Xia Sanghuan stepped closer. Seeing that the tomb of Fourth Xia was still as clean and tidy as when he was first buried, and there was even a bouquet of flowers, she knew that someone had been regularly taking care of her father's tomb.
It surely wasn't the villagers from Qingshanpo. It was probably arranged by Fu Zeming.
She picked up the withering bouquet and replaced it with the fresh one from the bamboo basket, the flowers still glistening with dew.
She laid out all the offerings in front of the tomb and poured a cup of wine on the ground.
She bowed in front of the tombstone, then stood up to look for the photo frame.
She walked around the tomb and finally found it in a corner.
The glass on the photo frame was broken. It seemed to have been roughly thrown there.
She picked it up and put it back in the bamboo basket.
She knelt in front of Fourth Xia's tombstone and silently told him everything that had happened during this period in her heart. Finally, she kowtowed and stood up.
"Father, sister and I are doing well in Yuntan. You don't have to worry about us down there."
She took one last look at Fourth Xia's black - and - white photo on the tombstone, then turned around reluctantly and left.
After all, she had more important things to do and couldn't afford to waste time feeling sad here.
When she returned to the old house, the sun was already setting.
The sky was dyed orange by the setting sun. From time to time, crows would land on the dry branches, cawing "caw, caw—".
A few months ago, this would have been an ordinary sight in her eyes.
But now, when she looked at it again, everything seemed different.
She pushed open the dilapidated door. Ma Po and her son had obediently not come back.
After all, no one wanted to be retaliated against by this "jinx".
The house was still as messy as when she left. She didn't care. Anyway, she could ask her father to send someone to clean it up later.
She walked back to the bedroom she and Xia Anying used to share. This room seemed to be for the children in the family. There weren't many things in it, but it didn't stop her from throwing them all out.
She walked to the bed, squatted down, and felt under the bed leg.
She pressed open the hidden compartment. Inside, a set of silver needles lay quietly.
Although silver needles could be bought anywhere now, this set was given to her by her master and had been with her for many years.
Moreover, it could also be used for self - defense now. Who could be sure that Ma Po wouldn't suddenly jump out of a corner to harm her?
Under the bed were the tools she used to collect herbs on the mountain. As she expected, they were already covered with rust.
She stood up, patted the dust off her pants, and decided to stay here for the night.
After all, there were no hotels in the village, and no one else would take her in.
The nearest county town was more than half an hour's drive away, not to mention whether she could get a ride.
She simply ate some bread she brought, checked the herbs she was going to collect tomorrow, then used her coat as a quilt and slept on the bed for the night.
The next morning, when she got up, she couldn't help but sneeze.
She didn't think much of it. She filled her stomach casually and then set off with her tools.
She had an appointment with Professor He for three days. If she didn't hurry up today, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to make it back in time.
She walked up the mountain along the path she had walked on for more than a decade. The mountain was lush with vegetation, hiding many poisonous insects and snakes. So even the local villagers from Qingshanpo rarely went up.
As usual, she found a stick as a walking stick and walked forward while using the stick to push aside the overgrown weeds.
She hadn't walked far when she noticed something was wrong.
The bushes were shaking too fast.
She immediately became alert and felt the box of silver needles in her pocket.
It couldn't be a wild animal. There were no large wild animals on this mountain.
It couldn't be a snake either, because snakes couldn't make such a commotion.
So it could only be a person.
She originally thought it was Ma Po, still not giving up and bringing people here to block her.
But when she saw a flash of a bright - colored corner of a garment through the bushes, she understood.
She quietly quickened her pace and deliberately walked towards the steep areas.
She was used to going up the mountain to collect herbs since childhood, so this level of mountain road was nothing to her.
On the contrary, it was tough for the people following her. They had to bend down and be careful not to get scratched by the dense branches.
She turned a corner on the mountainside and disappeared into the forest, as if she had vanished into thin air.
A man crawled out of the bushes and looked into the depths of the forest.
"Where did she go?"
The person whose corner of the garment Xia Sanghuan had seen also stood up. She patted the leaves off her body and said, "She can't have gone far. I know where she is. Follow me."
This person was Xia Anying.
Two more men stood up behind her. These men were all lured by her beauty in the bar and were obedient to her.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have come to this god - forsaken place with her.
She looked back at one of the men and asked, "Is that thing still there?"
The man took out a clay pot from his bosom. The mouth of the pot was tightly sealed, with only a small opening on the lid.
"It's still here."
She looked at the clay pot and showed a confident smile.
She not only wanted to take revenge on Xia Sanghuan but also wanted her to die here, preferably without anyone ever knowing.
As long as she was dead, she would have a chance to get in touch with Brother Chuanjin. With her charm, she could capture that man's heart and then marry into the Leng family in style.
By then, not to mention the Fu family, even that arrogant Second Miss Leng would have to bow to her.
So she must get rid of Xia Sanghuan as an obstacle.
She thought this operation would be very troublesome, but unexpectedly, her good sister had chosen to return to Qingshanpo alone, giving her the perfect opportunity to strike.
Following her childhood memories, she walked along the inconspicuous path in the forest, turning left and right, chasing after the place where Xia Sanghuan often went as a child.
Xia Sanghuan walked quickly in front. She thought she could shake off these people, but unexpectedly, they were chasing so closely.
Seeing that they were quite persistent, she knew she couldn't shake them off by running. She had to use other methods.
Moreover, there wasn't much time left for her to waste. The most urgent thing was to collect the herbs she needed.
She slowed down her pace and lowered her head to look for herbs along the way, as if she didn't notice the people behind her at all.
She was very familiar with this area. When she was a child, her master often sent her here to collect herbs.
Her elder sister would occasionally follow her out of boredom, but collecting herbs wasn't fun, so she stopped coming after a few times.
Wait...
Thinking of this, her hand holding the sickle to cut the herbs paused.
Logically speaking, if someone was not familiar with this place, they should have gotten lost by now and would never have found that small path.
Could it be...
She frowned. She couldn't rule out this possibility.