I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With

Chapter 1403: Side Story: Fan Zijin (19)

Editor: Atlas Studios

After the two youths drank up, they collapsed by the water. They only recovered after they were covered in sticky sweat.

Qi Haoran could immediately take off his clothes and take a shower, but Fan Zijin did not dare to. His body was weak to begin with, and he would usually fall sick when he was exposed to heat or cold. If he took a cold bath in the stream in the evening, he would perhaps not wake up tomorrow.

Therefore, he could only resist the urge, only wetting his face with a handkerchief and wiping his hands and neck.

When Qi Haoran recovered, he clenched his fists and said, “Let’s go out and find them. This time, I’ll definitely let them know how powerful I am.”

Fan Zijin threw down the handkerchief and said, “Seeing as they know us so well, I wonder how long they’ve been secretly observing us. Since they let us escape, how can they still stay at the same spot and wait for you to find them?”

Qi Haoran frowned fiercely. Then, he immediately squatted down and carried Fan Zijin on his back. “Let’s go find them now. We might be able to catch up.”

Fan Zijin hugged Qi Haoran’s neck and nodded. He said readily, “Alright, let’s go.”

However, Qi Haoran ran and flew very quickly.

As Fan Zijin lowered his head to avoid the wind, he thought about this incident and finally knew where they had gone wrong. Googl search NovєlFіre.net

They trusted people too easily, but no one expected that an old female refugee would lie to them. It had to be known that they had helped many people along the way. Those people were extremely grateful to them and had even taught them a lot, saving them a lot of detours.

Because for the past month, they had been in a friendly atmosphere where they were rewarded in return for their help, although he was vigilant, he was not that vigilant.

Along the way, the most dangerous things they encountered were robbery and theft. However, he did not have to worry about the former or the latter. Most of the time, those people would be beaten up by Haoran as soon as they appeared. Sometimes, Fan Zijin did not even have to move his butt because the battle would end shortly as he glanced from above.

It turned out that there was such a shameless thing as lying in this world.

Fan Zijin was worried and only came back to his senses when Qi Haoran stopped in his tracks. As he looked around, he realized that there were dense trees in front, behind, left, and right of them. Dumbfounded, he asked, “Where are we?”

Qi Haoran tilted his head and replied, “I don’t know.”

Fan Zijin, who was on his back, couldn’t help but raise his hand and smack his head. He said angrily, “Don’t tell me you’re lost!”

Qi Haoran said weakly, “I-I clearly walked in the opposite direction of how we entered the forest. Logically speaking, we should have exited the forest long ago…”

However, they had been stuck in the forest for a long time. Seeing that the afterglow of the sun had disappeared, he felt a faint sense of danger and stopped.

Fan Zijin jumped off Qi Haoran’s back and frowned as he looked left and right. In the end, he said, “I can’t tell the direction either. We can only wait for now. Later, I should be able to tell based on the location of the constellations.”

Qi Haoran silently looked up at the dense leaves above his head that only had a slight gap. Faint light shone from the trees onto the ground.

Seeing this, Fan Zijin looked up and fell speechless.

Fan Zijin said irritably, “Then what do you think we should do?”

“Why don’t I take you up to the treetops to take a look?”

Fan Zijin glared at him without saying a word.

Well, Qi Haoran might be able to stand on the treetop, but Zijin might not be able to, let alone watch the stars from above. Alarm bells rang in his heart and his expression could not help but change.

In the past, when they rode into the mountains to hunt, the guards had repeatedly emphasized that they mustn’t get lost in the forest. Otherwise, not only would they be attacked by ferocious beasts, but they would also get lost in the forest and never be able to come out for the rest of their lives.

Now, Qi Haoran’s heart was in his mouth. He felt that danger was getting closer and closer to him. Without any time to think, he hugged Fan Zijin and jumped up the tree, only stopping when he jumped onto the last slightly larger branch.

