Early the next morning, I went out for a run.

I came back with a bag full of breakfast, a very sumptuous spread.

When I got home, Xiao Zhao hadn't left yet. She was sitting on the sofa in the living room watching TV, while my husband was sitting next to her, shaking his leg and browsing news on his phone.

Seeing me return, Xiao Zhao hastily came to greet me, saying, "Oh my, sister, why did you buy so much food?" She looked every bit like the lady of the house.

I ignored her and said to my husband, "Husband, I met the grandma downstairs while running. She said our place was quite noisy last night and asked us to keep it down today. It's so weird; everyone was asleep, how could it have been noisy?"

In an instant, Xiao Zhao's hand, which was about to take the breakfast, froze momentarily, and my husband's shaking leg stopped as well.

The atmosphere solidified instantly, and the awkwardness in the air spread rapidly.

Feigning an unaffected demeanor, I smiled and said, "Maybe the grandma downstairs is getting old and has trouble sleeping at night. She probably mistook the sounds of stray cats for us."

My husband, quick to react, hurriedly echoed, "Yes, yes, there are many stray cats around our place."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Xiao Zhao, who had a wry smile on her face, "What do you think, Xiao Zhao?"

Still at a loss, Xiao Zhao tried to maintain her composure, but her eyes betrayed her nervousness, as if she hadn't heard my question.

"Xiao Zhao, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" I continued to press.

While staring intently at Xiao Zhao, I glanced at my husband out of the corner of my eye.

My husband's face twitched slightly. His usually docile expression showed hints of ferocity, reminiscent of his past bouts of domestic violence.

Xiao Zhao seemed to notice my husband's expression and finally responded in a trembling voice, "No, no, I'm not unwell. Sister Wang is right."

Noticing Xiao Zhao's somewhat agitated response, I pondered but didn't continue questioning.

At that moment, I recalled the words of the grandma downstairs: "The truth is right before your eyes."

……

After breakfast, I sent Xiao Zhao off and went to the supermarket to buy some things.

Since my son went missing, I've quit my job to focus on caring for him.

But I didn't expect to run into an unexpected acquaintance at the supermarket.

He was my high school deskmate, Guo Li, a guy with a strong sense of justice. He once helped me fend off classmates who tried to bully me.

Guo Li seemed equally surprised to see me, and soon struck up a conversation.

His first question was, "How have you been lately? Where was the child found back then?"

I was puzzled. How did he know my son had gone missing?

Suppressing my doubts, I replied, "He was returned the next day by our neighbor upstairs."

Guo Li let out a sigh of relief, "That's good. We didn't hear any updates after you reported it to the police. Later, when we called, we couldn't reach you. Your husband eventually answered, saying the child had been found."

My mind was in turmoil. When did I report it to the police? My phone was always on, so how could it not have gone through?

But from Guo Li's words, I deduced that he might be a police officer. Unsure of my plan and afraid of revealing anything, I hurriedly said goodbye.

Yet the seeds of doubt were deeply planted.

I didn't understand which part went wrong. Why did I have no memory of reporting it to the police? Another question occurred to me: why did Xiao Zhao bring my son back the next day instead of on the same day?