Chapter 188 - Madness

"The butcher from Sanli Village?"

"Yes, three days ago we encountered them while hunting. They were being attacked by a pack of wolves, so we helped. But Butcher Zheng lost an arm. His daughter... seems to have gone mad."

It was only now that Sangluo learned the butcher's surname was Zheng, but it no longer mattered. What mattered was that Zheng's daughter had gone mad?

Sangluo stood frozen.

There was only one Butcher Zheng's daughter she knew. It was the plump, fair woman who had rushed over to buy Fairy tofu the first time Sangluo sold it. The next time they met, the woman introduced herself as Tofu Lady. She wanted to buy some meat and led Sangluo to her family's stall, introducing her to her father, a kindhearted lady. A lover of food and laughter, with dimples on her cheeks when she smiled. Her name was Dahu, a rather common name, but she was dearly loved by her family. Even when buying tofu, the butcher couple would not forget their married daughter.

She murmured to Shen Lie, "How could this happen?"

By the entrance, a bonfire illuminated Shen Lie's expression, allowing him to see Sangluo's reaction clearly.

"You know Butcher Zheng's daughter?"

San Luo nodded. "We've met a few times. He's quite a warm-hearted person."

Hearing that she knew him, Shen Lie hesitated to continue, but seeing San Luo looking at him, he finally said, "Zheng's daughter is already married, and her life with her in-laws in the village was tolerable. She didn't want to leave her crops and property behind, so they didn't escape initially. Later, the whole family moved to the county town. We're not entirely sure what happened, but we heard that they lost a two-year-old child."

The mention of a lost child triggered endless imaginings, leaving both San Luo and Zhou Cunzheng speechless for a moment.

Shen Lie couldn't bear to elaborate and changed the subject. "The Butcher Zheng's family was quicker to react. When a large number of troops arrived, they packed their belongings and hid in the nearby mountains. However, when they rushed to persuade his daughter and her in-laws to leave, it was too late. They could only watch as their daughter was taken into the city by the soldiers."

Zhou Cunzheng couldn't resist asking, "What happened next? How did Butcher Zheng's daughter get out?"

Shen Lie replied, "Butcher Zheng's family kept thinking about his daughter and didn't venture far, hiding in the mountains nearby. When they sensed something was amiss in the city and realized the people inside wouldn't be able to come out, Butcher Zheng made the ruthless decision to disguise himself as a refugee and join the bandits."

"He managed to save his daughter, but at the cost of one of his arms."

Zhou Cunzheng lowered his head.

Compared to other families in the neighboring villages, theirs had a better financial situation, so they bought more meat and were thus quite familiar with Butcher Zheng. His eldest daughter could even be considered to have grown up under his watchful eye.

Now, one was an amputee, and the other was mad. Both fell into a heavy silence, unable to find words.

Shen Lie gazed at Sang Luo and said, "Ah Luo, that girl from the Zheng family shielded her little nephew from the wolves, losing two chunks of flesh from her arm in the process. Initially, she seemed to be doing alright, but we've heard that she's developed a high fever today. We have quite a supply of fever-reducing medicine back then. Can you bring some over for them?"

As he spoke, Shen Lie was somewhat hesitant. He didn't know how long they would have to remain hidden in the mountains. Medicine was a precious commodity, essential for saving lives in crucial moments. But at the time, due to concerns about the other families in the village not having enough medicine, and with the recent sale of ginseng and furs providing them with ample funds, they had stockpiled extra, especially more fever-reducing medicine.

The children in the village were resilient, and everyone took extra precautions. Apart from An Ning, who once needed a medicinal decoction for a severe internal heat condition, and Shen Lie, who used some wound ointment, the rest of the medicine had remained untouched. He wasn't particularly acquainted with Butcher Zheng, let alone his daughter, but ultimately, it was a matter of human life.

Without hesitation, Sang Luo nodded. "Alright, let me down. I'll fetch the medicine."

