Chapter 52

Chapter 52

As Shen Er Lang thought about this, his heart became unsettled, and he turned to find his father and elder brother.

"Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"

"They really entered the Great Yu Forest?"

Shen Laoye and Shen Dalang found it hard to believe.

Head Wu had repeatedly emphasized the danger of the miasma-filled forest, and it didn't seem like he was deceiving them. However, if Head Wu and Gu Erniang strictly warned against casually entering the Great Yu Forest, but now Gu Erniang was sneaking into the forest, the contradiction made it hard not to be suspicious.

"Father, I didn't see wrong. When we visited that house, I remembered Gu Erniang's appearance. It was definitely her," Shen Er Lang assured them, "The other two hunters, I reckon, are also from this village. We just haven't gotten to know everyone yet, so we don't know which household they belong to. However, this matter is simple; we can ask the villagers about it later."

"But the Great Yu Forest is a miasma-filled forest. The nearby villagers all say so. Head Wu has no reason to deceive us, does he?" Shen Laoye hesitated.

"Father, we can see for ourselves whether Head Wu is deceiving us," Shen Er Lang seized the opportunity, "Father, let me go into the forest and take a look?"

"No, it's too dangerous," Shen Laoye shook his head immediately.

What if the miasma is actually real? What would they do then?

"Father, don't worry, I'll be careful," Shen Er Lang said, "Since they have just entered the forest and haven't gone far, I can still follow them and see what secret is in the forest that our Shen family isn't supposed to know."

Shen Laoye was still hesitating.

"Father, I won't go alone. I'll bring two guards, alright?" Shen Er Lang said, "Also, if I see anything wrong, we'll immediately withdraw from the forest."

As Shen Er Lang spoke, he added, "Father, elder brother, we are newcomers to this village. We shouldn't let our newcomer status lead to us being deceived. Otherwise, how will our Shen family establish itself here in the future?"

What Shen Er Lang said seemed to make sense, and Shen Laoye and Shen Dalang quickly discussed it and nodded in agreement.

Shen Er Lang immediately ran into the mountains with two guards.

Meanwhile, Gu Ran, completely unaware of the two groups trailing her, had already gone up along Xia Creek and, as usual, checked the three traps she had set to see if there was any catch.

After setting these three traps, Gu Ran usually entered the forest every two or three days, returning early from selling burnt jellygrass in the county town to check them.

The prey caught in the traps, apart from the skins and the mountain goods Master Zheng had pre-ordered, were all stored in the eighth storage space as reserve food.

This trip was fruitful, with three wild rabbits and a pheasant.

While Gu Ran was joyfully collecting the prey in front, the two from He Feng Fur Shop, who were following her from afar, also noticed her actions and watched as she took the prey out of each trap, feeling envious.

They said this was the miasma-filled forest, but clearly, nothing was wrong?

No wonder Gu Erniang had sold so many furs at He Feng recently. Others were afraid to enter because of the miasma, but she went in and out freely. Weren't the mountain treasures here practically hers alone?

No.

Such a great opportunity couldn't be left for Gu Erniang to monopolize.

After figuring out the terrain inside the miasma forest and identifying where Gu Erniang picked the red mushrooms, they would begin hunting here in the future.

Unaware that her every move was being observed, Gu Ran proceeded straight into the depths of the forest, following the same route she took the first time she entered the miasma forest.

Along the way, when she encountered newly sprouted wild vegetables and fruits, she picked them as well.

Much of the produce stored in the eighth storage space was collected by Gu Ran when she entered the mountains.

The wild vegetables are quite common, such as dandelions, purslane, and grass tips, among others.

There are even more varieties of wild fruits, like raspberries, dewberries, and mountain olives, and so on. However, most of these are small fruits. Even the larger fruits found deep in the mountains, like wild pears, apricots, and loquats, which are not very tasty because they are wild, weren't worth much effort. So, apart from picking some to make sour sauce, she left the rest alone.

If you want to eat good apricots or plums, you still need to go to the big market or the county town to buy them.

It’s currently the season for lychees, which are fresh and delicious. Gu Ran had previously bought some in the county town. She planned to sell the red mushrooms to Master Zheng and use the money to buy more lychees, storing them in her spatial compartment for later.

Lost in thought, Gu Ran noticed a short plant among the wild grass, bearing dark purple fruits—the familiar mountain olives. She walked over and started picking them one by one.

She still remembered the first time she ate the mountain olive, not knowing it had another elegant name, myrtle. When she saw the beautiful flowers of the myrtle, she thought they looked exotic and assumed it was an imported species. Later, she learned that the myrtle was actually native, and that its fruit was the mountain olive she had been eating.

