Overnight Hit: Vicious Stepmother and Genius Son
Chapter 450: Alarmist Talk?

Chapter 450: Chapter 450: Alarmist Talk?

Anxi’s heart suddenly skipped a beat in a flurry of panic, a bad premonition washing over her.

She strode toward the cashier’s counter, avoiding the cameraman brother’s lens. After quickly glancing at the note, her complexion turned deathly pale in an instant.

Gu Xiaoran gathered several packs of drumsticks and some sausages from another shelf to check out together, but Anxi didn’t even look, handing over a hundred-dollar bill before leaving the supermarket in haste.

"Hey, your change!"

The store owner called after Anxi, but she didn’t hear him.

Gu Xiaoran said to the store owner with an awkward smile, "Uncle, please give me the change."

The cameraman brother thought Anxi was hurrying out to use the restroom, so he didn’t follow her. Instead, he stuck with Gu Xiaoran. After Gu Xiaoran accepted the change from the owner, he stepped out of the supermarket and couldn’t see Anxi anymore.

He turned his head to ask the cameraman brother, "Is my mom gone?"

The cameraman brother shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know.

Gu Xiaoran looked around for quite a while but couldn’t find Anxi anywhere. The streets here were completely alien to him—with neither mom nor dad around, and with the poor sleep and food over the last couple of days, he suddenly burst into tears.

"Wahh~ah~"

[Poor Ranran, having to deal with such unreliable parents, sigh!]

[Why did Anxi just grab her things and run? Is she going to look for Gu Liangjun? Did she forget she has a son?]

[Could she be in the restroom? Anxi wouldn’t just leave her child like that.]

[Even if it’s the restroom, she should at least tell her child, or take him with her. Is this how a mother acts?]

[I found this kid a bit annoying when I watched him last time, but seeing him cry now, I really feel so sorry for him.]

In Wutong Town, there’s only this large chain supermarket, and nearly all the families shop here. After Qiu Wanshuang’s family finished their shopping, they also arrived at the supermarket.

Ji Yunyun spotted Gu Xiaoran crying from quite a distance, and ran toward him with her short little legs, "Brother Ranran! Brother Ranran! Why are you crying? Are you hungry?"

Gu Xiaoran’s crying quieted a bit upon hearing Ji Yunyun’s words. He shook his head, "I’m not hungry. It’s just... my mom’s disappeared, ah woo~"

Qiu Wanshuang walked over and crouched in front of Gu Xiaoran, embracing him, and took out a tissue to wipe away his tears, "Don’t cry, Ranran. Mom won’t just disappear, maybe she went to buy something. Let’s not cry. We’ll wait here for a bit, and mom will be back soon."

Ji Yunyun had originally intended to comfort Gu Xiaoran, but seeing Qiu Wanshuang holding him, her expression dropped in an instant, unhappy.

"Mommy, I want you to hold me too."

"Alright, Mommy will hold you too."

Qiu Wanshuang had an arm around each little one.

Once Ji Yunyun was in her mother’s embrace, she smiled at Gu Xiaoran again, "Don’t cry, Brother Ranran, my mom and I will come with you to look for your mom!"

Qiu Wanshuang, seeing her daughter take the initiative to speak those words, had a face full of relieved smiles.

She had not wasted her breath speaking to the little one while buying groceries just before.

[Xiao Tuantuan is really well-behaved, offering to comfort Gu Xiaoran like that!]

[Well-behaved? Did you see how much she fussed when she got out of the car? If that were my kid, I’d honestly give them a good telling off!]

[Ji Yunyun is just a bit wilful, but after Qiu Wanshuang taught her a lesson, hasn’t she changed? Let’s all be a little more tolerant of children.]

[I’m indifferent, anyway, I don’t like this Ji Yunyun, I still prefer Xiao Yu and Xiao Yiyi!]

Upon inquiring with the cameraman brother, Ji Ziqian learned about the situation and felt bewildered. He knew that Gu Liangjun had gone to see the dentist, but how could An Xi just abandon her child and not care?

It really was strange!

Everyone was from the same circle, and they all knew it was a program being recorded. Didn’t An Xi know it was being live broadcasted now?

Qiu Wanshuang stood up and discussed with Ji Ziqian, asking him to go into the supermarket to buy some items while she went with the two little ones to find An Xi.

Not far from there, Qiu Wanshuang spotted An Xi down an alley with the two little ones. Gu Xiaoran excitedly exclaimed, "Isn’t that my mom?"

An Xi had her back to them, and a person in front of her was wearing a black baseball cap with the brim pulled down low.

Qiu Wanshuang nodded, "Yes, that should be your mom."

What was An Xi doing here?

Watching from afar, Qiu Wanshuang felt suspicious. The person talking to An Xi didn’t seem like a local either. Surely one wouldn’t ask such a person for directions, even if they were lost.

The two had worked together in a drama, and Qiu Wanshuang felt that Chu Anxi was a calculative person and didn’t have a good impression of her.

Gu Xiaoran stopped crying. As long as he could find his mom, he felt happy inside, yet he didn’t want to show it and didn’t call out.

The person with the hat seemed to notice their approach, pushed the brim even lower, and walked away.

An Xi turned her head, her face was pale and visibly different from usual, a forced smile of embarrassment on her face, "You... how did you all get here?"

She was afraid of being seen, even more fearful of being seen by Qiu Wanshuang.

Gu Xiaoran frowned, asking with heightened vigilance, "Who was that person?"

Did An Xi leave him behind just to meet that person?

An Xi chuckled awkwardly, "Ah, mom doesn’t know him. I just came here looking for a restroom and got lost. I happened upon this person and asked him for directions."

"Let’s go, I’m done with the restroom. Let’s head back," said An Xi, taking Gu Xiaoran’s hand and walking towards the outside, trying to change the subject.

"An Xi, even if you’re in a hurry, you can’t just leave a child alone at the entrance of a supermarket. There’s a cameraman brother following, but what if there wasn’t one? If you ran into a child trafficker, Gu Xiaoran would have been doomed," she said.

An Xi’s heart skipped, she turned to Qiu Wanshuang with a polite and courteous smile, "I’m sorry, Sister Shuang, for troubling you too. I was in a bit of a hurry earlier, thinking that with the cameraman following, nothing would happen, so I went ahead."

While she expressed her gratitude verbally, An Xi inwardly felt that Qiu Wanshuang was doing this on purpose, seizing the opportunity to criticize her competence as a mother.

And all that about child traffickers, such alarmist talk for whom to hear!

[An Xi seems a bit defensive, something feels off, but I can’t quite put my finger on it!]

[I feel it too, even in a rush, at least tell the child where you’re going, right? As a mother, how can you be so careless?]

[Damn, the person before was right, it’s total negligence, and now she’s making excuses with us, Sister Shuang. What’s there to make excuses for!]

[A child going missing is sometimes due to an adult’s negligence. The child can’t find the adult, wanders off, and then gets lost. Being safe from child traffickers is lucky. If you run into one, crying wouldn’t even be an option, An Xi has a bit of an attitude issue.]