Chapter 52
Chapter 52
Xiao Jingmo had been dozing while standing guard nearby. Pei Wanqing’s movements startled him awake as well.
“Mother, what’s wrong? Is Little Sister feeling unwell?”
He rose and strode over to her.
“Mo’er, listen. Is your sister trying to say something?”
Anxiety showed on Pei Wanqing’s face.
Xiao Jingmo dropped to one knee and bent his head, listening carefully for a moment.
“Buggies, go away. Don’t bite Baby…”
“Mother, Little Sister says there are bugs.”
Xiao Jingmo touched Jin Bao’s forehead. Her temperature was normal, and she did not have a fever, but the things she said had never been wrong.
Usually, Jin Bao woke with a start after seeing something. She must have been so exhausted today that she had slept more deeply and murmured the images from her dream aloud.
“Mo’er, where are the bugs?”
Pei Wanqing was frightened of insects too. She quickly rose with Jin Bao in her arms.
Xiao Jingmo went to the firepit and blew the embers into a brighter flame. The area around them instantly became much clearer.
By the firelight, he carefully searched their surroundings.
Rustle, rustle…
His brows drew together. He thought he could hear something too, and the sound seemed to be coming from beneath the rocks.
Following the noise, he approached one of the stones and abruptly heaved it over. Slender black shadows darted out in every direction.
Xiao Jingmo was startled and hurried several steps back, narrowly avoiding their attack.
“Mo’er, what… what are those?”
Pei Wanqing’s voice trembled. In the dim, flickering light, she could not see them clearly.
The unknown was always more terrifying. Those long, narrow creatures made goosebumps rise all over her skin.
Xiao Jingmo forced himself to stay calm and shouted at the sleeping crowd, “Wake up! Everyone, stop sleeping!”
He remembered reading about the local customs and terrain of Liaoxi. The book had mentioned that Sand Centipedes emerged at night in some of its saline wastelands. They were many-legged arthropods that favored dark, damp places and carried a mild venom. Their bites were not fatal, but they could still cause trouble.
Pei Wanqing hurried to help wake the women.
Everyone had been sleeping soundly. Jolted awake without warning, they were still half lost in dreams.
Madam Chen did not wake even after being shoved several times. Still half asleep, she cursed and swore at whoever was disturbing her.
Xiao Yan and Madam Chen’s eldest son had to haul her to her feet between them.
Zhu Laosan and Xiao Che were naturally vigilant. They woke at once, each gripping his weapon as he went on high alert.
“Mo’er, what happened?”
Xiao Che immediately moved to Xiao Jingmo’s side.
Xiao Jingmo pointed at the Sand Centipedes scurrying across the ground. “Father, look. There are poisonous insects everywhere.”
With everyone awake and moving around, the insects were startled into fleeing in every direction. Everywhere they looked, long, narrow bodies writhed across the ground.
The crowd fell utterly silent. Only the wilderness wind and the rustling of countless crawling insects filled their ears.
Lu Shuangshuang’s eyes, however, lit up.
“Marquis, Second Young Master, these insects may be venomous, but they’re also valuable medicinal ingredients. They won’t attack people unless something provokes them. Everyone, there’s no need to panic.”
She took out a shriveled waterskin and caught several Sand Centipedes alive.
Once Lu Shuangshuang took the lead in catching them, the others were not nearly as frightened.
Xiao Jingmo helped collect a few more and wrapped them all securely in oiled paper.
They would have to be specially processed before they could be used as medicine.
After that commotion, everyone was wide awake and too afraid to sleep again.
They leaned against one another, drifting in and out of shallow sleep until dawn.
The group had eaten the last of its food the previous night, and almost no water remained. They had to reach Jinzhou today.
Otherwise, they would all die in this deserted wasteland and join the sun-bleached animal carcasses scattered across the ground.
They walked on empty stomachs for half a day. The blazing sun roasted them from above, while the saline earth burned beneath their feet. Moisture drained rapidly from their bodies.
They could endure a while longer without food. Without water, however, every one of them would be dead within two days.
Old Madam Xiao and Madam Liu, the two older women, were already swaying on their feet.
Lu Shuangshuang added a little coarse salt to the medicinal water she had brewed the previous night.
“Old Madam, Mother, take a tiny sip. It will help keep you going. Hold on just a little longer. We’ll definitely reach Jinzhou.”
Old Madam Xiao leaned against Nanny Chen’s shoulder, utterly drained. The heat haze left her eyes half closed.
With Lu Shuangshuang holding the water for her, she took a tiny sip.
The others were suffering too. Pei Wanqing gently pounded her aching legs, her forehead beaded with sweat.
Jin Bao lay listlessly in Xiao Che’s arms. Her tender little face had been burned dark red by the sun, and her skin was beginning to peel.
Xiao Jingyu had been tied to Xiao Jingmo’s back with strips of cloth and looked just as dispirited.
Only despair seemed to hang in the air.
They had been using the sun to keep their bearings, but the farther they went, the less confident they became. An endless expanse of saline wasteland stretched before them, without a single person or even a small animal in sight.
