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“Fei Hu! How could this happen? Could something really have gone wrong?” Ye Xiaofei was getting anxious, gripping Fei Hu's collar as if the idea was his.
Fei Hu gently removed Ye Xiaofei's hands, trying to suppress his own nervousness, and said in a calmer tone, “Don’t panic. Let’s take a look first; maybe they went somewhere else.”
Upon entering the room, they noticed that the places where several people had sat earlier were unchanged, with teacups still in their spots. However, to their shock, Ye Cheng's teacup was overturned on the floor, spilling tea and leaves everywhere. It seemed clear that something had happened—Ye Cheng had likely been kidnapped again.
Fei Hu's mind raced with panic. What should he do? He paced back and forth, feeling lost and blaming himself for being distracted by his desire to be alone with Ye Xiaofei. Now there was trouble, and it was serious. Ye Xiaofei was even more flustered, nearly on the verge of tears.
Stay calm and composed; don’t rush into things. First, analyze the situation—these were the words his grandfather had always taught him. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Fei Hu turned to Ye Xiaofei and said, “At this point, panicking won’t help; it could make things worse. Let’s carefully analyze the situation before we decide what to do.”
What could Ye Xiaofei say? With tears in her eyes, she nodded at Fei Hu. He then walked a few steps around the Taoist priest's room when he suddenly noticed something sticking out from under the pillow on the bed—a half-exposed plug. Fei Hu hurried over and pulled it out to find it was a phone charger. The Taoist priest used a phone too! He paused for a moment and quickly asked Ye Xiaofei, “Is there any signal for your phone here?”
Ye Xiaofei didn’t fully understand Fei Hu’s reasoning but immediately took out her phone to check. She softly replied, “Yes, but it’s not very strong.”
Without hesitation, Fei Hu grabbed Ye Xiaofei’s hand and rushed down the mountain. As they ran, Ye Xiaofei gasped for breath and asked, “Why are we going down the mountain instead of up? What if he hid Grandpa and Sister Wu up there?”
“That’s unlikely. The Taoist priest has a phone, which means he often communicates with the outside world. He’s probably working for someone else; it seems they were well-prepared and just waiting for us to come in,” Fei Hu explained while running.
The mountain wasn’t high, and they quickly reached the bottom. Spotting his parked car by the roadside, Fei Hu noticed it hadn’t moved at all. Looking along the road, he saw only one set of tire tracks—the ones made by their own vehicle—indicating no other cars had passed by. If Ye Cheng and Sister Wu hadn’t been taken by car, their speed wouldn’t have been too fast either. If it was indeed a kidnapping, they wouldn’t have gotten far in just twenty minutes on foot.
Realizing this, Fei Hu shouted to Ye Xiaofei, “Get in the car quickly!”
As soon as Ye Xiaofei got into the car, Fei Hu stepped on the gas, and the BMW roared forward, kicking up dust that looked like a giant dragon slowly dissipating in the air.
"Drive slower! This is a farm road. If you're not careful and drive into the fields, you'll have to walk!" Ye Xiaofei suddenly shouted at Fei Hu. It seemed she had calmed down a bit; rushing would not get them anywhere, and that was a truth. Fei Hu had no choice but to ease off the accelerator and reduce the speed. After a while, Fei Hu calculated that they had covered at least seven or eight kilometers in over twenty minutes. At the old man's speed, there was no way he could have gone this far.
Fei Hu gradually brought the car to a stop again. Could it be that he really hid Grandpa and Sister Wu in the mountains? A question suddenly popped into Fei Hu's mind. Where could they be hidden? Why would he do this? If they reported it to the police, could he escape? It seemed he was fearless, confident that they wouldn't dare report it. How did he know all this? Was it just because he could calculate?
Ye Xiaofei glanced at Fei Hu and said softly, "Could this be the work of Ye Wu and the others? It doesn't seem like it because we decided on this place only this morning. Even if they followed us, how would they know there was a temple here with a priest inside? Everything seems disconnected; it just doesn't add up."
Fei Hu nodded; he was thinking along the same lines.
