In addition to its perilous terrain, the instructors hadn’t set any other difficulties on Luqing Mountain.
If the weather had been kind and they hadn’t encountered last night’s torrential rain, some people might have already successfully reached the endpoint of this selection by now.
The latter half of the journey was just walking, climbing, persisting...
"Doesn’t your foot hurt anymore?"
Song Lili noticed that Lin Xinglan wasn’t walking as painfully as before.
"Yeah, after resting for the night, it feels a lot better."
Lin Xinglan was very happy, thinking to himself that Xiaonian really had skills. He didn’t know where he got the medicine and medicinal wine from, but the swelling on the ankle had quickly subsided, and the pain was nearly negligible.
"Xiao Hua... you seem to be in a really good mood! You’re not as tense and serious as you were a couple of days ago."
"Actually, if you take a closer look at this mountain with its remarkable peaks and stones... it truly is a beautiful landscape. With nice weather, a wide view, and plenty of time, of course my mood is good."
Song Lili admitted honestly.
Seeing Song Lili in such good spirits, Lin Xinglan couldn’t help but move closer to her.
"Then... do you know the origin of the name Luqing Mountain?"
"I’ve heard a little bit about it..."
"I’ve been in Xilin for a while now, and the story of Luqing Mountain has been around for a long time. When talking with the locals, it’s inevitable to mention it, so it’s not surprising that I’ve heard about it, right?"
Lin Xinglan pouted, a look of disappointment on his face.
Song Lili chuckled softly.
"However, everyone’s version is different. Let’s hear your version."
Lin Xinglan’s eyes lit up immediately, and like a storyteller, he became animated and vivid in his narration.
Love lost, love fallen...
Just like its name, the story was also desolately bleak, permeated with a tragically sad essence.
A young couple in love in the village, opposed by their parents in marriage, eloped to Luqing Mountain and vowed to be together regardless of life or death. Little did they know the mountain’s rocks were treacherous, and the girl accidentally fell off a cliff. After two days of searching, the boy, overwhelmed by hunger and cold, could no longer endure and returned to the village alone.
To his surprise, a year later, the girl who had fallen off the cliff came back to the village, only to find that her former lover had found someone new.
Faced with the girl’s interrogations, the boy could not give an answer, merely saying that fate comes and goes, what was then is not now...
Unable to accept this, the girl persisted doggedly but was beaten by thugs hired by the boy’s parents. In the end, she climbed Luqing Mountain alone and jumped from the very spot where she had fallen, thus becoming "love lost."
Listening to Lin Xinglan’s version of the story, which was not much different from what others had told, only...
Lin Xinglan was crying his eyes out!
"What’s wrong with you?"
"I’m sad... I really want to hack that Chen Shimei to death! Sob sob... Xiao Hua... how come you’re not sad at all? You’re a girl, how can you be so heartless... sob sob..."
Not only was Song Lili not sad, but she also couldn’t help but laugh at Lin Xinglan’s comical behavior.
"You, you, you’re laughing... are you really that cold-hearted?"
"This story is obviously fabricated by later generations based on the name ’Luqing’; they’re fooling young people like you."
"Whether the story is true or false isn’t important; even if it’s made up, the emotions in the story are real! Besides, throughout history, there have been countless poor village women trapped by love. The story criticizes all the Chen Shimei of the world who betray love, and it pities all the girls who lost their lives because of love!"
"Pity? Pity... taking one’s own life for love is the most foolish thing in the world, isn’t it?"