Han Ye and Qin Qiao'an headed home while it was still dusk.
Han Ye rode his bicycle with Qin Qiao'an sitting on the back, and in the basket in front were a popsicle, a bottle of soda, and a nice box of colored pencils.
Those were all things he'd bought for Xiaxia.
Qin Qiao'an sat on the back seat of the bike, feeling very pleased with how he'd done that day.
It was thanks to his enthusiastic selling that they'd gotten rid of their goods so quickly—it wasn't even dark yet, and the two brothers were already on their way home.
Qin Qiao'an asked proudly, "Bro, bro! How much money did we make in total today?"
Han Ye smiled and said, "Didn't I just show you a moment ago? Twenty-eight yuan."
Qin Qiao'an then counted on his fingers, calculated, and said in surprise, "That's a lot!"
In this era, the average worker's salary was around one hundred fifty to two hundred yuan a month.
They'd made twenty-eight yuan in just one afternoon, and that was without even trying hard.
If they put in more effort and were more diligent, leaving at noon every day and selling all the way until the night market closed, the money they'd earn would at least double—that way, they could make close to a hundred yuan.
For the two of them, that was already a lot of money.
Qin Qiao'an sighed and said, "No wonder people drop out of school and go set up stalls to do business. Business really does make money. We're just selling goods for them—if we went and got the stock ourselves and sold it, we'd make even more!"
At this rate, even without studying, it seemed like they could make a decent amount of money. Life wouldn't be a problem at all.
Han Ye also did the math in his head. It was true—although they'd been making a fair bit helping sell things these past few days, when you added it all up, the profit margin wasn't actually that high.
Because the other party's profit was even higher, and they were the bosses who supplied the goods to them to sell in bulk. They must be making a good chunk of change.
Han Ye muttered under his breath, "Looks like anyone going into business now can make big money. The country's economy is on the rise overall. Things coming over from Hong Kong and Taiwan are also selling like hotcakes. Just open a shop and sell some imported goods, and you can make money. This is actually an opportunity."
Qin Qiao'an suddenly felt that the popsicle in his mouth didn't taste that great anymore. He grabbed hold of Han Ye's shoulders, stood up, and shouted, "Bro, how about we go get our own stock and sell it too? How about that? Let's go make big money!"
Han Ye: "..."
Han Ye made a "tsk" sound and said to him, "How old are you, and you're already thinking about doing business? Didn't you say you wanted to join the army later?"
Qin Qiao'an said, "I can make money first, then join the army! Bro, I really think we can do it! Why should we work for other people to make a living?"
Han Ye was silent for a moment, then said, "There's no rush on this. We'll talk about it later."
The two brothers rode their bicycle through the streets and alleys, heading back to the military compound the whole way.
On the way, Qin Qiao'an didn't stay quiet for even a few minutes. As he ate his popsicle, he said, "Bro, what are we having for dinner tonight? I'm starving. I want to eat meat."
Qin Yuanzheng had been swamped these past few days, stuck in meetings at the headquarters building every day, and he didn't come home until after seven in the evening. Counting on him to come back and cook for them? That was out of the question.
Qin Qiao'an sighed, "I miss my mom. A kid without a mom is like a blade of grass! When is my mom coming back!"
Han Ye missed Qiao Lanshu too. Without Qiao Lanshu around, the three of them—the siblings—had to fend for themselves.
Just then, Han Ye had made some money today and was feeling happy about it. He immediately said, "In a bit, we'll take Xiaxia with us. Big bro will take you all to a restaurant. We're eating out!"
In the 1980s, there were already quite a lot of restaurants on the streets. It was no longer like before, when only state-owned restaurants existed and you had to use ration tickets.
In Wencheng, ration tickets had basically been done away with. Except for certain specialty goods, ordinary things could be bought with just cash.
Every restaurant had all sorts of things available, with no spending limits—as long as you had money, you could buy.
When Qin Qiao'an heard they were going to a restaurant, he got so excited that he started crazily pounding Han Ye on the back, making "bang bang bang" sounds. He shouted, "Awesome, bro! Restaurant! Restaurant! I want roast chicken and roast duck, braised pork knuckle, red-braised pork, meat buns, and a full set of steamed flower rolls and mantou!"
Han Ye: "..."
Han Ye was speechless and said to him, "Qin Qiao'an, are you a pig? Eating that much! You're not treating me like your big brother—you're treating me like your enemy!"
