Chapter 5: The Downpour Hits the Ground

[I have made some modifications to the previous chapter. To stay true to the character setting of a village girl, the older sister will not be killing anyone for the time being. Also, I must reiterate: this is not a story about intangible cultural heritage. There is no ink-making or business-running here; it is a plot-driven story.]

"How many people have you seen since you started running?" He Shanyue lowered her eyes, revealing the scissors.

She stood up slowly, her expression calm and composed, while internally chanting a prayer: hoping the other party wouldn't notice her legs trembling like a sieve and her bluffing, empty-handed state.

—Once this round-eyed boy erupted into violence, the three of them would have completely lost the initiative, leaving them with no power to parry.

"Just two!" The round-eyed boy wiped his face, struggling to clear away his tears. "I only saw those two men."

He Shanyue nodded slightly, bent down to pick up the vines from the ground, and tied the round-eyed boy's hands together.

The round-eyed boy cooperatively extended his hands in front of him. Not only did he not struggle, he didn't show any dissatisfaction, possessing a kind of obedient calmness. Yet, when he spoke, there was a hint of absurd excitement hidden in his tone: "Are we going to kill those two people now?"

He Shanyue pursed her lips slightly: "No."

"No?" The boy raised his voice, then suddenly realized something was wrong. His tone flattened, returning to his previous timid appearance: "Then what are we doing?"

"Nothing, just waiting." While speaking, He Shanyue’s hands were busy tying a dead knot around the boy's wrists. "They can do their killing; we will wait until the very end."

Tying a person up wasn't much different from tying up a hog for the New Year.

He Shanyue patted the dead knot: "We aren't looking for silver. As long as we find the small path out of the mountains, we can survive."

The round-eyed boy didn't respond, instead looking at the cowering Qiu Erniang and He Shuiguang: "Are you three mother and daughter?"

He Shanyue replied: "Yes."

Following that, she nimbly used vines and scattered firewood to bundle three torches. She took the flint from her bosom and handed it to He Shuiguang, telling her to light all three.

The round-eyed boy’s eyes widened: "Aren't you just making yourselves easy targets?"

He Shanyue looked at the round-eyed boy with a half-smile, speaking concisely: "Just to provide verification."

The round-eyed boy didn't understand, but whether he understood or not didn't matter. He turned his face away and continued in terror: "Then what do we do now?"

He Shanyue looked at the round-eyed boy again: "Search the mountain." She handed the long vines to Qiu Erniang and He Shuiguang in turn; the end of the vine was firmly tied to the round-eyed boy.

He Shanyue looked up at the sky and decided to walk in the direction of the tail of the constellations.

After walking for more than a quarter of an hour, He Shanyue said with pleasant surprise: "It’s dark to the southwest! Perhaps that place is unguarded!"

As soon as she finished speaking, He Shanyue caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye: the round-eyed boy quickly curled the corners of his mouth, then immediately smoothed them out as if nothing had happened.

He Shanyue’s heart sank. In the woods not far away, ripples of water shimmered; above them, green clouds covered the canopy and old tree branches intertwined. It was likely a puddle formed by the heavy rain five or six days ago, which hadn't dried up due to the dense forest.

The four of them continued outward. Early birds flew into the forest, and night snakes returned to their nests. The night was as bright as day, absurd as if they had stumbled into a *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* story. They walked forward step by step in a daze, not knowing where survival lay, yet fearing that every spot was a death trap. They didn't know how long they had walked before Qiu Erniang’s sobbing became gradually audible.

Suddenly, a muffled groan came from afar, followed by the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.

"Those two are dead, too." The round-eyed boy stared intently in the direction the sound came from.

He Shanyue, who was walking at the very front, stopped in her tracks.

The lanterns all around seemed to multiply in an instant.

The smell of pine resin became thick in an instant.

