Siheyuan: The Temptation of the Mountains

"Well, but I want to keep it for now. It might be useful in the future." Lin Ze said as he put the herbs back into the backpack and put it into the space.

"By the way, Brother Ze, are you going to the mountains to hunt tomorrow?" Lin Wu asked.

"Go, I also want to go to the hot spring to soak in it. Hot springs are good for the body." Lin Ze said.

"Take Lin Wen and me with you, we want to go too." Lin Wu begged.

Lin Ze thought about it and agreed. After all, that valley was relatively safe, so it would be good to take them there to see what it was like.

The next day, Lin Ze got up early and took Lin Wen and Lin Wu to Nanshan again.

The three of them arrived at the entrance of the South Valley smoothly. Lin Ze led them into the valley and soon arrived at the hot spring. The spring water was clear and steaming.

"Wow, this is a hot spring!" Lin Wen exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes, let's go down and try it." Lin Ze said, and then he took off his clothes and jumped into the spring.

Lin Wen and Lin Wu also jumped in, feeling the warmth of the spring water. After soaking for a while, Lin Ze went ashore, put on his clothes, and prepared to go hunting.

"Just wait here and don't run around. I'll go see if there is any prey nearby." Lin Ze instructed.

"Got it, Brother Ze." The two of them responded in unison. After Lin Ze left, the two brothers played by the hot spring.

Lin Ze was looking for prey in the mountains and forests, and soon he found a hare.

He quietly approached the rabbit and then pounced on it. The rabbit sensed the danger and tried to escape, but was eventually caught by Lin Ze.

Lin Ze carried the rabbit back to the hot spring, but found that Lin Wen and Lin Wu were nowhere to be seen.

He was startled and looked around quickly. Finally, he found their footprints at the foot of a mountain.

Lin Ze followed the footprints and found the two brothers standing in front of a cave, looking inside nervously. He walked over and saw a huge black bear in the cave, roaring at them.

Lin Ze thought to himself that something was wrong, so he quickly took out his bow and arrow and shot at the black bear. The arrow hit the black bear's eye, and the black bear felt the pain and became even more irritable.

Lin Ze took the opportunity to pull Lin Wen and Lin Wu up the mountain.

As they ran, they looked back and found that the black bear did not catch up with them.

"Huh...finally got rid of it." Lin Wu said, panting.

"Luckily, brother, you arrived in time, otherwise we would be in trouble." Lin Wen said with lingering fear.

"Why did you come here?" Lin Ze asked angrily.

"We saw a cave here, so we came over to take a look out of curiosity. Little did we know there was a black bear inside..." Lin Wu said with his head down.

"Don't be so reckless again!" Lin Ze said seriously.

"Got it, big brother." The two answered in unison.

Lin Ze looked at the sky and saw that it was getting late, so he took them home.

On the way, Lin Ze thought about the black bear and felt that something was wrong. But he couldn't tell what was wrong, so he could only pray that he would not meet it again.

A few days later, one night, Lin Ze was resting at home when he heard a noisy noise outside. He got up to check and found a group of villagers walking towards his house.

"Lin Ze, come out quickly!" one of the villagers shouted.

Lin Ze walked out of the house and asked in confusion: "What happened?"

"Your brother is missing in the mountains!" the villagers said anxiously.

Lin Musheng and Wang Erni had already gone up the mountain.

Lin Ze was startled. Did they run into the black bear again? He asked hurriedly, "When did they go up the mountain?"

"They said they were going to pick some herbs this afternoon," another villager replied.

Lin Ze frowned, feeling that things were not that simple. He decided to go up the mountain to look for them, so he carried a bow and arrow and walked up the mountain with the villagers.

Lin Ze led the villagers to search the mountain for a long time, but still could not find any trace of Lin Wen and Lin Wu. He became more and more uneasy, thinking that there must be something fishy about this matter.

Suddenly, he heard a bear roar. Lin Ze's heart tightened. Could it be the black bear? He followed the direction of the sound and found some blood and hair.

The color of these hairs is exactly the same as that of the black bear. The only consolation is that there are some white hairs scattered around the black hairs.

Lin Ze's face turned gloomy. He held his shotgun steady and shouted Lin Wen and Lin Wu's names loudly.

There was no response. Veins bulged on Lin Ze's forehead. He changed his approach and staggered all the way towards the Hot Spring Valley.

While running, he called out loudly, "Xueyao...Xueyao, come out quickly."

After a few calls, the white fox Xueyao really appeared at the edge of the hot spring valley.

"Xueyao, have you seen Lin Wen and Lin Wu, those two reckless guys?" Lin Ze asked expectantly, his heart beating violently, afraid that her answer would be unacceptable to him.

"They are here, take them down the mountain, and don't bring these two people here again."

The white fox Xueyao moved aside. Behind her was a one-meter-wide stone cave. Lin Wen and Lin Wu were lying quietly on it, as if they were dead.

Lin Ze ran to the cave entrance in two steps, checked the breath of Lin Wen and Lin Wu, and found that they were still breathing, but very weakly.

Lin Ze looked up and was about to thank the white fox Xueyao, but he could no longer see its shadow.

He quickly carried Lin Wen on his back. Lin Musheng happened to arrive here at this time. He carried Lin Wu on his back, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and left the valley with Wang Erni and a group of five.

After arriving home, Lin Ze gave them some medicine to treat their internal injuries.

In the early morning of the next day, Lin Wen and Lin Wu slowly woke up.

Lin Ze then breathed a sigh of relief and asked them what had happened.

It turned out that they encountered the black bear again while taking a bath in the valley yesterday, but before the black bear could hurt them, it started fighting with the white fox that suddenly appeared.

But before they could recover, their vision went dark and they lost consciousness.

After hearing this, Lin Ze was filled with gratitude towards the white fox, but his doubts grew...

Lin Ze decided to find out the relationship between the white fox and the black bear, and he came to the Hot Spring Valley again.

"Xueyao, come out, I know you are here." Lin Ze shouted loudly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the white fox appeared in front of him.

"What's the grudge between you and that black bear?" Lin Ze asked.

A trace of sadness flashed in the white fox's eyes. It lowered its head and told a story from the past.

It turned out that many years ago, she was just a parent of Fan Fox, who was killed by the ancestors of Black Bear, and it had been looking for an opportunity to take revenge.

"I've seen that black bear before. Its eye was injured. Did you do it?" Lin Ze asked.

White fox Xueyao nodded.

"Thank you for saving my brothers. I can help you deal with the black bear." Lin Ze said.

The white fox shook his head, "No, I can handle it myself."

After saying that, it turned and disappeared into the woods.

Lin Ze looked at its departing figure, thoughtful...