“Good, good, good.” The woman nodded hastily.

She had the look of someone for whom, with enough money, anything could be worked out!

Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu left, riding their horses back.

“Jiu’er, what do we do now?” Qiao Mu asked.

“Head to the forest, find Yinan,” Feng Jiu’er said.

It had been quite a while now — perhaps Yinan had already uncovered the forest’s secret.

“Mm.” Qiao Mu nodded.

But Feng Jiu’er hadn’t gone more than a few steps before she stopped.

“Jiu’er.” Qiao Mu slowed her pace.

Watching Feng Jiu’er ride her horse toward a food stall, she understood at once what was happening.

This girl loved eating no less than Xiao Yingtao did — it was just that when Xiao Yingtao was around, she never had to go buy things herself.

Just as Qiao Mu expected, Feng Jiu’er soon rode back over to her.

She had several bags in hand.

“Red bean cake, taro cake — which one do you want?” Feng Jiu’er asked.

“Taro,” Qiao Mu said, holding out her hand.

Feng Jiu’er handed her two bags. “Besides the taro cake, there’s also a bag of fruit, already washed.”

“Let’s go.” She freed one hand to tug at the reins.

Qiao Mu said nothing more and followed along.

Once they’d passed back through the city gate, Feng Jiu’er slowed her pace.

“Let’s fill our stomachs first and talk after,” she said, tying the two bags into a satchel at her side before turning to look back.

Not far off, Jian Yi quickened his steps and came forward to meet them.

Feng Jiu’er handed him a small pear. “Don’t judge it for being small — this kind of pear is even better than the big ones.”

“Very sweet, very juicy, and fresh too — you can tell it was just picked from the tree this morning.”

Jian Yi took the pear, put it to his mouth, and bit into it.

The corner of his mouth curved up — whether because of the pear, or because of the smile on the face of the woman in front of him, it was hard to say.

Feng Jiu’er twisted open her water pouch and took a sip, then picked up one of the bags and bit into a piece of cake.

“Jian Yi.” She held out the bag. “Want some red bean cake? It’s actually quite good here.”

“Yinan likes it too, I already saved some for him.”

Riding alongside Feng Jiu’er, Jian Yi drew a little closer to her.

“Try it,” he said, and just as the words left his mouth, he leaned his whole body toward her.

Feng Jiu’er, seeing that Great Hero Jian Yi seemed to want her to feed him herself, frowned and pulled her hand back.

She picked up a bamboo skewer from inside the bag and speared a piece of red bean cake.

“Jian Yi, why are you being so lazy all of a sudden? Now you need someone to feed you?”

Feng Jiu’er looked up and held the skewered piece of cake out to Jian Yi.

Jian Yi took it, turned his gaze back to the road ahead, and put the cake in his mouth, taking a bite.

“Mm, not bad!”

When Qiao Mu turned back and saw the warm smile on Jian Yi’s face, she found herself, oddly enough, looking away.

“Great Hero Jian Yi, you look really good when you smile!”

She’d known Jian Yi for a long time now, and had never once seen him smile as often as he had these past few days.

Was it because he’d escaped death? After all, someone who’s survived a brush with death tends to start valuing their life, start cherishing it.

“Jian Yi, when there’s nothing going on, you should smile more — it would definitely turn heads,” Qiao Mu said with another sigh of admiration.

“All right,” Jian Yi nodded, and took another bite of cake.

Qiao Mu still hadn’t quite gotten used to Jian Yi actually responding to her — it was too strange.

Still, she figured she’d get used to it. Either way, having one more family member who was pleasant to look at and warm-hearted wasn’t a bad thing at all.

Jian Yi like this was, without question, much easier to get along with than before.

The three of them rode on horseback until the path gave out, then dismounted and continued on foot.

Jian Yi took over carrying all the food and drink Feng Jiu’er had been holding.

Before long, the three of them found Feng Yinan.

He was sitting beneath a large tree at that moment, cradling two little squirrels in his arms.

“Yinan.” Feng Jiu’er took the food back from Jian Yi and walked over.

“Jiu’er.” Feng Yinan stood up.

The moment he stood, the two squirrels in his arms scampered off.

Feng Jiu’er watched the squirrels flee and frowned slightly.

“Never mind them, they’re still a bit shy,” Feng Yinan said, glancing after the squirrels before turning back to Feng Jiu’er.

“Did you bring this for me?”

“Mm.” Feng Jiu’er looked away as well. “Some cakes, some fruit — sit and let’s talk.”

“All right.” Feng Yinan took the food and sat back down on the thick tree root.

“Jiu’er, I’ve figured out why the tracks disappeared.”

Feng Yinan opened the bag and popped a piece of cake into his mouth.

“They used the little creatures in this forest,” he said, looking up at Feng Jiu’er as she sat down.

“What?” Feng Jiu’er lowered her eyes — she certainly hadn’t seen any small creatures at the time.

“Rats,” said Feng Yinan, taking a sip of water.

The moment Qiao Mu heard the word “rats,” she immediately lowered her head and looked around.

She even felt her scalp prickle, a tingling unease running through her.

Still, she reflected, she wasn’t as afraid of these little creatures as she used to be.

“It’s a breed of rat they’ve raised themselves — much smaller than ordinary rats, but very fast,” Feng Yinan’s voice continued.

He soon finished off the red bean cake in the bag.

Feng Yinan had never once disappointed Feng Jiu’er’s thoughtfulness, and Feng Jiu’er knew his tastes well besides.

Feng Yinan took another sip of water and screwed the cap back onto his pouch.

“I suspect the people of Panlong Stronghold apply a certain powder to the soles of their feet beforehand — even on the cart wheels — a powder that means something particular to these rats.”

“This spot is where the last footprints were left. I think this is where they stopped and applied the powder to their shoe soles and the wheels.”

By the time Feng Yinan finished speaking, the other three could more or less follow his reasoning.

“Unfortunately…” Feng Yinan stood, turning to look further inward.

“I can’t find the exact spot where they vanished, and beyond that I don’t understand anything else.”

Feng Jiu’er looked in the same direction and took a deep breath.

This forest had never been a simple one to begin with — every step they’d taken to get in had passed through one barrier after another.

For an ordinary person coming in, if they didn’t know how to break through these barriers, they might well never find their way out.

If they hadn’t come through just recently, and if nothing in the forest had changed, they wouldn’t have made it in so quickly just now either.

“At the time there was quite some distance between us, so I didn’t get a clear look at exactly where they vanished,” Feng Jiu’er said.

Qiao Mu walked over as well. “It was as if the person and the cart just vanished out of thin air — how strange!”

“I looked around the area — it’s most likely that dense, impenetrable thicket up ahead,” Feng Yinan said, moving only slightly toward the right side.

The moment he said this, Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu’s eyes turned toward the dense woods on the right.

“That direction can’t be right,” Qiao Mu frowned. “It was barely the blink of an eye — how could they possibly have…”

“Yinan, have you already gone in?” Feng Jiu’er asked.

“Mm.” Feng Yinan nodded. “I went in and came back out, and it was within thirty paces.”

“I went in three times total, and the result was the same each time. There might be some rather formidable barrier inside, but I can’t work out what it is.”