The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 117: Chapter 117: He Couldn’t Possibly Fall For Her

Jiang Wu saw Tian Jiao suddenly stop, her eyes fixed on a spot up ahead.

He followed her gaze but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Tian Jiao whispered to him, "Look, isn’t that Song Jing?"

"What about Song Jing? It’s not like we’re close to him."

Tian Jiao then pointed to the other side of the mountain path, a bit farther away.

"Look again, isn’t that Ji Huan?"

Although she was bundled up tightly, he could vaguely make out that it was, in fact, Ji Huan.

Tian Jiao wondered aloud, "How did those two end up together...?"

’If I saw that correctly,’ she thought, ’they were clearly walking side-by-side just a moment ago. They only split up when the mountain path started getting more crowded.’

’Did they just run into each other by chance and say hello as fellow villagers? Or... are they actually close? Maybe they even spent the night hiding in the mountains together!’

At this thought, Tian Jiao’s heart clenched painfully.

’No, that’s impossible. Song Jing is one of the most promising scholar candidates in Dafeng Village. How could he possibly be interested in a country girl like Ji Huan?’

Jiang Wu also thought she was overthinking it.

"We’re all from the same village, so what if they exchanged a few words? Besides, they’re so far apart. What could be fishy about that?"

Actually, he wanted to persuade Tian Jiao to stop obsessing over Ji Huan.

Before the new year, she couldn’t stand to see Ji Huan making money and had insisted on trying to copy her. The result was that not only did she fail, but she also lost money, throwing their family into total chaos. Even without this whole conscription drama, their new year would have been anything but peaceful.

But Jiaojiao was wonderful in every way, except that she was a bit narrow-minded. Jiang Wu was afraid she’d take it to heart if he pointed it out, so he didn’t dare mention it.

’But,’ he thought, ’she’s only so at odds with Ji Huan because she cares about me so much.’ The thought made his heart swell with sweetness, and he decided it wasn’t such a terrible flaw after all.

Tian Jiao grabbed Jiang Wu and deliberately slowed her pace, following the pair in fits and starts. She saw that they truly didn’t speak a word to each other for the rest of the way. Midway, Ji Huan, who was carrying that little monster, took a fall, and Song Jing didn’t even offer to help her up.

Tian Jiao finally relaxed, feeling that she had indeed been overthinking things.

’Song Jing interested in Ji Huan... The very idea is laughable. They’re from two completely different worlds.’

With Ji Huan’s current reputation, even old widowers who couldn’t find a wife wouldn’t dare take her, let alone someone like Song Jing with his bright future.

As they were about to enter the village, Song Jing suddenly quickened his pace, soon walking ahead of Ji Huan.

As he rounded a bend, he casually glanced back at Ji Huan, his brow deeply furrowed, his eyes filled with worry and a silent question.

Ji Huan shook her head, signaling that she was fine.

Their gazes met for a fleeting moment before parting, one heading east and the other west.

When she had fallen just now, Ji Huan had seen Song Jing about to run over. At the same time, she had also spotted Tian Jiao and Jiang Wu watching them like hawks not far behind him, so she had quickly shot Song Jing a look.

Fortunately, Song Jing was sharp enough to stop in his tracks and cover it up.

Otherwise, if Tian Jiao had seen them interacting, who knew what kind of storm she would have stirred up.

’My reputation is already in tatters, so I have nothing to lose,’ Ji Huan thought. ’But Song Jing is aiming to become a scholar. It’s best he stays clear of gossip, especially any gossip involving me.’

Carrying Dabao on her back, Ji Huan went straight to the Hu Family’s home.

When she pushed open the courtyard gate, the entire Hu Family was in the yard.

Hu Liang and Hu Dacheng were kneeling side by side on the ground. Widow Xie stood nearby, clutching a rattan cane and catching her breath, clearly tired from hitting them.

"...How could you lose two living people? Are your eyes just for decoration? Why did you two come back without finding them? Liangzi, you’re a grown man, yet you can’t even look after a few younger ones. To think I trusted you... Stop kneeling here and embarrassing yourselves! Get out and find them! Don’t even think about coming back until you do..."

Hu Ximei shrieked, "Sister Wan!"

