Wen Jufeng (Part 5)
It's early autumn now, the coolest time of year in the earthen house, with a faint chill and a slight earthy smell permeating the air between Shen Zhuangmu and Zhao Yi.
When Zhao Yi barged in, he hit the heavy makeup curtain.
She felt a sharp pain in her back, and the floorboards crashed down. She fell to the ground again, her internal organs almost spilling out. Before she could react, Zhao Yi landed on half of her body.
Chen Zhuangmu felt like she was about to vomit blood.
Once the wooden door above closed, nothing could be seen anymore.
What happened in that instant left them completely bewildered. Just as they were about to get up, they heard a series of "bang" sounds from above, followed by a shower of mud and dust.
The two froze, holding their breath and making no sound. Only when the sound gradually faded did Chen Zhuangmu take a deep breath and kick Zhao Yi.
"Aren't you getting up?!"
He was about to get up when he was kicked and felt a sharp pain, but he didn't utter a sound. He leaned against the wall, using the arm that Chen Zhuangmu had reached out to support himself, and took out two packages from his belt, clutching them in his palm.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and said to Shen Zhuangmu, "Turn around."
Chen Zhuangmu understood what he was going to do, and hoped to stay far away from him at this time. She not only turned her head away, but also walked to the place furthest away from him from the small pit.
Through the faint light, she looked at her sticky hands covered in blood, which seemed to have an even stronger, more pungent smell, as if it were rising up her throat.
With so much blood lost, if it's not treated soon, they might have to bury him.
"Do you have a clean cloth?" Zhao Yi asked in a hoarse voice.
Who carries a cloth around? That's called a handkerchief. Chen Zhuangmu thought to herself, but without hesitation, she took out a handkerchief and handed it to him.
"Can't reach it."
Chen Zhuangmu shifted her entire body backward.
"Can't reach it."
The heavy makeup curtain was moved again.
Zhao Yi was puzzled by her behavior. He took the handkerchief from her hand and covered his lower back with it. He tore off a strip from his clothes and wrapped it around his waist, thinking, "Why does this person seem so afraid of getting her hands on him?"
About fifteen minutes later, just when Shen Zhuangmu thought he should have finished bandaging her, she heard the soft rustling of clothes rubbing against her skin, which made her scalp tingle.
Isn't that the sound of clothes being taken off? After he's been bandaged up, doesn't he need to put his clothes back on?
Chen Zhuangmu swallowed hard, her hand already reaching for the hidden weapon.
"Could you please help me with my back?" Zhao Yi asked, as if forcing himself to speak. "I can't reach it."
Chen Zhuangmu breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhao Yi was in the darkest part of the small pit. Chen Zhuangmu couldn't see anything and could only feel his way back.
She patted the ground, squatted down, and moved over twice. Then she patted the ground again and moved over four times.
Zhao Yi wasn't sure if he would live long enough for her to move over.
"Just come over here. It's not your fault if you get stuck to me." Zhao Yi habitually put his left arm over his right, but forgot about the wound on his arm. A piercing pain came over him, and he swallowed the 'hiss' that was already on his lips when he looked at the person in front of him.
Just then, he felt a cool hand gently fall on his head, his hair being lightly ruffled. This unfamiliar touch made his mouth speak before his brain could process it, "Where are you touching?"
Chen Zhuangmu sensed it too, and hurriedly withdrew her hand, saying, "I'm sorry."
"Can't you see?" Zhao Yi asked.
Chen Zhuangmu thought he was asking a question he already knew the answer to, and said, "You can see it?"
"Yes, although I can't explain it very clearly, I can see the outline and color of your jade pendant."
"..."
Could this poison possibly make it impossible for people to see clearly in the dark? Chen Zhuangmu did not answer.
"Cough cough, maybe my eyesight is just good." Zhao Yi added a comforting remark, thinking of the three years she disappeared.
She finally moved behind Zhao Yi, squatted down, squinted and looked closely, but couldn't see anything clearly.
She said, "I can see more clearly from the other side, could you move over there?"
Zhao Yi sensed that she was feigning ignorance to spite him, and said, "We'll have to wait a while."
