Chapter 58

Chapter 58

The family had been so busy lately that no one had paid any attention to the peach tree. When Old Man Zhao took the peach his daughter handed him, he clearly felt it was a whole size bigger than the one from half a year ago, and its fragrance was even more intense—so enticing it made your mouth water.

Taking it outside like this was definitely not an option; it was simply too fragrant. He was worried it might attract wild beasts. They were now at the edge of the deep mountains; forget about wolves, tigers, or leopards—even a few wild boars charging over would be more than they could handle right now. With an injured man lying there, they really couldn't afford to take that risk. It was pitch black all around, not suitable for cutting the peach either, so Old Man Zhao said, "Xiaobao, take your father to the Deity's Land."

"Okay." Zhao Xiaobao didn't ask why, simply pulling her father toward the wooden hut.

In the Deity's Land, it was still daytime, with the sun shining brightly. Old Man Zhao had already grown accustomed to this chaotic day-and-night reversal.

Two hens and eighteen chicks were cheeping noisily in the yard. Unfortunately, he was too anxious right now to spare any extra concern for the little chicks.

And he got a good look at the peach in his hand. If the one from half a year ago still had a touch of green, this one was now completely ripe. How could he even describe it? Anyway, in all his years, he had never seen a peach like this. It was just like the giant immortal peach held by the babies in New Year's paintings—big and round, so large his daughter's two small hands couldn't even hold it properly.

The peaches from the village peach tree, compared to this one, were like the difference between an ancestor and its countless, distant, distant descendants.

Old Man Zhao reverently placed the peach carefully on the table, went to the kitchen to scoop a ladle of clean stream water, and then meticulously washed his hands and the dagger.

He felt that without washing his hands thoroughly, he would be defiling the immortal peach. It truly looked too adorable—plump, white with a blush of pink, just as endearing as his daughter.

Zhao Xiaobao sat to the side, her two small hands resting on the table, chin propped on her hands, her big eyes unblinkingly watching her father's movements. Seeing the peach being cut and its juices splashing, she started drooling.

Old Man Zhao handed the first cut piece to her, smiling affectionately, "Xiaobao's peach, Xiaobao eats first."

Zhao Xiaobao let out two silly giggles, tilted her head, opened her little mouth, and took in a cool, thick slice of peach. Unlike the first time when it melted in her mouth before she could even taste it, she bit into the flesh, and with a crisp crunch, a fresh, sweet, fruity fragrance filled her mouth. For a moment, she even felt as if her body were light, about to float away.

Of course, this was just an illusion born from feeling too wonderful.

Zhao Xiaobao swung her little feet, her eyes narrowing happily. After eating, she repeatedly sucked the juice from her fingers clean, then urged cheerfully, "Dad, it's so yummy, you eat some too."

"Dad won't eat, Xiaobao, you keep it for yourself." Old Man Zhao shook his head with a smile. He couldn't bear to waste such a precious thing. He wasn't injured or poisoned; having eaten it once was already an immense stroke of fortune. How could he eat it every time? He cut another piece and placed it on a dish, then handed the remaining large half of the peach to his daughter, instructing, "Xiaobao, the peach is too fragrant. It's not good for Dad to take it out. Later, find a chance to slip this piece of peach into your eldest brother's mouth. The rest, you keep for yourself to eat, okay? Eat it here in the Deity's Land, don't take it outside."

"No." Zhao Xiaobao pushed the peach back, pouting unhappily, "Dad, cut the peach again. You eat some, Mom eats some, brothers, sisters-in-law, and nephews all eat some."

"Eat what? They've all eaten before." This time, Old Man Zhao wouldn't listen to her no matter what. "Xiaobao, be good. They aren't sick or injured. Eating too much immortal peach would harm their fortune. Only you in our family can eat it. You're the Little Deity; you can eat as much as you want."

"If Mom and Dad don't eat, then Zhao Xiaobao won't eat either!" Zhao Xiaobao angrily threw the peach aside, crossed her arms, turned her head away, and snorted, "Not eating, not looking."