These small fruits tasted sweet and sour, similar to other wild fruits, but they weren’t suitable for eating in large amounts. Gu Ran stored them to eat slowly over time, and she also brought some back for Xiao Lan, Head Wu’s daughter, as snacks.

After finishing picking the ripe mountain olives, Gu Ran passed through the Mao bamboo grove and entered the deeper forest area.

The Heifeng shop assistants trailing far behind also noticed the green, unripe fruits on the myrtle plant. They hesitated but continued to follow as they watched Gu Ran go deeper into the forest. They couldn’t help but feel uncertain.

These assistants often dealt with hunters from nearby villages and were familiar with the distinction between the outer and inner forests. As locals, they were aware of the miasma forest’s dangers.

No matter how much envy they felt earlier, they were still in the safer outer region of the miasma forest. The risk was low, and as long as they were bold, the rewards were within reach. But venturing into the deep forest?

Not to mention the miasma, the deeper you went, the higher the chance of encountering larger animals, making it even more dangerous. According to the hunters at the fur shop, no one had ever dared to venture deep into the Great Yu Forest.

"Is Gu Erniang really that bold? Is she risking her life by going into the old forest alone?"

"It’s for the red mushrooms," the other said. "The red mushrooms don’t grow in the shallow parts of the forest. You have to go deep into the old forest. Otherwise, why would they be so rare and expensive?"

"So, should we continue following?"

"Yes, follow. If a woman isn’t afraid, do you think we two men should be?" the other assistant said, his expression resolute.

After the two assistants moved on, Shen Erlang and his two guards also emerged from the bushes.

"What did they say just now?" Shen Erlang asked the guards.

"We were too far away to hear clearly."

"Young master, it seems they were hesitating about whether to continue following," one of the more experienced guards speculated. "The road ahead is likely the path into the deep old forest, more dangerous than the section we've just passed. Young master, should we continue following?"

"Yes, follow," Shen Erlang nodded, stroking his chin. "I've figured it out. These two behind us don't seem like hunters at all."

Firstly, they showed no intention of hunting or gathering since entering the forest. Secondly, they had been following Gu Erniang closely from a distance, clearly tailing her.

Who were they exactly?

They didn’t seem like enemies of Gu Erniang, as there was no malice. But if they were acquaintances, their suspicious behavior, constantly hiding and avoiding detection, didn’t make sense.

It was strange indeed.

Shen Erlang, now intrigued, certainly wasn’t going to turn back halfway. He and his two guards continued following into the jungle.

Gu Erniang stopped again, this time in a mixed bamboo grove.

The last time she had harvested a lot of bamboo fungus here, and since she had come all this way, she intended to gather some more.

As the Heifeng assistants watched Gu Ran busily picking bamboo fungus again, they couldn’t help but feel resentful once more.

"So the bamboo fungus she sold to Master Zheng was picked in this bamboo grove?"

"I'm afraid that bamboo rat... was it also caught in this bamboo grove?"

Bamboo rat pelts and meat are both goods that can fetch a high price.

With this thought, the two apprentices were too preoccupied to keep an eye on Gu Ran, instead sneakily searching the bamboo grove, hoping to find signs of bamboo rat activity.

Unfortunately, neither of them were hunters, and based only on fragmented information they had heard, they couldn't draw any conclusions.

"We can ask experienced hunters to search this area once we return."

"That's right, we can provide information about the nest and earn some reward, or even claim a bounty from Master Zheng."

They immediately marked the area, confirmed their position once inside the grove, and memorized the path. Seeing that Gu Ran had gathered enough bamboo fungus and was moving forward, they quickly followed.

As they were about to approach the water pond, Gu Ran recalled the previous encounter with a snake. Although she wanted to check on the situation of the Amorphophallus, calculating the time told her it was far from maturity. So she bypassed the pond, heading east to explore a new area, planning to pass through and camp at the small hill where she had stayed overnight before.

However, Gu Ran miscalculated the time it would take to pass through this completely unfamiliar jungle.

About two li away from the pond area, she entered a mixed woodland, where there were many trees she recognized, and many she did not.

Based on the leaf characteristics, the most common trees were likely from the cedar family, such as Japanese cedar, oil cedar, and iron cedar, among others.

Additionally, there were Selaginella, flat cypress, Engelhardtia, and Min nan trees, endemic to the Min region. Gu Ran even identified a patch of cinnamon trees and several liquidambar trees.

With so many trees, there were also numerous birds and beasts.

After entering this heavily wooded area, though Gu Ran had a workspace to conceal her tracks, she remained extra cautious.

