SES Chapter 72 Part 2

Zhama asked Old Man Yan, “Sir, are you going to our village or crossing Moon Mountain?”

Old Man Yan said, “We’ll probably stay in your village tonight and cross the mountain tomorrow.”

Cross a mountain? Mu Dai shot Yan Hongsha a fierce glare. Yan Hongsha, hugging the shovel, mouthed back, “I didn’t know either.”

Zhama glanced at Old Man Yan. “Moon Mountain isn’t easy to cross. I’ve heard of people walking for days and nights without finding their way out.”

Old Man Yan only grunted and told Yan Hongsha, “Hongsha, help me put on my eye mask.”

He was ready to rest. Mu Dai knew from Hongsha that closing his eyes was the most basic way to protect them — Old Man Yan’s eyes were precious, and keeping them shut did them far more good than leaving them open.

After the mask was on, he crossed his legs like in meditation. Hongsha kept a steadying hand on him so he wouldn’t be jolted by the cart.

Mu Dai moved up to chat with Zhama.

His village was called Qiju, so small it couldn’t even be found on a map — only about a dozen households lived there. As for Moon Mountain, he explained that it was just what the locals called it — because the moon rose from behind it every night.

What it was called on official maps, or which mountain range it belonged to, he had no idea.

Old Man Yan seemed to be asleep, his breathing steady with the occasional light snore. Zhama glanced at him with a chuckle and cracked his whip to urge the mule forward.

Mu Dai asked, “When will we get there?”

“Midnight, probably,” Zhama replied.

“Midnight?!” Mu Dai nearly fainted. Looking at the mule’s leisurely pace, she grumbled, “I could walk faster than this.”

Zhama laughed. “You could, sure — but up ahead we have to wade through water and cross seven or eight li of mud. The mud can reach up to your knees.”

Mu Dai looked down at the cart’s big wheels. Sure enough, aside from the hub, they were caked with dried mud. She felt a little depressed — but then thought of how Luo Ren and the others would also have to take a mule cart to get in. Three grown men crammed together on one of these? That would be a sight.

She asked, “So what makes Moon Mountain so hard to cross?”

Zhama thought for a moment. “It’s huge. Really huge. But I’ve heard there are villages inside — Han Chinese villages, even.”

“Not ordinary Han Chinese, either. They say decades ago, to escape war, wealthy families hid deep in these mountains.”

That wasn’t unusual. Since the Qin dynasty, Chinese people had longed for their own Peach Blossom Spring — a secluded paradise far from the outside world.

“I’ve also heard,” Zhama continued, “that deep inside Moon Mountain, it rains about three hundred days a year. The terrain’s hard enough already, but with constant rain, the ground never dries. One step and you’ve got half a pound of mud stuck to your foot.”

“And there’s something else…”

He stopped mid-sentence, then waved his hand. “Forget it, I’ll scare you.”

The mysterious pause only made Mu Dai more curious. She pestered him until he relented. “Fine, but if you can’t sleep tonight, don’t blame me.”

“I’m not that easily scared,” Mu Dai said.

Lowering his voice, Zhama told her, “I’ve heard there are wild men in Moon Mountain.”

Wild men? Weren’t those supposed to be in Shennongjia?

Zhama had no idea where that was. His face was deadly serious. “Really. A hunter from Gama Village told me once — he and his friends took four dogs into the mountains to hunt, and they ran into one.”

His tone grew vivid. “It was a woman. Her whole body was covered in hair, except for her face and… her chest. Her chest was this big…”

Every time he said “chest,” his voice dropped lower, and by the end, his face was red. He clearly felt embarrassed saying such things to a young woman.

Mu Dai pressed, “And then?”

“They set the dogs on her, but the wild woman was unbelievably strong. She grabbed one dog and tore it apart. She killed two of them before the hunters snapped out of it. One of them raised his gun and shot her in the thigh. She howled and ran off.”

For some reason, Zhama’s dead-serious face just made Mu Dai want to laugh.

“Did you see it yourself?” she asked.

Zhama startled. “Of course not! If I had, I’d be in trouble. You don’t know — after that, something else happened…”

He suddenly turned red again and shut his mouth.

No matter how she asked, he wouldn’t say more. When she pushed harder, he stamped his foot — making the whole cart shake — and said, “Hey now, you’re a young lady. I can’t be telling you that.”