"Hey, look at you. Fine, have it your way. Don't eat then. If you won't eat, let's just leave it like this for now." Old Man Zhao found something to cover both the peach and the dish, so the mosquitoes wouldn't get it. Really, how could there be mosquitoes in such a nice Deity's Land? He just couldn't figure it out.

Seeing her father really wouldn't eat, Zhao Xiaobao started kicking the stool in frustration: "Dad eat, Dad must eat!"

"Dad won't eat." Old Man Zhao was firm. "Xiaobao, don't kick the stool. That's not good."

Zhao Xiaobao stopped kicking the stool, instead puffing out her little mouth high, humming and grumbling to express strong dissatisfaction.

Unfortunately, it was useless. Moments later, the family of three emerged from the cellar with two packets of medicine.

Wang Shi handed the fever-reducing medicine to Zhu Shi, deciding to give her something to do to keep her from constant anxiety: "Stop crying. The eldest has a strong constitution. When he was little, even after being bitten by a poisonous snake and having the blood forced out, he still went to the fields. This time will be fine too. Hurry and go brew the medicine. This is fever-reducing medicine bought from Ping'an Clinic; it's very effective. Two bowls poured down should be about right."

Her tone was relaxed, seeming not the least bit worried. Zhu Shi, for some reason, suddenly felt reassured. Since Mother said so, it must be fine. She wiped her tears, took the medicine, and nodded: "Mother, I'll go brew the medicine right away."

"Second Son and Second Daughter-in-law, you two go help your eldest sister-in-law gather firewood and tend the fire." After all, it was nighttime, and making a fire required going near the water pool. Worried she might be scared alone, Wang Shi arranged.

Zhao Ertian and Luo Shi nodded, picked up wooden buckets filled with stream water, and followed to the stove.

A ring of boys was gathered around the sleeping mat. Zhao Xiaowu and Zhao Feng had red eyes, looking at their father who lay with closed eyes and couldn't be roused no matter how they called, their hearts filled with immense worry. Zhao Xiaobao squeezed in, waving her hands to shoo people away: "Xiao Wu, don't all crowd around Eldest Brother. Eldest Brother can't even breathe properly!"

Hearing this, Zhao Xi immediately piped up: "Aunt, we're in the mountains. How could Uncle not breathe properly?" Their shelter was full of gaps; the air was just fine.

The questioned little aunt puffed out her chubby cheeks: "Xi'er isn't listening. I won't give you any more red ground fruit to eat! Anyway, don't make noise here disturbing Eldest Brother. Eldest Brother is injured and needs to rest."

"Hmph, we weren't making noise for Uncle. I was helping Uncle wipe the blood." Threatened with no future treats, Zhao Xi snorted with nostrils flared, then got up and ran off, slipping away faster than anyone.

Zhao Xiaowu caught a familiar fruity fragrance. He glanced at his little aunt, then pulled Wang Jinyu beside him: "Jinyu, weren't you going to find Grandpa? Come on, I'll take you."

Wang Jinyu, being dragged by him, showed a moment of hesitation and struggle on his face, but in the end didn't break free, silently following.

Once they were gone, Zhao Xiaobao immediately took out the peach slice, rolled it up and stuffed it into her eldest brother's mouth.

"Eldest Brother, Xiaobao will blow on it for you." Zhao Xiaobao lay beside Zhao Dashan's shoulder, carefully sticking out her bottom as she leaned close to blow on it, tears falling as she blew. Eldest Brother's wound was truly terrifying; seeing the bloody, exposed bone just scared her.

Eldest Brother must be in so much pain.

"Eldest Brother must get better quickly."

"Xiaobao will give Eldest Brother lots of peaches to eat."

The fire crackled and popped. In the faint light, one could vaguely see several strands of deep black, foul blood being forced out from the bone and flesh like a thin stream of water, smelling unbearably rancid, enough to make one retch.

