CH 43

Chapter 43 – Escape (2)

Unexpectedly, the tunnel had become useful at this crucial time.

“Mother, don’t carry me………walk by myself.”

Little Sister Yue wriggled from her mother’s arms and bounced forward on her two short legs.  It was not known what material the stone wall was made of but it gave off a faint light, so her little figure could be seen as she ran ahead.

Li Jing’er was dumbstruck.  The child can run faster than a rabbit……is that her daughter?

She could not help but smile.  Soon she realized a fact…….the person who dug this tunnel had to be a dwarf because the height was just enough for a five or six-year-old child to pass.  Adults had to bend down half their height to move forward, or else, they had to crawl forward.

Five li was not considered very long and soon they emerged from the tunnel.  When Li Jing’er, who could hardly straighten up her waist, saw her daughter waiting outside the cave, her turned eyes red, and could not help but hug the child.

“Let’s go!  We have to look for your brother and sister, they must be crying.”

“Mm!  Look for brother and sister!”  For the first time, Little Sister Yue pronounced the word ‘brother’ correctly.

Shuangming and Shuangzhen, who left half an hour earlier, held hands as they walked.  They looked for the numbers that their mother mentioned but a snowstorm had turned everything silvery white.  As they walked, they eventually lost their way because all the trees around them looked the same, so their only choice was to go down the mountain first.

However, the children were only 5 and 6 years old and the mountain was too huge and the snow too deep.  After walking a few steps, they got stuck in the snow and found it difficult to move forward.

In the end, they found a tree hole to hide in so that no one could find them.

“Sister, are you hungry?”

Shuangzhen who had only eaten a few chestnuts nodded.  “Hungry.”

“Brother, I’ll get you the dried meat.”

Shuangzhen opened the backpack and took out the smoked dried rabbit meat…….but the meat was frozen……..and hard as a rock.

“This can’t be eaten……..”  Actually, she was not very hungry and could still stand it.

“Who says it can’t be eaten?  I have a small knife that Father gave me.  I’ll cut the meat and we can eat in small bites.”

He took out the small dagger proudly to show off.

However, it is always easier to talk about doing something than doing the actual thing.

The frozen meat was too hard and he could not cut it with his strength.  Due to too much force exerted, the knife slipped and the sharp pointed end pierced the web between his thumb and forefinger of the other hand.  Although he had put on leather gloves, his hand was still cut and the bright red blood spurted out instantly staining the snow on the ground all red.

Both the brother and sister were scared stiff.

“Brother, are you bleeding?”

“Oh!  It doesn’t hurt…….just a little………”   It’s very painful……..will I die?

He wanted to cry but pretended to be strong and tried hard not to shed tears.

“Brother, I miss Mother……..”  Why is Mother not here yet?

As soon as Shuangzhen mentioned ‘mother’, his tears finally slipped down uncontrollably.

“I miss Mother too……..”

“Can it be that Mother can’t find us?……….  Like the previous mother who left us behind and no longer wanted us?”

The shadow of being abandoned rose in Shuangzhen’s mind again.  She hugged her knees with her hands and cried.

“What ‘previous mother’ are you talking about?  We only have one mother!  Mother is very powerful, she knows everything and will definitely find us.”

Mother, hurry up……..Shuangming is very scared……..

“What if Mother can’t find us?”

She is very scared……..she will starve to death……..

“Brother is here………Brother will take you to look for Mother.”

He is the elder brother, he must protect his younger sister.

“Mm!……..”  She nodded uneasily.

Inside the small tree hole, the two small figures cuddled together to keep warm like two cubs that had lost their mother bear.  The two children leaned against each other and huddled together.

When Li Jing’er, who was carrying Little Sister Yue, finally found them, they had fallen asleep with their faces covered with tear stains and a piece of dried meat was lying at their feet with saliva marks on it.  Because it was very cold, the dried meat had become frozen and there was a row of millet teeth marks imprinted on it.

“Shuangming, Shuangzhen, wake up!  Don’t sleep, Mother is here!  Quick, open your eyes and look, Mother found you!…….”

Mother’s voice……..

Mother is here………

The two children struggled to wake up and when they opened their eyes, they were still a little dazed.  After feeling that someone was stroking their faces, they finally noticed two very familiar faces in front of them.  An adult and a child were looking and smiling at them…….  Only then did the two children cry out excitedly and aggrievedly.

“Mother!…….”

“Mother!…….”

“Mother didn’t break her promise, Mother is here now, right?”

Li Jing’er was almost pushed to the ground by the children as she caught her son and daughter and hugged them in her arms.

“Brother…….Brother, he……..”  Shuangzhen was sobbing as she tried to speak.

“What’s the matter with your brother?  Did he bully you?”

Her daughter was crying so sadly.

“Brother, he………”

“It’s alright, Mother.  I’m fine.  Sister couldn’t find you, so she cried.”

