This Is It

However, they were not peeping. They were just being concerned.

Who knew why Jiang Danhe suddenly closed the door? Moreover, the loud bang just now was too strange. The three of them had to analyze the situation.

So again, this was not peeping!

—-

After Xiaoguo came out, she looked around but was unable to find Zhao Yuyan. She even looked for them in their quarters but they were not there. Just as she was feeling puzzled, she happened to bump into Yu Ling.

“Yu Ling.”

“Aye, Madam? How do you know my name?”

When Yu Ling heard someone calling her, she turned around and saw that it was Xiaoguo. She walked over, feeling excited and confused. She felt excited because she had bumped into Xiaoguo, and confused because she had never told her her name.

“Oh…” Looking at Yu Ling’s innocent expression, Xiaoguo didn’t feel like telling her the truth. “I heard it by chance when your mother called you.”

Yu Ling did not suspect anything when she heard this. Instead, she nodded in realization. “I see. Hehe.”

“By the way, Yu Ling, do you know where your mother is?”

Xiaoguo gently tidied the stray hair strands on Yu Ling’s forehead that were ruffled by the wind.

A trace of shyness flashed across Yu Ling’s face. Then, she quickly lowered her head. “Maybe she’s at the back of the mountain. I’m not sure about her exact location.”

“The back of the mountains?”

“Yes, yes.” Yu Ling blushed and refused to look up, afraid that Xiaoguo would laugh at her. “My mother always goes to the back of the mountains, but she doesn’t let me follow her. She has stopped going there recently, but she just went again today.”

At this point, a trace of sadness flashed across Yu Ling’s eyes. Being the obedient daughter that she was, although she did think of following her mother secretly, she was unable to do it. When she thought of her mother’s stern expression, her body would tremble involuntarily. Just standing on the spot was a problem, let alone following her.

Xiaoguo looked in the direction she was pointing at and hesitated. She had never really gone on that road before. Moreover, she had heard from Jiang Danhe that there was a graveyard at the back of the mountains…

At the thought of this, Xiaoguo couldn’t help but swallow her saliva. She was having a hard time deciding whether to go or not. In the end, her rationality prevailed and she decided against it. It was quite a scary place after all.

“Then I’ll wait for her here.”

As Xiaoguo spoke, she was about to sit down in the shade when Yu Ling’s next words made her stop.

“Why don’t you go back first? My mother will probably be back in the evening. When she comes back, I’ll get her to look for you.”

“In the evening…”

Xiaoguo hesitated and turned to look at her, then at the path.

In the end, she decided to go there to check things out. Apart from being eager to tell Zhao Yuyan the news, curiosity was also part of the reason.

According to Yu Ling, Zhao Yuyan would always bring a shovel to the back of the mountain. She would stay there for half a day each time and would not return until the skies turned dark. What was she doing there?

Although curiosity kills the cat, there is no lack of curiosity among humans.

Xiaoguo stepped onto the small path that led to the back of the mountains. For some reason, the more she walked, the more she felt that something was wrong. It was daytime, but she could feel fog surrounding her.

Unable to take it anymore, Xiaoguo stopped and took a deep breath. After a while, she walked in with a calm expression.

Putting aside her psychological fears, the surrounding environment was actually pretty nice.

Xiaoguo let go of the burden in her heart and walked much more briskly. However, she wasn’t prepared to keep walking. If she still couldn’t find Zhao Yuyan after a while, she would make her way back.

Eventually, her hard work paid off. Xiaoguo walked and took breaks along the way. Not long after, she heard muffled sounds coming from a short distance ahead.

Xiaoguo stopped in her tracks and carefully identified the source of the sound. Then, she locked onto a spot. There was a small path that had been etched into the dense grassland. The flowers and grass around it were dense and lush. Only the small path that had been trampled out looked out of place.

