Chapter 158: 158 Epilogue (4)

◎Luo Wanwan X Yan Jinglou◎

Luo Wanwan found a young boy when she was ten years old.

The boy had collapsed in the filth, covered in dirt. Out of pity, she secretly brought him back to the courtyard house they were temporarily using, without telling her family or brothers.

Luo Wanwan and her maid Xiaoman were both young, unmarried girls, and were too shy to personally clean a male outsider. So, Luo Wanwan paid Xiaoman to find an old woman to clean him, and then called a doctor to treat him.

The boy wasn’t much older, perhaps thirteen or fourteen. Luo Wanwan secretly went to see him. The young boy lying on the brocade mattress had a handsome face; just one glance made the young Luo Wanwan shy away from looking further.

She had to hurry home before sunset to avoid worrying her family, so she left Xiaoman there to take care of him.

That night, Luo Wanwan felt restless. The next morning, as soon as it was light, she secretly went to the detached villa.

The boy was already awake. He sat on the bed, glaring at her, silent and fierce like a wild beast.

“This person is really not good. I think, young lady, you shouldn’t bother with him anymore.” Xiaoman showed Wanwan her scalded hand. A bowl had fallen by the bed, hot porridge spilled everywhere.

Luo Wanwan told Xiaoman to bandage her hand and stayed in the room herself.

She was frail and had been sickly since birth, always wrapped in thick padded jackets even in spring. The jade-green jacket with its plush collar framed a small, pale face, still retaining a childlike innocence in her features, her peach-blossom eyes veiled with natural clarity.

The boy glanced at her, then got off the bed barefoot, intending to leave.

Luo Wanwan called out, “The doctor said your leg bone is broken. You need to rest well, or you’ll end up limping.”

The boy’s back stiffened, but he said nothing, limping unsteadily towards the exit. As he was about to step over the threshold, he lost his balance and nearly fell. He clutched the doorframe, gritting his teeth in pain, his slender back trembling slightly from the intense agony.

Luo Wanwan rushed over to help, but the boy didn’t appreciate it, dodged her hand, and stubbornly stepped over. However, his injury was too severe; it wouldn’t yield to his stubbornness. The tearing pain made him tumble down the steps, landing awkwardly on the ground.

Luo Wanwan found it amusing, laughing out loud. “What did I tell you? You’re really stubborn.”

She was kind-hearted, but not entirely so. When she encountered someone so ill-behaved, she still enjoyed watching the spectacle.

The boy was mocked, his heart filled with anger. He tried to get up again, but after many attempts, he couldn’t stand. Luo Wanwan stood above, watching him fall repeatedly. Her smile gradually faded. She ordered her personal guards to carry him and, disregarding his struggles, threw him back onto the bed.

After all this commotion, the boy’s face was ashen. He still wouldn’t give up and wanted to leave. Luo Wanwan grew annoyed. “You’re half-dead now. If you leave here, you’re just looking for death. If you want to find a place for yourself, I don’t mind, I can even have Brother Hu take you there; but if you want to live, then lie down properly. Once you’re well, you can do whatever you want.”

Hearing this, the boy’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and he stopped moving.

Luo Wanwan was very happy to see this and had Xiaoman prepare food for him.

The boy was indeed starving. He had never eaten a full meal since he was born, barely surviving on others’ leftovers. But he had a sense of pride and didn’t want to show his desperate hunger in front of the girl, so he stubbornly resisted eating.

Luo Wanwan found his self-esteem very strange. She placed the food aside. “Eat if you want. I’m going back now. That old woman outside was hired to take care of you. Call her if you need anything.”

After speaking, she left the room.

The moment the door closed, the boy picked up the bowl and gulped down the food.

For the next half month, the boy maintained this aloof attitude. Luo Wanwan came every day, but he always wore a cold expression, saying nothing, and only began to eat and drink after she left.

Xiaoman disliked such a person and complained countless times that her young mistress had saved an ungrateful wretch.

Wanwan smiled and didn’t take it to heart.

