Hua Yao scrambled up from the ground, shaking her ringing head, and fumbled around. She discovered that the entrance she had come through was blocked, and the surroundings were piled with gravel and stones. It was so dark that her eyes couldn't adjust immediately.
"Sir!" she rasped, swallowing the saliva in her mouth, and called out softly to the darkness.
Only echoes answered her.
Her heart turned cold, and a wave of pain washed over her. With a sob, Hua Yao cried hysterically, mumbling, "It's all my fault, it's all my fault, *wu wu*..."
"Stop crying, you're too loud!" a voice sounded beside her ear.
Hua Yao started, her dark eyes blinking. "Sir? Is that you?"
"Cough, cough!" Lan Heng's voice sounded again. "It's me. Don't cry. The mountain is very unstable now. If you keep crying, we'll all be buried with it."
"Oh," Hua Yao sniffled, answering obediently. She slowly shook off the small stones that had fallen onto her legs. "Sir, where are you?"
"To your northwest," Lan Heng replied.
Following Lan Heng's words, Hua Yao slowly felt her way towards the northwest. The stones on the ground were somewhat sharp, almost cutting her hands, but she paid them no mind, crawling towards Lan Heng.
"Hiss..." Lan Heng gasped.
"What's wrong?" Hua Yao exclaimed, her hands starting to grope wildly.
"Stop touching! You're bleeding!" Lan Heng grunted.
Hua Yao froze, biting her lower lip.
"I... I'm right below you. Are you trying to crush me!" Lan Heng's suppressed voice reached her ear.
Hua Yao finally realized and quickly rolled to the side.
With the space cleared, Lan Heng said to Hua Yao, "A large stone is pressing on my arm. Take it off."
Obeying, Hua Yao fumbled around Lan Heng's body again. After a while, she used all her strength to move the stone pressing on him.
"My hand won't move. I have a tinderbox in my embrace. Get it out for me."
"Oh!" Hua Yao obeyed again and started fumbling over Lan Heng's body.
This was the first time she had touched a man's body, and it was Lan Heng's at that. Her cheeks involuntarily flushed. Fortunately, it was pitch black, and no one could see.
"Got it!" She found the tinderbox, lit it, and as the cave was filled with light, their surroundings came into view.
They were in a small cave with a hard rock wall. The rock face was sparsely covered with gravel, indicating that they were temporarily safe.
"Sir, how are you... Ah! You're bleeding!" Hua Yao looked around the cave and then down at Lan Heng. As the concerned words left her lips, her peripheral vision caught sight of his arm, which was a bloody mess, with fresh blood seeping from it. She gasped in fright.
Lan Heng glanced at her.
Hua Yao understood and quickly covered her mouth, daring not to make a sound.
"Wait, I'll bandage it for you," Hua Yao said. She found some charcoal nearby, lit a fire, and began to treat Lan Heng's wound.
Seeing her skilled movements, Lan Heng recalled his time with Zhong Li on Mount Ling and couldn't help but curve his lips. "You learn very quickly from Li'er."
Hearing the name Zhong Li from the person opposite her, Hua Yao's hand movements faltered, and she lowered her head even further, remaining silent.
Lan Heng, oblivious to her change in demeanor, continued, "The fact that you could find charcoal in this cave proves that someone lived here before."
Hua Yao still did not speak.
"But don't worry. Before we came, I had already informed the Dali Temple of our destination. And while I was chasing that hunchbacked old man, I left markers along the way. If we don't return tonight, the Dali Temple will send people to rescue us," Lan Heng said, trying to comfort her, thinking she was worried about dying there.
Hua Yao remained silent, her movements gentle and swift.
Lan Heng frowned, looking at the young girl whose head was all he could see with some confusion.
It wasn't until a drop of warm water landed on his arm that he realized the young girl was crying.
"You..." Lan Heng looked at Hua Yao blankly, all his words stuck in his throat.
"Wuwu..." Hua Yao finally broke down, sobbing, "Sir, am I very stupid? That villain deliberately led us here to kill us, and I still walked into the mountains. The villain smeared gunpowder on the rock wall, and I didn't listen to your advice and came in with a torch.
The mountain collapsed, and if I had been outside, I could have called for help, but I still rushed in. Am I very stupid?"
"..." Lan Heng, who was most afraid of girls crying, forced himself to sit up, wanting to comfort her but not knowing where to begin. If he said the wrong thing, it might hurt her pride.
"If Li'er had come with you this time, would you not have been injured?" Hua Yao asked again.
Lan Heng sighed, leaning half his body against the rock behind him. He looked at the young girl, who tried to stifle her sobs, biting her lip in a show of forbearance and grievance, and something soft within him was stirred. He unconsciously raised his hand and quietly wiped away the tears on Hua Yao's face, saying, "You're not stupid. You're... too concerned about me."
Hua Yao bit her lip, somewhat confused.
"You knew there was danger and still came in because you were worried about my safety. You knew about the gunpowder and still rushed forward, also because you were worried about my safety.
Because of this... how could I blame you?" Lan Heng said.
"You really don't blame Yao'er for messing things up?" Hua Yao asked.
Lan Heng shook his head.
"Wah... wuwu!" Granted forgiveness, Hua Yao felt much relieved. Without a second thought, she threw herself onto Lan Heng and began to cry. Her sobs were muffled, as if she had suffered great injustice.
Lan Heng initially wanted to push her away, but when he lowered his gaze and saw the small hands tightly gripping his clothes, scratched by the gravel, all his hardness melted into tenderness.
He sighed, reached out, and patted Hua Yao's shoulder.
The next day, Lan Heng was awakened by shouts.
After resting all night, the bleeding from his injured arm had stopped. He heard people calling his name outside.
He slowly moved Hua Yao, who was leaning on his shoulder, aside and pushed himself up, walking towards the covered pile of stones.
"Sir, sir, are you in there?"
Lan Heng's voice was hoarse from a day without water. He knew that no matter how loudly he shouted, the people outside wouldn't hear him. After a moment of thought, he picked up a stone and began to knock forcefully on the rock wall.
The people outside heard the noise and quickly moved closer to the rocks. "Okay, sir, wait. We'll dig now!"
With that, the pile of stones in front of him began to shake.
About an hour later, as a ray of sunlight pierced through a gap and shone into the cave, Lan Heng and Hua Yao were both rescued.
Hua Yao's body was already weak, and after the ordeal, she had a slight fever as she was carried out.
Lan Heng gave a few instructions to the Dali Temple constables and then turned to walk towards a yellow earth house not far away.
"Where are you going, Sir?" Hua Yao grabbed Lan Heng's sleeve and asked.
Lan Heng smiled and used his fingertip to wipe away a few rice-sized fragments of stone clinging to Hua Yao's lips. "To catch someone. If I'm not mistaken, that hunchbacked person who tried to kill us is the key to the Ning Qing case."
Hua Yao nodded in agreement. "But your body..."
As she spoke, her gaze swept over Lan Heng's arm.
Lan Heng shook his head. "We've already wasted too much time. Li'er can't wait any longer."
With that, he pushed Hua Yao's hand away and prepared to leave quickly.
Hua Yao looked at the lingering aura of the man on her fingertips, feeling a sense of unease but also joy. She called out to Lan Heng's retreating back, "Sir, that old woman selling silkworms."