Chapter 61: The Path of Slow Coaxing

Xu Lan suddenly recalled a line written by Cao Xueqin ¹ to portray Jia Baoyu, ‘His face was as bright as the mid-autumn moon; his complexion fresh, like spring flowers in the morning dew; the hair above his temples was distinctly outlined, as if it had been cut with a sharp knife; his eyebrows, as if penciled with ink; the fine outline of his nose betokened boldness of character, his eyes glistened with the wet shine of autumn waves. His mouth seemed to smile even in ill-humor; his glance radiated warmth and feeling even in anger.’

Back in the day, he felt repulsed just by reading that passage, for he did not think that there were men who would have looked like that. At that moment though, Xu Lan realized how little of the world he actually saw.

“Haha. Papa, why did you make such a mess?” Bai Wu walked over and wiped off the blood stain on Xu Lan with his hands, but the more he wiped the messier Xu Lan became. The young man could not help but laugh again. To Xu Lan, the laughter felt like a white cloud that gently stroked on his mind. He was prepared to say something but those thoughts no longer remained.

“Be quiet.” Xu Lan snapped back to his senses.

“Mm.”

Bai Wu immediately restrained his laughter and stood quietly on one side. Like a preschooler who was punished as a result of being naughty, he waited for Xu Lan to speak.

“If we re-enter the crack in time, will I die?” Xu Lan abruptly thought of that question. He knew very well that Bai Wu would one day leave and that Xu Lan himself could not spend the rest of his life in hiding.

“… I once saw people crushed to pieces right in front of my eyes.” Bai Wu looked like he was about to cry. He rubbed his fingers and stood opposite Xu Lan.

“Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. I’m still here. Nothing happened to me the first time. Nothing will happen this time too. You know what they say, every cloud has a silver lining.” Xu Lan walked over, hugged Bai Wu, and patted his back to console him. Those hot tears began flowing down once more and Xu Lan felt almost unable to breathe.

“Mm. Papa’s beside me. I will protect Papa,” Bai Wu softly said as he adamantly hugged Xu Lan.

Few have ever taken care of Bai Wu to the point where they were willing to go through the wormhole with him. In the beginning, Bai Wu would disclose everything to those who took him in. Some of them began noticing the suffering they had to go through, so they abandoned him. Every single person who entered the crack suffered and regretted having taken Bai Wu in – all of them had to endure a bone-crushing suffering.

Xu Lan was the only person who never gave up on him and continued to be by his side from the very moment they met. Perhaps one reason for his perseverance was that Bai Wu took away some of his personal stress and hardships but not even once did Bai Wu take that for granted, hence the reason why Bai Wu continuously wrestled against the crack.

Range upon range of mountains graced the steep terrain that formed the Qinglong Mountains along with precipitous rock faces and sheer cliffs. Waterfalls that led to deep natural ponds were ubiquitous throughout. There was no longer any phone signal when they reached higher up. Xu Lan picked a cave amongst the precipice about halfway up the mountain and went in. If one asked how were they able to get in, Bai Wu would have rolled his eyes at the person.

Xu Lan started a fire and warmed himself by it. Between the inside and outside of the mountain, the disparity between temperatures was very clear. Qinglong’s elevation was higher than that of other mountains, leading him to suffer from altitude sickness. Bai Wu had given his clothes to Xu Lan, who tightly wrapped himself in a blanket and drifted soundly to sleep.

His shuteye for the past two days had been subpar. Even Bai Wu did not dare to sleep, for he was afraid that the slightest carelessness would lead to them being sucked into the wormhole. There was no regularity nor rhythm in where and when the hole would appear. It was like a temperamental witch since according to Bai Wu, it even produced a cruel laughter.

Xu Lan cursed silently, ‘Isn’t this the bloody same thing?’ The hole was equivalent to a witch who soared around on a broom – if she did not like someone, she would simply lock them up in her little black house.

