His fair face showed a look of panic.
No, this was wrong. He had unknowingly walked more than ten steps inside, and the cloth strip he tied was nowhere near that long.
What was going on? He clearly had the cloth strip in his hand!
"Is anyone out there?" Liu Donghuai shouted loudly.
The silent forest offered not even an echo. The large pine tree was gone!
This meant he had vanished! Just like that little dog, he had disappeared into this dense, eerie forest.
Liu Donghuai, refusing to believe, began to pull the cloth strip. However, the strip seemed to lengthen infinitely. He pulled for a long time without reaching the end.
Confucius said not to discuss supernatural phenomena. He hadn't believed in such things before, but now he was afraid. Was this not some kind of formation, but truly haunted?
A pile of cloth strip lay on the ground. He hadn't tied such a long rope, how could this be explained?
He threw away the rope, steadied his nerves, and since he had entered, he decided to properly investigate the strangeness of this place.
"Xiao family's wife... Xiao family's wife..."
Liu Donghuai carefully examined the surrounding weeds; they were all lush and vigorous, with no signs of anyone having passed through. He had no clue which direction she had gone. Fortunately, he had brought the shovel he used for digging herbs. He pushed aside the grass and walked forward.
Xu Daniu had picked a basket of mushrooms. It was already noon. With a guilty conscience, she deliberately passed by the eerie forest on her way back to take a look.
She saw no one, but she did spot a basket, containing some grass, and a long cloth strip tied to a pine tree, extending deep inside.
This was the scholar's basket. She had encountered him on the mountain digging for herbs a few times recently. Had he also gone in?
Had he followed Xue Niang in after seeing her? Had he not noticed her?
Xu Daniu's heart fluttered. Then she thought, even if the scholar saw her, it would be useless. They wouldn't be able to get out.
Never to get out.
Xu Daniu tentatively pulled the cloth strip back and hid it along with the basket.
By nightfall, Wang Cuilan had still not seen her son return, and she began to panic. The mountain was full of dangers, and her son had never been strong since he was young. Something must have happened to him, perhaps he had fallen somewhere. She had been hiding at home, afraid to face anyone, her spirits low, and she had become even thinner than before.
When she ran to the village chief's house, the village chief's wife was startled.
"Cuilan? Why is your face so pale?"
"Sister-in-law, Donghuai hasn't returned. Something must have happened. Please ask Big Brother to help me find him! If my son is gone, I won't be able to live either!"
"Ah? Don't talk nonsense. I'll call your Big Brother out. Donghuai will be fine!"
The village chief came out upon hearing the commotion. After asking, he also became anxious. Even though Donghuai bore a bad reputation because of his father and was looked down upon by others, he was a child the chief had watched grow up, and he was the most pure-hearted. He couldn't abandon him.
Alas, why were there so many troubles these past few days!
"I'll go find people to go up the mountain."
The village chief hurried to find people, while his wife helped the crying Wang Cuilan into the house.
He called two strong men to go into the mountain with him. They searched the shallow forest but found no trace.
"Uncle Village Chief, could Donghuai have gone into the eerie forest?"
"That's surely impossible. He knows the danger. Could he have gone into the deep mountains?"
The village chief thought the possibility of going into the deep mountains was greater. The child understood herbs, but the nearby herbs were not valuable. Now that his family was struggling, perhaps he had gone to the deep mountains to find ginseng.
If he had gone into the deep mountains, it would be difficult. It was late at night, and he couldn't lead people to search.
Even from here, they could hear the wolf howls. Going in meant death.
Alas! One by one, they were all so troublesome! He knew times were hard, but they couldn't be so reckless, risking their lives to venture into the mountains.
They all thought they had the ability of Xiao Shan!
"Let's go back! We'll search again tomorrow!"
When Wang Cuilan heard that no one had been found, she cried heartbrokenly. There was nothing to be done, and the village chief's wife stayed with her all night.
The next day, when everyone went to search again, they happened to meet Xiao Shan and several villagers returning from the mountain.
Three people in the group were injured, and one was carried on Pillar's back. The village chief counted, and one person was still missing.
"Where is Dapeng?" the village chief asked.
"Dapeng, Dapeng was dragged away by wolves!" one of the villagers began to cry.
The person Pillar carried was Dashanzi. He weakly lifted his head, filled with regret and hatred. It was his idea to enter the mountain, and now they had almost all perished. He was sorry to everyone.
Pillar explained what happened. It turned out that several people had entered the deep mountains and encountered three wolves. They had jointly killed one, but then two more had been attracted. Dapeng was dragged away at that moment. The others were terrified, all injured. Dashanzi's leg was bitten off. When they fled, they were fortunate to encounter a narrow cave, where they hid and confronted the two wolves outside with knives.
If Xiao Shan hadn't brought people, no one knew what the final outcome would have been. The wolves howled outside, as if summoning companions.
Everyone thought they were going to die in the mountains, with not even bones left.
Fortunately, Xiao Shan arrived in time. With just a few moves, he slit the throats of the two wolves, then led them to another cave, sprinkled some medicinal powder outside, and only returned at dawn.
"From now on, from now on, Xiao Shan is my own father. Anyone who speaks ill of him, I'll beat them!" Dashanzi, having escaped death, although his leg was bitten off and he might become a cripple, had at least saved his life. He felt ashamed of how he had cursed Xiao Shan before. He was truly a scoundrel!
Who the hell wants to be your father!
Since there was no more trouble, Xiao Shan headed home.
The village chief hurriedly told them to go home quickly. He still had to talk to Dapeng's wife about Dapeng. Fortunately, they had no children. If she couldn't live alone, the clan would arrange for her remarriage. Alas, what a nuisance.
Before Xiao Shan reached home, he encountered Wang Xiulan.
Wang Xiulan frowned. As soon as she saw Xiao Shan, she hurried forward, "Brother Xiao, have you seen if Xue Niang went to stay with any of her acquaintances? Why hasn't she returned all night?"
What? What did this mean?
"I came to look for her twice yesterday, and the door was locked. When I came just now, it was still locked, the lock hadn't been touched at all. I don't know where she went?"
Xiao Shan was a little confused. His first thought was, could Xue Niang have gone to find Qu Linglong herself?
"I know!"
He strode home. Entering the fence yard, he heard the chickens in the coop clucking with hunger. Xue Niang had indeed not returned.
He opened the house door and looked around. Nothing was missing. Even her discarded clothes were left on the bed. The kitchen was the same; the flatbread was well-covered in the pot. This did not look like she was planning to go out.
Xiao Shan first went to Laicai's house. Learning that Xue Niang had not taken a carriage, he became somewhat panicked. Xue Niang was frail and could not possibly walk to the city by herself. She would not save money like that.
But he still went to check on Qu Linglong.
Of course, he didn't find her.
Xiao Shan was thoroughly panicked.