Chapter 275 - 209: No Coincidence, No Story

As it turned out, it was quite the coincidence.

Ni Guangli had a sudden stomachache right before boarding. Seeing there was still time and the restroom wasn’t far, he went. By the time he rushed back to the gate, all the other passengers were already on board.

When the police arrested him, no one saw except for a few staff members.

Furthermore, this type of case required secrecy. The flight crew received the news that Ni Guangli couldn’t board and naturally didn’t dare to spread it around, so they just carried on with their flight duties.

Now that the entire flight crew had perished, everyone at Toutou Airport who knew about the situation had turned over their phones and was quietly working on catching drug traffickers.

Ni Guangli was arrested because something was found in his bag. This was done both to prevent any news from leaking and to protect him, so not a whisper of it got out.

The only potential leak was in the airport’s system, which showed that Ni Guangli had checked in but never boarded the plane.

However, due to the nature of the case, this information was highly classified. An ordinary person couldn’t access it, and any access would leave a record. If any problems arose, there would surely be an investigation.

If it weren’t for Lu Zigang’s strong network, the fact that Shui Sulan and her son were with him, and the life-or-death matter of the plane crash, his friend wouldn’t have done such a thing.

The impact of the plane crash was enormous, so the official release of information was handled with extreme caution.

To be sensitive to the families and the public, a detailed list of victims had not yet been released. The search and rescue team’s objective was to rescue the injured, not to recover bodies.

A few leaders on the special task force were already aware that Ni Guangli was the lucky one who had escaped death by not boarding the plane.

But right now, the victims’ families were extremely distraught. If they learned of such a fortunate survivor, they would surely suffer a devastating second blow, and rumors might start flying around society.

And if fanned by those with ulterior motives, all sorts of conspiracy theories would likely emerge.

After all, Ni Guangli was a tycoon.

Resentment of the rich is all too common.

’Besides, who wouldn’t wish their own family member was the lucky one?’

’Why did our family have to die while he got to live?’

’It must be because he’s rich and got some inside information!’

’The crash definitely wasn’t an accident—it was deliberate!’

It was easy to imagine the petty tricks of conspiracy theorists.

Fearing a public outcry, the task force temporarily withheld this information.

As for why they hadn’t contacted Ni Guangli’s family—since he never got on the plane, wouldn’t an adult who realized he’d just dodged a fatal disaster call his family?

How could they have known that not only had Ni Guangli dropped his phone in the toilet, ruining it, but he was also being held at the airport police station, having lost his freedom?

"Uncle Wei, thank you so much!"

Overwhelmed by immense grief followed by immense joy, Ni Bingyan was crying and laughing at the same time. Her gratitude was beyond words, and she immediately tried to kowtow to him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don’t do that! You’re Lu’s niece, which makes you like a niece to me. Thank goodness nothing happened. The most important thing now is to find your father quickly."

"Yes, yes, you’re right! I’ll buy a ticket home right now! I’ll find my dad first, then I’ll come back and thank you properly!"

Her heart wouldn’t be at ease for a single moment until she saw her father.

"Hey, don’t mention it. It was a small effort, nothing worth mentioning. Don’t rush off just yet. Let me call the people at Toutou Airport again to confirm something."

The airport official, Wei, had seen many things like this. Seeing that Ni Guangli hadn’t boarded and that the system had a confidentiality flag on his record, he guessed with a little thought that he was likely involved in a case.

And most likely a major case with a high level of secrecy!

Due to confidentiality protocols, he couldn’t say anything directly. But he could make a call to confirm, point Ni Bingyan in the right direction, and save her from running around wasting time like a headless fly. It was the least he could do.

Normally, he probably wouldn’t have done something like this, but this was tied to the plane crash, wasn’t it?

He made the call. The person on the other end was strictly professional, only stating that Ni Guangli hadn’t boarded for personal reasons and refusing to say more. Wei immediately knew his guess was correct.

"Your father didn’t board the plane, but he’s also unreachable. Have you considered filing a police report?"

Ni Bingyan rarely dealt with officials and didn’t understand the subtext of his words at all. She just thought he was telling her that her father might be missing.

