The gorge was a narrow slit, with verdant green stretching endlessly. Walking in such deep, ancient forests meant that a single misstep could lead to eternal doom.
Along the way, we talked more about what happened in the Miao village. Wen Lingyu’s face grew even paler with fright, and Qiu Lu and Xu Zirong tightly held hands.
“If we get out, should we tell the outside world about the Unassimilated Miao?” Wen Lingyu asked softly.
Xu Zirong replied without hesitation, “Of course! We found the Unassimilated Miao, that’s a huge deal! And it’s also contributing to our country’s census!”
Qiu Lu jumped up and slapped Xu Zirong on the forehead. “No wonder they want to get rid of us! Isn’t this disturbing their peaceful lives?”
“Ow!” Xu Zirong rubbed his head, not annoyed by the slap. “Ah Ze, then you choose. Do we tell or not?”
“Me?” They suddenly pulled me into it. I had never considered this question. “I don’t know.”
Qiu Lu then asked Wen Lingyu, “Will you tell?”
Wen Lingyu was silent for a long time, then shook her head. “I won’t tell.”
“See!” Qiu Lu said triumphantly, putting her hands on her hips.
Xu Zirong asked, unwilling to give up, “Why?”
Wen Lingyu kept shaking her head but offered no further explanation. Seeing her preoccupied look, I felt puzzled. Had something happened to her that we didn’t know about?
We walked for most of the day and finally saw the sun break through the gorge’s slit, hanging in that narrow line of sky. It was already noon.
Our stomachs ached with hunger. When we left, we had taken some dry biscuits from Shen Jianqing’s kitchen, which could be eaten directly after being roasted over a fire.
Afterward, we continued our journey, desperately following the riverbed forward. Thinking of the black insects that might be tracking us, I dared not linger, constantly urging the other three to press on.
Yet, we didn’t manage to get out of the deep forest until evening.
The only stroke of luck was finding a small, naturally formed cave, which was enough to spare us from sleeping exposed in the woods for the night.
At this point, even such a small piece of luck was enough to make us happy.
“This cave looks very deep,” Wen Lingyu said, worried. “Will there be snakes or bats or anything like that?”
I pushed aside the weeds at the cave entrance and said, “There are snakes in the forest too; don’t worry so much.”
Wen Lingyu nodded. We entered the cave and very skillfully started a fire. The warm, yellow flames illuminated a corner of the cave, and we sat around the fire. It was very dirty inside, with wild grass and moss everywhere, and the cave ceiling was covered with cobwebs. There were also some crawling insects that thrived without light; as soon as we entered, they scattered as if fleeing for their lives.
This cave was indeed very deep, and from within, there was a faint, intermittent sound of dripping water. The stone passage extended for an unknown distance, and who knew where it led?
The sky completely darkened, and the temperature dropped little by little with the fading light. I pulled my windbreaker tighter, moved closer to the fire, and maintained my warmth.
None of us dared to go deeper into the cave, nor were we interested in exploring it. We simply rested at the entrance, guarding the fire, and no one spoke.
Once people stop moving, they tend to overthink. Qiu Lu leaned against Xu Zirong’s shoulder, her eyes fixed on the flames, and suddenly said softly, “Xu Zirong, I’ve actually already prepared myself mentally.”
“Prepared for what?”
“For us to die here,” Qiu Lu said as a matter of fact, yet with a smile on her face, as if she didn’t care at all and wasn’t discussing a serious topic. “If I could die with you, I wouldn’t be very scared.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Zirong’s throat tightened. He tightly embraced Qiu Lu. “Lulu, don’t be afraid.”
“En!” Qiu Lu buried her head in Xu Zirong’s shoulder and burrowed in forcefully.
This was a topic we had constantly tried to ignore, yet it clung to us like a shadow.
Wen Lingyu and I exchanged glances. I felt like I saw our own superfluousness reflected in her eyes, and I’m sure she saw the same in mine.
Just as I was wondering whether to step away and let the young couple express their feelings, Qiu Lu sat upright and said with a smile, “Let’s rest. If we keep this up, they’ll isolate us!”
The night watch arrangement was the same as before; I would take the first shift.
The three of them lay down to sleep, and I, bored, stared blankly at the flames.
With nothing else to do, I suddenly looked down and noticed a bulge in the chest pocket of my shirt beneath my windbreaker. I reached in and pulled out what turned out to be the mosquito repellent sachet Shen Jianqing had given me earlier.
The sachet was plain white, and its scent wasn’t as strong as when he gave it to me; only by bringing it to my nose could I detect a faint herbal aroma.
Since we had left, what was the point of keeping his things?
I raised my hand, ready to toss the sachet into the fire, but as my hand extended, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I gazed at the sachet, and Shen Jianqing’s face involuntarily appeared in my mind: the stubborn expression on his face when he gave me the sachet, his deep eyes, and the profound affection hidden within them.
