"Does Wang Er have any skills like digging holes?" Lu Tianlin suddenly asked.
"Drilling holes? We've only heard from the villagers that Wang Er's father could drill holes, and that all the cave dwellings in the village were built by him. But his parents passed away when he was very young, and we've never heard of Wang Er having the skill to drill holes!" The two women looked at each other in surprise.
"What does this have to do with this face covering?" Huan'er asked, puzzled.
Lu Tianlin was still pondering to himself and hadn't even spoken when Huan'er remembered what he had said earlier and asked anxiously, "By the way, Young Master Lu just said that we rushed into the mountains without carefully examining the traces left at the scene. What does that mean? Could it be... that we're looking in the wrong direction?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Tianlin slowly came to his senses, glanced at the two women, and asked with one hand behind his back, "I ask you, now that you have traversed the entire mountain forest, have you seen any clues related to them?"
The two women looked at each other, then looked at each other again, and finally shook their heads at him helplessly.
Lu Tianlin said quietly, "Of course you won't find any trace of them on the mountain, because the people you're looking for never went up the mountain."
As soon as the words were spoken, the two women stood up abruptly and said in unison, "Impossible."
Clearly, with Huan'er's help, the little girl's foot injury has improved a lot.
After a brief pause, Huan'er recalled with unwavering conviction, "At the foot of the mountain, Wang Er's footprints were clearly visible, obviously extending upwards."
Lu Tianlin pressed further, "After you entered the mountains, did you see any more of his footprints?"
"Well... after entering the mountains, I got scared and accidentally lost track of the footprints." Huan'er still seemed a little frightened as she recalled the many dangers she had encountered along the way.
At this moment, Lu Tianlin glared at Huan'er, then shifted his gaze to the little girl beside Huan'er, and asked, "And what do you think?"
The young girl stammered, "I...I only saw Uncle Wang's men at the foot of the mountain in the early morning...Later...I saw Sister Huan'er go into the mountain without hesitation...I was afraid something might happen to her alone...so I...followed her into the mountain. After that, I stayed with her and...didn't find anything."
After she finished speaking, the girl lowered her head deeply.
At this moment, Lu Tianlin glared at the two women with some annoyance and said, "You two clumsy girls! You said you weren't clumsy, but you actually tried to be brave. If I hadn't arrived in time today, you two would definitely be dead!"
Seeing that the two women had already lowered their heads and still didn't know what they had done wrong, Lu Tianlin paused for a moment and said to them mysteriously, "Come with me, I will take you to a place, and when we get there you will naturally know what all this is all about."
“But…but what about Xiao Ni’s foot…” Huan’er looked at Xiao Ni’s injured foot with a worried expression.
Although the little girl could barely stand on her own two feet at this point, it was clearly impossible for her to traverse the treacherous mountain stream.
Lu Tianlin glanced down at the woman who was now slightly pursing her lips, looking rather mischievous, then walked over to her and said softly, "If you don't mind, how about I carry you on my back?"
"Ah?" Upon hearing this, the little girl suddenly looked up at Lu Tianlin's gentle eyes and exclaimed in surprise. Then she shifted her gaze to Huan'er, as if seeking her consent.
Seeing Huan'er nod in agreement, the young girl said shyly, "Alright, then I'll trouble you, Young Master Lu."
Sure enough, with Lu Tianlin, a master of martial arts, escorting them, even the steepest mountain path didn't seem so difficult to traverse. In fact, it seemed to be quite enjoyable.
On the way back, whenever they reached difficult terrain, he would use his exceptional lightness skill to carry the two women one after the other across. Whenever they encountered poisonous insects or wild beasts, he would have the two women sit and watch. With a flick of his finger or a sword dance, the insects and beasts would slink away in disarray, leaving the two women excitedly clapping and cheering him on…
Along the way, the two ordinary women, who grew up in the countryside, were amazed by what they saw, as if watching a play. They realized that there were such capable people in the world. And he was so young and handsome; they couldn't help but admire him even more. The three of them easily chatted and laughed, and soon they emerged from that bewildering, dangerous, and mysterious mountain forest.
As soon as they emerged from the forest and reached the rugged, open path leading up from behind the ten-mile peach orchard at the foot of the mountain, Lu Tianlin did not lead them directly down the mountain. Instead, he changed course halfway and entered a patch of grass. Suddenly, he stopped, looked down, and said, "Take a closer look. What is this?"
Upon hearing the sound, the two women looked down in the direction he was looking, and instantly exchanged surprised glances, saying, "Footprints?...They're Wang Er's footprints."
After all that turmoil in the mountains, the length, width, and thickness of Wang Er's footprints must now be etched into the memories of the two women.
"So, Wang Er really didn't go into the mountains. The place he was going to was..." Huan'er murmured to herself, gazing at the distance the footprints led into.
