Chapter 131

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Chapter 131: Cave

Zhang Xiaohua walked the entire morning, and the snow showed no sign of stopping. The further he went, the harder it became to walk, with the ground underfoot becoming increasingly treacherous, often causing him to nearly slip. Zhang Xiaohua had to rely heavily on his small cane for support.

In the forest, everything was covered in snow and bare branches. Apart from the soft sound of snowflakes falling, the only noise was the crunching of snow under Zhang Xiaohua’s feet. In such an environment, it was difficult to distinguish between east and west, north and south, but this didn’t matter much to Zhang Xiaohua, who was notoriously bad with directions. All he had to do was keep an eye on the small mountain ahead. Sure enough, after not looking for a while, he suddenly realized that he was much closer to the mountain.

But Zhang Xiaohua’s true intention wasn’t reaching the mountain, it was finding something to eat. After walking for so long, he hadn’t come across the wild rabbits he used to see in the mountains near Guo Village frequently. Even squirrels, which usually darted around the trees, were rare. How could he catch something to eat?

Zhang Xiaohua grew more puzzled. If the squirrels hibernating in tree holes knew what he was thinking, they might all wake up from their slumber and bite him together, thinking, We usually dance on the trees, and you simply watch. But now, with the mountains sealed in snow, we’re just taking a nap, and you want to eat us? How are we supposed to live?

If Scholar Li Jinfeng knew what Zhang Xiaohua was thinking, he might secretly slip him a copy of <Man and Nature>, feeling ashamed that he hadn’t been strict enough as a teacher.

As Zhang Xiaohua continued to glance around while moving forward, his eyelids suddenly twitched, and he immediately stopped in his tracks. Squinting ahead, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy, just a few dozen steps away, there was a plump, gray wild rabbit sitting dazedly. Wasn’t that the braised rabbit leg he had been dreaming of?

Having spotted his prey, Zhang Xiaohua began to move forward cautiously, treading lightly, afraid of disturbing the rabbit’s trance.

Unfortunately, while Zhang Xiaohua might have had some childhood experience chasing chickens and rabbits, that was merely child’s play. When it came to actual hunting, especially catching a rabbit in the snow, he was far from being a match. Just as he got within a few feet, the rabbit’s long ears twitched. It immediately snapped out of its trance, no longer a dazed rabbit. At that moment, it embodied the glorious tradition of rabbits everywhere, the spirits of Bugs Bunny, Roger Rabbit, and Thug Bunny all seemed to possess it. In that instant, the stupid rabbit wasn’t just facing Zhang Xiaohua,it was representing all the hunted rabbits. And with that, it fled, speeding away from Zhang Xiaohua.

Run, rabbit, run!

Seeing the braised rabbit leg slip out of his grasp, how could Zhang Xiaohua just let it go? Without hesitation, he took off after the rabbit, completely forgetting about his injuries. Sometimes, human desire has a surprising ability to push the body beyond its limits.

Thus began a chase across the vast snowy landscape between man and rabbit. The rabbit, being clever, ran swiftly and changed directions frequently, making it difficult for Zhang Xiaohua to keep up. However, while Zhang Xiaohua wasn’t the fastest runner, he had remarkable endurance, a result of his training that could last half a day. Despite his injuries causing occasional pain that prevented him from exerting his full strength, he maintained a steady pace, always keeping the rabbit within sight, planning to catch it once it grew tired in one fell swoop.

Zhang Xiaohua’s plan was sound. As they continued the chase, he noticed the rabbit beginning to slow down. Grinning to himself, Zhang Xiaohua increased his speed, feeling victory within his reach.

But suddenly, Zhang Xiaohua’s surroundings changed. He found himself in a flat, open area with the small mountain he had been curious about just ahead. It turned out that during this pursuit, he had unknowingly run out of the dense forest.

However, with the prey in sight, Zhang Xiaohua had no time to admire the beautiful snowy landscape. His focus was solely on the rabbit, which seemed to have paused in confusion.

