In the evening, Mu Dai rummaged through her possessions, checking clothes and organizing bags.

Zhang Shu passed by her door and saw clothes piled all over the bed. Huo Zihong seemed to be helping her make decisions. Zhang Shu faintly heard Mu Dai say something about climbing a snow mountain with Luo Ren tomorrow.

Before closing the bar, Zhang Shu deliberately passed by her door again. She was still busy, pulling at her backpack zippers with sharp tugs.

Zhang Shu said, “Little proprietress, are you going to climb Jade Dragon Snow Mountain?”

Mu Dai lifted her head: “Mm-hmm.”

Zhang Shu replied irritably: “Jade Dragon Snow Mountain? You just buy a ticket and go up! Is all this necessary? You’ve turned your room upside down as if you’re climbing Mount Everest!”

Mu Dai said, “You just don’t understand.”

Huo Zihong chimed in: “Uncle Zhang, they’re dating. You wouldn’t understand.”

These two kids, whose combined age didn’t even match his, actually told him he “didn’t understand.” Zhang Shu was so angry his eyes nearly rolled back in his head.

The next day, Mu Dai woke up early, intending to find Luo Ren, but felt going too early would make her seem too eager. So she dawdled to pass the time, teaching Cao Yanhua a set of martial arts forms.

Cao Yanhua had finally progressed from running in circles and kicking to learning actual techniques. His face was flushed with excitement as he put his all into each move, his expression showing complete commitment.

During breakfast, Yi Wansan didn’t show up, and neither did Huo Zihong. Mu Dai could understand Huo Zihong’s absence—having lost her relatives, she needed time to recover—but where was Yi Wansan?

Cao Yanhua said, “My Brother San is probably sulking again. I told him yesterday, it’s fine to be sad for a while, but don’t act like he had some deep connection with the wild woman. So dramatic!”

Mu Dai burst out laughing.

Zhang Shu had made egg and green onion pancakes that smelled deliciously satisfying. Mu Dai found them so tasty that, since she was going to see Luo Ren anyway, she grabbed a preservation bag and wrapped one up. It was a casual gesture without much thought, but when she looked up, she saw Zhang Shu glaring at her with disgust. Mu Dai blushed furiously, as if caught in some shameful act.

Zhang Shu said, “Girls favoring outsiders—that saying is certainly true. Raised you all these years for nothing, and now you’re taking egg pancakes to him. After you marry in, you’ll be coming back home every few days asking for rice, oil, and MSG!”

Mu Dai stomped her feet in frustration, grabbed the bag, and ran out.

Cao Yanhua held back his laughter as he chewed his pancake, watching her through the window. Suddenly, he froze.

He saw a young woman standing across from the bar, completely still, her head slightly tilted, watching Mu Dai intently.

Cao Yanhua thought the woman looked familiar, then suddenly realized—wasn’t that Lian Shu from Yan Yan shop?

Mu Dai pinched the preservation bag in her hand and quickly walked away. Lian Shu turned to watch her leave, maintaining the same posture—body still, head slightly tilted, like a sculpted statue that someone had rotated.

What was that about? Cao Yanhua swallowed his pancake with a stomach full of suspicion.

The main door was half-open. Peering in, he saw Uncle Zheng with Pin Ting by the fish pond. Pin Ting was happily splashing the water with her hands.

Mu Dai entered with a grin. Seeing her, Uncle Zheng habitually gestured upstairs: “Little Dao hasn’t gotten up yet. Go pull him out of bed.”

To prove she hadn’t come specifically for Luo Ren, Mu Dai lingered instead of going upstairs. Pin Ting curiously pulled at the plastic bag in her hand, opened it, smelled the aroma, and started eating.

Mu Dai poked her: “Call me Sister Mu Dai, Sister Mu Dai.”

Pin Ting found her poking annoying and turned away, presenting her back.

Uncle Zheng said, “Don’t mind Pin Ting. Help me get Little Dao up. Today, I want to install the light box for the Phoenix Pavilion. They said their vehicle broke down and won’t deliver until tomorrow, so I want Luo Ren to drive and pick it up.”

