Fearing Ye Wenxue might overthink things, he added, "My injuries haven't fully healed yet. With Dr. Su in trouble, I can't just stand by and do nothing. Besides, I don't know how to take care of children."

Ironically, after resting for half a month, the poison in Suiye's body was gone, but the injury had not fully healed.

He secretly suspected that the doctor had listened to Ye Wenxue and was deliberately not treating his injuries so that he would be willing to do hard labor for a longer period of time.

After being stopped by him, Ye Wenxue looked at the anxious children huddled together and her impulsiveness vanished instantly.

She gritted her teeth and thought for a while: "It's already dark, and it's not safe anywhere. I'll go look for someone tomorrow. Since something has already happened, it won't make a difference if I waste a little more time."

I almost forgot that I wasn't alone; I had a group of children with me.

Sanyuan's safety is important, but the safety of the other children is also very important.

Sui Ye shrugged and sat down on the bench with an air of nonchalance: "Whatever."

Dazhuang looked down at his small arms and legs, and his desire to become strong and protect his family grew stronger.

He knew that his mother was worried about him, Shuangshuang, Siwang, and Yuanyuan, which was why she had to stay instead of immediately setting off to find Sanyuan.

But they had no way to protect themselves, and it was not safe for them to stay in the valley alone.

As for Suiye... he's even less reliable.

Dazhuang ate his meal hastily with a heavy heart, took a walk to digest, and then obediently washed up before taking his younger siblings to sleep in the cave.

Shuangshuang and Sanyuan are twins, and their bond is even stronger. Knowing that Sanyuan hadn't returned yet, her eyes were red for a long time.

"Mother, elder brother, I want to go find my younger brother. He must be very scared right now."

Ye Wenxue stood by her side, patting her head reassuringly.

“It’s already dark, and you can’t see the road clearly. You won’t be able to find anyone even if you get out of the valley, and you might even get lost. If Sanyuan comes back and doesn’t see you, he’ll be worried and feel guilty.”

"Be a good boy and listen to me. I'll go find Sanyuan first thing tomorrow morning. You all stay in the valley and wait for me to bring Sanyuan back, okay?"

They leaned against Ye Wenxue, their voices slightly choked with emotion: "Okay."

Siwang, being young, was also influenced by Shuangshuang and lost his composure again, sticking close to Wenxue and unwilling to let go for even a moment.

Dazhuang sat beside Yuanyuan, holding her in his arms, lost in thought.

Yuanyuan thought her mother and the others were playing, and kept reaching out to Ye Wenxue, wanting to go over and play with them. The little girl kept pawing at Ye Wenxue.

Dazhuang was slapped in the face by the dancing Yuanyuan. Coming to his senses, he sat down next to Ye Wenxue, letting Yuanyuan bother Shuangshuang and Siwang, which helped to lighten the mood.

"Tomorrow, I'll set up several traps and mechanisms at the entrance to the valley. You must not go out. No matter what happens, I will definitely come back."

Da Zhuang nodded emphatically.

The children cried and fussed for most of the night before finally falling into a deep sleep close to dawn.

Ye Wenxue carefully pulled the children off her tightly embracing her, grabbed her wood-chopping knife, and went to the cave where Doctor Su lived, where Sui Ye was already waiting.

He sat on the ground with an unsteady posture, watching Ye Wenxue rummage around with a sarcastic look on his face: "What? You pretend he doesn't exist when you don't need him, but now you remember Doctor Su."

After Ye Wenxue learned that Su Jiu and Sanyuan were missing, she didn't say a word about Su Jiu, only muttering, "Sanyuan will be alright," and "Mother will bring Sanyuan back."

It's ridiculous that they only remembered Su Jiu when they needed to use poison.

Ye Wenxue immediately understood that this person had overheard her comforting the children. She narrowed her eyes and looked at him: "Since you care so much about Su Jiu, why don't you go find him tonight? Maybe he will speed up your recovery because of your sincerity."

Suiye covered his scabbed wound and groaned.

"All you care about is the kids; they're just a bunch of good-for-nothings."

Ye Wenxue was worried about Sanyuan and didn't want to argue with him. After taking out a few bottles of poison, she stared at Suiye and said, "If you don't want to go save people, then stay in the valley and help me take care of the children. After this is over, we'll call it even, and I'll send you down the mountain."

Suiye was taken aback, his face showing disbelief: "The house isn't even finished yet. I'm going down the mountain. Are you going to work all by yourself?"

"It's none of your business. Just tell me you're going out of the valley to find someone, or you're staying in the valley to look after Dazhuang and the others."

A life-saving favor can only be used once; it must be used wisely.

The safety of the children is more important than the work itself.

Oh, and there's Su Jiu too.

Suiye's feelings were somewhat complicated. If it were the first day after being rescued, he certainly wouldn't want to stay a moment longer and would only wish to go down the mountain and return to the capital as soon as possible.

But Ye Wenxue treated him like a plague, interspersing "we're even" in two out of every three sentences, which made him feel somewhat... unwilling.

Perhaps because he was always popular in the capital, with many people chasing after him and trying to curry favor with him, he was suddenly being disliked, especially by people who looked like ordinary folks. He was not used to it for a while.

Sui Ye snapped out of his daze and glanced at Ye Wenxue, who was applying poison to the wood-chopping knife:

"I'll go with you to find the person. As for going down the mountain, we'll talk about that later."

Ye Wenxue didn't sleep all night. She carried the bow she had found, whittled a lot of suitable wooden arrows, and made several poisoned traps, intending to place them on the path that was the only way through the valley.

Suiye noticed that she had specifically chosen a cure-all poison, rather than the kind that was applied to the wood-chopping knife and caused immediate death.

Clearly, Ye Wenxue was afraid that the children would worry too much about Sanyuan and run out of the valley on their own, thus triggering the trap.

He couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

Why is this person so concerned about a few good-for-nothings?

They would beat him up or beat him, and mock him at the drop of a hat, showing none of the gentleness they showed to the younger kids.

snort.

He doesn't care.

As dawn broke, Ye Wenxue, carrying a basket on her back and a bow and arrows, tiptoed out of the valley. After carefully arranging the path, the two headed straight for the highest mountain in the east.

Su Jiu's trip was to his former residence.

Worried about Sanyuan, Ye Wenxue walked quickly and arrived at the foot of the eastern mountain in less than half an hour.

Sui Ye's injuries hadn't healed yet, and the long journey had left him pale: "This is it? This wretched place..."

Ye Wenxue ignored him and quickly climbed the mountain, following the path Dazhuang had mentioned, until she arrived at the bamboo house Su Jiu had told her about.

The bamboo house was in a mess, with signs of vandalism everywhere. Even the herb garden, vegetable patch, and well had been ruined.

The cellar was also emptied, leaving only some broken rice that had been crushed a few times.

The two split up and searched the area several times with serious expressions, but they still couldn't find anyone.

Sui Ye pointed to the trampled medicinal herb garden: "It seems that more than a dozen people came, captured Sanyuan, and threatened Su Jiu, making him hesitant to use poison."

Otherwise, at least a few corpses should have been left behind.

Ye Wenxue remained silent, her gaze sweeping around. Suddenly, she noticed a knotted weed hidden in an inconspicuous corner by the courtyard gate, pointing towards the valley.