Zhao Xiaobao was startled. Wiping away her tears, she quickly grabbed a cloth nearby and carefully wiped her eldest brother clean.

"Eldest Brother, you're so stinky." After wiping, she threw the cloth far away, then lay back down, watching intently as her eldest brother's wound went from oozing black blood to slowly flowing red blood. When the foul smell was gone, her face, which had been flushed with the effort, finally began to relax.

She inexplicably felt in her heart that Eldest Brother should be fine now.

Imitating her mother, she felt Eldest Brother's forehead. It was still warm, but much better than before. She washed her hands clean with stream water, sneakily glanced back at her father who was talking with Nephew Jin Yu by the cliff edge, and taking advantage of no one noticing, she secretly took out the peach, opened her mouth wide to take a big bite, then stuffed it into Eldest Brother's mouth.

Zhao Dashan's bloody wound, at a speed invisible to the naked eye, saw flesh very slowly regenerating.

Crunch, crunch. Zhao Xiaobao took two more bites of peach flesh, stuffing them all into her eldest brother's mouth.

A perfectly good peach ended up looking like a toad after her gnawing. The fruity fragrance drifted with the evening breeze in all directions. Rustling sounds came from the grass, and from deeper in the woods came several high-pitched roars of wild beasts, sounding utterly terrifying.

Zhao Xiaobao was frightened and hurriedly threw the peach back into the wooden hut.

She lay down again to look at Eldest Brother's wound. The red blood wasn't flowing anymore either. Reaching out a small hand, she felt his forehead—only a little warm now.

When Zhu Shi brought the medicine over and reached to feel Zhao Dashan's forehead, she found his temperature no different from usual, and his face had gained a bit more color. Though still pale from excessive blood loss, he looked like a completely different person compared to when he first returned.

She turned to look at her little sister-in-law sitting to the side, pinching her nose with an expression of the medicine is too smelly, I want to stay far away. She opened her mouth, wanting to smile at her, but as her lips parted, tears couldn't help but fall: "Little Sister, Eldest Sister-in-law thanks you. It's good you were here, otherwise your eldest brother probably wouldn't have made it through this."

Earlier, while brewing the medicine, Third Brother had caught a wild rabbit in the woods and used the bandit's knife to make a cut on it. Unexpectedly, after convulsing twice, the rabbit died on the spot! The foul blood flowing from its wound was exactly the same as what came from Dashan's body!

At that moment, she was so frightened her limbs went weak, nearly overturning the medicine pot.

No one dared make a sound, immediately digging a hole to bury the wild rabbit.

In her state of utter panic, she heard Third Brother say that Dashan not dying instantly from the poison was probably related to Little Sister.

Although the rabbit was small, its wound was also small. Dashan was large, but that slash had directly sliced off a chunk of his flesh. The rabbit died instantly, yet he, aside from being unconscious with a fever and somewhat labored breathing, still had a strong pulse and didn't show signs of imminent death from severe poisoning.

Zhu Shi didn't understand anything, only knew the bandit who injured Dashan had smeared a poison on the weapon that could kill upon contact with blood. That Dashan didn't immediately depart like the rabbit wasn't because he was luckier than a rabbit, but because Little Sister had fed him a peach that time.

That night, she and her husband had been sleeping soundly and actually knew nothing. It was only the next morning when their two sons secretly told her that during the night, Little Aunt had picked peaches from that peach tree in the Deity's Land. Since they were sleeping too soundly to wake, she had stuffed pieces into their mouths.

The whole family had some, each person one slice.

At the time, she hadn’t paid it much mind, thinking it was just like malt candy—Little Sister never ate anything good all by herself and always shared with the family. Since she was used to getting little treats, she didn’t find a slice of peach particularly remarkable… until later, when Er Lai and Widow Li woke up. Despite their severe injuries, they recovered after just a few bowls of medicine. The villagers found it incredible, praising the doctor from Ping’an Clinic to the skies, calling him a reincarnation of Hua Tuo with the power to wrest lives from the clutches of the King of Hell.

