongyu the address, the phone assistant quickly recognized it and turned on navigation.

Jiang Lai took out her tablet from her bag, and before explaining the upcoming search plan, she urged Ke Zhongyu: "According to the navigation, taking the highway to the county only takes half an hour, but G Province has many tunnels and curves; if you're not used to the road conditions here, you can go a bit slower."

No sooner had she finished speaking than they entered the tunnel.

Jiang Lai continued: "It's now 4:40 p. m.; we're expected to arrive at 5:30. We'll first go eat, then head to the former address of Uncle at Ping'an Hall to ask the neighbors about the situation; seven or eight o'clock is just after dinner."

"After we finish inquiring, at nine o'clock we'll go to the three middle schools in the county to ask around; this county town has only one main road, and the three schools are located respectively at the upper, middle, and lower sections of that road. If we don't find anything tonight, we'll continue tomorrow."

"Finally we'll go to the hotel to check in—do you think that works?" Jiang Lai actually felt a little worried, wondering if this would tire Ke Zhongyu.

Ke Zhongyu glanced at her sideways, and Jiang Lai's earnest expression was once again deeply etched into his mind.

"Following your arrangements, you're the boss and I'm the follower earning a daily wage of eight hundred."

Hearing "eight hundred a day," Jiang Lai thought of what Ke Zhongying had said about the model brother, then she said: "Boss Ke, the figure of eight hundred isn't very good."

Ke Zhongyu directly asked: "How much should we change it to?"

Jiang Lai: "One thousand?"

Ke Zhongyu's deep gaze fell on her face again, and he gave an "hmm."

He had no objection.

He didn't really grasp the meaning of small numbers like one thousand, ten thousand, or a hundred thousand; it was only because this money came from Jiang Lai that it carried an irreplaceable significance.

The two arrived at the restaurant five minutes earlier than Jiang Lai had anticipated.

In the bright restaurant, the waiters seeing Ke Zhongyu in a full suit all turned their heads to look.

It was also mealtime.

There were many people, so naturally many gazes fell upon them.

One person whispered to the person beside him, thinking he must be some celebrity, even saying that his appearance made the ordinary restaurant seem upscale.

Jiang Lai deeply felt the same.

She sat in a corner spot, a little quieter and farther from the crowd, looked at the menu above, and ordered all the light dishes.

Ke Zhongyu reminded her: "Jiang Lai, time is precious; don't waste it on eating and lodging well—the key is to reach our goal as quickly as possible."

With those words from Ke Zhongyu, Jiang Lai gradually let go of her worry that he was being neglectful.

After eating, they hurried to the place where Uncle at Ping'an Hall lived.

A damp, dilapidated old street.

The county town is too small and lacks developable resources, so the old street hasn't been demolished and many people still live there.

Every household had its lights on, and children in thick cotton jackets darted back and forth in the alley.

Ke Zhongyu frowned slightly, his shiny leather shoes still stepping on the sewage‑filled concrete ground.

The next second, Jiang Lai pulled a mask from her bag and gave it to him.

"I just forgot," she said.

"It's not too late now," Ke Zhongyu said, putting on the mask; the foul, chaotic smell in the alley faded a bit.

Their attire and demeanor were so distinctive that as soon as they approached, they drew everyone's gaze, and someone even said: "Could they be coming again to look for Old Zhang's family?"

Amid the noisy chatter, Jiang Lai still caught the remark with her sharp ears, walked over to the speaker, and in dialect called them "niangniang," asking whether a man had previously come to look for the Zhang family.

Jiang Lai took out her phone and showed them Qiao Chuan's photo.

Upon hearing their accent, they recognized him immediately and said: "That's him."

"Old Zhang said they were relatives coming to take them to enjoy blessings; they moved house in less than a week, transferred the school records of the three children, and even sent their family's 'fool' Ping'an to school."

Hearing the name Ping'an, Jiang Lai hurriedly asked: "Do you know where they moved to?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Someone asked: "What relation are you to his family?"

Jiang Lai: "I'm Ping'an's sister."

"You're the sister of that little fool, huh?" The woman said, then suddenly realized it was inappropriate to say that in front of his sister, and hastily corrected herself: "Ping'an has been wearing new clothes these past few days—too bad his down jacket is white and got dirty after just two days."

Another person answered Jiang Lai's earlier question: "I don't know where they moved; the Zhang family won't say. Those days they were glowing with pride, constantly muttering that Ping'an was their family's lucky star."

"Oh, what kind of lucky star is that? If he were truly a lucky star, they wouldn't let Ping'an wear ragged clothes, and back in our day, when we were too poor to buy new clothes, we'd pick up hand‑me‑downs from others."

"And they keep yelling at that little… Ping'an to work—taking out the trash would be enough, but they also make him look after his younger siblings; if he does a bad job, they slap him twice, even though Ping'an can barely look after himself—purely looking for trouble."

"And I don't know what the Zhang family is thinking—if they aren't going to raise him properly, they shouldn't have taken him from the welfare institute; the government does a fine job of caring for him."

"Don't you know? Ping'an has a disability certificate, so he gets over two hundred yuan a month."

"Pfft, I have a relative's kid who went through that—there's no way it's that much; a mental disability only gets 148 yuan a month, where would the extra two hundred come from?"

Someone rolled their eyes: "Ping'an's thumb is missing—you didn't see? They rated him for two things, which together add up to over two hundred."