Following the intermittent trails, the three of them arrived at a small canyon that jutted out from the east mountain to the northwest, nestled between the east and west mountains.
Below us was a not-so-high cliff, and on the grassy edge of the cliff, several crabapple trees were in full bloom.
As you descend into the canyon, a cool breeze blows gently. High mountains surround you on both sides, with lush, verdant trees, and a clear stream flows gurgling along the riverbed in the middle.
Suddenly, the little girl excitedly said, "I know this place. It's very close to West Mountain. When my mother brought me here before, she said that whenever it thundered and rained, people going into the mountains always had nowhere to rest and take shelter. So Uncle Wang's father wanted to carve a few caves along the way for everyone in case of emergency. But the first cave had only been carved for a few days when one day, a large rock suddenly fell from above and killed Uncle Wang's father. Not long after, Uncle Wang's mother also died of grief."
"Is that the cave you're talking about?" Lu Tianlin pointed to the cliff below, where a stone cave entrance was faintly visible in a secluded corner overgrown with weeds.
As soon as he finished speaking, he lifted the two women and flew down, landing right at the entrance of the cave.
"Huh? I remember my mother saying that this cave was only carved a few days ago, it shouldn't look like this now, right?" As soon as her feet touched the ground, the little girl exclaimed in surprise at the stone cave in front of her, which was now a place that could provide shelter from the wind and rain.
Upon entering the cave and examining it more closely, they were even more amazed: "Although this cave is crudely carved, it is quite sturdy. Judging from the chisel marks, it looks like it was just carved. It can definitely be used to shelter from the wind and rain. I wonder who was so thoughtful? This is great! From now on, everyone will no longer be afraid of thunder and rain when going up the mountain!"
"What is this?" Huan'er stood at the entrance of the cave and looked around. She then hurried over to a pile of ashes in the middle of the cave, which looked like the remains of a campfire.
"Someone came here last night? Who could it be? Was it Wang Er? Does he know about this cave? If this cave was just completed, no one should know about it yet!" Huan'er muttered to herself, full of doubt.
“It’s her. She must have fallen down the hillside and been rescued, then brought here to take shelter from the rain. This is where I found this face covering,” Lu Tianlin said, raising his head.
Just as he suddenly looked up, he saw a small step at the top corner of the cave, with a small box on it.
With a "whoosh," Lu Tianlin leaped up, steadily retrieved the box, and landed back beside the two women.
The two women quickly approached, asking curiously, "What is it?"
Lu Tianlin hurriedly opened the heavy box in his hand, and the three of them instantly widened their eyes, staring dumbfounded at the glittering black box inside.
It turned out that the black, sunken wooden box, which was about a foot long, was filled with jade jewelry, gold, and silver.
"My God, in all our generations of Taohuadian Village, when has anyone ever had such wealth? I'm afraid even if you add up all the wealth of the entire village, it wouldn't amount to a fraction of it!" After a long while, the little girl exclaimed with her mouth wide open.
"If this doesn't belong to anyone from our village, then why is it in this cave?" Huan'er asked, puzzled.
Upon hearing the sound, the young girl lowered her head in thought. Then, glancing around, she suddenly noticed several crooked and extremely ugly characters carved on the stone wall a little above her knees. She exclaimed urgently, "There are characters here!"
The three of them crouched down to examine the stone wall, and saw that it was faintly written: "The son has finally carved this cave for his father. Rest in peace, father."
Upon seeing this, the eyes of both women instantly filled with tears.
Looking into Huan'er's eyes, Xiao Nizi choked up and said, "So Uncle Wang can also dig tunnels. Huan'er, Xiao Nizi is right, isn't she? Uncle Wang really isn't a bad person. He quietly dug this tunnel for the whole village. He really isn't useless."
After hearing all this, Lu Tianlin pondered for a moment, then said, "So, this stone cave was carved by Wang Er, and only Wang Er knows about it. Could it be... that he abducted Miss Yi?"
"Impossible! Uncle Wang is sick and very weak. He can't do such a thing. Otherwise, he would have gone into the mountains with the group searching for that girl long ago," the girl retorted angrily.
Huan'er said, "In any case, the only thing we can be sure of now is that Miss Yi is definitely alive; she didn't get caught in the rain last night..."
Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly noticed a patch of grass by the door that had been mostly gnawed by some animal. She went over and parted the grass for a closer look, then exclaimed in surprise, "There are hoof prints in this grass! There are no villagers in Peach Blossom Village who keep horses!...Young Master Lu, where is your horse?"
“These hoofprints weren’t left by my horse. My horse is grazing in the peach grove at the foot of the mountain!” Lu Tianlin said confidently as he strode over to take a look.
"Then whose horse left this hoofprint? It certainly wasn't Wang Er's. So where did Wang Er and Miss Yi go? And what's the deal with this box of jewels?"
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