“Daddy… go that way.”
Jin Bao opened her eyes blearily and weakly lifted her little head. Pointing in one direction, she spoke without the slightest strength.
Xiao Che looked where his daughter was pointing, but it appeared no different from any other direction.
Still, he did not dare stop.
After a brief rest, they resumed their journey. The already silent group grew quieter still.
The only sound was the scrape of their feet over the ground. Even their breathing seemed to have softened.
They walked from sunrise to sunset. Then, without warning, several exiles from the Xiao Family Branches collapsed at the rear.
All they had eaten along the journey were coarse black-flour buns. They were also injured and had no one to care for them. Lasting this long had already pushed them to their limits.
Madam Chen’s eldest son never rose again either. Only Madam Chen and Xiao Yan remained alive.
Li Si watched those people fall and never get up. Panic churned inside him.
“Brother San, are we going to die here too?”
Zhu Laosan patted him lightly on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry. Brother San will get you back to the Capital. We’ll definitely survive.”
Even as he said it, Zhu Laosan had no confidence at all.
“Grandmother!”
Xiao Jinghao cried out and caught Old Madam Xiao before she fell.
Hearing him, Xiao Che gathered what little strength he had left and strode over.
“Mother, wake up.”
He pinched the philtrum beneath Old Madam Xiao’s nose hard. It took a long moment before her eyes finally fluttered open.
“Mother, you can’t fall asleep.”
That dry, useless warning was all Xiao Che could offer now.
Nanny Chen and Xiao Che helped Old Madam Xiao sit up and lean against a large rock to rest.
Nearby, Pei Wanqing could not hold on much longer either and nearly toppled over. Fortunately, Xiao Jingmo had been supporting her all along.
Madam Liu and her daughter-in-law clung to one another, both looking utterly drained.
Everyone’s lips were dry and peeling, their faces gray with dirt.
The blazing sun had drawn the moisture from their bodies during the day, while the cold wind stripped away their warmth at night. The constant swing between heat and cold was more than the elderly and children could bear.
Madam Chen held the body of her last son, but she no longer had a single tear left to shed.
Her lips were split with bloody cracks, and her expression was numb and vacant.
She set down her son’s body, swayed to her feet, and staggered step by step toward Xiao Che’s family.
When she was only a few paces away, she suddenly lunged at Jin Bao.
“Aren’t you the Star Maiden? Why didn’t you lead us out of here? It was all a lie! A lie!”
Xiao Jingmo shielded Jin Bao at once and kicked Madam Chen squarely in the chest.
He had not misheard her. Madam Chen had said Star Maiden.
How did she know Jin Bao was the Star Maiden?
His gaze darkened. After setting Jin Bao down, he threw himself at Madam Chen and seized her by the hair.
He knew they could not let her live.
Madam Chen no longer had the strength to resist. Xiao Jingmo dragged her around like a corpse.
Xiao Yan did not react at all as Xiao Jingmo rained punches and kicks down on her. He had no strength left to intervene. His limbs were as limp as noodles, and even rolling over was beyond him.
Zhu Laosan and Li Si had no interest in meddling either.
They had been too far away to hear Madam Chen clearly. From where they stood, it merely looked as though she had gone to cause trouble and Xiao Jingmo was beating her for it.
By the time Xiao Jingmo stopped, Madam Chen had barely half a breath left in her.
Exhausted, he collapsed onto the ground and panted heavily.
Jingle…
The crisp chime of a bell drifted faintly from far away, only to be scattered by the wind almost at once.
“Mo’er, I think I heard a bell. Could someone be passing nearby?”
Xiao Che had the sharpest hearing. Bracing his hands on his knees, he forced himself upright.
Night had long since swallowed the land. Only a sky full of stars and a lone moon cast their pale radiance over the wilderness.
Supporting each other, Zhu Laosan and Li Si made their way to Xiao Che.
“Brother Xiao, I think we heard a bell just now too.”
The moment Zhu Laosan finished speaking, the bell rang again, this time much more clearly.
“Someone’s there! There’s someone over there.”
Li Si’s lifeless eyes blazed with the will to survive. He stumbled toward the sound of the bell.
Xiao Jingmo paused for only an instant before snatching a rock off the ground and smashing it down on Madam Chen’s head.
Her body jerked once, then went still.
He checked beneath her nose. Once he confirmed she was no longer breathing, he walked toward Xiao Yan.
Given Madam Chen’s nature, she must have told Xiao Yan. Neither of them could be allowed to live.
Xiao Yan was struggling to rise when Li Si’s delighted shout reached his ears. The desperate will to survive told him that he had to get up.
But before he could even roll over, a blow came crashing down on his head.
Xiao Jingmo did not hesitate. He struck twice with all his strength.
Only after he was certain Xiao Yan had stopped moving did he drop the bloodied stone and stagger back toward Jin Bao.
To protect her, he would gladly stain his hands with blood and walk over mountains of bones. He would never allow even the slightest harm to come to Jin Bao.