Shujun finished the letter, her voice muted, a hybrid of laughter and tears. Gently, she rubbed the paper, tenderly caressing her own name on it, as her eyes grew redder and redder.
"What does it mean to part amicably, to each find happiness? A year later, oh, a year after... because of Third Brother’s illness, you plan to return after the medicine pouches are all used up. But if Third Brother wasn’t sick, or if you had cured him, would your departure mean you would never come back?"
Zhi Chen came over and comforted her by patting her on the shoulder, but with a hoarse voice, Shujun asked, "Are you all satisfied now?"
Shujun, as if possessed, slammed the letter on the desk with a smack, "I know each of you has your own calculations, how many of you truly care about her? You’re scheming at heart, coveting her miraculous healing abilities because she said she could cure Third Brother, so you all act indifferent. You’re observing, while I’ve lost my heart!"
She turned to her younger brother Yixuan, "Her leaving is on you! The vast expanse of Dayuan territory, ordinary people might spend their lives never walking its entirety, and now, she’s gone! Yixuan, Liang Yixuan, you drove her away!"
"She said you hate her, but what do you have to hate? That past year, even if your leg was broken, what of it? I’ve walked through Hell’s door time and again, hanging by a thread, hovering between life and death. The scars on my body, most of them were caused by her in the past! Compared to what I’ve endured, what are your sufferings? At least you only broke a leg, you were never tortured by her till you had barely half a breath, never like me, enduring the pain, not daring to die, surviving today without knowing if there will be a tomorrow!"
Shujun laughed uproariously, looking up to the ceiling, while a line of tears rolled down his handsome face.
In the end, he gave Liang Yixuan a deep look.
"You’re really something, Yixuan. Heaven-sent adversity may be survived; self-inflicted misery cannot! I thought, considering our brotherhood, to compete with you fairly, but now... you’d better pray I don’t find her. Otherwise, she will belong to me alone; I won’t give any of you another chance!!"
With that, Shujun stormed off.
Haoming stood silently in front of the desk, his gaze fixed on the handwriting of the letter, his lips pressed tight. Finally, resolute, he turned and followed in the footsteps of Third Brother, rushing out the door.
Next was Little Wu, Liang Yuening gently touched the letter, sniffed, blinked hard to clear his red eyes, then deflated like frostbitten eggplant.
As for Liang Yixuan, he was ashen, his blood seemingly drained, pale as if he were a lonely ghost...
Third Brother was right, it was him, all him, he drove her away!!
The morning sun broke through the clouds, its rays scattering from the blanket of grey.
Dong Huiying squatted by the stream, scooped up a handful of the clear, sweet water, and took a couple of sips, then used the stream to wash her face.
Finally, she straightened up and rolled up her sleeves to dry her face.
"North, South, East, West?"
She gazed into the distance, this mountain being part of the Taihang Mountain range, yet "Taihang" did not refer to a single mountain but to an entire expanse of undulating peaks.
Surrounded by mountains, some with round summits and others with sharp angles, peaks abounded in every direction, front, back, left, and right.
She pulled out a copper coin and flipped it, "Heads, I’ll go left; tails, I’ll go right."