The rabbit, hearing Zhang Xiaohua closing in, gathered its strength and darted toward the small mountain. Soon, it reached the base of the mountain, where its pace slowed once again, likely exhausted from being chased by Zhang Xiaohua. The mountain in front of it was much steeper than the slopes behind the cottage, how could the rabbit could climb it?

What it thought was a way to escape had turned out to be a dead end. After a brief pause, the rabbit ran along the base of the mountain, trying to find another escape route.

Naturally, Zhang Xiaohua continued the pursuit.

Seeing the rabbit slow down, Zhang Xiaohua eagerly closed the gap between them. It was only a few steps away, his hand almost reaching out to grab it.

But just as he was about to succeed, the rabbit suddenly stopped, sniffed the air around it, and, with a quick glance back at Zhang Xiaohua, turned and crashed toward the mountain wall.

Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but laugh. Had the rabbit been driven crazy by him after being chased for so long? It seemed to be running straight into the rock wall! The old saying “Wait by the tree stump for the rabbit to come” never seemed more accurate to him.

However, what happened next left Zhang Xiaohua utterly bewildered.

Instead of smashing its head and neck against the rock as Zhang Xiaohua had anticipated, the stupid rabbit vanished in a flash of faint light as it touched the mountain wall. The gray rabbit that Zhang Xiaohua had been chasing all morning was simply gone!

Zhang Xiaohua rushed forward, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Could he have been imagining things? But the tracks left by the rabbit in the snow were still there, proving that this wasn’t a dream.

Standing dumbfounded in front of the spot where the rabbit had disappeared, Zhang Xiaohua hesitated to touch the rock with his hand. Instead, he used his small walking stick to poke at the stone. He found nothing unusual, the stick didn’t disappear. He continued prodding the rock wall around the area where the rabbit had vanished, and soon, he noticed something strange. In a circular area about half a man’s height where the rabbit had disappeared, there was no snow clinging to the surface, nor did any small stones or dirt fall off when he struck it, unlike the surrounding area, where snow and dirt reacted as expected.

Clearly, something out of the ordinary was happening here.

Zhang Xiaohua then carefully explored the spot further, using his walking stick to probe the area. In the place where the rabbit’s tracks ended, there was an area of about one square foot where the stick slid in effortlessly, as though there was an invisible hole in the rock. Watching his stick disappear into the solid stone without resistance, Zhang Xiaohua still found it hard to believe what was happening.

When the stick was almost fully inserted into the wall, and only his hand was visible outside, Zhang Xiaohua paused. After a moment of hesitation, he pushed further until his hand, too, disappeared into the stone. Only his wrist remained, sticking out awkwardly from the rock. It was then that Zhang Xiaohua finally accepted that there was indeed a hidden passage or hole in the mountain wall.

Retracting his stick and hand, Zhang Xiaohua stood there in the falling snow, lost in thought, contemplating what to do next.

What exactly is inside? Should he take the risk and crawl in to take a look?

As curious as any young boy, Zhang Xiaohua was no different. However, if it was just for a wild rabbit or a bit of curiosity, he was not about to risk crawling into an unknown small hole, especially one whose shape he couldn’t even see. Zhang Xiaohua knew well the saying, “Curiosity killed the cat”.

Still, Zhang Xiaohua wasn’t willing to return to the cottage empty-handed. After thinking for a moment, he strutted back into the forest in an obvious manner. But halfway there, he suddenly crouched down, laying flat on the snow, quietly raising his head. From that vantage point, he could see the stone wall.

Zhang Xiaohua decided to take up a “wait for the rabbit” strategy.

But after a while, when the rabbit still didn’t come out, Zhang Xiaohua began to get a little restless. Maybe the rabbit was too clever and stayed inside enjoying itself, or maybe the inside was dangerous, and the rabbit had already met its end. Or perhaps there was another exit, and the rabbit had long since escaped? Thinking that the rabbit might have already fled while he foolishly lay in the snow, Zhang Xiaohua was about to get up. But just then, a rabbit’s head suddenly poked out from the hard stone wall. From a distance, it looked quite eerie. The rabbit, with its long ears standing tall, looked left and right before retracting its head. Then, its whole body jumped out of the stone wall and ran off along the hillside into the distance.

