Rose Thorns

The group had barely managed to fill their stomachs and were preparing to continue the afternoon search when they began leaving Old Zhu's family one by one.

The short woman suddenly appeared before them, wielding a kitchen knife she had apparently snatched from somewhere.

She stood on Stone Path, blocking the entrance to Old Zhu's family.

She barred their way.

The short woman's eyes were bloodshot, as if she had suffered some tremendous blow.

She kept muttering, "I'm Xiao Xia! I won't be...! I'm going to kill you all!"

Wen Dian was the first to open the door. He let out a startled cry and hastily backed away from the knife in front of him.

Guo Mu was clearly more timid. He immediately hid at the very back of the group.

The short woman's muddled state of mind was beginning to make Zheng Wuyou believe...

That she had killed Sun Wu.

They never should have left that ticking time bomb in anyone's hands.

"Don't get worked up, Xiao Xia! We're all on the same side. Have you forgotten?" Uncle Cai spoke gently and reached out to calm her, but she wouldn't listen to a word.

She clamped her teeth down on the fleshy web between Uncle Cai's thumb and forefinger.

Uncle Cai winced and tried to pull his hand away, but Xiao Xia held on tight and wouldn't let go.

Everyone could see blood seeping from Uncle Cai's palm.

"She's gone mad!" Hu Yu sounded afraid, but she was the first to rush over and help Uncle Cai.

She circled behind the short woman, trying to snatch the knife away.

But the short woman was now as strong as an ox!

The knife didn't budge in her grasp.

Watching the chaos unfold, Zheng Wuyou thought that this was exactly the kind of messy free-for-all she hated most.

She didn't care whether Wansi was hiding behind her.

Had these people never fought before, or even watched a TV show with a fight scene?

Zheng Wuyou strode forward and used her height advantage to grab the short woman's hair, yanking hard.

The tug on her scalp forced the short woman to let go.

That only made her even more frantic.

Before she could switch targets, Zheng Wuyou worked with the dark-blue figure rushing up beside her to bind the short woman with a hemp rope.

She had to admit that she hesitated for a moment while tying her up, since the other woman was also female.

But the short woman looked too vicious to spare anyone.

To prevent another tragedy like Sun Wu's,

they had no choice but to leave her in West Third House for the time being.

After that brief incident, Zheng Wuyou stayed in the Wooden House to give Uncle Cai's hand a simple bandage.

Just how hard had the short woman bitten...

Two deep bite marks had been left right in Uncle Cai's palm.

Strangely enough,

this Wooden House seemed to be their rest area. Apart from the old man, who was willing to come out and meet them, Zheng Wuyou had never seen him at any other time.

"That family is worse than beasts." Unable to look at Uncle Cai's hand, Wen Dian turned his head away.

As a young person of the new era, he couldn't stand the shackles of outdated thinking.

"..."

Zheng Wuyou didn't answer him.

She silently wrapped a strip of cloth torn from Uncle Cai's clothes around his palm.

Her ears, however, caught Hu Yu and Guo Mu talking nearby.

One was fretting over how broad the search for the hairpin had become, with no progress at all after a whole morning.

The other sighed deeply, wondering to himself whether this place even really existed.

Zheng Wuyou tied off the bandage, then rose from her half-crouch. Her legs had gone numb, like the static on a black-and-white television.

Zhu Li hadn't explicitly said what he needed the outsiders to do.

After handing them the paper, he had seen them off.

He had also specifically told them that the village chief's house wouldn't provide lunch; Old Zhu's family would feed the outsiders.

Zheng Wuyou had a vague feeling that this was connected to the strange woman they'd seen today.

From what she could tell, Zhu Li never made a move without purpose. Everything he did was guiding them toward the conclusion more quickly.

So that woman...

Was the First Wife mentioned in the line...

[It wasn't me! That woman took the hairpin to the graves behind the hill!]

The woman...

The old woman wouldn't be searching for a lantern while holding one.

And judging by what the old woman had said at noon, that woman spent most of her time in the Backyard.

She was the one most likely to have had access to the hairpin.

At noon, Zheng Wuyou had seen a nearly healed scar hidden on the woman's arm as she carried the rice gruel.

If the old woman hadn't raised her Smoking Pipe and made the woman flinch,

Zheng Wuyou might not have noticed those hidden details.

The woman's fingertips...

Aside from being red from burns, there was Black Soil beneath her fingernails.

Black Soil was unique to the buildings here, so [the First Wife was confined, yearning to fly beyond the high walls.]

That woman wanted to escape this place.

With that in mind, Zheng Wuyou turned to look at the doorway of Old Zhu's family.

The Backyard was surrounded by Side Rooms, so she couldn't climb the outer wall to see inside.

But Miao Laisheng might be able to.

"Know what I mean?"

Zheng Wuyou raised an eyebrow and went over to Miao Laisheng, who was outside the door. She flicked her gaze toward the outer wall of Old Zhu's family.

Wansi had no idea when those two had gotten so familiar.

Miao Laisheng, who had been resting against the wall with his eyes closed, as was his habit after lunch, slowly opened them. His expression was unreadable.

His eyes were fixed on the brown-haired figure in front of him.

He had just started to raise a hand to refuse when Zheng Wuyou pressed it back down.

Zheng Wuyou heard a stir behind her. It seemed the others who had been resting in the Wooden House had followed her out.

Miao Laisheng's indifferent gaze swept over the group. "I can't climb walls."

Zheng Wuyou led everyone to the outer wall of the Side Rooms at Old Zhu's family, then dusted her hands with satisfaction.

As everyone stared in amazement, Miao Laisheng helplessly brushed off his clothes.

In just a few quick moves, he climbed onto the outer wall.

"Is... is he a soldier? He's so nimble." Watching Miao Laisheng calmly crouch on the wall with one knee down, Wen Dian whispered to Guo Mu.

He could carry a Wild Boar with one hand and climb straight over a wall more than two meters high.

Was he even human?

Miao Laisheng took a deep breath as he crouched on the wall, then helplessly held out a hand to Zheng Wuyou.

Zheng Wuyou shook her head to show she wasn't climbing up. She only wanted him to check the distance between the Side Rooms and the Backyard.

"About three meters, not counting the buildings." Miao Laisheng braced one hand against the wall and leaped down. "There are lots of roses planted beside the Side Rooms."

Roses?

Zheng Wuyou looked in confusion at Miao Laisheng, who didn't seem to care that his clothes were dusty as he turned and walked away from the path.

"Is that woman there?" Zheng Wuyou hurried after him.

Only by rescuing the woman could they obtain the hidden hairpin.

Otherwise, Zhu Li wouldn't let them get it so easily.

"She isn't." Miao Laisheng, at the front of the group, came to a halt and warily watched the silver-haired old woman who had appeared at the alley entrance without anyone noticing.

The path was narrow, so they could only walk in single file.

Zheng Wuyou stopped in time, even though Wansi had already bumped into her back.

She looked past Miao Laisheng's arm and saw a silver-haired old woman standing with her back to them.

She stood motionless at the narrow alley entrance.

Only her loose silver hair swayed in the breeze.

Though they had met only once, Zheng Wuyou still recognized her.

This was the old woman from the Backyard whom she had seen in the Woodshed.

The strange thing was...

Although she stood with her back to them, the old woman's toes pointed in their direction...

Zheng Wuyou was certain that Miao Laisheng had noticed it too.

Because for the first time, she felt his body tense up.