Jun You Ji Fou

Chapter 52

In the quiet wild ridges outside Chang'an, a solitary light flickered in the dark night.

Du Yue set aside his small shovel, his head bowed as he concentrated on the herb in his hands. Qin Zhao squatted down beside him, bringing the lantern closer so Du Yue could see better.

After examining it back and forth, Du Yue laughed, "Ah, finally found it. It wasn't in vain that I came digging in the mountains in the dead of night." He stood up, carefully wiping the dirt off the roots, and nodded towards Qin Zhao, "Thanks!"

"It's nothing," Qin Zhao replied, standing up and looking at the unremarkable green grass, "Is this what you were looking for so eagerly?"

"This?" Du Yue mimicked his flat tone, suppressing his voice, "Do you know what this is used for?"

Qin Zhao shook his head.

"This is a secret recipe unique to my master! Just this one, and once it's made into a medicine, I could knock you and those surnamed Chu out for months!" Du Yue bragged, shaking the herb, "Scared?"

"Master Ye is indeed formidable," Qin Zhao nodded.

"Hey, Qin Zhao, I really can't keep talking to you like this," Du Yue rolled his eyes, wrapping the herb and was about to tuck it away when Qin Zhao grabbed his hand, asking curiously, "What's up?"

Qin Zhao, holding his wrist, pulled it towards him and took out a clean handkerchief, meticulously wiping off the mud and dust from Du Yue's hands.

Du Yue spread his palm, contentedly letting him clean it. Amidst the faint chirping of insects in the mountains, Du Yue boredly stared at Qin Zhao's drooping brows and suddenly said, "Qin Zhao, this suddenly makes me think of my cousin."

The hand holding his wrist tightened momentarily, Qin Zhao composed himself before he could hurt him, and after a long silence, he whispered, "Did he do this for you too?"

"Somewhat," Du Yue considered, "But my cousin usually just handed me the handkerchief, never wiped it for me. My mother instructed him not to spoil me; otherwise, he'd have to beat me."

Qin Zhao, wordlessly, continued to earnestly clean even the slightest speck of sand from between his fingers.

Reflecting on his childhood, Du Yue lamented, "Thinking about it, I was beaten every day as a kid, unlike my cousin. He had good handwriting, excelled in his studies, and even had a good temper. My mother always told me to learn from him." He suddenly recalled, "Wait, that's not right. My cousin was also beaten once, and it was severe. Normally, he was obedient from a young age, but for some reason, my uncle decided to discipline him with the family punishment. He was so angry that he left my cousin with a back full of bloody marks and even made him kneel in the ancestral hall for days. My aunt cried for days over it. My mother used to scare me with that, saying if I didn't behave, she would send me to my uncle's house."

"Alright," Qin Zhao said, putting away the handkerchief and releasing his wrist.

"Yeah," Du Yue picked up the small shovel from the ground and got ready, "Let's head back!"

Qin Zhao nodded and followed him, the forest dark and mysterious in the night. As the wind shook the trees, creating a rustling sound, Qin Zhao suddenly became alert, handing the lantern to Du Yue and defensively placing him behind, focusing intently into the distance.

In just a moment, Du Yue heard panicked running sounds, accompanied by increasingly heavy breathing, rapid and desperate, clearly discernible as a woman's voice.

Curious, Du Yue leaned forward to see a figure stumbling towards them under the overlapping shadows of the trees, continuously looking back in terror. Upon seeing someone ahead, she rushed over without hesitation, crying out, "Save me... please save me...!"