"The courtyard ahead is Lili's home, but we've agreed beforehand, I'm bringing you here, but whether they'll agree to let you take the child back in the end depends on Lili and her husband's approval."
"I've visited the child many times in these past two and a half years, and Lili's couple treats the child as their own son."
"Even though Lili later gave birth to twins, she never showed any favoritism."
Zhao Yongling led Chen Yang and Shen Xue to a large courtyard, and only then did Chen Yang and Shen Xue learn that the woman who had adopted their child was named Yu Lili.
She was a high school teacher who had also been sent down to Liuhe County with Zhao Yongling back then.
Zhao Yongling was rehabilitated and returned, and she was also rehabilitated, now a history teacher at Qinghe City High School.
Zhao Yongling didn't mention Yu Lili's husband, seeming to have some reservations.
"Doctor Zhao, we are already immensely grateful that you could bring us here."
"As for Lili, my wife and I will absolutely not hit or scold her. If she hadn't paid to save the child back then, we might not have been able to keep him."
"As long as Lili is willing to return the child to us, we will agree to any conditions."
Shen Xue looked at the spacious courtyard before her, and her heart finally felt a little better.
Yu Lili's family's conditions were not bad, and according to Zhao Yongling, she had always treated her child very well. The child hadn't suffered any grievances, and as a mother, she was no longer so worried.
However, Yu Lili treated her child so well, would she be willing to give him back?
And the child, he had been living with Yu Lili and her husband for over two years. Would he be willing to come home with them? Would he be willing to recognize the parents who had abandoned him?
At this moment, Chen Yang and Shen Xue's hearts were filled with anxiety!
They hesitated for a long time at the courtyard gate. Chen Yang gritted his teeth and clasped Shen Xue's hand.
"Since we're here, we have to see the child first, and then talk to them."
Seeing that Chen Yang and Shen Xue were ready, Zhao Yongling knocked on the door.
"Lili, Lili, are you home?"
Zhao Yongling called out, but there was no response from inside the house.
Chen Yang and Shen Xue's hearts were pounding. Zhao Yongling called out a few more times.
Just as Chen Yang and Shen Xue were getting anxious and about to push the door open, a weak voice finally came from the house in the courtyard.
"Sister Ling, wuwuwu, Sister Ling..."
The person hadn't reached the door yet, but her voice was already filled with tears.
"Creak."
As the door opened, Chen Yang and Shen Xue saw a disheveled, haggard woman rush into Zhao Yongling's arms.
Then, there was a torrent of weeping.
Zhao Yongling clearly hadn't expected this to happen, nor did she know what had happened.
But as a doctor, she instinctively felt that compared to their last meeting, her good sister's complexion had worsened immeasurably.
She was like a candle about to burn out, as if all her vitality had been drained.
Zhao Yongling could only let Yu Lili hold her and cry. After nearly ten minutes, her voice finally quieted down.
"Lili, what's wrong?"
"Did Hu Dong argue with you? I don't think Hu Dong is that kind of person. He's always had a good temper and indulges your every whim."
Zhao Yongling patted her good sister's bone-thin back. At this moment, she also felt a sense of panic.
She had only been away from Yu Lili for a little over a month, how could she have become like this?
"Sister Ling, it's not him."
"It's my fault, all my fault, I've wronged him, I've wronged the child."
"They're right, I'm a jinx. If not for me dragging him down, with Hu Dong's excellence, he would have been promoted to the provincial level long ago. My background is bad enough, and I couldn't even save our first child."
"Now, now I've lost two children. I've wronged him, I've wronged him so much, I'm a jinx. Why didn't it happen to me instead?"
"Heaven, why are you treating me like this? Yu Lili has never harmed anyone in her life, why are you treating me like this!"
Yu Lili cried hysterically, choking to the point of near collapse several times.
If not for Zhao Yongling, a doctor, desperately trying to calm her down and soothe her emotions, she might have fainted by now.
But Chen Yang and Shen Xue, who had been waiting beside them, felt their hearts plummet when they heard Yu Lili's words.
The children were lost?
Could it be their child who was lost!
They had finally found Doctor Zhao, and finally found Yu Lili!
"Lili, don't worry, tell me what happened."
"How did they get lost? Don't worry, Hu Dong works in the Public Security Bureau, right? With him around, you'll definitely find the children."
Zhao Yongling gently patted Yu Lili's back. She knew what children meant to her good sister.
The first time she gave birth, she couldn't save the baby, and Yu Lili almost committed suicide due to postpartum depression.
Coincidentally, Shen Xue's twins were born with congenital deficiencies, and she had no money for treatment. Zhao Yongling then thought of having Yu Lili adopt a child to help her overcome the grief of losing her own.
The result proved that her idea had been very effective.
After adopting Shen Xue's child, Yu Lili quickly overcame the grief of losing her child. Not only that, but soon after, both of them were rehabilitated and returned to Qinghe City.
Yu Lili and Hu Dong conceived again and gave birth to a pair of adorable twin daughters.
Now that both children were lost, it was like taking her life!
"Xiao Bao wet his pants, so I went inside to change his pants."
"Da Bao was playing with Er Bao in the courtyard. In our own courtyard, I saw them playing happily, so I didn't bring them inside. After I finished changing Xiao Bao's clothes."
"Da Bao and Er Bao were gone!"
"I searched everywhere, I looked everywhere, I can't find them!"
"Hu Dong sent many people to look, but we searched everywhere, and we still can't find the children!"
"You say a child over two years old, a child who still needs to be held to walk, where could they have gone?"
"It's my fault, all my fault, how could I be so careless, how could I dare to leave two children in the courtyard."
As Yu Lili spoke, she began to slap herself. She wished it was she who was lost.
If she could, she would rather trade her own life for the safe return of the two children!
As soon as they heard her words, Shen Xue stumbled. Fortunately, Chen Yang reacted quickly and held her!
Earlier, she and Chen Yang had heard from Zhao Yongling that Yu Lili had given birth to twin daughters. From Yu Lili's use of the terms Da Bao, Er Bao, and Xiao Bao, they could indeed tell that Yu Lili treated her children as her own.
However, the crucial point was that Da Bao and Er Bao were now lost!
This meant that Yu Lili, whom they had painstakingly searched for and found to be the adoptive mother of their child, was now telling them that their child was lost!
The hope they had finally seen was instantly dashed!
The child was lost!
With their only clue broken, where would they, a couple, find their child in this vast world?
It was utterly despairing!