en route
Chapter Thirty-Five
Along the way... no, there was no road at all. Led by Lan Feiyu, I walked through dense thickets of trees, the branches and leaves so thick that they blocked out the sun, making it impossible to tell which way was which.
But this situation seemed to have no effect on Lan Feiyu. She remained calm and composed, holding my hand without losing her way. I went from being somewhat surprised and doubtful at the beginning to being completely at ease.
We walked very slowly. Every half hour, Lan Feiyu would turn around and ask me if I was tired and if I could still hold on.
To be honest, I couldn't really hold on. The wounds became more and more painful as the journey went on, especially in my chest. It felt like there was an invisible giant hand pressing down on my chest little by little. At first, I didn't have much strength, and I only felt uncomfortable and had difficulty breathing when going uphill. Later, the pressure increased, and I couldn't even breathe properly on flat ground.
I had to stand with my mouth wide open, listening to my own labored breathing, and taking increasingly difficult steps. Even though Lan Feiyu was pulling and dragging me from ahead, the despair in my heart grew wildly with the passage of time.
I don't know how long I walked, but suddenly my foot was tripped by a tree root half-buried in the soil, and I lost my balance and fell forward.
My vision blurred for a moment, and then I heard Lan Feiyu shout "Watch out!" Immediately afterward, the world spun around me. When I came to my senses, I realized that I had fallen on top of Lan Feiyu, and she was pinned to the ground. Fortunately, the soil in the forest was soft and covered with a layer of weeds, so apart from the weight I had put on her, she should not have been hurt.
But my body felt weak and I panicked, so I couldn't even get up, even using my hands and feet. Lan Feiyu cried out "Ouch!" and shouted at me, "Xi'er, don't move!"
As if obeying a military order, I quickly stopped what I was doing and replied with a smile tinged with tears, "Feiyu, I can't get up, what should I do?"
Lan Feiyu sighed beneath me: "You should have told me sooner if you didn't have the strength to walk. Why are you being so stubborn? It's not like we can't rest."
As she spoke, she tried to turn to the side, carefully holding my shoulders and waist with both hands, and slowly turned me to the ground. By the time one side of my body touched the ground, she was already sweating profusely and sitting up, panting heavily.
I lay on my back on the ground, the sun blocking my view. All I could see were dense branches and leaves of various colors, swaying in the wind, making my eyes blurry and my head throb. I let out a long breath, closed my eyes, and calmly said to Lan Feiyu, "Yu'er, we won't be able to catch up with Yuanzi and the others like this. Why don't you... you go first! You still have things to do, can't you wait any longer?"
Lan Feiyu didn't say anything, moved next to me, and lay down as well.
I wanted to say something more to persuade her, but I'm not a particularly righteous or understanding girl. I want her to stay here with me, away from all the troubles and national affairs. We can lie quietly together, not thinking about anything, not caring about anything, just like that until the end of time, until we are reincarnated in our next life and become two trees side by side in this forest.
Before I knew it, Lan Feiyu had taken my hand. She still didn't say anything, and I was too lazy to speak either. I lay there for the time it takes to eat a meal before I opened my eyes, shouted at the sky, and sat up in one go. I smiled at Lan Feiyu through the pain and said, "I'm feeling better. Let's go. Are you sure we don't need to chase after the kite?"
Lan Feiyu remained lying there, not moving, and asked me in return, "Are you sure you can still walk?"
“I have to go even if I can’t,” I said with a wry smile. “I promised to go to Baili with you, and I’ll die on the way there, even if I die.” My uncle always told me that if you make a promise to someone and try your best but fail, at least you can have a clear conscience. But you can’t just do it half-heartedly and give someone an “I’m sorry” and call it a day.
I thought for a moment, looked at Lan Feiyu, and added softly, "I am the daughter of the Zhao family, and no one can change that."
“Xi’er…” Lan Feiyu got up and pulled me up too. “Ever since I met you, you have been Zhao Xi, the morning sun, and that is something that no one can change. Let’s go, we can take it slow. There’s no need to chase after Yuanzi, but there are many of them, so they certainly won’t walk too fast.”
She brushed the dust off my clothes and continued to lead the way, holding my hand.
We wandered through the forest, and although we couldn't see any human traces, we could still hear the clattering of horses' hooves. I guessed that was a hunting party, but I wondered if my older brother was among them. He probably never imagined that the moment I left his protection, I would be plunged into an inescapable vortex, getting deeper and deeper, and perhaps at the end, I would be shattered to pieces.
But I can't think too much about it. Since it was my own decision, I can only grit my teeth and keep going.
Fortunately, Lan Feiyu is someone I should do this for.
My injuries were severely draining my strength, forcing us to stop and start frequently, making our pace as slow as a tortoise's.
Lan Feiyu's familiarity with the forest was far beyond my reach. During our rest time, she would always find ways to find wild berries to fill my stomach and quench my thirst, which made the whole arduous journey much easier.
But as darkness fell, I remembered the scene of spending the night in the forest before, and I couldn't help but feel anxious again. If we couldn't find a suitable place to stay before sunset, we would have to camp out in the wild again.
Even someone as pampered as me knows that some wild beasts hunt at night, and there might also be snakes... I shudder to think of that.
Thinking about it this way, I became even more anxious. Several times, Lan Feiyu asked me if I needed to rest, but I shook my head. I was in so much pain that I was sweating profusely, but I still insisted on continuing.
The intermittent sound of horses' hooves finally disappeared completely. The moonlight struggled to penetrate the layers of obstacles and shine on Lan Feiyu in front of me. My eyes were stinging from the sweat dripping down my forehead, and I could barely see the road ahead. If Lan Feiyu hadn't been holding my hand, I probably would have fallen countless times.
"It's too dark, we need to light a fire," Lan Feiyu murmured.
As soon as she finished speaking, a chilling sound suddenly rang out from the woods—it was the long howl of the "drug man," a sound that was high-pitched and distinctive, and seemed to be coming from within a ten-mile radius. I couldn't be mistaken. Lan Feiyu's hand, which was holding mine, suddenly stiffened. I knew this was not a hallucination I had while in pain.
“It’s the ‘Drug Man’!” I whispered, embarrassingly unable to suppress the trembling in my voice. “He’s caught up with us?”
"Let's go!" Lan Feiyu didn't waste any words, she grabbed me tightly and staggered forward in the forest where it was almost pitch black.
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