In the evening, Hao Cheng ate something casually, took an oil-paper umbrella, put on a straw raincoat, carried a backpack and went out of the yard.
When the door was locked, Uncle Dong, who was picking vegetables at the door, looked up at the sky and said, "It's gloomy and windy. It looks like it's going to rain heavily. Hao Cheng, why are you still going out so late?"
She raised the umbrella in her hand: "I've had dinner and I have something to do outside. I brought the umbrella with me, it won't be a problem."
After she greeted him, big raindrops began to fall. She held up her umbrella and hurried up the mountain. She also greeted the villagers who came back from the fields. It was not easy for Xinghua Village to produce a scholar. Although Hao Cheng was not very good at farm work, he was still respected by the villagers.
It was just that the original scholar was too shy, and the villagers only thought that she was aloof and showed off her scholarly appearance, so they naturally wouldn't take the initiative to approach her and try to curry favor with her. After Hao Cheng came, he tried his best to improve the relationship between neighbors, and he would give a portion of sesame paste to his neighbors. In this way, neighbors would be happy to pass on two green onions, go up to the roof to fix it, or lend a hand.
Yesterday she found a ginseng on the mountain. Due to limited conditions and the fact that it was too small, she decided to wait until the ginseng grew bigger before picking it. She covered it with leaves and left a mark.
It was going to rain heavily, and she was afraid that the traces would be lost. She also heard from the villagers that the ginseng would hide itself after it became a spirit. She thought, the urine was a little small, so it would be more reliable to pick it early and sell it for money.
That was her chance to make a fortune, and also her capital to buy a shop and do business in the town in the future. She couldn't just throw it away. Not to mention raining, even if it thundered, she had to hurry up the mountain. Besides, the villagers had all returned to their houses at this time, and there were few pedestrians on the road. She estimated that no one would see her taking the ginseng back.
The place where the ginseng grows is low-lying and close to a cliff. It was an accidental discovery made by Hao Cheng when he slipped and fell while climbing the mountain yesterday.
It rained heavily and the mountain road became muddy. Hao Cheng came down carefully, leaving a red mark on her hand from the grass. But she didn't care about that at all. She bent down, holding an umbrella with one hand and pushing aside the dense grass with the other hand, and carefully searched for the precious ginseng according to the location she remembered.
No, no, no! Hao Cheng searched so anxiously that she threw her umbrella aside and searched everywhere in the pouring rain. The rain slid down her bamboo hat and formed a rain curtain in front of her eyes that blurred her vision.
Hao Cheng simply threw away her hat and scanned the lush grass. When her sight moved to the north near the cliff, she finally saw the ginseng she had found yesterday. There was a small red flower on the top of the ginseng swaying in the wind.
She clearly remembered that the place where the ginseng stayed was not that place, and there was no black thing pressing on it. Could it be that the ginseng really became a spirit and ran away by itself? Hao Cheng muttered to himself, and he was relieved to find the ginseng.
She picked up the bamboo hat and umbrella on the ground. After all, the cliff where the ginseng was leaning against was really steep, and she was worried that rocks would roll down and hit her head.
Falling objects, even small stones, can kill people, and she didn't want to lose her life for a ginseng. Carefully walking over there, Hao Cheng bent down to pull out the ginseng, but it didn't move. Then she realized that the thing pressing down the ginseng was not a rock or tree trunk as she thought, but an unconscious person.
Hao Cheng was startled and subconsciously took two steps back. The man was soaked by the rain and seemed to have been seriously injured. Blood mixed with rain flowed out from under him. The scene was just like the haunted scenes she had seen in horror movies.
People in ancient times all had long hair, and she couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman by looking at the body shape. The person must have fallen from a great height, with all his hair disheveled. The long, jet-black hair fell on his sides, matched with his pale skin and the blood beneath his body. It was simply a challenge to Hao Cheng's limits.
This scene was so scary that Hao Cheng covered her pounding heart, but the ginseng under the man still attracted Hao Cheng's attention. She didn't steal this person's things, so she couldn't just let this person hold her down and ignore it.
If she ran away like this, she would have suffered this pain and this fright in vain. Hao Cheng mustered up her courage and took another step forward. She looked up at the sky. Fine raindrops fell from the lead-gray sky. The night was dark. In the evening, wild beasts in the mountains would come out to wreak havoc.
The blood on this person attracted animals with a sensitive sense of smell. She had no time to hesitate and had to make a quick decision. The cliff was so high, the person must be dead. But Hao Cheng still lowered his head to feel the person's breath.
The result was beyond her expectation. Although the other person was breathing weakly, he was still alive. She put her hand on his arm, which was hanging softly at his side. She could feel his pulse and chest was still rising and falling. He was alive. And he was a petite man.
People are afraid of motionless corpses, but not living people. Hao Cheng's fear was reduced a lot, she pulled the ginseng out from under the man and hid it in the pocket sewn on her sleeve.
She wanted to turn around and leave, but she turned back after only two steps. Although this person had no relationship with her, she would be guilty for the rest of her life if she did not save him. She could not just watch him do nothing.
Fortunately, although the scholar was thin, she was still strong as a woman born in this world. Hao Cheng temporarily abandoned the umbrella and the backpack, first sent the scholar up the slope she slid down, and then carried the backpack and umbrella up.
She put the umbrella into the backpack and held it between two fingers of one hand. She carried the man on her back and walked laboriously towards her house step by step. As she walked, she prayed silently, hoping that the man only had minor injuries. After all, she was poor and could not afford the expensive medical expenses.