The way outside the castle was much easier than she thought and the princess didn't chase after her either. And it all worked for her anyway.
Jian Yiling was currently not around so she could only call for a cab to take her home.
A little while later, Ran Xueyi arrived home and saw Laura and the other nanny, Mandy, standing with pale faces in front of the gates. They were clearly as worried as her, but what they felt was extreme conscience for not looking after the little master more strictly and letting him disappear just like that.
As they walked, Ran Xueyi spoke with her brows furrowed, "When did you last see my son?"
Laura replied, "Around thirty minutes ago."
"And where were you at that time? Where did you go and where did you last see him?" Ran Xueyi interrogated them as she should. Knowing that her son went missing while he stayed inside their house was already alarming.
Laura and Mandy lowered their heads.
Mandy explained, "It was around lunch time. Young Master Zhan wanted to eat outside so we stayed in the garden for a while. Laura went inside to fetch our lunch with the young master, but the young master said he wanted to read his favorite picture book while waiting for Laura so I went inside for a short while to get it for him. But who could have expected that..."
Ran Xueyi's looks remained unchanged. "Still, you should have sent someone to stay with him instead."
Laura and Mandy were even more remorseful when they heard this. They knew that what they did was wrong and unreasonable. Their momentarily confusion ended up with the young master's disappearance.
However, Ran Xueyi couldn't solely blame the nannies for what happened. If she hadn't gone to the royal ball and left her son alone, Xiao Zhanzhan wouldn't have to stay outside and disappear like that. She would have stayed with him and no one would be able to take him away from her.
Realizing these agonizing thoughts, Ran Xueyi's heart thudded to her stomach and she couldn't help but feel a bit faint. Previously, when she was inside the castle, she didn't show much in her face and remained expressionless, but now, she could no longer hold it.
The smiling and adorable child, the little boy who called sweetly to her 'Mommy', and his tooth-aching cuddles and kisses...In a moment, the image of the little boy burned in her eyes.
"Miss Ran, don't think too much. I'm sure the little master will be found soon." Laura supported Ran Xueyi but even though she said this, she, herself, didn't know when the little master resurfaced once again.
Of course, Ran Xueyi also knew this, but she was not as powerless as she was in the past.
"Get my laptop." Ran Xueyi's eyes were vicious as she ordered them.
Laura did not know what her employer wanted to do, but she still did as she ordered.
Soon, Laura came out of the house with a laptop in her arms. She gave it to her which Ran Xueyi quickly opened and after the system was online, she immediately hit up some codes and numbers.
Before long, a map of the city appeared on the screen. Ran Xueyi didn't even take a break as her slender and pale fingers flew across the keyboard. They danced masterfully and knowingly as if she had done this countless times.
And only a minute later, the map decreased in size and a red dot was blinking in the center of it.
Ran Xueyi located her son.
But unexpectedly, the map showed that he hadn't left the vicinity yet.
The tracking device was implanted in her son's bracelet, it would show her where her son was, but the only problem was... when the tracing device was very close to where she was tracking him, it would only show the point where he was and wouldn't tell her where 'exactly' he was.
For example, if Xiao Zhanzhan went outside of the house and was inside a moving car, the red dot would move along with him and the distance would also be calculated and widened. But if he didn't move and was somewhere very close, the red dot wouldn't move. And so, if Xiao Zhanzhan hid inside a closet, nobody would be able to find him unless he comes out.
Of course, Ran Xueyi could get a more advanced tracking device, but at that time when she gave him that bracelet, she could only install it like that. Since then, she forgot about changing and upgrading the tracking device.
However, her search was not fruitless.
The tracking device on her son's bracelet was something no one could remove. Only Ran Xueyi could remove the bracelet from her son's wrists and if it was forcefully taken off from him, it would send alerts from all branches of Lobo and it would automatically manipulate every camera nearby to move and capture the video or picture of her son.
"Miss Ran, this... Isn't this a tracking device?!" Mandy saw too many spy movies and knew at a glance what Ran Xueyi was doing. "You're amazing! You actually found the little master already!"
Ran Xueyi remained silent and didn't say a word to that.
At this moment, her phone rang and a string of numbers were displayed on her phone screen.
"What did you find?" Ran Xueyi said as soon as she picked up the call.
The voice replied monotonously, "The cameras around your house did not capture any child coming out nor were there any suspicious people walking around."
"Are you sure?" Ran Xueyi's expression loosened up a little, but she was still feeling a bit worried. "Did you check the surrounding area outside? Were there any strange movements?"
The voice did not reply for a few seconds and the clicking sounds of fingers hitting the keys sounded before they spoke again, "I just checked. There really isn't anything out of the ordinary. No car passed by, excluding the cab you took, and there wasn't anyone walking around. Probably because it's lunch, no one wanted to stay outside when it was clearly going to rain hard."
Ran Xueyi thanked the person before hanging up.
"Can we go and look for the young master now?" Laura asked with a hopeful gaze.
Ran Xueyi shook her head and sighed, "Call everyone out for now. Gather them around to look around the house. Tell them to look carefully and don't leave anything unchecked."
Even though her son was not in danger and he should still be close, that didn't mean Ran Xueyi could relax completely. She still need to see him and hug him in her arms before she could finally calm down.
Nobody knew but at this moment, Ran Xueyi's fingers were trembling. She was on the verge of losing consciousness because of the anxiety and fear she was feeling, but she had to put up a strong front until she found her son. Her heart was beating so fast that she felt her world was slowly drifting away. Anyone can take anything from her, but not her son. Her son was her life. If someone took her away... Ran Xueyi didn't know what she will do.
Countless people looked around the two-thousand hectares land. They didn't even let a single stone unturned and naturally, they searched everything inside the house.
However, no matter where they looked and no matter how much time has passed, Xiao Zhanzhan, the little master, was nowhere to be found.
But surprisingly, when Ran Xueyi could only let everybody else return to rest, she heard a rustle from behind her.
At this point, she was standing alone in the garden while the others had already returned inside the house. The spot where she stood was close to the fence where Xiao Zhanzhan usually stood alone.
But as she was about to turn around to continue the search somewhere else, she heard a soft calling from behind her.
"Mommy!"
Ran Xueyi turned around and was shocked. She looked at the small figure outside the fence, waving his small hands at her with the same glee in his lips and eyes. He looked at her with fascination and affection, and shouted sweetly, "Mommy!"
This...Was she seeing things now?
Ran Xueyi thought she was seeing an illusion of her son appearing in front of her. But when she blinked her eyes a few more times, she realized that it was real.
Slowly, her feet moved before her mind could tell it to do what it wanted it to do. Step by step, she got closer to her son and tears continued to slip down her cheeks. Her hands kept on shaking and her body trembled, but her heart was torn between excitement and fear. She was glad and happy to see her son in front of her, but also afraid that the moment her hands touched Xiao Zhanzhan, he would disappear like a smoke.
The little boy obviously didn't know what happened and could only tilt his head and blinked his eyes.
He softly said, "Mommy, you're back?"
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