Two circles of bonfires had been lit around the exiled procession.
The outer ring was meant to keep wild beasts at bay, while everyone slept around the bonfires within.
With the sky for a blanket and the earth for a bed, the mountain wind was somewhat fierce.
Fortunately, the fires tempered the cold, and everyone slept soundly.
But there were plenty of beasts in these desolate mountains.
Aside from the constables assigned to keep watch, Constable Wang had also arranged for young men from the group, including Zhan Mang and Zhan Yunpeng, to take turns standing guard.
Shao Yutong and her mother crept furtively toward the edge of the procession, lingering there like a pair of ghosts.
Hunger, cold, and the fear and resentment of being abandoned gnawed at their hearts like venomous snakes.
Shao Yutong deliberately curled up beneath the large tree beside Zhan Haochen.
Her thin clothes were stained with mud and blood. Her entire body was bruised and swollen, making her look pitiful—but not delicately so. She was swollen and bloated to the point of being almost unrecognizable, and her appearance was somewhat nauseating.
Yet when Zhan Haochen saw how wretched she looked, the influence of the plot in the book made him feel no disgust. Instead, his heart ached for her.
He found this emotion inexplicable and had been trying his best to suppress it.
But when he saw Shao Yutong gazing at him with those dark, inky eyes, seeming to want to speak yet holding back, he could not help staring back at her in a daze.
His heart became foolish, intoxicated, and shattered.
“Oh, isn’t this Miss Shao? How did you crawl back here again?” Madam Lan noticed Shao Yutong. Her voice was hoarse and filled with undisguised malice. “Weren’t you so capable when you encouraged everyone to eat those wild boar piglets? Go find food in the woods yourself! Why are you clinging to us people waiting to die?”
Several people who were still awake suddenly looked over. Some even rose from the ground.
“Menace! Jinx! You actually have the nerve to come back!”
“Bitch! The moment I see you, I think of my dead husband! If you don’t leave, I’ll burn you alive!”
“You’ve gotten so many people killed, and you still dare to keep showing your face here again and again? Are you looking for death?”
The low scolding and curses stabbed toward the mother and daughter like sharp swords.
Shao Yutong buried her face in her knees, her shoulders shaking violently. Zhan Yurong, meanwhile, raised her twisted face and tried to argue back, but the hateful gazes surrounding her forced the words from her mouth. All she could do was hug her daughter angrily.
Zhan Haochen clenched his fists so tightly that fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He truly could not bear to see Shao Yutong in such misery. It hurt even more than having his heart torn out.
Unable to hold back, he spoke up. “Uncles, please show some mercy. Yutong knows she was wrong. She and Auntie were beaten until they were covered in injuries and driven out of the group. They’ve already received the punishment they deserve. This is a desolate wilderness—just let them stay outside. If you insist on driving them to their deaths, how would that make you any different from the beasts?”
However, instead of calming everyone’s anger, his words only drew their fury upon himself.
“Haochen, what kind of nonsense are you talking?” Madam Lan trembled with rage. “When she was indulging in a moment of sharp-tongued arrogance, did she ever consider that she might get so many people killed? When your sister-in-law tried to persuade her, she mocked her and stubbornly went her own way. When did she ever show mercy to anyone? My son was only five years old! He was bitten to death by a wild boar, then flung into the air and smashed to pieces. The beast gnawed off my left arm and ate it alive. This is a blood feud, and you expect me to forgive the one who started it?!”
“Exactly! Second Young Master Zhan, of course you can play the kind-hearted hero—your family came through unharmed!”
“I say you’re in league with them! You leave too. Just looking at you makes me furious.”
When had Zhan Haochen ever been denounced and cursed at like this by his own relatives?
He had never been good with words, and now his face flushed red as he found himself utterly unable to defend himself.
More and more people were awakened by the commotion. Their hate-filled faces were twisted and frenzied, sending a chill through his heart. He could only retreat to the side in embarrassment and shut his mouth, not daring to say another word.
