After sending Song Qiming to the village chief's house in the morning, Song Jinzhao went to the old house.
"Grandfather, I need to go into the mountains early tomorrow morning and will be gone for four or five days. Could Grandmother come stay at my house for a few days? To help look after Qiming and the others."
Old Man Song's axe clattered to the ground, and he asked in astonishment, "Why so long this time?"
Song Jinzhao smoothed her sleeves and explained, "I want to scout out the mountain situation. We can't avoid hunting forever. We also need to go up to gather mushrooms in June. I won't feel comfortable taking people up there without knowing the lay of the land."
"This time I'll go deeper in. I also want to dig up some medicinal herbs to plant in the backyard."
Old Man Song's face wrinkled with worry. "Can't you just rest for a while? With the silver you have on hand, you could stay home for years without worry."
Ever since the incident with Shi Gen, no one in the village had dared go up the mountain.
Song Jinzhao shook her head. "How can we just sit idle and eat through our resources? When Qiming passes the child scholar exam and goes to the prefectural city for the examinations, the travel expenses will be considerable, not to mention the future."
Old Man Song thought she was worrying too much. "Qiming has just started at the private school. The county-level exam is at least three years away. Why are you in such a hurry?"
Song Jinzhao pressed her lips together. She couldn't very well tell him she planned for Qiming to take the exam next year.
"It's good to prepare in advance. I've already discussed this with the two children. Please just have Grandmother come stay."
At the break of dawn the next day, Old Lady Song arrived at Song Jinzhao's house.
"Here are the keys to the house. Shixue has a set too. These are for the kitchen cabinet."
"I've bought all the food for the next few days. Grandmother, just cook freely. You can call Grandfather over to eat at mealtimes too."
...
As this trip would be somewhat long, Song Jinzhao gave instructions for everything before leaving.
Song Shixue, holding Song Anhao, stood at the courtyard gate watching her go. "Sister, be careful in all things. Remember to come back early."
"Don't worry, five days at most."
This time, she planned to travel by day and rest in the trees at night, hence the need for four or five days.
Once in the mountains, Song Jinzhao headed straight inward. She crossed four mountain ridges without seeing any familiar terrain features.
The rolling peaks resembled a primeval forest. If she hadn't been leaving marks along the way, she'd truly fear losing her path on the return journey.
After dark, Song Jinzhao found a thick, tall tree, climbed up, securely tied herself to the trunk with a rope, and closed her eyes to sleep.
Even though she had scattered medicinal powder around, she didn't dare sleep too soundly.
While wolves, tigers, and leopards couldn't climb up over ten meters high, there was no guarantee other deadly animals wouldn't appear.
The next day, Song Jinzhao was woken by something hitting her. Opening her eyes, she saw an unripe pinecone shatter against the trunk, splattering her face.
Turning her head, she saw two red-faced, white-eared macaques on a neighboring tree throwing pinecones at her.
Had she intruded into the monkeys' territory?
She didn't linger, simply climbed down and left.
She didn't eat monkey meat, hadn't found the saltpeter yet, killing them would hinder travel, and carrying the meat out would just lead to spoilage.
After crossing several more mountains, Song Jinzhao found the tallest tree and climbed to its top.
She could no longer see Song Family Village; all around was forest.
After another day's travel, Song Jinzhao discovered limestone on a cliff face rock.
Following the watercourse upstream, she climbed to a mountaintop overlooking a massive sinkhole.
On the canyon's side wall, a waterfall cascaded down.
In one glance, she saw several limestone peaks standing within the sinkhole—a typical karst landscape, the kind of place where caves most easily form.
Song Jinzhao circled the sinkhole until she found a path down. The water flow diminished drastically after the waterfall fell, likely draining into an underground river.
Following the direction where the water disappeared, she finally found the entrance to the subterranean river.
Darkness surged like a tide. The air was thick with fine water droplets, resembling countless eyes from the abyss—sinister and terrifying, as if a haunt for ghosts and monsters.
No one had ever set foot here before; Song Jinzhao was the first.
As she entered the cave, a rustling sound echoed overhead, and disturbed bats emitted piercing shrieks.
Fortunately, she hadn't gone far when she discovered a crusty white deposit beneath a seepage zone on the cave wall.
After filling a sack with saltpeter and placing it in her bamboo basket, Song Jinzhao shouldered the basket and left the cave.
Although she had seen everything in the apocalypse, she was alone now. In the deep, old mountains, if something happened, there'd be no way out.
Song Family Village.
Seeing Song Shixue sitting in the main room staring at the courtyard gate, Old Lady Song sighed quietly.
Ever since Jinzhao left, she had been watching eagerly. Even though she was told it would take four or five days to return, her watching was in vain.
"At such a young age, staying home all day without any vitality. Your aunt is taking Qiaoniang to dig for wild vegetables on the field ridges. You should go with them."
Song Shixue gave an affirmative hum and walked absentmindedly towards the old house with her basket.
Aunt Song also brought her two daughters to join.
By evening, returning home with a basket of wild vegetables, Song Shixue's steps were lighter, her mood clearly improved.
She needed to be given something to do, to mingle with people more, to avoid overthinking all day.
Song Jinzhao's return journey, following her marks, was noticeably faster than her outward trek.
Along the way, even when she saw wild buffalo, she didn't kill them. Predators could emerge at any time, drawn by the scent of blood. With several mountain ridges still between her and the back hills, escape would be difficult.
The horse's hooves made a rustling sound on the fallen leaves as Qin Yunqian navigated around tree after tree.
"Duke, the mountains are full of trees, and the ground is uneven. Leading troops through the mountains would take even longer than going around."
After inspecting the city defenses, Chu Liuyun suddenly proposed taking the mountain path from Xining City to Hanyā City. Unable to dissuade him, Qin Yunqian had no choice but to follow.
Chu Liuyun dismounted. "If riding is inconvenient, then we'll lead the horses on foot."
"The majority of the Thunderstruck Army is stationed between Hanyā City and Yunzhong City. If the enemy wants to bypass Yunzhong City, they must cross these mountains. The Shuobei bandits who fled into the forest last year likely had the same idea."
Qin Yunqian dismounted as well. "It's easy to lose one's bearings in the mountains, to get lost in a moment of carelessness."
Chu Liuyun: "Make a few trips in advance to familiarize yourself, and you won't."
After walking for two hours, as the two men sat down to rest, Qin Yunqian spotted a mark.
He leaned over for a closer look. "There's a mark here, scratched out with a stone."
Chu Liuyun's slender fingers traced over the white mark. "What pattern is this? I've never seen it before."
Qin Yunqian shook his head. "I haven't either." It was completely unfamiliar.
If Song Jinzhao were here, she would tell them it wasn't a pattern, but the Arabic numeral 7.
It marked the seventh mountain she had crossed.
A thought flashed in Chu Liuyun's mind. "Could this be a pattern unique to Shuobei?"
Perhaps when Qin Guo led the troops to exterminate the Shuobei bandits last year, a few had escaped.
The mountainous terrain was complex; missing one or two was not impossible.
Qin Yunqian tightened his lips. This place was very far from Yunzhong City.
Could it be, just as Duke Qing suspected, that those bandits were truly here to scout the path?
