Li Siming froze. Ignoring the pain in his leg, he tried to stand, but the searing agony made him howl in misery. "AGH! My leg is broken too! I can’t walk!"

Forced to sit on the frozen lake’s surface, Li Siming and Wang Dadan stared at each other, at a complete loss.

If they didn’t get back today, they would probably freeze to death out here.

"What do we do now?" Wang Dadan asked frantically. Whenever he went out, he never told his wife, Wang Cuihua, where he was going, let alone what he was doing. So, he had no hope of her coming to look for him. He could only pray someone would come for Li Siming.

Li Siming frowned and sighed. "Sigh... Even if we tried to crawl, we wouldn’t get far. Our only hope is for Lanhua to come find me. Thankfully, I told her I was coming to the Dragon King Temple before I left."

Hearing this, Wang Dadan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was terrified of freezing to death out here.

’I hope Madam Lan Hua gets here soon,’ Wang Dadan prayed, hoping to see Liu Lanhua’s stout figure appear. He had never been so eager to see her in his life.

「Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour passed...」

It was as if their calls to the heavens went unanswered and their pleas to the earth were ignored.

Just as Wang Dadan and Li Siming were about to pass out from the cold, someone approached with a kerosene lamp, calling out softly, "Husband? Yingzi’s dad..."

Li Siming jolted awake and opened his eyes. "We’re over here!" he shouted. "In the ditch below the log bridge!"

Hearing Li Siming’s voice, Liu Lanhua hurried over. Wang Dadan also roused himself and said urgently, "Madam Lan Hua, our legs are broken! Hurry back to the village and get some people! Bring a door panel to carry us back! Don’t go to Miao Dahai’s place—find people who are on our side..."

He had barely finished speaking when several figures with kerosene lamps started walking toward them from a distance, shouting, "Who’s there? Don’t move! Move again and we’ll get rough!"

Liu Lanhua had no choice but to stand still and wait for them to approach.

As they got closer, she saw it was Big Pillar leading a few of the village militiamen on patrol.

Big Pillar saw Liu Lanhua and frowned. "It’s the middle of the night. What’s a woman like you doing out here instead of staying put at home?"

"Shanzi’s dad went out for a walk to digest his dinner, and when he didn’t come back, I came out to look for him." Liu Lanhua quickly came up with an excuse, figuring it was better than having no reason at all.

"Well now, sounds like he had nothing better to do after a full meal," Big Pillar said with a laugh. Inwardly, however, he was thinking, ’Miao Dahai was right. This Liu Lanhua and Li Siming are no good. Look at all the trouble they’ve caused in the village over the past six months.’ "So, have you found him?"

"I found him. He fell into the ditch," Liu Lanhua said, her face burning with embarrassment. She wished she could find a hole to crawl into.

Hearing this, the men raised their kerosene lamps and peered into the bottom of the ditch, finally spotting Wang Dadan and Li Siming.

"Ouch, and Wang Dadan’s here too! You two certainly have a lot of free time, both out for a stroll after dinner? What a coincidence!" Big Pillar asked with a grin, feigning ignorance. "What happened here? Can you get out on your own?"

To fall from such a height and be unharmed, one would need to have virtuous ancestors. With all the wicked schemes Wang Dadan and Li Siming had cooked up, they obviously weren’t that lucky. It was already a mercy from the heavens that they hadn’t been killed in the fall.

"Big Pillar, we’ve had drinks together before. Your big brother has fallen into a ditch, so stop with the snide remarks and give us a hand. Get us out of here and take us home. I’ll remember this favor, my friend, and thank you for it later." Wang Dadan’s nose was red from the cold. If he didn’t get out of there soon, his leg would probably be ruined for good.

"Please, I’m begging you, save my husband," Liu Lanhua pleaded. "You all watched my Shanzi grow up. He will be grateful to you uncles in the future."

When Liu Lanhua mentioned Li Shan, who worked at a government unit, the men relented. If not for the parents’ sake, then for their son’s. They went down, pulled Li Siming and Wang Dadan up, and took them to their respective homes.

Liu Lanhua quickly called for the doctor, who set and bandaged her husband’s and Wang Dadan’s bones. The village doctor said the injuries were quite severe and that they should go to the hospital the next day to get casts. Otherwise, the injuries might not heal properly, leaving them with a permanent limp.

So, the next day, Wang Cuihua and Liu Lanhua asked their own families for help, borrowed the village’s ox-cart, and rushed Wang Dadan and Li Siming to the county hospital for treatment.

Zhao Nuanyue sat on the train, a cool sensation on her cheeks. She reached up and touched her face, finding it wet with tears of parting.

She knew Hua Yusen liked her, loved her. The thought was incredibly sweet, but the separation also filled her heart with a deep sense of loss.

She even had the sudden urge to get right off the train and not leave at all.

Seeing his sister’s tears, Zhao Nuan Yang took out a handkerchief and offered it to her.

When Zhao Nuanyue saw the eager, ingratiating look in her younger brother’s eyes, some of her sadness faded.

"Thank you." Zhao Nuanyue smiled through her tears. "Nuanyang, after we get back to Jincheng City, you have to listen to me, not to other people. There are a lot of bad people in Jincheng City, so you shouldn’t talk to anyone, understand?"

Zhao Nuan Yang thought for a moment, then looked at his sister with uncertainty. "What about Mom?" he asked slowly.

Hearing her brother’s question, Zhao Nuanyue felt a pang. ’In his heart, Mom is still so important, irreplaceable.’

"Mm, you can talk to Mom. But whatever she says, you have to tell me about it in private, okay?" Zhao Nuanyue instructed, not trusting Xia Yingyu in the slightest.

"Oh!" Zhao Nuan Yang listened and nodded. He knew his sister would never hurt him; she was good to him. "I’ll tell you everything!"

"Good boy, Nuanyang," Zhao Nuanyue praised her brother. ’I’ll give him the Dragon Bright Grass when we get off the train and teach him how to use it.’

The train was packed to the brim and extremely crowded. Many passengers were people who worked out of town, heading home for the New Year.

The train was also full of a motley crew of people from all walks of life. Before boarding, Zhao Nuanyue had smeared her face with soot and put on a hat, making herself look clumsy, rustic, and grimy, completely hiding her usual delicate beauty.

The brother and sister kept a very low profile on the train. They only got up to walk around when one of them needed to use the restroom or get hot water, and they took turns sleeping.

「The train traveled for a full day and night. Passengers got on and off, and with many stops and starts, they finally arrived in Jincheng City.」

This time, they didn’t plan to stay for long, so they had only brought a change of clothes in a medium-sized bundle.

Following the flow of the crowd, they disembarked from the train. Once outside the station, Zhao Nuanyue took the Dragon Bright Grass from her pocket. "Nuanyang, this is something special," she said. "Wear it around your neck and don’t take it off. If a bad person gets close to you, this grass will get hot. If that happens, you run to me right away. Don’t talk to them, and definitely don’t go with them."