Widow Xie’s head snapped toward the gate. She immediately threw down the rattan cane and rushed over, giving Ji Huan a hard swat through her thick cotton clothes. "You silly girl, you nearly scared us to death!"

Ji Huan smiled apologetically. "Aunt Xie, it was my fault. I couldn’t keep up and accidentally fell behind. It has nothing to do with Liangzi or Dacheng. Please don’t blame them."

"Never mind them!"

Widow Xie quickly took the bundle and bedding from her, then looked her over from head to toe.

Seeing her and Dabao return safe and sound, Hu Liang breathed a sigh of relief, while Hu Dacheng just burst into tears.

"Sister Wan, where did you go! My brother and I were looking for you everywhere..."

When the two of them realized Ji Huan was missing, they were frantic.

They didn’t dare to go forward. They turned back the way they came, shouting and searching, not even missing the side paths and trails.

But they just couldn’t find her. They asked people coming up behind them along the way, and everyone said they hadn’t seen her.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, and the sky gradually darkened, so the two had no choice but to find a cave to take shelter from the wind.

After a terrifying night, they heard from people newly arriving on the mountain that morning that there would be no conscription this year. The two immediately ran back to the village, planning to gather more people to go back and search the mountain.

In truth, they had already come to the worst conclusion, fearing that Ji Huan had lost her footing and fallen off a cliff, or perhaps had fallen into a hunter’s trap.

Either way, her chances of survival were slim!

With the strong winds and blizzard that night, even a man of iron couldn’t have survived it, let alone a young woman with a small child.

Widow Xie was both furious and anxious. Without a second thought, she gave the two of them a harsh beating first.

Just as she was about to go out and ask the villagers for help searching the mountain, Ji Huan returned.

It was a false alarm. Widow Xie shooed them all into the inner room to rest, while she and Ximei went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Spending a night out in the ice and snow was no joke; they would need to brew a pot of thick ginger soup.

In the east room, Hu Dacheng rubbed his swollen backside, a miserable look on his face. "Sister Wan, if you’d been a moment later, Mom would have beaten us to death..."

Ji Huan patted his head. "It’s my fault. I’ll make you something delicious later to make up for it."

Hearing the promise of delicious food, Hu Dacheng was no longer upset and eagerly asked what she was going to make.

Hu Liang twisted his ear and dragged him to the west room, which finally quieted him down.

"Don’t listen to Dacheng. I’m the one who didn’t look after you and Dabao properly. I didn’t even notice you were gone... It’s a good thing nothing happened. If it had, I really don’t know what I would’ve done..."

Just thinking about it sent a wave of fear through Hu Liang.

"It really wasn’t your fault. I wasn’t paying attention and was too close to the edge. Then someone bumped into me, and I rolled down... Luckily, there was a cave right below, so Dabao and I didn’t suffer."

"Who bumped into you? Did you get a good look at the person?" Hu Liang, however, focused on this point.

Ji Huan shook her head. "It didn’t look like anyone from our village. Everyone was in a mad rush then, so it was probably an accident."

Hu Liang was still indignant. "Even if it was an accident, with so many people on the path, if they had just called out, Dacheng and I weren’t far ahead. We would have heard and come back to save you... That person has no conscience!"

Ji Huan also found it strange.

Before she fell, she had instinctively grabbed at the person who bumped her. Although she didn’t manage to hold on, that person definitely knew they had knocked someone over.

Unexpectedly, not only did they not think to help, they didn’t even make a sound, acting as if nothing had happened and just continued on their way.

No wonder she had shouted for so long from the bottom of the slope without seeing a single person.

The more Hu Liang thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.

Country folk were mostly warm-hearted. They would usually lend a hand if they saw someone fall into a pit. Unless there was a grudge, it was impossible that they would pretend not to see.

Ji Huan, however, didn’t find it that hard to understand. At that moment, everyone was desperate to save their own lives. Who had the energy to care about anyone else?

Besides, she really couldn’t recall having made any enemies from other villages.

The original owner of her body was even less likely to have. Aside from the few times she’d been sold, she had never once set foot outside of Dafeng Village.

Unable to make sense of it, the question was pushed to the back of her mind as breakfast was brought to the table.

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