And his straight back and lean waist as he left.
All those details I had previously ignored, hadn’t noticed, or hadn’t taken to heart now flooded my mind.
What kind of person was he? Should I believe what he showed, or should I believe my own deductions?
I was afraid of getting myself into unnecessary trouble, so I had never mentioned anything about Shen Jianqing and me to the other three. But now, my dilemma and doubts had no one to share them with.
Forget it, I won’t think about it anymore. Anyway, barring any accidents, we wouldn’t meet again in this lifetime.
With that thought, I slowly retracted my hand.
I’ll keep it, just as a memento.
Feeling at ease, I tucked the sachet back into my pocket, placing it carefully.
“Ugh—cough, cough!”
I noticed Xu Zirong, who was sleeping to my right, let out a muffled, indistinct groan. I dismissed it as sleep-talking, but when I casually turned my head, I saw his cheeks were abnormally flushed!
On the other side, Qiu Lu was in the exact same condition!
My eyes widened in alarm. I reached out and touched Xu Zirong’s forehead—
It was burning hot!
Even without touching her, I knew Qiu Lu was absolutely in the same state.
They both had high fevers again.
“Xu Zirong, Xu Zirong!” I shook Xu Zirong, but he seemed trapped in some distant illusion. Aside from a few moans, he remained unconscious.
“Qiu Lu, wake up!”
I stubbornly patted Qiu Lu, but she was the same.
Both were delirious with fever.
Strange, they had clearly recovered during the day, so how could they both have fevers again at the same time?
My movements woke the lightly sleeping Wen Lingyu. She opened her blurry eyes and asked, “What’s wrong? Is it time to switch shifts?”
“They have fevers again!”
Wen Lingyu gasped, “Fevers again?!”
This was definitely not normal. Wen Lingyu and I exchanged glances, but neither of us knew the reason.
“It’s been like this since last night; they both got fevers simultaneously, and then they both recovered at dawn. This doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”
Wen Lingyu’s words reminded me. Last night, what happened last night?
The Huoxing ceremony… the Huoxing ceremony!
Two strange figures suddenly appeared in my mind—
Those two Miao villagers and their wine!
This was the only anomaly I could think of. I hadn’t been mistaken at the time, nor had I overthought it; they had indeed been furtively putting something into the wine in the bamboo grove.
But Wen Lingyu and I also drank the wine.
No! Wen Lingyu didn’t drink. Her wine was spilled, it didn’t enter her mouth. And me… if it really was because of the wine, then why am I fine?
Now was not the time to ponder these things. I told Wen Lingyu, “Right now, we need to find a way to bring their temperatures down.”
Wen Lingyu’s face fell. “It’s so dark outside; where are we going to find water?” Not to mention the difficulty of moving in the dark, this was a deep, old forest, and we hadn’t encountered a single stream along the way. The river in the middle of the gorge was far from the banks, and its walls were steep and treacherous, making it impossible to collect water.
I paused, then suddenly thought of something. “There’s the sound of water inside the cave.”
The faint, intermittent dripping sound. Perhaps we had been there for too long, grown accustomed to its presence, and initially overlooked it.
Wen Lingyu raised her eyebrows. “I almost forgot!”
“I’ll go in and see if I can get some water. You wait outside for me.” I said.
Wen Lingyu looked worried. “Could there be danger inside? Such a cold, damp place…”
“Precisely because we don’t know if there’s danger, I can’t let a girl like you go in.” I replied. I pulled my windbreaker tighter, then picked up a long, burning tree branch from the fire to use as a light source, not seeing the two red patches that bloomed on Wen Lingyu’s cheeks.
Putting the water bottle into the large pocket of my windbreaker, I cautiously walked into the cave.
I hadn’t realized from the outside, but this cave was even deeper than I imagined. The further in I went, the lower the temperature, and my body broke out in dense goosebumps due to its self-protective mechanism.
“Hiss—”
“Squeak—squeak—”
My uninvited presence startled countless cave dwellers, but I was fortunate; none attacked me. They scurried away and scattered before I even reached them.
The tree branch illuminated only a limited area, and the path ahead remained pitch black. The source of the water sound also remained elusive. I walked slowly for over a minute, growing more alarmed with each step. The unknown path ahead always easily ignited one’s fear. For a second, I even wanted to disregard everything and run back.
“Drip, drip—”
Before I was completely overcome by fear, the sound of water finally grew very close. I stretched out my hand and saw, not far ahead, a smooth, mirror-like protruding section on the cave wall. Water continuously seeped from the cave ceiling, hitting this protrusion, and then the droplets fell to the ground, forming a small pool and creating a crisp sound.
Great, I finally found it!
My heart filled with joy. I pulled the water bottle from my pocket and lifted my foot to step towards it, but then, unexpectedly, my foot slipped!
A sense of weightlessness was unsettling. There was a natural pit right by my foot!
