Lan Jing Forest (5)

It started out just like any other day without anything out of the ordinary. Jiajia, as Meimei, was walking beside Xu Ming through the wooden structures of the Tan household. He even went as far as giving her a little tour to Tan Academy.

It's heavy.

Kou felt as if there was an anchor attached to his heart. It was so heavy that it was suffocating.

Jiajia's emotions weigh too much.

What was the point in continuing this if you're going to suffer? Why can't you stop?

Even with the heaviness of in the heart, Kou felt his arms swing around fluidly as Jiajia playfully pushed Xu Ming by the shoulder. He felt the muscles in his cheek lifting as Jiajia laughed at Xu Ming's jokes. He felt light whenever Jiajia bounced on her steps to show excitement.

Jiajia visited some of the houses. Xu Ming showed her some of Tan Academy's classrooms. They watched students practicing swordplay in the training grounds. Jiajia even gained knowledge about magic.

It's just kids being stupidly in love. Why did a girl like you have to enjoy your youth with such heavy feelings?

They spent all day together until the sun was going down. Both of them stood on a balcony of one of the treehouses, watching the sunset. Jiajia could see the bustle of Tan Clan through the trees.

How peaceful it seemed.

Xu Ming had been watching her for a while. Jiajia dared not to look even though she noticed.

He asked, "Do you like it here?"

Jiajia nodded.

"Like it? Gege, I love it here! Everyone is so kind, and the forest is beautiful, and the houses are so cozy, and magic is amazing!"

This was the first time Xu Ming took her to Tan residence. Not even Meimei had been here. The place was quite a distance away from her village, so it took a while to get there.

Jiajia was glad she got to see where Xu Ming lived and learn about magic. At the same time, it was adding another list of her guilt because Meimei was the one who was supposed to be here.

"Gege, the next time you're going to take me here, tell me beforehand!" Jiajia said, leaning on the bamboo railing of the balcony. 

Jiajia promised in her mind. The next time Xu Ming was going to take her here again, she would switch with Meimei.

"Okay," Xu Ming said.

A second later, he asked another question.

"Do you want to live here?"

Jiajia froze.

If she guessed correctly about what Xu Ming was implying, then she wasn't ready. It would be going too far. To this day, Xu Ming never once doubted that Jiajia was not Meimei.

If she had been herself all this time, Jiajia would have said yes without a second thought. But the question was definitely for Meimei.

Should she reveal herself now?

Jiajia couldn't make a decision. She had to talk to Meimei first about this.

Conflicted, Jiajia tried to avoid the question.

"Well, it's a nice place to live…"

"Would you like to stay here from now on?"

"...Huh?"

Jiajia turned to look at him.

His eyes had a desperate look to them and the way his face seemed stiff showed that he was clenching his jaw. 

"Please stay," he said again.

Kou internally cringed.

Whoa there buddy, what's the rush?

Putting aside her guilt, Jiajia thought that his request was awkward and not romantic at all.

Was he nervous? 

Jiajia took a step backwards from the railing.

"As much as I'd love to, I still have to go back to… Jiajia. "

As soon as she ended her sentence, Xu Ming's face paled as white as a ghost.

"Gege, what's wrong?"

And as if he was struck by lightning, Xu Ming staggered and lost his balance.

"Gege!"

Xu Ming didn't fall. He only stumbled as he grabbed the railing. As Jiajia also tried to support him, she noticed that he was gripping the bamboo rail so hard, his veins were popping.

His voice slightly trembled, "Right… your, um… sister…"

"Nevermind that! What happened to you?"

"Meimei, actually… I haven't been feeling well all day."

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

His forehead was sweating, and he was breathing heavily.

Jiajia had been too focused on her own feelings and trying to hide them that she didn't notice. Once she thought carefully, she realized that Xu Ming really had not been himself since morning. He wasn't as energetic and didn't smile as much.

