A life to forget.

Planning.

"Fengmian and I will try and get more information on this place once the person in charge comes back."

"Alright, there's multiple hallways leading to different areas of this place. One of the hallways leads to stairs that take you below where we are now."

The lan spoke, occasionally looking up at the sect leader and his wide to make sure they're both getting this newly heard of information.

"How do you know about this?" Jiang Fengmian asked the Lan girl.

"We all communicate, and I've been around here before.." The lan girl replies.

"How did you get out?" Jiang Fengmian decides to be greedy and try to pry the Lan for more information.

"My friend covered for me.. she ended up being tortured to death for not spilling." The lan girl admitted.

"Your friend was tortured to death?" Jiang Fengmian asked, his eyes filled with sadness as he thought of the terrible plight of the lan girl.

"For not telling?" Fengmian added on.

The lan girl nodded slowly.

Yu Ziyuan glanced at the duo with a stern and cold look on her face. She was not one known to show emotion, even during serious situations, and the lan girl's words did not elicit any sympathetic response from her.

Instead, she was focused more on her own thoughts, mulling over what she had overheard. Her husband, Jiang Fengmian, was always prying for information, but now he was doing it to the lan girl.

It wouldn't take long for Jiang Fengmian to get some results from his efforts, but the truth behind the lan girl's words was a dark one indeed.

Yu Ziyuan finally speaks up, "What's your name?" She narrows her eyes, staring at the Lan girl intimidatingly.

"I.. My name is Bao Li, Madam Yu." The lan girl mumbles.

"Bao Li, call me Ziyuan." Yu Ziyuan holds back a laugh as she sees the faces of the Lan girl and Fengmian.

She sighs before clearing her throat, signaling everyone to get back on track.

Jiang Fengmian was taken aback by the lan girl’s story and was visibly moved by it.

Although at the same time, he was also annoyed that his wife Ziyuan had not reacted to the tragic story at all. The lack of empathy on her part infuriated him. Still, he knew that it was not her nature to be sympathetic and that he shouldn’t expect her to be that way. Instead, he focused on the girl, his eyes filled with sadness for her loss.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said quietly. "What was your friend's name?"

The lan girl seemed startled by the sudden question, but she quickly calmed herself down.

"Her name was Yuan Xi. She took her secret to her grave, and she did not deserve her fate at all." It was obvious that she was still upset by the demise of her friend.

Jiang Fengmian couldn't bear to see the girl in pain and tried to reassure her as best he could.

"But she died on her own terms. She died protecting you and what she believed in." He said, his voice soft and comforting.

End of chapter.

I know this one is like really short even though I said for it to be long, I have a reason.

You know how lan jingyi has no parents? I've decided to make some lore to that, I guess, which will probably be for a different fanfiction, but please be patient guys.