Qin Yining chased forward several steps, but her movements couldn’t match the other’s speed. She could only watch helplessly as the child’s fur-clad figure disappeared into the bushes.
This desolate mountain was rarely visited by people—even hunters wouldn’t come to such a place. How could a seven or eight-year-old child appear here?
Could there be a village nearby?
Qin Yining was puzzled, but her attention was immediately drawn to the wild rabbit on the ground.
It was a somewhat fat gray rabbit. Its fur had been roughly processed and roasted over fire, though clearly whoever roasted it wasn’t skilled—it was cooked bloody and the internal organs hadn’t been cleaned out.
Qin Yining guessed this must be the handiwork of that child. She wondered when the child had discovered her, but Qin Yining could be certain that the child harbored no hostility toward her. Because of habits formed over many years, she hadn’t detected the slightest hostility from the child. Moreover, if there had been real hostility, the other wouldn’t have given her such precious food.
Qin Yining picked up the rabbit, took her dagger, and walked some distance away. She carefully cleaned out the rabbit’s internal organs, cut off the charred fur, and buried it along with the organs in the snow to prevent the bloody smell from attracting other wild beasts. Then she thoroughly washed the rabbit meat and her hands with snow. After reburying the dirty snow, she returned with the properly cleaned rabbit.
The fire had died down considerably. Qin Yining went to gather more firewood.
Now that she had a cleaver and short sword, chopping wood was much more convenient. She also used the knife to scrape off the outer parts of the firewood that had been dampened by snow, which reduced the smoke considerably.
Qin Yining skewered the rabbit on a branch and carefully roasted it over the fire.
Though there was no salt, the charred aroma of the roasting meat still made her stomach rumble. Having been hungry for two days with only one small frog for sustenance, she was actually very hungry.
Just then, Qin Yining heard again the rustling sound of a small animal moving through the snow.
She looked up toward the sound and saw a small figure crouched behind the bushes.
Perhaps because they’d met face to face earlier, this time the child didn’t run away immediately upon seeing her. Instead, she carefully crouched and inched forward, stretching out her neck with her dirty little face scrunched up, constantly twitching her small nose to smell the aroma of the roasting rabbit.
Qin Yining couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.
“It’s you. Did you catch this rabbit?” Qin Yining turned the roasting rabbit while beckoning to the child.
The child seemed startled by her sudden voice, blinking large bright eyes and staring at her blankly.
Qin Yining was somewhat puzzled.
This child looked seven or eight years old and should be able to understand her words, right?
But living in such deep mountains, perhaps she belonged to some group that didn’t communicate with the outside world? What if she couldn’t understand her words?
Qin Yining used her dagger to cut off a piece of well-cooked meat and reached out to offer it to the child: “This is for you to eat.” Worried she wouldn’t understand, she also gestured.
This time the child finally understood. Like an agile little monkey, she ran over and crouched beside Qin Yining, carefully using her small dirty hands to grab the meat on the knife point.
Qin Yining was startled, afraid of cutting her hand, and quickly pulled back.
“Be careful not to cut yourself.”
She removed the meat and handed it to her.
The child had originally been disappointed when she saw Qin Yining wouldn’t give her the meat, but now seeing her offer the roasted meat with jade-like hands, she was as delighted as a small dog, swallowing the meat in one “aowu” bite, her large eyes squinting with pleasure.
Qin Yining was amused by her endearing behavior and couldn’t help asking: “Do you live here?”
The child’s eyes were fixed on the roasting rabbit as she nodded.
Seeing this, Qin Yining’s heart leaped with joy—this child could understand her words!
“What’s your name? How old are you?”
The child continued staring at the rabbit.
Qin Yining used her knife to slice off all the surface meat that had cooked through and gave it to the child.
The child ate with great relish, as if she hadn’t eaten for a long time, getting oil all over her mouth and smiling with crescent-shaped eyes.
Seeing her like this, Qin Yining felt some heartache and asked again: “Where are your family members?”
“Dead, dead, gone.”
This time, the child actually spoke!
But as soon as she opened her mouth, Qin Yining noticed the problem. The child’s voice was somewhat hoarse from long disuse, and her pronunciation was very stiff, as if speaking was extremely difficult for her.
“You mean your family members are all dead?” Qin Yining fed her another piece of meat.
The child nodded while chewing, pointed in a certain direction, then pointed at one of the swords beside Qin Yining.
Qin Yining was stunned.
She thought of those four corpses.
Three wearing Zhou Dynasty military uniforms and one in civilian clothes—clearly all male corpses, and it was a case of one against three ending in mutual destruction. Judging by the degree of fabric decay, those four people had been dead for at least three or four years.
Qin Yining looked at the child with pity: “Are there any other people in your family?”
The child shook her head.
“Then where do you live? How old are you this year? What’s your name?”
The child pointed in another direction and spoke haltingly in broken phrases: “Live, house, nine years old, called, Xiao Lian.”
“You’re called Xiao Lian? Is that the ‘lian’ of lotus flower?” Qin Yining looked carefully at the child. Because the child was young and dirty, it was impossible to tell from appearance alone whether she was a boy or girl.
Xiao Lian nodded. “Lotus flower, in jar, has, lotus flower, my name.”
Qin Yining smiled and nodded—this appeared to be a little girl.
Qin Yining’s hands didn’t stop moving as she sliced more meat for her.
Even this unsalted meat, she ate with great enjoyment, trying hard to express: “Delicious, better, better than mine, delicious.”
Qin Yining’s heart ached hearing this: “Do you usually roast meat to eat by yourself?”
Xiao Lian nodded, pointing toward the direction where Qin Yining had discovered the corpses, continuing to say: “Uncle dead.”
Qin Yining began to understand.
That man killed by three Zhou Dynasty people was this child’s only relative. With her family gone, she could only survive on half-cooked prey she roasted herself.
Thinking of the half-cooked rabbit Xiao Lian had secretly given her earlier, Qin Yining knew this child must have been eating such food all these years.
She couldn’t help but lovingly stroke her head.
A nine-year-old child had been surviving alone in these deep mountain forests for three or four years!
If she hadn’t encountered her, that would be one thing, but since they had met, she couldn’t ignore her anymore.
With this thought, Qin Yining made up her mind: “Xiao Lian, can you take me to your house?”
Xiao Lian nodded happily and repeatedly, reaching out her small dirty hand to grab Qin Yining’s hand. “Go, go.”
Qin Yining immediately smiled, casually ate a bit of the remaining rabbit meat, broke off a rabbit leg for Xiao Lian to gnaw on, then extinguished the bonfire, buried it with snow, gathered the weapons she’d found, and followed Xiao Lian deeper into the mountains.