The door opened.
Axiu was barefoot, not even wearing a coat.
Wanrong, who also followed behind out of the hall, was shocked when she saw Grandma Liu, looking like a madwoman, in the doorway.
"What's wrong with Nannan?" Axiu asked.
"Axiu, let Nannan be here. I came to take her home." Grandma Liu's eyes looked straight at the cottage, went past Axiu and entered, shouting as she went, "Nannan, Nannan, come out quickly. Why are you still hiding? Go home with me. Nannan-"
"Where is she? Where is she hiding? Axiu, have you hidden Nannan from me? Wanrong, quickly call Nannan out. This child, she doesn't even know that the family has been worried." After searching everywhere, Grandma Liu looked at Wanrong and forced out a smile, her eyes bloodshot.
"Aunt… " Wanrong panicked. What had happened?
At the door, people came running one after another, creating a lot of noise.
It was the village chief with some villagers, and the two brothers Liu Zhixia and Liu Zhiqiu.
Everyone could be described as a mess, especially the brothers, who were bloodless, their eyes black and blue with exhaustion, swollen, red bloodshot.
"What's happened to Nannan?" Gazing at the two of them, Axiu asked again.
Liu Zhiqiu's eyes suddenly reddened even more. His lips trembled when he answered, "Nannan, Nannan fell into the Qinghe River. We couldn't find her. Axiu, we can't find my sister. She's gone, woohoohoo!"
His lapels were suddenly grabbed tightly, and he met Axiu's dark, bottomless eyes as he bit word by word, "Take, me, go!"
The adults had no time for the children and ran into the courtyard, wanting to calm down Grandma Liu first.
Wanrong got to learn what had happened to Nannan from the snippets and felt wobbly.
That kind, sweet, little baby, was gone?
It's not true. It can't be!
If something happens to Nanna, then Xiu'er…
Wanrong looked up in panic, and saw no trace of Axiu at the entrance of the courtyard.
The Qinghe River was still crowded with people.
After they were fished ashore, Liu Dalin and Liu Erlin lay on the ground gasping for breath, their eyes hollow and deathly still.
Everyone around was sympathetic and mournful.
Axiu didn't look at anyone and followed the spot where Liu Zhiqiu pointed.
Why cry? Why despair?
His Shengsheng must be alright.
There was a small hollow in the pile of hay where Shengsheng was hiding last night, and the hole was ripped open, revealing a gap.
Axiu turned around and walked to the river, the whole time without ever showing a single expression, seemingly very calm.
Calm to the point of cold-bloodedness.
Liu Zhiqiu and Liu Zhixia followed him. They didn't know why, but seeing him like this, their chaotic hearts were strangely calm, feeling a glimmer of hope in the midst of their despair.
After a night of dread, too many people have passed to and fro by the river. Water stains and footprints were everywhere and no suspicious traces could be found.
Axiu continued on, stopping at a spot where he was almost half dangling. His eyes swept over the half-submerged grass in the river, searching back and forth. Suddenly, they settled on a clump of crushed grass.
From there to the river bank was a trail no longer quite visible – skid marks left by someone sliding down into the river!
"Axiu, what? How is it? Did you find anything?" Liu Zhixia clenched his fists, his heart thumping.
He had noticed the change in Axiu's eyes!
He hoped to hear an answer from him, and was afraid that hearing it would make him even more desperate.
Axiu turned and left.
He paused as he passed the two lying on the ground and said, "Go save Shengsheng, Xiapo Village."
They were Shengsheng's family. If they were sad, Shengsheng must be even sadder.
"What did you say?" Liu Dalin's dead eyes regained a gleam, staring at Axiu.
"If you want to know, come with me."
Liu Dalin and Liu Erlin struggled with bone crunching, but their drained bodies were as if infused with strength.
Xinghua villagers looked at each other. Although they had doubts in their hearts, they followed.
They couldn't say for sure, but would everything really turn for the better?
Soon, the party crossed to the other side of the river mightily. A short distance away, diagonally opposite the salvage location of the crowd, they found a bag.
Axiu picked it up, opened it, and inside were snacks that had split apart after being soaked in water!
"It's from our house, our snack! It's from the Young Boss! How did it fall here!" Liu Zhiqiu, who recognized it at once, pointed at the snack and shouted.
This snack was very expensive, ordinary people couldn't afford it! They wouldn't have even got to see it if the Young Boss hadn't sent it to them!
That was why it was so easy to identify!
"Nannan brought it, it must be! Last night, we said we were going to swap food with Dabao and the others. Nannan must have brought this snack out with her!"
Liu Dalin rushed forward and grabbed the snack, his hands trembling so much that he could barely hold it, then the seven-foot man shed floods of tears. "Yes, yes… this is our family snack. There's not much left. Mother hid two small packets and said it was reserved for Nannan… Last night, Nannan was here!"
The crowd exploded.
"Really? If Nannan was here last night, then she didn't fall into the river and drown at all!"
"Nannan is alive! She's really alive!"
"So, what Axiu said must be true! Someone kidnapped Nannan! Xiapo, Village, it's Xiapo Village! From this position, you can pass through the rice fields into Xiapo Village!"
As hope dawned on everyone's faces, they all looked in the direction of the Xiapo village, filled with righteous indignation.
Axiu stood up, looking at the houses at Xiapo Village in the distance. His dark, unfathomable eyes were surging with giant waves, as if to swallow that small village up.
Everyone said that Shengsheng was gone, but he didn't believe it.
Without seeing her with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe it.
For the first time, he was able to rationally restrain his hostility that wanted to burst out madly and force himself to calm down and look for all Shengsheng's traces.
He found it. He was right.
He also needn't continue to endure.
The crowd only a blur, as a shadow shot through the air as if an arrow heading towards Xiapo Village.
It was Axiu!
"Come on, follow him. Let's go down to the village and find her!"
"Zhixia, go to the hut and find the village chief. Tell him and your grandma what happened. Zhiqiu, go to the village and wait at the entrance. As soon as your grandfather returns, tell him to bring people to Xiapo Village! The rest of you, come with me! "
Liu Dalin and Liu Erlin led everyone and chased after Axiu's shadow towards Xiapo Village.
Liu Zhixia and Liu Zhiqiu exchanged glances and split up, running in two directions.
Morning in Xiapo Village was as quiet and peaceful as any ordinary village.
At this time of the day, the sky has just completely brightened, but the sun was still hidden below the horizon and hadn't climbed up.
But most farmers have gotten up early, and there were already movements and voices in every household.
"Hey, master, didn't Da Gui say yesterday that the Blessed Baby of Xinghua Village fell into the river? It's been one night. Do you think they have fished her out?"
"What does it have to do with us? Didn't they say that their village was blessed with that Blessed Baby? Pweh! It's a good thing that girl is dead. Let me see how those Xinghua villagers will still fool around!"
"Look at your mouth, she's still a baby in the end…"
"What's with her being a baby? Did we take advantage of her? B*tch, get to work. Don't talk nonsense here with me!"