In February, the inner hexagram is the Qian, and the outer hexagram is the Zhen. The name of the hexagram is Lei Tian*. Two Yin are above, and four Yang are below. Yang energy has risen beyond the ground.
*[Lei Tian Hexagram = calculating the strength between people and villains, their characters, their words, it’s basically related to divination, TN]
Yang ChengWan was half leaning on a bamboo chair in the clinic.
“Father, this is Mabo Tang*.” YangYue came over with the medicine bowl, “Doctor Shen said that the bones reconnecting procedure can start an hour after this medicine is taken.
*[Mabo Tang = anesthetic, TN]
Yang ChengWan took the medicine bowl and was still hesitant: “My legs… Let’s forget it…”
“Don’t, Master,” Jinxia tried to persuade him, “Lu Daren has personally escorted you, and Doctor Shen has also freed his day for this, furthermore Da Yang couldn’t sleep well last night… all for the sake of your legs, don’t be like this…”
This girl’s mouth kept chattering and chattering, Yang ChengWan couldn’t stop her at all, “Lu Daren is standing outside, be a bit more careful, at the end, you’re still an official.”
“Understood!” Jinxia answered as fast as lighting.
Yang ChengWan took the Mabo Tang, he was accompanied by YangYue. Jinxia brought the empty bowl out, saw Lu Yi sitting on a bamboo chair, slowly stroking the orchid on the table.
Although she didn’t really like him, Jinxia couldn’t help but admit that Lu Yi had tried with all his heart to help the Master with his leg condition. For the time being, regardless of his reason, they certainly owed him a favour.
“Daren, are you thirsty? I’ll make tea for you.” She approached and tried to please him.
Lu Yi didn’t raise his eyes and shook his head.
Jinxia followed his gaze toward the orchid, she realized something and said: “Daren seems to miss Ms. Zhai, right? Yesterday when we delivered the fragrance box, Ms. Zhai asked about Daren’s interests. Maybe in the next two days, she will prepare some food to treat Daren. You should be able to meet with her soon again.”
At that moment, Lu Yi finally looked at her, asking: “What are my interests?”
“Ehm…When you have spare time, you would go to the kitchen and cook, often cooking the food you like to eat.”
Lu Yi remained silent, turned his head and ignored her.
Across the shiny slick wooden barrier, the conversation of two assistants reached Jinxia’s ears.
“You need to boil some more water and send it back to the room, as well as changing the cloth, but the cloth should be boiled in hot water. The Japanese poison cannot be suppressed by the antidote, be careful a little.”
Another person was worried and asked, “I saw their condition: they won’t be able to survive, half of their body is decaying, it seems…”
Jinxia heard it, then she saw Lu Yi standing up and walking out of the room to go behind the divider.
“Are you talking about the two people who were hurt by the Japanese three days ago?” Lu Yi asked in a deep voice.
“Daren…yes, yes, I don’t know what poison these Japanese used, but his body is slowly decomposing. If only they could catch these Japanese and force them to hand over the antidotes, maybe then, there would be hope of saving them.” The two assistants said while greeting him.
Poisons used by the Japanese!
Jinxia suddenly remembered the people of Wu’An Gang who were injured the day before. Could it be that they were hit with the same poison, and were injured with the same unknown weapon?
“What do their poison wounds look like?” Jinxia came out and asked.
“The wound is very small, inside the flesh but not too deep, but the incision is extremely smooth.”
Jinxia hesitated for a moment, she pulled out the unknown weapon she had collected yesterday from her sleeve, and asked, “Is it like being hit with this?”
The unknown weapon* had a hexagon shape, with protruding blades on all six sides and a slight blue light. Lu Yi, in seeing it, immediately frowned, “This is a Japanese pocket knife, where did you get it from?”
*[These weapons were small, approx no longer than 40 cm, and were usually hidden in the sleeves of the owner. Inside the handle, there were springs. When one used the weapon, there will be a switch, which would fly out of the handle and went straight at the target, TN]
“Yesterday, I fought with the pirates, they injured quite a number of people in Wu’An Gang; about four people died, and six to seven were poisoned.”
Never before had he heard her bring up this matter in the slightest, therefore Lu Yi stared at her, his mixed facial expressions indistinguishable.
The clinic assistant continued to examine the weapon from top to bottom, then said: “Although, I am not sure one hundred percent, judging from the shape of the blade, I’m eighty percent positive that the wounds are caused by this weapon.”
