Chapter 112 (1/2)

When Madam Liu heard they were going to the south side of the mountain, she immediately became worried, ”Stop right there! In the future, none of you are allowed to go into the mountains!”

Ever since Yu Hai had his accident, Madam Liu had no longer regarded the mountain as an area people should go to! In the past, she had also heard the stories about vicious and ferocious creatures living deep in the mountains. However, after living with the Yu Family for more than ten years, Yu Hai had never encountered any of the vicious beasts when he was in the mountain. In fact, he rarely even saw a wild boar, let alone tigers, wolves or other dangerous animals.

But after Yu Hai was ravaged by the bear, Madam Liu felt that the mountain and its thickets were truly a dangerous area. She had almost lost her husband once, so it was natural that she had lingering fears, right? Thus, whenever someone said they wanted to go in the mountain, she had to voice her fear and disapproval!

When Xiaocao saw that her mother's expression had changed significantly, she quickly tried to placate her, ”Mother! I'm not going into the mountain!! I'm just going on the trail at the foot of the mountain to get to the south side. Although it's a longer detour, it's not going to be dangerous!”

”You're really not going into the mountain?” After seeing Xiaocao nod her head furiously, Madam Liu finally let out a sigh and said, ”As long as you're not going into the mountain, it's fine. Yesterday we caught a lot of fish in the net, so we have more than enough to make pickled fish this afternoon. Just let your father accompany you and make sure to bring more dry rations along. If you're going around the foot of the mountains, I'm afraid you won't get back before it's dark!”

Yu Hang, who was lying on the bed recuperating, overheard their conversation. He struggled to sit up, but a sharp twinge shot through his chest and he grimaced in pain. When Xiaocao saw this, she hastily ran over to support him up. After propping him up using bedding behind his back to allow him to recline slightly, she said, ”Older Brother, stop moving around. If there's anything you need, call Mother and she can help you! The most important thing for you to do right now is to let your body heal. Stop thinking about random stuff!”

”Younger Sister, Doctor Sun told me that I'm recovering quickly. There's really no difference if I get to eat snakehead fish or not! We're too far from the southern part of the mountain, so don't bother going there! Don't we already have fish at home? Just use what we have to make a stew and it'll still be very good!” Yu Hang didn't want his family members to run ragged for his sake, so he did his best to persuade them from going.

”Older Brother, stop being such a worrywart! Here, drink some water and take a nap. Sleeping helps the body rest and recover a lot!” Whenever Yu Xiaocao made up her mind to do anything, she could not be persuaded otherwise. There was no way that Yu Hang's attempt would sway her mind at all. She poured him a large cup of highly concentrated mystic-stone essence infused water and fed it to him.

The little divine stone had told her that a person wouldn't get into trouble if they drank too much mystic-stone water. The only side effect was that it would make them sleep for a bit. See here, she even used its side effects as a make-s.h.i.+ft sleeping pill!

When the little divine stone found out they were going to the southern side of the mountain, it immediately became excited. It had already finished exploring the West Mountain and it hadn't had a chance to explore any farther areas.

With a 'whoosh', it leapt onto Xiaocao's shoulders and enthusiastically rubbed its golden head against Xiaocao's cheek, [Bring me along, I want to go there and play too!]

Yu Hang was perplexed at the sight of the tiny, golden kitten. Although its size made it seem like it had just recently been born, it's agile and strong movements implied otherwise. ”Ehhh? It's quite rare to see a kitten that's so pretty, where did you get it from?”

”Your younger sister found it in the thickets behind us. It's quite clever, so we decided to raise and have it keep Tiny company!” Madam Liu was cleaning up the room as she watched Xiaocao and her husband's antics with amus.e.m.e.nt.

Yu Xiaocao was in the middle of trying to convince her father to let her go to the southern side of the mountain on her own. There was a common saying, 'full recovery from a serious injury takes a hundred days'. Even though the little divine stone strengthened and healed her father's leg every day, he had still suffered from a violent injury. To get to the south side of the mountain, they needed to walk a very long distance. She really wasn't sure if her father could do it right now!

But how could Yu Hai, who loved his daughter to death, feel okay in letting his daughter, who was only eight to nine years old, go by herself?

Just as the two of them were mutually stuck in a deadlock, someone knocked on their main gate. Zhao Han stepped in with a hunting knife in one hand and his hunting bow and arrows slung over his back. ”Good morning, Uncle Yu! Xiaocao, you didn't go to the docks today to sell braised food, eh!”

When Yu Xiaocao saw the impressive-looking and decked out Zhao Han, her eyes lit up. She ran over to pull at his hand and spoke to her father, ”Father, didn't you say you don't feel comfortable letting me go by myself? Then let Brother Han go with me then! Doctor Sun had said that you need to let your leg heal for a little longer, ah!”

Zhao Han grinned when he heard Xiaocao explain what was going on, ”What a coincidence! The prefectural magistrate's son is getting married, and he wanted to reserve a pair of wild geese. At the southern side of the mountain is a pond filled with reeds. There should be some wild geese migrating from the north resting there. Since Xiaocao also needs to go to the southern side of the mountain, it works perfectly since it's on the way. Uncle Yu, I'll accompany Xiaocao, so don't worry!”

With the Zhao Han's help, Xiaocao was finally able to convince her father to stay at home after another bout of wheedling. Before they left, Yu Hai warned them continuously to be cautious. In the end, Madam Liu had to intervene, ”Husband, if Xiaocao doesn't leave now because of you, she won't be able to come home today!” Only then did Yu Hai reluctantly let his daughter leave.

After she had traveled out of sight from her father, Xiaocao let out a long sigh. When she saw the amus.e.m.e.nt glimmering in Zhao Han's eyes, she said with a bit of embarra.s.sment, ”Having an overprotective father is sometimes quite inconvenient!”

Zhao Han chuckled, ”Uncle Yu is just concerned about you. I never would have expected that a big, hulking man like Uncle Yu would be so attentive and worried about his children!”

Yu Xiaocao merely shrugged and didn't say anything more. She followed Zhao Han from behind as they traveled. They arrived at the foot of the West Mountain and there were a bunch of burial mounds messily interspersed in the area. Weeds grew in abundance and grave markers dotted the entire landscape. From time to time, the sounds of feral dogs yelping and crying could be heard.

Yu Xiaocao shortened her stride and didn't dare to glance sideways. She was afraid she might see something inauspicious. Zhao Han had looked back at her without paying much attention to his surroundings and noticed the tight expression on her face. He frowned, thinking that there might be something incredibly dangerous around them, and then realized that Xiaocao was only an eight to nine year old little girl. Normally, her actions and words were too similar to an adult's, so it was very easy for other people to forget her actual age.