Cheng Yao paid no attention to her.
Let her cry. It was better than letting her run off like that.
Shao Yutong took out a gold hairpin and exchanged it for two bowls of ginger tea.
She poured out the rest of the ginger tea and gave a bowl to each member of her family.
Since no one else from the clan came to trade for any, she stopped making more. She poured herself a bowl, drank it, and only then fed Zhan Haoting.
Whenever she fed Zhan Haoting his medicine, she had a habit of hiding away in some corner.
At first, the guards objected, but she was so silver-tongued that they could never argue her down. Since nothing had gone wrong, they eventually agreed to give her a little time.
After it happened several times, the guards grew too lazy to interfere and simply turned a blind eye.
Cheng Yao took advantage of those brief intervals to bring Zhan Haoting into her space, clean him up, change his medicine, give him injections, and feed him nourishing soup.
Zhan Haoting’s consciousness drifted in and out. Inside the space, all he could see was darkness. In his dazed state, he assumed he was still somewhere near the convoy.
The first time Zhan Haochen and Xiao Fu discovered that he and Cheng Yao had vanished into thin air, they were nearly scared to death.
Fortunately, the two of them reappeared soon afterward, and their hearts settled back into their chests.
They asked Cheng Yao why she had disappeared, but she merely smiled without answering.
The two men stopped pressing her and began covering for her every time.
This time was no exception. Zhan Haochen carried Zhan Haoting into a secluded corner, while he and Xiao Fu stood guard on either side.
When the sounds behind them suddenly ceased, Zhan Haochen and Xiao Fu glanced back slightly—and instantly felt a chill shoot to the tops of their heads.
The men were gone!
As luck would have it, Shao Yutong came hurrying over at that exact moment.
“Second Cousin.”
Zhan Haochen’s heart gave a jolt, and he stepped forward to meet her.
“What is it?”
“Second Cousin, I need to speak with my elder cousin’s wife.” Shao Yutong kept peering behind him.
Zhan Haochen casually blocked her line of sight. “She’s helping my elder brother apply medicine.”
“But what I want to tell her is urgent.”
“Applying medicine to my elder brother is urgent too.”
Seeing that he was completely unmoved, Shao Yutong had no choice but to give up. “All right… Actually, I wanted to tell your sister-in-law that Rou’er ran off. Shouldn’t we go look for her together?”
Zhan Haochen was anxious too, but remembering that his sister-in-law never stayed away for long, he hardened his heart. “I’ll go look for her later.”
“Why wait? Your cousin’s wife is only applying medicine to your cousin. She doesn’t need anyone standing guard.” Shao Yutong was puzzled. Growing bolder, she tugged lightly at his sleeve and gave it a little shake. “Second Cousin, will you come with me to look for Rou’er?”
Her small face was pure and innocent, and her soft voice rose slightly at the end, carrying an unconscious note of dependence.
Zhan Haochen’s heart suddenly seemed to be brushed by a feather, leaving it trembling with an unbearable itch. As though bewitched, he opened his mouth and answered, “All right.”
The moment he said it, he felt a flicker of regret. But Shao Yutong had already broken into a sweet smile. “Second Cousin, you’re the best.”
At once, his heart melted into a puddle.
Never mind. His little sister had run off into danger. He might as well go with her and look for her.
And so, Shao Yutong led him away by the sleeve, leaving Xiao Fu behind, uneasy and restless.
The moment Cheng Yao entered her space, she switched on the warm yellow ceiling light and set the air conditioner to blow warm air at twenty-four degrees Celsius.
Her space even had electricity. It was simply miraculous.
Zhan Haoting was still asleep. The first thing Cheng Yao did was strip off the coarse cloth clothes covered in dust and sweat, then rush into the bathroom and turn on the hot-water tap.
The warm water washed away the exhaustion clinging to her body. She wiped the water from her face and looked at the pale yet breathtakingly beautiful face in the mirror, unable to stop herself from sighing.
