Chapter 13: Mountain Forest
Grandpa Ling was also heartbroken, but he quickly understood Jin Sui’s intention and carefully examined the blue mark on Jin An’s chest, saying:
“You two go first, I’ll handle this.”
He carried many small items used by Taoists, so he didn’t lack colors or carving tools.
Jin An was an intelligent child. After a glance at the corpse that tripped him, he understood what his grandfather intended to do.
He first took off his Taoist robe, then removed his inner clothing and handed it to his grandfather:
“Since he died in my stead, let this clothing be used to wrap him!”
The upper body of this male corpse was bare, clearly having had its clothes stripped off after death.
Jin Sui knew Grandpa Ling wanted them to leave first because he didn’t want them to witness the scene. She led Jin An away, while warily watching the torches in the valley.
As soon as someone approached, they would have to abandon their plan and immediately take Grandpa Ling away.
Fortunately, those torches were still circling in the valley, and no one had passed through the dense forest.
Grandpa Ling’s hands were quick, and in just fifteen minutes, he caught up:
“Hurry! As long as they discover the corpse a day later, we can get away with it.”
The three of them walked in the dark for a long time in the mountains. However, because there was no path, their clothes were either snagged by thorns or they stumbled into ditches.
Jin Sui was afraid Grandpa Ling would fall, and she heard the roars of fierce beasts from deep within the mountains. She decisively said:
“Grandpa, let’s hide first and leave when it’s dawn. There are many fierce beasts in the mountains; if we accidentally wander into a tiger’s den, it will be even more troublesome.”
She was worried about Grandpa Ling, while Grandpa Ling was worried about Jin An.
This child hadn’t eaten or slept well for days, had just experienced his mother’s death, and was now being led along mountain paths with trepidation.
Grandpa Ling agreed to stop and rest. This time, he didn’t perform divination but used his experience to find a spot behind a stone wall that was sheltered from the wind.
The three of them could barely squeeze behind the stone wall to rest. Without a blanket, Grandpa Ling took off his outer robe and draped it over Jin An, letting Jin An sleep leaning against him.
They dared not light a bonfire, fearing it would attract the soldiers in the valley.
Jin Sui felt that if they endured the cold all night like this, the three of them would definitely fall ill. She no longer cared if Grandpa Ling would be suspicious.
Turning around, she said, “I’ll find some dry grass nearby to keep warm.”
Grandpa Ling cautioned, “Don’t go too far.”
Jin Sui simply went behind the stone wall and lightly touched her palm, letting the colorful light engulf her.
She had already opened all the cabinets in the laboratory and memorized the placement of everything.
First, she went to her own resting room and grabbed a thick blanket, rolling up the bedsheet with it.
It was a pity there were no clothes. When they passed by a market again, she would definitely buy more clothes to stock up, without Grandpa Ling knowing.
The small market before didn’t sell ready-made clothes. If she bought fabric, she worried Grandpa Ling would notice that his granddaughter suddenly didn’t know how to sew anymore.
She took three flatbreads she had stocked up, and two bottles of sugar water. After thinking, she found a knife that could be used as a weapon and immediately came out.
She handed the thick blanket to Grandpa Ling and gave a very clumsy excuse:
“It seems someone else hid here before and left some items for warmth.”
Grandpa Ling touched the clean and warm blanket, glanced at Jin Sui, and chuckled:
“Then we grandfather and granddaughter are quite lucky! You come in too, get a good sleep, and leave quickly when it’s dawn.”
Jin Sui spread the bedsheet on the ground and sat by Jin An, leaning against the stone wall. Her mind was a whirlwind, and she couldn’t possibly sleep!
Thinking of Madam Jiang’s expression before her death, the difficult task of vindicating Father Ling, and everything she had encountered since her transmigration, she felt a deep sadness.
But seeing Grandpa Ling’s white hair and Jin An’s tender young face, what else could she do?
Since she was using someone else’s body, she had to take responsibility and roll up her sleeves to get to work!
At least she had the laboratory as her backup; life would go on.
Dawn came early in April, but the dew was heavy. Just as the sky was beginning to lighten, the blanket became damp.
Grandpa Ling woke up first. He looked lovingly at his grandson’s sleeping face, touched his head and then his neck, confirming the child was fine.