The saber in Li Liming’s hand pointed toward Shao Yutong.
“Get farther away!”
The mother and daughter had no choice but to drag their exhausted, starving bodies into the deeper darkness once more, sobbing as they went. They were like forsaken spirits, abandoned by the entire world.
The procession soon returned to its former silence, though the air now carried a restless, uneasy tension.
Deep into the night, even the groans of the wounded gradually faded. Only the crackling of the bonfires and the howls of unknown beasts in the distance remained.
Cheng Yao kept glancing at Zhan Haoting.
His cheeks had sunken, his cheekbones jutted sharply, and his face was pale. Deep weariness and heaviness were etched between his brows.
She had not found an opportunity to feed him liquid food that day. The wild boar meat had merely been roasted whole. It was tough, gamey, and difficult to chew or swallow. Zhan Haoting had not even finished a strip of meat two fingers wide.
Nor had she found a chance to take him into the space to wash. It had still been raining in the morning, and his wet clothes clung to his body. His wounds had probably become inflamed from being kept damp.
Cheng Yao glanced outside. She and Zhan Haoting were resting in the farthest corner, almost blending into the darkness. Madam Zhan and her daughter were one person away from them.
The constables were also some distance away.
If the two of them left, no one should notice.
After hesitating briefly, she still wrapped her arms around Zhan Haoting. With a thought, she entered the space.
Zhan Haoting had not been asleep.
He only felt the scene before his eyes twist and sway ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly, as though viewed through a layer of warm water.
The next moment, he realized that he was no longer in that cold, desolate wilderness. Instead, he found himself in a space he could not comprehend.
His surroundings were still black as ink, and he could see nothing. Yet the air carried a faint, indescribable freshness.
It was tranquil and peaceful, completely removed from the world. It was so comfortable that it made him want to surrender to it, leaving him unable to summon even the slightest trace of vigilance.
“I know you’re not asleep,” Cheng Yao said. “You don’t have to pretend in front of me. Tell me whatever you’re thinking. I have no reason to harm you.”
Zhan Haoting was silent for a moment. “Where exactly are we right now?”
“I told you—this is my territory.” Cheng Yao considered her words carefully. “It’s difficult for me to describe it clearly. You only need to know that I keep some supplies here. All right, I’ll treat your wounds first.”
Zhan Haoting lowered his eyes.
She still wasn’t willing to tell him.
Was it because she did not trust him enough?
Or did she simply not know where to begin?
Before he could think it through, Cheng Yao stepped forward and began unfastening his clothes, which had long since been soaked through with mud and rain.
His body stiffened slightly. But when he saw the focused seriousness in her eyes—and realized that he was indeed filthy and disheveled, with wounds that needed to be treated again—he relaxed and allowed her to continue.
When his clothes came off, they revealed a strong, well-built body covered in old and new scars. Cheng Yao’s heart still clenched when she saw the particularly savage wound on his abdomen, the one she had stitched herself, which remained horrifyingly raw.
Pressing her lips together, she struggled to carry him into the bathroom.
He had lost even more weight and was now so thin that he was almost skin and bones.
The spiritual spring water had greatly strengthened her, but a man’s frame was heavy, and carrying him was still extremely difficult.
Zhan Haoting sensed the moisture in the air and hurriedly spoke up. “My wound still can’t get wet.”
“You’ve already been soaked by the rain several times. Avoiding water now won’t change anything. Besides, I added herbs to this water. It’s good for your wound.”
Cheng Yao lowered him into the bathtub and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
In truth, there were no herbs at all. She had merely added some spiritual spring water to deceive him.
Warm water enveloped his battered body, and Zhan Haoting could not help letting out a deeply suppressed sigh of relief.
He could no longer remember how long it had been since he had felt such warmth and cleanliness.
The water gently washed away the grime around his wounds, bringing a slight sting, but even more so, an indescribable sense of relief.
Cheng Yao rolled up her sleeves, scooped up some water with her hands, and gently poured it over his hair.