The pale-faced Fan Zijin grabbed Qi Haoran tightly, thinking that he was going to bring him to the treetops to look at the stars. He immediately wanted to scold him. Didn’t Qi Haoran know that he was afraid of looking down from above?

However, Qi Haoran covered his mouth and whispered, “Don’t move.”

Almost as soon as Qi Haoran finished speaking, two roe deers rushed over. When Fan Zijin saw what was chasing after them, he couldn’t help but gasp.

A black bear pinned down a roe deer with a few leaps and bit off its neck almost effortlessly. The smell of blood quickly spread. Even though they were hiding on a tall tree, Fan Zijin could detect a faint bloody stench.

However, Qi Haoran felt relieved because the smell of blood could cover up their scent. Although he reckoned he was skilled in martial arts, he did not have a bow or a dagger at this moment. He did not dare to fight a black bear while carrying Fan Zijin.

The black bear slowly finished eating its prey, leaving behind a pile of internal organs. Then, it roared into the sky and began to search for its next prey.

Seeing the black bear turn around and leave, Qi Haoran lowered his head and thought for a moment. “We might have gone in the wrong direction. This is the deep forest. The black bear is also afraid of humans, so it rarely leaves the deep forest. When the roe deer was chased just now, it subconsciously ran this way. Perhaps we can get out from here.”

Fan Zijin stared at him for a long time and asked suspiciously, “Are you sure?”

“Since we can’t recognize the direction, why don’t we give it a try?”

Fan Zijin grabbed him tightly and closed his eyes. “Up to you. In any case, I can’t walk anymore. You have to carry me.”

Qi Haoran had no objections at all. His little friend was already dawdling when walking on the flat road, let alone when traveling in the forest. He’d easily trip over the tree roots on the ground

Not wasting any time, Qi Haoran carried Fan Zijin on his back and flew in the direction where the roe deer had just left.

This time, Qi Haoran did not rush forward with his head lowered. Instead, he stopped to take a look after running for a while. He relied on his intuition and his hunting experience from the past three to four years to change directions. When they finally stepped onto the official road from the forest with their faces covered in dust, the two of them almost burst into tears. They had finally made it out alive.

At this moment, the sky was already filled with starlight. Fan Zijin narrowed his eyes and identified the direction, then said, “The straw hut is in that direction. Let’s go over and take a look. Although those crooks might have left, I’ll definitely feel uncomfortable if I don’t take a look.”

Qi Haoran ran in the direction that Fan Zijin had indicated. Then, when they saw the straw hut in the embers, the two of them were completely dumbfounded.

The three straw huts and a small house had been completely burned down, leaving only a few yellowish-black burnt mud walls.

With a dark expression, Qi Haoran went forward to touch the ashes and said, “It’s still warm. It hasn’t burned for long.”

“Can you catch up to them?”

“They must have run away after setting the fire.” Qi Haoran looked around and said, “And the traces are very chaotic. I don’t know where they ran to at all.”

Fan Zijin kicked the stone beside him angrily and squatted on the ground, fuming. “Without horses and silver, how can we travel?”

Qi Haoran scratched his head and glanced at himself. In the end, he pointed at the clothes on his body and said, “Why don’t we pawn these clothes? Didn’t those refugees say that clothes can also be exchanged for money? Since these clothes aren’t cheap, we can exchange them for money and buy some cheaper clothes instead.”

Fan Zijin snorted and also began to look at what he was wearing and carrying. In the end, he realized that he was much luckier than Qi Haoran. Perhaps because the banknotes were hidden on Qi Haoran, they did not search Fan Zijin’s body much. He took off the jade pendant hanging from his waist and said, “I still have this.”

His eyes swept across the ash-covered houses and asked hopefully, “Perhaps they didn’t take our luggage with them since they were in a hurry?”

Fan Zijin had bought a lot of valuable things on the way. Other than the fact that painting and calligraphy could not be preserved, jade and other things might be spared. After all, a fire started from thatch shouldn’t destroy jade, right?