Seeing this, Chen Xiaobei felt a little worried. What if the treasure in Hulu Valley was discovered? He had to find time to go up the mountain again.
Seeing him staring blankly at the distant mountains, Li Dong couldn't help but ask curiously, "Brother Xiaobei, what are you looking at?"
Chen Xiaobei shook his head, "Nothing, nothing. I'm thinking about where to get some stones."
Li Dong laughed, "Don't worry about these things, just leave it to me. You can come and inspect tomorrow."
This was good, it saved him trouble.
Back home, Chen Xiaobei picked up a shoulder pole and carried two wooden buckets to the river to fetch water. The green leafy vegetables he planted were almost ready to be harvested in two or three days, and water was essential.
After finishing his chores and eating lunch, Chen Xiaobei leaned under the large locust tree, but felt a little restless.
Looking at the Houttuynia cordata drying in the yard, he was itching to go back into the mountain this afternoon to carry more out.
It was midsummer, and the sun was very harsh. The Houttuynia cordata would be half-dried in a day.
At this rate, in two or three days, the Houttuynia cordata would reach the standard of "dry" as described by Jia Wannian.
This time, Chen Xiaobei brought two bundles.
The scene of startled birds he saw in the morning still made him worried. He was afraid that the secret of Hulu Valley would be discovered. If they picked the Ganoderma lucidum in a way that would destroy the entire species, it would be too much of a pity. So, he decided to salvage a few plants today.
Unlike before, when he reached the Mountain God Temple, he felt something was not right.
In the open space next to the Mountain God Temple, there were traces of burning firewood, some leftover bones, and some food scraps.
This indicated that someone had been here.
And there should have been several people.
However, it was not certain when they had fires and meals here. Considering the startled birds, perhaps they had been here last night, or perhaps they had only come in the morning and had lunch here.
Unsure if they were friends or foes, Chen Xiaobei hesitated for a moment whether to continue uphill. But in the end, he gritted his teeth. Humans die for wealth, birds die for food.
What is destined to be, will be.
As he walked uphill, the signs of someone having passed by became more and more obvious. However, what reassured him slightly was that there were only more traces, and nothing else had changed.
Upon reaching the vicinity of Hulu Valley, he was completely relieved.
The traces led further up the mountain, not towards Hulu Valley.
Familiar with the path, after entering the dense forest, before digging for Ganoderma lucidum, Chen Xiaobei deliberately looked around at the weather. It was another clear day, with not a single cloud, so it shouldn't rain, right?
Breaking off a branch, he brushed away the weeds by the roadside, and Chen Xiaobei entered Hulu Valley again.
Yesterday, they had experienced a heavy rain.
The ground was soft and wet, which was very suitable for digging.
Chen Xiaobei spread out his bundle and began to carefully dig for Ganoderma lucidum.
He chose the four largest Ganoderma lucidum. Two of them were for Jia Wannian, and the other two were for himself to cultivate. After digging them out, he first bundled the soil that was dug out with the Ganoderma lucidum, and then carefully placed them in the bundle.
Putting the bundle in the shade of the nearby weeds, he decided to go a little further inside to explore.
Ahead was a patch of trees about a person's height. Yes, the plants were not tall, but they were indeed trees, not grass.
They bore white flowers, clustered together and very fragrant. The aroma he smelled in the forest should have come from these plants.
Beyond this patch of grass were some low-lying plants. What surprised him was the scattered red dots among the grass – they were all ginseng!
Red Yu's grandfather was right. This treasure gourd was indeed filled with precious medicinal herbs.
Chen Xiaobei did not go further in, but casually dug up two ginseng plants.
On his way back, he broke off two branches of these flowering plants.
He wanted to take them back to let Cui Hongyu see what they were.
This time, the sun was shining brightly, there was no wind, and no rain. Chen Xiaobei carried his bundle and walked back.
As soon as he entered the dense forest, he heard movement in the distance.
This movement was not from within the dense forest, but from the small path leading up the mountain outside the dense forest. It was the sound of falling stones.
Could it be that the people who went up the mountain were coming down?
Chen Xiaobei quickened his pace, hiding behind a large tree, and cautiously looked outside.
Indeed, before long, a group of people descended from the mountain.
Counting them, there were five in total. The one in front was a tall and sturdy middle-aged man with a burly physique and a full beard.
The ones following him varied in height and build, but they all had one thing in common: they were all dressed in black. Some of them carried swords, and some carried knives. Sudan Novel Network.
As they walked down, they chatted, but their accents were very strange.
They were strange because their accents were completely different from those in Hetou Village, Qingniu County, or even anyone he had encountered before.
Fortunately, although the accents were strange, Chen Xiaobei could more or less understand them.
The people walking behind complained as they walked, "Qingniu Mountain is too cold at night."
"Alas, it's not just the cold, the road is too difficult to walk."
"Who says not? We searched for a long time and found nothing. It will be hard to explain when we get back. All this suffering was in vain."
The middle-aged man at the front coughed, "Alright, since Liu Tie's body wasn't found, it means he escaped. Be careful in the mountains in the future, lest we get ambushed."
"Boss, you said Liu Tie is really amazing, he could escape even after being so badly injured."
Hearing this, Chen Xiaobei's legs trembled with fright.
He had heard very clearly just now that they had not found Liu Tie's body, so these people were looking for Liu Tie.
And from the context of their conversation, it seemed they were Liu Tie's enemies.
He quickly recalled the diagnosis Hong Yu had given Liu Tie that night: fractured legs and injuries to his waist.
If that was the case, Liu Tie's injuries were not caused by falling off a cliff, but by them.
Thinking of this, Chen Xiaobei felt a surge of fear.
If these people had appeared that night, he, Cui Hong Yu, and Da Chun would have been in grave danger.
Watching the group leave, Chen Xiaobei finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
After waiting for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Chen Xiaobei cautiously emerged from the forest and headed down the mountain.
What surprised him even more was that when he passed the Mountain God Temple, the bones from the burnt firewood were all gone, as if no one had ever been there.
Chen Xiaobei knew that these traces had been cleared by those people.
This was even stranger. If they were ordinary mountain dwellers, they would not have had the awareness to clear away the traces they left behind.
His mind recalled the words of the bearded man who led the group. "Lest we get ambushed."
Yes, they were erasing the traces of their past presence for fear of retaliation.
But the problem was, what secret did Qingniu Mountain hold? And this secret seemed so important that it had to be a life-or-death struggle?