The boy wore ragged clothes that didn’t fit, probably taken from someone else; his body was covered in chilblains, likely having endured an entire winter like that. Although he hadn’t said a word, his appearance didn’t suggest he was from Xiaozhong Mountain, probably a wanderer from somewhere else. Besides, he had wounds and burns, surely having encountered many malicious people on his journey. Now that someone was inexplicably kind to him, he was naturally wary.

Luo Wanwan felt even more pity for him and asked Xiaoman to send over more food and clothes.

But these things were never used. The old woman said the boy had run away and taken her money purse.

“See? What did I tell you? An ungrateful wretch!”

Listening to Xiaoman’s indignation, Luo Wanwan sighed, reimbursed the old woman, and didn’t think about it anymore.

At the end of the month.

Luo Wanwan accompanied the Luo family matriarch to the temple to offer incense.

She had always been in poor health, and her mother and grandmother, out of concern for her, made praying to gods and Buddhas an almost annual ritual. Wanwan knew these were futile efforts, but she didn’t want to disappoint her family, so she always went along.

Her mother dressed her in a simple white dress, with no adornments in her hair. Even without deliberate dressing up, the little girl was as pure and radiant as a blooming snow lotus.

By the time they left the temple, the sun had already set.

During this period, mountain bandits were rampant, and they had few escorts. Her mother, fearing an unforeseen event, quickly ordered everyone to hurry. Unexpectedly, what they feared most came true: as soon as the sedan chair descended the mountain, it was surrounded by a band of mountain bandits.

This frightened the old lady and Lady Luo terribly. They didn’t care about their own lives, only fearing that Luo Wanwan would be implicated.

Lady Luo held Wanwan tightly, not letting go, her face pale with fright, her body cold.

Trapped in the cramped sedan chair, held tightly in her mother’s arms, Wanwan didn’t even dare to lift her eyes. She only heard the continuous sounds of fighting outside. After an unknown period, all sounds suddenly ceased, followed by bursts of frightened cries, and then quietness returned.

After a long silence, the old lady lifted the sedan curtain, still shaken. “What happened?”

The sedan bearers outside looked terrified, stammering, “It seems to be... an immortal.”

An immortal?

Luo Wanwan looked up.

Xiaoman’s eyes showed disappointment. “He just sent out a few flames and scared everyone away.”

An immortal...

This was truly rare.

But regardless, the matriarch and all the servants and attendants were safe.

The sedan chair set off again. Wanwan poked her head out and, amidst a dense canopy of trees, saw a familiar, fleeting shadow.

**

Today’s incident had a considerable impact on the Luo family.

General Luo and Wanwan’s brother, Luo Suizhi, were both extremely angry and frightened. The father and son comforted her thoroughly. The general, fearing his beloved daughter was startled, ordered batches of pearls, jade, treasures, and silk brocade to be sent to soothe her. Finally, he closed the doors and discussed the matter of bandit suppression with Luo Suizhi.

The items sent by her father and brother almost filled the entire house. Among them, the exquisite jade shone brilliantly, making the room glow. Xiaoman dared not touch them, only watched with envy. “Master and Young Master are so kind to the young lady.”

“If you like them, pick a few,” Wanwan said, noticing her admiration.

Xiaoman smiled and shook her head, a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Wanwan didn’t notice anything unusual.

She kept thinking about the shadow from earlier today, unable to sleep soundly. When night deepened, she put on a cloak and, as if guided by an impulse, walked out.

The spring night was cold, and thick clouds obscured the moon.

She stood in the courtyard for a while and felt a chill to her bones. Just as she was about to go back, she suddenly saw a shadow sitting on the eaves of the wall. Wanwan was startled at first, but upon closer inspection, she saw that the boy’s eyes were dark and bright like obsidian, dressed in a dark cloud-patterned shirt, long-limbed, with a relaxed posture.

Luo Wanwan recognized the clothes.

—She had bought them.

He also lowered his head to look at her again.

They looked at each other in silence. After a moment, the boy leaped away.

Luo Wanwan snapped awake, running to chase him.

She couldn’t run fast, and her body wasn’t made for running. After just two steps, she was gasping for breath, unsteady on her feet.