Judging from this, his martial arts skills aren't very high.
"I had already fought with two groups of people when I arrived," Zhao Yi said quietly, as if he knew what she was thinking.
Chen Zhuangmu nodded, thought for a moment, then wrapped her fingers in her clothes and gently pressed her fingertips against Zhao Yi's back through the fabric. "Is it here?"
Zhao Yi's ears and neck were burning hot, his back was hot, and even his fingernails were cold. He involuntarily broke out in goosebumps all over his body.
He swallowed hard and said, "Go on."
Chen Zhuangmu pressed down, "This part?"
"A little to the left."
Chen Zhuangmu tentatively moved her fingers along Zhao Yi's back, but unexpectedly, her fingers felt warm and went directly into Zhao Yi's wound.
"Just pour the powder into this area for me," Zhao Yi said.
Chen Zhuangmu nodded and groped around on the ground looking for the medicinal powder. After touching it a couple of times, a warm hand grasped her wrist.
Both of them were clearly stunned for a moment. The earthen house was no longer so cool, and the fragrance of soil was gone, replaced by the stench of blood.
“I’ll put it in your hand,” Zhao Yi said.
Feeling something was off, Chen Zhuangmu was eager to break the awkward atmosphere and said loudly, "Okay."
He held her wrist tightly, and when she tried to pull away, he pulled her again. Then, a paper package fell into her hand, and as she tried to pull her hand away, their fingertips accidentally touched.
Zhao Yi unconsciously raised an eyebrow. Given his reputation, this girl would probably have to ask around before going out and avoid him from now on.
Chen Zhuangmu poured the powder onto the back, leaving about half of it in his palm. There wasn't much powder to begin with, and the amount poured onto his back was probably even less.
So, Chen Zhuangmu moved back a little, opened her palms, lowered her head, and gently blew on them.
But little of it blew over; a lot of it got into her nose and eyes, making her cough repeatedly.
Zhao Yi quickly put on his clothes, fastened his belt, and ended the chaotic application of medicine.
He rested for a while, then stood up and, using the dim light, patted the four walls, saying, "Dusty?"
Chen Zhuangmu nodded from the corner and said, "Mm."
Zhao Yi glanced at her but didn't say anything, continuing to touch the four walls.
"Hey, stop touching me," Chen Zhuangmu said.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Yi asked.
“I saw this kind of pit in a miscellaneous book. It has neat edges and a large space, allowing sunlight to shine through. It is a very old type of earthen house. People would rest here when it was hot.”
"It shouldn't be just that."
Zhao Yi patted along the wall again, but there was no response. Undeterred, he carefully felt the earthen wall.
He paced along the wall and unknowingly arrived at the dark curtain. In the dim environment, she couldn't see clearly, but she felt that there was something in front of her. She squinted and leaned closer to see, and saw him looking at her with a complicated expression, and he was very close to her.
Startled, Chen Zhuangmu shrank back and took a step back.
While patting him, Zhao Yi said, "Your eyesight is bad. You should avoid walking at night in the future, or you won't even notice if you bump into a wall."
“Then I wouldn’t knowingly ignore someone,” Chen Zhuangmu retorted.
A silence fell between them. The sun shifted its position, and the earthen house grew even darker; now, even Zhao Yi could barely see.
Chen Zhuangmu half-squatted, touching the wooden planks above. The slightly prickly wood brushed against her fingers, and she suddenly thought of something.
She stopped clinging to the plank and walked straight ahead, figuring out the solid earthen wall in front of her.
Chen Zhuangmu pulled the hairpin from her hair and stabbed it against the wall. The moment the hairpin hit the wall, Chen Zhuangmu's arm felt as if it had been pushed by a heavy object, so strong that she lost her balance.
Zhao Yi watched her movements and asked, "What are you doing?"
“I read about it in a book before.” She paused, calming her breathing. “There might be a door hidden in one of these four walls. The side with the door won’t be this hard. I’m not that strong. You try.”
Zhao Yi took the hairpin from Chen Zhuangmu with some skepticism and, as she instructed, stabbed it into the wall with all her might. But on the first, second, and third walls, there was no door as Chen Zhuangmu had described.