Shuangming was afraid that his mother would worry, so he tried to hide his injured hand but his small movements could not escape the sharp eyes of Li Jing’er.  As soon as she noticed something amiss, she pulled his hand over.

“You’re injured?”

The wound was a little big but fortunately, the blood had coagulated.

“It doesn’t hurt, Mother……..really.”  It feels like it doesn’t hurt anymore.

“It is not that it doesn’t hurt.  It’s because the weather is too cold and the wound had frozen, so it doesn’t hurt.  If you leave it unattended that piece of flesh will have to be cut off.”

Fortunately, it is winter now, otherwise, more blood would have flowed from the wound.

“Huh?  Cut…….cut off?!”  He was so scared that his face had turned white.

“I told your father that he can’t give a child a dagger but he just refused to listen.  He said that every boy should have a dagger and he was very disappointed when he didn’t get one as a child……..”

As she nagged, she carefully cut away his leather gloves and then tore her skirt into strips of cloth.  After wrapping the strips several times around the wound, she took off her cashmere glove to put them on his hand to keep him warm.

Due to this incident, her left hand became frostbitten.  In the future, whenever it is winter, Li Jing’er’s frostbitten hand will feel numb and throb with pain as if being poked with thin needles.

“Mother, I don’t want my hand to be cut off…….”

Li Jing’er tapped him on his forehead and said with a smile.

“Who told you that your hand will be cut off?  However, you must remember to keep warm in very cold places and don’t get frozen.  We are like fish and rabbits……..we will die if it is too cold.  If the hand is frozen as hard as stone, then the hand is dead and can no longer be used.  Unless it is cut off, the person can’t stay alive.”

“Mother, I won’t play with knives anymore.”

It is too dangerous, he almost lost his hand.

“Mm, can everyone still walk?  Let’s find a place to shelter from the snow.  Mother has never been here before.  We have to look around to see if there are any mountain walls or cracks in the rocks for us to take shelter.”

She picked up her son’s dagger and holding it with both hands clasped together, she forcefully carved out an ‘arrow’ as a marker on the tree trunk.

Looking for the children was not difficult because she just need to follow their footprints.  Although the ground was covered with a thin layer of falling fresh snow, she was able to locate them by the way they walked with messy steps.

However, it was difficult to find shelter from the wind and snow.  The snow was so deep that it reached her calf and she found it difficult to walk.  She was only a woman and had to take care of three young children, so she gradually lost strength and her steps became heavier and heavier.  She had a feeling her life was coming to an end as she could no longer hold on.

If her strength had not been exhausted the night before, she would still have the strength to carry her eldest daughter but at this moment, her back was sore, her legs felt weak, and fully depended on her willpower to move forward.

""

“Mother!…….  Rabbit!…….”  Little Sister Yue suddenly shouted.

“Rabbit?”  Li Jing’er gathered her fraying senses and glanced over.   Sure enough, a rabbit as white as snow was jumping in front of her but then it disappeared instantly behind a big rock.

So she carried one child on her back then held the other two children one in each hand and walked to the place where the rabbit disappeared.  Suddenly, the mother and children came upon a cave.  It was not big, just enough for four people to squeeze in and there was a small open space in front of the cave.

“Shuangming, go inside with your younger sisters to take shelter first.  Mother will look for some hay to start a fire…….”

Then she carved another ‘arrow’ on the big rock.

As soon as the fire was lit, they warmed up.  The dried meat was placed over the fire to roast and once the meat turned soft, the children ate happily.  They scooped up the clean snow on the ground and melted it to water in their mouths to quench their thirst and hunger.  The difficult phase had passed and they only had to wait for dawn to arrive.

After a day of fear and terror, the children were very tired and fell asleep in Li Jing’er’s arms one by one.  She hugged them in her arms and watched over them.  Although she was extremely exhausted, she could not sleep.  She stared intently at the faces of the children and as soon as she notices something amiss, she will have to wake them up immediately.

Anyone with mountaineering experience knows that one must never sleep in a place that is too cold because once a person falls asleep the body would not be able to replenish body heat.  That person may not be able to wake up and gradually the body will cool down until the breathing stops.

By the time Xiao Jingfeng and his men found her and the children, she was almost frozen stiff and could hardly move.  He kept rubbing her body and her four limbs with his two big hands until the slow-flowing blood in her body gradually warmed up.

She could still move her fingers and toes a little.   Not frozen…….still good…….

In the end, the three children were carried by the soldiers he brought while Xiao Jingfeng carried Li Jing’er and they went home.  The group of people moved swiftly and went down the mountain as fast as possible.

However, they did not return to the stone house, instead, they went to the house in the village at the foot of the mountain because……….

“Chen Yulian is dead?!”

She had foreseen this possibility.  Unless someone from Country Feng took a fancy to her and wanted to take her away, otherwise, only death awaited her.

A hostage of no value is a burden.