Xiangzhi walked through the dark alley straight to the bus station.
She had heard from You Xiu that humans had people who specialized in abducting and selling others, she despised such creatures who persecuted their own kind.
This fellow emitted a sour, putrid smell mixed with sweat, making the fake beard stick in clumps, looking filthy.
Beyond that, he and his distant accomplices both had a faint, subtle milk scent on them, this milky scent could not possibly belong to them.
There was a small child.
Xiangzhi pressed her lips together, her expression darkening.
“My home is right here,” the trafficker disguised as an old man signaled his accomplice in the courtyard, preparing to bind Xiangzhi the moment she stepped inside.
They specifically stationed themselves at the bus station, targeting lone women and children. This line of work had become very routine for them.
Once this group was secured, they could send her along with the one in the house to the coastal regions and fetch a high price.
Xiangzhi walked to the entrance, looking at them with a smile.
The large gate shut heavily behind her, the old man’s crooked back straightened, and he stood up, pulling a rope from his waist and working with his two accomplices to encircle her from front and back.
Outside the wall, the street buzzed with traffic.
Buses at the station sounded their horns on arrival and departure. People greeting and sending off, vendors coming and going, bustling and noisy, no one outside the wall knew what was happening inside.
Xiangzhi’s flower branches pierced through their necks, piercing the wall itself, pinning them against the wall unable to move.
“Save… save…” they rolled their white eyes, on the verge of suffocation, unable to utter a single word of rescue.
Xiangzhi cared nothing for their lives, she entered the house and discovered a male infant sleeping in a woven basket. A glass bottle filled with hot water was stuffed against his chest, if she had discovered it any later, it would have burned his delicate skin.
Xiangzhi used her leaves to support the tiny baby, his lips pouting as he was about to cry, she cradled him, swaying him back and forth in the air. Whether from the swaying or the loss of the scalding object, the male infant gradually fell asleep.
The two traffickers had never imagined encountering such a strange turn of events, tears and snot streamed down their faces. The middle-aged man who had deceived Xiangzhi had a large dark patch in the middle of his pants.
They were too filthy for Xiangzhi to bother with, she threw them heavily onto the ground, ignoring the two men wailing and beating their chests, saying coldly: “Go find the police.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” the two traffickers knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly: “We had eyes but didn’t see who we were dealing with [1]we had eyes but didn’t see who we were dealing with (you yan bu shi taishan, 有眼不識泰山) Idiom, to fail to recognize an important/powerful person despite having eyes to see jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3398888_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3398888_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, great fairy, spare us, we will surrender ourselves to the police right now!”
“Then go,” Xiangzhi followed close behind them, glaring fiercely at them, not leaving until they entered the police station with the male infant and turned themselves in.
Passing her in the opposite direction was a young couple arriving to report the incident, their eyes red with tears. The two of them seemed to have experienced great trauma and supported each other as they went into the police station.
Xiangzhi caught their scent, the smell was milky. She raised her lips slightly at the corners. She thought with satisfaction that occasionally doing a good deed was not bad at all.
By the time Xiangzhi reached the bus station, the staff told her that bus number six had already departed.
Xiangzhi stood alone under the bus stop sign, looking around.
Just then that young couple caught up with the male infant in their arms, the joy had not yet faded from their faces, and the young man stammered: “Thank you, comrade, we heard from the traffickers that it was you who moved them to turn themselves in.”
At the police station, everyone had seen the ligature marks on their necks—evidence that could have caused fatal injury at any moment.
But the two insisted they had not been forced to turn themselves in, when pressed further, they stammered that they had been moved by a beautiful young female comrade, they had originally planned to abduct her.
Although there was something suspicious about it, the immediate priority was to track down the women and children being trafficked. After taking back their male infant, the young couple rushed to find Xiangzhi.
Learning that Xiangzhi had missed her bus to save their child, after clarifying her situation, the young couple brought her to the minibus station.
“Take it to Xianghua Market, and then there is a direct bus to 114 Regiment. It is forty minutes faster than bus number six.”