Seeing the rabbit come out, Zhang Xiaohua didn’t immediately chase after it. Instead, he continued lying there for a while longer, making sure nothing else would jump out from the stone wall. Only then did he slowly walk over.

In fact, while Zhang Xiaohua was lying in the snow earlier, he had already made up his mind. If the rabbit could come out, then it was probably safe inside, and there was likely no other passage. It was probably a closed-off space. Also, the hole was only about a foot square, a slightly larger animal wouldn’t be able to squeeze in, so it was likely not dangerous.

If the rabbit had gone in and not come out, Zhang Xiaohua wouldn’t have had the courage to go in and explore.

When he got close to the stone wall, Zhang Xiaohua stopped again, crouched down, and once more extended his walking stick inside. This time, he wanted to see if it was a narrow passage or a space large enough for a person to stand up in. Sure enough, when he extended his hand and pushed, the stick stood upright without encountering any obstacles. Zhang Xiaohua then understood.

Next, he pulled out the small sword he had tucked away, held it in his left hand, and took the walking stick in his right hand. First, he extended it into the hole and shook it for a moment. Then, gritting his teeth, he lay down on the snow and crawled over to the roughly one-foot square stone wall.

Lying on the ground, Zhang Xiaohua felt as if everything before his eyes was shifting, and he found himself in a different place. Wasn’t this just a cave? He was lying on the snow in front of the cave.

When Zhang Xiaohua stood up and looked carefully, he saw that behind him was a thick, misty substance. There was light coming through from the outside, but he couldn’t see the outside scene. Snowflakes were still falling from the misty area above, and there were traces of a wild rabbit hopping around on the snow.

In front of him was a small cave that was common in mountain peaks, slightly higher than Zhang Xiaohua. It was pitch dark inside, and he couldn’t see clearly. The traces of the wild rabbit led inside, looking quite chaotic, indicating that the rabbit had been in and out several times.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiaohua felt a bit more tense inside.

However, he still decided to throw his walking stick inside first, and he heard a “clanging” sound. After that, he retrieved a fire starter from his pocket, carefully lit it, and held it in his right hand. His left hand still held the small sword in front of him as he stepped cautiously into the dark cave.

After entering the cave, Zhang Xiaohua carefully used the fire starter to check the surroundings and then felt completely relieved.

It was an ordinary cave, about the size of a small room. At the far end, there was a rectangular stone slab, next to which was a stone table-shaped object. Surrounding it were a few small stone stools. On the stone table was a money pouch and a small square stone, everything else was empty. Additionally, there was a small walking stick lying on the ground.

Seeing the scene before him, Zhang Xiaohua furrowed his brow. What kind of place was this, shrouded in mystery, with nothing inside except for a money pouch?

He wasn’t in a hurry to take the money pouch. It was on the stone table, and sooner or later it would be his, he could take it whenever he felt like it. Thus, he remained determined and used the fire starter to carefully examine the cave. He even picked up the walking stick and tapped on the stone wall, but apart from noticing some spherical depressions on the wall, he found nothing else. The depressions were high, beyond Zhang Xiaohua’s reach, and even though he tried poking at them with the walking stick, he didn’t find anything else. With a sense of resignation, he moved to the stone table.

Zhang Xiaohua took out the small sword and poked at the money pouch, moving it around to see if anything unusual happened. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he then moved the small square stone around and found it normal as well. He then returned the small sword to his pocket and picked up the stone with his left hand. Using the fire starter, he carefully examined it, but no matter how he looked at it from different angles, it seemed no different from the river pebbles he had seen. Was the only difference the shape?

