Chapter 50 Lily of the Valley in the Embers
——He accompanied her into the darkest abyss, just to bring her back to the light of day.
Raindrops slanted over the eaves of the corridor, and the wind, wrapped in moisture, blew on my face. Mo Xiaohan held Ruan Xingchen's hand and walked along the corridor leading to the treatment room, his pace slowing down.
"Are you scared?" He stopped by the pillar, and when he turned, the wind blew away the raindrops from her hair. His eyes were as dark as indissoluble ink. The "Starlight" on his left ring finger brushed against her knuckles, and when it touched her "Eternal Day", a cool feeling spread along the ring and penetrated her skin. "Today's treatment... is going to be very painful."
The wind from the end of the corridor, carrying the scent of grass and trees, rushed over, making her fingertips tremble. Ruan Xingchen said nothing, but clasped his fingers tighter with her backhand, embedding "Starlight" and "Eternal Daylight" into each other's palms.
"I know." She finally spoke, her voice as soft as raindrops, and the ring trembled slightly with the breath of her words, "But you will be here."
Mo Xiaohan's Adam's apple rolled, and he reached out to tuck the rain-soaked hair on her forehead behind her ear. His fingertips accidentally brushed against her cheek, causing a slight shudder. "Yes, I'm here."
As the door to the treatment room opened, the smell of rust filled the air. Professor Klein stood beside the instruments, her gaze fixed on their clasped hands. The cold, hard metal of the rings glared clearly. She spoke calmly, "Come in when you're ready."
Ruan Xingchen's breathing suddenly stopped. She looked over the professor's shoulder and saw the half-human-high iron cage standing quietly in the middle of the room. There were still dark brown stains on the rusty railings. It was the cage used to hold "commodities" in the "Dark Night" cell, exactly the same as the one deep in her memory.
"Breathe." Mo Xiaohan hugged her from behind, his palms pressed against her violently heaving chest, "I'm here."
Ruan Xingchen dug her nails into his arm, stifled sobs escaping her throat. She smelled rust, mold, and the lingering smell of blood, as if she were back in that night scorched by the spotlight.
"Today's goal is simple." Professor Klein adjusted the heart rate monitor. "Touch it, open the cage door, and put something in it."
What the professor handed over was a small boat made of candy wrapper - seventeen years ago, it was the "happy magic" she gave to Mo Xiaohan.
Ruan Xingchen trembled all over, cold sweat soaking the fabric of her clothes. She subconsciously stepped back, but her back bumped into Mo Xiaohan's chest. The smell of gunpowder mixed with the crisp aroma of absinthe from his body drifted over her like an invisible net, instantly catching her shaky heartbeat and bringing a faint sense of relief.
"Look at me." He turned her face and forced her to look him in the eye. "There's no one else in there, only our candy wrapper boat."
The lights in the treatment room suddenly dimmed, and a vast galaxy was projected onto the surrounding walls - this was the "safe house" that Mo Xiaohan had renovated overnight. Each star corresponded to a certain direction of the manor. As long as she shouted the safe word, all exits would open immediately.
Ruan Xingchen's fingertips trembled as they reached towards the iron cage.
Just before her hand touched the rusty iron, it was embraced by another large hand. Mo Xiaohan led her to touch the uneven railings, his body warmth continuously transmitting through their skin.
"Is it cold?" He asked about the temperature of the iron cage, and there was a barely perceptible tremor in his voice.
She shook her head, tears falling on the backs of their folded hands: "...dirty."
Mo Xiaohan suddenly grabbed her hand and pressed it on the scar on his left arm - that was the wound he suffered for her, and it was once so deep that the bone was visible.
"It's even dirtier here." He said in a hoarse voice, "But you're never afraid."
Ruan Xingchen's cries were like broken glass. She struggled to break free from him, but in the next second she took the initiative to grab the iron cage bars!
Rust shards pierced his palm, and the monitor sounded a piercing alarm. Professor Klein was about to step forward, but a look from Mo Xiaohan pinned him to the spot.
"Open it." He stood one step away, his voice as soft as if he was coaxing a child, "I promise, the cage won't hold you this time."
Ruan Xingchen was shaking so much she could barely stand, but miraculously she found the cage door latch. The rusty metal creaked, and when the door opened, she suddenly began to retch violently, and those deliberately forgotten images came flooding back:
The sound of the bidding paddles being raised, the hands in white gloves, the greedy eyes in the audience...
"Paper boat..." She collapsed to her knees, "Where's my paper boat..."
Mo Xiaohan knelt on one knee in front of her and placed the candy paper boat into her bloodstained palm: "Here."
The moment the boat was placed in the iron cage, Professor Klein started the incineration process, and the blazing white flames instantly engulfed the cage. In the heat wave, Ruan Xingchen was held tightly in Mo Xiaohan's arms, and she heard his heartbeat like thunder.
"Look." He turned her face toward the fire. "Your nightmare is burning."
The iron cage twisted and buckled in the heat, and the candy-wrapped boat vanished into a wisp of smoke. Ruan Xingchen's pupils danced with orange-red flames, and in a trance, he saw his five-year-old self squatting in the rain in the slums, handing a cookie to a wounded boy.
"Brother Xiaohan..." she murmured unconsciously.
Mo Xiaohan's kiss fell on her sweaty forehead: "Yes, I'm here."
As the fire gradually died down, a layer of charred ash accumulated on the floor of the treatment room. Only the iron cage still retained most of its shape, with the blackened railings standing crookedly like a dying beast.
Ruan Xingchen stared at it for a moment, then suddenly reached out and grabbed a handful of ashes. The scorching residual heat burned her delicate palms, but in return she let out a sigh of relief.
"Does it hurt?" Mo Xiaohan pried open her clenched fingers.
Ruan Xingchen looked at the ashes falling between their fingers and suddenly smiled: "It hurts... but it's clean."
Professor Klein looked up at the two people hugging each other. Mo Xiaohan was lowering his head to kiss Ruan Xingchen's palm, where blood and ashes were mixed together. Only the "starlight" and "eternal daylight" were bright as if they had never been polluted.
She silently recorded the data: flashback symptoms were significantly reduced, and the reconstruction of traumatic memory was 87% complete - this was the most cruel yet most effective treatment case she had ever seen in her career.
When Mo Xiaohan carried the exhausted Ruan Xingchen out of the treatment room, the servants of the entire manor held their breath. The hostess's skirt was stained with ashes, and her right hand was wrapped in snow-white gauze, but her eyes were clearer than ever.
"I want to go to the garden," she whispered.
Mo Xiaohan lowered his head and kissed the top of her head: "Okay."
As he led her through the corridor, the sound of iron being dragged came from the treatment room - the iron cage that was deformed by the burn was being quietly carried away by someone he had arranged.
As the sun set, they stood in front of the newly planted lily of the valley bushes. Ruan Xingchen suddenly discovered that each lily of the valley had a small piece of metal debris buried at its root—the remains of the iron cage, which had become nutrients for the flowers.
"You buried this too." She looked back at him and picked up a little soil mixed with iron filings with her fingertips.
Mo Xiaohan hugged her from behind, interlocking his muddy fingers with hers: "Let all these bad pasts become nutrients to nourish them."
"Lily of the valley takes root here, bringing 'happiness back'."
The night breeze blew through the flowers, and the pure white bells swayed gently, like countless unspoken promises. Behind them, the ashes of the treatment room were swept away by the evening breeze and scattered across the garden, becoming the most special nourishment for next spring.
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