Chapter 22
Wu Fan suddenly jolted.
"Damn it!" he thought, "I didn't do anything to your daughter. It was her who hugged me, and I pushed her away immediately. Why call me a monster? I'm not a beast."
"Mama, I think he's pretty nice. What's a monster?" Xiaoxue asked innocently, looking up at the middle-aged woman.
"Just remember what I told you!" the woman replied with a hint of resignation.
She then turned to Wu Fan and asked coldly, "What's your name and how old are you?"
"My name is Wu Fan, I'm 20 years old." He answered honestly.
"Alright, I'm Zhao Tingfeng. You can call me Aunt Feng. From now on, you'll help Xiaoxue with the chores, gather provisions, and find a way out of here. If we want to survive and leave this place, it will depend on you," she said before walking away without any further formalities.
"Yes, Aunt Feng!" Wu Fan replied, though he wanted to ask her how she and her two companions ended up in this cave. But seeing her aversion toward men, he decided to keep quiet.
"Come on, big brother Wu, I'll show you around the cave!" Xiaoxue said cheerfully, tugging at his hand with a bright smile.
Wu Fan nodded, taking a torch and following Xiaoxue to explore the area.
"Here's where you fell!" Xiaoxue said, leading him to the center of the cave.
"What? You wove a vine bed here? This is where I fell, and this is what saved my life?" Wu Fan exclaimed, pointing to a net made of woven vines.
The net looked like a trampoline, securely fastened at the four corners with wooden stakes and suspended in the center.
"Yes, my mother spent six months making it. Before, animals would fall here, but they didn't survive. They ended up as our meals. You're the first one to make it out alive. Haha, you're really lucky!" Xiaoxue laughed.
"Thanks to your mother. If I had fallen straight to the ground, I'd be a pile of mush by now." Wu Fan said, caressing the net with gratitude.
He looked up and faintly saw the black opening above, with no light at all.
The cave resembled a large jar, with a small neck at the top and smooth rock walls. It seemed impossible to climb out.
"Don't even think about it. My mother spent hours looking at that hole without ever seeing any light," Xiaoxue said, shaking her head, thinking Wu Fan was looking at the opening hoping for an escape.
By the dim light of the torch, Wu Fan accepted that Xiaoxue was probably right.
After touring the cave, Wu Fan was even more surprised.
The cave must be several hundred square meters and even contained trees, with vines wrapped around them. It almost looked like a hidden paradise.
Wu Fan still couldn't understand how trees could grow in a place without light.
In a corner of the cave, they had also made two rudimentary beds from branches.
Xiaoxue dropped onto one of the beds, a look of contentment on her face. "Big brother Wu, here's my bed. You can sleep here tonight too. The bed next to it is my mother's."
"Huh?" Wu Fan hesitated before responding, "We'll see. I'd prefer to sleep on the ground."
"As you wish, but you can sleep next to my bed. That way, we can talk. Hehe..." Xiaoxue laughed, shaking his arm insistently.
"Alright. By the way, what do you eat here, and how do you cook?" Wu Fan asked, curious about how the mother and daughter had survived in this cave for more than twenty years.