Chapter 29 The Smell of a Fallen Corpse

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The mountain path is winding, but it's not a difficult task for modern people—in her previous life, Lin Xihe participated in a mountain climbing activity organized by her company and won the Sportsmanship Award.

It wasn't that I was good at mountain climbing, but the prize was too tempting: a sports watch from a certain brand.

The watch wasn't expensive, but the subtle feeling of being able to get something for nothing from a company event, even though she could afford it, completely captivated her.

This prompted her to keep swinging her trekking poles upwards.

Go up again.

Footsteps echoed through the mountains and forests. Lin Xihe snapped out of her daze and looked down again. The hiking stick in her hand had turned into a twig she had picked up.

It turns out she's no longer in the modern world.

The servant in the manor saw the young lady use a branch to lift the dead snake, and with a flick of her foot, she disappeared as if she were on double speed, probably having already run back to Shushi Nunnery.

Lin Xihe didn't think much of it, but she was worried that the servant would be severely scolded by Granny Yan when he got back.

Looking up the muddy mountain path, her maidservant was struggling to walk; after only an hour, she was already panting heavily.

Everyone says going downhill is easier than going uphill, but Qingwu's steps were slow and heavy. Lin Xihe pondered for a moment: Were people in ancient times really that weak? Should we really be so cruel as to make her lose weight?

"Qingwu, you can use my hiking pole." Lin Xihe waved the branch in her hand.

"Miss, I've found it!" Qingwu excitedly hugged a small tree about the thickness of a fist—the split was neat, and green leaves were sprouting from its branches. Was this maid a woodcutter in her past life? Did she develop the divine skill of splitting trees with her bare hands?

Lin Xihe was speechless for a moment.

"I'll find you another suitable one." These ancient people are really something; how can you climb a mountain without equipment?

Lin Xihe looked around. This wild mountain was full of broken branches, some thick and some thin, and it wasn't easy to find one that was easy to handle.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a straight branch lying across the haystack, and her eyes lit up: "I've got it!"

He immediately rushed into the woods and excitedly ran at a speed of 100 meters per second.

"Miss! It's dangerous over there!"

Qingwu's exclamation was drowned out by the sound of the wind rushing towards her. The next second, Lin Xihe's feet lost their footing, and she suddenly felt weightless, as if she were falling in freefall.

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Clutching the "hiking stick," Qingwu staggered down the mountain, hoping to return to the temple for help.

Before even reaching the temple gate, we came face to face with a large, dark procession—everyone dressed in neat nun's robes.

Huixin, who was in the group, spotted her immediately and rushed forward: "Where is your young lady?!"

The maid, her face streaked with tears, clutched the wooden stick tightly to her chest, stammering, "Miss, this is Miss..."

From the back of the crowd, someone's gaze swept over the stick, then he looked up again and asked in a deep voice, "Where is your young lady?"

Qingwu then got a clear look at the young man at the end of the line. He was tall and straight, his black and white robes making him stand out, and he exuded a reassuring composure. She wiped away her tears: "Miss has fallen off the cliff! Second Young Master, Madam, please go and save her!"

Upon hearing this, Huixin rolled her eyes and fainted on the spot.

Huici barely managed to support her, her eyes glancing at Wen Zhixu: "Take people and go find him immediately."

This was the first time his mother had assigned him a task.

"Be very careful," Huici added in a low voice.

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Preface: "Can you pinpoint the exact location where Miss Lin fell off the cliff?"

Qingwu nodded vigorously: "This servant has marked it!"

The preface to the article is silent. It seems rather unreliable.

He then asked about the circumstances of the incident: it turned out that Lin Xihe was looking for a suitable stick for her maid when she accidentally fell off the cliff.

"stick?"

Qingwu hurriedly presented the item in her bosom: "This is Miss's 'hiking stick'."

Wen Zhixu took the straight wooden stick, paused for a moment, and then turned to the nuns: "Is there a stretcher available in the nunnery?"

The nun quickly replied, "Some herb gatherers occasionally slip and fall, and the nunnery always has stretchers ready in case of any incident."

The scene was chaotic, and Wen Zhixu quickly divided the crowd into two groups: two petite nuns went back to fetch a stretcher; the servants from the Wen and Lin households and the nuns familiar with the terrain of the back mountain were responsible for searching for people.

The rescue team set off immediately.

The place where Lin Xihe fell is not far from here.

Wen Zhixu quickly found the place. The deep and shallow footprints on the muddy mountain road were clearly visible, as if one could imagine how fast Lin Xihe had run, like a wild monkey returning to the forest.

Qingwu pointed to a clump of trees: "Miss rushed past from here. She wanted to get a stick for me... Waaah, I don't need any hiking sticks anymore. I just want Miss to be safe!"

“What’s the use of crying?” Wen Zhixu glanced at her. “She can come back from the dead, how could she die from climbing a lousy mountain?”

Qingwu immediately fell silent. Those words sounded rather crude.

Wen Zhixu used Lin Xihe's hiking stick to push aside the bushes in front of him.

A few steps further ahead lies the edge of the cliff. Lin Xihe's footprints ended there.

It's no wonder, the bushes were so well hidden, who would have thought that there was a cliff just a few steps away?

He leaned down and peered down. Several old trees grew obliquely from the cliff face.

Wen Ba also poked his head out, and he gasped, "It's so deep! Miss Lin is probably in grave danger..."

Only the whistling wind could be heard in the mountains.

The wind carried the lingering words back, echoing eerily through the valley: "More bad than good... less good..."