He then looked at Jin Sui. This glance was somewhat meaningful, carrying affection for his granddaughter, some admiration, and a fear that was hard to decipher.
He then looked at the brightly patterned blanket, made of either wool or cotton.
Grandpa Ling pondered for a moment, as if making a decision. The admiration and fear in his eyes faded, leaving only tenderness.
He gently nudged Jin Sui, “Girl, wake up quickly.”
Jin Sui jolted awake and saw herself sleeping in the wilderness. For a moment, she thought she was dreaming.
In the vastness of the world, she felt as if she had been thrown from the 21st century into a primeval forest.
At this moment, she missed her past life immensely.
She didn’t have much time to dwell on it; they had to leave this area quickly. Once they were out of Luocheng’s territory, they would be safe.
However, before setting off, they needed to eat their fill.
The morning mist was thick, and visibility was extremely low. The advantage was that the smoke from a bonfire would not be discovered.
The grandfather and granddaughter quickly gathered some dry branches and lit a bonfire. Grandpa Ling split a bamboo tube to boil water, while Jin Sui threaded the flatbreads onto bamboo branches to roast.
Smelling the aroma of food, Jin An woke up.
The child looked at the blanket on himself, the bedsheet beneath him, and then at the flatbread in his sister’s hand.
He asked with surprise and joy, “Where did these things come from?”
Grandpa Ling spoke first, “Someone hid here before and left them.”
Jin Sui held up the flatbread in her hand and added, “This is what Grandpa and I bought in town, and we’ve been saving it.”
She glanced at Grandpa Ling with a hint of guilt, surprised that the old man believed her fabricated story so easily.
Grandpa Ling folded the blanket into a neat square and tied the bedsheet into a bundle with it, saying with a smile:
“We can’t discard this; our three grandfather and grandchildren will rely on this to survive the mountains.”
Jin Sui had originally wanted to be lazy and put it back into her space, retrieving it when needed at night. Now, it seemed she had no choice but to carry it diligently.
She melted an energy bar and spread it on the flatbread, paired with sugar water with a bamboo fragrance. The three of them ate with great satisfaction.
After finding Jin An, Grandpa Ling’s tense spirit relaxed considerably. Even though the three of them were now stranded in the wilderness, he was no longer anxious or nervous.
He even chopped some bamboo to make simple hunting tools, joking that the siblings were too thin and couldn’t always eat dim sum and flatbreads; they needed to eat meat to gain weight.
When the fog dispersed, the mountain path became clearer and much easier to traverse.
They couldn’t walk fast in the deep mountains and had to guard against snakes and insects. Jin Sui divided her pre-prepared insect repellent into three portions, wrapped them in cloth, and hung them at their waists.
Along the way, they encountered wild fruit trees, and Grandpa Ling took the lead in stopping to pick some.
For unfamiliar fruits, he taught the siblings that only those eaten by birds could be picked; anything birds didn’t eat was definitely poisonous.
In spring, the mountain forest was teeming with wildlife, but unfortunately, the three of them didn’t even manage to hunt a pheasant or a rabbit. They also saw the corpses of large herbivores that had been preyed upon several times.
Knowing there were fierce beasts nearby, they quickly moved away.
However, they caught fish in a mountain stream, Jin An climbed a tree and collected bird eggs, and Jin Sui picked many edible wild mushrooms.
Grandpa Ling even used mud to mold a pottery pot, and it was successfully fired. With this pottery pot, their diet became much richer.
They no longer roasted fish; they could stew it into soup. Drinking a bowl of hot soup in the morning and evening warmed them from head to toe, making the nights less cold.
Jin An found it strange that the cloth bag his sister used to store food seemed to be bottomless.
Every day, she could produce extremely sweet dim sum and flatbreads. When his sister picked mushrooms, she would even find vegetables and fruits that Grandpa didn’t recognize.
Like the bright red fruit that resembled a persimmon, it was sour and sweet in soup, and adding a wild bird egg made it very delicious.
And the food his sister called ‘potato’ was delicious whether roasted or boiled.
Jin An curiously asked, and Jin Sui said mysteriously:
“We women are naturally good at hiding things; this skill is something you can’t learn.”
Grandpa Ling chuckled in agreement. It was fortunate that Jin Sui had hidden some food beforehand, otherwise, the three of them would only have wild fruits to survive on.