Jinxia thanked the assistant, lowered her head and thought about it: after the authorities knew about the case, they still hadn’t gathered the military force to capture these groups of pirates? These pirates entered the mainland with the intention of robbing, they also knew their ways well, could someone else be helping them? If the authorities did not take action, then the six and seven people in Wu’An Gang could be in real danger. She did not know whether to tell Xie Xiao or Shanguan Xi at once, so they could help in finding a way to obtain an antidote.
For a moment, her head was full of thoughts, and she massaged it nervously. As she raised her head, she found herself staring at Lu Yi, while the assistant of the clinic who was beside her… well, she did not when he had left.
“You never brought up a word about these pirates, why?” Lu Yi asked.
“This… that… I don’t think it is related to the main case. Daren is busy attending various state affairs every day, so I didn’t want to make it a burden for Daren.”
Jinxia couldn’t keep it from him anymore, so she had to report to him everything in detail regarding the Japanese pirates encountered the day before.
“Zhang Fei?”
“Yes… but this person is very slimy, I don’t think that’s even his real name. He speaks Mandarin fluently and he’s quite fluent in Japanese too… I can’t even tell what his origins are.”
Lu Yi continued to look at her, “What else?”
Jinxia tilted her head and continued to think, then shook her head: “His appearance is entirely Japanese, his clothes have no holes at all, his skin is dark and rough. He confessed to having worked with Wang Zhi for several years.”
“What are his face features?’
“Long face, small eyes, no beard, thin eyebrows, high cheekbones, a small black mole on the left side of the nose.”
Jinxia knew that JinYiWei’s information network was widespread, let alone the Ming Kingdom, they had spies even in Korea and Japan. If she had wanted to find out the details of this person, Lu Yi obviously would’ve had more advantages than her.
The clinic assistant came in and said, “Outside, there is a fishmonger brother who is looking for a man named YangYue, is he here?”
Fishmonger brother? How did he find the medical hall? YangYue was also confused, “It’s me, let me go outside and see.”
As soon as he arrived outside the clinic, he spotted a young man wearing a black bamboo hat and a worn robe. Beside him, there was a basket of fish.
“You are?”
“You are YangYue, Constable Yang, yes? My Young Master Bangzhu told me to pass you a message: he has an urgent matter to discuss with you, asking you to go to Taohualin Forest*, in the west of the city, to meet.”
*[Taohualin Forest = Peach Blossom Forest]
It turned out the message was from Xie Xiao. Yang Yue wasn’t sure what he wanted to discuss, so he answered, “I can’t leave right now, can it be another day?”
The young man was impatient and responded, “I only delivered messages, other than that, I can’t make any decision. I think Young Master Bangzhu’s message is very urgent, and he is in a hurry to look for you. Taohualin Forest is very easy to find: from the west gate, less than a mile in the southwest direction.” After he finished, he did not care whether or not YangYue agreed, he picked up his fish basket and left.
YangYue, who was restless, walked inside and called Jinxia to a quiet corner frantically saying, “Xie Xiao sent people over to deliver a message, he said there was an urgent matter and told me to go to Taohualin Forest in the west of the city to meet, but now I can’t go, what should I do?”
“Xie Xiao is looking for you?” Jinxia thought that maybe this was about the pirates, but she was still surprised and asked, “How did he know we were here?”
“Probably I said it last night.” YangYue’s alcohol tolerance wasn’t good, after drinking wine he was not aware of what had happened, “What do you think he is looking for me for? In addition he’s asking me to go to Taohualin Forest, so far away… I can’t leave this place!”
Jinxia thought for a moment, “I will go.”
“You’ll go?” YangYue asked with a little hesitation.
“Coincidentally, I also have some business with him. You just take care of the Master here, I will tell you when I’m back.”
“Yes, Taohualin Forest is the way out of the city door to the west, less than a mile to the southwest direction. Be careful on your way, go early and come back early, don’t play around outside.”
After exiting the west city door, Jinxia rode straight to the southwest direction. It was springtime, the small hill in the southwest was full of peach blossoms. From afar, a large cloud of pink powder was scattering on the soil. She rode the horse as fast as she could and arrived at the entrance of the Taohualin Forest. There had been a spring rain the night before, making the ground all red. Jinxia chose a tree and tied the horse well, then walked into the forest, while walking and looking for Xie Xiao.
