Moonpetal Grass

Meanwhile, on the other side, as Hu Xiaocao ventured deeper into the mountains, she occasionally felt afraid. But whenever she looked up at the bright moon overhead, she seemed to feel much less frightened.

The little girl walked on, and the moon followed her.

The silvery radiance was like her mother's great hand, caressing her face and driving away the darkness around her.

After an unknown length of time, Hu Xiaocao felt that everything around her had grown a little brighter. The light seemed to be coming from somewhere not far ahead, so she pushed aside the waist-high bushes.

"Ah!"

The scene before her made her cry out in shock.

A full moon hung high in the sky, and beneath it, a long snake was actually lying there.

The moonlight shone upon the snake's body, as if coating it in a layer of silver radiance.

The entire snake was clearly green tinged with black, but beneath the moonlight, it appeared as translucent as jade. Every scale seemed to gleam with white light. It was so holy that people could not help wanting to bow down and worship it.

The moonlight flowed around it, as if it were swallowing and exhaling the light of the moon.

Because of their appearance—and because some snakes were highly venomous—people generally felt fear or dread when they saw them.

But the snake before Hu Xiaocao had nothing ugly about it. In fact, she inexplicably felt that it was especially sacred.

Hu Xiaocao could not help covering her mouth. She looked up at the sky, where the bright moon hung on the horizon, impossibly huge.

She rubbed her eyes. Then, as though she had thought of something, her eyes suddenly became radiant, as if stars had fallen into them.

"Could it be Grandpa Mountain God?"

"It must be Grandpa Mountain God! Otherwise, how could such a strange scene appear?"

But how could Grandpa Mountain God possibly be a snake?

Yet... there was no rule saying that the Mountain God could not be a snake.

Once she figured that out, Hu Xiaocao was filled with awe and respect.

Just from this strange spectacle, together with the things the adults had said before, Hu Xiaocao could be certain.

The snake before her was the Mountain God!

No wonder even the Mountain God's snake scales looked so different!

She hurriedly knelt on the ground and took out the wild fruits she had picked along the way. After wiping them on her sleeve, she respectfully placed them in front of her.

"Grandpa Mountain God, please bless my mother and let her recover quickly. Please help me find a plant that blooms at night. Xiao Cao will definitely work hard to pick more fruit to honor you."

Hu Xiaocao muttered under her breath and kowtowed without stopping, her manner utterly devout.

Just as she was about to stand, she failed to notice the path beneath her feet. She suddenly stumbled into empty space, flailing her arms as she tried to grab something and steady herself.

However, there was nothing nearby to support her, only a few fragile plants. She yanked one out by hand, and then her entire body rolled downhill.

In the final image before losing consciousness, she vaguely saw a slender shadow crawling toward her. The crescent moon in the sky seemed to be drawing closer as well.

Silver radiance shone upon Hu Xiaocao's face, as if it could dispel every ache and injury.

Was this an illusion?

Hu Xiaocao had never felt the moon so close to her. It seemed within arm's reach. She slowly revealed a smile, then fainted.

Ye Qin looked at the little girl lying before him. Fortunately, the slope was not steep. Aside from a few superficial injuries, Hu Xiaocao was fine.

"Grandpa Mountain God?"

Several question marks slowly appeared in his mind. His hearing was excellent, so even from a distance, he had clearly heard Hu Xiaocao's muttering.

How had this little girl decided that he was so old?

Even if he added together his age from his previous life and this one, he still was not thirty. How had he suddenly become someone of grandparental age?

Ye Qin's forked tongue trembled. He abruptly raised his body upright, and his snake pupils faintly narrowed into vertical slits.

"Hu Xiaocao."

Several words drifted over on the cool night breeze, followed by the sound of footsteps. Ye Qin quickly picked them up.

It probably would not be long before those people found their way here.

Hearing the commotion nearby, Ye Qin tapped the tip of his tail against the ground once more and concealed himself in the undergrowth.

Soon, the villagers came over carrying flashlights.

"We found her! The little grass girl is here."

When they saw Hu Xiaocao lying on the ground with her eyes tightly shut, her life or death unknown, everyone's hearts grew tense.

Wu Yuan took a look. Although Hu Xiaocao's face was a mess, she had no life-threatening injuries. Aside from a bruise on her forehead, she seemed fine. He reached out to check her breathing.

"Thank goodness. She's only unconscious. There's nothing seriously wrong with her."

At those words, the hearts lodged in everyone's throats finally settled back down.

Out of the corner of his eye, Wu Yuan noticed the plant clutched in Hu Xiaocao's hand. Shock flashed across his pupils. "This is... Moonpetal Grass!"

He had never expected Hu Xiaocao to actually find Moonpetal Grass.

However, even if they found Moonpetal Grass, it would only treat the symptoms rather than the root cause of Hu Xiaocao's mother's illness. It merely had a nourishing and recuperative effect.

Wu Yuan carried Hu Xiaocao back. "There's nothing seriously wrong with her. She'll wake up after a while."

The woman almost knelt before Wu Yuan, but he quickly stopped her. "Sister, you mustn't do that."

"Thank you, Uncle Wu, and thank you all, fellow villagers."

The woman's eyes were red as she bowed deeply to everyone. The villagers were simple and honest; they waved their hands, all saying that she need not take it to heart.

Hu Xiaocao vaguely heard someone calling her name. She suddenly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was her mother's worried face. Several familiar uncles were gathered around as well.

"Mom, why am I here? Huh? Wasn't I on the mountain?"

The woman looked tense. "Xiao Cao, does anything hurt?"

Hu Xiaocao shook her head. "Don't worry, Mom. I'm made of iron—I'm strong as an ox."

Seeing Hu Xiaocao's emaciated figure, the woman realized that the girl had deliberately said this so she would not worry. Hu Xiaocao even patted her chest as she spoke, and the woman's eyes could not help reddening.

The people around them were deeply moved as well.

This mother and daughter were famous in the village for their misery.

The hemp rope always snapped at its thinnest point; misfortune always sought out the wretched.

But when Hu Xiaocao recalled the final scene before she lost consciousness, she remembered that she seemed to have seen the Mountain God crawling toward her!

She did not know whether it had been an illusion, but there was one thing Hu Xiaocao could be certain of: Grandpa Mountain God truly existed.

Hu Xiaocao was bursting with excitement. "Mom, I saw the Mountain God just now! Did you know? Grandpa Mountain God was actually a snake! And there was a moon so huge—bigger than the stove in our house! I almost touched the moon!"

Hu Xiaocao excitedly waved her arms and gestured before everyone.

But no one took her seriously. They merely thought it was Hu Xiaocao's imagination. Besides, she had recently heard the rumors about Wang Dazhu, Zhou Niu, and the others, so she had probably come up with such a story.

"All right, Xiao Cao."

The woman gently stroked Hu Xiaocao's head, her eyes slightly red as she looked at the tiny scratches exposed on her daughter's skin. They had all been caused by branches and leaves.

Although none of them were life-threatening, seeing so many wounds on a half-grown child still made one's heart ache.

"You must be tired after such a long day. You have to listen to me from now on. Don't run up the mountain on your own, especially at night. It's too dangerous, understand? Mom was so worried about you."

The woman hugged Hu Xiaocao, her voice gradually choking with sobs.

Hu Xiaocao felt a hot tear fall onto her shoulder. Only then did she begin to regret being so impulsive and making her mother worry.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I won't do it again."