Speaking of Widow Chen, when she found out Axiang was not at Xia Dabao's house, she originally planned to head back home, but now felt that since Xia Dabao was so worried about Axiang, she, as Axiang's mother, couldn't just stop looking.
So, she wandered around the village again, but there was no sign of Axiang at all, not in the fields, nor under the banyan tree at the entrance of the village, nor any other sheltered place.
She couldn't help but think of the fool.
Just a few days ago, someone had joked with her, asking if she was about to pick up a cheap son. When she asked what that meant, the person said, "Don't you know? The fool, he's been coming over every two to three days to help your Axiang with work."
After coming back that day, she had asked Axiang what was going on, but Axiang had said the fool was just passing by and stopped to help out a bit, and besides, what did the fool know? He was just looking for some fun.