The Taohualin Forest was quite large, and she didn’t know how many miles were from there to the mountains. She only walked for a short distance and felt that place full of strange things…
Spring is the blooming season and that Taohualin Forest was not too far away from the city of Yangzhou. The flowers were blooming brilliantly, there should have been many people coming to admire the view, but she did not see a single person in the forest, even on the ground there were no human traces. Another thing, peach blossoms usually attract flies and caterpillars, but it didn’t seem that any of them existed or flew around in that forest, instead it seemed like there was no life living there.
There was no trace of humans… maybe because there was a predator, a beast, or even a ghost, so no one dared to come here, but if there was absolutely no trace of flies or caterpillars, what would the reason be?
Jinxia furrowed her eyebrows while continuing to walk deeper and deeper into the forest…
***
Inside the clinic, Lu Yi saw Jinxia and YangYue talking outside. A few moments later, YangYue reentered, but Jinxia was gone. In his heart, there was a slight suspicion. After an hour had passed and he hadn’t seen Jinxia returning, his suspicions grew deeper.
“My father is asleep, is it possible for you to start the treatment?” YangYue asked the doctor.
The clinical assistant went inside to see Yang ChengWan and exclaimed, “I already went to call him.”
“Thank you, thank you.”
The treatment of breaking his father’s legs bones and reconnecting them made YangYue a little worried, afraid that a sudden problem would arise causing his father to suffer later. He took a deep breath, and when he turned, Lu Yi was looking straight at him.
“No need to worry, Doctor Shen is very experienced in treating bone injuries, he has healed many people.” Lu Yi could see his worries, and gave him some soothing words first, then changed the topic, casually asking, “Where is Miss Yuan?”
“She, she… has a little business.”
Lu Yi still asked in an ordinary tone, “Oh, what business?”
YangYue said what was on his mind: “I told her to go buy some dried fruit candies, so that later when my father takes his medicine, he can eat them.”
“You are a filial son, you’ve thought of everything.” Lu Yi nodded.
He seemed to believe his words, just as YangYue was about to let out a sigh of relief, Lu Yi said again: “But across the corner of this clinic, there is a shop that sells dried fruit candies, while Miss Yuan has disappeared for almost an hour.”
“……”
“This time, I was given an order to collaborate with LiuShanmen to investigate a case. I really tried my best in assisting you, but unfortunately you guys are on guard against me… Are you involved in this case?” Lu Yi coldly said.
“Absolutely not! We’re not!” This accusation was not a minor matter, and YangYue frantically said, “I didn’t tell the truth because I was afraid that Daren would be against us. Earlier, someone came here to deliver a message from Young Master Bangzhu of Wu’An Gang, telling me to meet him in the Taohualin Forest, but I didn’t know what was the problem. Since I couldn’t leave this place, I let Jinxia go on my behalf, but I really don’t know why he is looking for me. We’ve been working honestly, we have nothing to do with this case. Daren, please, do not get me wrong!”
“Young Master Bangzhu of Wu’An Gang? Taohualin Forest?” Lu Yi looked at him, “Where is the Taohualin Forest?”
“Out of the west gate, less than a mile toward the southwest direction…”
As they were speaking, the jade ornament hanging on the waist belt of Doctor Shen floated in, together with the assistant of the clinic, who was beside him holding the medicine box. They walked inside. YangYue looked at Lu Yi in apology, then walked in in a hurry.
***
Peach blossoms that fell without the wind, falling on Jinxia’s head, shoulders and shoes.
‘A falling peach blossom, bright light, a very beautiful sight in the eye, makes the heart skip a beat’*. Unfortunately, something did not seem to fit in this scene. Her nose began to smell some unpleasant odor, like the one of buried corpses in soil being there for several years, a sudden chills came to her like the freezing cold ground.
*[A line from a poem named Tao Ai by JiangShi, Kong Fuzi, TN]
She tore the corner of her skirt, covered her mouth and nose, and continued to walk inside with attention.
The grass was getting lower and lower, no longer past her knees. So far Jinxia’s courage had not failed her, but she was also not a fool, almost certain that Xie Xiao was not in the forest. She did not know whether due to the air or not but she was starting to feel dizzy and the view in front of her was slowly becoming blurry. In her heart, she wanted to scream but was unable to, hence she continued to lift one foot after another to make small steps. Then she turned her head: all of a sudden she saw someone under a peach tree not far from her….
