By the time Lu Xinyi reached the foot of the mountain, she knew that she was in trouble. This wasn't the way back to their campsite at all. She wondered if she'd taken the wrong path when she arrived at the fork in the road she encountered earlier.
She lifted her head and looked heavenward. The rain had already stopped, and she'd been walking for four hours nonstop. Lu Xinyi could feel her legs losing strength. She halted her steps and leaned her body at a nearby tree. Removing her Silver Leaf badge from her dress shirt, Lu Xinyi checked if the rain ruined it. With the GPS attached to it, General Li and his team should be able to locate her.
Her eyes widened when she saw several huts down the hill. How come nobody told them there was a small remote village on the other side of the mountain? Thinking that she could ask for help from the locals, Lu Xinyi forced herself to continue walking towards the village.
Lu Xinyi wasn't expecting anything at that moment, but when a soft grunt reached her ears, she immediately stopped walking. This caused her hair to stand on end as she hadn't noticed and seen any person since she left the mountain. She wasn't scared, but she had this feeling that someone was watching her like a mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.
Without waiting to see who was coming after her, she turned around and headed in the direction of the sound where it came from.
A young girl was sobbing silently as she sat at the muddy forest floor. Her round eyes were round as she stared back at Lu Xinyi. She appeared to be at least seven years old, reminding Lu Xinyi of her adoptive daughter, Shen Yuyan. Her hair was kept in twin pigtails, her face was smeared with dirt, but her chubby cheeks were stained with a blush.
Lu Xinyi furrowed her brows, and her nose picked up the scent of blood coming from the little girl. Realizing that something was wrong, her eyes swept the girl's body and found her left leg bleeding profusely.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Lu Xinyi probed. She looked around to see if there was someone else around the area but found no one. It would be impossible for a little girl to wander around the forest alone. Surely beside the girl, there should be another person accompanying her.
"Yu Gege…" The girl wailed louder as she held her injured leg to her chest. Droplets of tears rolled down her chubby cheeks, making Lu Xinyi reminisced her early years with her brother, Tian Lingyu. The scene in front of her was weirdly familiar.
Lu Xinyi was lost for words but knew that she had to help the girl immediately. As to why the girl was following her, she could only assume that she was also lost like her.
She went towards the child and knelt beside the girl before taking out the first aid kit she had on her backpack. Thankfully, all students of their class were required to bring the basic survival kits as they roamed the wilderness. Only when she got closer did she see that fresh blood coming out from the child's wound.
Lu Xinyi had always been the type to not help anyone so easily, but she couldn't resist the charm of children. Especially when the child was this cute. She held the child's hand and comforted her.
"Miss, please find my Yu Gege. I wanna go home now. It's really painful." The girl cried. So the girl was following her all along, hoping she could bring her back?
"Are you from that village?" Lu Xinyi pointed a finger to the direction of the village she'd seen earlier.
The girl nodded and continued to sob, "I followed my Yu Gege when he went hunting, but I lost him."
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The little girl's face flushed and lowered her head. "No…"
Lu Xinyi sighed. She couldn't really blame the girl. When she was a young girl, she used to give her brother problems like this.
Once, they were playing in the mud, and he got stuck. Tian Lingyu told her to run back to their grandmother's house to ask for help. Little Xinxin went home alone, but when she arrived, her favorite cartoon show started showing. She had totally forgotten about her brother. Only after two hours, the front door flew open revealing a scowling Tian Lingyu that she remembered what she was supposed to do.
"Let Big Sister take a look at your injury." Lu Xinyi gave the girl a small smile before gently stretching out the injured leg for her to see. She looked helplessly at the girl before cleaning the wound area. She poured in the water she'd never drink from her water bottle to remove the mud and dirt from the child's leg. She then disinfected the wound and wrapped it with clean bandages.
"Is Big Sister also lost?" The girl gave Lu Xinyi a head-to-toe look. From the way Lu Xinyi was dressed, it was different from the clothes the locals were wearing. "You're from the city?"
"Un. I am," Lu Xinyi admitted. Then a rumbling sound from the child's stomach made her chuckle. "Maybe we should continue on our way so you can go home."
---
After another hour of walking, the two reached the small village. The main livelihood of the locals was farming and poultry. Only the main road was fixed by the government and could be passed by motor vehicles. The main transportation used was horses and carriages.
Lu Xinyi felt like she was transported to an old era where technology was spared, and people lived in simplicity.
"This is the Weeping Willow Village. Big Sis, I don't know how to go to Jiang City, but my mother should know," Little Mei Mei said, with her round eyes blinking back to Lu Xinyi. Her little hand held Lu Xinyi as she led the ways towards her home.
"Mei Mei!" A young boy ran out of the house where Lu Xinyi and the girl stopped by. Fear and worry were written all over his face, but when his eyes landed on the injured girl beside Lu Xinyi, he sighed in relief.
"Yu Gege!" The little girl released Lu Xinyi's hand and went to her older brother. She threw her whole weight as she tackled her own brother.
"Where have you been? Mother said you've followed me, but I've never seen you earlier." His face darkened when he spotted her injury. "What happened to you?!"
"I fell from a tree. I thought I would be able to see you from a high place, but I slipped from the branch I stepped on. Thankfully, I followed Big Sister, and she helped me." Little Meimei pointed at Lu Xinyi's direction.
The young boy regarded Lu Xinyi for a second before thanking her.
"Thank you for saving my little sister, Miss. I'm Su Yu, and this is Su Mei. I've never seen you around."
Lu Xinyi scratched her nose.
"This big sister got lost at the mountain. I was wondering if any of you know how can I get back to Jiang City or, you know, the local campsite at the other side of the mountain?"
"I don't know how. Maybe we should ask Mom. Let's get inside before the rain starts again." Su Yu offered.
Su Mei explained what happened back at the mountain and how Lu Xinyi saved her to their sickly mother who was patiently listening to her youngest child. Su Yu, on the other hand, prepared meals for his sister and Lu Xinyi.
According to Qiao Lian—the children's mother, Lu Xinyi indeed took the wrong turn when she descended the mountain. Lu Xinyi should have taken the route towards the east. She might still be able to go back to their camp the next day, but the mother was worried that it wouldn't be safe for her to continue alone.
"Rumors are going around that bandits have been harassing the hikers since three months ago. They robbed and raped several women before. I'm not sure if this news is true, Miss Lu. I'll ask our village head for advice tomorrow if you want. You can stay here for tonight."
"Then, I'll be troubling you, Madam Su." Lu Xinyi bowed her head.
Qiao Lian waved a hand and motioned her to eat.
Lu Xinyi thanked the sick woman for allowing her to stay in her home temporarily. The forest's darkness wasn't safe to continue traveling. Thinking that her proctor might be worried about her whereabouts, Lu Xinyi could only assume that Meng Jiao had informed their team and the proctor about her absence.
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