Back in the village, Zhao Tiezhu heard the news and put down his work, wanting to go help.
Aunt Zhao stopped him.
"Leng Yuan will be fine up on the mountain. If he really needed help, he’d ask for it. Since he didn’t, it ans he doesn’t need any."
Aunt Zhao knew Leng Yuan’s personality quite well. He would never take Gu Jiaojiao’s safety lightly.
Zhao Tiezhu thought his mother had a point, so he didn’t insist. Still, he went to the foot of the mountain to wait.
When Xu Chongshan heard the news, he also went to the foot of the mountain.
That way, he could lend a hand if anything happened.
「On the mountain.」
Leng Yuan followed the footprints up the mountain, flashlight in hand.
He saw the herbs she had picked along the way, which gave him so clues. Following the trail of harvested plants, he ventured deeper into the woods.
As he looked into the depths of the forest, his expression grew increasingly grim.
His pace quickened.
Deep in the woods, Gu Jiaojiao had no idea where she was. It was pitch-black, and the occasional rustling sound from the darkness terrified her.
SOB...
She was truly about to cry from fear.
But she didn’t dare to cry out loud, afraid of attracting so large predator. So, she could only let the tears fall in silence.
Terrified, she tried to get back to the cliff she’d been on before. At least there were no trees there—it was open, and there might be so moonlight.
But after walking in what felt like a circle, she couldn’t find the cliff. She’d completely lost her sense of direction.
All she could do was stand rooted to the spot, too afraid to move.
A gust of wind swept through, and Gu Jiaojiao couldn’t help but wrap her arms around herself.
She stared into the utter blackness ahead, wondering when her husband would find her.
The air was still, and Gu Jiaojiao’s tension made her senses exceptionally sharp.
Suddenly, she felt a chill run down her spine. She turned her head stiffly.
Two heavy snorts ca from right in front of her: "SNORT. SNORT."
’A wild boar?’
Gu Jiaojiao had no ti for fear now.
"Help!"
She let out a piercing scream and took off running.
The wild boar was startled for a mont, but then its fat body charged after Gu Jiaojiao.
"Leng Yuan! Help , Leng Yuan!"
Gu Jiaojiao scread her husband’s na to bolster her courage, crying as she ran. She stumbled along, and in her panicked flight, she tripped over a vine.
Her body went flying, crashing hard onto the ground.
The boar was right behind her, about to charge. In despair, Gu Jiaojiao squeezed her eyes shut.
"Jiaojiao!"
Just then, a man’s anxious shout rang out from nearby. Before Gu Jiaojiao could react, the wild boar lunged at her.
Seeing this, the man’s eyes narrowed. In the next instant, he shot forward.
He was incredibly fast, reaching the boar’s side in a matter of breaths just as it charged past him.
With lightning-fast reflexes, the man grabbed the boar’s hind leg. His arm muscles tensed, and in the next mont, the boar was airborne. He swung the two-hundred-plus-pound animal and smashed it against a thick tree.
With a loud CRACK, the boar’s head hit the tree, splitting open instantly.
It fell to the ground, twitched a few tis, and then went still.
Gu Jiaojiao was so scared her legs gave out.
Leng Yuan rushed to her side. "Are you hurt?"
Gu Jiaojiao shook her head and threw herself into his arms, crying pitifully.
"Leng Yuan, I was so scared I thought I was going to die."
"I ca up the mountain to gather herbs, and I just kept walking until I got lost. I tried to find my way back, but I couldn’t... sob..."
After saying that, she rembered the cliff.
She wiped away her tears. "I found two wild Polygonum multiflorum on a cliff. They looked really good, and that stuff is expensive. Is there any way we can get them?"
Leng Yuan: ...
Hearing Gu Jiaojiao’s tearful story had made his heart ache for her, but her last comnt left him at a loss for whether to laugh or cry.
’How can she still be thinking about Polygonum multiflorum at a ti like this?’
He sighed in exasperation and pulled her up from the ground. After checking to make sure she wasn’t hurt, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let’s get down the mountain first. I’ll co back up tomorrow and get the Polygonum multiflorum for you."
"And don’t you ever co up the mountain by yourself again."
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