Chapter 52: The Talking Tree
Although it was a little choppy and not very clear, Mibao really heard it!
The tree was speaking!
{You…}
It was an ancient, raspy voice.
Mibao looked up at the big tree with eager expectation.
What would the tree say?
{…tasty…}
Mibao: …?
T-tasty?
[Uh, Mibao, the tree means it thinks you’re kind and adorable!]
Xiaonian hurriedly did some PR.
You can’t let a child hear that—
ahem!
[This tree doesn’t speak human language, so it can’t express itself smoothly.]
Mibao nodded, half-understanding. “I see.”
Then she earnestly said to the tree, “Big tree… mister? Can you help me find two people?”
{Tasty…}
[…Xiao Hei, handle this.]
Xiaonian was speechless.
Is the tree okay?
Wants to eat his sister?
Dream on!
[Tch, always bossing me around.]
Xiao Hei rolled his eyes in annoyance, but still obediently moved to threaten the tree.
[Old trunk, one more peep and I’ll chop you down!]
The tree: “…”
[Now, agree to help this child find people, or I’ll not only chop you down, I’ll set this whole forest on fire!]
The tree: “…………”
{Find… whom?}
Because Xiaonian and Xiao Hei had switched to private-chat mode just now, Mibao didn’t hear Xiao Hei’s threat.
The moment she heard the big tree was willing to help, Mibao’s face lit up with joy. “Sister Chaolu and Auntie Zhao!”
The tree: …?
Who?
Don’t know them.
[It’s a skinny middle-aged woman, and a twelve-year-old girl,] Xiao Hei explained, then added after a moment’s thought: [The little girl’s pretty fierce.]
Now that, the tree could understand.
{All… right.}
Mibao instantly let out a breath of relief. She hadn’t expected that although Tree Uncle couldn’t express himself clearly, he was actually quite good at understanding.
“Thank you!”
[Hey, old stump, say how long it’ll take. We can’t just stand around waiting forever, right?]
The black cat scratched at the trunk with his paw.
The big tree gave a shudder, and a few leaves drifted down—its already sparse branches now even balder.
{A…bout… one… hour.}
“Eh, does that mean there’ll be results in an hour?” Mibao’s eyes widened.
{Yes…}
“Okay, thank you!”
With the tree’s promise, Mibao felt as if a weight had been lifted off her chest, and she happily headed back toward Chaoyang and the others.
Halfway there, she suddenly stopped.
Because she finally realized that what she had just done… seemed a little off.
Little Mibao froze stiff on the spot.
Oh no. How was she supposed to explain this?
“Mibao, what’s wrong?”
Seeing her stop in the middle of the way, Chaoyang walked over in puzzlement.
“Are you too cold?”
Mibao grabbed Chaoyang’s hand and whispered, “Brother Chaoyang, was what I did just now too strange? Will Uncle Zhu and Sister Ye Duo start suspecting me…?”
“Don’t worry, they won’t.” Chaoyang patted her head. “Ye Duo and I told Uncle Zhu you knocked your head, so any odd behavior you show is reasonable.”
Mibao let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good then…”
[…]
Good, my foot—wasn’t that just outright saying Mibao was sick?
“So, what exactly were you doing just now?” Chaoyang asked cautiously, voicing his own doubt.
“I was…”
“No, better if you don’t tell me.” Chaoyang suddenly realized, quickly waving his hand. “Just keep it to yourself. That’s enough.”
Everyone has their secrets. He shouldn’t know so many of Mibao’s.
Mibao froze for a moment.
“You’re still young, so it’s hard to keep things hidden. That’s why you shouldn’t tell anyone anything at all.”
As he said this, Chaoyang gently ruffled Mibao’s hair, then led her back to Zhu Dafu and Ye Duo.
The tree would need over an hour to gather news, and coincidentally it would take them about the same time to get back.
Xiao Hei told Mibao that the big tree’s findings could be passed along by other trees, and only then did she feel at ease enough to follow the group on the way back.
Over an hour later, they successfully returned to where they’d started, but there was no sign of Chaolu—no trace of anyone at all besides themselves.
“She wouldn’t…” Ye Duo’s face went a little pale.
Could something have already happened to Chaolu?
The mood among them grew heavy and grim.
Mibao also felt miserable, so she quietly slipped away from the group and once again began touching the trees.
“This one didn’t react… and this one either…”
Mibao muttered to herself as she went from tree to tree, touching each one.
After a long while, she finally found a tree that could talk.
{… Auntie… alive… northeast… side…}
Mibao’s eyes lit up. “You mean Aunt Zhao is still alive? That’s great! What about Sister Chaolu?”
{Girl… fought… drove… away… don’t… know…}
“Huh?”
Mibao didn’t quite understand.
Did Sister Chaolu beat up the bad uncle and drive him away?
{Don’t… know… where… went… out… of range.}
“You mean, Sister Chaolu is still alive, but she ran off to somewhere far away?”
{Yes…}
Although it was a pity that she couldn’t find out where Chaolu had gone, at least she knew she was alive.
Mibao let out a breath of relief, then quickly ran over to Chaoyang and pulled him a little distance away from the others.
“Brother Chaoyang, Sister Chaolu is still alive, but it seems she ran far away, I don’t know where. Aunt Zhao is still alive too, she’s in the northeast.”
“You…” Chaoyang was a little surprised, but didn’t press further. “Alright, I understand. Thank you, Mibao. Then let’s go find Aunt Zhao first.”
“We’re not looking for Sister Chaolu?” Mibao asked, her face full of confusion.
Chaoyang thought for a few seconds. “We’ll look for her too, but we don’t know where she went. So first we’ll pick up Aunt Zhao. Then we’ll wait here for a day or two. If Chaolu still doesn’t come back, we’ll continue on.”
“What?”
Mibao grew anxious. “Brother Chaoyang, are you going to abandon Sister Chaolu? That’s not allowed!”
“I’m not trying to abandon Chaolu, but if she’s gone far away and can’t come back for the time being, we can’t just keep waiting here,” Chaoyang patiently explained. “Besides, it’ll be troublesome for her to rush back—so we can continue heading toward the Oasis Base. I think Chaolu understands that too. She’ll make her way to the Oasis Base.”
Chaolu had asked Zhu Dafu to look for her, which was probably exactly what she meant.
Because she knew she wouldn’t be able to return any time soon—or perhaps couldn’t return for the moment—so she wanted them to move on first.
Maybe it was because of their blood bond, but even though the siblings didn’t see each other often, there was this inexplicable understanding of each other’s thoughts.
“I see,” Mibao let out a breath of relief. “Alright then, let’s go find Aunt Zhao!”
About five or six hours later, the four of them finally found Zhao Xuehua, barely clinging to life.