In this desolate wilderness, their bodies would probably be rotting by the time they are found.
They were completely focused on the fourth wall. Although Chen Zhuangmu couldn't see it, she could hear the noise. At this moment, she was so nervous that she even slowed down her breathing.
Zhao Yi first stuck the hairpin into the wall, then used his internal force to push it in.
The hairpin went in very slowly at first, but when it was halfway in, it suddenly flew in with a "whoosh" and disappeared.
“There’s definitely something on this side.” Zhao Yi’s eyes lit up, a stark contrast to his earlier listless demeanor. “What else did the book say?”
Chen Zhuangmu was taken aback for a moment, then said, "That's all."
Zhao Yi nodded, then hummed in agreement. Hearing the sound of the hairpin piercing the wall, he realized that the soil in this wall was probably not very thick.
He then used his sword to carve away the clods of earth from the wall, bit by bit. Fortunately, the earth was sticky enough that it carried some of the surrounding soil with it as it fell, making things much easier for Zhao Yi.
He didn't know what was behind the wall, so he couldn't just destroy it.
"I'll make you another one after we get out," Zhao Yi suddenly said.
"What?" Chen Zhuangmu asked, puzzled.
Zhao Yi didn't turn his head and said, "Hairpin."
"No need," Chen Zhuangmu replied crisply.
If they hadn't seen what was in front of them, they probably would have chatted for a while longer. But at this moment, his attention was completely drawn to the door.
It turned out that the earthen wall concealed a wooden door. Time and soil had stained the door so much that it was impossible to tell what kind of wood it was. All that could be seen was a dense cluster of tiny holes riddled with wormholes. Looking at these holes, Zhao Yi felt a chill run down his spine.
He touched the surroundings thoroughly, even smelling the mud at the base of the door; there was definitely no mechanism here.
Zhao Yi looked up, stretched out both hands to grip the crack in the door, not daring to use even a fraction of his inner strength, for fear that it would collapse. By carefully maneuvering, he managed to move the wooden door open, creating a gap large enough for one person to pass through.
After doing all this, Zhao Yi was covered in sweat, and blood seeped out of the wound on his waist again.
He rushed inside, then remembered the dressing room, and went back out.
Chen Zhuangmu stood there, lost in thought, motionless. As if sensing someone watching her, she looked away.
“Princess,” Zhao Yi approached her, “You can go in now, come with me.”
After saying that, he grabbed the sleeve of Chen Zhuangmu.
Zhao Yi's sleeves were short, and he held onto the heavy makeup curtain to avoid unnecessary contact.
The door was very narrow, and Zhao Yi had to hunch over and duck to get in. He stood to the side watching as Chen Zhuangmu carefully slipped in sideways.
There were more than a dozen bowls and chopsticks in front of me, the bowls filled with thick mud and scattered with bits of cloth.
“People used to live here,” came the voice from inside the veil.
Zhao Yi's expression was serious as he turned his head and asked, "You can see now?"
"I can't see very clearly." Chen Zhuangmu said again, "In a well-lit place, my eyes can see. Can you see if there's an exit here?"
Zhao Yi seemed not to be listening. He picked up each bowl and examined it carefully, then touched the side wall meticulously.
After a while, he said, "There's no exit here, let's go further in."
After he finished speaking, he reached out his hand to Chen Zhuangmu. Seeing that she hesitated to hand over her sleeve, he was about to pull her when he saw her looking at him with amusement.
He then realized what had happened, quickly pulled his hand back behind his back, and said, "I forgot, I thought you were still blind."
Chen Zhuangmu rolled her eyes. "You can keep the last sentence for yourself."
After saying that, she walked straight past him into the building. But she couldn't see him clearly; she only walked past him to save face. Fortunately, Zhao Yi had already quickened his pace and was ahead of her.
The passage was getting narrower and narrower, and there were no traces left. They now had to bend over to walk through it.
As they stepped over a small pit, they were suddenly plunged into complete darkness, without a single ray of light. Not only could Shen Zhuangmu not see them, but even Zhao Yi couldn't see them.
