Hearing Chen Xiaobei's words, Raldo was stunned. He suddenly opened his eyes, "You, you, who exactly are you?"
Chen Xiaowen beside him immediately yelled at him, "Who are we? We are your saviors. If it weren't for our Brother Xiaobei, your brother Yang Zhi would have died long ago, and you wouldn't be alive."
Instead of being annoyed by Chen Xiaowen's outburst, Raldo became even more anxious, "Then, then where is Brother Yang Zhi? Where did he go?"
Chen Xiaobei looked at Raldo, sighed slightly, and said in a deep voice, "To be honest, I don't know where he went. When he left yesterday, he said he suspected you were betrayed and were investigating the real culprit."
Raldo's eyes immediately widened, his expression filled with grief and indignation, "Alas, no need to investigate. Isn't it obvious? The one who harmed us is Liu Rumei. She kept urging us to enter the mountain. I knew it wouldn't be good, but I didn't expect this woman to be so heartless."
Chen Xiaobei did not agree with his assessment. If Liu Rumei had betrayed Raldo and the others, there would have been no need for them to enter the mountain a second time.
This further proved that Sun Jian and Liu Rumei were not working together.
Raldo struggled to sit up, but Chen Xiaobei pressed him down, "Your legs are broken. You need to rest well. It will take two or three months before you can get out of bed."
Raldo then lowered his head and looked at his legs, which were covered in thick herbal medicine. Gratitude instantly flooded his face, "Thank you for saving my life. May I ask your honorable surname and given name?"
Chen Xiaobei smiled indifferently, "Just call me Chen Xiaobei. You should rest here for now. My people will take good care of you with three meals a day."
If only for the large sum of silver Yang Zhi had given him, he had to take good care of Raldo.
When Chen Xiaobei returned home, Li Dong found him again. Li Dong's idea was clearly beyond Chen Xiaobei's expectation, "Brother Xiaobei, when can we organize people to go up the mountain and dig back that ginseng and lingzhi?"
His words reminded Chen Xiaobei, but Chen Xiaobei was not thinking about Hulu Valley.
He was thinking of the few ginseng plants he had discovered with Da Lao Hei and the others, the ones guarded by the large snakes.
He looked up at the sky. If he went into the mountains now, he was familiar with the route. Two days would be enough. He would leave today and return tomorrow.
Hearing his idea, Li Dong looked incredulous, "Staying in the mountains for two days just for a few ginseng plants, is it worth it?"
Chen Xiaobei had no choice but to paint a grand vision, "Not only ginseng, but also a few large snakes. It is said that those snakes can fetch a good price in the county town."
Hearing his words, Li Dong's face lit up with excitement, "Really? Can snakes also be sold at a high price?"
Chen Xiaobei didn't know if snakes could be sold at a high price, but snake meat was indeed delicious. If it couldn't be sold, he would eat it himself.
When he told Cui Hongyu again that he was going into the mountains, Cui Hongyu's reaction was very calm. Cui Hongyu was already used to Chen Xiaobei going into the mountains.
Chen Xiaobei handed Cui Hongyu the mountain route map he had drawn and told her that if he didn't return after three days, she could follow this route if she wanted to go into the mountain. If she couldn't find him after searching, he would likely not be coming back.
Cui Hongyu went into the house and packed some dried meat that Liu Rumei had given them, handing it to Chen Xiaobei.
Chen Xiaobei thought for a moment, then took out the large water skin used for selling fish.
They would be in the mountains for two days, so they had to bring enough water.
This one water skin would suffice. Although it was a bit troublesome to carry, it was practical.
Besides water, the most important thing was the repeating crossbow. This thing was a life-saving tool.
With all preparations complete, Chen Xiaobei, accompanied by Li Dong, set off. They were very familiar with the path and soon arrived at the Mountain God Temple. The section from the foot of the mountain to the Mountain God Temple was so familiar to Chen Xiaobei that he could walk quickly with his eyes closed. He knew where the turns were, where it was steep, and where it was flat; it was all in his mind.
Upon arriving at the Mountain God Temple, the two stopped to drink some water and rest briefly.
Chen Xiaobei casually turned his head and saw a pile of unburnt branches in the corner.
This was definitely new. Chen Xiaobei felt suspicious and stepped forward, picking up a branch and gently touching the ashes on it.
The ashes were very dry, suggesting they were recently burnt. The mountain was too humid. If they had been left from two days ago, the ashes would have been wet.
This meant that someone had started a fire here last night.
Chen Xiaobei's heart sank. He first ruled out Da Lao Hei. If Da Lao Hei had come, he would have sought him out.
The possibility of Liu Rumei's people was also unlikely, as she had been there just yesterday.
Then there was only one possibility: Sun Jian.
Calculated, Sun Jian hadn't asked him to lead him into the mountains for several days. Compared to his eagerness a few days ago, this was indeed a bit unusual.
He dropped the branch and turned to Li Dong, saying, "Someone has been here. We need to be careful."
Chen Xiaobei's deduction was correct. Someone had indeed been there, and it was Sun Jian.
Seeing the birds startled and flying up from the foot of the mountain, Sun Jian knew someone had entered the mountain. They hastily cleaned up the scene and then hid in the bamboo forest behind the Mountain God Temple.
Watching Chen Xiaobei and Li Dong continue up the mountain, Sun Gui let out a sigh of relief, "Big brother, why does Chen Xiaobei go into the mountains every few days?"
"What else? It must be for the ginseng and lingzhi in the valley. If we can find them, they can find them even better."
Sun Jian waited for another half an hour before leading his men up the mountain.
To avoid arousing Li Dong's suspicion, Chen Xiaobei would stop and observe at some forks in the road, pretending to be thoughtful. Of course, he didn't intentionally take the wrong path.
They walked until the sun was setting in the west, and the two arrived at the canyon.
Seeing the canyon, which was more than ten zhang wide and bottomless, Li Dong was greatly startled.
"Did you really cross it with just a rope?"
Chen Xiaobei nodded. He stepped forward and pulled the rope hard a few times, checking the safety of the two ropes.
Then he took out a length of rope from his satchel, tied one end around his waist, and the other end to the iron ring, just as he had done that day.
"Brother Li Dong, I'll demonstrate it for you first. Then you can do as I do."
This time, Chen Xiaobei learned his lesson. He untied his satchel and hung it on the rope, making it much easier.
Watching Chen Xiaobei inch his way to the other side, Li Dong stared with wide eyes, unable to recover for a long time.
How was the rope stretched across such a distance?
This was far beyond Li Dong's comprehension. He couldn't figure it out.
It took Chen Xiaobei about fifteen minutes to crawl across.
Standing on the opposite bank, Chen Xiaobei waved to Li Dong.
Li Dong followed suit, untying his satchel. His satchel was much heavier, with a large water skin alone weighing twenty pounds.
Fortunately, he had been a soldier and had a good foundation, so after crawling a few zhang, he gradually adapted, and his speed picked up.
At this moment, Chen Xiaobei's attention was entirely on Li Dong, and he did not notice Sun Jian and his group arriving at the scene. They hid behind a pile of rocks. Seeing the two cross this chasm in such a manner, they were instantly stunned.
Sun Gui's eyes widened, "How did they do it? How did they set up the rope for such a distance of over ten zhang?"
Sun Ce also sighed, "If we had this thing that day, we wouldn't have been surrounded by wolves."