In February, the inner hexagram is the Qian, and the outer hexagram is the Zhen. The name of the hexagram is Lei Tian*. Two Yin are above, and four Yang are below. Yang energy has risen beyond the ground.
*[Lei Tian Hexagram = calculating the strength between people and villains, their characters, their words, it’s basically related to divination, TN]
Yang ChengWan was half leaning on a bamboo chair in the clinic.
“Father, this is Mabo Tang*.” YangYue came over with the medicine bowl, “Doctor Shen said that the bones reconnecting procedure can start an hour after this medicine is taken.
*[Mabo Tang = anesthetic, TN]
Yang ChengWan took the medicine bowl and was still hesitant: “My legs… Let’s forget it…”
“Don’t, Master,” Jinxia tried to persuade him, “Lu Daren has personally escorted you, and Doctor Shen has also freed his day for this, furthermore Da Yang couldn’t sleep well last night… all for the sake of your legs, don’t be like this…”
This girl’s mouth kept chattering and chattering, Yang ChengWan couldn’t stop her at all, “Lu Daren is standing outside, be a bit more careful, at the end, you’re still an official.”
“Understood!” Jinxia answered as fast as lighting.
Yang ChengWan took the Mabo Tang, he was accompanied by YangYue. Jinxia brought the empty bowl out, saw Lu Yi sitting on a bamboo chair, slowly stroking the orchid on the table.
Although she didn’t really like him, Jinxia couldn’t help but admit that Lu Yi had tried with all his heart to help the Master with his leg condition. For the time being, regardless of his reason, they certainly owed him a favour.
“Daren, are you thirsty? I’ll make tea for you.” She approached and tried to please him.
Lu Yi didn’t raise his eyes and shook his head.
Jinxia followed his gaze toward the orchid, she realized something and said: “Daren seems to miss Ms. Zhai, right? Yesterday when we delivered the fragrance box, Ms. Zhai asked about Daren’s interests. Maybe in the next two days, she will prepare some food to treat Daren. You should be able to meet with her soon again.”
At that moment, Lu Yi finally looked at her, asking: “What are my interests?”
“Ehm…When you have spare time, you would go to the kitchen and cook, often cooking the food you like to eat.”
Lu Yi remained silent, turned his head and ignored her.
Across the shiny slick wooden barrier, the conversation of two assistants reached Jinxia’s ears.
“You need to boil some more water and send it back to the room, as well as changing the cloth, but the cloth should be boiled in hot water. The Japanese poison cannot be suppressed by the antidote, be careful a little.”
Another person was worried and asked, “I saw their condition: they won’t be able to survive, half of their body is decaying, it seems…”
Jinxia heard it, then she saw Lu Yi standing up and walking out of the room to go behind the divider.
“Are you talking about the two people who were hurt by the Japanese three days ago?” Lu Yi asked in a deep voice.
“Daren…yes, yes, I don’t know what poison these Japanese used, but his body is slowly decomposing. If only they could catch these Japanese and force them to hand over the antidotes, maybe then, there would be hope of saving them.” The two assistants said while greeting him.
Poisons used by the Japanese!
Jinxia suddenly remembered the people of Wu’An Gang who were injured the day before. Could it be that they were hit with the same poison, and were injured with the same unknown weapon?
“What do their poison wounds look like?” Jinxia came out and asked.
“The wound is very small, inside the flesh but not too deep, but the incision is extremely smooth.”
Jinxia hesitated for a moment, she pulled out the unknown weapon she had collected yesterday from her sleeve, and asked, “Is it like being hit with this?”
The unknown weapon* had a hexagon shape, with protruding blades on all six sides and a slight blue light. Lu Yi, in seeing it, immediately frowned, “This is a Japanese pocket knife, where did you get it from?”
*[These weapons were small, approx no longer than 40 cm, and were usually hidden in the sleeves of the owner. Inside the handle, there were springs. When one used the weapon, there will be a switch, which would fly out of the handle and went straight at the target, TN]
“Yesterday, I fought with the pirates, they injured quite a number of people in Wu’An Gang; about four people died, and six to seven were poisoned.”
Never before had he heard her bring up this matter in the slightest, therefore Lu Yi stared at her, his mixed facial expressions indistinguishable.
The clinic assistant continued to examine the weapon from top to bottom, then said: “Although, I am not sure one hundred percent, judging from the shape of the blade, I’m eighty percent positive that the wounds are caused by this weapon.”
