Chapter 396 - The Worry in Her Hear (1/2)

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More than a hundred villagers of Dongshan Village followed behind a gray wolf and quietly entered a cave. If someone made any noise, the big gray wolf that was about the height of a person would stare fixedly at that person with his emerald green eyes until that person quieted down. As a result, the more than one hundred people, including the children in their arms, all silently moved forward in the quiet, dark cave.

Soon, a ray of light came from the top of the cave and a large cave appeared in front of everyone. The cave was very big and should be able to accommodate more than three hundred people like Xiaocao said. The best thing was that it wasn’t dark in the cave thanks to the glow from the top of the cave, which was like a bright lamp.

It was very dry inside the cave, and there were a lot of dry branches and stones. Xiaocao stopped and announced that they would settle down here. Each family could select a place to settle down, put down their luggage, and do some simple cleaning.

They were safe for now, so the children, who were carried by the adults, were full of curiosity regarding the cave. After knowing that there was no danger in the cave, several of the older children began to explore the cave. The younger children frolicked around their families. Since there was a lot of echo in the cave, the children’s laughter rippling through the cave made it oddly noisy.

Princess Consort Jing furrowed her brows slightly and felt a slight headache. She preferred a quiet environment, so it was too noisy for her to stay in a cave with more than a hundred people of varying ages. However, she knew that it was a peculiar period and she shouldn’t be too picky. Thus, she just signed and endured it.

Yu Xiaocao dodged an infant who had just learned to walk and came up to Princess Consort Jing’s side. She said, “Your Highness, there’s a lot of connected caves here. I’ll go with Older Sister Meixiang to select one that’s suitable for you to stay in. Later, you can move over.”

When Princess Consort Jing heard this, she revealed a smile and nodded, “Alright, you and Meixiang should be careful. Bring Little White and Big Gray along with you. Come back earlier!”

Yu Xiaocao glanced at Big Gray, who was drinking water with his head lowered, and gently touched his butt with her feet. Big Gray moved his bottom slightly to the side and looked up at her with a somewhat impatient expression as if she had interrupted him from enjoying the mystic-stone water.

“Big Gray, are you full? If you are, then take us to find a cave where we can live. It’s best to have around four or five caves that we can live in. It doesn’t need to be too big. It’s big enough if it can accommodate ten or so people!” Yu Xiaocao didn’t care whether Big Gray could understand her. The cave was very big with a lot of connecting caves, like a maze. How was she supposed to find habitable areas by herself?

Meixiang chuckled and said, “Miss Yu, can he really understand you?”

“You mustn’t underestimate an animal’s ability, especially one with intelligence! Big Gray isn’t a normal wolf, so he should be able to understand me, right?” Yu Xiaocao also felt somewhat uncertain as she spoke.

Big Gray pushed away Little Black who was trying to take his mystic-stone water and swiftly finished licking the bowl of mystic-stone water. He licked his mouth and walked towards a small opening in the cave. Seeing that Xiaocao and Meixiang didn’t follow him, he turned his head to look at them, as if he was rushing them.

Xiaocao understood and pulled Meixiang to follow along. The opening was as tall as a person’s height and two people were able to walk side by side. After walking about fifty meters, it suddenly brightened up. This part of the cave was semi-closed, and the top of the cave was semi-circular, like it was covered by a lid.

One side of the ‘lid’ was opened, and several slightly slanted trees covered the gap. Among them, there was a wild peach tree with many fruits hanging on it. Many of them were ripe for picking. From the opening, she could see the view of the valley. At this time, it was already dusk. The orange sunlight shot into the cave, and made it appear warm and bright.

On the walls of the cave, there were a row of openings like doors. Xiaocao looked inside and saw that they were small caves that were probably dug by humans. The walls were all neat and tidy, and there were also some stone beds and stone chairs left behind. Each of the small caves looked like a room that was around seventy to eighty square meters. It was dry and refreshing inside, and people could move in after doing some simple cleaning.

Meixiang was very surprised as she looked at each ‘room’ and asked, “People must have lived here before. I wonder who dug these caves. We wouldn’t have taken over some hermits’ homes, right?”

Yu Xiaocao looked at the thick dusk on the ground, and then shook her head, saying, “Even if someone had lived here, it must have been a long time ago. ‘Ancestors plant the tree and the descendants enjoy the cool under the tree.’ Well, it’s to our benefit. There are eight ‘rooms’ here, which should be enough for us to live in! Older Meixiang, please tidy up here while I go get the princess consort.”

When Yu Xiaocao came back with the princess consort and her family, Meixiang had already cleaned up one of the bigger caves. At this time, she was wiping the stone bed in the cave with a wet handkerchief!

“Eh? Older Sister Meixiang, where did you get the water?” Yu Xiaocao asked in slight surprise.