Chapter One Hundred and One: The Mysterious Forest

The night breeze was cool, brushing softly against Hua Rong’s face, yet it could not carry away the faint melancholy in her heart.

Who am I, really? What place is this? Why am I here...?

From all that had happened, Hua Rong believed her appearance here was by no means an accident.

And that inexplicable woman was truly impossible to fathom.

A whole night passed with almost no sleep. By morning, a clatter and crackling sounded from outside, setting even her temples throbbing.

“What is that noise?”

She propped herself up, blinking away the haze in her eyes, and instinctively looked out the window. There she saw that man lift a broad blade and bring it down in a sudden, forceful chop.

The sight nearly frightened Hua Rong out of her wits. She hurried outside after him. “What are you doing!”

The abrupt outburst startled the man as well. Turning his head, he met Hua Rong’s wide-eyed terror head-on.

Glancing at the axe in his hand, his eyes filled with a trace of scorn. “Why are you so startled? Anyone would think I was murdering someone.”

Just moments ago, that was exactly what she had thought. After all, the ruthlessness he had shown when killing the wolf yesterday was not something that suited this pretty-faced man.

But when her gaze fell on the neatly split firewood, Hua Rong felt a little awkward. “Well, nothing. I was just asking whether you were tired...”

As she spoke, she rubbed the back of her head, her guilty expression plain as day.

Then she turned to go back inside, but a piece of wood suddenly flew toward her, landing just by her heel.

“Where do you think you’re running off to? I saved you, fed you, and gave you a place to stay. Shouldn’t you do something in return?”

The meaning was unmistakable. Hua Rong was not the kind of shameless person who would eat and drink without paying her way. She rose onto her toes and stepped around the mess of split wood, standing beside the man.

“What can I do for you?”

“Gather these up properly, or split firewood.”

Anyone could see that the latter was the obvious choice. With Hua Rong’s frail frame, she would have found even carrying bricks exhausting, let alone chopping wood.

As she picked up the firewood, Hua Rong kept glancing at the man now and then. Looking him over from head to toe, she could not shake the feeling that something was off. He had refined features and fair skin; how could he seem like someone who lived in these mountains and did rough labor?

In this dense forest, the beasts looked fierce, and even the people who lived here seemed strangely unusual.

“I wonder whether he knows that woman.”

Curious, Hua Rong carried the wood over to the man and asked tentatively, “Have you always lived here? Do you know anyone else around here?”

At the sudden question, the man narrowed his eyes slightly and turned to study her. “I thought you would at least introduce yourself first, or ask the name of your savior. I didn’t expect you to be so discourteous.”

...

“All right then. What is your name? When I leave here, I’ll repay you properly.”

“Chasing Wind. And you?”

“I don’t know.”

The atmosphere grew awkward again. Chasing Wind frowned slightly. “Are you making a fool of me?”

He had answered so seriously, only to be toyed with by a woman until he did not know whether to laugh or be annoyed.

With some displeasure, Hua Rong also felt a little helpless. “I’m not hiding anything from you. I... have lost my memory.”

Although she knew that revealing her current situation in such an unfamiliar place was dangerous, Chasing Wind had saved her, so he was still worth trusting. Besides, she had no other choice.

Chasing Wind did not press further. He merely brushed it off casually. “My family has always lived by hunting. My relatives all died at the hands of wolves, tigers, and leopards. I alone survived.”

As he spoke, he kept chopping wood with relentless force, clearly having no intention of saying more.

Hua Rong nodded thoughtfully. “So... do you know someone named Green Willow?”

At that name, Chasing Wind thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I do not.”

Since that was the case, Hua Rong did not ask further. She only nodded. “I am indebted to you for your kindness yesterday. I will surely repay you in the future. For now, I have to go...”

“Heh. So you’re just going to dust off your hands and leave? Do you really think this is a place you can walk out of whenever you like?”

“What do you mean?”

There was more to those words than met the ear, and Hua Rong was no fool. She studied him with suspicion.

He was clearly a delicate young gentleman, and the things he had just said were somewhat questionable.

Hua Rong considered it briefly. She did not have the strength to expose his lie, and instead said with a half-joking tone, “Don’t tell me this forest has some special place where living people can be trapped.”

“You can go for a walk if you like. Just don’t blame me for not warning you: there are plenty of wild beasts out there. If something happens again, it will no longer concern me.”

Chasing Wind kept busy with his work, never pausing, his tone especially cold, as though speaking to a complete stranger.

Still, that was understandable. After all, his saving her had already been a great kindness. Why should he be forced to treat her with courtesy on top of that?

As for the thinly veiled threat, Hua Rong simply ignored it. “I’m not afraid. I only want to go home. Anyway, I’ll repay you in the future, so rest assured.”

With that, she really did turn and leave.

She moved through the woods as sunlight filtered through the leaves in faint streaks, while the distance ahead remained hazy and indistinct.

No one knew how long she had been walking. All she could see before her were dense trees, the trunks seeming to be the same thickness as before.

“How strange. Why can’t I find my way out? Could this place really be this huge?”

Still puzzled, Hua Rong was about to lean against a tree trunk and rest when she suddenly spotted a strip of pink cloth hanging from a branch beside her.

She tiptoed over and took it down, comparing it carefully with her own clothes. Surprise flashed across her face. “This is a piece of my clothing!”

She looked around again, but nothing seemed to have changed. Everything remained the same.

In that instant, Hua Rong stood frozen in place. When she raised her head and looked up, she felt dizzy and disoriented.

“No way... I’ve been walking this long, and I’ve just been circling in place?”

Still refusing to believe it, Hua Rong used her belongings to mark the way and walked on for nearly another half hour. But as expected, she once again came upon the mark she had left behind.

“So this place really is strange. Could it be that Chasing Wind can’t get out either?”

Taking a deep breath, Hua Rong felt a headache coming on, yet a stubborn streak forced itself up within her. Her gaze fixed firmly on the path ahead.

“I refuse to believe it. If I can’t get out of this cursed place today, then I’ll keep walking until I do.”