Jinxia thanked the assistant, lowered her head and thought about it: after the authorities knew about the case, they still hadn’t gathered the military force to capture these groups of pirates? These pirates entered the mainland with the intention of robbing, they also knew their ways well, could someone else be helping them? If the authorities did not take action, then the six and seven people in Wu’An Gang could be in real danger. She did not know whether to tell Xie Xiao or Shanguan Xi at once, so they could help in finding a way to obtain an antidote.
For a moment, her head was full of thoughts, and she massaged it nervously. As she raised her head, she found herself staring at Lu Yi, while the assistant of the clinic who was beside her… well, she did not when he had left.
“You never brought up a word about these pirates, why?” Lu Yi asked.
“This… that… I don’t think it is related to the main case. Daren is busy attending various state affairs every day, so I didn’t want to make it a burden for Daren.”
Jinxia couldn’t keep it from him anymore, so she had to report to him everything in detail regarding the Japanese pirates encountered the day before.
“Zhang Fei?”
“Yes… but this person is very slimy, I don’t think that’s even his real name. He speaks Mandarin fluently and he’s quite fluent in Japanese too… I can’t even tell what his origins are.”
Lu Yi continued to look at her, “What else?”
Jinxia tilted her head and continued to think, then shook her head: “His appearance is entirely Japanese, his clothes have no holes at all, his skin is dark and rough. He confessed to having worked with Wang Zhi for several years.”
“What are his face features?’
“Long face, small eyes, no beard, thin eyebrows, high cheekbones, a small black mole on the left side of the nose.”
Jinxia knew that JinYiWei’s information network was widespread, let alone the Ming Kingdom, they had spies even in Korea and Japan. If she had wanted to find out the details of this person, Lu Yi obviously would’ve had more advantages than her.
The clinic assistant came in and said, “Outside, there is a fishmonger brother who is looking for a man named YangYue, is he here?”
Fishmonger brother? How did he find the medical hall? YangYue was also confused, “It’s me, let me go outside and see.”
As soon as he arrived outside the clinic, he spotted a young man wearing a black bamboo hat and a worn robe. Beside him, there was a basket of fish.
“You are?”
“You are YangYue, Constable Yang, yes? My Young Master Bangzhu told me to pass you a message: he has an urgent matter to discuss with you, asking you to go to Taohualin Forest*, in the west of the city, to meet.”
*[Taohualin Forest = Peach Blossom Forest]
It turned out the message was from Xie Xiao. Yang Yue wasn’t sure what he wanted to discuss, so he answered, “I can’t leave right now, can it be another day?”
The young man was impatient and responded, “I only delivered messages, other than that, I can’t make any decision. I think Young Master Bangzhu’s message is very urgent, and he is in a hurry to look for you. Taohualin Forest is very easy to find: from the west gate, less than a mile in the southwest direction.” After he finished, he did not care whether or not YangYue agreed, he picked up his fish basket and left.
YangYue, who was restless, walked inside and called Jinxia to a quiet corner frantically saying, “Xie Xiao sent people over to deliver a message, he said there was an urgent matter and told me to go to Taohualin Forest in the west of the city to meet, but now I can’t go, what should I do?”
“Xie Xiao is looking for you?” Jinxia thought that maybe this was about the pirates, but she was still surprised and asked, “How did he know we were here?”
“Probably I said it last night.” YangYue’s alcohol tolerance wasn’t good, after drinking wine he was not aware of what had happened, “What do you think he is looking for me for? In addition he’s asking me to go to Taohualin Forest, so far away… I can’t leave this place!”
Jinxia thought for a moment, “I will go.”
“You’ll go?” YangYue asked with a little hesitation.
“Coincidentally, I also have some business with him. You just take care of the Master here, I will tell you when I’m back.”
“Yes, Taohualin Forest is the way out of the city door to the west, less than a mile to the southwest direction. Be careful on your way, go early and come back early, don’t play around outside.”
After exiting the west city door, Jinxia rode straight to the southwest direction. It was springtime, the small hill in the southwest was full of peach blossoms. From afar, a large cloud of pink powder was scattering on the soil. She rode the horse as fast as she could and arrived at the entrance of the Taohualin Forest. There had been a spring rain the night before, making the ground all red. Jinxia chose a tree and tied the horse well, then walked into the forest, while walking and looking for Xie Xiao.
