Chapter 12: He Xi’s Sense of Loss

Hearing the noise, Tang Yao rushed in from outside. The moment she entered, she saw Fang Mingxi lying on the floor, without a blanket and with a huge swollen bump on her head.

“Younger sister!!” Her face instantly drained of color. She lunged forward, scooped Fang Mingxi up, and carefully placed her on the bed. Her heart ached so much that her eyes were on the verge of tears.

“Younger sister, how are you? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?”

Tang Yao’s voice trembled. Her hands shook as she loosened Fang Mingxi’s clothes to check her all over, terrified that she might have been injured elsewhere.

For someone like Fang Mingxi, falling from such a low height wasn’t serious, and she didn’t feel much pain. But seeing Tang Yao so anxious, she obediently moved her hands and feet to cooperate with the inspection.

After checking her thoroughly, the teary-eyed Tang Yao found no other injuries on Fang Mingxi aside from the bump on her forehead.

She gently blew on the swollen lump. “I’m sorry, Xixi. This is my fault. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

Fang Mingxi reached out and touched Tang Yao’s cheek, giving her a big grin. “Older… sister… It’s not your… fault.”

Tang Yao let out a shaky laugh, comforted by Fang Mingxi’s reaction. She wrapped her tightly in a blanket, then hurried off to boil an egg and rolled it gently across Fang Mingxi’s forehead.

These eggs were the ones they had stumbled upon earlier, a nest of wild bird eggs Tang Yao had found on their way down the mountain. It wasn’t in the game’s forest area but on the real Maple Leaf Mountain.

When she had heard a rustling sound and gone to investigate, she never expected to find a nest full of warm eggs inside the bushes. Her luck over the past few days had been unbelievably good, not only had she found mushrooms two days in a row, but now she had discovered eggs too!

Thinking about it, she almost suspected her ancestors in heaven were watching over her. Otherwise, how could her luck be so consistently good?

Following the belief of “if it’s free, you don’t leave it,” she had quickly collected all sixteen warm eggs and run straight home.

Originally, she had planned to wait for the family to return and discuss what to do with them, but now she was glad she had them ready to treat Fang Mingxi’s swelling.

Children’s skin was tender, and Fang Mingxi was no exception. Whether it was due to her “golden finger” or something else, after rolling the egg over the swelling, the large lump visibly shrank a little.

Tang Yao brightened. Seeing that the method worked, she hurried to boil another egg. Only when the bump had mostly faded did she tuck Fang Mingxi snugly into the innermost part of the bed. Even while cooking, she guarded her closely, determined not to let her fall again.

“Strange… did Maple Leaf Mountain get foggy? Why does it feel like we walked the wrong way?”

As He Lei walked, something felt off. He stopped and pulled He Xi along.

The crooked-necked tree ahead… He could have sworn they had just passed it. So how had they ended up here again? Were they trapped in some kind of looping path?

He Tian clung tightly to his arm, nervous. “I feel it too… Did we walk the wrong way because of the fog and end up back here?”

He Gao wasn’t present today, so He Xin stepped forward and squatted in front of He Xi, rubbing her head.

“Younger sister, your luck has always been the best. Take a look and tell us which road we should take.”

He Xi lifted her head and looked around. Besides the main path leading uphill, there were two smaller paths on either side.

But those side paths were rarely used, overgrown with weeds and they might run into snakes or other animals.

Relying on her instincts, He Xi pointed toward the right-side path. “Second cousin, let’s go this way.”

“Alright, we’ll go this way,” He Xin said without hesitation, breaking off a stick to clear the path as he walked in front.

He Tian and He Lei held onto He Xi and followed closely behind. They hadn’t walked far when they arrived at the same grove where He Lei had fallen yesterday.

Seeing the familiar place, they all sighed in relief. “Xixi, your luck really is amazing. If not for you, who knows how far off-track we would’ve gone.”

He Xi beamed sweetly. “Then next time, Xixi will lead the way again.”

“Alright, you lead.”

Only now did they realize they had taken the wrong route almost from the very start, walking from the southern side of Maple Leaf Mountain all the way toward the west. If they had continued wandering, they might have ended up near the northern part of the mountain, an untouched area no one dared to set foot in.

That side was close to the depths of the mountain forest; even with He Xi’s luck, entering there would have been extremely dangerous.

Shaken but relieved, none of them wanted to keep searching for treasures anymore. They casually gathered a few bundles of firewood and prepared to head home.

Passing by the spot where He Lei had fallen yesterday, He Xi felt that strange sensation again.

She was too young to know what the feeling meant, all she knew was that something important was there. Just like when she had correctly guessed her mother had made her a new dress.

She felt like crying… but didn’t know how to express it.

He Xi wanted to stay a bit longer, but her three older brothers were still frightened and refused to stop, dragging her along with them.

Helpless, He Xi had no choice but to carry that odd feeling with her as they descended the mountain.

They went down smoothly, and when they passed the spot where they had met Tang Yao yesterday, He Xi’s sharp eyes spotted a red feather stuck in the nearby bushes.

“Second cousin, look, is that a chicken feather?” she tugged on He Xin’s sleeve.

“Chicken feather?”

The three boys immediately perked up and followed her line of sight.

A bright red feather hung on the green shrubs. Excited, they rushed over and parted the bushes.

Last time they had found a feather here, they discovered a nest full of wild eggs and in good quantity too. Who knew how many they might find this time?

But the moment they opened the shrubs, their smiles froze.

“What’s wrong? Did you find a lot of eggs?” He Xi squeezed forward to peek and her smile froze too.

There was a nest. A big one, in fact. But there were no eggs inside.

Refusing to believe it, He Lei crouched down and touched the nest.

It was still warm, meaning the wild hen had just left. But where were the eggs? Chickens didn’t take their eggs with them, and roosters definitely didn’t sit on nests.

“Looks like someone got here first. We’re a bit too late.”

He Lei withdrew his hand, disappointed, trying to guess who could have taken the eggs.

Everyone was busy with the harvest season, and most adults were working in the fields. Only children would have time to run up the mountain.

Could it be that girl from yesterday?

He Lei thought of Tang Yao. Yesterday, when they first saw her, she had been gathering firewood and even found red prickly berries. Could the eggs today have been picked up by her too?

He shared his guess, and the others agreed it seemed possible.

People from the cowshed never came to this part of Maple Leaf Mountain, they usually went to the north. Her showing up here yesterday had already been strange. If she picked up the eggs today, it wouldn’t be surprising.

He Tian pouted unhappily. “Hmph! If we hadn’t walked the wrong way, the eggs would’ve been ours. Now we just gave them away for free!”

“How about we go find that older sister and ask for the eggs back? She’s a bad person, she probably wouldn’t want to offend us.”

He Xin disagreed. “No. Maple Leaf Mountain doesn’t belong to us. Everyone has the right to come up here. And we don’t have any proof she took the eggs.”

They couldn’t report her, and they couldn’t demand the eggs back. He Tian and He Lei were both upset, and even He Xin eventually grew unhappy.

Food was scarce, those wild eggs could have lasted them ten days to half a month if they rationed them.

Having the whole nest taken first felt like handing free money to someone else.

With no eggs, the four picked some fresh black fungus before heading down the mountain. The large, glossy mushrooms finally eased their disappointment a little.

But He Xi still couldn’t cheer up. Walking along the path, she remained gloomy, replaying the image of that empty nest in her mind.

She thought she finally understood that strange feeling.

It was… disappointment.

She was disappointed that the eggs were taken. And she had felt the same way earlier, on the mountain.

But why was she disappointed?

Could it be… that something in that pit had also been taken away before she got there?