They rested for a night in Li County and arrived in Wen County the next day. After half a day's travel, they reached the vicinity of Wuling Mountain. Wuling Mountain was treacherous and difficult to traverse, but instead of crossing it, they circled around it. Circling the mountain would take three hours, and it was already late afternoon; by the time they rounded the mountain, it would be completely dark. The only inn along the way was on the other side of the mountain. Zhao He, unsure of Su's intentions, came to ask if she wanted to cross the mountain. Su was exhausted from the bumpy ride and longed to return home as soon as possible to rest properly on the kang (heated brick bed).
Furthermore, she had spent all her money on silk and jewelry shops in the capital, and now she barely had enough to cover her travel expenses. Each extra day of travel meant more money for the journey, and besides, both Zhao He and the coachman were trustworthy family members. Zhao He was also skilled in martial arts, so there was no need to worry about traveling in the dark. She then said, "Let's get around this mountain in one go, and then we can rest properly."
Upon hearing this, Zhao He had no choice but to instruct the coachman to feed the horses some dry rations, allow them to rest, and then continue on their journey.
Although the road winds around the mountains, the number of people gradually decreases as you go further. Both sides are surrounded by dense forests, and even in May, the shady spots are still quite chilly. Zhenshu, lost in thought, gazes at the sunset beyond the Pamir Mountains, when he vaguely sees something unusual moving in the forests on that side of the mountain. This desolate and treacherous mountain path is frequented by highway robbers; caution is necessary.
Zhenshu walked around to the other side of the car, pointed to the forest, and said to Zhao Heyan, "Uncle Zhao, look at that forest. It looks like there are people up there."
Zhao He always carried a sword at his waist, and now he took it off and held it in his hand to protect Zhen Shu. He looked in the direction Zhen Shu pointed and saw that the trees were swaying and shaking, which did not look like the wind blowing.
Chapter 19: Falling Off the Train
They were now halfway up the mountain road. Turning back or going forward would take the same amount of time, and they were at a loss for what to do. Zhao He stared at the forest for a long time, and seeing that there was no further movement, although he was still uneasy, he waved to the driver and said, "Spur the whip on, let's speed up our pace."
The coachman understood, and with a flick of his long whip, the two horses quickened their pace and began to trot.
Zhenshu's legs were already weak and tired, but she could only force herself to quicken her pace and keep up with the carriage. The mountains were quiet, with only the sound of the carriage tracks. She felt uneasy and, like a frightened rabbit, clutched her small bundle tightly as she ran, glancing around constantly. Suddenly, she saw something moving among the reeds a few feet long by the winding stream, making a rustling sound.
She had already called out once because of the strange noises in the forest, so she dared not make a sound this time. She just kept her eyes fixed on the dense reeds by the stream. Because the river flowed along the road, the strange noises in the reeds moved forward at a steady pace, in sync with the speed of the carriage.
Zhenshu's heart was in her throat, and though she followed closely, her eyes remained fixed on that spot. Suddenly, in a place where the rocks were steep and the reeds were sparse, a patch of clothing was vaguely visible. Zhenshu then grabbed Zhao He's hand and whispered, "Uncle Zhao, look over there!"
Zhao He was skilled in martial arts and had better eyesight than her, making him more able to pinpoint what was causing the disturbance. He drew his sword and held it in his hand, then said softly to the coachman, "Stop the carriage and have the Third Miss get in as well. I'll be right back."
The driver stopped the carriage as instructed: "Third Miss, get in quickly."
Zhenshu's legs and feet ached, and she didn't care that the stench of the bound feet of the women in the carriage was enough to suffocate her. She lifted her skirt curtain and was about to get on the carriage when Zhenxiu blocked her way with her thigh and shook her head, saying, "No, you've made it so that we sisters can't stay in the capital and have to suffer like this. How dare you get on the carriage?"
Zhen Shu coldly stared at her legs and said, "Let go!"
Zhenxiu stared coldly at her and said, "No, what can you do to me?"
Jeong-seo reached out and pinched and twisted the fattest spot on Jeong-soo's thigh, saying, "Do you want to let go now?"
Zhenxiu screamed in pain, clutching her thigh before she could speak, when suddenly a commotion arose from the side of the mountain forest behind her. A group of men in short clothes rushed down the mountain, shouting loudly.
The two horses were startled and immediately bolted. The coachman hurriedly pulled on the reins and cracked his whip, shouting, "We've probably encountered bandits! Ladies and young ladies, hold on tight and don't fall off!"
Zhenshu, who had just been under the carriage, grabbed Zhenxiu's thigh and half-lay on the carriage, waving and calling to Su Shi, "Mother, quickly pull me up, pull me up!"
