Chapter 17

Something terrible had happened. Wen Ran was dead.

When Lan Fei’er heard this news, her first reaction was that this was the backlash from Sheng Baihe changing the plot.

Then she felt it was a pity. After all, Wen Ran was a decent person, and he was also the female lead’s biological elder brother. Wen Wuning must be devastated.

Sure enough, immediately afterward, she heard the news that Wen Wuning had fallen unconscious and would not wake.

Lan Fei’er was not worried. With the plot protecting her, Wen Wuning would not die.

Lan Fei’er was thinking about something more important: would this backlash end with Wen Ran’s death? Or was this only the beginning?

It was extremely possible that the entire Wen family would still be unable to escape. After all, in the book, the Wen family was the one that should have been destroyed.

If that was the case, then she had to make plans early.

Wen Ran was dead. Wen Wuning was unconscious and would not wake. Father Wen did not arrange Wen Ran’s funeral. Aside from visiting the unconscious Wen Wuning once, he locked himself in his room and would not come out. Fortunately, Sheng Baihe stepped forward to preside over the overall situation, so the Wen family did not fall apart. But Sheng Baihe was, after all, an outer-surname person, so he could only maintain temporary stability.

Lan Fei’er’s residence was far from the Wen family’s center of power. The senior and junior disciples living near her had all sacrificed themselves during the last night raid. These courtyards were all empty, and no new disciples had moved in yet. So even though the Wen family was in complete chaos, her residence was especially quiet.

Lan Fei’er did not spend every day shut indoors either. After all, she had not reached fasting cultivation yet and still needed to eat. Occasionally, she would go out to look for food. Besides, although the ginseng doll could help her gather information, perhaps because the ginseng doll was still young, its ability to express itself was extremely problematic. If the situation was even slightly complicated, it could not explain things clearly at all. Listening to it talk simply made one’s head hurt, so Lan Fei’er would occasionally go out personally to ask around too, partly to maintain a sense of presence.

“Wen Wuning still hasn’t woken up?” Lan Fei’er finished eating the braised meat she had just taken from the kitchen, drank a mouthful of tea, and asked the ginseng doll that had just returned.

The ginseng doll squeaked.

“Was she seriously injured?”

The ginseng doll waved its hands and feet while squeaking.

The more Lan Fei’er listened, the more her head hurt. She endured the urge to go over and kick this useless thing flying, [read the original at bailiantales.com]then interrupted its chaotic description. “You’re saying Sheng Baihe has been guarding by her side the whole time?”

The ginseng doll nodded and squeaked.

Lan Fei’er got up and moved her limbs. If Sheng Baihe was there, this would be difficult. She could not go see how Wen Wuning was doing either. And Lan Fei’er suddenly thought of an extremely absurd question. A lone man and a lone woman were together in one room, and Wen Wuning was unconscious. If Sheng Baihe did not take the chance to take advantage of her, Lan Fei’er would not believe it even if someone beat her to death.

Lan Fei’er walked outside the room, stretching her waist while sunning herself and thinking. The ginseng doll sat on the threshold with its head lowered, playing with its own little roots.

After a while, the ginseng doll heard a sigh. It looked up and saw Lan Fei’er turn and return to the room. After that, she did not step outside for the rest of the day.

Wen Ran’s bones no longer existed, so only a cenotaph was erected. On the day the coffin was carried out, all the disciples came. Lan Fei’er was submerged among the crowd of disciples, extremely unremarkable. Yet someone like Wen Wuning, as long as she appeared, would always become the focus.

But today, using the coffin as the center, Lan Fei’er searched around twice and still did not see Wen Wuning.

Half a month had already passed since the day of the incident. She had heard that Wen Wuning had finally woken up two days ago. How could she not come to attend Wen Ran’s funeral?

But the truth was that Wen Wuning really did ​read the original at bailiantales.com​not come. Until sunset, when the coffin was buried, Lan Fei’er still did not see Wen Wuning’s figure.

Was she so badly injured that although she had woken up, she still could not get out of bed?

