??Chapter 35: Chapter 32: Below the Cliff
Chapter 35: Chapter 32: Below the Cliff
Ye Chen called out a few tis, but received no response.
He hesitated for a mont, then decided to take advantage of the lingering daylight. It would be a while before nightfall and he couldn’t just wait around. Once it was dark, he wouldn’t be able to go down; he had to do sothing.
Trusting his own experience, he took so supplies and started heading down the cliff.
It was not a path ant for humans, one could easily slip straight to the foot of the mountain. Half an hour went by and he had travelled quite a distance when he suddenly found sothing! Scratch marks, footprints, and broken plants, all fresh, left not long ago.
They could have been left by an animal, or possibly a person. He started to ponder what could have happened, as he followed the traces down. The cliff had long disappeared behind the dense jungle. He called out Yu Qing’s na but received no reply.
Ye Chen decided to continue searching down the cliff. He reached a dense forest halfway down the mountain. It had beco increasingly steep and he stumbled upon bloodstains. He suddenly felt worried, thinking if there could be a monster around, guessing.
He suddenly felt more anxious, as if being watched, but gathered his courage to continue downwards, to find out the truth.
Night descended rapidly. Once the colorful twilight faded, gray quickly took over, followed by darkness. He looked back at the dense forest and felt it was even more eerie.
A faint voice, like a cry for help, rose from below. It was a little hoarse, but he could still make it out.
He crossed over a batch of trees and reached the halfway point of the mountain which was much flatter. The sound ca from below. The cliff above had long disappeared behind layers of thick vegetation.
The voice ca from a crevice in the cliff. Yes, it was definitely that girl’s voice, he heard it clearly this ti.
Yu Qing was extrely anxious. She tried to squeeze out from the narrow gap between the rocks, but her foot, swollen like a pig’s paw, wouldn’t allow her. Her hands were already scratched and bleeding.
She wanted to get out, but below was a cliff. One wrong move, and she would fall. Even without her injuries, she wouldn’t dare to take the risk. At this mont, it had turned dark, and she was so anxious she wanted to cry.
She had been shouting for a long ti, but there was no response.
Ye Chen looked down, to see if she had been dragged here by so sort of monster.
He took a peek, but there didn’t appear to be any monsters.
He threw a stone down which almost hit her. She looked up and saw a head pop out, which startled her so much she trembled. She thought she had seen a ghost.
“Are you dead or not? If you’re not, respond. If you’ve really lost consciousness and turned into a zombie, I still have ti to run away,” said Ye Chen.
“Can’t you tell?” Qing’er cried with confirmation. It was that country bumpkin. However, she was overjoyed, at a loss for words.
“I thought you’d thrown yourself off, from such a high cliff. You didn’t want to live and jumped, did you? There’s no need, a beautiful person like you,jumping from a cliff is such a waste of the beauty the heavens bestowed upon you,” Ye Chen tried to lighten her spirits knowing she was upset.
The nearly crying Yu Qing, as if seeing hope unexpectedly, shouted, “Stop with the sarcastic comnts and get
out of here quickly.”
“What happened to your foot?”
“I twisted it.”
“You ca down here just to paint. Were you bewitched by a pretty boy fox from the mountains?”
“It was all because of that damned deer. I was picking a flower and it jumped out from behind , startled , I slipped and fell down here. I also twisted my foot,” she said.
“Haha, you slipped and fell off the cliff, and still didn’t die. You’re really lucky,” replied Ye Chen carefully as he started to climb down.
“Are you alone?”
“Yes, just . Are you moved? Do you want to offer yourself to ? I would consider it,” said Ye Chen, looking at her foot which was swollen like a pig’s hoof.
“What about Zhan Ze and the others?”
“They gave up on you long ago, only I stayed behind.”
“Are you joking with ?”
“No, I’m not. They thought you were lost and went to the back of the mountain to look for you, leaving
alone,” said Ye Chen, examining closely her foot. “It’s so badly injured, it could be eaten with just a bit of sauce.”
“Only you, really?” asked Yu Qing.
“They went to the back mountain to look for you, and left
behind. Haotian went downhill to call for help. To ensure soone is there if you ca back, they left
alone. They don’t have my courage.”
“They went to the back mountain and left you alone. How did you know I was here?”
“Maybe it’s fate. After pondering, I thought if you hadn’t been taken by a beast to play out a beauty and the beast scenario, there was a high chance you could have fallen off the cliff. So, I ca down while it was still bright to try my luck,” he said.
“What do I do now? I can’t walk.” Yu Qing looked at her foot.
“Did you try rubbing saliva on it? It can reduce swelling.”
Yu Qing glared at him and said, “Can you stop being disgusting?”
