Waking up, I saw the concerned eyes of my parents beside me, and my younger sister tightly holding my right hand.

Her left hand gently smoothed the furrowed brow on my face.

There was deep concern in my parents' eyes. Although they didn't ask anything, they were undoubtedly the ones who cared the most about whether something had happened to me.

Looking closely, I could see that my parents had aged, with gray hair at their temples.

My younger sister had also grown up. I remembered holding her and soothing her to sleep as if it were just yesterday.

Memories flooded my mind, but I didn't know how to express what I wanted to say.

Perhaps it's good to follow my cousin's advice, to have loved ones who care about me and whom I care about, and to not neglect my responsibilities.

"Brother, where did the silly boy go?" In the end, it was my younger sister who broke the silence.

"I don't know," I paused, "but I believe he will be found."

"I've seen the silly boy from the neighboring village. He only knows how to laugh, even when someone bullies him."

"Yes, that's how he is."

"No one plays with him. Does he laugh because he's happy?" I didn't expect my younger sister to ask such a profound question.

"Probably not. Didn't you say that no one plays with him and he gets bullied?"

"Are you going to look for the silly boy today?"

"Yes."

"What if you never find him again, like my cat that went missing? Mom said it got lost and we never found it."

I knew about that cat. It didn't go missing; it was killed by a predator.

Saying it went missing was just to comfort my younger sister, just like saying we would find the silly boy.

...

The search team gathered at the village entrance, with people from several other villages joining along the way.

There were over a hundred people now, which seemed like a lot, but once they dispersed into the forest, it wouldn't be much.

Starting from the lakeside, we scattered in different directions.

My cousin and I ended up at the spot where I fired the gun that night.

From the lakeside, there was nothing particularly remarkable about this place, but from the edge of the forest, you could see that there was more wild grass where the forest met the lake.

We walked from the lakeside to the spot where I fired the gun that night.

The huge haystack was still there. I sat on it that night, waiting.

My cousin and I stood silently beside the haystack.

Looking at the lake not far away, I said, "Tell me, tell me the truth. Maybe we can save everyone from wasting time."

My cousin wasn't surprised that I was still so obsessed with this matter. He calmly said, "The truth is, there really was no one at the lakeside that night."

"I don't believe it. How can things be so coincidental?"

My cousin remained silent for a long time.

I continued, "You won't say? Then I'll turn myself in."

My cousin was clearly startled by my words. "Are you crazy? Even if you turn yourself in, what good will it do? Is there any evidence? The scarecrow doesn't even know where it drifted off to."

"At least I'll have some peace of mind."

"You may find peace, but what about your sister and the others? If we don't say anything, no one will ever know, especially since there was no one there that night."

I fell silent. "Take away the bird you shot when we go back."

At that moment, we heard rustling behind us.

My cousin and I became alert and immediately turned around.

A bird flew up from the haystack, startling a flock of birds.

"See? Whether it's the silly boy or the scarecrow, that bird that caused the commotion is like them, and we are like the other birds that were scared and flew everywhere."

"But at least it's not the bird from our house."

Seeing someone hastily approaching from a distance, my cousin and I stopped talking.

It was a villager from our village.

"Did you find him? Why are you in such a hurry?" I asked.

"We found him," he replied.

I was taken aback, a wave of immense joy surged within me. "Really found him?"

The man was out of breath, took a few deep breaths, and said, "We found him, but it's not the silly boy, it's Xiaoqiang."