Catch a couple more big snakes and have another feast? The shift in mood was a bit too sudden for Jian Yi to react to. Wasn’t she just upset a moment ago about how her hand was about to be cut off? “What are you standing there for? Hurry up and come over.”
Feng Jiu’er’s short blade, the one she always carried, was gone, and she had no martial skill left to rely on. After thinking it over, all she could do was pick up some tools from the ground. A tree branch, a stone that wasn’t too big or too small—aside from that, there didn’t seem to be any decent weapons. She glanced back at the man standing at the cave entrance. He simply looked at her calmly; from the looks of it, he wasn’t about to come in with her. Feng Jiu’er paid him no more attention and strode inside. Jian Yi’s feet shifted slightly. He wasn’t at ease letting her go in alone, but the moment he thought of those slimy, repulsive things, his stomach churned again.
After Feng Jiu’er went in, there was, surprisingly, no sound at all from inside. Jian Yi had no idea what had happened. He wanted to follow and take a look, but he simply didn’t have the courage. Time passed bit by bit, and the dark night passed bit by bit along with it. After all that trouble, dawn was approaching. The howling of wolves gradually faded; those creatures accustomed to foraging at night had already returned to their dens to rest.
“Feng Jiu’er?” Jian Yi had truly stood at the cave mouth for the better part of two hours. Though he hadn’t dared go in, he hadn’t dared relax his guard either. He was ready at every moment—if Feng Jiu’er suddenly screamed, then even if the thing he feared most were inside, he would charge in to save her. But Feng Jiu’er made no sound at all. After going in, why was it as if she’d simply lain down to sleep? He wasn’t sure what that girl was doing. He’d stood there so long that, even on such a cool night, his clothes were nearly soaked through with sweat. Finally, he took a step deeper into the cave: “Feng Jiu’er, what are you doing?”
Still no response. The distance between inside and outside the cave wasn’t far at all—there was no way she couldn’t hear him calling. Could it be… she’d been bitten by a snake? The thought of nearly dying from a venomous snakebite as a child flashed through his mind, and Jian Yi’s heart clenched. He immediately quickened his pace. “Feng Jiu’er, how are you? Feng Jiu—” Unexpectedly, once he walked into the pitch-black depths of the cave, what he saw was Feng Jiu’er lying on the ground. “Jiu’er!” Jian Yi was startled. He hurried over and lifted her up: “Jiu’er, wake up!”
“Mm…” Feng Jiu’er’s eyes fluttered open slightly. Seeing Jian Yi’s face clearly, her body instinctively shrank back. But his eyes were filled with nothing but worry: “Were you bitten by a snake? Where are you hurt? How are you feeling?” He was actually worried about her? If she’d really died from a venomous snakebite, wouldn’t that have been convenient for him—he could simply hand her corpse over to Feng Qingyin and be done with it? This man, it seemed, hadn’t entirely lost his conscience after all; he wasn’t so far gone as to be beyond saving. Still, he was bent on cutting off her hand. And to Feng Jiu’er, the thing she cared about most in this life was precisely that pair of hands.
“I’m fine, just got a bit tired and wanted to sit and rest a while. I didn’t mean to fall straight asleep.” She rubbed her eyes: “What time is it now?” “Almost dawn.” Knowing she was alright, Jian Yi finally let go of her arms. He glanced deeper into the cave—the farther in, the worse the light, pitch black and impossible to see anything. There was no telling what else might be lurking in the dark.
He let out a breath: “If you were tired, why didn’t you rest outside? It’s damp and dark in here; there’s no telling what dangers might lurk.” Resting outside was the dangerous part! What if he got annoyed and chopped off her hand on a whim? Feng Jiu’er grumbled inwardly. Coming in here earlier had truly not been about hunting more snakes for a meal—she’d wanted to sleep a while. Knowing this fellow didn’t dare come in, at least she could sleep soundly until dawn, instead of falling asleep only to wake up with her hand gone. But—dawn was coming soon? Once it was light, the wild wolves would go into hiding and stop roaming about; that meant even traveling alone wouldn’t be as dangerous as it was at night. Her chance had come.
Something flickered in Feng Jiu’er’s eyes. She stretched out her hand: “My legs feel a bit weak. Could you come pull me up?” Jian Yi didn’t suspect a thing and immediately reached out, pulling her to her feet. “Thanks. Here, hold this for me a moment, I’ll go check if there’s anything else.” The light was dim. She shoved something into Jian Yi’s arms. Jian Yi caught it on instinct—soft, slippery, and moving… With a thud, this tall, broad-shouldered man collapsed straight onto the ground.
Feng Jiu’er watched his falling figure coldly, exactly as she’d expected. A man who was already afraid of snakes, suddenly discovering he was holding one in his arms—how could he not faint? Don’t blame her for being heartless; she truly wasn’t that cruel a person. She was simply protecting herself. Besides, it was only a water snake. Even if he’d been bitten, it wasn’t venomous. There was no telling why, but this cave happened to have a nest of water snakes in it—otherwise she wouldn’t have managed this so easily.
She fled the cave, and outside, the sky was clear. She looked at the dense forest growing clearer by the moment, at the place where dawn was breaking, and quickly got her bearings. She had no idea what lay beyond the forest, but heading south was surely the right call. She had left distinctive markers on the trees—ones she, Jiuqing, Aunt Xue, and Mu Mu all recognized—and Feng Jiu’er immediately hurried in that direction. Along the way, birds sang and flowers bloomed. She’d endured all this just to make it to dawn, to a forest free of wolf howls. Though it still held a hint of gloom, it now felt much more pleasant.
She kept walking south. The sun rose higher and higher. Surrounded by a riot of blooming flowers, for some reason her heart only grew more and more uneasy. Though she wasn’t a psychiatrist, she had read some books on psychological treatment back when she was studying medicine. If someone already had a shadow over their childhood, and then as an adult went through an ordeal even more terrifying than that childhood trauma, their nerves might suffer lasting damage. There was no telling what was going on in that cave—there really had been a whole nest of water snakes, easy to grab one with a single hand. Even though water snakes weren’t venomous, the key issue was that the man had now fainted. If he woke up to find his body covered in water snakes, wouldn’t that be enough to drive him insane? If he really did go mad from fright, wouldn’t it be such a waste—such a handsome, striking man, with such formidable swordsmanship? If he was going to lose his mind anyway, he should at least pass his swordsmanship on to her first… Wait, what was she even thinking? The man was about to go insane, and here she was scheming for his swordsmanship—that seemed a bit too much, didn’t it!
Without realizing it, Feng Jiu’er’s pace slowed. The further she walked, the more uneasy she felt. There was a scene that kept surfacing in her mind, again and again: a stunningly handsome man lying on the ground, his body covered in water snakes. Those soft little creatures, devouring his flesh bite by bite…