Yu's mother kept raising her head frequently and looking towards the back mountain.
It was getting dark, but the anxiety in her heart was already as thick as ink.
After a long time, two small figures holding umbrellas finally appeared in sight. Yu Ma handed over the work at hand to the woman next to her and ran towards them.
"What's going on?" Standing on the downhill slope, the two little girls looked embarrassed. Their faces were cut in many places and their clothes were torn.
Qian Qianqian lowered his head, not daring to look at Yu Ma's concerned eyes.
Xia Zhaoyi was secretly amused. Ever since she came here, she had first pretended to be a ghost to scare Liu Sanniang, and now she had to pretend to look pitifully injured. Although she had never claimed to be an upright gentleman, she had never deceived her like this.
"I was injured," Xia Zhaoyi said timidly, pretending to be scared, "I accidentally slipped and fell down the mountain and was trapped below."
Yu Ma looked at her clothes and saw that the entire back was covered with yellow mud.
"But where did you fall?" Yu's mother said worriedly, "be careful when you get down."
Qian Qianqian felt so guilty that she couldn't raise her head. She held an umbrella and didn't dare to look at Yu Ma.
The yard was very busy, so Yu’s mother specially took them around the big pig pen to the small vegetable garden in the back. She brought back some small bottles of medicine that she usually used to apply on burns, and handed it to Qian Qianqian: "You can apply some on yourselves, then
I'm too busy and I can't stay away for too long."
Qian Qianqian held it in her hand guiltily: "Well..."
Yu Ma sighed, raised her hand and rubbed her head: "Don't be sad."
Turned around and left.
"Look, Ah Li." Qian Qianqian said uneasily as soon as Yu's mother left.
Xia Zhaoyi took the small porcelain bottle, opened the cork and sniffed it under her nose.
"I have never lied to Mama Yu." Qian Qianqian was so frustrated that she almost cried. "Mom Yu is so good to me. This is the first time I lied to her."
Xia Zhaoyi stuffed the cork back and put it aside. He took out a small cloth bag from his arms, dipped a piece of wood into the "blood stain" on the cloth bag, and traced it again along the "wound" on his leg.
"Ah Li!" Qian Qianqian shouted in a low voice, "I'm talking to you."
Xia Zhaoyi took a deep breath, raised his head and looked at her, and said slowly: "But I don't want to say anything now."
"Whatever you say is fine."
"As I told you, I don't want to interfere with your way, because it might hurt you. You should follow your own rules."
"What?"
Xia Zhaoyi shook his head and said nothing.
Qian Qianqian pursed her lips, sat down next to her, and stared blankly at the small vegetable garden in front of her.
It was raining heavily today, but Mr. Bian still brought many people out of the mountain.
I wanted to go to those valleys and pavilions where people often take shelter from the rain, but I didn't gain anything, because I could see the officers and soldiers from a distance, and they wouldn't mess around until they didn't know the strength of the other party.
After circling most of Shiqiao County, they went to Banpoyi again. It was getting dark and they had to return empty-handed.
The stooped man came to order food, but this time he only stopped at the other end of the stone bridge, not daring to go onto the bridge.
Hearing the sound, Aunt Fang took a look, then turned around and told the girls next to her to deliver the wine first.
The eight or nine girls who were designated to deliver wine on weekdays all looked uneasy and hesitantly followed Mr. Liang to the wine cellar to get wine.
Each holding two jars of small wine, they stopped in front of the bridge.
It was getting late, and the wind on the mountain would blow loudly at night. The old upside-down pine tree looked even more precarious under the light of the bright cage on the top of the mountain in front of it.
No one among the girls dared to come forward. You looked at me and I looked at you.
The servants and wives pretended not to see it, and no one made a sound.
However, Aunt Fang was nowhere to be seen, and even Aunt Feng and Mrs. Liang were nowhere to be seen.
"What should I do..." Xiao Wu was shivering in the wind, and he tightened his body and asked Xiao Rong.
No matter how steady Xiao Rong is on weekdays, she is still just an eleven-year-old girl, with a pale complexion and shaking her head uneasily.
"If we were the ones elected today, this wouldn't be the case." Xiao Wu couldn't help but complain about Xiao Rong stopping her from raising her hand.
Xiaorong looked at Shiqiao: "Maybe it won't collapse."
The bridge body hummed and trembled in the wind, and from time to time fine stones fell down, and more of them were fine sand in the cracks of the stone bridge, like mist.
"Do you think that stone bridge will collapse?" Qian Qianqian asked in a low voice, holding on to the corner of the wall and looking at the stone bridge over there.
Xia Zhaoyi pinched the numbers and found that Gen was on the top and Kun on the bottom was the hexagram of Shan Di Pei.
She raised her head and looked at the stars in the east. They were dim and dim, but still hidden.
"No." Xia Zhaoyi said.
Qian Qianqian looked back at her. He had just asked casually, but when he saw Ah Li's serious answer, he couldn't help but said, "How do you know?"
The Mountain Peeling Gua is to follow the trend, and the master depends on human beings. If people step on it, the bridge will collapse. If people don't step on it, the bridge will be safe.
And this astrology means variables. If you treat things passively, you will not succeed.
If you don't go up, you'll be safe.
Seeing that Xia Zhaoyi didn't answer, Qian Qianqian turned his gaze back to the bridge and whispered: "The sisters in the same room with you seem to be about to cry."
Xia Zhaoyi paused slightly and said, "Xiao Rong and Xiao Wu?"
"Well," Qian Qianqian nodded, "That sister is very fierce and always likes to scold me."
Xia Zhaoyi curled her lips and smiled, but said nothing.
"Why are you laughing?" Qian Qianqian frowned.
"Nothing." Xia Zhaoyi suppressed a smile and looked up at the stars again.
Qian Qianqian withdrew her gaze and looked at the courtyard. Although this angle was narrow and she could not see the overall situation, she still said: "It seems that Aunt Feng and Aunt Fang are not here."
"Ms. Liang shouldn't be here either." Xia Zhaoyi said, looking at the sky.
"How do you know?" Qian Qianqian seriously looked for Mr. Liang, but it seemed that he was not there.
"Of course they have to avoid it. If they are here, these girls must let them decide whether to stay or go. If something happens to the girls when they cross the bridge, they have to take responsibility. If they don't let the girls cross the bridge, those murderous bandits will cross.
If we don't become addicted to alcohol, Aunt Feng and the others will still suffer."
Qian Qianqian nodded: "So that's the case. If they are hiding now, wouldn't Xiaowu and the others have to take responsibility themselves?"
"Um."
"Then what should we do?" Qian Qianqian said worriedly, "I'm afraid that if Master Ba and the others are angry, then Xiaowu and the others..."
"The law does not punish everyone. There are many of them and there is a shortage of people on the mountain. Nothing will happen to them."
"Then he will be punished, too. What if I meet Mr. Ba and he is as irritable as the past few days? He can't drink but doesn't care about the consequences."
Xia Zhaoyi kept raising his head to study the stars. Hearing this, he blinked and turned to look at Qian Qianqian.
"That Mr. Bian, can he do anything if he has a bad temper?" Xia Zhaoyi asked.
"That's right." Qian Qianqian turned around and said.
"Then any law that doesn't punish everyone is just empty talk if there are no people on the mountain." Xia Zhaoyi said again.
"Huh?" Qian Qianqian was confused.
Xia Zhaoyi rubbed her ankle, which was still swollen, and stood up and said, "I owe Xiao Wu a favor. I think I can repay her favor by doing this tonight."