Jiang Lai listened on the side, piecing together Ping'an's life over the past two years—doing chores, looking after his younger siblings, being scolded and beaten by his uncle's family, and obtaining a disability certificate…

These weren't beyond her expectations; such situations really aren't rare in remote areas.

When she heard that Ping'an's thumb was missing, her eyes widened instantly, she stepped forward and asked: "Ping'an's thumb is gone? How did that happen?"

When Ping'an left the welfare institute, all ten of his fingers were intact; his only defect was autism.

Everyone shook their heads; no one knew.

Jiang Lai felt a tightness in her chest.

Ke Zhongyu couldn't understand their dialect, but he could read Jiang Lai's changing expression; when she felt unwell, he stepped over and steadied her.

Jiang Lai thanked them, then reached into her bag to feel for something—perhaps because she was too worried about Ping'an, she didn't pull it out right away.

Ke Zhongyu readied his wallet.

Jiang Lai freed one hand to grip his wrist, then pulled out handful after handful of candy from her bag to give them—candy wasn't scarce back then, she just offered it as a treat.

Perhaps because of the candy, one person thought carefully and said: "I seem to have heard something about a special school back then."

"A special school? I didn't know there was such a thing."

"Our county doesn't have it either, so you wouldn't know—I just heard someone say that." That person looked at Jiang Lai, "I'm not entirely sure either, but that person spoke Mandarin, and I'm not hard of hearing."

Jiang Lai said sincerely, "Thank you!"

She pulled Ke Zhongyu's wrist and left the alley, only letting go when they reached the roadside.

Ke Zhongyu's attention was still on Jiang Lai having just gripped his wrist.

"I wasn't intentionally holding you down just now." Jiang Lai explained, "Ke Zhongyu, this isn't a restaurant in A City; asking around for tips will bring trouble."

Ke Zhongyu came to: "Hmm."

"Got it."

"What did they just say?" Ke Zhongyu could only understand individual words, momentarily unable to piece them together.

"They talked about Ping'an's situation over the past two years, and they also mentioned a special school, but this county doesn't have a special school." Jiang Lai pulled out her phone to quickly search for special schools across G Province, then narrowed it down to K City, and further to the area around this county.

If there aren't any nearby, we'll go outward one by one.

The neighboring county is a large county seat and has a special school.

But we can't determine truth from falsehood just based on others' casual remarks.

We still need to go to the middle school here.

Ke Zhongyu understood her idea and gestured, "Shall we go to First Middle School first?"

Jiang Lai nodded.

The two arrived at the gate of First Middle School, where a man holding a briefcase stood; seeing them, he immediately approached.

"Hello, President Ke, Dr. Jiang. I'm Director Li's secretary; I'll take you in to see the principal."

Jiang Lai raised her eyebrows, looking at Ke Zhongyu in surprise.

While she was gathering information, Ke Zhongyu wasn't idle; a few messages connected them, and the other party's people arrived quickly.

First it was First Middle School, then Second Middle School, then Third Middle School.

They went through the files of all new students and even escorted them to the classroom doors to have a look.

None of them were.

None at all.

Jiang Lai said, "They're not here; they're likely at a special school."

The secretary immediately said there isn't one here, but the neighboring county does, and the two counties have cooperation; if they need, we can take them there tomorrow.

Jiang Lai said, "Thank you for the trouble tomorrow."

As soon as she finished speaking, the evening self-study bell rang, and students swarmed out of the classrooms—some heading to the school gate, some to the dormitories, some to the tuck shop.

A sea of black.

Ke Zhongyu and Jiang Lai waited until the campus was nearly empty before leaving; it had been quiet when they arrived, and it remained quiet as they departed.

Having confirmed they weren't at these schools, they could only wait until tomorrow to go to the special school in the neighboring county.

Jiang Lai said, "Let's head back to the hotel."

The bitter wind howled, and a gloom that no amount of warmth could dispel hung over Jiang Lai's brow.

Ke Zhongyu glanced around; a pile of small vendors crowded the school gate, the scent of spice drifting everywhere.

A cart passed by his side, giving off a sweet smell, its loudspeaker calling out roasted sweet potatoes.

Ke Zhongyu opened the car door, letting Jiang Lai sit in first, and said in a low voice, "Wait a moment."

Jiang Lai was still bent over, searching for information about the special school in the neighboring county, including all kinds of news.

However.

Not a single piece of bad news.

Jiang Lai frowned slightly; this wasn't normal—where there's good, there should be bad—how could a school have not a single negative review?

Just then, two bags were handed to her, steam misting up their surfaces.

Ke Zhongyu stood by her car window, his distinctively jointed fingers holding two bags.

One bag of skewers, one bag of roasted sweet potatoes.

Opposite where they parked was a market.

The market at this hour was quiet yet chaotic; the sanitation workers estimated they'd have to wait until the other side's small vendors packed up before coming to clean.

Ke Zhongyu wore a well-tailored handmade suit, standing straight and elegant, his handsome, cold face—no matter how you look at it, he shouldn't be appearing in such a market scene, yet he held skewers and roasted sweet potatoes, as if he should be sitting on the top floor of a skyscraper, overlooking the dazzling city lights.

Such a picture feels disjointed.

Yet it increasingly highlights Ke Zhongyu's innate nobility and handsomeness.

Ke Zhongyu saw her delay in taking them and lifted his fingers again.

With a slight tilt of his head, the man's deep gaze passed through the car window and fell softly on Jiang Lai's plain face.

"Spicy, sweet—we have both."