Madam Su was always prone to panic. Holding a handkerchief between her fingers, she first lifted the curtain to look outside. She saw a group of men in black short jackets coming down from the mountainside. Terrified, she screamed, "Driver, quick, spur the horses!"
The horse galloped faster and faster, and when it bumped against a stone on the road, Zhenshu couldn't keep up and ended up dangling in mid-air on the cart, only clinging to Zhenxiu's leg. Zhenxiu tried to shake him off but couldn't. Afraid that Zhenshu would pull her down and run her over in the ruts, she reached out and fiercely tried to tear Zhenshu's hand away, screaming, "Let me go! Let me go!"
It all happened so fast that Su realized Zhenshu was still half-hanging on the edge of the carriage, and that she, sitting by the window, was the only one who could grab her. She reached out to pull Zhenshu up, shouting, "Quick, grab my hand! Quick!"
Zhenshu reached for Su's hand, but one of her hands released Zhenxiu's thigh. Just as she looked up to tell Zhenxiu not to kick her again, Zhenxiu's small foot, barely three inches long, kicked hard into the hand that was gripping her thigh.
Because women's bound feet are unstable under pressure, the soles of their shoes are specially thickened, and some even have wooden wedges inserted inside to maintain their hardness. Zhenxiu's shoes were the kind with very hard soles reinforced with wooden wedges. When she stepped on Zhenshu's hand, Zhenshu's hand was in excruciating pain. Before she could even grasp the hand she was offering to Su, it suddenly slipped away, and with a thud, Zhenshu slid from the edge of the carriage to the bottom of it.
The ruts followed her, running over her knee, sending a sharp, piercing pain through her. Seeing the men in black so close, Zhenshu was terrified, her hair standing on end. Ignoring the pain in her knee, she jumped up, wanting to chase after the carriage again, shouting, "Mother, stop! Stop!"
But as soon as she stepped down, her right leg felt as if it were empty from the knee down, and she immediately fell to the ground again.
Zhenshu, supporting herself with her hands, crawled a few steps, then cried out, "Mother! Mother!"
Su leaned out of the carriage window, waving her handkerchief, and said, "Zhenshu, my good daughter, run! Chase after her!"
Zhenshu couldn't move one leg, so she could only stretch out her hand and wave, saying, "Mother, quickly tell the driver to stop the carriage."
Su looked at Zhenshu and burst into tears. Suddenly, she opened her mouth wide and screamed, "Driver, quick, run! They're catching up!"
Although the coachman was sitting on the edge of the carriage, he was only focused on calming the two wildly running horses and didn't care at all that someone might fall off. At that moment, he heard Madam Su telling him to urge the horses on, so he cracked his whip and with a "giggle!" the two horses galloped away like lightning.
Zhen Shu's leg was completely powerless from the knee down. She stood up with the other leg, but after a moment she slumped back down on the ground. The men in black ran up behind her, passed by her, jumped off the riverbank, and headed in the direction Zhao He had been chasing.
It turned out that these people were not robbers at all. They didn't even glance at her, as if she were a tree or a stone. When they passed by her, they simply turned slightly to walk around her.
Zhenshu sat on the road, feeling a mix of laughter and tears, sadness and fear. She tried several times to get up, but her right knee and below were completely powerless, as if there was nothing there at all. She used her hands to support her legs and moved to the side, sitting down in the roadside grass, thinking of breaking off a branch to use as a crutch so she could continue walking.
Seeing a small sapling, no more than a person's height, growing at the top of her head, she realized it would be perfect as a crutch. Besides, with one leg crippled, a sapling too thick would be difficult to break. She stretched out her hands, leaned on the instep of one foot against the hillside, and slowly made her way up the slope. Finally, she managed to reach the sapling, and with a mighty effort, bent it to the ground, intending to break it.
This is a willow sapling. Willows are very resilient, especially around the Dragon Boat Festival. These saplings have deep roots that are difficult to pull out, and their trunks are very flexible. No matter how much you bend or strain them, they are hard to break. The easiest way to break them is to use a knife.
Seeing that there was no one around and the sun had already set, Zhenshu grew increasingly anxious. She sat on the hillside and bent the sapling until it was flat against the ground, but it only had some bark broken and showed no signs of breaking. She then loosened the roots and tried to break it from the trunk. But the trunk was even more flexible; after bending it several times and letting go, it still stretched straight upwards, as if defying her.
Zhenshu was both anxious and angry. She hoisted the sapling onto her shoulder and crawled forward with all her might, hoping to pull it out of the soil. But no matter how hard she tried, she was still missing the strength of one leg, and the willow tree remained motionless.
She let go, and watched as the sapling swayed a few times before rising straight into the sky. The surrounding area was gradually darkening, and the stars were rising. Zhenshu recalled the sound of Su's screams as the carriage sped away, realizing that her mother had deliberately abandoned her. Overwhelmed with resentment and panic, she hugged her knees, buried her face between her legs, and began to sob.