Only their family knew that everything was because of the peaches from the land of the immortals.

Now, Zhu Shi once again deeply realized just what kind of treasure she had eaten back then—and it was because Dashan had eaten the peach that he resisted the poison.

In just the time it took to brew the medicine, Little Sister had dragged him back from death’s door. She was so overwhelmed she didn’t know what to do with herself. Thank goodness, thank goodness!

Her hands trembled as she held the medicine bowl, but Zhao Xiaobao, unaware of her complex feelings, kept her eyes fixed on the bowl, afraid the bitter medicine would splash on her. Finally, she scrambled to her feet in a hurry, saying, “Sister-in-law, you feed Big Brother the stinky medicine. Xiaobao is going to find Dad!”

Zhu Shi watched her stumble out of the shack. The rain had completely stopped by now, and her parents-in-law were nearby, so she wasn’t worried. She just called out, “Slow down, the ground is slippery!”

“Okay!” Wearing cotton shoes and hitching up her skirt, Zhao Xiaobao playfully hopped a couple of times on the rain-soaked wild grass, feeling the cool raindrops fall, and grinned, baring a row of little white teeth.

All bundled up, she didn’t feel cold at all. Hopping like a frog, she bounced over to Old Man Zhao and was just reaching out to be picked up when she heard Wang Jinyu say, “Grandpa, I’ve made up my mind.”

Old Man Zhao picked up his daughter and looked at the boy before him. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Jinyu, you need to think this through. If you stay in the village, your enemies won’t be able to find you no matter what. Back then, Dashan and the others were careful and didn’t leave any traces along the way. You’re safe here with us. But if you leave the village and go to town, show your face, and meet outsiders, you won’t be able to hide anymore.”

Though he had considered this matter before, he hadn’t expected the child to bring it up first. The boy wanted to go to town, to visit the Yu family ancestral home.

He believed the boy must have thought it over carefully before coming to him, but he still worried whether seeing the refugees had riled him up, making him act on impulse to go to the Yu family. After all, he had said before that the Yu family wasn’t safe for him.

He patiently explained the stakes: “If you’re lucky and first encounter people sent by your grandfather and uncle, then everything will be joyous. You’ll have someone to rely on in the future and won’t need to stay in the village. But you also have to consider that if you’re unlucky and run into your enemies, that would truly be like stepping into the halls of the King of Hell—there’d be no turning back.”

After listening, Wang Jinyu fell silent for a moment, then nodded earnestly. “Grandpa, I’ve already thought it through.”

His eyes were clear, meeting Old Man Zhao’s gaze without flinching. His voice was childish yet firm: “As you said, Grandpa, if I stay in the village forever, safety won’t be a concern. But by the same token, even if my grandfather and uncle turned Qingzhou Prefecture upside down, they would never find me.”

“Jin Yu has come to understand these past few days—just like you, Grandpa, and my three uncles, who risked your lives going down the mountain to fight the refugees for the safety and future survival of your family. The peace we have now was fought for with your lives, not by hiding in a corner waiting for a savior to descend from heaven.”

“When the world is stable, one should strive for fame, profit, and prospects. When the world is unstable, but parents, siblings, and family are still here, one should strive for a place of safety, wishing only for the family’s peace and happiness.”

“But if parents are gone, and siblings no longer exist, one should strive for vengeance!”

He suddenly raised his eyes, a turbulent intensity hidden within them.

“As the son of my parents and the elder brother of my younger siblings, how can Jin Yu cling to the present peace?” His hands, hanging at his sides, gradually clenched into fists. His frail body stood firm against the biting mountain wind, unyielding as a rock. “Even if the road ahead is rugged, I must press forward without hesitation, to seek justice for my parents, my grandfather, and my younger siblings!”

“Grandpa, I am He Jinyu.”

I can no longer be Wang Jinyu.