Seeing that his persuasion was useless, the master suddenly gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, “Alright then, I will accompany with you to there!”
Song Qinghan was stunned and shook his head in rejection, “Well, you don’t have to, if you really want to help, wait for me here, I will much appreciate that. If I don’t make it to come out after the night fell, go back home yourself and don’t bother yourself to get inside and find me.”
His tone was very calm when he said so, yet the master seemed to be quite of unease.
“I’ve already made up my mind, I will follow you wherever you go, so, the only situation which will keep me stay is that you stay as well. Otherwise, I am not going to leave you alone.”
Song Qinghan paused. He didn’t expect the master would talk to him with such a tone of seriousness and earnestness, and in addition, what the master talked was all for the advantages of him.
He was a little embarrassed because he didn’t want to drag the master down. After all, the chance of returning was really slim. The master’s life wasn’t the hope of the master himself, but the hope for the whole village. If he really encountered something unexpected, probably the residents in the village would sink into a turbulence of chaos without a head.
The master seemed to have seen through Song Qinghan’s inner thoughts, but he didn’t say anything. He pursed his lips into a straight line, and stood silently there, waiting for Song Qinghan to announce his final decision.
Song Qinghan thought for a long time before finally opening his lips and saying, “Alright, let’s go inside together.”
The head nodded, drove the sleigh to the safety area closest to the snow forest, found a big stone to tie the group of husky down, glanced at Song Qinghan, and took the initiative to walk towards the snow forest.
If there existed no some scary legends about the snow forest, probably it would have become a famous scenery spot. The white and neat cedars in alignment were so much joyous to see.
The warm and golden sunlight sprinkled down, casting a layer of golden glow on the snow forest. The scene, of brilliant rays of light gladdening the heart and refreshing the mind, seemed to exist only in heaven!
The queerest thing was that there wasn’t much snow cover here. Song Qinghan stepped on it but the thickness of it just reached his ankles to the lower part of his shanks.
Seeing the doubt in his eyes, the master suddenly explained, “Someone said that it was because there are countless human bones buried beneath, that’s why the snow cover is so thin.”
Song Qinghan paused and looked at his feet thoughtfully, he wasn’t hurried to make a further step onto the snow.
The master thought Song Qinghan was afraid, so his got his mind relaxed suddenly. He smiled and said, “Actually, if we stay outside of the snow forest and just have a peek into it, we are able to find whether here exists snowlotus or not. And if we choose to go back now, we might catch the dinner just in time!”
Yet beyond the master’s expectation, Song Qinghan raised his hands high in the air, motioning the master to stop talking, and then he said slowly, “Don’t you feel that it is quite strange? Why the rumors keep coming out but the snow forest remains its mystery?”
Hearing his question, the head who had just got his mind tense secretly let out a sigh of relief.
He thought that someone had approached or something which incurred the meticulous silence of Song Qinghan, but he did not expect Song Qinghan to be on guard for so long just for considering such a question.
“Have you forgotten our tradition? People who can’t be saved will be thrown into the snow forest, so there are always some news coming back and forth. Of course, many of stories are speculated by them and not necessarily accurate.”
“Them?” Song Qinghan repeated, with the images of figures and faces of those men who tried to get Goudan away that day reoccurred in his mind.
“So you mean that all the rumors were leaked only by them based on one-sided remarks? So, those who headed to here these years are all the same ones?”
The master was stunned and didn’t understand why Song Qinghan’s expression suddenly became rather serious, but he still answered honestly, “Yes, sure, because the Qin Family should be the one who is the most familiar to this route. So from the very beginning, it fell to them to be responsible for this mission, something wrong with that?”
“Something wrong?” Song Qinghan squinted his eyes suddenly, and then slowly replied, “Well, not to scare you, but something might have gotten seriously wrong!”
Although he didn’t know what the depths of the snow forest look like, it seemed that nothing threatening had potentially posted from the current consideration. The reason why the snow forest would piss those men off was totally because of themselves, the fact was that those men were scared by their own imaginations.
Or, in other words, they were just frightened by those rumors.
If there was no danger in the snow forest, then it could be speculated that the ones who spread these rumors must be hiding something.
Even worse… Suddenly, something seemed to occur to him, he opened his eyes wide and asked, “Who was the one found the opium poppy in the very beginning?”
The head was frightened by Song Qinghan’s shocked appearance and said with a confused expression, “Emm… if you have to mention the effect of that plant, I would say it’s also the Qin Family’s credit..”
He paused and seemed to have understood what Song Qinghan was thinking. He said in disbelief, “You mean, is there something wrong with the Qin Family?”
Song Qinghan pursed his lips and suddenly turned his head to stare at the route they came along.
“I got an idea in my mind, let’s head back.”
Although the master guessed that Song Qinghan was suspecting the Qin Family, he had no clue about what he suspected. So when he heard Song Qinghan’s words, he seemed to have not reacted and asked subconsciously, “What’s happening? We have just entered this area…”
Song Qinghan shook his head and said decisively, “Go back first. Otherwise… I don’t think we are able to get out of here.”
Then, he walked straight to the direction of the spot where the sleigh stayed, seemingly being rather anxious.
The master followed up in behind in confusion. Just as they reached the place where the sleigh stayed, several members from the Qin Family were approaching not afar. And then the master frowned and spoke to them, “What brings you here?”