After crying for a while, she realized it was pointless, so she raised her head, picked up a stone, and threw it down the road, cursing, "Heartless! Unfeeling! Inhuman creature!"
She didn't know who she was cursing; she just had nowhere to vent her grievances. After crying for a while, she felt it was pointless, so she wiped away her tears and stopped crying. She stared longingly in the direction the carriage had gone, hoping that Madam Su would change her mind and send the driver back to pick her up. She gazed into the distance for a long time, until even the shadows of the trees on the mountain road became blurred. The moon was about to rise, and the mountains fell silent, with only the chirping of cicadas echoing in the fields. There was no sign of the carriage.
Zhenshu sighed deeply, wondering if Zhao He was ahead or behind, and whether he had found Su Shi and the others. If he was behind, he would have to pass through this place to catch up with the carriage. Thinking of this, a glimmer of hope returned to her heart, and she looked back the way she had come. After gazing for a while, the moon rose, reflecting on the flowing river like a white ribbon. The surrounding mountains and forests cast dark shadows across the sky, and the calls of birds and beasts increased, occasionally punctuated by the long howls of wolves or tigers, which chilled her to the bone. She hugged herself tightly and huddled beside the small willow sapling she had been tending for so long.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhenshu, with her eyes half-open and half-closed, was lost in thought when she suddenly saw the reeds by the river swaying gently again. Fear surged within her, making the hair on her head stand on end, but she dared not move or cry out. She simply covered her mouth with both hands and kept breathing into her palms.
Slowly, something emerged from the reeds. Zhenshu thought it was a wild boar or some kind of beast, but to her surprise, it bent low, leaped across the stream, and jumped onto the road. Stretching its back, it turned out to be a tall man.
Humans are always safer than wild animals.
Zhenshu tried to hide, but the bright moonlight shone on the hillside, leaving her nowhere to go. She could only cling to the straight sapling, shivering incessantly.
The man leaped up the hillside in just two steps, reaching Zhenshu's feet. He had just jumped out of the reeds, still damp, yet radiating an intense heat. Zhenshu, unsure whether he was a bandit or a respectable man, craned her neck and saw a tall, muscular figure wearing only a single shirt despite the mountain's chill. The man looked down at her, his eyes bright and clear.
But just as she was about to open her mouth, tears welled up again, her throat tightened, and she cried before she could speak.
The man stepped back two paces, knelt on one knee, and stretched out his arms, saying, "I'm not a bad person, sister, don't be afraid."
Zhenshu dared not believe him. She clung tightly to the small willow sapling, trying to avoid the heat emanating from the man, and said anxiously, "Brave warrior, my uncle will be back soon."
The man plopped down on the hillside, looked at the moon, and waved his hand, saying, "Is that the man who chased me with his sword just now? Unfortunately, I led him to another path, and he's probably already gone around to the other side of the mountain."
He could describe Zhao He as carrying a sword, clearly the same person who had been following the carriage through the reeds. Now that Zhao He was far away, her last hope was extinguished.
Thinking of this, Zhenshu buried her head between her legs and sobbed silently.
The man grabbed a foxtail grass from somewhere, and used the fuzzy tassel to brush Zhenshu's fingers, saying, "I was hiding in the water just now, and I saw your mother abandon you."
It would have been better if this person hadn't been mentioned, because mentioning it made Zhenshu feel even more aggrieved. However, she was, after all, a grown woman, and it wasn't appropriate for her to cry in front of outsiders, so she buried her head in her arms and remained silent.
The man then said, "How about I take you back? To find your mother?"
Zhenshu then raised her head and looked at the man in front of her. In the hazy moonlight, she couldn't see his face clearly, but he didn't look like a bad person. He was quite young, at most twenty years old.
Seeing Zhenshu's eyes glistening with tears, and her almond-shaped eyes wide open like a startled fawn as she looked him up and down, the man deliberately grinned silently twice to show that he was indeed a law-abiding citizen, and then said, "I'm really not a bad person."
Chapter 20: Fighting the Tiger
Seeing his ugly smile, Zhenshu immediately looked away and stammered, "Those people just now looked like they were chasing after you."
The man spread his hands and said, "How could that be? I'm just a hunter, chasing my prey, and it just so happens that I'm traveling the same route as you."
Zhenshu said, "But you just said that you led Uncle Zhao down another road."
The man was speechless for a long time, then lowered his head and said, "Yes, those people were chasing me."
Those men in short black clothes didn't look like government officials, but they were well-trained and must have been servants of a wealthy family in Wen County.
As Zhenshu was pondering this, she heard the man say again, "Do you know if there is a large landowner in our Wen County named Liu Zhang?"
