-07-

The atmosphere on XIAO city streets was very busy and noisy. Zhilyn, LingYing and Xiwei got down from their horses and tied to one of the poles so that their horses would not get loose. .Men, women and children all had fun celebrating the day of the food festival.Zhilyn glanced at her two followers.She raised both her eyebrows up and down.LingYing and Xiwei laughed at the behavior of their princess

"Come on. Let's go to every stall. Let's find a taste food."Zhilyn jumped a little as she walked down the street. Xiwei and LingYing followed their princess from behind. Zhilyn turned around when she realized her two followers were not visible.

"Hey, come on. Hurry up." Zhilyn's direction as she waved her hand to tell them to move fast. Zhilyn continued walking while turning left and right of each stall.

"Let's go there." Zhilyn asked while pointing at one of the food stalls with her index finger. Ling Ying and Xiwei quickly approached their princess who was already walking towards the stall she pointed out. Zhilyn's eyes widened and shone at the white dumplings with the scent of appetizing. The dumpling seller (Xiao Long Bao) just smiled at Zhilyn's behavior as if she hadn't eaten for a week.

"Give me a basket of beef dumplings." Zhilyn said enthusiastically. The seller nodded and immediately put the dumplings in clean brown waterproof paper and handed them to Zhilyn. Zhilyn quickly welcomed the paper. Zhilyn looked at her two followers with a teasing look and a smirk etched on she face.

"Let's taste these dumplings together." SHe said to her two followers. LingYing and Xiwei who were firsted hesitant to ask quickly reached for the available wooden chopsticks that've prepared by the seller and started to eat the dumplings.

"Hmm ... this dumpling is delicious. Woah !! This dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) are the best! Hmm !!" Zhilyn praised while giving a (good) thumb mark to the dumpling seller. The seller just chuckled.

"hmm ... how should I explain, this dumpling melts in the mouth because of the softness of this dumpling and the dumpling soup is very tasty and fragrant." Praise Zhilyn while feeding the dumplings to her mouth. After finishing and paying, Zhilyn, LingYing and Xiwei goes to the next stall. LingYing's eyes widened when she saw a stall selling delicious pancakes. Zhilyn who realized LingYing's action followed the direction of LingYing's eyes and her eyes immediately shone and drooled.

"Let's go there." Zhilyn pulled LingYing and Xiwei's hands. Zhilyn jumped a little while waiting for other buyers who bought pancakes as well. Her eyes darted here and there to see the stall that should be their next destination.

"Young Miss." LingYing called while handing the pancake to Zhilyn. Zhilyn happily took the pancake and ate it. Yes, on the way from her residence to the city street, Zhilyn asked LingYing and Xiwei not to call her Princess instead of young miss. Zhilyn nodded her head in sign satisfied while chewing the green onion pancakes deliciously.The three of them continued looking for the food they wanted to eat by glancing from each stall to the other. They passed five stalls after the stall sold the pancakes and stopped at one of the stalls across the street which was not busy but still had shoppers. The three of them walked towards the stall. Zhilyn's eyes widened to see so many types of sweets from jelly to cotton of various colors. Zhilyn glanced at LingYing and Xiwei. LingYing who understood the meaning of lyrical their princess whispered

"Princess, LinYing thought princess chose the orange and blue jelly candy. For the cotton candy LingYing think the thick cotton candy." Zhilyn nodded and asked the seller of the candy to pack as LingYing suggested to her. Zhilyn paid the seller and left.

While eating they walked around again while looking left and right. In the middle of the road, LingYing said

"Young Miss, LingYing wants to go buy sweet and spicy chicken near the previous stall to take back." They stopped in the crowd. Zhilyn nodded.

"Go buy it. Don't forget the sweet and sour duck meat." LingYing nodded.

"Xiwei go with LingYing. Do you have any money?" Zhilyn glanced at Xiwei. Xiwei nodded.

"But young Miss ..." Zhilyn who understood Xiwei's words shook her head and patted her follower on the shoulder.

"It's okay, I won't go astray. I brought you two here not to protect of me all the time but so that you don't get bored. Aren't you bored?" Zhilyn asked with a teasing smile. Xiwei just scratched his head which was not itchy. Zhilyn chuckled at the behavior of her bodyguard.He patted Xiwei's shoulder and gently pushed his back.

