For over half an hour, they wandered through the forest, winding here and there until even Zhou Silang, who initially seemed certain of their path, got lost. But Zhou Hu stubbornly led them to the location.
Zhou Silang looked around the area, then stared at a section of the mountain wall for a long time, and finally nodded, "Right, right, it’s here. This side is shaded; I used to pick wild mushrooms here when I was a kid."
He glanced at Manbao cautiously before finally walking to a spot a little away from the mountain wall and said, "Back then, my uncle and aunt were lying here."
Manbao walked over and watched silently for a while. Bai Shan came up beside her and took her hand.
Bai Er caught up from behind, glanced at the two of them, then at the silently surrounding crowd, and asked, "Who are you talking about? Who was lying here?"
Bai Shan glared at him, "Nobody, this spot is shaded, so there might be Ganoderma. Let’s look around."
Liu Gui and the others went to search since they hadn’t looked here before.
Manbao, however, already knew the outcome from Keke, "There’s nothing here, not even a plant worth recording."
Manbao didn’t leave though; instead, she stood in place and looked around before turning to ask Bai Shan, "Where did they run from to get here?"
Bai Shan tried hard to discern the direction, thought about the location of that small path, and uncertainly pointed in a direction, "From over there? I don’t know which part of the road he came up the mountain from; it could also be from this side."
When people are fleeing for their lives, they often run wildly and lose direction, especially in the deep forest where it’s even harder to maintain a sense of direction. What if they were the ones turning around the mountain in confusion?
With no traces, they simply couldn’t determine the direction they came from.
Manbao then said, "Since we can’t determine the direction, we’ll search one direction at a time."
She picked up a tree branch and said, "Come, let’s choose a direction."
She tossed the twig into the air, and one end pointed in a direction. Manbao pointed and said, "Let’s go, we’ll start searching this way."
The crowd: ...Is this too hasty?
Bai Erlang, who had been cheerfully rummaging, looked up in disbelief, "We’re changing locations again? Didn’t you say this land is shaded? Aren’t we going to search thoroughly?"
"No need, the Ganoderma definitely isn’t here," Manbao said with certainty.
Bai Erlang: "How do you know?"
Manbao looked at him and said, "Because I’m a doctor. I’m more familiar with medicinal herbs than you are. If I say it’s not here, then it’s not here."
Then she led everyone toward the direction she had just chosen, and Bai Shan quickly followed. As soon as the two of them walked off, the others naturally flocked after them.
Not only Bai Erlang, but even Zhou Hu started to realize.
They seemed less like they were here to remember Zhou Yin and more like they were searching for something.
He pondered for a moment, asked nothing, and silently followed. Along the way, he thought carefully and then said, "If we go further, it gets even deeper. We occasionally go in there to hunt."
Manbao asked, "What places has he been to, deeper inside?"
Zhou Hu responded, "I’ll take you there."
Bai Erlang was getting a little angry. He snorted and walked to one side, trudging forward sullenly.
He had also figured it out; they weren’t here to look for Ganoderma.
The group continued further in. The paths inside occasionally became difficult to navigate, sometimes requiring them to cut through with sickles. Manbao would occasionally squat down to dig up plants, and then Liu Gui and the others would take the opportunity to search around.
Often, by the time Manbao finished digging up something, they still hadn’t found anything. Manbao would walk around the area and then continue forward.
Liu Gui felt that searching this way was nonsensical, but since Bai Shan and Daji didn’t object, and the Zhou family maintained a strange attitude...
They seemed both hopeful that something would be found and yet didn’t want Manbao to get too deeply involved. So, in their hesitance, they took a laissez-faire approach.
As soon as they stopped, they would search eagerly, hoping to find the thing; but as soon as Manbao moved on, they would immediately follow, never lingering a moment longer.
Zhou Hu naturally sided with the Zhou Erlang brothers.
Liu Gui led his three subordinates at the rear, eventually becoming as morose as Bai Erlang.
They had their midday meal in the woods, rested briefly, and continued until the sun was about to set. Apart from Manbao’s abundant harvest, nobody found anything.
Bai Erlang watched them coldly.
Zhou Hu said, "We must get out now; otherwise, it’ll be dangerous if the darkness falls and we can’t make it out. There are wolves in these mountains."
Zhou Erlang made the decision and nodded, "Let’s go, we’ll head out."
Manbao and Bai Shan were somewhat reluctant, but they had to follow and leave as well.
Bai Erlang walked ahead, sullen. Seeing that they didn’t come to coax him, he deliberately stopped and huffed as they caught up beside him.
Bai Shan said, "Stop huffing. We didn’t tell you for your own good. If you don’t believe me, go and ask your uncle when you get back. See if he doesn’t give you a beating."
Bai Erlang glared, "My dad knows too?"
Bai Shan huffed, "He knew before me, more early and in detail. The adults kept it from us before."
"And now you’re keeping it from me?" Bai Erlang pointed at them, "I can’t believe you all read the sages’ texts. Don’t you know not to impose on others what you would not desire for yourself?"
Manbao said, "This matter doesn’t concern you, so naturally, we couldn’t tell you. What if you were informed and you ended up in danger?"
"I don’t care, I want to know."
Bai Shan and Manbao felt that they still had a strong sibling love as seniors and juniors, so they decided not to tell him.
But Bai Erlang’s curiosity was piqued, and he begged them by spinning around them, "How about this? I’ll tell you a secret, and you can tell me this secret."
Manbao asked with curiosity, "What kind of secret could you possibly have?"
Bai Erlang: "You have to promise me first."
Bai Shan said, "We know everything about you; you don’t have any secrets. Stop trying to trick us."
"Who says I don’t? I just found out about this yesterday," Bai Erlang said, "We even went to the Daoist temple yesterday. Guess what happened?"
Manbao and Bai Shan looked puzzled and asked, "What happened?"
"County Magistrate Tang wasn’t in the temple. Instead, the one in the temple was his attendant, that Mingli," Bai Erlang said, "Some local gentry from the neighboring county came to offer incense and wanted to meet County Magistrate Tang. But County Magistrate Tang said he was too tired to meet guests. I thought it was strange. Would County Magistrate Tang ever get tired?"
Bai Shan felt a bad premonition and asked with a tingling scalp, "And then?"
"Then I took people to pry open County Magistrate Tang’s window, and what we found inside was Mingli. He was wearing County Magistrate Tang’s home clothes, sitting on the wooden couch that only County Magistrate Tang could sit on, drinking his tea, and pretending to be him," Bai Erlang said, "Why do you think I came back so late last night? I was squatting there watching to see when County Magistrate Tang would return, but he never did. Daoxu kicked me out of the temple."
Manbao and Bai Shan: ...