They had only been on the road for six days, but reaching the place of exile would take at least half a year. With the original owner’s frail body—so weak that a gust of wind could knock her down—Cheng Yao probably would not have lasted ten days without the space.
After her bath, she wrapped herself in a soft towel and walked over to the refrigerator. Opening the door, she took out a bottle of ice-cold cola.
With a sharp hiss, she popped the tab. As the bubbles surged upward, Cheng Yao narrowed her eyes.
Now this was what made life worth living!
She rummaged through the freezer and found some frozen dumplings. She boiled twenty of them, added some fatty beef and lamb, and enjoyed a hearty meal with garlic sauce.
She could not simply vanish during the day. In the morning and at noon, she either went without food or ate moldy multigrain cakes and undercooked taro. She had been craving a proper meal for ages.
Only after she had eaten her fill did she tend to Zhan Haoting’s wounds.
These past few days, she had been feeding him spiritual spring water and nourishing soup. His injuries had healed rapidly. The broken bones had nearly set, and his wounds had begun to scab over. At least, he was no longer oozing blood and pus from head to toe.
This time, she fed him minced snakehead fish and black bean juice, which would help his wounds recover.
After the meal, she still gave him vegetable juice and fruit juice to help his intestines move and improve the digestion and absorption of his food.
She did not bathe him or change his clothes today.
Otherwise, if he looked dramatically different after she had been gone for such a short time, Zhan Haochen and Xiao Fu would be scared half to death.
It was fortunate that the two of them were taking care of Zhan Haoting. Otherwise, she would have had to deal with his urine and feces herself—and she was not sure she could manage that.
Hmm. In that case, she would bring the two of them something tasty this time—pan-fried steaks and ribs.
In fact, she brought dinner for Zhan Haochen and Xiao Fu every time. It was always large, beautifully marbled cuts of meat to replenish their strength, and tender enough that they did not have to chew too much.
For Hongxiu, she brought meat-stuffed flatbreads, steamed meat buns, and the like. When Hongxiu ate, she used hard flatbreads to conceal the food, making it difficult for anyone to notice.
She also casually gave Madam Zhan a few small tangerines and cherry tomatoes. If anyone asked, she could claim that she had picked them while passing through the mountain paths. There would be no way to verify it.
She had no choice. She was not certain whether Madam Zhan could keep her mouth shut, and she did not dare take the risk.
At most, she could buy steamed buns, bread, and the like at a market, then hide a few meat buns among them for her.
As for Zhan Qingrou… Heaven had entrusted her with a great mission. She needed to be starved, exhausted, and battered by hardship. Let her suffer the beatings of wind, frost, and snow.
Otherwise, she would never learn how harsh the world could be.
…
Zhan Qingrou ran while repeatedly looking back. When she saw that no one had come after her, all the grievance, resentment, and fury in her heart erupted like a volcano.
Without realizing it, she quickened her pace and soon left the convoy far behind, running deep into the forest.
Through her tears, she muttered, “Cheng Yao, this is all your fault! My mother and Second Brother don’t like me or care about me anymore because of you. That was the first time they had ever scolded me, and it was because of you! I never want to see you again!”
The farther she ran, the less she noticed the dangers lurking all around her.
Suddenly, a hissing sound came from the grass. A brightly colored snake shot out and sank its fangs into her ankle.
“Ah!”
She let out a shrill scream and collapsed to the ground.
As she watched the wound swell rapidly, fear flooded over her like a rising tide.
“Help! Is anyone there? Please, someone save me…”
Her desperate cries echoed through the empty forest, yet sounded so small and helpless.
Back with the convoy, Madam Zhan had no idea that Zhan Haochen and Shao Yutong had gone to look for her daughter. She only felt increasingly uneasy the longer she waited, fretting like an ant on a hot pan.
In the end, she could not wait any longer and ran after Zhan Qingrou in the direction the girl had taken.
“Rou’er! Rou’er, where are you?”
When her daughter failed to respond and she was unsure whether she was even heading in the right direction, her imagination began to run wild. The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became.