Noticing that the person in front of her had stopped, Chen Zhuangmu clenched her fist nervously and unconsciously reached for the hidden weapon in her sleeve.
"Give me the sleeve," Zhao Yi's voice came.
Shen Zhuangmu agreed, her right hand reaching forward in a groping motion. Their fingers touched in the air, and Zhao Yi grabbed Shen Zhuangmu's sleeve.
“I can’t see anymore either,” Zhao Yi said. “It’s probably because it’s too narrow here and the light can’t get through. I’m thinking of continuing forward. Stay close to me.”
After Zhao Yi finished speaking, he pulled her sleeve and walked forward, and even at this time, he did not walk slowly.
Chen Zhuangmu, not wanting to hold back, also quickened her pace.
Her wrist would be pulled so hard by Zhao Yi that she would stumble, and at those times he would say things like, "There's a hole here," or "There's a hole on the left."
They walked like this for a while, and the road beneath their feet gradually became flat. A ray of light suddenly shone into Zhao Yi's eyes.
He didn't say anything, and took a few more steps, where the light became even brighter.
Zhao Yi released Chen Zhuangmu's sleeve. "You can see, right?"
“I can see it,” Chen Zhuangmu said.
The two walked forward, but their path was blocked by a large rock.
But through the edge of the stone, one could feel a cool, refreshing scent, though unfortunately there was nothing around.
Chen Zhuangmu squatted down in front of the rock, and after a long while said, "Could this be the edge of a cliff?"
The air seemed to freeze for a moment. Zhao Yi said, "No, I didn't feel any ascent along the way. Besides, we're under a house." After saying that, he sat down on the ground.
Blood flowed silently down with his movements, staining the heavy makeup and piled-up clothes on the ground.
Zhao Yi touched his wound, and blood seeped out from between his fingers, turning his hands, including the space under his fingernails, red.
"Such serious injuries?" Chen Zhuangmu frowned.
"My old injury hasn't healed yet, it's nothing serious." Zhao Yi had some sweat on his brow, but his face showed no sign of panic. He was leaning calmly against the wall, quietly observing Chen Zhuangmu.
To be precise, they were examining the jade bracelet on Chen Zhuangmu's hand.
"Princess?" Zhao Yi asked.
"Hmm?" Chen Zhuangmu, who was studying the large rock, responded with a sound of agreement.
Where did you get this bracelet?
As the stone was being looked at, the woman slowly raised her head and said, "My uncle gave it to me a few years ago."
After saying that, she didn't turn around. Pretending to still be studying the stone, she secretly listened for his breathing.
“Princess, there’s no need to be nervous. I just smelled a fragrance coming from this bracelet and became a little curious,” Zhao Yi said.
“It’s just an ordinary white jade bracelet.” Chen Zhuangmu turned around and said, “Are we just going to wait here like this?”
“No.” Zhao Yi turned his head to look into Chen Zhuangmu’s eyes and smiled, “We can call for help if there is any noise outside, since neither of us can move this big rock.”
In the crowded passage, one of them sat on the ground, while the other squatted against the wall, chin in hand, with a few faint rays of light coming through the cracks in the opening.
Zhao Yi suddenly narrowed his eyes, as if he had found something good.
"Was this bag bitten just now?" Zhao Yi asked.
Chen Zhuangmu then looked at the red spot on her right wrist and shook her head. "No, it's from a water bug bite at the manor."
Zhao Yi was noticeably more talkative than before, and Chen Zhuangmu naturally assumed that his wound was too painful and he needed to distract himself, which made her panic.
Looking back now, staying in that pit was the wisest choice.
After a while, Zhao Yi changed his posture, resting his arm on his leg, and asked, "Princess, have you found a place to visit in Huijing?"
“I’m currently working at the Dali Temple, how could I have time to go out and have fun?” After saying that, she lowered her head, almost burying it in her knees, and said, “If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble to go to Tongshi, and my uncle even punished me.”
Zhao Yi chuckled lightly, and was about to speak when he suddenly heard a series of chaotic footsteps.
Chen Zhuangmu also moved to the front of the cave entrance and pressed her ears there.
"Traces found!" The voice came from the black hole they had passed through.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