Wen Zhixu frowned, and without thinking, raised a stick and struck Wen Ba on the back of the neck.

“If you dare say another word,” he said in a flat voice, “I’ll send you down.”

Wenba dared not speak.

"Linxi He—" Wen Zhixu shouted down the cliff.

The echo also called out Lin Xihe's name.

Qingwu called out a few times, only startling a few birds in the woods.

If what Wen Ba said is true, and the young lady is in grave danger... she thought, tears welling up in her eyes, then there was no point in living.

Wen Zhixu had a natural aversion to this kind of howling and wailing, and he pointed to a spot with his stick.

"Is that fabric hanging on the tree branches on the cliff your young lady's clothes?"

Qingwu hurriedly opened her tearful eyes to take a closer look.

Several pieces of cloth were hanging from the branches. Looking closer, the cliff, though precipitous, was not bottomless.

Wen Zhixu glanced at the broken branch on the cliff. The tree trunk, as thick as a bowl, was cleanly snapped in two, the horizontal branch cushioning Lin Xihe's fall. He then looked down to a corner at the bottom of the cliff. There were piles of rocks and overgrown vegetation, but Lin Xihe was nowhere to be seen. He had already made up his mind.

He felt a little relieved for no reason, and casually remarked, "Your young lady is quite heavy."

"..." Qingwu's voice trembled, "Miss must still be alive!"

They didn't know what had happened to Lin Xihe; they shouted themselves hoarse, but they couldn't get her to come out.

The frustration that had just subsided surged up again. Wen Zhixu instructed the servants to follow the nun, who was familiar with the terrain, to go around to the bottom of the cliff to search for the person.

Qingwu went down the mountain to meet up with the stretcher bearers and was mainly responsible for leading the way.

Wen Zhixu, along with Wen Ba, went around to the nearby area to survey the terrain, trying to find a shortcut that could lead directly to the bottom of the cliff.

He used a stick to knock down the tangled branches, immersing himself in the wild, overgrown forest.

Wenba's father was a woodcutter who grew up in the mountains and forests, and he was somewhat afraid of such wild mountains. But his young master stood tall and straight, showing no fear.

Wen Ba parted the vines and bent down to walk forward: "Second Young Master, last month a herb gatherer fell on this mountain. He was just buried. He was an old acquaintance of my father."

"...Second Young Master?"

Where is the Second Young Master now?

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The preface to the text is not as impulsive as Lin Xihe's.

Since his mother came to Shushi Nunnery to practice Buddhism, he often visited her when he was young and became very familiar with the mountain.

Although it has been several years since I last climbed it, the memories have gradually come back to life with every blade of grass and every tree.

For example, at this moment, he suddenly remembered a path leading to the bottom of the cliff.

As Wen Zhixu parted the dense bushes, the wild path hidden under the weeds was indeed revealed.

He continued walking along the road, completely ignoring whether the clumsy servant was keeping up.

He just wanted to find Lin Xihe as soon as possible and ask her about Cuihuang in person—if she had just told him she wanted the Flower Stamen Stone, he would have found it for her.

Why go through all this trouble?

He grabbed onto the vines on the rock face and walked down the path.

He wondered if Lin Xihe had broken her left or right leg. He suspected that Doctor Qian was not skilled enough to treat Lin Xihe. He needed to go to the palace and ask the Empress to send an imperial physician.

"Lin Xihe?" he called out again.

There was no response from any direction.

"Forest--"

Wen Zhixu slipped, and the world before his eyes suddenly turned upside down. Before he could react, he fell down the mountain.

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A dull pain shot through the bridge of her nose, like being punched in the face, and Lin Xihe opened her eyes.

Died again? Fragmented images flashed through my mind, finally settling on the broken tree branch.

Good heavens, she fell from such a high cliff and she didn't die?

Was it a brave tree that saved her dog's life?

...It seems she should consider losing weight?

She sat up, and as she checked whether her hands and feet were broken, she caught a glimpse of a figure not far away.

The man lay motionless, like a corpse.

"!" Lin Xihe recalled the rumor that the herb gatherer had accidentally fallen off a cliff.

Could he be a herb gatherer?

However, she is terrified of corpses, you know.

"Sigh," she cried out to the corpse, "You're dead?"

This seems like a pointless statement.

Lin Xihe twitched her nose, not smelling any stench of death: "You haven't been dead for long, have you?"

Another piece of nonsense.

She, a modern time traveler, had read "The Haunted Village" and "The Ring," for goodness' sake! What was there to fear from a mere ancient corpse?

When she fell off the cliff, Lin Xihe's shoes were nowhere to be found. Now she was crawling forward among the rocks, wearing only her dirty stockings.

Dusk had long passed, and the dim light of the sky made the corpse's skin appear even paler and its appearance more horrifying.

She crawled closer and, in the dim light of the day, she could see the clothes on the person's body.

The exquisite brocade was an attire only the sons of wealthy families would wear. She leaned closer, her gaze finally settling on that face.

Whether it's the lines of that nose or the curve of those lips... the person lying there is clearly someone she knows.

"The order of the text?" Lin Xihe was greatly shocked.

What's that annoying nemesis doing here?

"Dead...?" Forgetting her fear for a moment, she stretched out her index finger and tremblingly checked his breath.

Good news, it's still breathing.

Bad news, breathing is disordered, sometimes heavy, sometimes light.

She placed her palm on Wen Zhixu's forehead almost without hesitation.

The next instant, she abruptly withdrew her hand: "You...!"

My head is so hot it could boil an egg.