She promptly resecured the rope around her body.

Zhou Cunzheng, overhearing Shen Lie and Sang Luo's conversation about giving two doses of medicine, considered for a moment before saying, "I'll contribute one dose as well. I've watched that child grow up. I won't go down myself; it'll be a trouble for you, Ah Luo, to retrieve it from your aunt."

Sang Luo acknowledged his request, secured the rope properly, and allowed Shen Lie to steady her as she cautiously descended.

After collecting the medicine from her own home, she went to the Zhou family. Upon hearing about Butcher Zheng's misfortune, Zhou Cunzheng's wife's lips trembled, and she was momentarily stunned before nodding repeatedly. She carried an oil lamp into the inner room to search for the herbs but soon realized she couldn't read and hurriedly called for Sang Luo's help to identify the fever-reducing remedies.

Once Sang Luo left, the Zhou family's two daughters-in-law inquired, and the elder one muttered to herself, "How could she have gone mad?"

Upon learning that a two-year-old child had been lost, the elder daughter-in-law, struck with fear, covered her heart.

She was also a mother, with a child barely two years old. She dared not imagine what could have happened to that child to drive its mother mad. Clutching her clothing tightly, she momentarily felt unable to breathe.

Zhou's second daughter-in-law's lips trembled, leaving her speechless.

...

Sang Luo couldn't fall asleep that night. Her eyes were closed, but her mind was wandering.

Silent for so long, Shen Lie thought she had already drifted off and extinguished the oil lamp in the cave wall with great care.

Hearing Shen Lie settle down on the small cot beside her, Sang Luo wanted to ask when the Great Khan dynasty would fall and when the new dynasty would rise. But realizing that these matters were beyond their control, she lost interest and let the question go.

The next time she saw Zheng Da'nuo was the following day when she delivered medicine to the Zheng family.

For the sake of their family's safety and the ability to protect themselves, after being rescued by Shen Lie and his group, they had, at Shen Lie's suggestion, become neighbors with the Zhou family plagued by leprosy.

They didn't choose a cave in the nearby mountains but instead cleared a plot of land right opposite the Zhou family's hill, where they built two simple sheds. The entire family was busy constructing a makeshift wooden house.

As for water supply, there was a small mountain spring behind their home. The Zheng family's men used hollowed-out bamboo tubes to channel water from the mountain to their property. When not in use, they plugged the tubes; when needed, they opened them, and so they began living next to the Zhou family in this manner.

When Sang Luo and Shen Lie arrived, Butcher Zheng and his wife still recognized her, addressing her as Lady Tofu. Zheng Da Nu, lying in the shed, was already delirious from the fever. In fact, if not for recognizing Butcher Zheng and his wife, Sang Luo might not have recognized Zheng Da Nu even if they had met under different circumstances due to her significant weight loss and facial changes.

They weren't particularly close, so she didn't say much. Instead, she handed three packets of medicine to Butcher Zheng's wife and said, "These are fever-reducing remedies from our family and Village Chief Zhou. We don't have much on hand, but we managed to gather these three doses. Please give them to Sister Da Nu first."

Upon hearing that it was medicine to lower fever, Butcher Zheng's wife's tears fell, and she kneeled on the ground, overwhelming Sang Luo who quickly pulled her up. "Auntie, please don't do this. I'm too young to receive such respect."

"But this is a life-saving favor," she insisted, attempting to kneel again. Sang Luo hurriedly stepped aside and held her up.

Seeing Sang Luo's awkwardness, Zheng's daughter-in-law came to assist her mother-in-law, thanking Sang Luo with tearful eyes.

Sang Luo had saved her son, even if he was unconscious and mistook her for his mother. She had, without a doubt, shielded him from the wolf with her own body.

After delivering the medicine, Sang Luo didn't linger. She bade farewell to the Zheng family and followed Shen Lie back to the Zhou residence, accompanied by Xu Wenqing, Zhou Er Lang, Lu San Lang, and Zhou Laizi's eldest son who had been waiting.