Before, when she thought her dad was on the plane, her mind had been blank. Now that her brain was working again, she also realized many things didn’t add up.

’Her dad is such a sharp man. And he was at an airport. It’s impossible for him to have just vanished without a trace. He must have run into some kind of emergency that made him change his plans at the last minute.’

She and her father were both public figures. If she reported him missing without confirming it first, it would cause a huge stir and waste a lot of public resources, only to find him at home later. The fallout would definitely be bad.

Besides, with modern communication, calling her junior apprentice brother would only take a minute or two. It wouldn’t cause any delay.

It wasn’t as if she wasn’t worried about her father being unreachable.

She had plenty of experience with this; a lost, broken, or stolen phone, or even just a dead battery, could all lead to someone being unreachable.

’He was at the airport, about to board, and then something suddenly came up. It must have been something big. And if it was big, my junior apprentice brother might know about it.’

’Besides, with the news of the crash spreading like wildfire, none of my apprentice brothers have called me. Maybe they all know my dad is fine?’

Her other senior apprentice brothers each had their own shops and didn’t live with her father. They probably hadn’t called to check on her because they didn’t know her dad had gone to Guisheng.

But her junior apprentice brother had taken over from her dad, managing Ni Family’s Private Kitchen. They were the closest on a daily basis, and he was practically a son to him.

Her dad was a stubborn man and wouldn’t want to bother his staff with personal matters, but his junior apprentice brother was dutiful and would definitely have driven him to the airport.

’The reason my junior apprentice brother hasn’t called either is probably because he’s tied up with something difficult.’

With a clear course of action, Ni Bingyan immediately made the call.

But when Lu Zigang, Shui Sulan, and her son heard Wei’s words, their expressions changed.

Whether you were rich or poor, getting entangled in a legal case was never a small matter.

Especially one where someone went missing at an airport.

They all trusted Ni Guangli’s character, but they also believed that he could make a mistake if he was tricked or had a moment of confusion.

It was hard to say what the exact situation was, so it was best to find out more first.

The three of them, considerate of Ni Bingyan’s feelings, didn’t make calls in front of her. Instead, they discreetly took out their phones and messaged trusted contacts.

Before, not knowing the situation and assuming he was on the plane, no amount of asking around would have changed the outcome.

But now there was a new development, and someone had pointed them in a direction. Although Wei Dongming couldn’t speak plainly due to his job, the three of them had a new line of inquiry.

Ni Bingyan’s call to her junior apprentice brother went unanswered. She decided to try her senior apprentice brother next. If he didn’t pick up either, she would report it to the police.

Sang Yuan had a brother in the system and was the first to receive concrete information. He learned that Ni Guangli was currently at the police station of Toutou Airport. Although he didn’t know the specifics of the case, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing Ni Bingyan grit her teeth, about to dial the police, he quickly grabbed her hand.

"Uncle Wei still has work to do. Let’s go outside and talk, shall we? We can come back and thank Uncle Wei properly after we find your dad."

Wei Dongming was a sharp man himself. Seeing Sang Yuan’s reaction, he knew he had likely found out what was going on. He immediately stood up and shook their hands one by one.

"There’s no need for thanks. We’re all friends, so don’t be strangers."

Wei Dongming’s smile was sincere and made a good impression.

Putting aside his relationship with Lu Zigang, just having the Sang Family owe him a favor made everything he did today well worth it.

The group thanked him again and left the office. As soon as they were outside, Sang Yuan took her hand and whispered,

"Your dad is involved in a case right now. He’s safe at the moment. Let’s head back to Rongcheng City first and figure out our next move based on the situation."

Ni Bingyan grabbed his arm with both hands. "What’s going on?"

Sang Yuan shook his head. "The case isn’t closed yet, and the details are unknown. We can only go back first and assess the situation. Don’t worry, I’ve already contacted a lawyer. We’ll have the lawyer go with us later."

It was one crisis after another!

However, compared to losing his life, nothing else mattered.

Ni Bingyan quickly adjusted her mindset and agreed with Sang Yuan’s plan.

’It’s best to leave professional matters to the professionals.’

’If her dad really did do something wrong, she would accept it. But if someone was trying to frame him, she would absolutely not stand for it!’