Go Missing 01

The morning rush hour in Jiangcheng City starts at 7:30 am. Private cars, buses, and large companies' shuttle buses move slowly on the main road, with most passengers dozing off, while some are having breakfast. They drink soy milk placed in a clear plastic bag with a straw and eat two plain buns. This is their first meal of the day.

There are not many families that start cooking early in the morning. Therefore, the sizzling sound of oil coming from apartment 1601 in Building 6 of Tianhe New Village sounds like a happy melody.

Xia Qingru is busy in the kitchen, wearing a well-fitting brown apron selected by his daughter Xia Juan. The front of the apron is printed with a light yellow color and a sweet donut above it, and two wavy lines symbolizing the smell above the donut are very playful.

Xia Qingru held a round white porcelain bowl and stirred the fresh egg mixture vigorously with a pair of chopsticks, causing the mixture to splash out of the bowl. He then poured the beaten egg mixture into a hot pan, which already contained fried shrimp. He gently shook the pan and turned off the heat when the egg mixture began to bubble. Using a silicone spatula, he gently stirred the ingredients in the pan using the residual heat. When the egg mixture stopped bubbling, he reignited the stove and continued to stir-fry until done. Finally, he poured a small plate of cooked peas into the pan, creating a colorful and delicious dish of shrimp and scrambled eggs.

Between 7 am and 8 am, Xia Qingru managed to cook three dishes, including steamed codfish, garlic broccoli, and golden fried rice. What's more impressive is that after finishing the dishes, the stovetop remained clean and tidy. The cleaning cloth was washed, folded into strips, and placed on the edge of the sink. The white marble countertop had no oil stains. In addition to being proficient in speaking authentic British English, Xia Qingru, who teaches at Jiangcheng Normal University, is also skilled in the kitchen.

He took out two insulated lunch boxes from the cabinet, one large and one small. He divided the cooked dishes into two portions, one large portion in the stainless steel insulated lunch box for his wife and mother-in-law's lunch, and the smaller portion in the colorful insulated lunch box for his daughter's brunch.

Translation: These past few days, his mother-in-law was hospitalized and waiting for a major operation. His wife was responsible for accompanying her at the hospital, while Xia Qingru took on the responsibility of logistics support. After making everything ready, he changed into his winter clothes and knocked on his daughter's door before leaving. When he turned the doorknob, it was locked, so he could only speak through the door:

"Juan, I've prepared your meal, and the soup is in the pot. When you eat, please heat it up yourself. Is Daddy leaving now?"

His daughter was on winter break. When his wife was around, she could maintain her routine as if she were still on campus. She would wake up early, strap on her headphones, and recite vocabulary words. Since his mother-in-law was hospitalized, his daughter had been sleeping late every day. Xia Qingru was a very forgiving person. When grading papers, he often gave students the benefit of the doubt. If a student received 57 or 58 points, he would go back and re-check to see if he could pick up those two or three extra points. In Xia Qingru's mind, his daughter sleeping in was not a big deal. Let her sleep in, since this is the most relaxing holiday of the three years of hard study in high school. He knocked on the door and reminded her, just worried that his daughter might not eat her meal and might harm her health.

Xia Qingru stood still and listened for a while with his ears perked up, but there was no response from inside the room. He tapped the door again and called his daughter's name several times.

Finally, a lazy meowing sound came out of the room. After listening carefully, his daughter said, "I know, I want to sleep, I'm tired."

Xia Qingru smiled lovingly, no longer asking any questions. He wiped the lenses of his frameless glasses and picked up the lunch box he was going to bring to the hospital. When he reached the entrance hall, he changed into winter boots and put on his plaid scarf. As he glanced at the calendar on the shelf, he saw that it was December 24th, the Southern Small Year, and New Year's Eve was approaching. He realized that his mother-in-law might not be discharged from the hospital before the new year. He took a deep breath of fresh air, which filled his lungs before he exhaled the accumulated stress.

As Xia Qingru habitually looked at his watch before leaving, he saw that it was 8:23 in the morning. He had no idea that his stable and happy life would shatter in ten hours, nor could he predict it. He closed the door gently and left home as usual. Deep down, he prayed for everything to go smoothly and for them to overcome any difficulties, so they could start a new year again. ...