As Lan Fei’er thought this, she suddenly felt something cool on her face. She raised her head and discovered that the sky was gloomy and dark. It seemed to have started raining.

When it was Lan Fei’er’s turn to pay respects, she walked forward. Although she had already seen many dead people since coming to this world, and had even killed quite a few herself, this was the first time she had so solemnly attended a funeral. It was also the first time she had seen a tomb.

She did not have any real feelings for Wen Ran, but when she thought that he had been young and promising, that his path in life had only just begun, only for him to turn into dust, she still felt deeply moved. When Lan Fei’er bowed, she carried a heart of sorrow and pity.

May you spread your wings in your next life and live to a hundred years old.

As she followed the other disciples down the mountain and back to the Wen family, Lan Fei’er wondered whether she should go see Wen Wuning. If she went as an ordinary disciple worried about her senior sister, Sheng Baihe probably would not suspect anything.

The stone path in the mountain was uneven and filled with rainwater. Lan Fei’er stepped into a puddle, and water splashed onto the surface of her shoes and the cuffs of her pants. Lan Fei’er’s thoughts spun rapidly. Suddenly, she lifted her head and looked toward a distant peak shrouded in thick fog, then stopped walking.

Lan Fei’er had originally been at the very back. After ​unauthorized copy​everyone had walked far away, she suddenly slipped into the wet, dripping forest.

Lan Fei’er knew that this guess of hers, or perhaps this feeling, was very unreliable. After all, if Wen Wuning could move, why would she not attend Wen Ran’s funeral and instead run to a mountaintop to stand in the wind? But since she had this feeling, even if it was impossible, she still wanted to verify it.

When Lan Fei’er ran to the foot of the peak, the sun had sunk westward, and the entire mountain was shrouded in darkness. In the forest, there was only the sound of rain pattering against leaves.

Looking up at the sheer cliff that pierced straight into the darkness, Lan Fei’er wiped the rain from her face and felt that she must have gone insane. She turned around and prepared to head back. It was pitch-black, and it was still raining. Climbing up would take at least half an hour, all just to verify a nearly impossible guess? Her brain must have been flooded.

The road through the forest was hard to walk in the rain. Lan Fei’er stumbled several meters forward through the uneven ground, then with a dark expression, pushed aside the bushes and turned back. Without saying a word, she started climbing the cliff.

Lan Fei’er was in an extremely foul mood. When she climbed to the top, her entire body looked as if it had just been pulled out of water. Seeing that Wen Wuning really was there getting drenched in the rain, her mood became even worse.

So fucking melodramatic! Lan Fei’er cursed inwardly.

She sat in the rain and rested for a long while. The wind up here was strong, cold, dark, and damp. She did not want to stay for even a second longer.

Rising, Lan Fei’er leapt onto the giant rock where Wen Wuning was. Half-kneeling behind Wen Wuning, she [unauthorized copy]said patiently, “Senior Sister, come back with me.”

Wen Wuning did not make a sound.

It was pitch-black up there. Lan Fei’er could only see the rough outline of her figure. But even from her silhouette alone, she could tell that in less than a month, Wen Wuning had lost a great deal of weight. More than half of Lan Fei’er’s impatience faded.

Thinking that the person she had just paid respects to was Wen Wuning’s biological elder brother, the remaining bit of impatience also vanished.

“Senior Sister, you were unconscious for so long and only just woke up. If you spend an entire night in the rain like this, your body won’t be able to take it.”

Lan Fei’er waited for a while. Seeing that Wen Wuning gave no reaction, she raised her hand to push her. But before her hand could touch her, a voice suddenly came. That voice made Lan Fei’er freeze, because it was so hoarse that for an instant, Lan Fei’er wondered if she had mistaken the person.

As the female lead, Wen Wuning had been born well, had good talent, and was a first-class beauty. Even her voice was cold, clear, and elegant.

But this voice now was truly so unpleasant that Lan Fei’er did not know how to describe it.

She was too surprised and had not [read the original at bailiantales.com]even noticed what Wen Wuning had said. She simply said again, “Senior Sister, come back with me.”