Xiangzhi thus followed them onto the minibus.
In front of the seats were chicken cages and sacks of feed, carrying poles and vegetable baskets, people squeezed in next to one another. Xiangzhi’s small face turned pale from the odors, but the others seemed accustomed to it, revealing her delicate nature in every way.
They sent Xiangzhi all the way to Xianghua Market and dropped her off, they repeatedly instructed her about bus 1107, and only after Xiangzhi urged them did they board the return minibus back to the city.
After noon, the sun lost its warmth.
Xiangzhi’s fingers and toes were numb from the cold, she clutched the hot water bottle they had given her, shivering as she waited for bus 1107.
Because mountains could be seen from the outskirts of the city, there was virtually no one at the market, Xiangzhi stamped her feet, waiting in place. She heard that an avalanche had occurred a few days ago, and nearby villages were being evacuated.
It had snowed the previous night, the snow had stopped by morning. Around three in the afternoon, it began drifting down again.
Xiangzhi could not wait for the bus and thought perhaps the wind and snow were too heavy and the bus had stopped. She looked around and found nowhere to stay, so she turned and headed into the mountains.
The mountains were her base, transforming into her original form and finding a place sheltered from the wind and snow would allow her to weather this storm without difficulty.
She walked slowly up the mountain, the heavy snow made movement difficult, and gradually drowsiness welled up. Moreover, her spiritual power had not fully recovered, leaving her completely unprepared.
Every winter, Xiangzhi would sleep for a long time in the flower valley, coming out this time had been too much of an exertion.
Just as she reached the mountainside and saw the accumulated snow slide down the mountain, exposing the soil, Xiangzhi stretched her waist about to transform into her original form when a sinister voice appeared behind her.
“Finally caught you.”
Lu Jianping, over these past days, had felt increasingly that something was wrong. Xiangzhi had been under his surveillance in Yanxia Village the entire time, with no opportunity whatsoever to make contact with Gu Wenshan. Her relationship with Gu Wenshan had seemed to appear from nowhere, catching him completely off guard.
Moreover, he had been suspended from his position, Liu Sai had revealed his information during interrogation, and police were methodically gathering evidence of his attempted kidnapping.
He had nothing left to lose, after helping Cao’s family pay the five-hundred-yuan gambling debt, he still owed a large sum of money outside.
Without his job, without money, the root of all his problems was this woman.
Having paid such a heavy price, no matter what, he had to have her!
Lu Jianping, unshaven and unkempt, walked up to Xiangzhi and saw her small face was pale from the cold, he sniffed the intoxicating scent in the air.
He twisted his face into a smile and said: “Your relationship with Regiment Commander Gu ends here, now come obediently with me. Let us find a big mountain to hide in, I will try not to make you hurt too much.”
Xiangzhi had exhausted her patience with him. After a night of recovery, her spiritual power was negligible, but more than sufficient to deal with humans.
She had let Lu Jianping off once, but if he insisted on pressing his case, he was seeking his own death.
As they spoke, snow rolled down from a nearby mountain, and the village at the foot of the mountain was being evacuated, in the distance, the people looked like tiny ants, arranged in a thin, long line.
Seeing that Xiangzhi’s attention was elsewhere, Lu Jianping felt no anger. He had thought many times about what if Xiangzhi cried out or shouted, fortunately, she had entered the mountains on her own.
Lu Jianping pulled out a bottle and dabbed it onto a handkerchief, a pungent smell spread immediately.
Xiangzhi squinted drowsily and said in a flat tone: “This time I will not let you go.”
“And I will not let you go!”
Lu Jianping laughed loudly, his laughter causing the snow on the mountain to slowly slide down. He was frenzied in expression, deranged in action, recklessly he lunged at Xiangzhi.
Xiangzhi stepped back and saw clearly that Lu Jianping’s obsession had consumed him, emanating a foul reek.
Oh no!
Lu Jianping thought she was afraid and opened his crimson eyes, accelerating his rush toward her! His footsteps were unusually heavy, his roar echoing across the mountains and wilderness.
