He stumbled back a step, his hand reaching out to steady himself against a nearby fence. "How can this be? Wang Mulan... she died. She died twenty years ago... in my arms."
The pain of that memory, the coldness of her skin, and the way the light had left her eyes...surged back with force.
He looked at Lan Yue again, his vision swimming. "Child... tell me. How old are you?"
Lan Yue felt the weight of his gaze and the heavy atmosphere. She replied nervously, her voice shaking, "I am eighteen years old, Tribe Leader."
Eighteen. The number echoed in Su Mingxuan’s mind like a death knell. If she was eighteen, the timeline didn’t make sense with the death he witnessed, yet the resemblance was too perfect to be a coincidence.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his chest, centered right over his heart.
The sunlight felt too bright. The ground beneath his feet felt like it was turning into water. Darkness began to cloud the edges of his vision, and his breath became shallow and ragged.
He tried to maintain his dignity; he was the leader of the Fox Tribe, a warrior who had faced beasts and wars, but his body was betraying him. He swayed on his feet, his knees buckling.
"Tribe Leader!" Lin Muyu cried out in alarm, reaching for him, but she was too nervous.
Just as he was about to collapse into the mud, a pair of familiar, cool hands grabbed his arms. They were firm and steady, pulling him back from the edge of the darkness.
"Father! Father, stay with me!"
The voice was like a bucket of cold water. Su Mingxuan blinked, his focus returning just enough to see Su Qinglan standing there.
She had rushed towards him the moment she saw her father was in distress, her face filled with worry. She held him tightly, her strength surprising for someone who had just given birth.
Su Mingxuan looked at his daughter, then back at Lan Yue, his heart still thumping painfully against his ribs.
The secrets of the past were no longer buried; they were standing right in front of him in the form of a dark-haired girl with his old love’s eyes.
Su Qinglan had just finished checking on the lioness mate of that silly lion, Shen Lu.
The female was stable, and Su Qinglan was heading back toward her treehouse to rest and check on her own cubs.
However, as she rounded the corner of the tribe path, she was surprised to see a small crowd. Her father, Su Mingxuan, was standing with Lin Muyu and Lan Yue.
Just as she raised her hand to greet them, her heart nearly stopped.
In front of her very eyes, her strong, dignified father began to sway. His face was ghostly pale, and he looked like he was about to collapse into the dirt at any moment.
"Father!" Su Qinglan screamed.
She moved faster than she ever had before, her maternal instincts shifting into a daughter’s desperation.
Behind her, Hu Yan was also stunned. He dropped the supplies he was carrying and sprinted toward the Tribe Leader to stabilize him, but he was still a step behind Su Qinglan.
Su Qinglan reached her father just as his knees buckled. She caught him, her small frame straining under his weight as she slowly stabilized him.
"Father! Can you hear me? Father?"
There was no reply. Su Mingxuan’s eyes were glassy, and his breath was coming in ragged gasps.
Panicked, Su Qinglan didn’t hesitate. She closed her eyes and immediately channeled her healing power directly into his body.
As her healing energy flowed through his veins, she was shocked by what she felt. Her father’s blood pressure was dangerously high, racing through his body like a wild river.
But more concerning was the strange flow of energy she detected; his body was reacting to an intense, sudden emotional pain so sharp it had physically affected his heart.
Where did this pain come from? She wondered, her brow furrowed in concentration. He was perfectly fine this morning.
She continued to pour her healing power into him, stabilizing his heart rate and calming the frantic rush of his blood. After what felt like an eternity, Su Mingxuan let out a long, shaky sigh. The color slowly returned to his cheeks, and his eyes cleared.
He didn’t look at the crowd. Instead, he reached out and gripped Su Qinglan’s hands with surprising strength.
His voice was raspy and filled with a weight she had never heard before. "Qinglan... let’s go to my house. Okay."
He then turned his head slowly, his gaze landing on the trembling Lan Yue, who was standing nearby with tears in her eyes.
"Child... can you follow us too? I... I might have information about your mother."
Lan Yue nodded vigorously, her eyes shimmering as she stepped forward. She was more than ready to follow him; this man clearly held the key to her mother’s whereabouts. Maybe she could soon meet her mother.
Lin Muyu, realizing that this was a private family matter and that she was no longer needed, stepped back.
"I... I’ll leave, Tribe Leader. Bai Ling called for me earlier; I should go see what she wants." She gave Su Qinglan a supportive look before heading off toward the other side of the village.
Hu Yan stepped in to help Su Mingxuan to his feet. He slung the older man’s arm over his shoulder, providing the physical support he needed to walk back to the Tribe Leader’s large house.
As they walked, Lan Yue walked close to Su Qinglan, her fingers timidly clutching the edge of Su Qinglan’s sleeve. "Su Qinglan... do you also know about my mother?" she asked in a small, nervous voice. "Did he mention her to you before?"
Su Qinglan shook her head gently. "No, Lan Yue. I’ve never heard her name, and my father never spoke of her. I don’t know anything."
As they reached the door of the treehouse, Su Qinglan looked at her father’s slumped shoulders. It was clear to her now; whatever had happened twenty years ago, Lan Yue’s mother and her father has definitely some involvement.