Chapter 40: Narrowly Escaping Death

  "Ah......!" With Ma Lian'er's sharp cry, Yang Ling finished "The Record of Wronged Ghosts". Heh! It really has a sense of accomplishment. Ma Lian'er was shocked and shrank back, like a small quail, and finally redeemed some face for "Journey to the West".

  Yang Ling smiled contentedly as he gazed at the clear cave entrance, although there was still no sunlight, a hint of morning air had already crept into the chilly atmosphere.

  Ma Lian'er was still huddled in her cloak, shivering with fear or cold, Yang Ling patted her shoulder and said with a smile: "It's dawn, we made it through the night."

  "Is it dawn?" Ma Lian'er poked her head out of his arms, greedily gazing at the bright light from the cave entrance. Now that it's dawn, I'm not afraid, this damned scholar knows a lot of stories, but ghosts and monsters are really too stimulating.

  Yang Ling secretly smiled and told a revised version of "The Record of Resentful Ghosts", "Sakura Evil Spirit" and "Dormitory 17 Male Student" for the whole night, to be honest, even he himself felt a bit creepy.

  Noticing a hint of a smile on his lips, Ma Lian'er glared at him and scolded: "Are you doing this on purpose?"

  Yang Ling was taken aback, her attitude wasn't quite right, perhaps it was because she had been lying down for too long, one side of her cheek was pressed red, her hair was disheveled, adding a few touches of charm, like a wife who had just gotten out of bed, her expression was very moving.

  Yang Ling quickly turned his head, moved his numb limbs, and slowly crawled out of the snow cave. The black night was like a fisherman's net, slowly closing in, the sky and earth were a silver gray, the sun had not yet come out, but the horizon was already slightly white.

  It's so cold, without a single ray of sunshine. For those who are starving, the feeling is like descending into hell. Looking around, everything is white and it's impossible to tell where you are. In the snow-covered mountains, there is no sunlight, not even direction can be distinguished.

  Ma Lian'er also crawled out of the snow cave, looked around and said with a smile: "Fortunately it's not an overcast day, although the sun has not come out yet, we can still tell the direction. Follow me, as long as we get out of the forest, we have hope to return."

  The two of them could no longer survive another night in the mountains, and had to leave as soon as possible while they still had the strength. After a night of hardship, their physical strength was greatly diminished, so they had no choice but to support each other, taking slow steps along a frozen stream. Malan and he walked shoulder to shoulder, looking like a pair of lovers searching for plum blossoms in the snow.

  The stream has lost its original appearance, with thick snow covering it, making it look like a winding road in the mountains. Only the occasional ice ridges on the shore remind people that this was once a lively and rushing brook. The gentle breeze blows, sending snowflakes from the trees into people's necks, and occasionally the sound of birds flying clumsily through the trees can be heard.

  After walking for nearly half a day, the two of them left the dense forest and arrived at a snow-covered slope with sparse trees. Looking up and around, from west to northeast, stretched out a series of not-too-high mountains, undulating and overlapping, except for the grayish-black color of the tree trunks, the entire mountain and field was a vast expanse of silver-white world.

  The first ray of sunlight burst forth, bringing a hint of warmth to the two people. Just as they were about to continue on their way with renewed energy, a squirrel scampered across in front of them, leaving behind a trail of shallow footprints in the vast snowy expanse, its fluffy tail dragging behind it as it darted into a snow cave.

  Ma Lian'er was overjoyed, hastily shaking off Yang Ling's hand, and skipping over to the spot. She lay down on the snowy ground for a while, then, regardless of the cold, began to dig with her hands. Yang Ling followed her with a bitter smile, saying helplessly: "Young lady, you're still playing with squirrels at this time?"

  Ma Lian'er was crouched there, digging in the snow like a small dog, panting and saying: "Big idiot, hurry up and help me dig, there must be food in the squirrel hole, one squirrel hole can produce several kilograms of grain, if we dig it out, even if we can't get out today, we won't starve to death".

  Yang Ling slapped his forehead, dropped the stick in his hand and helped to dig up. The two of them first cleared away the accumulated snow, and after prying the stick three times, they finally opened up the frozen soil. The squirrel had escaped from another entrance of its hole, which was very deep. Yang Ling inserted his hand into it, and his cheek got all muddy, but he managed to dig out a lot of dried fruits such as hazelnuts, millet and hawthorn.

  Two people sat excitedly on the snowy ground, examining their spoils. Yang Ling picked up two pomegranates, wiped them clean on his collar, and handed one to Ma Lian'er. The two of them greedily gnawed at the rinds, crunching into the frozen pomegranates with a loud crackling sound.

  Yang Ling smiled at Ma Lian'er, savoring the sweet flavor in his mouth, just about to praise her a few words, when he suddenly saw Ma Lian'er's face change greatly, turning pale white. Yang Ling followed her terrified gaze towards behind him, and his heart also sank instantly. Wolves! A total of four wolves, bigger and more agile than the one they had seen yesterday.