Mu Dai was taken aback: “Today?”

Uncle Zheng looked puzzled: “Do you have plans today?”

Mu Dai hesitated: “Luo Ren said we’d go mountain climbing today.”

Oh, mountain climbing.

Uncle Zheng said irritably, “I already knew it. You people are all unreliable. Some shareholders, you are—disappearing into the mountains during renovations, and now, just as we’re about to open, you want to go climbing again.”

“We’re opening in a couple of days?”

“Of course.”

Having completely forgotten this major event, Mu Dai quickly changed her tune: “Well… we can go climbing after the opening.”

Uncle Zheng looked at her: “Is that voluntary? Don’t say I forced you.”

Mu Dai nodded eagerly: “Voluntary, voluntary. I’ll tell Luo Ren.”

Uncle Zheng said, “That’s right. It’s our own business, so we should handle it ourselves. I feel bad always having Miss Lian help.”

“Miss Lian? Lian Shu?”

Uncle Zheng nodded: “Yes, that Miss Lian. She came by very early today, brought wallpaper samples for me to look at, let me choose patterns, and even offered to help pick them up.”

Uncle Zheng hadn’t expected Lian Shu to come so early. He had gone out to buy breakfast, and Pin Ting had opened the door. When he returned, Lian Shu was waiting with the wallpaper sample book and playing with Pin Ting.

She seemed like such a pleasant, kind-hearted girl. He didn’t understand why Luo Ren disliked her.

Uncle Zheng looked somewhat troubled: “Or perhaps, Mu Dai, you could see if Cao Yanhua or Yi Wansan are free to make the trip. Let’s not trouble Miss Lian…”

He nodded slightly toward upstairs: “Luo Ren… doesn’t seem to get along with this Miss Lian.”

Mu Dai smiled: “It’s just taking money to buy the wallpaper you’ve chosen, right? I can do that.”

Uncle Zheng looked at her: “Now you’re acting like a little proprietress.”

Mu Dai giggled, then said after a pause: “Then I’ll go find her now. The sooner we buy it, the sooner we can put it up.”

She turned to leave, patting Pin Ting’s head to say goodbye. Pin Ting said, “Sister upstairs.”

Even Pin Ting knew to tell her to go upstairs. Mu Dai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, saying, “Not going.”

Pin Ting ignored her, putting her finger to her lips and saying, “Shh.”

Mu Dai instructed Uncle Zheng: “Tell Luo Ren I was here.”

Luo Ren woke up very late.

It wasn’t clear if it was the change in environment, or perhaps he considered this place a safe rear base, but once he lay down, he fell into a deep, sweet sleep as if his horses were grazing freely on southern mountains.

Out of habit, he first went to the room where they kept the murder notes. In the fish tank, the third murder note was becoming increasingly blurred. If the first two were like gold hooks and iron lines, this one was like ink diffusing in clear water.

Luo Ren furrowed his brow.

He calculated the days—today, he should be able to receive Zhama’s call.

Downstairs, Pin Ting was hitting the water surface with a small bamboo branch, startling the fish into scattering. Hearing Luo Ren coming down, she looked up and said, “Sister upstairs.”

Luo Ren was perplexed and glanced back up the stairs.

Uncle Zheng was bringing breakfast into the hall and told him that Mu Dai had been there.

Little Pocket, Luo Ren smiled and casually asked, “Where is she now?”

Uncle Zheng said, “Little Pocket is better than you, concerned about Phoenix Pavilion’s affairs. She went to buy wallpaper for it.”

Luo Ren was puzzled: “Does she know about these things?”

“Can’t she follow instructions? Besides, Miss Lian will explain everything clearly.”

Wait, how was another person involved?

Uncle Zheng anticipated Luo Ren’s questions and proactively explained: “Well, since you don’t like Miss Lian, I didn’t want to bother her anymore to avoid complications. The samples are with Miss Lian, so Mu Dai probably went to get them.”

