005: Devil's Bait

The evening after the heavy rain was very comfortable—moist and cool air, mixed with the smell of fresh grass, gently caressed her face. Wen Changling, after finishing work at the hospital, had dinner at a nearby restaurant and walked along the Yanglong River from a dusky, tangerine twilight into a night aglitter with neon.

The night view of the imperial capital was beautiful, albeit a bit noisy. Upstream of the river bustled with activity, so Wen Changling walked towards the less crowded areas, when the wind swept her fisherman's hat into the river. Her thoughts drifted along with the wind and the hat, bobbing up and down in the water.

The bright yellow hat, fallen amidst the speckled starlight in the water, looked like a blooming flower.

Wen Changling didn't think too much and walked towards the deeper water.

"Hey."

Someone called out from behind her—it must have been directed at her since there was no one else nearby.

She stopped and turned around, seeing Mr. Xie Shang.

True to his nature, he wasn't the type to follow orders and hadn't stayed in the hospital for observation. He had changed out of his blood-stained clothes and was now wearing a white long-sleeve shirt with no design, quite thin, seemingly unaffected by the cold.

"How old are you?"

He suddenly asked from a distance.

Caught off guard, Wen Changling honestly replied, "25."

"Ever been skiing?"

She shook her head.

"What about diving?"

She shook her head again.

Xie Shang took a couple of steps forward. His facial features were unclear from a distance, but his platinum blonde hair was very noticeable and commanded attention.

He seemed to be making idle conversation, "Udarami is rich in a type of agarwood called Chinese honeycomb. It's shaped like a beehive, and its scent is subtle, somewhat like gardenia, but if you smell it for too long, it can induce hallucinations, making you see everything you wish to see. Hence, it has another name, 'Daydream Fragrance.'

If his voice could take a physical form, it would be seawater—salty, making one thirstier the more they drank.

He asked Wen Changling, "Fascinating, isn't it?"

Wen Changling nodded, "Fascinating."

She had never heard of such a mystical fragrance and wanted to light a piece to see for herself the grand spectacles she daydreamed about.

"Two of the ten uninhabited areas of the Western continent belong to Lileitu, the Kubudian Desert and Mingmang Snow Mountain, and the national flower of Lileitu, the Beauty Sunflower, grows right at the intersection of the desert and the snow mountain. The view there is breathtaking, with the yellow sand desert and white snow mountains covered in Beauty Sunflowers. The sunflowers come in many colors and can be used to dye hair."

He was describing a world Wen Changling had never seen, filled with adventure and wonders.

Wen Changling wasn't usually curious, but Xie Shang's voice must have been magical—his words drew her along, "Is that where you dyed your hair?"

He laughed, "No."

The bandage on his forehead didn't detract from his nearly divine looks at all but instead added a mysterious, restless rebel vibe, like a fallen god.

"Want to go there and dye your hair?"

Wen Changling was enticed, "I do."

She wanted to see the Beauty Sunflowers too—her eyes sparkled more brightly than before.

Xie Shang appeared without warning and just as abruptly turned to leave. After a few steps, he looked back.

"Isn't the water cold?"

The hat had been carried far away by the river's current—she decided not to retrieve it.

Following Xie Shang ashore, her shoes and pants' legs were wet. The breeze made her feel chilly, snapping her somewhat groggy mind into clarity.

Oh, she realized—Xie Shang seemed to think she was trying to commit suicide by jumping into the river.

"Xie Shang."

He turned, "Hmm?"

For some reason, as she looked at him, she choked up. Jiahui had said that Xie Shang had a pair of eyes that could make even a dog feel loved.

Jiahui was right.

Xie Shang waited for a moment but, receiving no follow-up, he walked away first.

Wen Changling stood in the cold wind for a short while before he also turned his head, with one going left and the other right, they each went their own way as if they had never met.

The little white flower embroidered on the hat drifted aimlessly over the boundless expanse of the river.

Xie Shang's car was parked on the bridge with a song playing inside; the melody was very calming, but he was lost in thought while listening.

"Aren't you supposed to be able to cast spells? Why are you so miserable?" he wondered, thinking perhaps it would be better to just forget about it.

****

What Xie Shang hadn't expected was for Wen Changling to bump into him again. A week after the encounter by the riverbank, at the foot of the snow mountains in a foreign country, she couldn't control her skis, clumsily and foolishly barreling towards him.

Xie Shang didn't reach out to catch her, and they both fell onto the snowy ground together.

"Xie Shang?"

She seemed to find it unbelievable that, in a country full of blond-haired and blue-eyed people, she had just randomly run into a fellow countryman.

Xie Shang brushed the snow off his hat, "What a coincidence."

Her mood appeared to be good, her eyes livelier than usual, "You said the scenery here is beautiful, so I came to take a look."

Although she didn't really try to commit suicide by jumping into the river, her weariness and numbness were real. She was a tired and world-weary person, not much of a traveler. This was the first time she had decided on a whim to see whether the Beauty Sunflower that grew between the yellow desert and the white snow mountain was truly as beautiful as Xie Shang had described.

"By the way, I dyed my hair," she freed her hair which had been tightly pressed under the hat.

She had dyed it a rather respectable ash blonde.

Xie Shang looked at her, silent.

She felt a bit in disarray under his gaze, the whistling of the wind by her ears not letting her mind clear.

"Have you learned to ski yet?"

"Not yet."

Xie Shang stood up, "I'll teach you."

It's not my fault, it was you who ran into me.

He was quite good at skiing, standing at the highest point and calling out Wen Changling's name, "Wen Changling."

She walked towards him clumsily, like a little duckling.

Xie Shang took hold of her wrist, through the thick gloves, "Spread your hands, look into the distance."

She obediently spread her hands, not afraid at all because Xie Shang had said he wouldn't let her fall. With him leading, they fell together. The sensation of free-falling from a great height at high speed was truly addictive, making one involuntarily grasp tightly at anything they could touch.

So, she held tightly onto Xie Shang's hand.

Xie Shang was a very good teacher; she really didn't fall.

Their camp for the night was set up in the Kubudian Desert. Though this place was dubbed an uninhabited area by the Western continent, it was not really "uninhabited." The local government vigorously promoted adventure tourism, and many self-driving tourists would stop in the desert, where the sparse lamplights looked like stars buried in the sands.

Above them was the boundless vastness of the stars.

Xie Shang and Wen Changling sat outside their respective tents, separated by a distance of three or four people. The light projected their silhouettes onto the white nylon fabric of the tents.

"When will you return to the country?"

"I've taken an annual leave for a week, there are five days left."

Xie Shang leaned back, supporting himself with his arms, the silhouette of his profile on the tent looked like a finely sculpted painting. It was hard to define him; he had the elegant aura of an ink painting as well as the bold and bright beauty of an oil painting.

He looked up at the stars, "Want to hang out together?"

Like the lure of a Devil.

Wen Changling hardly thought about it, "Yes."

So, Xie Shang was about to begin his mischief.