After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

Because of their plan to abduct the child, the two did not notice anything unusual about Little Twelve.

After the play ended, the villagers below all looked like they wanted more.

Many village chiefs came to Shen Ying to inquire about the cost of hiring an opera troupe. When they learned that a performance only cost one or two taels of silver, everyone was tempted and clamored to pool their money to have the opera troupe perform in their village for one night.

Since Qiu Shi and Rong Lao Si were not present, Chun Xiang was pushed out by the others to deal with the situation.

Su Tai wasn't very interested and led the child to walk with Ke Yunyun as "the family of three." When they were almost at their doorstep, she realized something was wrong and turned to look at the little figure in the shadows. "Is there something you need to do by following me home?"

That figure was clearly a child from an opera troupe.

Little Twelve's face was streaked with tears and snot, her thin body looking helpless and frail in the darkness. She knelt down before Su Tai with a thud, pleading, "Please, Madam, save my life! Please, Madam, save my life!"

"What's going on?" Ke Yunyun was a little frightened.

Tang Yu guessed something and quickly said, "Let's go inside first and talk about it."

Su Tai first took the two children home, locked the gate, and instructed the three black dogs to patrol carefully.

Only then did they take the child to the backyard and hand him over to Xiaoxi.

Xiao Xi wasn't officially a villager, and it wasn't appropriate for her to show her face tonight, so she volunteered to stay home and take care of the twins.

Seeing that Su Tai looked unwell, Xiao Xi didn't dare to ask any more questions and simply led the child to wash up.

Su Tai went to Tang Yu's side through the small door.

Ke Yunyun took the opportunity to lead Zhu Kangcheng back to the cellar backyard.

Once inside the workshop, all of Xiao Shier's worries and fears erupted, and she burst into tears, crying until Su Tai arrived, still sobbing and unable to speak.

Tang Yu was also good-tempered and waited for him to calm down before asking him anything.

Su Tai was speechless. She quickly fetched hot water for Xiao Shier to wash his face and asked him how he was doing, "Are you having some trouble?"

Little Twelve's logic wasn't very good, and he only managed to explain things in fits and starts: "Madam, the troupe leader and the matriarch will beat me to death, I dare not go back."

"Outrageous! The child was just hungry and wanted some food, is that really necessary?" Tang Yu couldn't suppress her anger and wished she could go to the compound right now to argue with Master Rong and the others.

Su Tai quickly advised, "Don't be impulsive. This child's situation is a bit complicated, and we also need to verify his background. Here's what we'll do: hide the child first, and we'll wait and see."

Tang Yu wasn't from Shenjiazhuang, and although he was furious, he understood that he couldn't cause trouble for Su Tai, so he could only nod in agreement.

Su Tai couldn't bear to see the child dressed in such tattered clothes, so she turned around and got a set of Zhu Kangcheng's clothes for him to change into.

Tang Yu volunteered to take care of Xiao Shier, which relieved Su Tai of a lot of worry.

They had reached an agreement on their side, but things were in complete chaos on the stage.

Xiao Shiyi was in charge of the women's things, while Xiao Shier was in charge of the men's things. Dongri saw Xiao Shiyi carrying things back and forth twice, but Xiao Shier was nowhere to be seen, so he stopped Xiao Shiyi and asked her.

Little Eleven looked bewildered and a little cautious. "Brother Dongri, I've been working and I don't know where Little Twelve went." Dongri's expression changed, and he hurriedly ran to Chunxiang's side. "Chunxiang, Little Twelve is missing."

"What!" Chunxiang's face immediately turned pale. She broke free from the villagers and rushed behind the stage. "What happened? Aren't you all here? Nobody knows where Xiao Shier went?"

Chunxing frowned unhappily, "Sister Chunxiang, we're all busy performing on stage, how can we have time to care about Xiao Shier! Besides, he's in charge of Dongri and the others, what does it have to do with us?"

Winter was displeased. "Little Twelve used to follow you all around, calling you 'sister' this and 'sister' that, and ignoring us completely. Why didn't you distinguish between us back then? Now that she's disappeared, you're pushing all the responsibility onto us?"

"Alright! Stop arguing! The most important thing now is to find the person; we can talk about the rest later." Chunxiang was at her wits' end.

Chunqin chimed in with sarcastic remarks, "How are we supposed to find it? It's pitch black, and it's a village we don't know at all. If you ask me, we should just tell the troupe leader and the old lady directly, so they don't come back to scold us!"

“But if we say it directly, Little Twelve will be beaten to death.” Dongfeng’s expression was solemn, his face full of worry.

Chunqin laughed exaggeratedly, "Dongfeng, what kind of time is this to still be pretending to be a good person! Ever since Twelve ate the things the village gave him, he was destined not to be on our side! The right thing to do is to take the initiative to explain things. If you won't tell, I will!"

Chunqin stormed out, followed by Dongri, Dongshan, and Dongchuan. Chunxing hesitated for a moment before chasing after them as well.

Only Chunxiang, Dongfeng, and Xiao Shiyi, who was trembling with fear, remained.

"Sister Chunxiang, will Little Twelve be alright?" Little Eleven asked, her voice trembling with tears.

Chunxiang felt annoyed thinking about how Xiao Shier had been isolated, but she could understand Xiao Shiyi's difficulties, so she patiently comforted her, "Just do your job well and don't get involved in anything else. It won't affect you."

Just as Qiu and Rong Lao Si returned after hiding the child, they heard that Xiao Shi Er was missing.

Rong Lao Si was so angry that his face was distorted.

Qiu gritted her teeth, "He really is an ungrateful wretch! Let's go find the village chief. I don't believe that little brat can get far!"

Rong Lao Si hesitated for a moment, "What if we get found out?"

Qiu was furious and didn't think much about it. "What are you afraid of! We've hidden him so well, and he's not even in the village. What's there to worry about! That little brat doesn't even know how to get out of the village. He's definitely still in the village. If we don't look for him now, it'll be too late if he escapes by dawn!"
"I'll settle the score with you all once I find that bastard! A bunch of troublesome dogs, all you do is annoy me! What are you waiting for? Find him!"

Chunqin and the others were so shocked by the scolding that their minds went blank. They ran outside in a daze, looking for help everywhere.

It was only then that the families who had lost their children realized the problem, and the whole village was filled with cries and wailing as they searched for their children. There were also two people from other villages who discovered their children were missing before they even reached the village entrance.

With things escalating like this, everyone panicked.

At a critical moment, Liu Guangyao proved useful by stepping in to control the situation and stopping the villagers who were preparing to return to their village.

Shen Ying led several strong men from the village to check each household, and only let them leave after confirming that there were no problems.

Granny Zhang and Crippled Shen sat by the roadside, breaking down in tears, wailing, "Xiao Xi, Xiao Xi, where have you gone, Xiao Xi! Come back!"

Su Tai had just arrived when she heard Granny Zhang crying and rushed to Shen Ying's side. "Village Chief, what happened?"

Shen Ying's eyes were red and swollen; she was almost frantic with worry. "Children are missing! Five families' children are missing, and one from the opera troupe is also missing. I should never have performed that big opera! Xiao Tai, what are we going to do now?" (End of Chapter)