After returning to the adobe house, Yunxiu brought water to the workers on the construction site, swept the yard with a bamboo broom, washed her hands, and prepared to start cooking.
She went to the table in the main room and brought out the two bird nests. Inside the two nests lay twelve bird eggs. The eggs were very small; their white shells had a hint of blue-green and bore brown speckles. They looked like quail eggs.
Xu Yin had climbed a tree to get these nests. The eggs were small, but mixed with some shredded cabbage, they’d be enough for a bowl of egg drop soup. In her cooking, scrambled eggs counted as a meat dish.
The moment Yunxiu stepped out of the main room, Gamma began circling her, jumping up and placing its front paws on her. This wolf was unreasonably huge; standing on its hind legs, it was as tall as her. Yunxiu staggered back a step. “You keep this up, and I’ll tell Baiyu to deal with you.”
Yunxiu knew the wolf was begging for a treat. She took one bird egg and tossed it lightly. Gamma craned its head up and bit it, shattering it into a mess. The egg liquid flowed out; it wasn’t even enough to fill the gaps in its teeth. For the wolves, this was just a little snack.
“Go back to the field and find the Village Chief. Go play with her there. Maybe you can dig up a field mouse. Go on, shoo, shoo.”
Gamma yawned, its long, red tongue curling out. It stretched lazily, then turned and went back to find Li Cunxin.
Yunxiu fetched a basin of water and began washing and trimming the cabbage. Shouts came from the construction site ahead. Zhao Penglai was short on bricks. Wang Ran transported bricks over. Xia Qing and Miao Bing started setting up scaffolding. Liu Cuo Jin carried the bucket of mortar over to Yan Baiyu.
Yan Baiyu scooped mortar with her trowel and spread it onto a blue brick. She had a slight obsessive-compulsive streak about this task—the mortar had to be spread evenly and squarely. Compared to Zhao Penglai and the others, her pace was much slower, but the bricks she laid looked beautiful.
The crisp clink of blue bricks tapping together occasionally rang from the worksite. The scraping sound of trowels spreading mortar was followed by the muffled thud of pressing and tapping the bricks into place. People chatted idly now and then, saying a few words, trading curses, sharing a couple of laughs.
Cooking smoke rose from the kitchen. The smoky scent of burning grass and wood was like a calming incense, bringing peace to body and mind.
In this harmonious atmosphere, a wolf’s howl tore through the sky like ripped silk.
Yan Baiyu’s hand slipped. The perfectly even layer of mortar she had just smoothed was gouged with a deep slash.
Immediately after, two answering howls rang out from the east.
“What happened?” The wolf cries made everyone’s heart seize with panic.
One by one, they stopped work and looked blankly towards the direction of the howls. But the sounds came from both west and east. They looked left, then right.
Only when Xu Yin stepped out did everyone come to their senses and look at Yan Baiyu.
Alpha and Beta, who had been searching for prey in the woods, came tearing back. The two wolves halted in front of Yan Baiyu, circled, and then sped off towards the west.
Seeing that direction, Yan Baiyu’s face instantly changed color.
“Uncle Xu, Xia Qing, come with me to the west to have a look.” Yan Baiyu tossed her trowel onto the blue bricks. With her long legs and quick stride, she reached the main room in moments, grabbing her bow, arrows, and a spear.
Xu Yin told Zhao Penglai, “You hold down the fort here.”
Zhao Penglai said grimly, “Don’t worry, go on.”
Xu Yin took the spear Yan Baiyu tossed him, and he and Xia Qing followed Yan Baiyu west. The noon sun was bright but cold, hanging eerily overhead.
The wolf howl from the west was drawn out, a single call lasting a long time without breaking. When Yan Baiyu arrived, the three wolves stood beside a slender willow tree.
Yan Baiyu was breathing lightly and quickly. She only glanced at the three wolves, then raised her head and looked ahead to search. Li Cunxin had brought her here before; she recognized this path and knew that a short way ahead was the place where Li Cunxin grew notoginseng.
She strode forward quickly, her heart jumping in time with her steps. She could already see the shelter in the field. She raised her voice and called out, “Cunxin.” She broke into a jog.
The plow lay overturned on the wasteland. Next to it were scattered piles of stones and dead branches. Yan Baiyu yelled, “Cunxin!” She looked far into the distance, walked along in front of the shelter, bent down to look into the notoginseng field, peered at the nearby wasteland, but there was no sign of anyone.
The three of them spread out on the wasteland to look for her. Xu Yin said, “How could the plow be abandoned in the field, the person gone, and the donkey gone too?”
Xia Qing’s face showed terror. “Could it be…” She stopped herself before finishing. Her guess was too bloody and terrible, a single word of it would be like throwing a bucket of ice water.
Yan Baiyu suddenly halted and fixed her gaze on the ground. The concentrated light in her eyes was intensely intimidating.
On the ground was clearly a trail of drag marks. The loose soil still bore palm-sized indentations that looked like donkey hoofprints.
Yan Baiyu gently took a breath. Only when the light in her eyes brightened a little did she examine more closely, noticing no bloodstains around or any other animal tracks.
Only then could she focus and call out, “Uncle Xu, come take a look.”
Xu Yin and Xia Qing walked over. Xu Yin used the spear to push the thorn bushes aside, clearing a space around them. They treated it as carefully as a crime scene. “Only drag marks and hoof prints.”
The three followed the trail into the distance. The gray wolves had been sniffing at the plow handles and now ran along the trail, following it.
Yan Baiyu quickly followed. Thoughts raced through her mind like lightning. It was possible the donkey had been spooked and dragged Li Cunxin away.
The three followed the trail onward, looking for her. The trampled weeds on the ground, stones aligned in a single direction, and faint marks left on the soil all provided direction.
