The Scent of the Orchid in the Forest of Secrets (密林兰香)

Chapter Seventeen

Shu Haolin came to in the middle of the night. Her back was delicately bandaged, but it still burned in pain as she slowly sat up. Her mind spun, faster and faster, like walking through a hurricane, until all abruptly went still, eerily so, silent and dark, as if she'd stumbled into the eye of the hurricane. She wasn't really thinking as she crawled off of the bed and walked into the frigid cold outside without any shoes or putting on a cloak. She walked without direction, gazing up at the night sky, starless, without a single point of light visible, nothing to guide her to speak to the people she most wanted to speak to now.

"It turns out that you were killed by the person I call Sect Leader now, perhaps only for him to continue on his path of cultivation. You were killed so unjustly, so unfairly, for nothing more than a man's wild ambition." Shu Haolin's voice quavered like a child's, yet her eyes were dry, staring forward at the dark and seemingly formless sky. "What am I supposed to do? Today, if it weren't for dashijie, I would've died. Just how powerful are the forces behind this entire plot? How on earth am I supposed to take revenge for you?"

A gust of wind blew by, chilling and piercing to the bone, causing a heavy twinge of pain to seize through the wound on her back. She collapsed to the ground, and when she finally drew the strength to look up, a flake of snow landed on the tip of her nose. It was so tiny, insignificant, that she didn't feel its chill at all. The wound on her back was starting to seep blood again, staining the carefully wrapped bandages red. Her mind started to spin once more, and she felt herself start to become delirious. Everything felt so absurdly hilarious—this was all her parents had died for, and this was the state their eldest child had been reduced to, dying in the gradually thickening snowstorm.

The single flake that had dropped on the tip of her nose melted instantly, as if it had never existed. But as the snow fell heavier, the individual insignificant parts together formed a light layer over her back, and she started to feel the cool seep into her wound, surprisingly soothing and calming. But then a weight fell over her back, fur tickled the back of her neck, and she was gently supported into a sitting position. Shu Haolin's eyes squinted as a familiar figure in lilac came into focus in front of her. She held an umbrella in her hands—who knew where that came from, and knelt in front of her, a complicated expression on her face as she shielded Shu Haolin from the snow and wrapped the cloak tighter around her shoulders. Yu Jielan looked as if she wanted to say something, but it ended up being Shu Haolin who was the first to speak.

"Why did you have to be Yu Ziyan's daughter?" Shu Haolin sighed. Yu Jielan's movements slowed as she tucked the fur of the collar underneath Shu Haolin's chin, the bristles brushing lightly against her face. They felt like a million ants marching instead over the tenderest part of her heart. A delicate feeling gripped her—although it was soft as a feather, it tickled the bottom of her heart mercilessly, making it twist and writhe desperately, as one does when faced with an unfamiliar and uncomfortable source of stimulation, leaving Shu Haolin slightly out of breath. She leaned forward, letting herself indulge in the light scent of an orchid that seemed to waft from Yu Jielan's body. From this angle, she noticed the pink scented satchel hanging from Yu Jielan's waist. It looked obviously worn and old, but its scent was just as delicate but stubbornly noticeable as it must've been when new.

"Did you know?" Shu Haolin started. Yu Jielan was struck with the heavy feeling of a premonition, but she had no control against it, only feeling herself hurtling towards the destination, shielding her eyes for fear of the pain of being blinded by the light. She swallowed heavily and listened.

"In a dense, thick forest of secrets, I caught the scent of an orchid, and it led me back home." She whispered. "But no matter how much I like you, it can't change the fact that my mortal enemy is your father. Never mind then..." Her last phrase seemed to drift with the wind, being carried away far away. Yu Jielan's entire body went stiff, and her mind was numb with shock. It was only on her instincts that she carefully supported Shu Haolin, who was starting to burn with a fever, back into the village hut they were staying in, and tucked her into bed. Then, Yu Jielan stood there in the dim light of the moon hidden somewhere behind the clouds and stared at Shu Haolin until the snow on the umbrella in her hand melted into a puddle on the floor. Then, finally, she climbed back into bed, closing her eyes and allowing the dim warmth of a candlelight that was burning in her heart to continue to flicker with life.