Do not lean against the west railing to lock in the clear autumn

Chapter 121

The old man shook his head, and I still didn't understand whether he meant there was nothing strange about it or if he didn't know either. It seemed that asking the valley's inhabitants about the secrets of the mountains was pointless; even the oldest of the villagers didn't know.

Back in the room, Shen Haoyu was already lying diagonally on the bed. I asked him why he wasn't asleep yet, and he shook his head: "It hurts when I lie down."

I glanced at him helplessly and told Shen Haoyu what I had just learned. Shen Haoyu was silent for a long time before saying, "If we can't find a way out, it's good to find a stream. If we follow the stream, we'll eventually get out."

The mountains were once blocked by heavy snow, but now the scene has changed drastically. Not only us, but even Xiaotian's brother and father can no longer find the place where they rescued us. It seems that the only way is the one that Shen Haoyu mentioned.

As night deepened, Shen Haoyu finally drifted off to sleep, his head lolling to one side. In his sleep, he vaguely heard someone talking. Listening closely, he realized it was Shen Haoyu's voice: "Be careful behind you... Huai'en..." Hearing his own name, he opened his eyes, wanting to ask Shen Haoyu what was wrong, but no one answered. By the moonlight, he leaned closer to Shen Haoyu and saw that his brows were furrowed and his eyes were tightly closed. It turned out he was talking in his sleep.

I had only been lying down for a short while when I heard Shen Haoyu yelling at my feet again: "Why do you always choose him and abandon me? Mo Huaien, you heartless bastard!" I opened my mouth wide and thought to myself, "Oh no, even in my dreams he's gritting his teeth at me like this."

Shen Haoyu talked in his sleep a lot, often mentioning my name in his words, and occasionally calling out "Father" or "Mother". I became more and more uneasy. We usually don't talk in our sleep much, so what's wrong with us today?

I nervously got up and quietly placed my hand on his forehead; it was burning hot. Could he have a fever at this hour? Did the old man prescribe the wrong medicine?

It was the middle of the night, and I didn't want to wake anyone, so I quietly got up and went outside to fetch a basin of cold water. I wrung out a cold towel, just like I'd seen on TV, and put it on his forehead, changing it every now and then. I didn't know if this would really bring down his fever, but I figured I'd give it a try.

After changing the towel several times, his forehead wasn't as hot anymore, but the rest of his body was still burning up. Should I just soak him in cold water? No, I don't want him to catch a chill and make his illness worse.

When I woke up, I had a feeling something was wrong. I opened my eyes abruptly and saw Shen Haoyu lying next to me, propping his head up and smiling at me. I scrambled up and heard Shen Haoyu say rather sarcastically, "You didn't happen to be attracted to my good looks and sneaked over here in the middle of the night, did you?"

I barely slept last night and still have a bit of a headache. Hearing Shen Haoyu's words only fueled my anger: "Young Prince, are you delirious from the fever? You call yourself handsome? If we're talking about beauty, then there are only three..."

"Alright!" Before I could finish speaking, Shen Haoyu angrily interrupted me, glared at me, picked up the basin of water beside the bed, and walked out.

"What is this for?" Shen Haoyu asked.

I turned to him with a smile and said, "Didn't you know? You had a fever last night and talked a lot in your sleep." I looked him over again, "But you seem to be completely fine now."

Shen Haoyu's expression immediately changed, and he asked hesitantly, "Did I talk in my sleep? What...what did I say?"

I turned and strode out, saying loudly, "You've said so much, all trying to curry favor with the Prince and Princess. I didn't realize you were so charming." Before I finished speaking, I heard Shen Haoyu roar, "Impossible!"

Of course not, he was just asking Prince Qing some questions in his dream.

After resting for a few days, Shen Haoyu's wounds had scabbed over, but he couldn't stay still and insisted on going up the mountain. I knew that if we wanted to get out, we could only rely on ourselves now, so I didn't stop him and went up the mountain with him to the place where he had heard the sound of water last time.

The sound of water wasn't far away, but no matter how hard we looked, we couldn't find it. It just kept ringing in our ears, like a mosquito buzzing in your ear that you just couldn't see or swat. We searched the mountain for several days, but still found nothing.

That afternoon, the sky suddenly darkened, dark clouds rolled in, and lightning flashed and thunder roared. A heavy rain was imminent, so I quickly grabbed Shen Haoyu and prepared to run back to the valley. Staying on the mountain in this weather was dangerous; one wrong step and we'd be struck by lightning. We hadn't run more than a few steps when large raindrops began to pelt down, stinging our heads. Shen Haoyu tried to hide under a tree, but I pulled him away. We found a small rocky cliff we'd discovered earlier and ran towards it. The space below was cramped, barely enough for two people to crouch down, and we had to bend over.

The rain came suddenly, fell heavily, and left quickly, stopping in no time. As I walked out from under the cliff, the sun was already peeking out, and soon a long rainbow stretched across the sky overhead.

"It's so beautiful." I squinted; the sunlight was a bit too strong.

After being washed by a rain, the mountains and forests are even more lush and verdant. Puffs of white mist rise from the mountains, making the peaks appear and disappear in the mist, creating a scene that is like entering a fairyland, making people lose track of where they are.

Shen Haoyu suddenly pointed to one side and shouted, "Look!" Turning his head, he saw a stream of water flowing down the opposite hillside like a white line. It must have been because the rain was too heavy just now and hadn't seeped into the soil, so it had gathered together and flowed down.

"Let's go take a look." Shen Haoyu said and ran towards the hillside. I quickly followed, following the waterline to see where it would flow into. Maybe we could find a way out.