Paying attention to animal tracks and bird calls, at the first sign of anything unusual, she either kept her distance or hid in her workspace to avoid confrontations with dangerous beasts.

Just as she was about to encounter a group of wild boars, the moment Gu Ran hid in her workspace, the two apprentices from the fur shop who had been tailing her noticed.

"What’s happening?"

"She... Gu Erniang, how did she vanish like that?"

The two apprentices thought they might have seen incorrectly and even forgot to hide themselves, peeking out for a moment. After confirming that Gu Ran had indeed vanished in the eerie forest, they looked at each other.

"Did I, just now, see wrong?"

"Did you see it too?"

The two apprentices nodded at each other, their faces showing both shock and confusion. "We didn't imagine it, right?"

Did she use some kind of trick after noticing we were following her?

Otherwise, how could Gu Erniang disappear right before our eyes?

"It's not that we saw wrong. Let's go forward and see what's really going on."

The situation was so unexpected, and they were too shocked, not being experienced at tailing people in the forest. At that moment, they completely ignored the unusual disturbances in the forest.

Still heading quickly toward the spot where Gu Ran had suddenly disappeared, they only realized what was happening when a group of wild boars charged toward them. Shocked, they turned and fled.

"It's wild boars!"

"Run!"

Amidst the chaos, the two of them split up, one heading east and the other west, while the squealing herd of wild boars also divided into two groups to chase after them.

The commotion in the forest alarmed Gu Ran inside the workshop, as well as Shen Er Lang and the other two behind them.

It sounded like someone was shouting. Could there be other hunters in this forest?

As Gu Ran peeked out from the workshop to observe, she only saw the retreating backs of the wild boars.

Assuming she had misheard, Gu Ran didn’t dwell on it and quickly left the workshop, taking the opportunity to leave the forest while the boars had run off.

Meanwhile, when Shen Er Lang heard the two men shouting, his guard immediately climbed a tree for a better view. His expression changed as he looked around: “Young Master, it’s the wild boars! They are being attacked by wild boars!”

“Quick, climb the tree!”

Shen Er Lang and the other guard quickly found a nearby tree to climb. They witnessed one of the men being chased by the boar pack, screaming as he ran past the tree where they were hiding.

But how could a two-legged human outrun a four-legged beast? Especially when facing a group of four or five such ferocious beasts.

Shen Er Lang watched as the man was quickly brought down by the boars. The forest echoed with cries of agony and the boars' aggressive squeals, causing Shen Er Lang to nervously swallow in fear.

Even without the poisonous miasma, the beasts in these mountains were dangerous enough.

“Should we… go save him?”

“Young Master, even a single wild boar would be hard for the two of us to subdue, let alone a group of five such ferocious beasts. If we rush to help, we might not save him and instead lose our own lives.”

“We don't know if the group that man encountered consists of only these five or if there are more… Our duty is to protect Young Master, so we cannot act rashly.”

Feeling dejected, Shen Er Lang could only cling to the tree trunk, listening to the fading groans of the man until they disappeared. After causing a commotion, the boar pack turned and dashed back into the forest.

Shen Er Lang and his group waited cautiously in the trees for a while longer, ensuring there were no more suspicious movements before climbing down. They returned to the attack site and found the man who had been knocked down, his body drenched in blood.

One of the guards knelt down to check for breath and shook his head: “This man is already gone.”

“What should we do, Young Master?”

Clearly, this man had been separated from his companion after encountering the boar pack, and Gu Erniang, who had been ahead, had also vanished without a trace. It would be impossible to continue following her now. They would have to investigate the surroundings themselves. As the sky grew darker, it was too late to return to the village; they needed to find a place to spend the night.

“We…” After a long moment looking at the corpse, Shen Er Lang finally said, “Let’s find a place to stay for the night and bring this body with us.”

“Young Master?”

“Since we’ve come across this person, we can’t just leave the body behind,” Shen Er Lang said compassionately. “Tomorrow, we’ll bring him back to the village and let Head Wu take a look. Perhaps he can identify the man and ensure he rests in peace.”

The two guards exchanged glances and, after a moment of thought, agreed.

So, one of them carried the body while the other protected Shen Er Lang as they searched for a place to rest in the woods.

By nightfall, Gu Ran had also found a valley deep in the forest to rest and had prepared to spend the night inside her workshop.

With her previous experience of spending the night in the mountains, Gu Ran had made more thorough preparations: Workshop No. 8 had already been stocked with a variety of dishes prepared during her usual cooking, allowing her to freely choose what to eat in the ready-to-eat area.

