"Aunt Ding, you stay here to look after Chenchen. I’ll be back soon." Zaozao sounded like a little adult, knowing she needed to take care of her younger sister while out.
"No way."
Aunt Ding firmly refused, "How about this, Chenchen, you stay here and eat. Don’t go out, and I’ll go with Zaozao to buy the cufflinks. We’ll be back after buying them, okay?"
It’s certainly unrealistic to let a little kid like Zaozao go buy cufflinks.
The cufflinks Zaozao and the others were planning to buy were definitely not ordinary ones. They were either custom-made at a jewelry store or selected from ready-made, slightly expensive cufflinks. Aunt Ding would definitely not feel at ease letting Zaozao go alone.
Chenchen sitting in a dessert shop was much safer than letting Zaozao go buy the cufflinks.
In broad daylight, as long as Chenchen stayed put, she’d be safe.
"Okay, Aunt Ding, I’ll just stay here and not go anywhere."
Chenchen nodded, appearing confident, "You guys go quickly, I’ll wait for you to come back."
"Then don’t wander around." Zaozao reminded again.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm."
Chenchen nodded enthusiastically. A big cup of milk tea arrived, and she held it joyfully, sipping away.
"Aunt Ding, let’s hurry." Zaozao thought that if they moved quickly, they could be fast and finish early to head home, heading straight to the jewelry store.
There were so many different kinds of cufflinks that they could dazzle one’s eyes.
Zaozao immediately picked out a set of cat’s eye stone cufflinks, which were elegant and simple in design, and most importantly, suited her dad Si Yu’s taste well.
"This one."
Zaozao glanced at the price, thinking it’s a good thing she brought her bankbook along; otherwise, she might not have been able to afford it. However, she didn’t have enough cash and needed to withdraw money using the bankbook.
"Aunt Ding, I need to withdraw some money." After making her choice, Zaozao prepared to find a place to do just that.
Both she and Chenchen had their own bankbooks, which stored their New Year money and red envelopes from childhood.
"Alright, let’s go together."
Aunt Ding naturally felt uneasy about letting Zaozao go alone, leading her to accompany Zaozao to withdraw money. Because you had to go to the counter to withdraw money, and the bank was some distance from the mall, this round trip took up quite a bit of time.
When Aunt Ding returned to the dessert shop with Zaozao, she found that the spot by the window where Chenchen sat was empty.
"Chenchen."
Zaozao’s face changed drastically. She rushed into the dessert shop and asked the staff, "Sister, did you see the girl who was sitting here just now? About this tall, wearing a white top and a black-and-white checkered skirt, very pretty."
"The little girl seemed to have gone to the bathroom, but it seems like she hasn’t come back for a while."
The staff frowned, trying to remember. The girl was so pretty that she took additional glances at her, marveling at how beautiful she was and wondering about the kind of parents who could produce such a lovely girl. Even though the shop was busy, she still noticed the little girl.
The little girl said something to her, but she couldn’t quite recall what it was.
The staff dared not admit that she didn’t remember and simply mumbled that Chenchen had gone to the bathroom.
"Where’s the bathroom?" Zaozao asked anxiously. After getting the exact location, she dashed towards the bathroom.
Aunt Ding rushed towards the bathroom, thinking that Chenchen was so smart that she wouldn’t be in trouble.
However, Aunt Ding’s hopes were dashed as she checked every bathroom and still couldn’t find Chenchen.



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