It was cloudy when Jose went out in the morning, and it began to rain lightly at noon. Jose braved the rain and came back carrying a load. In the afternoon, he could rest at home for half a day. At noon, the family talked about one thing while having dinner.
"Dad, you said Beerspa's Cavaliers recently caught a group of people smuggling official salt?" Selena couldn't help but stop her chopsticks and asked in surprise.
Jose took a bite of the black rice pancake and nodded: "In the past few days, people around Beerspa City have been talking about this matter. They said that a group of people were caught, and two of them ran away. They were all beggars in their twenties. Among them were A few of them are only fourteen or fifteen years old. Alas, they are still a bunch of kids. They have no choice but to do this..."
Selena's eyes flashed after hearing this. She lowered her head and took a piece of black rice cake, then gently broke off a small piece of cake and put it into her mouth. She felt that her mouth had no taste. There were too many fur smuggling incidents in her previous life, and too many people were arrested. At that time, it was because my family was too poor and had no land, so her dad could earn some pocket money by walking and selling streets by streets to buy rice and grain.
My mother's body was already weak. In addition, she lived in this dilapidated house all year round, and she worried about eating too much and not being able to keep up with her nutrition. In the following years, she was often bedridden. The family was really short of money, so in the end, her dad had to take a risk and buy some fabrics, and then went to the border mountainous area with others to try my luck. If he could exchange for some furs and sell them to fur shops, he would get a lot of money, and then he could go home and buy land and build a house.
But smuggling is not so easy. Not to mention that the two countries Seuropaste and Norpaste are at war at the border. This road has to pass through three mountains and two jungles, and also pass by an official road. Among them There are countless robbers, gangsters, and knights. Smugglers carrying large amounts of fur are like rats crossing the street. They hide here and there in fear. If they are not careful, they may never return to their hometown.
For that little money, these people walked such a long way carrying heavy furs. All kinds of wild beasts, poisonous insects, snakes and ants were everywhere along the way. Most people couldn't bear it, and even fewer of them could actually come back in the end.
Selena bit her lip slightly when she thought of this, and poked the bottom of the bowl with the chopsticks in her hand. In the previous life, her father, Jose, had been away from home for three months. When he finally came back, he was almost like a skeleton. He just held his breath and wanted to see his mother and daughter. He passed away ten days later. The final result was a loss of life and property. After that, she and her mother were the only two people left in the dilapidated home, and her mother's illness became more and more serious. It wasn't until she entered the Earl's Mansion two years later that she closed her eyes and passed away. Thinking of this, Selena's eyes welled up.
As Jose was talking, he was eating the food. Then he saw that his daughter was just poking at the bottom of the bowl and not eating the food. He couldn't help but push the plate towards his daughter. He persuaded her. : "When you are growing taller, eat more vegetables."
Maria was more attentive, and when she saw something was wrong with her daughter, she couldn't help but take a second look: "What's going on? Look, the child is about to shed tears..."
Seeing her father slowly looking over, Selena couldn't help but shrink back the tears in her eyes, raised her face and said with a smile: "It's my mother's cooking. This dish is too spicy. I accidentally irritated on it just now. It's okay..."
Jose and Maria were worried at first, but when they saw their daughter smiling, they couldn't help but laugh too.
After dinner, Selena went back to the house, picked up a small bottle of mysterious spring water she collected on the table, then dipped a little in her handkerchief and lightly nodded her eyes. Her eyes were a little red from holding it back just now. This spring water can improve eyesight. On weekdays, If you scrub more often, your eyes will become watery. After using it for more than a month, the effect is still good.
Her eyes felt cold and refreshing, so she sat at the table and looked out the window. The rain was still falling continuously, and it splashed a smell of earth when it fell on the ground. She could tell the right corner of the room without looking. The muddy water started to flow down again, and she could even hear the ticking sound, but she didn't pay attention at this time. She just frowned and thought about the shoe prints and blood stains she accidentally saw that day, and her eyes moved slightly.
