Kaoshan Village had a village doctor whose surname was Xiao, a man rumored to be a widower whose wife died early. He wandered far and wide in the previous years but eventually, perhaps exhausted, settled down in Kaoshan Village.
Yixuan’s arrival was ill-timed, coinciding with the Xiao family being absent. As he pondered whether to go to a neighboring village to fetch another doctor, he saw Fifth Brother Yue Ning hurriedly approaching him.
"What took so long? You never came back; I thought something had happened."
"I walked quite slowly," he patted his right leg.
Yue Ning choked up for a moment before supporting him by the arm, "Where’s Doctor Xiao’s wife? Didn’t you see her?"
"Hmm, she might have gone up the mountain again."
Just then, suddenly someone came charging from behind with a wooden stick. ’Clang!’ went the sound.
The incident happened so abruptly. Yue Ning took a blow to the back of his head and, letting out a muffled groan, he fell to the ground.
Startled and furious, Yixuan turned around to see a disheveled, plump woman wielding a stick with a ferocious and sinister expression...
Dong Huiying waited and waited, but the two brothers did not return.
"Disaster, disaster!" Suddenly, someone came rushing towards the Liang family in a panic, "Big brother, come out quick! Little Wu took a smack to the head, and Little Liu was dragged away!"
Dong Huiying was startled and immediately stood up to see it was an old lady, but one with a similarly large frame.
Having traveled to the present, Dong Huiying had seen her share of people, but they were almost exclusively burly women over one meter eighty in height.
The old lady seemed quite afraid of her, shivering as she asked if the Liang family’s big brother was at home.
"It’s only me here," Dong Huiying asked a few more questions and then learned that Liang Yuening had been beaten up, and Yixuan was abducted by a fat woman with a black mole on her lip.
A black mole, a fat woman?
She made the connection immediately, it must be Zhu Xingfang.
She had the old lady guide her, and at the edge of the village, they found Yue Ning lying on the ground.
Yue Ning’s head at the back was bleeding a lot, but fortunately, it wasn’t severe. However, he was unconscious, with a bloodied wooden stick next to him—undoubtedly the weapon used.
"Hey, Liang Yuening?"
A small black paw kept slapping Liang Yuening’s cheek and then pressed on his People’s Acupoint.
Yue Ning moaned, gradually waking in a daze with waves of pain coming from the back of his head. Before he could get a clear look at the person before him, he had already called out Yixuan’s name.
He tried to get up, but as soon as his arms propped up his body, he collapsed back to the ground, also feeling waves of nausea as if he was about to vomit.
After checking Yue Ning’s pulse briefly, Dong Huiying lifted him with effort.
She was rather small in stature, but her strength was immense. With steps as if riding upon Wind Fire Wheels, she swiftly carried the man back home.
"Yixuan, Yixuan..." Yue Ning murmured. His mind was not very clear, but he knew something was wrong. He wondered how his younger brother, Yixuan, was faring?
Dong Huiying made him lie on the Kang bed (a traditional Chinese bed-stove) and quickly tended to the wound on the back of his head. Then, she dashed out of the house again like an arrow.
She returned to the village entrance and lingered there for a long while.
Due to the moist earth, there were many footprints on the ground: her own, the old lady’s, Yixuan’s, Liang Yuening’s, and also, Zhu Xingfang’s.
She narrowed her eyes—these footprints were clues.
Locking onto one of the footprints, she followed the trail, her head down as she dashed, bursting out of the village.
Along the way, Dong Huiying encountered several people who, upon seeing her rush frantically, quickly gave way. But one thing was somewhat jarring: the men were generally quite short and slender, considered beautiful, and rather effeminate, whereas the women were tall and robust, more akin to hefty men.