Normal people didn't have feet like that, did they?
Zheng Wuyou sucked in a sharp breath, even though the sun blazed overhead.
Yet cold sweat seeped from her palms, and a chill crept over her.
She took Wansi's hand and stepped back, only to bump into the curious Wen Dian.
"What's wrong, miss?" Uncle Cai, at the very back, couldn't push past the crowd packed in like a wall, so he could only call out.
Zheng Wuyou didn't answer Uncle Cai. She peered past Miao Laisheng's arm toward the mouth of the alley again.
But the narrow alley was empty.
"Huh? Where'd they go?" Zheng Wuyou braced one hand against Miao Laisheng's left arm and poked her head out from behind him.
If not for Miao Laisheng's reaction, she might have thought she'd imagined it.
"...They left." Miao Laisheng pulled his arm from her grasp.
They walked out of the narrow, suffocating alley.
Back at the Wooden House, Zheng Wuyou told everyone everything she'd learned, without leaving anything out.
Disbelief was written all over their faces. The others had either come away empty-handed or paid with their lives.
Yet these three had turned out to be a lucky encounter.
To get the hairpin, they had to help the First Wife escape Old Zhu's family.
But according to what they knew, the First Wife was always in the Backyard.
They couldn't set foot in the Backyard.
How were they supposed to rescue her?
"I get it. This is a prince-rescues-princess story." Guo Mu propped his chin on one hand, looking as if he'd just had a revelation.
"Last night, half a head crawled around outside my door, and there was a female ghost inside my room. It's not certain, but maybe it's not Old Zhu's family we have to deal with, but those ghosts." Zheng Wuyou recalled the clan custom mentioned in the sentence. The Zhu family's customs would surely keep them from getting close to the truth.
They were making the problem sound far too simple...
If it were easy, the silver-haired old woman wouldn't keep showing up to warn them.
"So we have to rescue that woman to get the hairpin?" Hu Yu tried to piece it all together, glad that no half-head had appeared outside her door last night.
Zheng Wuyou nodded patiently.
"But how do we know he's telling the truth? What if the hairpin isn't even in his hands?" For once, Guo Mu had a clever thought. He tried to push himself up from the ground, but his bulky body wouldn't cooperate.
Guo Mu had a point...
It wasn't as if she hadn't considered that.
Zhu Li was a member of the Zhu family, too. He'd said they couldn't trust what the Zhu family told them.
Zheng Wuyou felt the small hand tug her hem twice.
"He wasn't lying. Trust me, big sis." Wansi tilted her head up slightly, her gaze sincere.
Zheng Wuyou had no idea how Wansi had reached that conclusion...
Perhaps she still thought Zhu Li didn't look like a bad person.
"What would a kid like you know? You... you'll understand when you're older!" Guo Mu gave her a look that said kids shouldn't butt in, his expression full of exasperation.
"If Zhu Li were trying to deceive us, he wouldn't have told us what we were looking for." Zheng Wuyou smiled gently at Wansi, then added, "He led one of us to find him, so he must be dealing with a problem he can't solve himself."
"So he's using a stepping stone to draw us in!" Wen Dian exclaimed as he understood.
Rescuing the First Wife was his goal...
He was a member of the Zhu family, and their customs kept him from leaving.
So he had to do something that would send outsiders searching all over, until they came to him of their own accord.
And outsiders would only show up at Old Zhu's family's place or the village chief's.
That made the hairpin the perfect means of contact!
"If he couldn't leave, how did he hide the hairpin?" Guo Mu still suspected there was something fishy going on. He didn't want to be some Zhu Li's pawn like a fool.
"I know! The couplets!" Wen Dian looked at the brushstrokes on the paper...
Then he realized there was only one possible means of contact!
The couplets he'd written. Zhu Li had used them to get in touch with the First Wife of Old Zhu's family.
Then he'd moved the hairpin out of Old Zhu's family's home!
At least someone here was clever enough to put the pieces together at once.
Zheng Wuyou nodded in agreement.
She wouldn't trust anyone without solid proof and a clear motive.
"Then should we look for a chance to rescue the First Wife this afternoon? But will that old woman let us into the Backyard?" Hu Yu got a headache just thinking about the old woman who smoked opium.
Unsurprisingly, the person in charge was such a difficult character.
"But..."
Guo Mu didn't get to finish. Miao Laisheng appeared, cutting him off.
He didn't dare provoke Miao Laisheng, so he could only watch quietly to see what he'd do next.
"We don't need to go into the Backyard. The side courtyard will do." Miao Laisheng had found a pen somewhere. He drew a simple overhead map of Old Zhu's family's home on the paper Zhu Li had given them.
"There's a big patch of roses in the corner of this side courtyard." Miao Laisheng circled the spot where he'd found the roses. "Beneath them is a dog hole leading to the Backyard, big enough for one person to crawl through."
His words made everyone exchange startled looks!
They all thought of the same possibility...
The First Wife might be trying to escape this place, too!
"Marrying into this family really cursed her for generations." Once they had a clear plan, Hu Yu shook her head as she left the group gathered together.
It was as if she could see her younger, naive self marrying the love of her youth.
Zheng Wuyou, Miao Laisheng, Hu Yu, and Wansi came up with a way to get into the Backyard. To avoid arousing suspicion, the others would search outside.
Zheng Wuyou hadn't wanted to bring Wansi, but the girl clung to her like an adorable little puppy that wouldn't let go.
She wouldn't go with anyone but Zheng Wuyou.
The three had no choice but to bring Wansi along. They came up with an excuse: little Wansi had seen the shadow of an old woman holding a hairpin in the Backyard from the Woodshed that morning.
The middle-aged man's expression changed noticeably when they mentioned the old woman.
For a moment, then he was back to normal.
By clan custom, only the family could enter the Backyard during a wedding celebration. The middle-aged man could only take the helpers to the side courtyard in the same direction and let them search quietly on their own.
They absolutely couldn't attract his mother's attention in the main courtyard.
So, under the middle-aged man's watchful, doubtful gaze, the four of them arrived at the side courtyard full of roses.
As soon as they entered, the roses' fragrance rushed into their noses.
It seemed out of place here, at odds with the desolate scenery halfway up the mountain.
The four scattered in front of the middle-aged man, all bending over to carefully search the ground for the bride's hairpin.
Only after the middle-aged man's back had disappeared did the four gather again in front of the rose patch.
"I have to say, she really knows how to grow roses." Ever cautious, Hu Yu waited until she was sure no one was nearby before lowering her voice to share her opinion.
Zheng Wuyou nodded. The roses might not have been planted by the First Wife, but she was the most likely person.
Standing where Miao Laisheng had indicated, Zheng Wuyou swept the roses aside.
Their fragrance clung to her hands along with the pollen.
A dog hole, clearly dug by hand over a long time, came into view.
There were a few dried, blackened streaks of blood along its edge.
Zheng Wuyou noticed a length of hemp rope half-buried in the mud beside the hole.
She bent down curiously, but a sharp thorn pricked her hand.
Before you continue