Chen Xiaobei held up the torch, walking and shouting.
Not far ahead, he first rushed to the place where he had first discovered the pheasants.
Chen Dachun had been to this place.
After shouting a few times without a response, Chen Xiaobei thought that he had already picked all the wild eggs. Even if Chen Dachun had come, he would have left long ago.
Thinking of this, he turned and walked up the mountain again.
Unconsciously, he had walked another two or three li uphill, and Chen Xiaobei began to ponder.
He had observed today that the pheasants' habitat was all within three li of the foot of the mountain, meaning that the pheasants had not gone too high. If he really wanted to pick wild eggs, and he shouted like this, Chen Dachun would definitely have heard him.
Could it be that Dachun had gone up the mountain?
But there were no pheasants on the mountain.
Suddenly, he slapped his forehead.
For several days, he had been going into the mountains alone, and he hadn't seen Dachun enter the mountains.
In the afternoon, he went into the mountains with Cui Hongyu and sent Qiaoer to Dachun's house. Dachun went into the mountains that afternoon.
This indicated that they must have found out something from Qiaoer's mouth.
Chen Xiaobei instantly understood.
Qiaoer must have told Dachun about his discovery of the ginseng, so Dachun also wanted to go into the mountains to find ginseng.
With this realization, Chen Xiaobei had a goal.
Although he was not sure if Dachun knew where the mountain god temple was where the ginseng was, he was certain of one thing: Dachun would definitely head deeper into the mountains.
Therefore, heading towards the mountain god temple or even further up, he might find Dachun.
Walking in the mountain forest, the occasional sound of disturbed insects and birds still made Chen Xiaobei feel a little scared.
But listening carefully, besides those tiny sounds, there was no other noise, which reassured Chen Xiaobei quite a bit.
Walking and shouting, shouting and walking.
Unknowingly, Chen Xiaobei arrived at the mountain god temple.
Upon reaching the mountain god temple, Chen Xiaobei looked around, and there seemed to be no traces, which made him feel surprised.
When he was young, he and Dachun had only ever reached the mountain god temple. Would he continue to walk further up?
He shouted a few more times at the top of his lungs, and at that moment, he heard a strange sound.
It was a rustling sound.
And it was not far away.
Chen Xiaobei looked around and could only hide in the mountain god temple.
After all, the mountain god temple was like a room, even though the roof already had a big hole.
But strangely, the sound seemed to stay in place and did not come towards him.
Chen Xiaobei's courage grew. He shouted twice more towards that direction.
Hearing his shouts, the sound stopped.
But after a while, the sound started again.
Chen Xiaobei shouted twice more, and the sound stopped again.
At this time, Chen Ping and others at the foot of the mountain heard Chen Xiaobei's strange cries. They exchanged glances and stood up abruptly.
"Captain, what is that sound?"
San Jin listened with his ear tilted. "Why does it not sound like a human voice? Could he have encountered something?"
As they were speaking, Chen Xiaobei cried out a few more times.
This time, the crowd could no longer remain calm. Someone turned and ran down the mountain.
With someone leading the way, the morale was in disarray.
Watching everyone rush down the mountain in a panic, Chen Ping shook his head towards the mountain. "Alas, I can't be blamed for this. Brother Xiaobei, take care of yourself."
Meanwhile, Chen Xiaobei had already left the mountain god temple and was slowly moving towards the source of the sound. Now he could see clearly that at the bottom of the cliff not far ahead, there were a few small trees.
That was where the sound was coming from.
Chen Xiaobei reached the edge of the cliff and extended his torch to look down. The scene before him startled him greatly.
In the dark area below, it looked like a person was lying there.
He extended the torch further down again, and he was sure that a person was lying there.
He looked around. There were indeed some protruding rocks nearby, which he could use to get down.
Without a word, Chen Xiaobei stuck the torch into a nearby crevice and jumped down in a flash.
This person was a full two Zhang away from the path above, and appeared to be seriously injured.
But as Chen Xiaobei got closer, he suddenly felt something strange. This person did not look like Dachun.
Yes, it was not Dachun.
Perhaps sensing someone approaching, the person raised his head and managed to utter two words to Chen Xiaobei, "Save me."
After saying this, he lay there motionless.
Chen Xiaobei felt a little disappointed. He had come to find Dachun, but this person was not Dachun. However, this person seemed to be seriously injured, and he could not just leave him to die.
It seemed that this person had fallen off the cliff and was injured. Fortunately, he was lucky enough to be caught by these small trees. Otherwise, if he had fallen to the bottom of the cliff, he would have died instantly.
Chen Xiaobei finally decided to save the person, as saving a life was better than building a seven-story pagoda.
But how could he get this person up? It was a full two Zhang high.
Chen Xiaobei took off his belt, shirt, and pants, tying them together to form a rope.
But this was not enough.
There was no other way, so he went forward and took off the injured person's clothes.
He tied the clothes into a rope. He tied a small stone to it and swung it upwards, and from below, he tied the person under his shoulders.
The rope was enough.
But when he returned to the cliff, Chen Xiaobei was troubled again. The place was bare, with no leverage. Could he pull this person up with his bare hands? Not a chance.
What could he do?
Helplessly, Chen Xiaobei had to abandon this method. Finally, he gritted his teeth and decided to use the most cumbersome method: go down and carry the person up.
Chen Xiaobei descended into the cliff again, helped the person up, tied them to his back, and climbed up step by step, with great difficulty.
One step, two steps. With every step Chen Xiaobei took, he felt he might fall.
But his frail body now erupted with immense energy.
He thought of Cui Hongyu waiting for him to return, and of Chen Qiaoer's cute face.
Chen Xiaobei gritted his teeth and persevered.
Even though the rock wall cut his arms and legs, he was still fearless.
Step by step, he didn't know how long he climbed, but Chen Xiaobei finally made it to the top.
With a flip, he finally managed to get the person onto the cliff, and he collapsed beside them.
His chest heaved violently, and he gasped for air.
Suddenly, the person beside him moved and grabbed his arm.
"Thank you."
Chen Xiaobei slowly sat up and, by the light of the torch, examined the person carefully.
The person was thin, but it was evident that he was full of muscle.
Speaking of which, it was fortunate that this person was thin. If he had been a big fat man, Chen Xiaobei really wouldn't have been able to carry him.
Chen Xiaobei sighed slightly. "Brother, you'll have to lie here for a while. I still need to find someone else."
But the person suddenly pointed downwards. "Below, below, there's another person."
"I, I, he, he..." After saying this, the person fainted again.
Chen Xiaobei was startled. There was still someone below. The cliff nearby was at least seven or eight Zhang high. If he fell to the bottom, then perhaps...
Chen Xiaobei picked up the torch he had been reluctant to light, lit it, and carefully walked down the cliff.
He walked down about four Zhang, and only then did he vaguely see that there was indeed another person below.