“Saliva can actually help with swelling. Haven’t you seen dogs? Whenever they get injured, they lick their wounds with their tongues, and it heals. Saliva is like a miraculous cure.”
“If you don’t lick wounds with your tongue, it won’t heal?”
“I’ve never thought about that.” Ye Chen had already made it down, and smiling he said, “I know you look down on . I’m just a naive cowherd from the countryside.”
“I can’t walk, what do I do now? How do I get out?”
Ye Chen looked outside, it was quickly getting dark.
“If you ca here by yourself, then they wouldn’t know I am down here. You should inform them.”
Ye Chen said, “Do you not realize how high it is up there? It took
over two hours just to get here. Plus, it’s too steep. If I go up, there’s no coming back down. And it’s getting dark, it won’t be safe. I don’t want to fall off the cliff. You’ll have to spend the night here alone.”
“Ah, no, don’t go up there.”
“Scared, aren’t you?”
“I’m afraid of accidentally knocking you off, it’s a cliff below.”
Ye Chen then poked the pig’s foot that looked as if it had been soaked in sauce.
“Ah, it hurts, you rascal. You did that on purpose.” She retaliated with a slap.
“This foot will be useless soon.”
“Stop looking at my foot, think about what we should do. Can you do that?”
“What can be done? You’ve been down here, yelling until your voice is hoarse. People up there have also been shouting for half the day. The mountain is huge, it’s just a canyon.”
“Do they think I’ve been captured by a wild beast?”
“Hmm.”
“Is Zhan Ze very worried?”
“Very worried.”
“So what should we do?”
“Let
figure it out. You don’t need to worry about this.” Ye Chen glanced at her slightly swollen eyes and asked, “Have you cried?”
“It’s dark already.” Yu Qing’s stomach growled.
Ye Chen handed her so of the food he had brought down, and said, “It looks like you’re quite lucky. I brought food.” He handed her the food.
Suddenly, he stood up and said, “I need to get so dry firewood.” He rembered that there were so dry sticks outside the cave entrance.
“Be careful.”
“Don’t worry, I co from the mountains. Compared to the cowherd boy that others look down upon, I have so skills.”
“Nobody looks down on you.” Yu Qing also said, “Be careful. It’s a cliff. If you fall, it’s the end.”
“I got it, you start eating first.”
Ye Chen returned from outside with so dry firewood and pine sap.
As he made a bonfire inside, the sky outside had completely darkened. Ye Chen started crushing the pine sap.
“What are you doing?”
“Applying it. If you want to reduce the swelling tomorrow and have a good sleep tonight, just listen to my orders,” Ye Chen said.
Yu Qing finally withdrew her hand, saying, “Thank you!”
“What is there to thank? Just make a direct commitnt to .”
“You ca back down. If not, who knows I’d still be down here, waiting to die.”
“That will not happen. Young Master Ze will never give up on you, unless you’re really mauled by a wild beast.” Ye Chen then showed his concern again, “Your hand!”
“It’s nothing.” She examined it, then pulled back. It was obviously scratched; the blood had already dried.
“Let
clean it up for you!” Ye Chen leaned over, intending to help her care for the wound.
“No need, it’s fine.”
“We should still wrap it.” Ye Chen ca over again and said, “About last night, my words were a bit harsh. I didn’t think it through. Don’t take it to heart.”
“Why would I take those nonsense words to heart?” Yu Qing retorted disdainfully.
Ye Chen threw a couple more logs into the fire.
“Are we going to stay here all night?”
“Can you walk?”
Yu Qing shook her head.
“We definitely can’t get out tonight. With your foot like this and the cliff, the path is already hard to trek. Let’s apply so dicine overnight to reduce the swelling, and figure sothing out tomorrow.”
Yu Qing nodded, asking, “Shouldn’t we figure out a way to tell them? We shouldn’t let them continue to worry.”
Ye Chen nodded, he had also thought about this. But the place was too far from above, it’s just a canyon, even the wind had trouble getting in, let alone shouting for them to hear.
“Climbing is too dangerous in this darkness.” Yu Qing said, “Let’s not risk it. Let’s wait until tomorrow morning.” She was worried that sothing might happen to him, leaving her alone in the dark.
“You’re afraid that if sothing happens to , there will be no one to save you. Dying of starvation is indeed terrifying, just like a skeleton, skin and bones.” Ye Chen stood up, preparing to leave.
“Please don’t go climbing. Just wait until tomorrow.”
“I want to see if there are any other exits. Climbing up the cliff definitely won’t work.”
“No, just leave it. It’s pitch black outside. If anything happens, there’s no one to help you.” Yu Qing was still sowhat afraid. She didn’t want to be left alone in the cave.
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