vii

Once he thought of that, Lan's mind was torn between believing it or dismissing it.

It would indeed make sense if they were, since they were the ones rescuing him from his death and snake form. But then again, why did they seem to hate each other so much ? And why did Liwei say she didn't trust the other person ?

In his confusion, Lan's head started to throb. He winced slightly, as he held his forehead.

For heaven's sake, out of all the books I could have picked, why did it have to be one with such a complicated beginning ?!, he lamented. And a painful one too !

He sighed. He grabbed the black tray that was now on his lap and put it back on the table. His legs felt numb, but when he stood up, he found that he could still walk pretty well. It was as if his legs hadn't been affected by their long period of rest. It was nice.

Checking his clothes, he saw that it was a white undergarment topped with a black outer robe. They were messy from his sleep, but they seemed clean. He hoped it didn't mean that someone was changing his clothes for him, but at the same time, he was glad to have woken up in clean clothes. He would have been too disgusted to know it was the same ones for five months.

He made his way to the door and slid it open. There was a small corridor, which led to a bigger room. From the setup, Lan guessed that it was the living room. The furniture was simple, it looked like any typical house you'd see in movies about ancient China.

It was rather the decoration that made it look good. There was a beautiful painting of a koi fish at the surface of the water, with a few maple leaves floating on it, and what looked like willow branches hanging down. It was hung on the wall above a long black sofa and a low table, which were on a low platform, reachable by two steps. The platform was surrounded by translucent red curtains, but as of now, they were pulled open.

In front of the platform was an even lower table, surrounded by four cushions. The cushions were red. In fact, a lot of things were red : the candles, incense burners, tassels hanging from the oil lamps, the flowers dispersed around. She seemed to appreciate the color.

Lan didn't notice at first, but now that he thought about it, even the bedroom he lied in was decorated with red, from the curtains to the bedsheets, to the cushions,... Everything !

But as expected, no one was here. Lan walked around the house, looking for them. As he neared a back door, like earlier, he could hear the other woman's voice.

"A lot is at stake ! You can't just keep doing whatever you want !"

Before he could decide on whether to open it or not, it flew open. And it was that unknown woman, who presumably had enough of Liwei, and was preparing to take her leave.

She looked a bit older than Liwei. Her features were sharp. She had black eyes that didn't seem to reflect any light, a straight nose, and plump lips. Even her cheekbones and jawline were finely traced. If he thought that Liwei was more cute than pretty, then it was the contrary with her. Lan couldn't even say anything was cute about her. Just cold and beautiful.

Unlike Liwei, she wasn't wearing a dress. Instead, she had tight black pants, and a long dark green top, which was fit on her, but from her waist it became flowing, hiding the hilt of a sword that hung down to her calf. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail. She had some kind of heroic aura about her. She wasn't wearing any jewelry, but had makeup on, making her look more mature.

It would be a lie if Lan said that he wasn't a bit intimidated by her. He was taller than her but had no doubt that she could kick his ass.

As she saw him standing there, she froze. She stared at him for a few seconds, before her stunned expression changed to anger. She turned around.

"Liu Liwei ! You said he wasn't awake yet !" she angrily said.

Liwei was standing just behind this woman, but because she was way shorter and smaller, she was hidden by her body, so Lan hadn't seen her. It was only now that the woman moved to turn around that he did.

Liwei sighed and rolled her eyes. "Your voice gives me a headache..." she rubbed her forehead gently, before looking back up at her, "Do you have to yell all of the time ?"

"Even by yelling I can't get anything through your thick skull, and you want me to be calmer ?"

Lan didn't know what to say. He didn't even know if he should leave them alone or stay. But they were fighting about him, so in the end, he stayed.

"If you were, maybe I'd be willing to consider listening to you !"

"I don't care ! Why did you lie ?"

"I didn't lie ! When you came this morning, he was still unconscious ! I only found him awake later, before you knocked again."

"Why didn't you tell me now ?"

"You didn't ask again." she shrugged.

Lan couldn't believe they would fight again.

"Uh... ladies ?" he called.

The other woman didn't pay attention to him, as she wasn't done making reproaches to Liwei. The latter, however, took a few steps aside to be able to see him.