Currently, only the eldest son of the Zhou family was out. Zhou Laizi and the second son remained behind to help the Zhengs build their house and stone wall, while also protecting their own families.

Passing by the Zheng household, Butcher Zheng rushed out and requested of Shen Lie that once the wooden house was completed, could he also assist his family?

By bringing them here, it was already akin to forming a half-ally relationship. Besides, it would strengthen their own group, so Shen Lie naturally wouldn't refuse. After agreeing, he promised to bring the Zhou family along with his own when he came to fetch them.

...

In just seven or eight days, Sang Luo noticed a significant increase in people within the inner circle. It wasn't that they had seen more people face-to-face, but there were far fewer wild fruits available in the mountains. Many of the fruit trees they had previously discovered had been picked clean, leaving only the unripe ones still hanging on the branches. Now, when they revisited those spots, all that remained were bare trees.

It was clear that others had passed through.

But there was nothing they could do about it. Sang Luo wasn't worried. Though the fruit was gone from the branches, there were still plenty of hidden edibles in the vast mountain range. For example, the yam that would be ready to dig up in about twenty days, the wild ginger they had recently unearthed in a bamboo grove, and the stone ears currently growing in the crevices of the rock walls before them.

Xu Wenqing's group truly believed that Sang Luo could find something edible even in places where they couldn't. They didn't recognize the wild ginger, but at least they knew ginger existed. As for the blackened substance on the rock walls—how could that possibly be edible?

However, since Sang Luo claimed it was safe to eat, no one doubted her. They all followed her lead and started harvesting.

With Sang Luo's skills and the presence of Shen Lie, the group had developed some abilities over the past year under Shen Lie and Chen Dashan's guidance. In areas that newcomers to the inner circle dared not venture, as long as Shen Lie took care to avoid any challenging creatures, they were also capable of exploring. Thus, their initial unease quickly dissipated.

...

Beyond the mountains, another group was not as fortunate.

Near the cave where Shopkeeper Xu's family had once hidden their food, two men with peculiar appearances were sneaking back from the outside. They pushed aside a bush and slipped into the cave.

Had one been close enough, they would have realized that the men's odd appearance was due to half of their hair being singed. This was not unique to them; an old man and a woman inside the cave were in a similar state, while a young girl even had her head wrapped in cloth. The entire family looked extremely disheveled.

As the brothers entered the cave, the woman anxiously asked, "Well, did you find anything to eat?"

The older brother released his grip, revealing only a small bundle of ferns and wild onions. "Father, this area has probably been searched by many. We couldn't find anything edible. This is all we recognized."

The younger teenage brother suggested, "Let's move deeper into the mountains. With no more food left, if we continue hiding in this cave, we might end up eating tree leaves even if we avoid the bandits."

If Xu Shopkeeper, Shen Lie, or Sang Luo were present, they would undoubtedly recognize these talking brothers as none other than the Dongfu Lou waiter brothers, Dong Ge and his sibling.

Not only had their hair been burned, but their clothes also seemed ill-fitting, as if scavenged from somewhere.

The old man hesitated, "Heading deeper into the mountains, how will we deal with wild beasts?"

Dong Ge replied, "We can't just wait here indefinitely. How would we know unless we try? We'll go as far as we can. Eventually, we need to reach a place with food."

His eldest brother pursed his lips and said, "Father, let's move inward. This place is too close to the outside world. Not only do we have to guard against bandits, but we also have to worry about that general conscripting men in the future. Along the way, we should keep an eye out for families in similar situations as ours, not those violent sorts. Perhaps we can join forces and head deeper together."

In the past three months, their family had truly hidden enough and seen enough horror.

Whether it was officials or bandits, no one truly regarded their lives as valuable.

Looking at his wife's handful of ferns and wild onions, the old man finally steeled himself. "Alright, let's gather some food to regain our strength. We'll set off right away."