Holding one of his arms, Jiajia helped him walk into a bigger room in the tree house. Xu Ming laid on a straw mat and Jiajia put one of the scattered cushions under his head. Worried about his health, she called one of the servants to find anyone that could check on Xu Ming.

The sky was getting darker, so Jiajia planned to go back after making sure someone came to take care of Xu Ming.

She sat beside him, leaning against the bamboo wall, watching him rest. Other than sweating and turning pale, Xu Ming didn't seem to be in a serious condition. With his eyes closed, he spoke.

"I'm sorry I can't take you back home…"

"That's okay. I can go on my own."

"It's dark out. And your village is quite far."

"That's alright, I've got energy to spare. And despite how I look, I actually went to town at night quite a few times. I promise I'll be fine."

Xu Ming shifted to his side and reached out to grab Jiajia's hand. She immediately felt sparks from such a simple touch.

"Meimei,"

And the sparks were followed by a stabbing pain in her chest hearing that name.

"...I can't let you go out on your own just like that. Especially when it's already so dark. Won't you stay at least for tonight, please? I'm sick, so consider it as my request for you to take care of me."

Jiajia really would have stayed. But she can't just let Meimei wait for her to come back. She must be worried.

Before she could reject him, Xu Ming spoke again.

"Why don't you write a letter to your sister? Let her know what happened. I'll send the letter for you, I know your address."

Jiajia sighed.

Xu Ming stared at her intently. His fingers were holding her hand weakly and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed. His face had their colors returned but he still looked ill.

"Okay," she finally said.

As Jiajia was writing the letter, a servant came along with an elder of the sect to tend to Xu Ming. The elder said that he was fine and was probably just tired.

Before they left the treehouse, Xu Ming asked the servant to take Jiajia to a place to stay at, while he went to the infirmary. The servant led Jiajia out of the forest and into the guest house of Tan residence.

Once everything was settled, the servant left Jiajia alone in her room.

Not long after, Jiajia wrote a small note. Then she quietly left the house and snuck out of the residence.

The note was for Xu Ming.

[Sorry, I still can't leave my sister alone.]

At this point, Kou started thinking.

Xu Ming was obviously not sick.

He may have been less cheerful throughout the day, but he was walking around everywhere just fine until Jiajia refused to stay.

Why did he turn pale suddenly?

With the way he was acting, it was more like he was afraid of something.

It was likely that Jiajia also realized this. She was a clever girl. Considering how desperate Xu Ming was and how he went as far as feigning illness, Jiajia decided to go along with his request first then walked back home in secret.

After walking in the darkness for a while, Jiajia's village could be seen appearing at the end of the path.

There was an eerie stillness as she walked through the entrance, as if there wasn't anyone around. The atmosphere was hauntingly silent with neither bustles of people nor children playing around. 

The streets were empty without a single passerby.

Kou thought, That's weird, it's not that late at night, is it?

Even when it's past the busy hour, it was still too quiet. Other than the wind and crunches of Jiajia's footsteps, there was absolutely no sound.

Not only that, the village seemed too dark.

The houses' windows were pitch black, without even a dim glow of light.

Was it the custom here to sleep in complete darkness? Why weren't there any lit lanterns around?

Kou couldn't help but notice a few children's toys scattered around. There were a few broken wooden carts and tattered clothing laid on the ground, too. The village was messier than what he saw in other scenes.

As Jiajia walked further down the street, she got goosebumps creeping on her skin.

Simultaneously, Kou could smell a faint hint of blood as a cold realization hit him.

No sounds, no lights, and no one around.

It wasn't that everyone was asleep, it was that everyone was not in the village. There were no signs of life.

Jiajia picked up her pace and ran.

By the time she reached her house, she barged through the door, which was already halfway open.

"Meimei!" she shouted.

But there was no response.

Since they lived in a small house, it didn't take long to know that Meimei wasn't there.

And there were no notes nor letters. There was nothing to show where she could have gone.

