"Sophie, the road ahead is too rough for the tricycle to pass. Let's take the stuff down, and I'll help you carry it over," Albert Hahn said, frowning as he parked the tricycle. Yesterday's heavy rain had turned the dirt path into a mess of potholes, and the vehicle had almost tipped over earlier.
"That's really okay, Albert. I can manage it myself. Thank you so much, though," Sophie Grant replied, climbing down from the back of the tricycle with her big backpack. She reached for her suitcase and dragged it out.
"You've already helped me a lot. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it into these mountains at all," she added sincerely.
Fresh out of college with no job lined up, Sophie had been stuck, worried about having to move out of her dorm with nowhere to go. Then, out of the blue, she'd received a letter—one she never expected.
It was written by her grandmother, someone Sophie hadn’t seen in over a decade. Back when her parents were going through their divorce, she had spent some time at her grandmother's house.
After her parents split, the court assigned her to her dad. Moving from city to city with him, she'd gradually lost touch with her mom's side of the family. The last time she'd heard from her mom had been a phone call back in sixth grade. Her mom mentioned being away on a long business trip and encouraged Sophie to take care of herself. After that, there had been nothing but silence. Sophie Grant's dad remarried when she was in middle school. Not long after, more siblings came along, and the family's finances started to strain.
Her stepmother wasn't bad, but, well, she obviously favored her own kids more.
By her second year of college, Sophie came home for winter break and realized that their tiny two-bedroom apartment didn’t even have a proper space for her anymore.
Her stepmom arranged for Sophie to share a room with her sister, while her brother had to sleep on a floor mat in the living room. That winter, her brother caught colds twice and almost ended up with pneumonia.
After that, Sophie decided not to go home during breaks. She stayed at school, working part-time jobs to support herself.
When graduation was just around the corner, Sophie called her dad and lied, saying she’d already found a job and wouldn’t be coming back after graduation.
On the phone, her dad and stepmom said a lot of caring things, but Sophie could tell they were both relieved.
Just as she was frantically searching online for "hostels" and "cheap rentals," an unexpected letter found its way to her.
Technically, it wasn’t just a letter—it was a will.
It turned out Sophie’s grandma had passed away a year ago, and here’s the kicker: Sophie didn’t even know until then that her mom had disappeared when she was in sixth grade.
Albert Hahn, along with other villagers, had spent a year tracking Sophie down. They finally managed to reach her and handed over her grandma’s will and the keys to her old house.
A mountain house wasn’t worth much anyway. For Sophie Grant, who had nowhere else to go, this was like a lifeline.
At last, she could pack up her things and leave school, escaping the awkward looks of the dorm manager.
Not that there was much to pack, anyway. Just a single suitcase, a backpack, and a small crossbody bag.
She traveled by green-skin train, then switched to a long-distance bus, a city bus, a village shuttle, and finally reached Albert Hahn Village on the outskirts of the mountains.
Even after all that, she had to take a three-wheeled vehicle winding through narrow mountain paths, and there were still a few hundred meters of muddy trail left to navigate.
The dirt road was uneven, slippery with patches of mud, and overgrown with weeds on both sides. Even the three-wheeler couldn’t go any further, so the rest of the way had to be on foot.
Albert Hahn, being older, wasn’t too thrilled about the slippery mountain road either. But looking at the old house in the distance, he couldn’t help feeling worried.
"Sophie, why don’t you stay outside the mountain for now? Wait until your dad and the others arrive, then go back to the house," Albert suggested, his voice lined with concern. "That old place hasn’t been lived in for over a year. Sure, there aren’t any bad folks sneaking in out here, but there’s plenty of bugs and rats. It’s not exactly safe for a young girl like you to stay there alone." Sophie Grant smiled and politely declined Albert Hahn’s offer. “It’s okay, Mr. Hahn. I studied agriculture in college and did a lot of fieldwork. I’m pretty used to this sort of thing—bugs and mice don’t scare me.”
She fibbed, telling Albert Hahn that her dad and other relatives would arrive soon, which finally convinced him to take her up the mountain first.
In truth, she hadn’t called anyone. No one was coming.
“Well, it’s not just about that,” he muttered, hesitating. “There are, uh... other things too. Like wild animals. Gotta watch out for those.”
Albert Hahn cut himself off, visibly torn between wanting to warn her and not wanting to scare her. After a moment of deliberation, he rummaged through the back of his tricycle and pulled out a bamboo stick and a sickle, handing them to her.
“When you’re walking on the trail, use the stick to hit the grass on both sides first. Wait a minute or two to let anything hiding there move away before you go forward.”
His vague explanation only made Sophie think he was referring to snakes or bugs. She wasn’t bothered.
“Got it. Thanks, Mr. Hahn. I’ll borrow these for now and return them once I’ve unpacked everything.”
She knew he wouldn't take any money for his help, so she kept thanking him instead.
“Mr. Hahn, I just got back from school and didn’t bring much with me. After I settle in, I’ll come down the mountain to thank you properly.”
Albert Hahn waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, Sophie, no need for that. This is nothing—what’s there to thank me for?”Albert Hahn looked at her, worry plain on his face. "You be careful now. Wait until your dad and the others get here. If you’re scared, just come down to the village and stay at my place for a few days."
Sophie Grant smiled, waving him goodbye.
She had a bag slung over her shoulder, a sickle hooked onto her suitcase handle with one hand, and a bamboo stick in the other. With every step through the overgrown path, she swung the stick, beating back the thick weeds that had taken over the mountain trail.
Albert Hahn watched her disappear down the path, shaking his head with a sigh. "Just like her grandma. Way too gutsy for her own good." He then climbed onto his tricycle and pedaled off down the narrow mountain road.
...
On her side, Sophie kept swinging the bamboo stick, clearing her path bit by bit. Every step she took was tentative, her pace slow as she navigated the rugged terrain.
The road to the house wasn’t long, but actually walking it was exhausting. What looked like just a few hundred meters ended up taking her over half an hour, with all the stopping and starting.
Thankfully, she’d dressed smart for the hike—long sleeves and pants had saved her from the sharp edges of the weeds, which would’ve easily scratched her up otherwise.
When Sophie finally reached the gate to the old house, everything suddenly clicked. She understood exactly what Albert Hahn hadn’t said earlier.
It was about the spirits.
She remembered the stories she’d heard as a kid during her short stays at her grandma’s place. People from outside the mountain always talked about these spirits, always warning others to stay away. No one dared to venture in.
No one, except her grandma. Her grandma never bought into that kind of stuff. Superstitions? She scoffed at them.Sophie Grant could still vividly recall how her grandmother always carefully scooped the leftover food into a bowl and placed it right at the backyard gate, almost like she was intentionally saving it for some kind of “unknown creature.”
When she was little, Sophie used to feel pretty creeped out about it, but as she grew older, she figured it out—there were far scarier things in the real world than those so-called spirits or monsters. As long as you don’t mess with them, they usually wouldn’t bother you either.
What really caught Sophie off guard in her grandmother’s will was discovering that the old lady, who had always owned just one mountain, had somehow ended up buying all the mountains around the old house before she passed away.
Basically, aside from the mountain between Albert Hahn’s village and the old house, all the surrounding mountains in that area—including some under long-term rental agreements for decades—had become her grandmother’s property.
Now, Sophie was inheriting all of it.