Lin Yuxi secretly smiled. Bringing those two along had indeed been the right choice—she didn’t even need to say anything; they were already speaking up for her.
Old Madam Lin thought it over. Given Song Dabao’s character, it really was possible—quite likely, even. If he hadn’t gone home and had nowhere else to go, he should have come back by now.
With that in mind, she stopped worrying and busied herself cooking.
By the time everyone returned from work, Song Dabao still hadn’t shown up. Now Old Madam Lin was even more convinced he had gone home.
After dinner, the family prepared to sleep. People went to bed early in those days—no phones, no television, no real entertainment. Besides, they had to work again the next day.
Just then, loud banging came from the front gate.
Old Madam Lin happened to be outside pouring out foot-washing water. She called out, “Coming!” and went to open the gate.
When she opened it, she saw her nephew from her maiden family—Song Dabao’s father—who had come looking for him.
Surprised, she said, “Didn’t he go back to your place? We haven’t seen him all day.”
Her nephew looked anxious. “Auntie, he didn’t come home. We thought he stayed here for the night. My father’s worried about his grandson, so he sent me to ask.”
Hearing the commotion, the rest of the Lin family gathered around. The atmosphere in the house instantly grew tense. Old Madam Lin’s heart skipped a beat, unease creeping in.
Frowning, she thought hard. If Song Dabao hadn’t come here or gone home, where could he have gone? Could it be that he went to cut grass by the mountain… and then wandered into the mountains?
If he really had gone into the mountains—and it had already been a whole day—if he still hadn’t come back by now… had something happened?
“He went with a few girls to cut grass. Once they got to work, no one saw him anymore. Could he have gone into the mountains?” Old Madam Lin said urgently.
“Why would he go into the mountains for no reason? Um… Yuxi!” Uncle Song looked around and finally spotted Lin Yuxi in the crowd. “Yuxi, do you know where Dabao went? If you do, tell your uncle.”
Lin Yuxi immediately bristled. “Uncle, that’s strange. Your son is missing, so you should go look for him. Why ask me?”
“I’ve been working the whole time—how would I have the leisure to watch him? If you don’t believe me, ask Yuwei and Yuzhu, and Hongying from the brigade leader’s family. We’ve been together all day.”
Lin Yuwei and Lin Yuzhu quickly nodded. Not only were they backing Lin Yuxi up, they were also clearing themselves—they had no idea where Song Dabao had gone.
“Auntie, we don’t know where Dabao is either. We have to find him quickly,” Uncle Song said anxiously.
He truly was worried now. He knew why Song Dabao had come—he had assumed the boy would stick close to Lin Yuxi the whole time.
“I’ll go find the village chief and have him gather people to search the mountains. We can’t do it with too few people,” Old Madam Lin said. Then she turned to Uncle Song. “You go back to your village and check with people you know. See if Dabao went there. If you can’t find him, come back with your family and we’ll search the mountain together.”
After saying this, Old Master Lin went to find the village chief, grumbling inwardly and blaming Old Madam Lin for causing trouble.
The adults of the Lin family all went out to search, leaving only the children at home.
Lin Yuxi didn’t know how the search went. It wasn’t until past midnight that she heard a commotion outside.
She didn’t go out. The children didn’t either—they were exhausted from the day and fast asleep.
From the noise, Lin Yuxi guessed that Song Dabao had been taken to the village clinic. It sounded like he had been injured.
The next day, while going to cut grass again, they ran into Zhang Hongying. Along the way to the mountain, the Lin sisters listened as she vividly recounted what had happened the night before.
The village chief had gone to the brigade leader, saying the Lin family needed help finding Song Dabao. Together, they mobilized villagers to search the mountain.
The villagers grumbled—everyone was exhausted after a full day of work—but they couldn’t refuse the village chief and brigade leader out of respect.
The leaders themselves had no choice. The person had gone missing in their village. If something happened and they hadn’t helped search, they would bear responsibility.
The villagers split into several groups and searched the mountain. Later, the Song family also joined. After hours of searching, they finally found him in a deep pit.
When they found Song Dabao, he was nearly delirious with fever. His arm had been slashed by a sickle.
When they carried him out, he reeked of urine and feces, shouting nonstop, “Wild boar! Wild boar!”
The villagers guessed that he had wandered into the mountains, fallen into a pit, and the smell of blood from his injured arm had attracted a wild boar. Luckily, the pit was deep, and the boar probably circled for a while before leaving.
Still, it scared Song Dabao half to death—he had even wet himself. As for the fever, no one knew whether it was from the injury or sheer fright.
Everyone else was disgusted by the smell, so in the end, it was the Song family who carried him down the mountain themselves.
The Lin sisters were listening with great interest as Zhang Hongying narrated the story like a tale when suddenly someone behind them loudly called Lin Yuxi’s name.
Lin Yuxi knew immediately—Song Dabao must have woken up and claimed he had followed her into the mountains. The Song family had come to hold her accountable.
But she had already planned her response. No matter who asked, she would flatly deny it. After all, no one had seen anything—and she even had witnesses.
Lin Yuxi and the others stopped and waited for the person to approach.
“Lin Yuxi, your grandfather asked you to come back,” said the messenger—it was their neighbor, Li Erzhu.
“Brother Erzhu, why is my grandfather calling us back?” Lin Yuxi deliberately emphasized us.
Li Erzhu didn’t think much of it. “No idea. Seems like the Song family has gone to your house. Not sure what it’s about.”
“Alright, we’ll head back now. Thanks, Brother Erzhu,” Lin Yuxi said. If they were going back, they would go together.
Lin Yuwei and the others didn’t think much of it and followed. “Hongying, do you want to come with us and take a look? We can go cut grass together afterward.”
Zhang Hongying was curious about Song Dabao’s situation, so she happily tagged along.
As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw quite a crowd—members of the Song family, the village chief, the brigade leader, and a few elderly villagers who didn’t have to work.
At the Lin household, only Old Madam Lin and Old Master Lin were home; the others had gone to work.
“Grandma, why did you call us back? We were almost at the fields when you sent someone to fetch us,” Lin Yuxi asked calmly.
Old Madam Lin looked at the group who had come back together, about to say she had only called for Yuxi—but the brigade leader was already impatient. It was the busy harvest season, and he still had to deal with this mess.
“Yuxi girl, Song Dabao says he followed you into the mountains yesterday. What’s going on?” the brigade leader asked.
“He’s talking nonsense! Why would I go into the mountains? I’ve been working the whole time. When would I have gone into the mountains?” Lin Yuxi replied, feigning both shock and anger.
“Song Dabao, come out!” the brigade leader shouted toward the house.
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