Qin Qiao'an just laughed out loud, patting Han Ye's back all the way, urging him to pedal faster.
He couldn't wait to eat roast chicken and roast duck.
Han Ye steered the bike with one hand. After riding this long, he was thirsty too, so he pulled out a popsicle, held it in one hand, and crunched on it noisily. He still doted on his younger brother.
He said to Qin Qiao'an, "Alright, let's do this—we'll buy one roast chicken and one roast duck. We'll eat half and save half for your dad. Forget the buns; we still have flower rolls and mantou at home, so no need to spend money on those. We've also got cucumbers at home—we'll make a cucumber salad and some millet porridge. How does that sound?"
These were all things they loved, so of course Qin Qiao'an nodded like crazy.
He tossed the popsicle stick away and said excitedly, "Whatever you say, bro! Pedal faster, I'm so hungry."
Both brothers were starving—they'd been out working for hours without eating a thing.
Young lads in their growth spurt burned through energy quickly and got hungry fast.
As Han Ye talked about eating out, he managed to make even himself crave the food.
So, he finished off his popsicle in a few quick bites, then pedaled the bicycle as fast as he could.
...
There was no helping it—the weather was hot, and the popsicle melted quickly. He needed to get the popsicle home to Xiaxia soon, otherwise, by the time they got there, the little girl would only be left with melted popsicle water.
Soon enough, the brothers arrived at the front gate of their home. Qin Qiao'an jumped off the bike first, ran up to the door, and shoved it—but it didn't budge. That was when he noticed the front door was locked.
That was strange.
Usually, the courtyard gate of their house rarely stayed shut.
Even if it was closed, they generally didn't lock it.
Because the military compound was a safe place, and the neighbors around them were all familiar faces. People frequently dropped by each other's homes.
All the kids knew each other, so there was no need to lock the door at all.
Qin Qiao'an looked at the courtyard gate, then at the lock on it. He frowned and tilted his head to ask Han Ye, "Bro, did you lock the door when we left?"
Han Ye pushed the bike over and said, "No, I didn't lock it. Did Xiaxia go out?"
Qin Qiao'an pulled out the key hanging around his neck and unlocked the front door of their home.
Then he ran inside shouting, "Xiaxia, big brothers are back!"
He barged into Xiaxia's room and saw it completely empty—no one was there.
Xiaxia's book was still on the desk with a bookmark tucked in it.
Qin Qiao'an ran back out and said, "Bro, Xiaxia's not home. She seems to have gone out."
Han Ye parked the bike in the courtyard and ran inside too: "Xiaxia? Xiaxia? Are you home?"
The two brothers looked around the room, but of course they couldn't find Xiaxia anywhere.
Qin Qiao'an tossed the finished popsicle stick into the trash can before saying, "It's almost dark by now. Where did Xiaxia go?"
Han Ye stood in the yard for a while, then said, "She probably went to the stationery store on the corner. She goes there pretty often to buy things."
With that, he said to Qin Qiao'an, "An'an, you stay here and steam the rice. I'll ride my bike to pick up Xiaxia. It's almost dark, and there are plenty of bad people around—she's just a young girl, she shouldn't be out on her own."
Qin Qiao'an nodded. "No problem, leave it to me."
With that, Qin Qiao'an headed to the kitchen to steam the rice.
Han Ye, meanwhile, pushed his bicycle back out the gate. As he left the compound, he stopped by the guardhouse and asked the guard, "Hey, brother, have you seen my little sister Xiaxia?"
Han Ye was quite well-known in the military compound—everyone recognized him.
The guard smiled and said, "Yeah, I saw her. She left around four-thirty, headed that way."
He pointed in a direction, which happened to be toward the stationery store on the corner.
Han Ye smiled and thanked him, then hopped on his bike and pedaled toward the corner.
But deep down, he still felt something was off. After all, the guard said Xiaxia had left at four-thirty, and it was already five-thirty now—an hour had passed, so why hadn't she come back yet?
Could buying stationery really take that long?
As Han Ye rode his bike past the intersection, he casually glanced around, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a familiar figure.
He turned to look, and sure enough, he spotted Li Taohua and Li Jian.
Both siblings were dark-skinned and stocky, very distinctive, so Han Ye recognized them at a glance.
He couldn't be bothered with them, so he sped up and passed the intersection, riding all the way to the stationery store.
He walked in and looked around the shop. It wasn't big to begin with—you could see the whole place in one glance.
No Xiaxia.
