“My second elder sister and her husband had already moved up the mountain to live, right? You’ve always been close—did they find this cave for you? Their place can’t be too far from here, can it? If it’s nearby, it would be easier for you to support each other.”
Zhu Sanbao said this with a smile, but Xia Qingyue could clearly see the sly gleam of ill intent in his eyes.
“By my calculation, my parents and I haven’t seen my sister and brother-in-law for a long time… Oh, and my niece Qing… Qingyuan? We’re about to move up the mountain. Take me to them quickly so our family can reunite.”
Ugh!
Ugh!
Hilarious—he even got the name wrong!
Xia Qingyue rolled her eyes, pressing her hand to her violently heaving chest as her stomach churned.
She looked at the Li family, unsure how they would respond.
The Li family hadn’t expected Zhu Sanbao to switch topics so quickly and froze. The first to react was Chen Yuzhen.
Chen Yuzhen stepped forward a few steps, her face tinged with mockery. “You ask us, but we don’t know. To them, we are outsiders. Things your own relatives don’t know, how could we, outsiders, possibly know?”
Li Benfu and his family spoke in unison, “We don’t know anything.”
Zhu Sanbao stared at the Li family for a moment, gnawed on his molars, and then smiled again. It was fine—the days were long, he could take his time.
After leaving the vicinity of the cave and walking a fair distance, Xia Qingyue recalled everything that had just happened.
The warm sun shone overhead, but thinking of Zhu Sanbao’s face sent chills through her entire body.
In her previous life, she grew up in such a family and knew exactly what kind of people the Zhu family were.
Like Mu Yuqin and Xia Pingxin’s family, they were terrifying bloodsucking leeches, stopping only after draining every last bit of value from their victims.
She had been given a second chance at life and had no intention of repeating those miserable days.
This time, she would control her life, and no one was going to disrupt it!
Xia Qingyue had already decided: by observing, the Li family seemed decent and genuinely cared for the original owner’s family.
She would help them find shelter within her capacity, without revealing the sinkhole, and do what she could.
Inviting the Li family to live in the sinkhole with her was unrealistic. She believed people needed a reasonable amount of space.
The Li family were good-natured, but she couldn’t guarantee that situations like today wouldn’t happen again. She wouldn’t take that risk.
Thinking of this, Xia Qingyue unconsciously arrived at the bamboo grove where she had previously harvested bamboo shoots.
She hadn’t been there for a few days and wasn’t sure if new shoots had sprouted.
“Wu… wu… wu…” Heihei suddenly darted into the bamboo grove like a drawn sword, with no warning.
“Heihei!”
“Heihei!”
Xia Qingyue called several times. Heihei hesitated, then stopped, letting out anxious growls.
“What’s wrong?”
She found it strange and let Heihei lead the way.
In the bamboo grove, a large white dog lay on the ground covered with bamboo leaves, panting. Its expression, originally pained, instantly turned fierce the moment it saw Heihei and Xia Qingyue.
A low, warning growl rumbled from its throat.
It was the same white dog they had encountered in the reed marsh before!
Xia Qingyue instinctively looked around, unsure if the dog’s owner was nearby.
Whenever something approached, Heihei was always the first to sense it.
Right now, it behaved as usual, showing that the white dog’s owner was not around.
Feeling a little relieved, Xia Qingyue focused her attention back on the white dog.
The dog had been lying there. When it saw Xia Qingyue and Heihei approaching, it tried to stand, but it was all in vain.
Seeing how weak the white dog was, Xia Qingyue stopped at a safe distance and examined its body.
She discovered that both of its hind legs were caught in two bear traps. Its white fur was soaked in blood, and there was a pool of blood on the ground beneath its legs—a shocking sight. The injuries were severe.
Heihei seemed to sense just how much pain the white dog was enduring. It kept sniffing the injured legs, whining pitifully.
The white dog, meanwhile, never took its eyes off Heihei and Xia Qingyue. Its upper body was tense, as if ready to fight back if they made any sudden move.
Heihei circled around Xia Qingyue, wagging its tail frantically, letting out soft whimpers filled with urgency.
Xia Qingyue knew that Heihei was asking her to help the white dog.
Help or not?
After a few seconds of thought, Xia Qingyue turned to look for some hemostatic herbs. After a short search, she found mugwort and a herb called xuejianchou, or groundcover vine.
She picked a few handfuls of each and placed them on a smooth stone, crushing them with another stone.
She put the crushed herbs into a large leaf, then approached the white dog, saying, “Bai Bai, I’m going to put some medicine on you.”
The dog tensed up, baring its teeth and growling, the sounds growing more intense.
Xia Qingyue hesitated, afraid of being bitten. Heihei broke the stalemate, running in circles around the white dog, calling out repeatedly.
Because of blood loss, the white dog grew weaker; its eyelids drooped. After a while, its head sank, eyes half-closed.
“Woof! Woof!” Heihei barked at Xia Qingyue, as if urging her to hurry.
“Heihei, why are you so anxious? You’re making me feel pressured,” Xia Qingyue joked, but she didn’t delay.
She set the leaf with the medicine aside and reached out to dismantle the bear traps on the white dog’s hind legs.
Probably because the dog had struggled violently when it got caught, the traps were clamped tightly. It took some effort, but she finally removed one.
Through it all, the dog kept its eyes on her, barely blinking.
She removed the second trap and tossed it aside. Then she tore two strips of cloth from her own clothes. Since she was wearing old clothes today, she didn’t feel bad about sacrificing them.
She quickly applied the crushed herbs to the dog’s wounded legs and wrapped them with the cloth strips, tying them securely.
Once finished, she clapped her hands and stood up, silently checking the dog’s reaction and the wounds for further bleeding. Luckily, there was none.
Seeing the white dog a little better, Heihei obediently lay down at Xia Qingyue’s feet.
Half an hour later, the white dog could open its eyes and seemed in slightly better condition. The herbs had probably eased some of the pain. Its gaze toward Heihei and Xia Qingyue softened.
It was noon, the sun strong, but under the bamboo grove, it wasn’t too harsh.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled patterns over Xia Qingyue’s face, highlighting her smooth, delicate skin.
“Bai Bai, where’s your owner?”
Xia Qingyue debated whether to leave or wait a bit longer.
She didn’t know the owner’s situation and didn’t want to appear recklessly. But the dog couldn’t even walk; leaving it here alone would be like sending food to a wild predator.
After a moment’s hesitation, she decided to wait a little longer. Heihei was a friendly dog, likely a good companion, and since she had helped, she would see it through.
With some idle time, she couldn’t sit still and began foraging for bamboo shoots and bamboo mushrooms in the grove.