She had heard of him; Liu Zhang was a wealthy man in Wen County, known to everyone within a hundred miles.
Seeing that Zhen Shu seemed to believe him, the man continued, "I was originally his family's long-term servant. Master Liu's godfather was a eunuch in the imperial palace in the capital. He gave him a Luojiang dog from the palace to play with. He usually cherished that little lion dog very much, loving it like his own grandfather. It got lost recently, and I happened to be herding sheep into the pen there. His steward then accused me of stealing the little lion dog. Of course, I denied it, and I couldn't withstand the beating, so I ran away. Master Liu sent dozens of men to chase me all over the mountains and fields."
Zhenshu listened intently, then looked up and asked, "Just for a dog?"
The man nodded and said, "That's right. Ordinary families can't keep that dog; it's a capital offense. Only those granted permission by the royal family can keep it. If smuggled onto the black market, a single dog can fetch several thousand taels of silver."
Zhenshu became suspicious of his knowledgeable tone and probed, "If you were just a farmhand, a few thousand taels of silver would be considered a fortune."
The man waved his hand and said, "A gentleman loves money, but he acquires it in a proper way. I am an honest and upright person, and I would never do such a thing."
Seeing that he had been sitting on the hillside for a quarter of an hour, and indeed seemed to be someone who wouldn't casually glance at his handwriting, Zhenshu began to believe him somewhat. She then asked, "So, do you have anywhere to go now?"
The man shook his head and said, "I can't go home anymore. I can only take it one step at a time."
Zhenshu moved closer to him, made a gesture of respect with her hands, and said, "I wonder if you could escort my daughter for a while? Once we get to the other side of the mountain, my daughter will definitely ask my mother to thank you profusely."
The man moved a little further away and waved his hand, saying, "No need for thanks. Now that you're stranded in these deep mountains, any man should see you off, but..."
"But what?" Zhenshu pressed.
The man pointed to the official road and said, "I don't know if those servants have dispersed yet, but there are definitely people lying in wait on the official road. If I take you there, wouldn't they catch me red-handed? In my humble opinion..."
"How is it?" Zhenshu asked again.
The man pointed to himself with both hands and said, "If you believe me, I know a shortcut. If we hurry on our way, we can get out of Wuling Mountain by dawn at the latest. But I'm afraid you won't believe me."
Zhenshu pondered for a long time but still couldn't make a decision, so she changed her question and asked, "May I ask your honorable name, elder brother?"
The man grinned and said, "No need for your surname, my surname is Lin, and my given name is Dayu."
Zhenshu asked curiously, "Is it Yu, the Yu who controlled the floods?"
The man laughed and waved his hand, saying, "How dare I be on par with the Holy Emperor? I am just a big fish in the water. You can call me Brother Big Fish, that's what everyone in the village calls me."
After a series of questions and answers, Zhenshu saw his honesty and gradually developed a sense of trust in him. She pointed to her leg and said, "My leg looks like it's just a little scraped, not much blood, but I can't use any strength at all and can't walk. Could you please break off a stick for me so I can walk with it?"
Taking advantage of the bright moonlight, Lin Dayu leaned closer to Zhenshu's legs and stared at them for a while before saying, "Stretch your legs out harder."
Zhen Shu stretched and bent as instructed.
After reading it, Lin Dayu said, "Could you please allow me to press it down, or perhaps I can treat you?"
Zhen Shu nodded slightly in agreement, and Lin Dayu clasped his hands and said, "I apologize for offending you, Miss."
He extended only five fingers and pressed around her knee. Zhenshu groaned softly in pain and pulled her leg back. He then reached out and grabbed her calf with his other hand, pressed down on her knee with one hand, slowly rotated the knee with the other, and gripped her calf tightly with the other hand, before suddenly exerting force with both hands. Zhenshu was in so much pain that she almost fainted, her whole body drenched in cold sweat. When she stretched out her leg, she realized that she could actually feel it.
Lin Dayu said, "It was just a dislocation, but it's healed now. However, you can't walk too much these next few days, or it might become a habitual dislocation."
Zhen Shu stood up and tried to take a few steps. Sure enough, apart from a slight pain in the broken skin, there was no more tearing pain in her leg bone. She took two steps back and knelt down, saying, "Thank you for saving me, Brother Big Fish."
Those who haven't experienced it can't understand the helplessness and fear after a leg is broken.
Lin Dayu helped her up and said, "It was nothing, no need to thank me. If you'd like me to take you, please don't be offended. I'll carry you along the back path and take you to your mother, okay?"
By this time, Zhenshu was already half convinced of him. Besides, the surrounding area was desolate, and if she didn't go with him now, what better way would she have? So she shook the willow sapling again and said, "Could you please ask Brother Big Fish to break it for me?"