This delay wasted a lot of time, and more importantly, Su Huilan's feet could no longer go into the water. If they walked on the shore wearing shoes, the footprints they left might be discovered by the island's savages and they would be chased.
Su Huilan said, "I'm fine. The wound has been treated and the bleeding has stopped. Going into the water shouldn't be a problem."
Qingmu said, "No, what if we get infected? The antibiotics are all on Petru's ship, and we don't know when we'll be able to get out."
He looked around, then tied the laces of the two pairs of sneakers he had found together, hung them around his neck, turned his backpack to the front, half-squatted down, and said, "Get on!"
Su Huilan was startled. "What?"
Qingmu said, "I'll carry you on my back."
Su Huilan said, "I was just joking, you really have to carry me?"
Qingmu said, "Stop talking nonsense and get on here!"
His tone left no room for argument. Su Huilan wasn't one to be pretentious, but for some reason, she felt incredibly uneasy, as if it would take immense courage for her to climb onto this man's back. She hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth, picked up her shoes, and climbed onto Qingmu's back.
And so, in a stream more than three meters wide in the jungle, a disheveled man in a trench coat waded through the water, six shoes jingling around his neck, and a beautiful woman on his back.
"Why hasn't your bird come back yet?" Su Huilan asked, hooking her arm around Qingmu's shoulder, trying to make conversation.
Qingmu said, "I don't know either, but you don't need to worry about it. I know its abilities; as long as it doesn't run into a parrot, no one can do anything to it."
"A parrot?" Su Huilan asked in surprise, "Is it afraid of parrots?"
"It's not that I'm afraid, it's that I'll make a foolish mistake," Qingmu said.
Su Huilan guessed what was going on, chuckled, and said, "She's a sentimental bird, unlike some people who are as dense as a block of wood!"
The howling sounds came again from the forest ahead, much closer than before.
Qingmu said, "We should get ashore. If we go upstream like this, they'll find us very quickly."
He then climbed ashore from a relatively dense patch of grass.
Su Huilan said, "Then put me down."
Qingmu said, "No, we have to walk barefoot for a while. The ground here is soft, and we'll leave footprints."
He bent down, picked up his slippers, and handed them to Su Huilan: "Hold this for me."
Su Huilan had always been curious about why Qingmu always wore the same outfit and never changed it, especially in winter when he wore slippers without feeling cold. At this moment, the slippers on Qingmu's feet suddenly came into her hands, and a strange feeling arose in her heart.
Qingmu carefully stepped barefoot into areas with more vines, so that the footprints he left would be lighter.
They hadn't been gone long when they heard a caw, and Crow flapped its wings and flew over.
Since Su Huilan was perched on Qingmu's back, the Crow realized it couldn't land on Qingmu's head. It spun in the air, landed on a tree branch, and cried out, "Wow, what happened? Have I been transported to Gao Village?"
Qingmu said, "If you hadn't come back to tell me, I would have thought you were dead!"
The Crow said, "Caw, come on! You just want me to stay, so you can elope with this... woman, right? Guagua..." Then it began to sing, "Brother, a winding river flows before you, sister sings a sweet song on the other side, brother's heart ripples with waves, sister, when will you let me cross your river..."
Su Huilan quickly explained, "My foot is injured, I can't get it wet, I'm afraid it will leave footprints and I won't be able to walk, I..."
"Oh, look at you, look at you! You're babbling incoherently! Are you afraid of leaving footprints, or can't walk, or can't get wet? Caw!" the Crow cawed. "Woman, your heart is in turmoil! I can hear your heartbeat!"
Su Huilan's heart was indeed in turmoil. She had never been so flustered before. Whether in the laboratory, on the university lecture table, or at a murder scene, she was never flustered. She never expected that she would behave so badly in front of a bird today.
Qingmu said, "Ignore it, it's always like that." Then he said to the Crow, "Alright, seriously, why are you only coming to find us now?"
The Crow tilted its head, then remembered its purpose and said, "I went back to where those savages were warming themselves by the fire to report, but I couldn't find you. I only saw Petru being chased by a group of savages. He said you were coming this way, and I was afraid you would follow the stream all the way down. Oh, I didn't expect you to be so clever, you actually knew to turn back."
Is Petru alright?
"It's alright, he's just teasing them! Those savages can't catch him at all."
What about the other two?
"Uh, which two?" the Crow asked, feigning ignorance.
"The two you were following, a man and a woman, the man was injured," Qingmu said.
"Caw! You already know that? I was hoping to tell you a wonderful story, but it seems you all already know it. So disappointing!" The Crow looked quite dejected. "Go through that grove of trees ahead, there's a cave over there. They're hiding in the cave now, and the man seems to be dying."
The Crow led the way, with Qingmu carrying Su Huilan on his back behind. After walking for a while, he put Su Huilan down, stepped onto his slippers, and said, "This should be fine now. Check your feet to see if they're okay to walk."
Su Huilan put on her shoes, tried walking a couple of steps, and said, "No problem."
The Crow, watching them, cawed defiantly and muttered to itself from a branch, "A man and a woman, in the desolate wilderness, a winding river before me... Caw... Ruhua —you're a virtuous tomboy, but you trust your blockhead too much! You should have taken your braised pork knuckle with you and stood by him through thick and thin! Without hardship, how can true love be found? Without life and death, how can we grow old together? My braised pork knuckle!"
In the distant Wuzhong, Bi Shenghua, who was leaning back on the sofa reading a book, suddenly sneezed. She rubbed her nose and watched as the sunlight shone through the window, casting shadows of the trees on the floor like ink paintings on red paper for the New Year.
Yes, the Chinese New Year is almost here!
Bi Shenghua remembered that it was time to put up Spring Festival couplets, so she got up, found the couplets she had prepared for this year, and pasted one up at the entrance of the bar.
Then he went upstairs and saw a couplet posted on either side of the entrance to Qingmu's studio. After looking at it, he felt it was too tacky, so he went back to his study, found a brush, ink, paper and inkstone, spread a wool felt on the table, poured in Yidege ink and book juice, and began to write by himself.
Few people know that this seemingly ordinary woman, dressed in men's clothing, who could chase thugs with a kitchen knife until they were cornered and ended up in the police station, actually has beautiful handwriting.
She wrote the couplets quickly and fluently, and after the paper dried, she pasted them on the door of Qingmu Studio.
The first line of the couplet is: A withered tree comes back to life in spring; flowers bloom in a humble alley, unseen by anyone.
The second line is: A caged bird longs for its nest; it sweeps and cleans the old nest, awaiting its lord's return.
She originally wanted to put another word "Fu" on the door, but suddenly she had an idea. She took a blank red paper and pasted it on the door, and then used a brush to draw a sweet elbow with a nose and eyes on it, just like a talking elbow that became a spirit.
After finishing the Bi Shenghua stood in the corridor and looked at it. The more he looked at it, the more satisfied he became, and he couldn't help but burst into laughter.