After Chen Xiaobei entered the cave, he immediately felt a faint chill.
It's early autumn now, and when the sun rises outside during the day, the temperature is still very comfortable and pleasant.
Therefore, it is normal for the temperature in this cave to be lower. Chen Xiaobei and the others had already prepared and planned to spend the night in the mountain, so they brought relatively complete clothes.
They each put on a coat, and then under the leadership of Chen Sanliang, everyone walked deeper into the cave.
The space grew larger and larger as we walked, and the top was already about four feet high from the ground, making it difficult to see clearly even if I held a torch.
Although there was no reference, Chen Xiaobei could tell that this was going all the way down.
Apart from the sound of water dripping down, there were no other unusual sounds in his ears, which made him feel at ease.
After walking for a while, Chen Sanliang, who was leading the way, spoke.
"Look, this is the mark I left last time. You should believe my words now."
Chen Xiaobei stepped forward and saw four or five egg-sized stones on a flat boulder on the side of the road, with a forward arrow placed on it.
Chen Xiaobei, who looked at it as if it was made by hand, nodded and stepped forward to change the direction of the stone to the backward direction.
"After everyone walked for a while, we put up a sign like this with stones, so that when we come out, we can just follow the sign."
After hearing Chen Xiaobei's words, everyone nodded repeatedly, and Chen Sanliang admired Chen Xiaobei even more. This was a method his father taught him. He didn't expect that Chen Xiaobei, who looked ordinary and was only a teenager, could actually do it.
At this moment, the shouts of the village guards came from the cave behind them.
According to the agreement between Chen Xiaobei and them, it takes about one stick of incense to shout.
According to Chen Sanliang, they walked about a mile in. From the distance they walked, it felt that the distance should not be too different. In other words, one stick of incense goes one mile.
With this rough judgment, Chen Xiaobei knew what to do next.
After walking forward for about three miles, Chen Sanliang at the front suddenly shouted in surprise, "What's the sound?"
Everyone stopped and there was silence.
Now I could hear it clearly, there was a faint rushing sound in front of me.
This sound is all too familiar to everyone. It is the sound of water flowing.
"Water, it's water." Everyone shouted in surprise.
Everyone hurried forward and walked away for about half a mile. The scene in front of them shocked them.
In front is a river.
The river is about three feet wide, and it is crystal clear. It can be seen that the water is only about deep.
Chen Xiaobei stood here and looked around. At this time, he had no sense of direction. It is impossible to tell whether it is south or north. I can only imagine that the direction in which the water flows is called upstream, and the direction in which water flows down is called downstream.
Should I go up or down? He was a little undecided.
At this moment, Chen Sanliang spoke.
"Let's go up and see where this water comes from."
Yes, when people go to higher places, water flows to lower places.
Just do what Chen Sanliang said.
We walked upstream for about four or five miles. Chen Xiaobei suddenly decided not to leave.
"Brother Xiaobei, let's keep going forward. There won't be any danger in this cave." Chen Sanliang seemed very unwilling.
Chen Xiaobei knew that if he continued to move forward, as long as he had food and drink, there would definitely be no danger, at least there wouldn't be any ferocious beasts, and after walking all the way, there weren't even a few bugs in the cave.
But that's not what Chen Xiaobei was thinking about, but that they could no longer hear the shouts of the two village guards at the entrance of the cave.
This means they are far enough away from the cave entrance.
It’s impossible to tell the time accurately without hearing the shouts.
If they don't respond for a long time, will the two people at the cave entrance risk coming in to look for them.
It would be troublesome if the two of them went downstream.
"Now let's go back and take them both with us, and then take this road again."
After hearing Chen Xiaobei's explanation, everyone suddenly realized. Chen Sanliang even gave Chen Xiaobei a thumbs up, "Zhang Xiaobei, you made the right decision. Leave the two of them at the entrance of the cave. If anything happens, it will be troublesome."
Yes, it would be really difficult to deal with if something happened.
After walking so far, Chen Xiaobei was no longer worried about the flood entering the cave. From what he had seen along the way, the space here was large enough.
Even if the floods come in, they still have room to escape.
Sure enough, it was already dark when they returned to the entrance of the cave, and the two village guards were there in a hurry.
After dark, the temperature in the woods dropped sharply, but in comparison, it seemed much warmer in the cave.
Chen Xiaobei asked two village guards to push down a lot of dead branches and leaves to use for the fire at night, and then let them come down to eat together.
Take advantage of dinner. Chen Xiaobei briefly explained the situation inside to the two of them.
The two village guards seemed very excited when they heard that they could join him on the adventure the next day. After all, guarding the cave entrance was an extremely boring task.
At this time, Princess Zhaoning in the palace received a letter from Tian Wen.
After reading it, she became a little depressed.
The palace maid Butterfly next to her asked cautiously, "Princess, what trouble have you encountered?"
Princess Zhaoning nodded slightly, "Tian Wen said it was confirmed that the prince is safe and sound, but my master may be in danger. He has already led people into the mountain."
"Princess, it's better to send more new people, Tian Wen and the others have too few people."
Princess Zhaoning did not comment and stood up slowly, "Follow me out."
Princess Zhang Ning changed into casual clothes and left the palace with two personal maids. She turned left and right, and finally came to the back door of a palace.
A palace maid stepped forward and gently clicked the door knocker a few times, and the door opened with a creak.
Butterfly stepped forward and bowed and said, "Please inform the old prime minister that Princess Zhaoning is visiting."
Retired old prime minister Fang Zheng, who quickly got the news, hurried out to greet him.
Seeing Princess Zhaoning, she cupped her fists and saluted, "Welcome to you, Your Royal Highness."
Princess Zhaoning bowed slightly and said, "Old love, you don't have to be polite. I'll still call you grandpa."
The two of them entered the living room talking politely, and the old prime minister Fang Zheng waved his hand and dismissed all the servants around him.
"Why did His Highness pay a sudden visit?"
Princess Zhaoning frowned slightly, "You must have heard about Qingniu Mountain."
The old Prime Minister Fang Zheng nodded slightly, "Your Highness Princess, please forgive me for talking too much. As the saying goes, when two tigers fight, one of them will be injured. You ended too early. You should wait until the Imperial Master and the Crown Prince kill each other..."
Princess Zhaoning couldn't help but sigh, "My brother has already gone to Qingniu County. I'm afraid it will be too late if I don't take action."
Old Prime Minister Fang Zheng stood up, put his hands behind his back, walked around on the ground a few times, and said slowly, "The matter has come to this, we can only take a risk."
"Oh, what do you think we should do?" Princess Zhaoning instantly became excited.