The further they walked, the darker Yan Baiyu’s eyes became.
The drag marks went on for far too long. The possibility of injury was extremely high.
She felt a bit of tightness in her chest, irritated. Her heart was cold, her body hot. A feeling of impatience dusted down on her finely and densely, like flour passing through a sieve.
The wild grass leaning across the path, the tree trunks twisted in the way—all were too tactless.
Her eyes flickered, and she saw a patch of bright color ahead. Her heart jolted. She half-crouched to look.
It was a relief—it was only a naturally blood-red patch on a stone.
The three jogged along, only slowing to a quick walk when they needed to discern the tracks. They followed all the way to a water pit.
Xu Yin and Xia Qing’s hearts tightened. Worry distorted their judgment; they just feared Li Cunxin had fallen into the pit. Xu Yin jumped down. The water in the pit only came up to his thighs; murky mud billowed up.
Yan Baiyu walked around the water pit to the other side, staring intently at the large wet stain on the bank. Much of the water had already dried, but even if the mud specks kicked up from the pit were completely dry, their color was still darker than the surrounding soil.
The drag marks ended here. The ground became harder and harder, the hoofprints shallower and shallower. A few dozen meters ahead, they became nearly imperceptible. The three gray wolves also hesitated in the area, unsure.
Yan Baiyu looked at the distant horizon, where the earth met the sky. Her eyes were empty. After a long while, her eyelashes trembled slightly. She said to Xu Yin and Xia Qing, “Xia Qing, take Gamma back. Tell the others to come search. Uncle Xu, take Beta. We’ll split up.”
Yan Baiyu’s short, clear instructions settled Xia Qing’s heart somewhat. She pressed her lips together, called Gamma to her side, and said to the two, “Be careful.”
Yan Baiyu barely paused after speaking. She headed in one direction, walking and shouting as she went. They only had a general direction and no idea of the distance. After going a certain way, the search radius expanded infinitely.
It was not until nightfall that the whole world became a sealed box. A dark shroud covered the dome of heaven. The wilderness was silent and mysterious.
Even though it was early spring, the temperature hadn’t fully risen. Li Cunxin knew lying on the ground dressed in soaking wet clothes like this would easily lead to hypothermia. After her body uncontrollably pitched forward, her mind had thought she’d catch her breath for a moment and then immediately get up. She felt she hadn’t been lying there long; in her head, she imagined herself already getting up.
By the time a violent shiver ran through her and she suddenly woke up, she realized she had slept for quite a while.
She had expected to see the deep blue of the sky canopy, the pitch-black of the wilderness. But she was clearly inside a house. The dim light illuminated the interior. She lay on a heated adobe kang bed. A straw mat was beneath her, a clean animal hide draped over her. It was clearly not hers, but none of that was what she first noticed.
At first glance, the room’s layout made her think she had gone back. But the figure sitting by the bedside had an unfamiliar presence and stature, and…
Hearing the sound, the figure turned around. With delight, she said, “You’re awake!”
An unfamiliar face.
Li Cunxin was stunned, momentarily thinking she was still in a dream. She was dazed. Like the first time she suddenly arrived in this world, she again felt a glitch in the operating rules of the universe.
The person walked to the doorway and called out, “Sister Wen, she’s awake.”
Footsteps approached.
Li Cunxin stared with wide, unblinking eyes. Her expression was like a startled owl, its pupils dilated. She watched the women file in.
Including the one who was already there, four women squeezed into this one room. Four faces looked at her with unanimous concern. She felt as if a Body Freezing Spell had been cast on her. Her body couldn’t move. Her mind couldn’t turn.
“How are you feeling?” The woman originally in the room asked. “Do you want some water?”
“Your clothes were soaking wet, so we took them off.” The woman who spoke was naturally beautiful even without makeup. She was quite an interesting character, wearing earrings and hair ornaments made from bird feathers. She had a distinctly exotic look. Someone who could maintain a sense of aesthetics in a place like this must be an optimistic, ritualistic person.
“These are all just scrapes and bruises. We don’t know if any bones were hurt. Are you feeling pain anywhere?” The woman who spoke was delicate and slender, with a thin, serious face that slightly furrowed her brow.
“There’s a big bump on the back of her head.” The woman with the feather hair ornaments said.
“Why isn’t this child talking? She couldn’t have been knocked silly, could she? Do you feel nauseated?” The woman originally in the room held no prejudice; she was just expressing sincere confusion.
“Little sister, what’s your name? You look so young. How old are you?” The feather-wearing woman asked with a beaming smile, using a tone one might use to coax a child.
“Zhou Huan, that tone of yours is like an old witch trying to kidnap a child. Don’t frighten her.” After complaining about her companion, the serious-faced woman said to Li Cunxin, “Don’t be afraid. You also crossed over into this world, didn’t you? We’re fellow countrymen.”
Li Cunxin’s head was buzzing.
The woman standing at the very edge spoke up. “I found you while out hunting. You were unconscious by a water pit, so I brought you back. A black donkey was standing next to you. Did you encounter some danger?”
Li Cunxin looked up at this woman. She was dressed for spring, her sleeves rolled up, revealing muscular forearms. There was a wild kind of beauty to her…
Li Cunxin thought to herself: this woman is really tall, practically as tall as Uncle Xu. As the thought flashed by, Li Cunxin looked at the sky outside and exclaimed, “Oh dear, I need to get back!”
Li Cunxin tried to get off the kang, but the moment she stood, she sat right back down. She was bare, not a stitch on her. The animal hide covering her wasn’t very large. Lying still, she could barely cover herself. Standing up, it covered the front but not the back. “…”
The woman with the feather headdress laughed. “This little girl doesn’t listen, does she? We told you, your clothes are drying outside. Get back in bed, and don’t catch a chill.”