The Taohualin Forest was quite large, and she didn’t know how many miles were from there to the mountains. She only walked for a short distance and felt that place full of strange things…
Spring is the blooming season and that Taohualin Forest was not too far away from the city of Yangzhou. The flowers were blooming brilliantly, there should have been many people coming to admire the view, but she did not see a single person in the forest, even on the ground there were no human traces. Another thing, peach blossoms usually attract flies and caterpillars, but it didn’t seem that any of them existed or flew around in that forest, instead it seemed like there was no life living there.
There was no trace of humans… maybe because there was a predator, a beast, or even a ghost, so no one dared to come here, but if there was absolutely no trace of flies or caterpillars, what would the reason be?
Jinxia furrowed her eyebrows while continuing to walk deeper and deeper into the forest…
***
Inside the clinic, Lu Yi saw Jinxia and YangYue talking outside. A few moments later, YangYue reentered, but Jinxia was gone. In his heart, there was a slight suspicion. After an hour had passed and he hadn’t seen Jinxia returning, his suspicions grew deeper.
“My father is asleep, is it possible for you to start the treatment?” YangYue asked the doctor.
The clinical assistant went inside to see Yang ChengWan and exclaimed, “I already went to call him.”
“Thank you, thank you.”
The treatment of breaking his father’s legs bones and reconnecting them made YangYue a little worried, afraid that a sudden problem would arise causing his father to suffer later. He took a deep breath, and when he turned, Lu Yi was looking straight at him.
“No need to worry, Doctor Shen is very experienced in treating bone injuries, he has healed many people.” Lu Yi could see his worries, and gave him some soothing words first, then changed the topic, casually asking, “Where is Miss Yuan?”
“She, she… has a little business.”
Lu Yi still asked in an ordinary tone, “Oh, what business?”
YangYue said what was on his mind: “I told her to go buy some dried fruit candies, so that later when my father takes his medicine, he can eat them.”
“You are a filial son, you’ve thought of everything.” Lu Yi nodded.
He seemed to believe his words, just as YangYue was about to let out a sigh of relief, Lu Yi said again: “But across the corner of this clinic, there is a shop that sells dried fruit candies, while Miss Yuan has disappeared for almost an hour.”
“……”
“This time, I was given an order to collaborate with LiuShanmen to investigate a case. I really tried my best in assisting you, but unfortunately you guys are on guard against me… Are you involved in this case?” Lu Yi coldly said.
“Absolutely not! We’re not!” This accusation was not a minor matter, and YangYue frantically said, “I didn’t tell the truth because I was afraid that Daren would be against us. Earlier, someone came here to deliver a message from Young Master Bangzhu of Wu’An Gang, telling me to meet him in the Taohualin Forest, but I didn’t know what was the problem. Since I couldn’t leave this place, I let Jinxia go on my behalf, but I really don’t know why he is looking for me. We’ve been working honestly, we have nothing to do with this case. Daren, please, do not get me wrong!”
“Young Master Bangzhu of Wu’An Gang? Taohualin Forest?” Lu Yi looked at him, “Where is the Taohualin Forest?”
“Out of the west gate, less than a mile toward the southwest direction…”
As they were speaking, the jade ornament hanging on the waist belt of Doctor Shen floated in, together with the assistant of the clinic, who was beside him holding the medicine box. They walked inside. YangYue looked at Lu Yi in apology, then walked in in a hurry.
***
Peach blossoms that fell without the wind, falling on Jinxia’s head, shoulders and shoes.
‘A falling peach blossom, bright light, a very beautiful sight in the eye, makes the heart skip a beat’*. Unfortunately, something did not seem to fit in this scene. Her nose began to smell some unpleasant odor, like the one of buried corpses in soil being there for several years, a sudden chills came to her like the freezing cold ground.
*[A line from a poem named Tao Ai by JiangShi, Kong Fuzi, TN]
She tore the corner of her skirt, covered her mouth and nose, and continued to walk inside with attention.
The grass was getting lower and lower, no longer past her knees. So far Jinxia’s courage had not failed her, but she was also not a fool, almost certain that Xie Xiao was not in the forest. She did not know whether due to the air or not but she was starting to feel dizzy and the view in front of her was slowly becoming blurry. In her heart, she wanted to scream but was unable to, hence she continued to lift one foot after another to make small steps. Then she turned her head: all of a sudden she saw someone under a peach tree not far from her….