Countless arrows were shot into the treetops, and the lanterns hanging there lit up one after another, from near to far. With a "boom," a huge basin filled with pine resin ignited on the open ground a hundred paces away. Even more unexpectedly, a sandalwood carriage pulled by eight fine horses appeared, accompanied by the soft, decadent sounds of strings and bamboo. A dozen graceful, twisting white figures danced to the music.

He Shuiguang inched toward her sister bit by bit, her eyes filled with terror: "Is it... is it a ghost...?"

It was not a ghost; it was human.

He Shanyue narrowed her eyes slightly, seeing the few people sitting on the carriage behind the dense shadows of the trees, their appearances wanton and arrogant.

They were people more terrifying than ghosts.

Men in black descended from the sky, quickly pushing the four of them to the center of the flat ground.

Without the cover of tree shadows and vines, He Shanyue raised her head, staring fixedly at the sandalwood platform carriage.

There were five people on the carriage, four men and one woman. The one sitting in the very center was the woman. Everyone was young, sixteen or seventeen years old, lounging lazily on long chairs adorned with white feathers. In front of them were low tables, and on the tables were crystal-clear grapes, fruits never seen before, wine glasses made of unknown materials that emitted a brilliant halo, and many double-eared wine cups scattered about.

The fine wine spilling onto the sandalwood carriage emitted an intoxicating, rich fragrance.

The four people tied together with vines on the flat ground looked like a string of restless ants before the high-and-mighty carriage.

"Look! Look! They look like bedbugs tied together!" The woman, surrounded like stars around the moon, had fair skin and raven-black hair, with a pair of long, narrow phoenix eyes. A bright red tear mole was perched just under her eye.

She tilted her shoulder, resting her chin upon it. Her gaze was hazy, but her smile was flamboyant. Although she was smiling at everyone, her peripheral vision was cast toward the left.

"Who says they aren't! Even from this far away, I can smell the stench!" The only man not sitting, who was serving wine outside the table, hurriedly chimed in, half-squatting to pour wine for the woman: "This is the first time we've done this in Songjiang Prefecture. Next time, we should make these lowly commoners take a cold shower before we abduct them."

The woman’s expression dimmed, and she moved her wine cup away slightly: "Don't speak the Songjiang dialect. I don't like hearing it."

The man to the woman’s right immediately said: "Who says so! Whenever I hear the Jiangnan dialect, I feel like my fur is standing on end!"

"Then you dare to nag when your mother speaks?" The phoenix-eyed woman glanced sideways, her gaze still lingering on the far left.

The man on the right had sparse eyebrows and the most robust build. His voice sounded very much like the tone that had come from the copper horn earlier—excited and high-pitched: "My mother is my mother! What kind of low-class place is this to even mention my mother!"

The phoenix-eyed woman covered her mouth and giggled, then bumped the elbow of the man on her left: "Little Brother Xue, is the show good today?"

The man on the left was the youngest, with thin shoulders and a pale complexion. He stammered: "I... I... I didn't really notice..."

The robust man sneered: "Heh, a coward with the guts of a dead cat." He turned his head, his gaze burning as it nailed the scene below: "Why are there so many left today? Killing is too slow today, and it’s not even fun to watch—they’re like a bunch of plague-stricken chickens!"

His gaze was like a poisoned dagger; wherever it fell, it was lethal.

Qiu Erniang suppressed the terrified whimpers in her throat, trying hard to lean against her eldest daughter.

Everything she had encountered tonight had overturned the barren understanding of her half-life.

He Shanyue quietly loosened the vine in her hand and, following the woman’s gaze, glanced toward the far left.

The man on the far left had not spoken the entire time. He was dressed in white, drinking with his head tilted back. With a high nose and deep-set eyes, he truly possessed the finest of skins.

The bustling laughter and noise on the carriage were incessant, sounding like the "ticking" of a fatal hourglass.

"We won, didn't we?"

He Shanyue raised her head and spoke.

(End of chapter)