"Go get rid of your boredom. Don't forget if you come across a beautiful girl trying to seduce it." Zhilyn whispered in a teasing tone. Xiwei was just silent with an innocent face. Zhilyn waved her right hand and passed leaving Xiwei behind. Xiwei just turned and walked in the crowd somewhere only he knows. Zhilyn slipped her pack of sweets on her robe belt as she glanced left and right. She continued walking until she reached the end of the road without a single stall only a small dilapidated hut that seemed to have been uninhabited for years.

In front of it now is only a thick forest which is very famous for its cruelty. This forest is called 'Monster Demon Forest'. Before this forest are a thick but still the villagers always came in and out to find forest fruits and firewood for sale but one day a middle-aged carpenter went into the forest to cut firewood for sale but until sunset the carpenter still had not returned .The carpenter's wife at home began to feel anxious because her husband had not come home since morning from the forest. The wife waited for the carpenter until around seven o'clock but the shadow of the husband was still not visible. The wife quickly went to see the rich family to ask for help to find her husband that. That rich man who heard the story of the carpenter quickly asked his guard to hit the gong to call the villagers to help the carpenter's wife find her husband in the forest.About twenty male villagers helped to find the carpenter in the forest. Sunlight began to appear, and the villagers who assisted in the search had just come out of the forest by bringing the unconscious carpenter to the rich man's mansion. The carpenter's wife and other villagers were already waiting and were shocked to see the carpenter's condition unconscious and full of small wounds. The wife felled looked at her husband as he sobbed. She hugged her husband while saying

"Baobei (Husband), How can you became like this ... sobs sobs .." The wife's shoulder was lifted up and down because she was crying.

The rich man's family and the villagers also sympathized with the carpenter's wife. The husband and wife lived in a small hut without having children even though they had been married for a long time. Some womans shed tears seeing the carpenter's wife who was very pitied. The wife asking for helped to send her unconscious husband to their house.The villagers helped the wife with lift her unconscious husband back home.The wife bowed respectfully and thanked the rich man before going with the male villagers who helped her lift her husband back home. After two days of the incident that happened to the carpenter, the carpenter realized. The wife was very happy as she hugged her husband tightly. The villagers and the rich man's family who heard the news went to visit the carpenter, each carrying various kinds of handicrafts. such as fruits, vegetables, rice and more to give to the carpenter's family. The husband and wife were happy to welcome the villagers. The rich man asked the carpenter when he came to visit.

"While the villagers were looking for you in the forest, they found you behind the bushes in a state of unconsciousness and full of wounds." Said the rich man starting a conversation. The carpenter bowed and began to feel afraid. He bowed for a moment and staring at the rich man sitting in a wooden chair.the villagers who came listened to their conversation without saying a word.

"Did something happen or did you see something bad?" The rich man asked. At that moment, the carpenter's body began to tremble. The rich man realized that the carpenter was holding the carpenter's shoulder and patting him.

"You don't have to be afraid, I'm just asking." The rich man said in a flat tone. The carpenter who heard the rich man's words began to stop trembling. He looked at the rich man's face as he swallowed and said in a trembling voice,

"Rich Master, That morning like normal days I went into the forest looking for wood to sell in the market." The carpenter began his story.

"I followed my daily routine of cutting small sticks and tying them and looking for other sticks. I kept walking into the woods and when I realized I was already deep in the forest . "The carpenter stopped for a moment with a face full of fear. The rich man just silently listened to the story.

"When I started to realize that I was far away in the forest, I ... felt a strong but cold and creepy wind blowing behind me quickly. At first I thought it was just a normal wind in the forest. But ..." The craftsman Wood swallowed again and continued the story in a slightly trembling voice.

"But..after the strong wind blew, I started to hear a loud sound as if something very heavy fell to the ground."

The carpenter took a deep breath.

"I looked back but nothing fell. I also turned left and right but nothing fell. So I thought that it was just the sound of a strong wind blowing about the tall trees and I resumed my work."

"About three or four minutes later, the sound was heard again but a bit louder and even closer than before. I started thinking ...."

#Flashback