Nightfall came, and like gauze netting, the weaves of starlight covered the land. Faint moonlight shrouded the mountains, shining light upon the distant zig-zagging and circling that resembled that of a silver dragon ¹ . Like the forked tongue of a venomous snake, it was scouring carefully for any traces of Xu Lan and Bai Wu.

What methods did that bunch of people use in order to persuade Hu Cheng to make the call? What conceivable reason was there for Xu Lan to answer that bloody call?

From above, Xu Lan observed the crowd. They forged on ahead with flashlights in hand. How much time would they need to find the place? Were they really willing to let the murderer run free? Hu Cheng was definitely aware of the implications of delaying the case. If a month went by, the homicide at Honghe would lose any useful leads.

Overcome with boredom, Xu Lan tried counting the number of flashlight beams and took out his cell phone. It was eighteen minutes past seven at night in Huaxia. Two hundred and thirty-eight missed calls as well as a hundred and eighty-six messages had been received since the previous day.

The morbidity of their system and their way of handling things elicited a ridiculing chuckle from Xu Lan. Ever since he found out that the media, to his surprise, were at odds with the government, Xu Lan knew that this day would come. However, he did not expect it to come so soon, which meant that he had little, if any, contingency plans.

“Papa, don’t you wanna sleep for a while?” The drowsy-eyed Bai Wu massaged his eyeballs while he walked over, draped in blanket.

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“Hm, no. Don’t you wanna sleep a bit more?” Xu Lan patted the area beside him and signaled for Bai Wu to sit down.

After a while had passed, there was still no response, so he puzzlingly looked back at Bai Wu, who was pouting and sitting far away from the cave entrance.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m scared of heights.”

That answer left Xu Lan even more confused! It was Bai Wu who carried him up to that place and yet the boy did not dare to come to the cave entrance because he was afraid of heights?

“How did you fly up then?”

“My body has a stabilizer as well as the capability to sense the radar. I closed my eyes and when I fly.”

Xu Lan was absolutely stupefied!

“So, you had always flown with your eyes shut?”

In complete disbelief, Xu Lan asked again. Bai Wu nodded, hugged his knees, and curled into a ball.

“GOD! You…ah…” Xu Lan pointed at him and shouted, but immediately retracted his fingers and let the issue go.

“You really don’t plan on seeing it for yourself?” The man lowered his voice and coaxed. “If you see it with your own eyes, you’ll know that there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m here. You see? It’s not scary at all.”

When he finished the sentence, Xu Lan opened his arms wide and lightly caressed the mountain’s cool breeze. Bai Wu’s pout remained as he expressed a disinclination to do so. With a twitch of the eyebrow, Xu Lan chuckled and handed his phone over to Bai Wu. Letting Bai Wu play Tetris was a ploy in order to drain the phone of its battery.

Not once had they experienced a quiet night in Huaxia, but considering their current situation, no one knew whether it was a blessing or a curse and whether they should laugh or cry.

“Papa.” A few moments barely passed by when Bai Wu called out.

“Hm?”

“Big Sister Wu sent a message.”

Bai Wu handed the phone over and mustered up the courage to peek outside the entrance. His face was immediately drained of color. He quickly retreated and stumbled down to the ground.

The cave was a natural occurrence that formed in the vertical precipice. It was vertically connected to another precipice below but they were both separated by a distance of over a hundred meters. Thick, lush trees formed the forest that encircled the area, and the horizontal layer of clouds wrapped around the mountain’s waist. When Xu Lan was walking outside the cave, it looked as though he was stepping on clouds.

“What happened?” Xu Lan rushed over to check on the frightened Bai Wu.

“I wanted to see how it looked like outside, but…” Bai Wu mumbled, but he still remembered to hand the phone over.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m here. Even if you fall, at least you can fly.” One of Xu Lan’s hands was patting Bai Wu on the back while the other took the phone.

“Damn!” Xu Lan cursed under his breath. Surprisingly, the phone could receive messages when it was near Bai Wu. No wonder Wu Wendi’s message was received. Furthermore, his phone was ringing – someone was calling him persistently!