She raised his eyes and looked outside. It was raining so heavily today. She wondered if Lucio was still in the mountains.
The heavy rain continued from noon to evening. When the sky cleared up, Selena's family had already finished dinner. Maria was sewing clothes in her room, while Jose went to neighbor Leo's house. Selena found an excuse and slipped out.
The Flower Mountain that has just rained has the fresh smell of earth. Breathing a few sips of it is like cleansing the turbid air from your body. She feel a little lighter all over. The path into the mountain is a bit muddy, but fortunately you can step on the roadside. Walking through the weeds, her embroidered shoes and skirt got wet after just a few steps. Selena had to hold the skirt with both hands. Fortunately, she changed into old shoes and clothes before going out.
After walking for a while, the soles of her shoes were slightly soaked by the rain. Selena finally found the wattle tree near the mint she dug that day. The blood left on the branches that she had seen had been washed away by the rain. After hesitating for a moment, Then she pushed aside the thorns, waded through the thick leaves and walked inside. Anyway, her shoes were already soaked, so she didn't mind getting them a little more wet.
After walking a few steps, I saw a cave. Selena was not unfamiliar with this cave. In the past, when the mountain roads were difficult to walk at night when hunting in winter, hunters would stay in the cave for the night. However, there were no big prey in Flower Mountain, so hunting The number of people in the cave is decreasing day by day. Now almost no one comes here, and the cave is deserted. When she was a child, she and her friends came here to play.
When it gets dark, uninhabited places always look a bit scary. The dark hole at the entrance seems to be dangerous. Selena is not a real twelve-year-old girl. Although she feels scared, she is not so scared that she runs away.
Selena didn't go in. She just thought about what her father said yesterday about smuggling furs. Combined with the sudden appearance of Lucio and the pile of gold last night, these all indicate that he may be related to the fur sellers arrested by the Knight's Mansion. Maybe Is he one of the two people his father said escaped?
Selena still clearly remembers the way he was hunched over when he left last night. He seemed to be injured. Even if he was anxious, he would not be able to leave over the Flower Mountain overnight. With his current situation, it is even less likely to reach other people to stay with, because the government offered a reward of five silver coins for catching someone selling smuggled furs. How many poor people could withstand such a temptation.
Even if it were him, he would know that hiding in the mountains is safer than going down. It rained again last night. Because the mountain roads that had rained were slippery, the risk of walking was higher. There was no way he could go down the mountains in the rain, nor could he.
So there are various signs that if she is really as she suspected, Lucio may still be in the mountains now. There is no place to take shelter from the rain in Flower Mountan. If there is, it may only be in this deserted cave in front of her. Selena's mind today is filled with what she saw yesterday. There were shoe prints and blood stains, so as soon as the rain stopped, some people came over to check it out. Now she had reached the entrance of the cave. If they turned around and left, wouldn't all their previous efforts be in vain?
Selena stood at the entrance of the cave and hesitated for a while. After throwing two stones in and still seeing no movement, she gently picked up her feet and walked in in small steps. The cave was not big, but because it was almost evening, the light was a little dark. After getting used to the darkness inside, she could see the entire cave clearly. As she expected, because no one had lived in it for a long time, the stone walls on both sides had a layer of green moss, but the ground had obviously been cleaned, so it would not be slippery when walking through it. Instead, she walked slowly and looked around. She accidentally stepped on something under her feet, and there was a sudden "crash" sound in the silent cave.
Selena was so frightened that she quickly and nervously took a few steps back. After taking a closer look, she realized that they were some rusty iron bows and arrows. They might have been discarded by hunters who passed by before and piled here. When she turned her gaze, When moving away from the pile of scrap metal, someone suddenly coughed not far to the right, and the sound sounded a little painful.
Selena had calmed down for a while, now felt her heart pounding again. Women are naturally timid. She still stoped the sense to not run away, which was considered extremely courageous. After stopping for a moment, she saw no one there again. Shee heard the sound, and he could neither move forward nor stop. After hesitating again and again, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and walk around the rusty iron, and then slowly move towards the direction of the sound.