She was about to push Hu-zi back when she suddenly caught sight of a small pool of dark red liquid on the ground.
Shen Qiyue’s heart skipped a beat. She closed her eyes and gave a gentle sniff—a faint, barely perceptible scent of blood hung in the air.
The blood on the ground hadn’t yet seeped into the soil, which meant it had been left not long ago.
She glanced around and noticed, beside the bloodstain, a few somewhat messy footprints.
After a brief moment of thought, she crouched down and took out some freshly picked herbs from her bamboo basket.
“Hu-zi, look—there’s blood on the ground. It must be from some injured little animal. Let’s leave some herbs for it. If it manages to survive, that counts as a good deed on our part.”
Hu-zi nodded. Though he really wanted to catch that unlucky rabbit and bring it home to stew, he always did whatever his second sister said.
“This one stops bleeding. Mash it up and apply it to the wound, changing it every two hours.”
“And this one prevents infection, so the wound won’t fester.”
Shen Qiyue took out a portion of the herbs from her basket and laid them neatly on the ground, muttering to herself as she did so.
Hu-zi burst out laughing, thinking his second sister had gotten smarter—who knew she was still this silly.
“Second sister, how could a rabbit understand human speech?”
Shen Qiyue curved her lips. “What if it’s a rabbit that’s become a spirit?”
Hu-zi’s laughter immediately died down. A rabbit that’s become a spirit…
Remembering the tales of mountain spirits and monsters that the old men in the village used to tell, a chill ran down Hu-zi’s spine.
He looked left and right, then cautiously moved closer to Shen Qiyue and took her hand. “Second sister, let’s go. I’m… a little scared.”
Shen Qiyue patted his head. “Silly boy, I’m just teasing you. Where would a rabbit spirit come from?”
But Hu-zi truly didn’t dare stay any longer, and Shen Qiyue didn’t want to invite trouble either.
She hoisted the bamboo basket back onto her shoulders and led Hu-zi back the way they came.
Neither of the siblings noticed that directly above their heads, on the bare branches of a tree, stood two people.
On a thick branch, leaning back against the trunk, stood a youth of about sixteen or seventeen.
His face was as fair as jade, his features sharp as if carved by a blade, and his dark robes couldn’t conceal the air of nobility about him.
At his feet crouched a lad of similar age, his hand tightly gripping the hilt of his sword, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the retreating figures of Shen Qiyue and her brother.
“Put it away,” the youth said calmly. “They’re just poor children from a nearby village. Mo Ying, don’t be so jumpy.”
Mo Ying gave a self-deprecating smile. “Your Highness, think about it—on this trip, from Hejian Prefecture all the way to this Heshan County, how many groups of people have we run into? How can we afford not to be careful?”
Hearing this, the youth glanced at the sword wound on his right arm, then turned his gaze to the herbs on the ground, his eyes thoughtful.
“Mo Ying, did you remember clearly what that girl said about how to use the herbs?”
“Clear as day. And it’s our lucky break—the herbs that girl left for the rabbit never got picked up by the rabbit, so we get to take advantage of it.”
Mo Ying chuckled, bent down, and gathered the herbs from the ground, tucking them away.
The youth looked at him speechlessly, shaking his head almost imperceptibly, then his gaze landed on the colorful umbrella-shaped things the girl had pointed out.
“Pick these, and those too. Gather them all and bring them along.”
“Your Highness, didn’t you just hear what she said? She said the grayish-white ones are edible, and the colorful ones are poisonous.”
“We’re still far from Jiangnan, our luggage is all lost, and we can’t get in touch with Mo Bei and the others for now. We’ll keep these to stave off hunger on the road—we’ll make soup with them just as she said.”
“As for the poisonous ones, naturally we’ll take them back… this Prince has use for them.”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but a ruthlessness that belied his age flickered across his face.
Meanwhile, Shen Qiyue was walking back toward the village with Hu-zi, both in high spirits.
This trip had been quite fruitful—at least they wouldn’t go hungry for a few days.
Just as the two were about to turn past the village gate, they heard a miserable wailing, along with harsh cursing and the crying of an infant.
Hu-zi started, tugging at Shen Qiyue’s sleeve. “Sister, that sounds like Grandma! And the little one—that’s Little Brother crying!”
Shen Qiyue tightened the straps of the bamboo basket on her shoulders and broke into a run alongside Hu-zi.
Sure enough, their doorstep was already surrounded by a wall of curious villagers, packed so tight not a drop of water could get through.
“Mother, please give Xiao Bao back to me—he’s not even a month old yet!” A heart-wrenching cry came from within the crowd.
Madam Bai?
Shen Qiyue was taken aback, exchanged a glance with Hu-zi, and the two siblings pushed through the outer ring of villagers to squeeze forward.
“Move aside, move aside.” Shen Qiyue’s heart burned with anxiety as she heard her little brother’s breathless, choking cries.
She raised both elbows sideways and, using the very skill she’d honed squeezing onto buses during rush hour in her past life, shoved left and right, clearing the obstacles in front of her until she quickly reached the very front of the crowd.
There stood Madam Bai, her hair disheveled, wearing only a thin undergarment, kneeling on the cold ground of the courtyard, kowtowing repeatedly to a short, white-haired old woman with triangular eyes across from her.
“Mother, I beg you—give Xiao Bao back to me. He’s not even a month old yet; he can’t withstand this kind of treatment.”
Shen Qiyue looked closely and saw that the old woman with triangular eyes was holding her little brother, who had already cried himself hoarse.
The baby, not yet a month old, had his swaddling clothes fallen to the ground in the courtyard, wrapped only in a thin bedsheet. His exposed little legs had already turned blue from the cold, and his cries were growing weaker, like the mewling of a kitten.
Shen Qiyue was instantly consumed with rage. She quickly unstrapped the bamboo basket from her back and handed it to Hu-zi, who had squeezed in behind her.
Then she rolled up her sleeves and charged at the triangular-eyed old woman, snatching the baby from her hands in one swift motion.
She quickly picked up the swaddling clothes from the ground, wrapped the baby in her arms, and turned to hand him to Madam Bai.
“Qiyue…”
Madam Bai stared blankly at her suddenly appearing daughter, then at the little son in her arms. She snapped back to reality and took the baby, pulling him close to her chest.
Shen Qiyue quickly stripped off her own padded jacket—torn in several places with ragged cotton spilling out—and draped it over Madam Bai’s shoulders.
Only after confirming that her little son was safe did Madam Bai look up, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed, “Qiyue, your heartless grandparents want to sell Xiao Bao to the Song family in town.”
“Like hell they will! Whoever dares to touch my little brother, I’ll fight them to the death!”
Shen Qiyue wore only a patched, tattered shirt, but she felt no cold at all—her fury burned through her body.
The old woman across from her finally snapped back to reality. That damned girl Shen Qiyue had actually snatched the child right out of her hands.
She slapped her thigh and let out a shriek, jumping up and planting her hands on her hips as she cursed Shen Qiyue at the top of her lungs.
“You little slut! So you didn’t die after all—just as tough as your mother. You and your mother brought death upon my son, and now there’s one less person to take care of me. You’d better hand over that little bastard to make up for it!”
Shen Qiyue let out a cold snort. “So you’re my worthless grandmother, huh? You keep calling my little brother a bastard—then what does that make the whole Shen family? A nest of bastards, that’s what!”
The villagers who had been chattering away fell suddenly silent.
Every single face wore an expression of utter shock.