  Four wolves stepped forward with a light pace, one step at a time, closing in on the two people. Yang Ling suddenly stood up, and the four wolves formed a triangle, one in front and three behind, slowly closing in. Their sharp white fangs and ferocious eyes sent chills down their spines.

  Ma Lian'er also trembled and got up, looked desperately at the approaching wolves, and suddenly shouted: "Yang Ling!"

  Yang Ling was pulled by a strong force and turned around, facing Ma Lian'er's flushed face and her eyes that seemed to hold some unknown emotion. She rushed over and tightly hugged Yang Ling, trembling as she said: "Yang Ling, hold me!" Her whole body shaking, she held onto Yang Ling and searched for his lips with urgent breaths.

  The four wolves paused for a moment due to the strange behavior of these two creatures, and the lead wolf let out a threatening low growl. Then, its pace gradually quickened, fifteen yards, ten yards, five yards, entering the prelude to the kill. Its strong hind legs contracted, ready to leap into the air.

  Just then, "twang" a bowstring sounded, and an arrow flew out from somewhere, piercing the abdomen of the lead wolf with a thud. The force of the arrow was great, and it pierced through the snow, lodging itself in the ground. The lead wolf let out a long, mournful howl, its limbs trembling as it collapsed onto the snowy ground, staining the surrounding area crimson with its blood.

  Because of this mournful howl, Yang Ling and the other person suddenly turned their heads to look, only to see three wild wolves stopping in their tracks due to the lead wolf being shot with an arrow, barking and searching around for the source of the threat, their bodies quickly turning around in a circle. The three wolves turned around and were about to escape.

  At this time, three sharp arrows shot out of the forest with a whooshing sound, and with incredible accuracy, they killed three wolves one by one. The smallest wolf was hit by an arrow and rolled out, its body leaping into the air before thudding to the ground, motionless.

  Yang Ling and Ma Lian'er were both surprised and delighted, looking around to find the person who had saved their lives. The mountain slope was a vast expanse of white, dazzling in the early morning sunlight that made their eyes squint. Yang Ling narrowed his eyes and soon spotted several figures emerging from behind a few white birch trees at the edge of the slope, walking step by step towards the two of them.

  There were four people in total. The one at the front was a burly man, about forty years old, wearing a greyish-blue straight robe, with a torn and tattered animal hide slung over his shoulder, carrying a long hunting bow on his back and holding an iron fork in his hand.

  Behind them, the three people were the largest of the twenty or so who had come out, carrying a bow and with three or four long, fluffy pheasants on their backs that quivered in the wind. The smallest was a sturdy little fellow with a round face as red as an apple, although dirty, he looked like a stone statue.

  He was only twelve or thirteen years old, wearing a worn sheepskin coat, carrying a bow on his back, and holding a rope to lead a wounded small deer, with short legs stumbling in the thick snow that exceeded his knees, and from time to time he turned his head to hit the deer's buttocks with the stick in his hand.

  That twenty-year-old, quite handsome young man looked at Yang Ling and the other with a gentle gaze, calling out to another slightly younger guy with only a faint mustache to go together to collect the wolf corpses. They pulled out the arrows from the wolf corpses, wiped the blood stains on the wolf skin, put the arrows back in the quiver, and then heavily hit the wolf that had not died yet. After that, they took out a rope and tied the legs of the four wolves together.

  A middle-aged man walked up to Yang Ling and the other two, sizing them up from head to toe. The man had a smudge of mud on his face, but he looked like a scholar. The woman's clothes were disheveled, but the fabric was fine, and her features didn't look like those of a mountain villager. He asked suspiciously, "Who are you people? What brings you to the wild woods of Wuzigou Ridge?"

  Yang Ling saw that he had a full beard, although rough and unrefined, his nose was straight and his mouth was square, with an upright air about him. He slightly put down his guard, but in this desolate mountain wilderness, he still kept a watchful eye out, not daring to tell the truth to this sturdy giant of a man.

  "He cupped his hands and said: 'We... my siblings and I were visiting relatives in Jiming Post, but we encountered government soldiers and Tartars fighting on the road. We escaped and ended up here. Thank you, Uncle, for saving our lives.'"

  "Hehe, siblings? This big brother, I just saw you two kissing!" The little rascal with a tiger-like head and brain said, stomping in the snow. He wore a thousand-layered wrapped legging, with two pieces of animal hide tied on top, making his originally not-so-short stature look even more compact and adorable.

  Yang Ling and Ma Lian'er's faces suddenly turned red, and the middle-aged strong man shouted: "Don't talk nonsense, go help your brother tie up the prey."

  The little guy stuck out his tongue and said discontentedly: "Of course, they kissed, I saw it, big brother saw it, second brother saw it, dad also saw..."

  The big fellow kicked the little guy's butt and scolded with a smile: "Little rabbit, you talk too much, go back and punish you for not eating!" Then he turned his head to look at the two of them, and a sharp chill flashed in his eyes as he said: "My surname is Han, I am a mountain hunter, what are you two?"