Luo Ren furrowed his brow, about to say something, when his phone rang.

It was Zhama.

He answered and talked with Zhama while Uncle Zheng went to the fish pond, calling to Pin Ting: “Come on, get up. Soon, Uncle and Brother Xiao Dao will be busy. I’ll take you to stay at the bar. You need to behave and work properly, understand?”

Pin Ting responded with a listless “Oh,” then added, “Sister upstairs.”

Uncle Zheng said, “Your Sister Mu Dai is busy. She’ll come upstairs next time.”

Pin Ting’s eyes widened, and she put her finger to her lips, whispering very softly, “Shh…”

Earlier, when Uncle Zheng had gone to buy breakfast, she was playing with Lian Shu, catching small fish in the water. Caught up in her play, she looked up to find Lian Shu gone.

Looking up, she saw Lian Shu on the second floor, moving gently toward the far end.

She had raised her head and said, “Sister upstairs!”

Lian Shu turned to look down at her, placing her finger to her lips as if saying, “Shh…”

Lian Shu was enthusiastic, showing Mu Dai the samples, writing down color codes and model numbers on sticky notes, and giving her the seller’s address.

It was quite far, and Uncle Zheng needed a considerable amount. When the time came, a single taxi might not be enough to carry everything.

As Mu Dai was thinking about this, Lian Shu said, “Why don’t I go with you?”

She explained: “When I was renovating my shop earlier, I used the same supplier. We’ve become friends after several visits. If I go with you, they’ll give you a more honest price, you know, a friend’s discount. Plus, they can deliver it by car, saving you the taxi fare.”

Indeed. Mu Dai smiled, thinking Lian Shu was quite nice: “Won’t that disrupt your shop business?”

“Not at all. Let me grab a few things. Wait for me a moment.”

Zhama told Luo Ren about the past few days.

Overall, things were proceeding as expected. People from distant villages still came to see the wild woman, though fewer than before. The township hadn’t sent anyone to take the wild woman’s body away yet, probably needing a couple more days. But it had been raining, which was troublesome—they worried the rain might damage the corpse, so they had to use tarpaulins for protection…

Trivial matters, domestic affairs, all concerning that mountain valley.

Before ending the call, he suddenly remembered something.

“This time, people from villages we hadn’t had dealings with before also came. I heard about a strange incident, also involving wild people, but from over twenty years ago.”

Luo Ren felt as if sparks exploded in his ears with a crackling sound. His throat went dry, and his spine straightened slightly.

Instinctively, he felt this was the truth he had been searching for.

“They said there was a village in the mountains, located in about the same place you went, but it was a Han people’s village.”

“Over twenty years ago, a woman from the village was gathering herbs in the mountains when she was raped by a wild man. The woman’s husband was furious and gathered hunters from ten or eight villages. They blocked off the mountain for several days and finally cornered and shot the wild man.”

“They said that wild man was even bigger than the one we caught this time…”

Luo Ren asked, “And then?”

Then? Then Zhama wasn’t very clear.

“I heard that after a few years, that village emptied. Han people are different from us natives—they all have hometowns and relatives elsewhere. Maybe they went to live with relatives. Life in the mountains is hard after all…”

After hanging up, Luo Ren’s temples throbbed intensely.

Over twenty years ago…

The timing matched. If he hadn’t guessed wrong, the raped woman was the same one they saw in the mountains, and the wild man shot at that time was the female wild person’s father.

When Mu Dai entered the cave, she saw paintings on the ceiling showing the female wild person as a child with a small playmate, which led her to deduce that there was another wild person in the mountains.

If the wild man was killed by the enraged husband who gathered hunters shortly after the incident, unless the woman gave birth to twins, from beginning to end, she should have only given birth to the female wild person.

Suddenly, Luo Ren’s heart skipped a beat.

At that time, the woman was already married. Could she have already had her children?

If so, the female wild person’s playmate might not have been a wild person at all.