She placed her hand on Wen Wuning’s back. Feeling the obviously protruding bones there, Lan Fei’er felt uneasy inside. The dead could not come back to life. Why torture herself like this?

Pulling this cold, drenched body into her own equally soaked but still warm embrace, Lan Fei’er said softly, “You still have your father. You have the Wen family. You have us.”

In the darkness, Wen Wuning closed her eyes. Tears and rainwater flowed down her face together.

No one except Wen Wuning herself could know what place Wen Ran held in her heart.

She had lost her mother when she was young. Her father loved her, but he had spent far too little time with her. As a child, she had no playmates either. The one person closest to her had always been Wen Ran. Wen Ran was her elder brother, and also an existence like both father and mother. He had accompanied her when she was lonely, comforted and encouraged her when she was disappointed, and taught her not to lose herself in pride when she was pleased…

“My elder brother is still here,” Wen Wuning said through a choked sob.

Although she had personally seen her elder brother swallowed by the black fire before her eyes, she was unwilling to admit that he was gone. She was unwilling to participate in anything related to her elder brother’s funeral. She did not want anyone to remind her that her elder brother was no longer here.

That self-deceiving, choked voice made Lan Fei’er lower her eyes.

In the book, the number of times Wen Wuning cried could almost be counted on one hand. To make such a person cry meant she had truly been hurt to the extreme.

Lan Fei’er did not know whether she should go against her heart and agree with her, or cruelly make her face reality, so she could only remain silent.

On the lonely peak beneath the vast sky, fierce winds came from every direction, carrying cold rain as they poured over them.

Compared to heaven and earth, they were too small, too unable to withstand a single blow.

“Senior Sister, my place is quiet. If you don’t mind, you can spend the night there.” They could not possibly stay up here all night.

Since Wen Wuning did not want to see anything related to Wen Ran’s funeral, few people went to Lan Fei’er’s side, and there were no white funeral decorations hung there either.

Perhaps because she did not want Lan Fei’er to accompany her in the rain for an entire night, Wen Wuning came down from the cliff with her. But because it was too late at night and the rain was too heavy, they did not return to the Wen family. Instead, they found a nearby cave to spend the night.

Because disciples often meditated in the mountains, dry grass and firewood were usually prepared inside the caves.

Lan Fei’er added a handful of firewood, turned over the wet clothes that had been hung up to dry, and sat down against the dry stone wall. Wen Wuning was wearing only her white inner robes as she lay sideways on the pile of dry grass, already asleep.

Her skin was almost transparent. Only with the red glow of the fire falling on her face did her complexion look a little better. She curled up slightly, both hands placed in front of her. She looked soft, warm, and harmless. Lan Fei’er had always liked sleeping spread out flat on her back. She had thought that with Wen Wuning’s personality, she would probably sleep lying flat as well. Perhaps she would be even more proper than Lan Fei’er, but at least she had not expected Wen Wuning to sleep in such a pitiful pose, one that easily stirred pity in others.

Outside the cave, everything was pitch-black, and the rain pattered steadily. Occasionally, wind poured into the cave. Lan Fei’er pushed the firewood closer together, then got up to check how dry the clothes were. The dried clothes were very warm, so Lan Fei’er brought them over and covered Wen Wuning with them.

While she was at it, she touched Wen Wuning. Her body was no longer as cold as before. It was warm and soft. Lan Fei’er covered her properly with the clothes. At this moment, Wen Wuning had no defenses at all. With that sorrowful expression, she looked like a young beast exposing its wound, carrying a posture that begged for comfort, affection, and tenderness.

Lan Fei’er crouched there and stared at this face for a very long time.

Then she got up and returned to where she had been sitting.

Sheng Baihe had definitely taken advantage of Wen Wuning.

If before it had only been malicious speculation, now Lan Fei’er could be certain.

The fragile appearance of a proud person was truly impossible to resist.

And besides, only a fool would not take advantage when there was an advantage to be taken. If she were Sheng Baihe, she would definitely have done something too.