Chapter 73 - Number (1/2)
The sky outside was very dark, and the lights in the room was still on. Comparing the two, it made it seem as if the sky outside had never brightened up.
Su Min turned over and got out of bed. He checked the time on his phone. It was six o’clock now.
He walked over to the window again and looked at the scene behind the curtains. The sky outside was unusually dark.
Normally the sky would start to brighten at least at six during summer.
Even if it wasn’t hot, six o’clock wasn’t early and the sun should have risen by now.
But the sky continued to look gloomy.
Su Min closed the curtains again and, using the light in the room, he saw that Yan Jing Cai and Xu Yixiang were still sleeping soundly.
He thought for a moment and decided to wake them up.
Yan Jing Cai immediately woke up. He asked in a confused state: “What’s wrong? Did Xiao Chen do something to the food again?”
Su Min snorted. He advised: “Han Qinqin may be in trouble.”
This sentence immediately sobered Yan Jing Cai up. Even Xu Yixiang next to him was woken up, “Something happened to Han Qinqin?”
Su Min said: “So I want to take a look.”
Xu Yixiang rubbed her eyes, “Okay.”
She quickly hopped off the bed. They had been sleeping in their clothes the past few nights fearing that something would suddenly happen.
The three of them went out.
As Xu Yixiang opened the door, she asked: “Did you hear anything? It’s still so early.”
Su Min: “Instincts.”
Xu Yixiang had nothing to say.
She had heard Su Min say this a few times and it seemed to be quite accurate, so she trusted his words.
Ever since the old director discovered Han Qinqin disposing of the food, she had felt that she wouldn’t be let of so easily and that something would definitely happen.
But she didn’t know what would happen.
Yan Jing Cai waited outside and ushered her: “You take a look first in case there’s something we shouldn’t see.”
Xu Yixiang nodded and entered the room.
She turned on the light and saw a mound on Han Qinqin’s bed. She walked over carefully only to see that it was just a pillow.
The room wasn’t very big so you could see everything in one glance.
Han Qinqin wasn’t in the room.
Xu Yixiang’s heart fell. She quickly opened the door, “She’s not here. I don’t know when she left the room.”
Su Min and Yan Jing Cai then entered the room.
Han Qinqin’s bed was a mess. It looked like she had just got up and there weren’t any signs of struggle. No one knew what happened.
Su Min felt more and more certain about his speculation.
“Could she have been taken away by the director?” Xu Yixiang guessed: “Afterall, it was the director who found out about the food being thrown out, so it probably wasn’t Xiao Chen.”
Yan Jing Cai said: “Xiao Chen doesn’t look like someone who would do that. The director was very angry last night. If we admitted to it, I’m afraid we would possibly end up the same as Han Qinqin.”
The two continued to make various guesses.
They came as five but Shi Nansheng was dead and his body had disappeared. Now Han Qinqin had also disappeared.
Sooner or later, it would be their turn.
Su Min spoke up: “Let’s go and find Han Qinqin first.”
“But where?” Yan Jing Cai asked: “There are so many rooms here. We can’t ask anyone, and we also don’t have the keys.”
Su Min asked: “Do you know where the pantry is?”
“Pantry?” Xu Yixiang repeated: “What does this have anything to do with the pantry? Han Qinqin wouldn’t go there herself.”
Su Min shook his head, “We have seen the kitchen and it didn’t look like it could be used to store the ingredients so where could the ingredients have come from? There must be a place for it and Han Qinqin is likely to have been taken away because of that incident with disposing of the food.”
With him saying that, the two understood.
The male and female protagonists were originally not dumb. Shi Nansheng had eaten Xiao Chen’s finger so he died by eating his own hand and now that they found out about Han Qinqin throwing out the food, the cause of her death would probably have something to do with food.
Yan Jing Cai frowned: “But I haven’t seen a pantry here before.”
They didn’t even let him see Xiao Chen cooking.
Xu Yixiang suddenly said: “I think I’ve seen it. Follow me.”
She turned around and left. Su Min and Yan Jing Cai quietly followed behind her to avoid drawing any attention.
After a few minutes, Xu Yixiang stopped in front of a small door.
Su Min had seen this door before, but he didn’t pay it much attention.
“The window in your room doesn’t face the side with the kitchen but the window in my and Han Qinqin’s room faces the back yard.” Xu Yixiang explained: “I have seen Xiao Chen taking things out from here.”
She didn’t think of this place back then when she witnessed the incident with the severed finger and, if it wasn’t for Su Min mentioning it, she wouldn’t have remembered this place.
Su Min looked over, “There’s a lock.”
As soon as he said that, a hair pin was handed over.
Xu Yixiang: “Good luck.”
Su Min: “……..”
He received the hair pin silently. After a while, he managed to unlock it with a soft click.
Su Min carefully pushed open the door.
The inside of the room was cool and dark. Yan Jing Cai turned on the flashlight on his phone and illuminated the interior of the room.
Su Min walked in, “Let’s go in.”
There was the smell of vegetables in this room and they could see a lot of ingredients. Although it didn’t look fresh, it was indeed the pantry.
Xu Yixiang asked: “Is Han Qinqin here?”
There were too many things in the pantry. Not only food, there were also some miscellaneous items here too and it clearly looked like it wasn’t organised.
Su Min wasn’t sure if the hint from the cinema referred to this pantry.