Rose Thorns

The group, having barely filled their stomachs, prepared to continue their search that afternoon. As they left Old Zhu's family one by one.

The short woman, holding a kitchen knife snatched from who-knows-where, suddenly appeared before them.

She stood on the stone path, blocking the entrance to Old Zhu's family's house.

She blocked their way.

At this moment, the short woman's eyes were bloodshot, as if she had suffered some immense blow.

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

Wen Dian was the first to open the door, yelping in fear and hastily retreating from the knife.

Guo Mu, clearly more afraid of trouble, immediately hid at the very back of the group.

The short woman's current disoriented state began to make Zheng Wuyou believe...

that she had killed Sun Wu.

She shouldn't have handed this ticking time bomb to anyone back then.

"Don't get agitated! Sister Xiao Xia! We're all together, don't you remember?" Uncle Cai said in a soothing tone, reaching out his hand to calm the short woman. However, she wouldn't listen to a word.

She bit down on the muscle between Uncle Cai's thumb and palm.

Uncle Cai cried out in pain and tried to pull his hand back, but Xiao Xia held on tightly, refusing to let go.

The group could visibly see blood seeping from Uncle Cai's palm.

"She's really gone mad!" Hu Yu, despite her fearful words, was the first to step forward to help Uncle Cai.

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

But the short woman now had the strength of an ox!

The knife didn't budge in her hand.

Zheng Wuyou watched the chaotic scene, her least favorite thing being this kind of free-for-all.

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

Haven't these people ever fought or watched fight scenes in TV shows?

Zheng Wuyou strode forward, using her height advantage to grab the short woman's hair and yank it backward forcefully.

The short woman, her scalp pulled, was forced to release her bite.

This made her even more frantic.

Before the short woman could change her target, Zheng Wuyou, cooperating with a dark blue figure who had moved forward, bound the short woman with a rope.

She admitted that when she was tying the woman up, she hesitated for a moment because the other person was also a woman.

But the short woman's fierce demeanor showed no intention of letting anyone go.

To prevent another tragedy like Sun Wu's.

They had no choice but to temporarily place her in West Third House.

With this brief interlude over, Zheng Wuyou stayed in the wooden house to help Uncle Cai bandage his palm.

How much hatred did the short woman have to leave such marks...

Uncle Cai's palm bore two deep teeth marks.

It was strange, though.

This wooden house seemed to be their resting area. Besides the old man, who was willing to come out and see them, Zheng Wuyou hadn't seen him at other times.

"That family is worse than animals," Wen Dian said, unable to bear looking at Uncle Cai's hand and turning his head away.

As a youth of the new era, he couldn't stand the constraints of old ways of thinking.

"..."

Zheng Wuyou didn't answer him.

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

Her ears, however, caught the conversation between Hu Yu and Guo Mu next door.

One was worriedly murmuring that the search for the hairpin was too broad, with no progress made all morning.

The other sighed deeply, lamenting whether this place truly existed.

Zheng Wuyou finished tying the knot on the cloth strip, half-crouched, and stood up from the ground. Her legs felt numb, like the static snow on a black and white television screen.

Zhu Li hadn't explicitly stated what he needed the outsiders to do at the time.

After handing them the papers, he saw them out.

He had also specifically instructed them that the village chief's house was not responsible for lunch; Old Zhu's family was responsible for the outsiders' lunch.

Zheng Wuyou had a vague feeling that this was inextricably linked to the strange woman she saw today.

From what she could see so far, Zhu Li wouldn't make useless moves; everything was guiding the group towards the conclusion faster.

So that woman...

It refers to the First Wife mentioned in the story...

[It wasn't me! The hairpin was taken by that woman to the back mountain grave!]

The woman...

The old woman naturally wouldn't be searching with a lantern for a lantern.

And judging from the old woman's words at noon, that woman was always in the backyard.

She was the most likely person to have come into contact with the hairpin.

At noon, Zheng Wuyou saw a nearly healed scar on the woman's arm as she held the rice paste.

If the old woman hadn't flinched when she held the pipe.

Perhaps she wouldn't have noticed some hidden details.

The woman's fingertips...

Besides being reddened by a burn, there was black soil hidden in her fingernails.

The black soil here was unique to their houses and buildings, so [Confine the First Wife, and the high walls will keep her away.]

This woman wanted to escape this place.

Zheng Wuyou thought this and turned to look at Old Zhu's family's door.

The backyard was surrounded by annexes, so she couldn't observe it by climbing the outer wall.

However, Miao Laisheng's skills might be up to the task.

"Do you understand what I mean?"

Zheng Wuyou raised an eyebrow and walked up to Miao Laisheng, who was outside the door, and gestured with her eyes towards the outer wall of Old Zhu's family's house.

Wansi didn't know when these two became so familiar.

Miao Laisheng, who habitually closed his eyes and rested against the wall in the afternoon, slowly opened his eyes, his expression unreadable.

His eyes were entirely focused on the figure with short brown hair in front of him.

Just as he was about to raise his hand to refuse, Zheng Wuyou's hand pressed it back down.

Zheng Wuyou heard a commotion behind her. It seemed the other people resting inside the wooden house were also following behind her.

Miao Laisheng swept his indifferent gaze over everyone, "I don't climb walls."

Zheng Wuyou led everyone to stand by the outer wall of Old Zhu's family's annex, clapping the dust off her hands with satisfaction.

To everyone's astonishment, Miao Laisheng patted the hem of his clothes helplessly.

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

"Is... is he a soldier? He's so agile," Wen Dian watched Miao Laisheng calmly squat on one knee on the outer wall and whispered to Guo Mu.

This person carried a wild boar with one hand and scaled a wall over two meters high.

Is he even human?

Miao Laisheng, after taking a deep breath, squatted on the outer wall and helplessly reached out his hand to Zheng Wuyou.

Zheng Wuyou shook her head, indicating she wasn't going up, but just wanted him to observe the distance between the annex and the backyard.

"Excluding the house area, it's about three meters by estimation," Miao Laisheng said, pushing off the outer wall with one hand and leaping down. "There are a lot of roses planted by the annex."

Roses?

Zheng Wuyou looked suspiciously at Miao Laisheng, whose clothes were covered in dust, as he turned and walked away from the path.

"Is the woman there?" Zheng Wuyou quickly jogged to catch up.

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

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

"No." Miao Laisheng, who was in front, paused and warily looked at the silver-haired old woman who had appeared at the alley entrance at some unknown time.

The path was narrow, and everyone could only walk in a single file.

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

She reached over Miao Laisheng's arm and saw a silver-haired old woman standing with her back to everyone.

At the narrow alley entrance, she stood motionlessly.

Only her disheveled silver hair danced in the air.

Even though they had only met once, Zheng Wuyou recognized her.

It was the old woman from the backyard she had seen by the woodshed.

Strangely...

Although her back was facing them, the old woman's toes were pointing in their direction...

Zheng Wuyou was sure Miao Laisheng had noticed this too.

Because for the first time, she felt Miao Laisheng's body tense up.