When I woke up again, the sky was faintly brightening.
I sat up abruptly and found myself lying on the bed in the side room. The wooden board beneath me was making my bones ache.
"Awake?" Master Qingning sat by the window, playing with a stack of yellow talismans in his hand. "Tidy up, we need to go find where the Fish Woman is hidden."
Memories resurfaced, and the greasy, salty taste lingered in my mouth. Unconsciously, I retched a few times.
Early in the morning, Yujia Village was soaked in morning dew, with every household's door tightly shut and not even a barking dog could be heard.
"The villagers usually don't wake up until noon," he replied.
She took out something resembling a compass from her pocket, adjusted the direction, and continued, "Besides, sleeping pills were put into the porridge we had yesterday. They probably think we're still unconscious."
Turning a corner, there was a small river at the end of the village road, where a thin and weak girl was fetching water.
Startled by the sudden encounter, both of us were taken aback.
Master Qingning's expression changed, and she was about to go and grab the girl.
I quickly stopped her and approached the girl slowly, taking out a few candies from my pocket. "Don't be afraid, we're not bad people."
"Peh!" The girl spat at me and snatched the candies, then turned and ran up the mountain.
"Troublesome!" Master Qingning glared at me fiercely and immediately chased after her. "We can't let her go and inform others!"
The mountain path was rugged, with many cliffs around. The girl was evidently more familiar with the paths in the mountains.
Master Qingning caught up to a cliffside cave and completely lost sight of the girl.
The cave was deep, and she peered inside, her tone somewhat excited. "Wait for me here; the Fish Woman might be hiding in there."
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