"Yes ?" her tone was much softer.

"Can we sit down and talk things out ? Let's not fight and yell again, yeah ?"

Liwei's lips stretched upward. "You can go sit already. I'll make some tea for you."

Lan smiled back, revealing a single dimple on his left cheek, "Oh, thank you."

Liwei left, and Lan awkwardly glanced at the other woman. She had crossed her arms and was rolling her eyes.

"What a nuisance." the woman said, as she watched Liwei's back.

"Uh... do you two really hate each other ?"

"Yes. She's a nuisance," she repeated.

"Oh..." he simply said. She didn't seem to want to talk about it, and he didn't know what else to answer. "But uh... did you need to see me or something ?" he tried to change the topic.

"Yes. I need to check some things with you."

"Sure, I guess. Let's sit first ?"

It was obvious on her face that she wanted to refuse with a 'I will never sit with her here even if I have to die'. But she ended up sighing.

"Okay, let's go."

Lan and she walked to the living room, and sat on the red cushions, across from each other.

The oil lamps cast a dim and cozy light, which made Lan feel relaxed. He still had a bit of a headache, and bright light would have worsened it.

Liwei came back with a small tray, on top of which was a teapot. She put it on the table and sat down. She grabbed a cup that was resting upside down in the middle of the table and placed it in front of Lan. She then proceeded to fill it for him, before placing the pot back on the tray.

"Thank you." Lan smiled.

She smiled back, "No problem." Then she turned her head to the woman, her smile no longer existing. "Help yourself." she coldly said.

Lan didn't know how to feel about this. She was so nice just now, but her personality just took a 180 degree turn when talking to that woman. Though when he thought of how the two seemed to hate each other, he felt that it was already very nice of her to make enough tea for her too.

The woman rolled her eyes and poured herself a cup as well.

Lan drank slowly, waiting for someone to say anything. He felt a bit uneasy in the silence because he was expecting something, but didn't know when it would come. The quicker they spoke, the quicker he'd be done with it !

The woman took a sip of tea, and after a second, she finally talked. "All right, so tell me what you remember."

Lan thought for a second to be sure he wouldn't mess up. He was supposed to have lost his memory, but he told Liwei that he remembered everything from saving her to 'dying'.

"I only remember the moments from when I saved miss Liu, and what happened until I lost consciousness."

"Nothing from before that ?"

It wasn't even mentioned in the book, so Lan really had no clue.

"No, nothing."

"Do you... remember anything about yourself ?"

Anything about himself ? Lan didn't know what exactly she meant —it could be from his name to the fact that he was an Immortal. Well, now that he put it like that, it seemed obvious that it was the latter. But was he supposed to at least remember a thing or two, or nothing at all ?

"Anything... like what ?"

"Like anything at all. Whatever it is."

"Uh... my name..." he stopped and pursed his lips.

He didn't want to say that ! It just slipped out as he was thinking ! He wanted to pretend that he really remembered nothing ! And he got the confirmation it was a mistake when he saw the woman stiffen a bit.

"You remember your name ?"

Was it too late to say that he didn't ? But he was worried he would take a suspicious amount of time to ponder over it, so he nodded. As he did, he cursed himself mentally. It was too late now.

He silently exhaled by his nose. "Huang Lan, isn't it ?"

This time, even Liwei seemed concerned. She didn't show many emotions until now, and even as they talked, she was simply looking at her nails, as if she didn't really care.

The two ladies exchanged a look. The woman spoke again, this time to Liwei.

"Did something go wrong ?" she whispered.

"I don't know ! Could it be that we made a mistake ?"

"I didn't think we made one, but now it seems like it."

They both sighed, and Lan couldn't help but feel a bit bad. No, you ladies didn't make any mistake on whatever you did ! It just happens that I never forgot anything at all !

"Okay look," Liwei turned back to him, "I know we may sound strange right now, but some things have been happening, and anyways —you can't tell your name to anyone."

Lan understood very well. But he couldn't let them know that he understood very well. "Why ?"

"It's complicated. You'll eventually know, but right now, we should think of another name."

