Inner Thoughts Exposed: Reborn General's Farming Daughter Has a System
Chapter 140: Visiting the Cabin
As soon as Xiao Fenghao and Xiao Yuxi entered the forest area of the back mountain, they all went through the path they had been familiar with.
"Second Brother, do you think Master will appear in his cabin? It’s been so long ever since we met him." Xiao Yuxi muttered, her voice filled with anxiety and expectation.
It had been months.
The family had been quite busy with the fields, so they rarely went to that place anymore. Every time they visited, their Master wasn’t there.
Considering the low number of visits they could do, they didn’t think much of it. They thought that the old man was just busy.
Actually, they had visited the place a few days ago, sneaking there briefly. The Master wasn’t there. As such, they picked certain days of the month where he often presents, hoping to catch his appearance.
As they walked slightly deeper into the woods, Xiao Yuxi suddenly stopped and turned around. She took a deep breath, frowning. Then, she leaned over to whisper at Xiao Fenghao’s ears.
"Second Brother, do you feel like something is following us?" She was feeling rather jittery.
At first, she thought she was hallucinating about it. Her ears seemed to catch the sound of someone’s footsteps, faint and calculated, as if the person was aware of the siblings’ presence.
Lurking and watching them...
There were many dry leaves around, and with their slightly enhanced senses, Xiao Yuxi realized that the faint cracking sounds came from a person or perhaps a wild beast’ footsteps.
"Can it be a wild beast?" She muttered worriedly.
Xiao Fenghao pursed his lips. He already detected the presence, but he deliberately didn’t tell his sister for fear of making her anxious.
When someone is anxious, they are prone to make mistakes.
"Xi’er, take longer and faster steps." Xiao Fenghao ordered in a low voice, his hand gripping her sister’s arm tightly, forcing her to keep up with his pace.
He couldn’t ascertain what it was for the time being yet.
Xiao Yuxi was taken aback, and she obediently followed her second brother’s words.
"It won’t take long before we reach the cabin." Xiao Yuxi nodded, trying to force away the uneasiness creeping to her chest.
Half an hour later, the siblings finally saw the cabin in sight. They hurriedly entered the place.
Their Master had given a spare key for them, allowing them to easily enter or exit the cabin.
Everything inside was quite well-maintained, free of dust, as if the owner of the place regularly cleaned it.
They all peeked from the window, and were relieved when they heard the birds chirping in the distance. During the first few minutes they were still on the way here, the forest was indescribably much quieter.
It was never a good sign—most of the time, it signalled a predator was nearby.
Perhaps, whatever it was following after them had left.
At some point, they could hear hurried footsteps and other times, it disappeared, which was truly odd.
"Second Brother, what do you think it was chasing after us?" Xiao Yuxi hugged herself as she sat on the floor. "Not some kind of ghosts, right? When we return, we should ask for peace talismans from Little Ya just in case."
Xiao Fenghao pursed his lips, his sharp eyes occasionally still glanced at outside the window. He pulled the curtain down.
"Whatever it is... it’s gone for now." He walked over to her side, and then knocked on the doors one by one, calling out to their Master.
"Master, are you inside?" He asked in a low tone and knocked a few times.
There was no answer.
If he was really at the cabin, he would have heard even the smallest sound of knocking on the door.
The person isn’t in the cabin again.
"Most likely, Master has some urgent matter..." Xiao Yuxi trailed off uncertainly. "So, he left the county for a while? He doesn’t seem like someone who lives in our county."
Xiao Fenghao agreed with her words. "Master should be the one who owns this place... he might have some property in Qingshan County too."
The cabin was too small to live comfortably. It looked more like a place one would use to relax. That old man always sipped his tea when he was idle, looking like an elderly enjoying his retirement.
"The sun is already shining so brightly. Should we go to meet Eldest Brother now? If we don’t hurry, he might think we are missing and will come looking for us," Xiao Yuxi muttered.
She added, "If we miss each other, it will be disastrous."
The pair of siblings exited the cabin and left the place. As they were getting further and further away from the cabin, they failed to notice a pair of malicious eyes glancing in the direction they had disappeared to.
Not long after, they heard a roar that shook the whole forest.
Someone whizzed past them.
The two were stunned upon seeing the person’s figure. They would recognize the person even if they turned into ashes!
***
Xiao Jingran returned with a worried look on his face, and Zhou Anran’s heart couldn’t help but sink when she didn’t see her other two children behind him.
She had never seen such a worried look on Xiao Jingran’s face. His current appearance looked somewhat disheveled, as if he had gone through something grueling.
A part of his long sleeve was torn, and dirt stuck to some part of his clothes.
"Jing’er, where are your younger siblings?" Zhou Anran trembled, an ominous premonition already formed in her heart.
It was no wonder that she was feeling rather anxious since noon. Her eyes couldn’t help but keep glancing in the direction of the back mountain.
Xiao Jingran pursed his lips. "Mother, we have agreed to meet in a particular place in the back mountain. I waited for Hao’er and Xi’er for a while, but they never showed up."
Upon hearing that, Zhou Anran’s face paled.