Luo Wanwan leaned against the wall, feeling disheartened, when her peripheral vision caught a shadow falling at her feet.

She turned her head to see the boy standing a few steps behind her.

She smiled at him.

The boy was startled for a moment, then turned his head away. “Why did you follow me out?”

Luo Wanwan walked over. “Was it you who saved me today?”

He didn’t answer.

But Luo Wanwan knew it was him. “They called you an immortal, said you scared them away with fire. Are you really an immortal?”

Luo Wanwan was very interested in immortals. She chattered incessantly about it, her eyes sparkling.

The boy was getting a little annoyed by the questions.

The next moment, she asked again, “Then what’s your name? Tian Guizi? Jue Mingzi?”

What nonsense...

He frowned impatiently. “Who told you I’m called those names?”

“That’s what immortals are called. When I went to the temple today, their Taoist names were like that too.”

Luo Wanwan was very confident, her face full of innocence.

“...” He was silent for a few breaths. “Yan Jinglou.”

Yan Jinglou...

Luo Wanwan murmured softly, “Which characters?”

“The ‘disgusted’ character in ‘disgusted,’ the ‘surprised’ character in ‘surprised,’ and the ‘tower’ character in ‘tower.’“

He hadn’t been to school. This explanation made Luo Wanwan chuckle.

Yan Jinglou thought she was mocking him. Shame and anger mixed, and he turned away with a cold face.

Luo Wanwan hurriedly chased after him and grabbed his hand.

Her hand was small and soft. Yan Jinglou was immediately startled, afraid that the chilblains and calluses on his palm would hurt her, or make her disgusted. He immediately wanted to pull away. But Wanwan held on tight, looking up, her eyes only seeing him.

Yan Jinglou suddenly stopped moving.

“Then I’ll call you A’Yan from now on. ‘Yan’ also means ‘satisfaction.’ Your name sounds really nice.”

Nice?

This was a name bestowed by his father, who didn’t want him to bear his surname, a name filled with malice, yet she said it sounded nice. If it were before, Yan Jinglou would have definitely thought the other person was playing a trick to mock him, but the little girl’s eyes were so clear that he couldn’t feel any darkness.

“After you left that day, I looked for you for a long time. The old woman who took care of you said you stole her money purse.”

Yan Jinglou frowned. Before he could retort, he saw her eyes curving into a smile again. “But you saved me today, and you even came to see me in the middle of the night. I know you’re definitely not that kind of person.”

Yan Jinglou’s heart stirred.

He had suffered countless misunderstandings, yet when someone truly stood firmly by his side, he felt an inexplicable bitterness in his heart and a lump in his throat.

Yan Jinglou took a deep breath, turning his head away so she wouldn’t see his reddened eyes. “I didn’t take the money purse. I only wore these clothes.”

“I know.” Luo Wanwan couldn’t be wrong about people. She was quite proud of this.

She cleared her throat and extended her hand to him in a friendly gesture. “Oh, by the way, my name is Luo Wanzhi, but my family all like to call me Wanwan. You can call me that too.”

Yan Jinglou glanced at her from the corner of his eye, gently held her palm in return, then quickly withdrew.

This gesture, in Wanwan’s eyes, was true acceptance. She approached him again and asked that question, “So are you really an immortal?”

“No.”

“Then can you make fire?”

“No.”

Seeing her disappointment, Yan Jinglou’s lips moved. After a long moment, he conceded, lowering his gaze and saying, “Hold out your hand.”

Luo Wanwan held out her hand.

“Both hands.”

She obediently held out both hands.

Yan Jinglou’s fingertip touched her snow-white palm, and a little bright light spread, gradually transforming into a chubby fire rabbit.

The orange-red fire rabbit hopped and bounced in her palm, its tail swaying with a bright flame.

Finally, the rabbit soared into the air, running and leaping around the two of them, leaving a dazzling trail of fire wherever it went.

Luo Wanwan had never seen anything so interesting. The warm fire enveloped her, and she also hopped and bounced, her face beaming with joy.

Yan Jinglou looked at her face.

Actually, he only knew this one trick, but he never expected... she truly only liked this one trick of his.