Jiajia went back to the streets and glanced around frantically.

"Meimei!" she called again.

There was no response.

Jiajia could now clearly see that all the doors on the houses were either opened wide or just halfway. All of them were pitch black inside. All of them were empty.

She ran around the streets to every nook and cranny, only to find the increasingly pungent smell of blood.

But whose blood did it belong to?

She couldn't see properly because of how dark it was, but there were puddles everywhere.

It didn't rain.

They weren't filled with gardening or cleaning water.

The puddles weren't made of water at all.

They were blood.

In every corner, she yelled, "Meimei!"

And there was no response.

"...Meimei? Meimei!"

Jiajia barged into a random house.

"...Meimei?"

There was no response.

She ran to the next house.

"Meimei?"

No response.

Then to the next one.

"Meimei…"

No response.

And another one.

"Meimei."

No response.

And again.

"Mei…mei…"

No response.

Jiajia ran and barged into the doors of every house, calling out her sister's name in each one. None of the houses had any response.

There weren't a lot of houses in her village, so after she managed to enter all of them, Jiajia didn't know where else to go.

Her breath had turned heavy and her throat had become sore.

With trembling legs, she ran to the nearest town.

Along the way, her vision blurred. When she tried to rub her eyes with her hand, she realized that there were tears.

And even with the weariness of her body, Jiajia felt how light she was.

All of the heavy emotions that she had throughout the day were all gone.

Her heart was now empty.

When she reached the town, Jiajia approached whoever was on the street.

"Excuse me, have you seen a girl that looks like me around here? Maybe she passed by earlier."

However, no one was able to answer her as they were confused. Knowing this, Jiajia changed her question.

"Do you know what happened to Xiao Xi village? It's a small village not far from here, the people there were suddenly gone."

Then again, her village wasn't known by a lot of people so no one could answer properly. Most of them were also rushing to go home as it was way past midnight, and some of them were too drunk to even comprehend what she was saying. Jiajia didn't give up asking everyone she had her eyes on.

After some time of asking without getting any answers, Jiajia spotted an old lady sitting by a closed shop, smoking tobacco. As she got closer, Jiajia recognized the lady as the shopkeeper she once visited, and the shop was indeed her mage store.

She called out desperately, "Ma'am!"

The old lady turned upon being called. As she looked at Jiajia, her eyes widened and asked, "Meimei?"

Jiajia was so exhausted that she dropped on her knees once she was close enough. The old lady immediately tried to help her.

Dazed, Jiajia spoke in a hoarse voice.

"...Mei…mei…"

"You… are her sister?" the lady asked.

"Have you… seen Meimei? My… village, Xiao Xi… the people…"

"Xiao Xi? Lord have mercy! Don't tell me you're from Xiao Xi village!"

"What… happened?"

The old lady paused. Her mouth hung slightly open as if she was speechless. She was looking at Jiajia with sympathy. 

Instead of answering, the old lady tried to help Jiajia get up.

"Come stay at my place. You need to drink some water."

With all her remaining strength, Jiajia forced herself to yell, "No, please! Tell me what happened!"

As the girl was tugging on her robes, the old lady couldn't bear to hide the truth.

She explained softly, "The sea mage purge. I heard there were two sea mages from Xiao Xi village that were found guilty by the Peninsula Prohibition Act. Then I heard rumors that they didn't just punish the mages, but the village- Young girl! What are you doing? Come back!"

Jiajia pushed herself back on her feet and dragged her legs to run. She had started crying again, muttering over and over, "...Innocent… But Meimei's innocent… They're all innocent!"

The lady was held back by her old age. She couldn't run after Jiajia even if she wanted to. She could only watch the poor girl run back to her village.

Jiajia wanted to find a mage clan to tell them that her village had nothing to do with magic. She had to tell them that they were innocent.

The closest mage clan she could think of was the Tan Sect. She needed their help to find where her people had been taken to, where Meimei had been taken to.