"Did you find him?"
"No, I'm about to head to the next spot."
It was 9:30 PM. Ni Bingyan was on the phone with Sang Yuan again, but there was still no good news.
Ni Bingyan curled up on the sofa, ruffling her hair. She looked at the empty dog bed in the corner and the few pieces of kibble left in the food bowl, feeling incredibly guilty.
"I shouldn't have taken him out. I shouldn't have tied him up outside the store. If only I'd noticed when that kid let him loose..."
At that moment, Ni Bingyan felt a deep kinship with Xiang Lin's wife.
The regret was like a thousand ants crawling over her, a dense, sharp pain that made it hard to even sit up straight. It felt like her whole world had turned gray.
"You just stay home, don't come out. There are people everywhere trying to 'casually' run into you, and a bunch of paparazzi are tailing my car, hoping to ambush you."
Sang Yuan, worried she would overthink things while home alone, described the situation outside:
