"Xue Niang, save me! I'm going to die!"
"What's wrong?" Xue Niang finally understood that Xu Da Niu was kneeling to her.
"My mother is going to sell me!"
In fact, it wasn't selling, but it was close. Yesterday, her mother told her she had found a good family for her. The man was a widower with a three-year-old son. It was just as Aunt Gui Xiang had said, her mother really wanted her to be a stepmother!
Why should she, an unmarried girl, be a stepmother? Her mother said the man was good in every way, but it was all because of the six taels of silver.
Xu Da Niu cried and told her story. When she finished, she saw Xue Niang was lost in thought.
She shook Xue Niang's arm, "Xue Niang, help me! I'm used to living in our village and don't want to go to such a faraway place where no one knows me. Besides, if I go there, I won't be able to see you."
Xue Niang snapped back to reality. After listening to Xu Da Niu, she felt sympathetic, but how could she help?
"This is your family matter, how can I help you?"
"Xue Niang..." Xu Da Niu stammered, "Aren't you not feeling well? I, I can take care of you."
Xue Niang was even more confused and looked at her doubtfully.
"Xue Niang, you are weak, I, I can take care of you and Xiao Shan. As long as you let Xiao Shan marry me, I can be a concubine. I will serve you wholeheartedly, and I can have children for you and let them call you mother." Xu Da Niu blurted it all out in one breath.
There was no one in the mountains, so she couldn't care anymore. If she didn't find a way, her mother would accept the betrothal gifts.
Xue Niang pushed Xu Da Niu's hand away, her expression turning cold. She knew, even though Xu Da Niu had helped her a few times, she still couldn't like her. She always felt that this girl was strange, but it turned out she had this idea in mind.
She had never given up on Xiao Shan, and her approach to her was purposeful.
Looking at her simple face, she was actually so calculating.
Xu Da Niu was pushed away and looked flustered, "Xue Niang, please pity me. I won't fight Xiao Shan with you. You can treat me as a servant. Xiao Shan is so strong, and you are weak, so it must be hard for you, right?"
"Shut up! Xu Da Niu, give up this idea! Xiao Shan will not marry you. Besides me, he will not marry anyone. I don't care if you demean yourself, but don't try to get Xiao Shan. You are not worthy!"
Xu Da Niu looked at Xue Niang in shock, suddenly remembering how fierce she had looked that day when she pinned Cui Lan's aunt and slapped her.
In fact, Xue Niang might not be weak, but just appeared weak in her daily demeanor.
Looking at Xue Niang's terrifying expression, with the black marks on her left cheek seeming to claw and dance, Xu Da Niu felt a chill.
If Xue Niang disagreed, what would she do?
She absolutely could not be a stepmother.
"Yes, yes, I was wrong. Xiao Shan loves you so much, he wouldn't marry me." Xu Da Niu stood up.
Her knees were hurting from the stones, and she stumbled.
Xue Niang didn't show any intention of helping her.
Xu Da Niu felt extremely embarrassed, especially since Xue Niang was half a head taller than her, making her feel like a triumphant victor, mercilessly mocking her overestimation of herself.
"Then let's go pick mushrooms. I won't mention this again."
However, Xue Niang's nature was always black or white, and she couldn't tolerate ambiguity. Since Xu Da Niu's intentions were impure, she didn't want to have anything more to do with her.
"I'm not picking anymore, I'm going back."
Xue Niang glanced around. She had followed Xu Da Niu without paying close attention to the path and was a bit disoriented.
Xu Da Niu's eyes flickered, and she pointed, "Go straight that way, there's a small path. Turn in and follow it, and you can go down the mountain. I still want to pick some more, so I won't go with you."
Xue Niang walked in the direction she pointed without looking back.
Xu Da Niu had lied. That was not the path down the mountain, but a path leading to a place known to be terrifying by everyone in the village.
There were ghosts inside!
Although no one had ever seen them, that's what everyone said. Because once someone entered that forest, they never came out. Villagers had wandered in before and were never seen again, and even those who went in to search disappeared.
Everyone said they were eaten by the ghosts inside.
Decades ago, the village chief of Bozi Village led people to plant several evergreen snow pines there as a marker.
Xu Da Niu's palms were sweating. She felt both panic and a hidden surge of excitement.
If Xue Niang disappeared, she would have a chance.
At this moment, she had completely forgotten Xiao Shan's warning from that day. Her mind was filled with thoughts of whether Xiao Shan would buy her pretty clothes, nice shoes, and silver pendants if he married her.
Would her hands become as fair and tender as the fresh tofu from Zhang's family's tofu shop?
Would they sleep head to head?
Xu Da Niu's thoughts made her blush. The slight panic of doing something wrong disappeared.
Xue Niang's figure had already vanished.
Xu Da Niu quickly calmed down and continued picking mushrooms as if nothing had happened.
Xue Niang followed the direction Xu Da Niu pointed, passing several tall pine trees. According to her, after passing this area, there would be a road down the mountain.
However, this area seemed difficult to navigate. It looked like no one had ever walked here, with overgrown weeds that almost swallowed her. She seemed to hear someone shouting. She looked back, but saw nothing. Even the distinctive large pine trees from when she entered were gone.
This was not right. She had only walked a dozen steps, why couldn't she see them anymore? Xue Niang walked back, searching everywhere, but she couldn't find the trees.
"They were clearly here, how could they disappear?"
Moreover, it seemed unusually quiet inside, as if she had entered a room. Even the chirping of crickets sounded distant. Something was wrong.
Xue Niang realized she was lost.
Liu Dong Huai, who was collecting herbs on the slope, saw Xue Niang walk straight into the legendary ghost forest alone.
He quickly shouted, but it was too late. Xue Niang had already passed the pine trees and entered the forest. By the time he ran down, he could no longer find her figure.
"Xiao family's wife, Xiao family's wife?"
He shouted a few times, but there was no answer. This was bad, she had really gone in.
This forest was strange, and no one dared to come this way. Why did Xiao family's wife run here alone? He had grown up listening to the legends of this place. When he was young, out of curiosity with his friends, they had tested it by releasing a puppy inside. It was terrifying, the puppy only ran a few steps inside and then disappeared into thin air.
Later, when he grew up and went to school, he gradually realized that the unusual nature of this place might be some kind of formation. He had even bought several books on formations to study.
However, the books on the market only covered superficial knowledge, and he couldn't learn anything useful.
What should he do now?
Liu Dong Huai put down his basket, took off his clothes, and tore them into strips, tying them together to bind to the pine trees. He held the other end and cautiously took a few steps forward, shouting, "Xiao family's wife?"
The cloth strips slowly extended. He took a few more steps forward. Looking around, he saw only waist-high weeds everywhere, and not a single person in sight. Even the birdsong of the mountains was gone.
A sense of panic filled Liu Dong Huai. He tightened his grip on the cloth strips, but the next second he froze.