Upon reaching the foot of the hill, we discovered there was more than just one stream; several others converged at the bottom, flowing south. As we continued our search, we saw more and more streams joining together, and our hearts leaped with excitement. Soon, we could hear the sound of water growing louder and louder. Shen Haoyu and I exchanged a glance and quickened our pace to continue our search.

When we saw the fast-flowing, yellowish river in front of us, both of us were overjoyed; we had finally found it.

They made marks along the way as they walked back, wandering in the mountains for half a day. As darkness fell, they could no longer find their way back. With complete darkness, the two had no choice but to find a small cave in the mountains to settle down, clearing away the weeds inside to prevent snakes or insects from hiding there.

They lit a fire, roasted meat, and resumed their lives as before.

"Perhaps it's fate," Shen Haoyu suddenly said. "We can't get in there anymore, so let's prepare to leave tomorrow."

I nodded. That's fine. Anyway, there were only a few winter clothes left in the valley. Although the clothes were torn, the two cloaks were still good. They could be left there for Xiaotian and the others to use in the winter. But thinking of Xiaotian's cheerful smile, and leaving her like this without saying goodbye, I still felt a little reluctant.

Summer nights are not as safe as winter nights. To avoid attacks from snakes, insects, and wild animals, Shen Haoyu and I had to take turns sleeping and slowly endure until dawn.

As dawn broke, we walked to the river we had found the day before and saw that the current was quite strong. So, Shen Haoyu and I cut down some bamboo and tied some vines together to make a simple raft. We pushed the raft into the water, stood on it, and floated downstream to find our familiar home.

Do not lean against the west railing to lock in the clear autumn. Chapter 105

Chapter word count: 4126 Update time: 09-09-07 09:46

Large rocks frequently blocked our path in the river, forcing us to often brace ourselves, climb over them, and then move the bamboo raft across – it was quite tiring. However, since we were walking much less, it was much easier than climbing through the snow that day.

We drifted during the day and slept on the shore at night, taking turns keeping watch. I slept quite soundly, without worrying about any danger. Being constantly floating in the water, my clothes got wet and dried repeatedly – I just considered it a period of washing. This was much better than in winter.

As we were drifting along, the bamboo raft suddenly sped up, and seemed to be getting faster. We were puzzled until we saw the water disappear ahead and heard a rumbling sound from below. We were shocked and quickly jumped to the shore. When we finally landed on solid ground and looked back, the bamboo raft was already gone.

Still shaken, we walked forward and saw water cascading down, dozens of meters above us. The water splashed high on the rocks, and our bamboo raft was already broken into pieces, with several bamboo poles spinning in the pool below.

After determining the direction, Shen Haoyu stepped into the forest, slashing the vines that were entangled in the trees as he went.

After a lot of work, we hadn't gotten very far. I protested, "Your Highness, we don't necessarily have to go straight east. Continuing by water might lead us to the Mi River. We can disembark at one of the towns along the river, ask for directions, and even if we have to turn back, taking the main road is much easier than traversing mountains." To be honest, I'd been enjoying myself these past few days and had no courage to cross mountains anymore. Besides, the mountains were densely forested, full of poisonous creatures, and there might even be miasma or something similar—it was far too dangerous. Taking the waterway, while less certain, was much safer.

After much deliberation, Shen Haoyu finally accepted my suggestion. The two of them retraced their steps and walked down the riverbank. Fortunately, they were both skilled in martial arts, so the cliffs were not too difficult to cross. They arrived at the foot of the waterfall and followed the current downstream. Seeing that the water had widened again, they felled some trees, wove them together, and once again embarked on a journey that required little physical exertion.

They hadn't counted how many days they had traveled like this, but they knew that along the way, the water flow around them was getting bigger and bigger, and the water surface was getting wider and wider. Of course, there were also many dangerous situations. Sometimes, if they couldn't avoid the rocks, the wooden or bamboo rafts would crash into them. Or the riverbed would suddenly drop to form a large slope on the water surface, and if they lost their balance, they would fall into the water. Then they would have to get up and build a new raft.

I instinctively felt I was taking a huge risk. The water flowed east one moment, south the next, sometimes west for a while, and even occasionally turned back north. As a result, Shen Haoyu's expression grew increasingly grim. I could only manage an awkward smile. Although I didn't know where we were, all rivers eventually flowed into the sea, and we would eventually encounter people. The key was finding other people besides us; once we had people, we could ask for directions.

I don't know how much time has passed, but it must have been more than a month. I can already feel that summer is slowly coming to an end.

That day, the raft was drifting on the water, flanked by green mountains on both sides, with white mist swirling among them, a truly beautiful sight. The water had calmed down considerably, and the raft wasn't moving very fast. I could faintly hear a woman's singing coming from the mountains. I looked at Shen Haoyu with surprise and delight, and he stared at me with wide eyes, somewhat incredulous.

I couldn't help but smile: "Young Prince, we have hope." The joy of soon meeting someone like myself almost brought tears to my eyes.

The following evening, the river took a sharp turn, widening and calming, making it easy to paddle. Large flat areas stretched out on both sides of the river. We stared intently at both banks until we saw wisps of smoke rising slowly from the far left bank. Excitedly, we grabbed Shen Haoyu, shouting and jumping, causing the raft to rock before finally stopping.

Shen Haoyu's face was beaming with joy. He quickly poled the boat and rowed towards the shore. Once ashore, they found themselves on a flat, green lawn. The source of the rising smoke was behind a small hill. Excited, the two celebrated their victory and ran towards the hill.