Xiaoguo walked along the path for a few meters before stopping. There was a slope by her feet, and below it was an empty plot of land. Looking further, she could see bulging mounds of soil. It was pretty obvious what they were.

Zhao Yuyan, whom she was looking for, was looking weak while standing on the empty ground. Surrounded by dried flowers, grass, and branches, she was digging with a shovel. Beside her feet was a pit measuring about two-meter-long and one-meter-wide.

“What are you doing?”

An idea came to Xiaoguo’s mind and she felt a lump in her throat.

Zhao Yuyan’s hand paused, and the shovel stopped in the soil. She was about to look up at the person who had spoken, but at that moment, she felt a cough rising from her throat. Ignoring everything else, she covered her mouth and started coughing dryly. Her face immediately turned pale by several shades.

Xiaoguo had good eyesight. She saw the blood at the corner of the woman’s mouth at a glance. Without thinking, she wanted to walk down the slope. However, when the other party saw her movements, she immediately waved her hand vigorously, signaling her not to come down. In her anxiety, she started coughing again.

Seeing this, Xiaoguo quickly stood still and waited for her to walk up.

Zhao Yuyan held the shovel and struggled to climb the slope. Along the way, she saw Xiaoguo’s outstretched hand and avoided it without thinking. Not that she disliked Xiaoguo, but… she was simply too dirty at the moment.

Xiaoguo didn’t care what she thought. Seeing that she was dodging, she just grabbed her without thinking. She held onto her arm and pulled her up.

Zhao Yuyan retracted her gaze in surprise and explained dryly, “I’m covered in dirt.”

“It’s fine.”

Xiaoguo didn’t care about the soil and weeds on her body. She had done similar work before. When she was working in the fields at home, she was much dirtier than Yu Ling was in her current state.

Hearing her words, Xiaoguo suddenly felt a strong sense of sadness. She could empathize with her. The woman in front of her had led a sheltered life since she was born. After she got married, she became a noble lady. She had not done any chores for decades, but now…

Hearing her words, Zhao Yuyan lowered her head again and muttered to herself, “Am I not dirty…?”

“You’re here…”

Halfway through her question, Xiaoguo suddenly stopped.

“This is a nice place. There are flowers, greenery, and it also offers a good view of the sea and sky. I don’t like crowds.” Zhao Yuyan’s eyes were calm, but she forced a smile. “This is the place.”

Xiaoguo opened her mouth, but she didn’t know what to say.

Facing a woman who was about the same age as her mother and who was also a mother like her, Xiaoguo felt powerlessness and injustice for the first time in her life.

“I…” Her throat had gone dry. Xiaoguo cleared her throat and continued,” I can bring your daughter out of this place.”

The woman’s eyes lit up when she heard this. Her voice trembled as she said, “Thank you!”

Xiaoguo wanted to smile to show that there was no need to thank her, but the corners of her mouth were frozen…

“There’s no need to thank me.”

After an unknown period of time, Xiaoguo heard her own dry voice. The woman opposite her seemed completely relieved. There was a hint of strength in her voice. It sounded like…

“This is not a good place. You’d better leave quickly.”

After saying that, Zhao Yuyan continued digging.

Xiaoguo panicked and subconsciously took her hand. “Go back and talk to Yu Ling. She will definitely miss you if she has to leave you.”

There was an imperceptible shakiness in her voice.

“… Okay.”

Zhao Yuyan nodded in a daze. It was time to talk things out with her daughter. Then, she picked up the shovel and started walking back.

Xiaoguo followed closely behind her, trying her best to focus on the figure in front of her. She did not dare to be distracted or turn back to look.

It looked like she was keen to get out of that place as soon as possible. The pit where fresh soil was scattered over the old soil, and the countless overlapping graves without tombstones…

Just now, she suddenly had a premonition that if she left this place by herself, Zhao Yuyan would never make it out of this place anymore.

Everyone needs a glimmer of hope to live on, even if the deadline was a day, a quarter of an hour, or even a second…