If he didn't already know from the book that some Immortals would come to save him and be on his side, he wouldn't be so calm and uncaring about it. He literally would have sprinted out of this village, far away from these weird people he didn't know ! Although he had some doubts earlier, he felt that they were useless now. Who else could be the ones who saved him then ?

Thus, he knew he could trust them.

"I'm not good at choosing names though." he admitted.

"I'll help you later."

Lan nodded. Then something came to his mind. That other woman, he didn't know her name.

"By the way, can I ask for your name ?" he asked her.

"My last name is Wen, first name is Li."

"Oh, okay."

Wen Li took another sip of tea and turned to Liwei. "I can't stay here for too long, but I'll come back. You better not lie to me and leave me outside !"

"I didn't lie ! You can ask him yourself !"

Lan didn't expect to be implicated, so he opened his eyes a bit wider.

"I don't care. I'll be back. Help him settle here for now."

"I don't need you to tell me."

Wen Li drank the last mouthfuls of her tea and got up.

"I'm leaving." she nodded at the two seated persons, and walked out.

Now that she was gone, Lan was much more relaxed. No offense, miss Wen., he mentally bowed to her.

"You really can't tell me anything that happened ?" he asked Liwei.

In the book, they had to investigate a bit before knowing the truth, so Lan knew she didn't have much knowledge about the situation either. But he just wanted some details they knew and weren't telling him.

Liwei sighed and shook her head. "It's not that I don't want to. I don't know myself what happened."

"Nothing at all ?"

"Nothing at all. All I can tell you is that you're in some kind of danger, that's why I'll tell you again : don't tell your name to anyone and be careful of everyone."

"All right, I will." Then after a pause, he asked again, "Do you know me ?"

She averted her gaze for a split second, before looking back at him. "I don't."

Lan didn't notice her small action in the dim light.

"Then why do you help me ?"

He thought that as a fellow Immortal, there would surely be some of them that wouldn't leave him behind. He knew she wouldn't tell him the truth, but he wanted to hear what she would answer.

"Should I tell you again ? Obviously I would, if it wasn't for you, I would be dead by now."

Liwei was an Immortal. How could she be killed by the stab of a mortal ? It didn't make sense at all ! But she didn't know that Lan already knew, so it was a good excuse for her. He didn't have another choice but to play along.

Though before he could answer anything, the image of the villager brandishing a knife to stab her flashed in his mind. The fact that she was an Immortal... the villager didn't know it. He really intended to kill her. Could people really be like that ? Killing for any reason, taking someone's life as if the right belonged to them ? It was sickening !

Then something hit him —that villager, didn't he kill him ? And he killed him for nothing in the end ! With everything that happened, he didn't take the time to think about it, but it was even said in the book : the man he bit didn't even last long enough to reach the village. His expression changed.

"B- but that man..." he didn't know how to formulate his question, so he trailed off.

"What man ?" Liwei frowned, but she remembered a second later, "Ah right ! That man ! Well he died." she shrugged.

Lan widened his eyes. He did read in many books that Immortals usually didn't care about mortals' lives, which they found as insignificant as ants. But he wasn't really an Immortal, so he couldn't say he felt the same.

"Is that all you're going to say ?"

"What else ? Should I cry and mourn him ?"

"No, but..." he looked down, and shook his head. "It's really me who killed him ?"

Liwei looked at him confusedly. "What's wrong with that ? The world is better now that a nuisance is gone."

Lan was shocked. It wasn't like she was one hundred percent wrong —someone like that, if he had killed Liwei, what other girl would he be harassing ? But still, he had killed him !

And the most shocking thing to him was that although he tried to convince himself that he did something really wrong, he couldn't bring himself to feel that bad about it. Perhaps it was that in the midst of everything, since he didn't take the time to realize it sooner, now that all this time had passed —now that he had been sleeping for all this time— he didn't feel like he had really done it, it was like a distant bad dream.

"Let's- let's forget about it." he concluded.

"As you want !" she smiled.

"Now, do you want to rest some more ?"

Lan was in a coma for five months. And he was in a new world ! He would be out of his mind if he went back to rest, instead of exploring this place !

"Not really." he paused for a second. "I want to go out."

"Out ? Uh..." she thought for a second, "okay. But I'll come with you. And before that, we'll look for a name for you."