"Why the sigh? You look just as dejected as you did when I first saw you on Daliang Mountain," Xiao Cheng teased from beside her.
Meng Jingwei stood beneath a towering tree, gazing at a river flowing down the mountain. The events of the previous year on Daliang Mountain involuntarily surfaced in her mind.
"That time?" She couldn't help but chuckle. "That time, I wasn't just dejected, I was also rather pathetic."
Thinking about it carefully, two years had already passed since then.
"Heh. You were with Qing Muye, and he couldn't even protect you," Xiao Cheng remarked sarcastically, crossing his arms and looking into the distance. He knew Meng Jingwei liked Qing Muye, but he couldn't accept the fact that Qing Muye failed to protect her.
"That incident on Daliang Mountain wasn't his fault," Meng Jingwei defended Qing Muye. She continued, "On Daliang Mountain, I..."
As she spoke, her gaze shifted to the side, and she saw Kang Zi walking towards them from the left, limping and holding a few fruits. His figure overlapped with an image that had appeared in her mind.
*Buzz—*
In that instant, Meng Jingwei's face suddenly paled, her hair stood on end, and she shivered inexplicably.
It was him! It was actually him!
No wonder Meng Jingwei had felt a sense of familiarity the first time she saw Kang Zi, but she couldn't recall where she had seen him before. Now, thinking back, wasn't he the man with half a mask who walked with a limp in Dongpu Village on Daliang Mountain two years ago?
However, two years ago in Dongpu Village, he had been faking his limp. Now, she realized he was genuinely crippled. If her guess was correct, his current lameness was a sequela from the gunshot wound she had inflicted on his leg.
Therefore, if her analysis was entirely correct, it meant... He Ka Qing Tang had known her true identity two years ago and had sent people to assassinate her, only to fail each time? Or perhaps, someone had been secretly protecting her all along?
The thought was terrifying. In just a short while, a fine mist of sweat had appeared on Meng Jingwei's forehead.
"What's wrong? Xiao Weiwei?" Xiao Cheng noticed Meng Jingwei staring intently at Kang Zi, her gaze fixed. He nudged her with his elbow.
Snapping back to reality, Meng Jingwei withdrew her gaze. "Oh, no... it's nothing."
Xiao Cheng, of course, didn't believe her. He cast a meaningful glance at the three people over there.
"Here, have some food," Kang Zi said as he approached, offering the fruits in his hand to Meng Jingwei and Xiao Cheng. At the same time, he gave Meng Jingwei a profound look, likely because she had been staring at him for a while.
"I'm... not hungry." Meng Jingwei shook her head and found a place to sit down. She wondered if the person who had appeared in her tent last night might have been Kang Zi. She had to admit, Meng Jingwei was nervous at that moment. With hundreds of people on the mountain, she had no idea who was friend and who was foe.
"We're not in a hurry to travel, so why don't I take you down the mountain to catch some fish?" Xiao Cheng walked over to Meng Jingwei and patted her shoulder, reminding her.
"Hahaha, that's a great idea! Count me in, your highness?" He Ka Ling Chuan had no interest in this competition; he was forced to participate. Anthony's broken hand had not yet healed, and the day's travel had already taken its toll on him.
"You guys go ahead. I'll smoke a cigarette and join you later." He waved them off.
"Alright then, Kang Zi, Meng Jingwei, Xiao Cheng, let's go first." He Ka Ling Chuan seemed to have found some amusement and beckoned the three of them to head down the mountain. He sat on a rock, watching the four of them move through the jungle until they disappeared. Only then did he imitate a cuckoo bird and call out three times.