After returning home with the child, her ex-husband knelt down and gently coaxed her.

Mentioning this name, Jiang Xiaoshan's eyes softened. "My little niece is beautiful and charming, well-behaved and sensible, and has a sweet tongue; she knows a whole repertoire of ways to coax people..."

As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes, as if she were thinking of the little girl when she was young.

"After she went missing, my elder brother and sister-in-law searched for her for many years without success. They were overjoyed to have a daughter late in life, but the loss of their child was a devastating blow. They were already in poor health from years of working tirelessly on their research, and the shock of losing their daughter led to their untimely passing."

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy. Lu Xiyan raised his hand to pour her a cup of tea and said, "If she is still alive, I will do my best to help the two elders find her."

He asked, "Does Aunt Jiang remember what her distinctive features were?"

Jiang Xiaoshan thought for a moment, then quickly said, "Yes!"

"She has a mole here!" Jiang Xiaoshan pointed to the inside of her left wrist. "This spot is very obvious; she was born with it!"

However, many people have moles in this area, so it's not unusual.

"And here!" Jiang Xiaoshan thought for a moment, then touched her right earlobe. "There's a mole here too, but it's red and very small, so it's not usually easy to see."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiyan's hand holding the teacup trembled violently. "An earlobe, a red mole?"

"Yes." Jiang Xiaoshan met his deep eyes. "I didn't know at first either. I only noticed it when she was five or six months old, when I was playing with her and kissing her little ear. My sister-in-law said that she was born with this mole."

"And her skin is very fair, so the mole is very noticeable up close," Jiang Xiaoshan added.

Lu Xiyan's eyes flickered, and his brows furrowed deeply.

He had seen the mole on the inside of the wrist and the small red mole on the earlobe on the same person.

"Is there anything else?" he asked, his voice slightly hoarse.

Jiang Xiaoshan thought about it carefully again, "There's another place."

"Xiao Zhi has a small, crescent-shaped scar above her lower back. She got it from an accident when she was two years old. By the time she was four or five, the scar had faded quite a bit. My older brother and sister-in-law thought the scar wasn't unsightly, but rather rather unique, so they didn't have her undergo surgery to remove it."

"There is no one in the world who has the exact same scar as her. I can recognize her at a glance and I will never mistake her for someone else."

Jiang Xiaoshan looked at Lu Xiyan as she said this, "If Mr. Lu can find a girl who matches all these characteristics, I'll know at a glance if she's our Xiaozhi!"

Lu Xiyan met her gaze, and for the first time, the usually calm and reserved man almost dropped the water glass in his hand.

......

After finishing most of the day's meetings, An Ning emerged from the temporary office. It was already dark outside. A crescent moon hung in the inky sky.

I turned my phone off while I was working, and only when I turned it back on did I realize it was almost 8 p.m.

Two missed calls popped up on my phone; they were from Li Chunfang.

She held her laptop in one hand and made a phone call with the other.

"mom--"

Anning was interrupted agitatedly before she could finish speaking.

"Anning! You finally answered the phone!"

Seeing that she was emotional, Anning quickly asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen to Xuanxuan?"

"No, Xuanxuan is fine." Li Chunfang composed herself. "Ningning, Mom has something to tell you."

Li Chunfang's voice was somewhat serious, which made An Ning tense up as well.

"I ran into Chen Laosi today."

As soon as Li Chunfang finished speaking, An Ning's heart tightened, and her eyes widened in astonishment.

Chen Laosi?

That's the person who sold her to the An family!

Her hand gripped the phone tighter involuntarily as she listened to Li Chunfang continue, "Ningning, Mom asked you, and Chen Laosi said he found you in Dianhai..."

After she finished speaking, An Ning's mind went blank, and she even had trouble breathing.

"Dianchi Lake?"

"Yes, that's where you were on a business trip." Li Chunfang's voice was a little excited. "Chen Laosi said that when she found you, you were all alone. He's never met your parents..."

"Ningning... perhaps the Dianchi Lake... is where you were born..."

The sudden news left An Ning somewhat dazed, her mind reeling as if it were all tied in knots.

Dianhai, the place of my birth?

She looked up at the sky above, gazing at this place that felt both strange and strangely familiar, and a surge of emotion welled up inside her.

Is she from Yunnan?

That's why she subconsciously recognized those mushrooms?

That's why she feels so close to the land beneath her feet?

Anning's heart pounded wildly. Her voice choked with emotion, "Where is Dianhai? Why was I taken in? Where are my biological parents?"

"Old Chen said he found you on the outskirts of Dianhai City. It was raining when he found you, and you were lying alone by the roadside..."

Li Chunfang told her everything Chen Laosi had said, including the details of how she and An Tianhua bought her back then.

Anning's hands trembled so much she could barely hold the phone, her voice shaking uncontrollably, "But why... can't I remember anything from my childhood?"

Li Chunfang said she was about four or five years old that year.

Children aged four or five should have memories, even if they can't remember everything, they will still have impressions of things that happened in their childhood.

But she remembers nothing.

"That high fever lasted for several days, and you forgot everything when you woke up," Li Chunfang said, choking back tears. "You're in Dianhai now, why don't you look around? See if you recognize any places?"

After the call ended, Anning stood there for a long time, unable to recover.

The Dianhai Lake is so vast that she doesn't remember a single thing from her childhood.

I don't remember my biological parents' names or what they look like.

I don't remember my name or how I got lost...

I don't remember anything, how am I supposed to find it?

It felt like a huge rock was pressing on her chest, making it hard for her to breathe.

She thought that finding Chen Laosi would solve the mystery of her past.

But now even Chen Laosi doesn't know who her parents are.

Suddenly, a tremendous sense of powerlessness swept over her. She had already stopped caring so much about her background, and whether or not she could find her biological parents was no longer important to her.

But Li Chunfang's phone call just now gave her hope, yet it also plunged her into confusion.

Suddenly, a telephone rang in the quiet night.

An Ning paused for a moment, looked at the unfamiliar phone number on her phone, and answered it after a long while.

"Why aren't you coming to find me after you're done? What are you standing there for?"

A deep, magnetic voice came through the phone, rubbing against Anning's ear canal. Her heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously looked up.

The man was dressed in a white T-shirt and black pants; he was tall, had long legs, and looked good and refreshing.

He was holding a phone in one hand, a handsome smile on his lips, as he walked over from a distance.

Seeing him calmed Anning's chaotic emotions a little.

"Western Banquet".

An Ning looked at the man's deep features, her voice trembling slightly, "There's something I want to tell you."

"Perfect timing." Lu Xiyan walked up to her and gently brushed the stray hairs from her forehead. "I also have something to tell you."