Chapter 94: Baoer's Home, the Island of the Eastern Pole

“Take it slowly... Mu Xi, what on earth is going on?” Lin Shenlu grew a little tense.

Good news, bad news... what was all this about?

“Don’t rush, Lu’er. I’ll tell you little by little. Which would you like to hear first?” An Muxi said from the other end of the line.

“Then... the bad news first...” Lin Shenlu frowned and set the brush back into the bucket.

“Hmm... how about the good news first?” An Muxi suggested after a moment’s thought.

“Uh... all right, I’ll listen to you.” Lin Shenlu laughed softly.

“The good news is that I found the identity information of that girl, Su Bao’er, whom you picked up!” An Muxi said earnestly.

“Huh? That fast?” Lin Shenlu froze, then asked with a smile.

That really was good news.

If they could find Su Bao’er’s information, they would know her home address, and then he could send her back to her hometown.

“Where is she from?” Lin Shenlu asked at once.

An Muxi paused, then sighed. “You’re in Lishui now, right?”

Lin Shenlu nodded.

“Then she’s not far from you, both within Zhejiang... only, it’s in the easternmost part...”

“Huh... could it be Dongji Island?” Lin Shenlu went still.

“According to the missing persons registration I found, yes... There was a missing persons filing on Dongji Island in 2008, and the fingerprint match checks out. That girl of yours is called Su Bao’er, right?” An Muxi said, lowering her head as she looked at something on the desk.

“Yes, that’s right. Dongji Island... that doesn’t make sense at all! The girl speaks with such a strong Sichuan accent—I thought she must be from Sichuan...” Lin Shenlu said in surprise.

“She went missing in 2008. The records show she was born in 2002, so she would be twenty this year, which means she was only eight when she disappeared... Over the years, who knows how many places she’s been? Lishui may not be far from Dongji Island, but fourteen or fifteen years have passed. Who could know where she’s been? Maybe she spent her childhood in Sichuan... that’s why it sounds that way. It just happened that you met her in Lishui... I think if you hadn’t found her... after a few more years, maybe she would have walked all the way back to Dongji Island herself...” An Muxi sighed.

“Lost at eight... and to leave Dongji Island, you’d have to take a boat, right? So it could very well have been traffickers who took her away.” Lin Shenlu also sighed, his heart aching for Su Bao’er.

This girl had left home at eight years old. It was impossible to know what she had endured all these years, or how she had survived.

At that thought, Lin Shenlu suddenly remembered there was still the bad news.

“Right, what was the bad news?” he asked quickly.

“The bad news... is that I already contacted the local police station on Dongji Island... According to what they found... all of Su Bao’er’s family moved away ten years ago... and there’s no trace of them at all. They can’t be found...”

After a pause, An Muxi went on, “Maybe the child was lost and the blow was too great; after searching for years without success, they left that place of grief. Or maybe they have been searching outside all these years, never giving up...”

“This...”

...

That left Lin Shenlu at a loss as to what he should do next.

Originally, he had found the direction home, and Dongji Island was not far from here either. It was all within Zhejiang, and once things here were done, he could simply send Su Bao’er back home.

But now her family was no longer there—what meaning would it have to send her back?

He should talk this over with Su Bao’er first.

...

Lin Shenlu had never expected to encounter such a difficult problem.

The home had been found, yet the people were gone.

As expected, behind every story there was a sorrowful source.

Dongji Island.

That place seemed rather nice.

Not the South Pole, not the North Pole, but the Eastern Pole.

Though Dongji is not the easternmost point of our country, it is the easternmost island group.

It seemed that years ago, a film directed by Han Han, called Everything Will Be Fine, was shot there...

In the story, three boys who grew up on Dongji Island chose to drive away and see the world.

And then, as soon as they left the island... one of the three main characters went missing.

Yes, it was that Hu Sheng who disappeared so inexplicably.

It felt very much like... Su Bao’er in the room.

Could Dongji Island be a place that specifically loses children?

...

No point thinking about it so much.

Finish the matters in Lishui first, then discuss it with Su Bao’er.

Going to Dongji Island to take a look would not be a bad thing either.

After adding the last few strokes, the painting before Lin Shenlu was complete.

He smiled in satisfaction, then casually smeared all the paint on the palette across the canvas.

In an instant, the beautiful painting became abstract...

It was only a draft, so it did not matter.

The final finished piece had to appear on that day.

He should paint a few more beforehand and try to recapture the feeling of those years!

Taking out his phone, Lin Shenlu called Hai Lanjing.

At that moment, Hai Lanjing was still at the construction site of the old house.

Designer Lu Chaoxi was showing Hai Lanjing the plans and explaining them.

This house design was not like the Whale and Deer Hotel in Santorini, where the style was unified.

There had not been much variation there; the whole Dreamland had a Greek tropical feel, with white cave houses.

But this time was Hai Lanjing’s first time designing and building an inn of his own.

So everyone was extremely excited and full of drive.

Hai Lanjing was not short of money.

Thus, after generously paying up, the construction crew also worked extremely hard.

“Here, I plan to use all old wood. Natural wood tones still feel too modern. Tomorrow I’ll go around the villages. I’ll collect every weathered old wooden door and window over a hundred years old... That will be a considerable expense... And in this courtyard, I’ll also gather old water troughs or millstones from the villages, each over a century old... The sense of age will be fully brought out.”

As Lu Chaoxi explained, Hai Lanjing kept nodding.

Then Hai Lanjing’s phone rang.

It was Lin Shenlu calling.

“Hm?”

Hai Lanjing waved to Lu Chaoxi and said, “No problem. You decide the budget for collecting those things. I trust you. I’m going to take a call first!”

With that, Hai Lanjing answered Lin Shenlu’s call.

“What is it, Lin Shenlu?”

“Hmm... I want to ask—when you rented this house, did your network reach any of the town’s leaders?” Lin Shenlu asked after thinking for a moment.

“Leaders? What for? Is there something you need to get done?” Hai Lanjing asked curiously.

“It’s like this. The person I most want to contact is the one in charge of the local cultural department... so I wanted to ask whether your connections can reach them...” Lin Shenlu asked.

“The cultural department... I’m not sure about that... but someone above them should be able to help! What are you trying to do, Lin Shenlu?” Hai Lanjing still sounded curious.

“Confucius said... it cannot be spoken of... As long as you can make contact, that’s enough. Let’s find a time tomorrow. Bring me there then. Don’t worry, it will definitely be good for your inn.”

“Pfft, so mysterious. If you won’t say, fine. Just wait. I’ll ask around first...” Hai Lanjing snorted lightly and hung up.