The two sat quietly without speaking. Through the car window, Fei Hu looked at the scattered villages in the distance and noticed a few people coming and going. He felt the solitude of the village, much like that ancient temple on the mountain.
"Let's stop by one of the villages and ask the priest about this temple's origins. Maybe we can uncover something," Fei Hu suggested as he started the car again, heading straight for the village at the foot of the mountain. Ye Xiaofei in the car looked anxious.
She couldn't help but mutter softly, "There are no housekeepers at home right now, and I check for bugs with my detector every few days; there's nothing like that. Plus, this place we came to was chosen by Grandpa and Sister Wu. I really can't figure out where this problem is coming from."
"What? You said this place was chosen by Grandpa and Sister Wu? That's really strange," Fei Hu replied as he quickly accelerated to maximum speed and soon entered the village.
The village had about thirty or forty households and didn't feel very large at all; there was no festive atmosphere to be found. Fei Hu parked at the village entrance, and as soon as he got out of the car, he saw an old man in his sixties carrying a package of gifts, looking like he was heading to visit relatives.
"Happy New Year, sir!" Fei Hu hurriedly greeted him.
The old man sized up Fei Hu before glancing at his car and smiled, "Happy New Year! Who are you related to here? Are you lost and asking for directions?"
Fei Hu shook his head and said, "I want to ask you something. How many years has the Taoist on this mountain been here? Has he always been here? And is it true that his fortune-telling is incredibly accurate, almost like a divine being?"
The old man glanced at Fei Hu with some displeasure and asked, "What are you two doing? Why are you asking this question? I can choose not to answer." With that, he picked up his gifts and started to leave.
At that moment, Ye Xiaofei ran down from the car, blocking the old man's path. She handed him a cigarette and sweetly said, "Grandpa, don't worry. We are not bad people; we came here out of curiosity. We heard that this Taoist is very accurate in his fortune-telling, and we just want to ask for a reading to see what we might be able to do in the future regarding a major incident."
Wow! Ye Xiaofei really knows how to network; she even has cigarettes, and her words are sweeter than mine. It seems like she might actually get this sorted out. Fei Hu stood aside, watching the old man's reactions.
The old man accepted the cigarette Ye Xiaofei offered him and then took out a lighter to light it up. He smiled and said, "Young lady, you’ve come to the right person. I know this old Taoist quite well. He has indeed been at this temple for over thirty years. However, his presence is quite erratic; you won't see him often within a year. As for his knowledge? He does have some, but as for fortune-telling... I haven't heard much about that. You young folks still believe in this? Isn't it just a waste of money?"
Upon hearing this, Fei Hu's expression tightened. If the old man said the Taoist could indeed tell fortunes accurately, Fei Hu wouldn't be so anxious. But since the old man claimed he hadn't heard of such abilities, it indicated that the Taoist had likely deceived people in this regard. Yet how did he know about my background? That was a bit frightening; the more Fei Hu thought about it, the more bizarre it seemed.
The old man left without Fei Hu noticing when he had gone. Ye Xiaofei nudged Fei Hu and said, "Stop daydreaming! We should call the police! With just the two of us, we can't resolve this matter at all. The longer we wait, the less safe Grandpa and Sister Wu will be."
Fei Hu shook his head and replied, "No way; we can't report this yet. It's too early to define this situation. Let's go up the mountain one more time and see if we can discover anything new. There might still be a chance for a breakthrough."
"Hmph! Do you think you're Detective Di Renjie? Just by looking around you can figure out what's wrong?" Ye Xiaofei pouted her lips, clearly losing her patience.
When they reached the foot of the mountain, Fei Hu pulled an unwilling Ye Xiaofei along as they ran up to the peak. Strangely enough, there were three or five people inside the temple offering incense; they were happily chatting while burning incense, bringing some life to what was otherwise a quiet temple.
Fei Hu and Ye Xiaofei's arrival went unnoticed by anyone. They looked around in the main hall; everything was just as it had been when they first arrived. The side hall was also unchanged; there was no place for anyone to hide. Where could they have gone? Fei Hu felt uncertain but decided to give it another try. He dragged Ye Xiaofei over to the Taoist's door, and just as they reached it, both of them let out an exclamation at the same time.
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