Di Yao took the cloak and seized the opportunity to grab Wei Xunzhou's wrist...
As soon as she set foot on the mountain, Di Yao felt the temperature drop around her. The howling, sinister wind slammed against her eardrums, as if trying to devour her from head to toe.
Hugging her arms, Di Yao walked very slowly, step by step. Just then, the flock of golden roosters that had been lurking behind the giant trees for who knows how long charged at her all at once.
The golden roosters on the mountain were much larger than ordinary chickens. Growing up on the mountain, their legs were sturdier and their wings broader; they could run and fly at the same time, appearing before Di Yao in the blink of an eye.
Forced back repeatedly, Di Yao had no choice but to take out the wheat kernels she had brought.
The kernels helped a bit, but it was like a drop in the bucket—utterly insufficient to fend off the onslaught of the large flock.
When half the bag of kernels was gone, Di Yao started to panic again.
Because she realized these chickens were terrifyingly efficient: after they swept through an area, not a single grain of food remained.
But with the situation critical, Di Yao couldn't worry about that now. Her top priority was minimizing how many pecks she would suffer.
Just as a golden rooster's beak was about to peck her eye, Di Yao didn't hesitate any longer. She sprinted toward the nearest tree.
With a leap, she spread her arms and legs wide, exerting all her strength, and managed to hug the trunk. Unfortunately, the tree was so thick and large that she couldn't reach the nearest branch.
Since there were few souls on the mountain at the moment, the flock kept pursuing Di Yao. Seeing her climb the tree, several large roosters flapped their wings and tried to do the same.
For a while, the mountain echoed with sharp, piercing crowing in succession. Di Yao's strength gradually gave out.
...
As night deepened, the entire Wrongful Death City sank into silence and darkness—except for one house where lights blazed. The fence of the main courtyard was neatly hung with a row of lanterns, waiting in the long night for the late return of its tardy occupant.
Wei Xunzhou had lost focus three times while reading his book. For some reason, the book felt especially abstruse and hard to follow today. Normally by this hour, Di Yao would have been home long ago, but today there was still no sign of her.
Wei Xunzhou glanced out the window, put down the book, and stood up. Before leaving, he went to the cabinet to fetch two cloaks—one black, which he put on, and one goose-yellow, which he draped over his arm.
Stepping out of the room, he noticed the ground in the yard was damp. He reached his hand into the darkness and felt the cool touch of raindrops.
The Underworld was different from the Mortal World; it had no need for rain, snow, thunder, or lightning. Most days were sunny or overcast.
Wei Xunzhou looked at the small path outside the courtyard gate and clearly saw it was empty. He pressed his thin lips together, silent for a moment, then picked up an umbrella, casually took a lantern from the fence, and stepped alone into the darkness.
He went to Naihe Bridge in Fengdu, then to Meng Po's Shop. The shop door was tightly shut, and the candles had gone out.
Other than these two places, he couldn't think of where Di Yao might have gone. A nameless tightness gripped his chest. Wei Xunzhou loosened his right hand holding the lantern, and miraculously, the lantern remained floating intact in midair.
With his freed hand, he made a few casual gestures in the air, then pointed his index and middle fingers at the lantern. Slowly, a wisp of warm yellow light rose, transforming into a firefly that flew westward, while the lantern's glow dimmed slightly.
Following the guiding firefly, Wei Xunzhou walked into increasingly remote areas, his brows furrowing deeper. Beneath the black cloak, his ice-cold fingers clutched tightly at the bright yellow fabric.
After a moment, he released his grip and stopped.
Just as he was about to turn back, a somewhat weak voice came from behind: "Is that you, husband?"
The moment their eyes met, Di Yao's face lit up. Overjoyed, she trotted forward and slipped nimbly under his oil-paper umbrella.
Under the umbrella, the space was a bit cramped, but at least the wind had stopped, so there was no worry about rain drifting in.
Di Yao was utterly frozen, shivering all over.
Seeing her disheveled hair and dirty clothes, Wei Xunzhou raised the lantern and gave her a thorough look from head to toe. His tone held a hint of surprise: "How did you get like this?"
Di Yao smiled, carefree, her voice free of complaint: "I fell from a tree. But don't worry, husband, I'm fine now! Look!"
She rose on her tiptoes and spun around voluntarily.
"Tree?" Wei Xunzhou glanced at the winding path behind him.
"And!" Di Yao patted his shoulder, then hid her hands behind her back, being mysterious. "Husband, guess what I'm holding?"
Seeing that Di Yao was still in the mood to be playful, Wei Xunzhou felt relieved. He handed her the goose-yellow cloak.
"Put this on."
Di Yao took the cloak and, seizing the opportunity, grabbed his wrist gently and shook it. "Just guess, please."
Wei Xunzhou could feel the warmth on his wrist. Unaccustomed to it, he pulled his hand back.
"Tree bark?"
"Wrong. Since you can't guess, I'll reveal it!"
Though she had asked him to guess, Di Yao didn't even have the patience to keep him in suspense.
"Ta-da!" Carefully, she pulled out the pouch of seeds and waved it triumphantly in front of his face.
From the sound, it was full. Judging by her movements, the pouch had some weight.
Impatiently, Di Yao untied the drawstring and showed him: "We have seeds! Now we can try planting several times."
As far as this matter went, Wei Xunzhou truly didn't know how to react. He wasn't excited, because he simply didn't care about those things. But seeing Di Yao with her little dirty face beaming the whole time, he seldom played along: "Is that so?"
"Of course! But there's more!" Di Yao reached in again and pulled out a white egg.
Only then did Wei Xunzhou realize where Di Yao had come from.
"It's a long story. In short, it was very coincidental! And I discovered that those chickens on Golden Rooster Mountain couldn't peck me. I wasted my time climbing a tree for nothing. Look, my fingers are still red!"
When she fell from the tree, she hit her head. For a while, she was completely dizzy and couldn't move.
Seeing this, the flock that had been surrounding her proudly approached. They even started quarreling over who would get the first bite.