Han Ye's expression immediately turned serious. He walked to the counter and asked the shopkeeper, "Boss, have you seen my sister? Xiaxia? She's about this tall, with straight bangs and a round face, and she has dimples when she smiles. She comes here often to buy things, and you've even complimented her on how cute she is. Do you remember?"
The shopkeeper definitely remembered. She said, "Of course I remember her, but she didn't come in today."
Han Ye's face grew even grimmer. "She didn't come? Around four or five this afternoon, she said she was coming here to buy something?"
The shopkeeper waved her hand. "She didn't come, she really didn't. I know Xiaxia, she wasn't here this afternoon."
Han Ye's expression turned dark.
He stepped out of the stationery store and stood at the entrance, looking around.
Next to the stationery store was a convenience store, and across the street was an old barber giving haircuts. This wasn't a main street, so it wasn't usually too busy.
And since this was the military compound, the surrounding residential areas were sparse.
Everyone around here knew each other. By all logic, Xiaxia shouldn't have gotten lost.
Han Ye came out of the stationery store and went to the convenience store next door to ask. The convenience store owner said the same thing—Xiaxia hadn't been there.
Han Ye crossed the street and went to ask the old barber.
The old man usually had a few stools set up with a handwritten sign reading "Haircut 5 mao." Plenty of people came to him for haircuts, all of them neighbors.
Qin Yuanzheng had brought Qin Qiao'an and Han Ye there several times, all of them getting crew cuts.
Han Ye ran over and asked him, "Uncle, did you see my little sister Xiaxia this afternoon? Did she come by here?"
The barber was just sitting around with a few men in their fifties and sixties, playing chess.
Before he could answer, one of the men watching the chess game spoke up. "Are you talking about Xiaxia? It looked to me like she was being chased by someone this afternoon."
The moment Han Ye heard that, his expression changed. "Chased? By who? Which way did she run?"
A couple of the old men started chiming in: "Oh, right, now I remember. It was Zhuzi and his crew—they're usually idle and up to no good, hanging around and bothering young girls here. They were here this afternoon too."
"That's right, that's them. They probably saw that Xiaxia was pretty, so they chased after her..."
When Han Ye heard this, his face turned ashen. "They were harassing Xiaxia, and you didn't help?"
The old men shook their heads and looked at Han Ye. "We couldn't even run if we tried."
Han Ye: "..."
Han Ye nearly cursed them out for being useless.
He didn't have time to worry about who had chased after her now. He asked urgently, "Which way did Xiaxia run? Do you know?"
"Yeah, she ran that way. Over there."
One of the old men pointed down another street and said, "There's a row of abandoned courtyard houses over there. She went that way. It's been over an hour and she still hasn't come back. You'd better hurry and check."
Han Ye was frantic. He immediately hopped on his bike and tore off in that direction.
As he rode, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Xiaxia! Qin Qiaoxia! Where are you? If you can hear me, answer me!"
Han Ye kept shouting as he rode, his voice loud enough to stir up both streets full of neighbors. People came running out one after another, and someone asked, "Who's Xiaxia? Hey, that young man looks pretty familiar, doesn't he?"
"Of course he looks familiar—last month your boy got his face beaten black and blue by him. Forget already?"
"..."
"Oh, it's him. I remember he has a cute little sister, isn't her name Xiaxia? Xiaxia's missing?"
In no time, all the neighbors were out. It wasn't like they had anything better to do, so as soon as they heard there might be some excitement, everyone came out.
Li Taohua and Li Jian had been walking along the road. The moment she heard Han Ye screaming Qin Qiaoxia's name all over the street, Li Taohua's face turned pale with fright. She quickly said to Li Jian, "Brother, it's getting dark already. Let's just hurry home."
With that, she turned around to leave.
Li Jian was confused. "Didn't we just come out? We haven't even bought the soy sauce yet. Why are you in such a rush?"
Li Taohua stamped her foot and let out an anxious "Hal hey," saying, "You go buy the soy sauce, I'm heading home first!"
She turned and ran off.
Li Jian watched her back with a helpless look and went to buy the soy sauce himself with the bottle in hand.
Meanwhile, Han Ye rode his bike around the abandoned courtyard houses twice, all the while shouting Qin Qiaoxia's name until his voice went hoarse.
He was terrified that something might have happened to her. If he couldn't find her in another ten minutes, he'd have to go to the military base to find Qin Yuanzheng and then to the police station to find Han Wenlin.