The thick snow rolled down, there were still over a hundred people at the foot of the mountain who had not yet completed evacuation. They cried out in fear!
An avalanche!
In that critical moment, white light suddenly burst from Xiangzhi’s palm, an overbearing gardenia scent instantly covering the small mountain, in an instant, the rolling snow was stopped. The avalanche came to an abrupt halt, and the hundred-plus disaster victims hurried to leave.
It was then that Lu Jianping seized the opportunity to press forward, catching Xiangzhi off guard. She floated in mid-air, her silken long hair spreading and suddenly breaking through the suppression of righteous light!
“Only one of us will leave here alive!” Her eyes were filled with fluorescent green light, with her other hand, white light appeared once more.
“I must have you!!”…
At the foot of the mountain, among the evacuating disaster victims.
“No casualties! That was far too dangerous just now!”
Stone Zhibing rubbed his nose and turned to speak to Gu Wenshan: “What is that smell?”
Having been outside for so long, his shoulders covered in accumulated snow, his nose had long since ceased to function properly.
Gu Wenshan stood motionless, gazing at the distant mountain. The terrifying avalanche had suddenly stopped, then a fragrant gardenia scent rushed forth aggressively.
He had a sense of foreboding.
“Stay here, I will go up the mountain to check if anyone has been missed.”
Gu Wenshan bent down and wrapped anti-slip chains around his ankles, stamped them on the ground: “If there is another landslide in the northwest direction, immediately evacuate the people from Yuxin Village.”
Stone Zhibing watched him head swiftly up the mountain and opened the walkie-talkie to have the orderlies quickly follow and stand ready to provide support.
Little Guo shouted into the walkie-talkie: “We cannot get up, we are at the foot of the mountain and simply cannot ascend! It is like we’re boxed in like we hit a ghost wall [2]boxed in like we hit a ghost wall (gui da qiang, 鬼打墻) Idiom, folk idiom for being disoriented/unable to progress, as if trapped circling by a ghost’s wall jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3398888_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3398888_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });!”
Stone Zhibing heard only static crackling, he looked puzzled toward the now-peaceful mountain. What on earth was happening?
The wind and snow gradually intensified, large flakes of snow swirling with the gardenia fragrance, as if the entire mountainside bloomed with gardenia flowers.
Unlike Little Guo, who could not ascend at all, Gu Wenshan’s bones seemed forged of steel, even if the sky rained blades, nothing could stop his forward progress.
Moving forward through the storm, he finally found a strange realm untouched by wind and snow.
Oddly, the clean ground seemed caressed by spring breezes, overwintering small flowers bloomed with eerie beauty.
Sparrows hovered in mid-air, chittering softly, tall trees that had long since dropped all their leaves suddenly sprouted tender buds.
In the center lay a sleeping woman, countless flowers bloomed around her, but she kept her eyes tightly closed, showing no response. In the frozen landscape, she seemed in great pain.
Gu Wenshan lightened his breathing and stepped forward, turning her face toward him, she was barely breathing.
Gu Wenshan bent down and without hesitation began artificial respiration.
Xiangzhi sensed the breath of flower dew, extending her flower branches to wind around it. The flower dew seemed to gain a soul and actively embraced her. Breathing out warmth, it made her internal organs numb and tingle with pleasure….
Gu Wenshan had never performed such an embarrassing artificial respiration, two tender, porcelain-pale small arms wound around his neck, grasping his shoulders. He could only repeatedly dodge.
His throat itched, the pressure of the wind collar at his neck stung painfully, constantly reminding him to exercise restraint.
“Stay still, do not move.”
Knowing the woman was fine, seeing her padded jacket was soaked by snow, he removed his military overcoat and wrapped her in it, his manner purely businesslike as he scooped her up by the waist and carried her down the mountain. While freezing wind and snow stung his face, his body burned hot, his ears as though aflame.
After they left, a sparrow landed on a half-broken “branch,” chirping a song.
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