It seemed that the family members from the Qin Family didn’t expect that they would meet the master and Song Qinghan in such a way in coincidence, they stared at each other in the eyes, and then in the end it was the oldest son of the Qin Family, Qin Sanmu, took the initiative to speak, “Master, you’ve been out for so long, we, including the rest of the residents worried that you might have encountered something unsolvable, that’s why we come over here as a representative to check out. Master… Are you trying to get inside or, have you already come out from the forest?”
Although the master didn’t know what Song Qinghan intended to do, he subconsciously helped him hide the fact, “We originally planned to go in, but then I thought it was too dangerous inside, so I gave up and prepared to go back.”
After that, Qin Sanmu raised his head and looked forward to the back of Song Qinghan and the master. Just as he saw that the snowy ground was still in a perfect condition as before, he nodded thoroughly and then smiled, saying, “You’re right, master, it’s really dangerous inside here, you shouldn’t risk your life for whatever intentions you got.”
“Alright!” the master answered, and then got onto the sleigh together with Song Qinghan, hurriedly heading back to the village before these Qin guys took any other actions.
After they were some distance from the Qin family, the master turned to look at Song Qinghan and asked, “So have you already known that they would come? So that you eradicated the marks and changed another direction?”
Song Qinghan looked ahead with a faint expression and roared in a low voice, “I’m not kind of a divine who is able to predict whether they will come or not. However, their presence actually has proven my other speculation.”
The master paused and followed his train of thought. “Do you mean that the Qin Family gets a tie with the snow forest?”
Song Qinghan nodded and asked directly, “Didn’t you find it rather strange? Do you really find something threatening to us when we entered the snow forest? In addition, it is really a tricky way to let out bunch of rumors no matter if it is really dangerous inside or not. They can just warn us not to approach with just some simple words instead of exaggerating the fact! I don’t think the warnings are enough to threaten the residents.”
“Such action of letting out alarmist talks again and again only proves that they might get something evil in their minds.”
The master rubbed the rope in his hand thoughtfully and slowly asked, “Why did they do so? And as for the opium poppy you mentioned just then, is it related to the Qin Family as well? Or! They intend to ruin our village?”
Song Qinghan didn’t admit it, nor did he deny, he just stared at the village which was approaching in his sight, and then he said slightly, “I got a plan. And if it runs smooth, we might know their real intention tomorrow.”
Seeing that Song Qinghan’s face was assuming an expression of calmness, the master gradually calmed down. After entering the village, he sighed heavily and exclaimed, “If it wasn’t you, probably this secret will hide away for an eternity. Actually sometimes I got a strong feeling that probably it is the divine will which let us meet each other.”
Hearing that, Song Qinghan smiled with embarrassment but didn’t say anything.
The master also realized that he had said something improper. He cleared his throat and changed the topic, and then said slowly, “It’s time to have dinner. We will negotiate about the arrangement about the plan.”
“Alright!” Song Qinghan sounded and answered, and then he went to check Goudan’s situation directly. Since he found Goudan was regaining his consciousness, he didn’t say any other useless words but informed Goudan’s femina father about the other matters needing his attention.
Just at the moment he turned around and was about to leave, it seemed that he recalled something in his mind suddenly, and then he approached to Goudan, whispering, “Tell me, who gave you the stuff which made you so addicted to?”
Gou Dandan lifted his eyelids and a glow flashed in his murky eyes. He confessed slowly and difficultly, “San… Sanmu…”
After the confession, he started to cry as his eyes and lips wrinkled as if he was kicking himself for self-accusation.
Song Qinghan paused, reached out to pat the poor man on the back, he comforted him for a short while and then stood up, turned around and left the room.
Again, everything seemed to get a close tie with the Qin Family! And, this so-called Qin Family seemed to get a great power to handle everything with an unknown ambition. Though, superficially, the master was seemingly the only head and leader of this village, the Qin Family still got somehow the power to manipulate the whole event from the beginning to the end. In other words, they could be the real controller behind the scene!
After dinner, Song Qinghan walked to the empty spacious space just as he did yesterday, waiting for the moon to rise.
Suddenly, a noise of hurried footsteps sounded behind his back. Subconsciously, he turned his head, and to his surprise, Qin Sanmu was approaching with a smile. Calming down, he then asked to Qin Sanmu in a plain tone, “What’s wrong? Did you get something to inform me?”
In face, Qin Sanmu was not that ugly, but the temperament he gave off made Song Qinghan feel a bit disgusted. And, probably by knowing the fact that the opium poppy was related to their family, Song Qinghan even started putting a hatred on this man.
Fortunately, Qin Sanmu did not discern Song Qinghan’s defensiveness. After all, they were just strangers to each other by far. No one would be so enthusiastic towards a stranger in their first greet.
He smiled and followed Song Qinghan’s gaze to stare at the sky. He said slightly, “Are you waiting for the moon, Doctor Song? Just because of that legend?”
Song Qinghan did not doubt the authenticity of the legend, but after hearing Qin Sanmu’s teasing tone, he asked in return, “So do you know? I mean, the exact location of the snowlotus?”
“I do know!” replied Qin Sanmu.
Song Qinghan didn’t expect that Qin Sanmu would reply him so directly, and such a reply almost failed him to regain his attention.