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

Chapter Twenty-Four

Shu Haolin went silent, turning around to look at Yu Jielan, who was frozen, staring blankly forward. Unsure of how best to comfort her, she hugged her with a single arm, letting Yu Jielan lean her head on her shoulder. For a while, the two of them stood there in the cold night, finding warmth in each other's bodies.

"At that time, I was young." Yu Jielan explained. "I'd always been close with my mother, so it came as quite a shock when she died. I don't quite remember how she died, though. At home, she hadn't been able to hold onto her last breath before my father returned from the Lin Sect, a blow that kept him in seclusion for a whole month longer than usual."

She felt her heart twist and didn't want to speak anymore. Shu Haolin's mind had already launched off into the realm of possibilities. The death of a significant other was certainly a big event in a person's life. What if it had changed Yu Ziyan? Had she wrongly accused him? No, he had confessed himself to wrongly framing the Lin Sect. But what about her parents? Her mind wandered farther and farther, but the more she thought, the more tangled the whole mess of affairs seemed.

Yu Jielan straightened. They'd reached the border between the forest and the overgrown plains. "Let's start walking back."

"Mn." Shu Haolin agreed, forcing herself back into the present moment. She glanced at Yu Jielan, then hooked their pinkies together. Yu Jielan couldn't help but slightly smile. The two of them walked leisurely in the night sky, as if they never needed to stop walking slowly together, and the only thing they needed to do was chat the time away, with no other responsibilities awaiting them.

Shu Haolin hummed to herself for a while. "A-Lan, I remember you said that in the battle at the Lin Sect, both your grandfather and your uncle died, leaving behind only Yu Ziyan and Shao Mingrong. Are there any others left in your family tree?"

Yu Jielan cast a knowing glance at Shu Haolin, but made no comment on her address. "The family tree of the Yu Sect is rich and has many branches. Of course there's many others, but of the direct line, I'm the only one left. Of course, you might count Shao Mingrong, but he's technically the illegitimate son of my grandfather."

"That reminds me, I've always wanted to ask, what's going on with Shao Mingrong? Why did he take on a different surname? Is he related to the Yu Sect's direct line?" Shu Haolin asked quickly.

"Shao Mingrong, he's the son of the only concubine that my grandfather took in. These are matters of the generation above us, so I'm not too clear on it. I've only heard that my grandfather mistook her as my mother one day when he was out in a mission, and so he could only bring her back. She was pregnant already from the day she returned, and she had Shao Mingrong. My grandfather never really intended to take in concubines, and felt guilty for his mistake, so he never really visited Concubine Shao. After she hung herself, Shao Mingrong angrily declared that he was going to change his surname, that he didn't want to be a part of the family anymore. At first, he was also demanding that he be let free so he could return to his mother's hometown. I heard that it was my mother who mediated and got him to stay."

Shu Haolin raised her eyebrows. "I didn't realize there was such a long story behind Shao Mingrong. So he really is blood-related to you?"

"Mn. After his initial outburst when his mother died, he became more and more withdrawn and cowardly, and he became the way he is now."

"Your grandfather never visited Concubine Shao, and she ended up taking her life. Wouldn't Shao Mingrong blame him?" Shu Haolin mused.

"Of course he would. But he's already dead, and most people just tacitly acknowledge that it happened and that it's over now. He's never really done anything out of the line. But," Yu Jielan hesitated, "I've always found him a little off-putting. When I was young, I never liked to play with him, even though he was nicer to me than my own father."

"Speaking of which, it's quite surprising that he even mustered up the courage to tell us the secret of the Lin Sect's ruin. Judging by his behavior, I wouldn't have been surprised if he never managed to confide in anyone at all."

Yu Jielan nodded gravely. "There must've been someone who pushed him to act behind the scenes. Just a little haunting, that's not that much. It must've been the straw that broke the camel's back, and we're missing all the other straws that came before it."

Shu Haolin sighed, and they walked in silence for a bit more. All too soon, Shu Haolin's small residence loomed into sight. She turned around to look at Yu Jielan.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She said. Yu Jielan nodded, but still didn't leave. The two of them stood there, temporarily in a stalemate. Between the two of them, one of them was icy and didn't know how to treat someone with warmth, and the other was stubborn and thin-faced. Being able to walk to this step was already a miracle for the two of them.

Shu Haolin cleared her throat. "Are you going?"

"Mn, I'm going."

Shu Haolin pulled open the door and stepped inside, but she turned back again. Yu Jielan was still there. She laughed nervously. "Are you going to stay here all night?" She joked. Yu Jielan looked like she was seriously considering it.

Shu Haolin pressed her lips together and glanced back at her little brother, who was sound asleep. She then scanned their surroundings. When she was satisfied at their privacy, she took a big step forward, and with the delicacy of a dragonfly skimming over the surface of water, she landed a light kiss on Yu Jielan's lips. Following that, she quickly closed the door in Yu Jielan's stunned face.

Shu Haolin dived into bed without even taking off her outer robes and buried her face in her pillow, but even that couldn't cool down the heat that was rapidly rising to her cheeks.

Outside the door, Yu Jielan stood there dumbly for a few moments before she heard the echo of a pair of magpies calling out lowly, as if tired and turning in for the night. It was only then when she turned around quietly and walked all the way back to her residence in a daze. After only a short moment, she felt like she had been turned over on her head, and she sat awake all night, sitting by the window and staring at the moon.

A/N: Hehe first kiss