Chapter 94: Appearance Reflects the Heart
The next day, the four members of the reporting team followed a county shuttle bus in their car.
Ni Hui's lead was straightforward: the man had returned to his hometown village to hide from the public eye, and that village was located near this county.
As for why they were tailing the shuttle bus—it was simply because they didn't know the roads.
Village roads looked one way on a map, but driving through them yourself was an entirely different story.
This bus was headed toward the neighboring county and happened to pass through the man's village. On the map it looked like a straight route, but only the locals knew the twists and turns.
The bus stopped frequently to pick up passengers, forcing them to stop and go the whole way as well.
Anyone with sharp eyes on the bus could probably tell they were following it.
And with an out-of-town license plate, they looked even more suspicious.
Fortunately, the passengers weren't interested in meddling in other people's business. They merely glanced at their car through the windows from time to time.
After following the bus for quite a while, they finally arrived near the village.
To be safe, Old Ye parked beside a field and got out to ask someone working nearby.
"Excuse me, is this Yinshan Village?"
The slightly plump middle-aged woman nodded. Seeing several strangers from out of town, she immediately became cautious.
"Who are you people?" she asked in awkward Mandarin. "What are you here for?"
"Do you know where Du Guohang lives?"
Du Guohang was the man's name.
The moment she heard it, her expression changed.
She immediately shouted at the top of her lungs,
"Kids' father! They're here to cause trouble for Old Second again!"
Old Ye inwardly cursed.
Realizing something was wrong, he turned to leave—but the woman grabbed him before he could.
Used to farm work, she was surprisingly strong. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't break free.
Soon, people working in the nearby fields rushed over carrying hoes, shovels, and other farm tools, surrounding Old Ye completely.
"What do we do now?"
Jia Yao looked at the unusually calm mother and son beside her, utterly confused by how composed they still were.
"What do you think?"
"The villagers are all protecting Du Guohang..."
Ni Hui narrowed her eyes.
Pu Tong nodded in agreement.
"Which means he's really a good person. We weren't wrong about him."
"But... Old Ye is about to get beaten up!"
Jia Yao was speechless.
The mother and son really did focus on the strangest things in exactly the same way.
Without hesitating, Ni Hui pushed open the car door and got out.
Judging by her momentum, she looked like she could take on ten people by herself.
Mom's pretty fearless...
Pu Tong hurried after her.
If things really turned violent, he had to protect his mother first.
Fortunately, the villagers were merely protective, not unreasonable.
They surrounded Old Ye to intimidate him, but no one actually struck him.
"Big Sis, what happened here?"
Ni Hui walked over, took the plump woman's hand warmly, and smiled.
"Oh my..."
The woman had been working in the fields and was covered in dirt.
Now such a refined-looking woman had suddenly taken her hand without showing the slightest disgust.
She became embarrassed instead.
More importantly...
She had called her Big Sis.
Surely someone who addressed her so warmly couldn't be that bad.
Pu Tong almost burst out laughing.
He even wondered if he should step forward and call her "Auntie" just to join in.
His mother truly deserved her reputation as a journalist.
Her interpersonal skills were exceptional.
With only a few sentences, she dissolved nearly everyone's hostility.
"It's not that we don't trust you, little sister," the woman explained. "Lately there've been lots of reporters coming here looking for Old Second. They all looked like bad people."
Lots of reporters?
Pu Tong exchanged a glance with his mother.
Both of them reached the same conclusion.
Du Guohang's whereabouts in his hometown had already leaked.
If Ni Hui could uncover the lead, others naturally could as well.
Neither of them had expected that even after so much time had passed, people were still trying to exploit the situation.
The villagers' caution was completely understandable.
After all, if another maliciously edited interview spread online and internet marketers manipulated public opinion again, no one knew how badly things could turn out.
"Big Sis, we're different from those people..."
Ni Hui pointed at herself and then at Pu Tong.
"Look, this is my son. What kind of heartless people doing evil would bring their own son along?"
The plump woman looked carefully at Pu Tong.
The mother and son really did resemble each other.
"Big Sis, we're here to help him. Once everything is explained clearly this one time, no one will come bothering him anymore!"
Unable to hold herself back any longer, Jia Yao finally spoke up.
She was completely ignored.
"Auntie," Pu Tong said sincerely, "we're really not bad people. I'm still a high school student. There's no way I'd be involved in something so immoral."
After hearing that, everyone's tone softened noticeably.
"Old Second is a good man. Half his life's been nothing but hardship. I'm only afraid you'll hurt him..."
Jia Yao watched the mother and son chatting naturally with the villagers and suddenly felt completely unnecessary.
She had been perfectly polite too.
So why was nobody listening to her?
"I believe what you've said," the woman sighed. "There's an old saying: a person's appearance reflects what's in their heart. You mother and son don't look like bad people."
"But Old Second specifically asked us not to reveal where he is. We have to keep our promise."
Old Ye and Jia Yao exchanged helpless glances.
"Appearance reflects the heart..."
So... did that mean the two of them simply looked less trustworthy?
Pu Tong frowned, unsure how to proceed.
The village was huge.
Hiding one person there would be incredibly easy.
No matter how eloquently Ni Hui spoke, the villagers still couldn't fully trust these strangers.
They couldn't betray one of their own.
"Big Sis, we..."
"That's enough, little sister."
The woman smiled.
"You called me 'Big Sis,' so I'll treat you like a good person too."
"If you don't mind, you're welcome to come to my house for some tea."
"But asking about Old Second... let's leave it at that."
Those words were essentially a polite dismissal.
If they continued pressing the issue, they'd only be disrespectful.
"Since we still have several days left, maybe we should head back for now?"
Jia Yao pouted, looking discouraged.
They had hit a dead end.
"If they won't tell us, then even several months wouldn't help."
Old Ye saw the situation clearly.
Their first visit had actually been their best opportunity.
After today, returning again would only become more difficult.
"Let's go."
Ni Hui made the decision immediately.
"If we want them to trust us, then we should respect their wishes first."
The four of them bid farewell to the villagers and prepared to get back into the car.
Suddenly someone in the crowd shouted,
"Hey! Isn't that the car those reporters were driving?"
Everyone followed the direction he pointed.
Sure enough, a black van was slowly driving into the village along the same road they had come from.
"This is bad! Hurry!"
The plump woman didn't hesitate for even a second.
She immediately ran toward the village, with everyone else following close behind.
The sight was rather intimidating.
The four outsiders looked at each other, unsure what to say.
"Looks like those are the reporters the villagers mentioned," Old Ye muttered.
"They're acting sneaky. They don't seem like legitimate journalists."
"They're probably marketing accounts that still want to exploit this incident for attention."
"We're going after them."
Pu Tong sighed softly and followed behind.
It seemed...
This reporting trip was not going to be peaceful at all.
(End of Chapter)
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