Chapter 36: Meat buns

That night, Shen Hongxing tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. She felt uneasy and had a premonition that something was going to happen.

She didn’t fall asleep until late at night.

The next day was Ghost Festival.

Xu Shuangshuang, Chen Jiayi, and the other thugs went to pay their respects to their deceased relatives.

Only Shen Hongxing and Cao Hongxia remained in the abandoned ship.

When Cao Hongxia woke up, Shen Hongxing had already prepared breakfast and was waiting for her.

Yawning, Cao Hongxia sat down.

Seeing that Xu Shuangshuang and Chen Jiayi’s chairs were empty, she asked Shen Hongxing, “Boss, where are Sister Shuang and Jiayi?”

“Oh, it’s Ghost Festival. They went to pay respects to their parents!”

Shen Hongxing noticed dark circles under Cao Hongxia’s eyes, “Didn’t sleep well last night?”

“It was alright!”

Cao Hongxia took a sip of porridge.

Suddenly, she put down her bowl and said to Shen Hongxing, “Boss, I want to buy some joss paper to burn!”

Shen Hongxing was worried.

“Okay!”

After breakfast, they went to a shop selling joss paper.

Because it was Ghost Festival, many people were buying joss paper. The queue stretched from inside the shop to the street.

Cao Hongxia took two stacks of joss paper and a bag of gold ingots and went inside to pay.

Soon, Cao Hongxia came out.

Shen Hongxing was waiting for her.

The moment Cao Hongxia looked up, she saw a middle-aged woman wearing a blue headscarf standing not far from Shen Hongxing.

It was her!

She was terrified.

The things in her hands fell to the ground.

Shen Hongxing noticed her strangeness and quickly walked over.  Just as she was about to ask what happened, Cao Hongxia smiled and said, “Boss, do you smell meat buns?”

“Mm!”

Shen Hongxing nodded.

The market sold steamed buns every day, and the aroma always reached the next street.

She could naturally smell it.

Cao Hongxia looked at her, “Boss, can you buy me two meat buns? I loved meat buns when I was a child!”

Shen Hongxing didn’t understand why she suddenly wanted meat buns.

She looked Cao Hongxia over.

Cao Hongxia seemed fine.

“Boss, please?”

Cao Hongxia looked at her with almost a pleading gaze.

Shen Hongxing didn’t refuse, “Let’s go together!”

She felt that something was wrong with Cao Hongxia and didn’t want to leave her side.

“Okay!”

Cao Hongxia fought back tears and nodded.

They arrived at the bun shop.

“Boss, two meat buns!” Shen Hongxing handed the boss a dollar.

The boss gave her 20 cents in change and two meat buns.

The aroma was noticeable even through the packaging.

“Hongxia, here…”

While she turned to get the buns, Cao Hongxia, who had been right beside her, suddenly disappeared.

“Hongxia!”

Shen Hongxing’s right eyelid twitched. She had a bad feeling.

Something had happened to Hongxia.

She called Cao Hongxia’s name, “Hongxia, where are you?”

She stopped every person she met, “Have you seen a girl in red? About this tall, with two braids, big eyes, about twenty years old!”

Passersby shook their heads, “No.”

“No, no!”

“Ma’am, you…”

“No!”

“Sir…”

“Haven’t seen her!”

After asking dozens of people, no one had seen Cao Hongxia.

Shen Hongxing stood on the street.

She felt dizzy.

Calm down!

Calm down.

Shen Hongxing forced herself to calm down and analyzed Cao Hongxia’s actions that morning.

Nothing seemed unusual at home.

Wait!

The joss paper shop!

She remembered Cao Hongxia mentioning meat buns after leaving the shop.

She rushed back to the shop.

There were fewer people now. She asked the boss, “Boss, did the girl in red who bought joss paper here talk to anyone?”

The boss remembered the strange girl.

She bought joss paper and gold ingots.

She had 50 cents, but she gave him 10 kuai and didn’t take the change.

That’s why he remembered her.

“Did she say anything?” Shen Hongxing’s eyes welled up.

Cao Hongxia must have known something was going to happen and was leaving clues.

She had to find Cao Hongxia quickly.

“Oh,”

“She said she had to go to the restroom!”

Restroom?

Shen Hongxing remembered an abandoned public restroom not far from the shop. Without thinking, she ran towards it.

“Hongxia!”

Shen Hongxing ran into the women’s restroom. Because it had been abandoned for years, the entire restroom was visible.

Cao Hongxia wasn’t there.

She knew Cao Hongxia wouldn’t lie. If she wasn’t in the women’s restroom, she must be in the men’s restroom.

Shen Hongxing opened the door to the men’s restroom and saw a horrifying scene she would never forget. Cao Hongxia and a man were lying in a pool of blood, their clothes disheveled.

“Hongxia!”

She rushed in and picked up Cao Hongxia.

Cao Hongxia was unresponsive.

Tears streamed down her face, “Hongxia, don’t scare me. Open your eyes and look at me. I found you, I found you!”

Cao Hongxia remained unresponsive.

“Don’t die, Hongxia. Do you hear me? No matter what happened, you must live. We’ll face it together!” Shen Hongxing quickly took off her clothes and put them on Cao Hongxia, then rushed her to the hospital.

At that moment, Shen Hongxing was grateful for her superhuman strength, allowing her to easily carry Cao Hongxia to the hospital.

“Doctor, doctor, someone is injured…”

A nurse immediately brought a stretcher.

Shen Hongxing placed Cao Hongxia on the stretcher and pushed her towards the emergency room, holding Cao Hongxia’s hand tightly. She kept calling in her ear, “Hongxia, don’t give up!”

“Hongxia, you must wake up!”

“Hongxia, Sister Shuang and I will be waiting for you. Don’t be afraid!”

Until Cao Hongxia was pushed into the operating room.

The nurse stopped Shen Hongxing, “Family members can’t enter the operating room!”

The door to the emergency room closed.

Shen Hongxing stood numbly in the corridor, staring at the blood on her clothes until a nurse came out and asked her to pay at the front desk, bringing her back to reality.

Shen Hongxing trembled, grabbing the nurse, “We have money, lots of money. Please save her, please!”

For the first time, she faced death so directly.

She felt drained, but she knew she couldn’t collapse. Cao Hongxia needed her.

“Don’t worry, we’ll do our best!”

Without a phone, she couldn’t call Xu Shuangshuang for money, so Shen Hongxing had to go back… get money.