Under the work desk, an additional wooden basin had been placed—used to hold ice to cool the area. The weather outside was hot, and even inside the workshop, it felt stuffy, so using something cool was just right.

In addition, she had brought a pillow and bedding. The pillowcase was sewn by Lin Ersaozi and filled with dried honeysuckle and lemongrass leaves.

There are many wild jin yin hua around Xiaxi Village. It is said that many households in the village pick them for cooking or dry them for tea. They are also used to make pillow stuffing.

This type of pillow is soothing and comfortable, greatly enhancing sleep quality.

Thanks to the excellent sleep quality, Gu Ran slept until dawn and was about to continue her journey when she discovered that it had started raining outside at some point.

Rain is a common occurrence, since Xiaxi Village is located in the Min region, which is close to the sea. During the sixth and seventh months of the year, typhoons are frequent. Unfortunately, the Great Sheng Dynasty lacked weather forecasting technology to predict typhoons.

Initially, Gu Ran thought to take it easy.

It’s just rain, after all.

She could stay in the workshop and wait for the rain to stop before continuing her journey.

However, she soon realized that rain was a dangerous event for Xiaxi Village because the miasma from the Great Yu Forest would spread into the village after the rain.

Gu Ran’s expression changed instantly.

The miasma, which originated in the Great Yu Forest, would drift into the village after the rain, and she was currently inside the miasma forest.

If the miasma from the Great Yu Forest was spreading everywhere, didn’t that mean she was in trouble?

Gu Ran, who had just poked her head out of the workshop, immediately pulled back inside.

She had not expected to be stranded in the Great Yu Forest during the rain on this trip.

This was problematic!

Gu Ran considered that this time, entering the forest, it might take two to three days for the miasma to dissipate completely. Though frustrating, there seemed no other option but to wait for the rain to pass.

While she was still safely in the workshop, Shen Er Lang and his group were distressed.

The rain started in the middle of the night, when all was quiet and it was time to sleep.

The four of them—actually, three—were crammed into a cave, barely enough to provide shelter. When the rain started, it splashed into the cave, soaking half of the space.

Shen Er Lang had initially thought the rain would last only an hour or two and would stop by dawn.

But by the time it was fully light, the rain showed no sign of stopping, pouring down vigorously.

As the morning passed and the afternoon arrived, the forest was still shrouded in rain. Shen Er Lang grew impatient.

Now, the cave was flooded, damp and soggy. After a few steps inside, their feet were submerged, and their ankles were soaked. His clothes were completely wet through.

If the rain continued, they wouldn’t be able to leave today.

Could they spend another night in this cave? Certainly not.

They would have to return quickly.

Otherwise, if they delayed, the rainy night would make the journey even more difficult.

Having made up his mind, Shen Er Lang called his two guards to return to the village in the rain.

"Er Lang Jun, with such heavy rain, what should we do with the body?"

Shen Er Lang looked at the corpse. "Bury him for now, and let Head Wu handle this matter when we return."

The mountain path was treacherous in the rain; they couldn’t afford the additional trouble of carrying a corpse.

They couldn't leave the body exposed outside because if they just left it in the wild, it might be devoured by beasts in the mountains, leaving nothing behind.

The three of them dug a shallow grave for the body in the rain and then relied on their memory to navigate towards the edge of the forest.

The ground, covered in slippery weeds due to the rain, made the bare soil muddy, and each step sank into a deep pit. They had to tread carefully, walking unsteadily, one step at a time.

After stumbling along for a while, the rain began to ease, and all three of them sighed with relief.

Walking for a bit in the fine drizzle, the gloomy sky seemed to be clearing. In the forest, the light brightened, and with the faint sunlight, Shen Erlang saw white mist rising slowly around the forest, like mist or smoke, creating a scene reminiscent of a fairyland.

Shen Erlang never expected to see such a beautiful sight in the forest. The previous gloom in his heart was immediately dispelled. "Who says this forest is scary? After seeing such a beautiful sight, would you still think this Great Yu Forest is a miasma forest?"

He even took a few quick steps forward and reached out to touch the mist.

"Shen Erlang!"

The two guards behind him hesitated and stepped back.

In the white mist and fine rain, a faint layer of black fog was also rising and spreading, and Shen Erlang was right in the middle of it, soon with half of his body enveloped by the fog.

"Erlang, come back quickly!"

Shen Erlang turned his head, saw the guards' panicked expressions, and frowned. "What's the big deal?"

"It's miasma!"

"Get away quickly!"

Shen Erlang looked down, saw the black fog wrapping around him, and froze, his face instantly turning a deathly gray.

Miasma? Is this black fog miasma?