Frustrated, Zhang Xiaohua threw the stone back onto the table and picked up the money pouch with high hopes. However, as he lifted it, his hopes quickly deflated. The pouch was empty. He had hoped there would be at least a few pieces of loose silver inside or even some gold, but the first impression was one of disappointment, the pouch was empty.

Zhang Xiaohua continued to squeeze and shake the pouch, hoping to extract something from it, but found nothing. Even shaking it upside down yielded a single rabbit hair.

Feeling a deep sense of regret, Zhang Xiaohua thought to himself that it would have been better to catch the silly rabbit earlier. At least then, he might have had something to eat that night. Now, he had a useless empty pouch, a worthless stone, and had spent a considerable amount of time crawling in the snow.

He frowned and was about to throw the money pouch back on the stone table, but as he pinched it between his fingers, he noticed that the fabric of the pouch was quite good, rather delicate. Besides, he didn’t have a money pouch of his own, and the silver given to him by the Mistress was still wrapped in a piece of cloth. This pouch would come in handy. Zhang Xiaohua placed the fire starter on the stone table, took out the loose silver coins from his pocket, and poured them all into the pouch. He tied the pouch shut and tossed it up and down in the air before catching it. It felt quite satisfactory. Hehe, at least the trip wasn’t entirely in vain.

Then, Zhang Xiaohua was about to take the fire starter from the stone table when his eyes fell on the stone on the table. If it were just an ordinary stone, why would someone bother to place it on the table? Maybe there was some hidden significance he hadn’t noticed? He decided it was better to be cautious than to miss something valuable, as one wouldn’t get another chance if they missed it. Even if it was just a small stone, he would take it with him. So, Zhang Xiaohua picked up the small square stone again, tossed it into the money pouch, and put everything back into his pocket before taking the fire starter.

He took one last look around the cave before slowly walking out.

As Zhang Xiaohua looked at the incredible mist in front of the cave, he found it strange. In such a mystical place, why was there nothing magical left for him? Even if the pouch had been filled with gold, he wouldn’t have been surprised. But instead, it was just an empty pouch.

Suddenly, he thought of a question, why was there a one-foot-wide opening in the mist for him to crawl through? This indicated that someone must have been here before. Since someone had come, there might have been something left for him. The empty money pouch was likely discarded after the silver was taken, and someone else probably threw the white square stone away. Zhang Xiaohua sighed in his heart. It seemed he was just out of luck. Even finding a money pouch was not too bad, it was worth something, at least compared to his scattered silver.

After calming himself a bit, Zhang Xiaohua prepared to leave. The snow at the entrance was falling even heavier now, and the traces he had made earlier were being covered. Zhang Xiaohua picked up the walking stick again, bent down, and slowly crawled out through the now nearly invisible opening. Outside, the stone wall presented another incredible sight. First, a stick emerged from the hard rock, followed by a young boy’s head, and then, slowly, the rest of his body emerged.

Fortunately, there was no one around in this remote wilderness, so there was no need to shock the world.

Once Zhang Xiaohua crawled out, he looked around. It was getting late, and the forest was still the same, with no wild rabbits in sight. Zhang Xiaohua brushed off the snow and dirt from his body, glanced back at the stone wall that looked no different from the rest of the mountain, and followed the footprints that were not yet covered by snow to return the way he came.

As Zhang Xiaohua left, the snow continued to fall heavily, quickly covering his footprints. By the time dusk arrived, there was no trace left, only a blank space where he had walked.

Meanwhile, our poor Zhang Xiaohua, still somewhat direction-challenged, was desperately trying to follow the footprints that were being covered by snow, running towards his cottage while silently praying, ‘Don’t get lost, don’t get lost’.

Perhaps Zhang Xiaohua’s prayers had some effect, or maybe it was due to his familiarity with the forest, but as dusk fell, a high slope appeared in front of him.

Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but feel a bit of joy, his tense nerves relaxing. But just then, his right foot suddenly kicked something hard. It didn’t seem like a rock or a branch. When Zhang Xiaohua picked it up and brought it close, he was surprised to see that it was a frozen wild rabbit.

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