Lost of Oblivion: Chapter 12

As they arrive in town, Lán WàngJī chose a fine dining restaurant that served Sichuan cuisine, and asked for an upstairs private room.

A waiter came over and handed them a menu.

Lán WàngJī took the menu and gave it to Wèi WúXiàn, he said, “Order whatever you want to eat.”

Wèi WúXiàn looked at the menu, then, to his heart’s content, he ordered, “I’ll have one dish of steamed glutinous rice dumplings, one dish of boiled pak choi, and one dish of bamboo shoot soup.”

“Let me have a look at the seasonal vegetables.” he carried on, “Add one dish of stir-fried garland chrysanthemum with peas. And, finally, one dish of chicken with bean curd, and two dipping sauces, one spicy and the other non-spicy.”

He raised his head and noticed Lán WàngJī’s facial expression, he asked, “Why are you looking so happy?”

Lán WàngJī suppressed a faint smile*, and said to the waiter, “I’ll have one dish of diced fish in chilli sauce, one dish of thinly sliced beef, one dish of diced spicy chicken, and one dish of beef in sour soup.”

“Will you be able to finish all this?” asked Wèi WúXiàn.

“I don’t mind if I can’t finish all the dishes.” Lán WàngJī replied, “You can eat them as well.”

Then, he said to the waiter, “Let the cook know that we would like to have a small portion of every dish.”

Wèi WúXiàn then gazed at Lán WàngJī’s profile. His awareness of being attracted to him gradually grew. And, the more he spent time with Lán WàngJī, the greater this feeling became.

After eating, they went for a stroll on the streets.

Although everyone was wearing green clothes, their appearances were the most outstanding. People were stopping to cast a glance at them.

As they kept on walking, they soon saw a large group of people queueing in front of a shop.

Curious, Wèi WúXiàn hurried over there to have a look, and found out that it was a bookshop.

Then, he returned and asked, “Lán Zhàn, why those people are standing in a queue in front of the bookshop?”

“Because today is the released day of a popular illustrated book.” he replied.

“What kind of an illustrated book is so popular?” he asked.

“Do you want to see it for yourself?” Lán WàngJī asked.

“Not all.” Wèi WúXiàn replied, “Otherwise, we will have to wait in such a long queue. Let’s go somewhere else instead. Didn’t you plan for us to sightsee on a boat?”

“There’s no need for queueing.” replied Lán WàngJī, “I have priorly placed an order.”

Then, he led Wèi WúXiàn all the way to the front door of the bookshop, and showed a red card to the shop assistant.

The red card attracted attention of many people in the queue. And Wèi WúXiàn could see in their eyes a burning jealousy.

After examining the card, the shop assistant told Lán WàngJī to wait for a moment, then he entered the shop.

Wèi WúXiàn then cast a look inside the shop, and saw many bookshelves densely filled with books. And, it seemed that all those books were of the same kind.

He also noticed that the staff were busy from picking up books from the selves and packing them.

While he was impatiently waiting, Wèi WúXiàn overheard a conversation of people next to him.

“Really? Here I was thinking that he has turned over a new leaf.” said one of them.

“How can he change? People don’t change their way so easily.” said second person.

“Yílíng Lǎozǔ has done so many evil deeds. How can you believe that he has changed?” said the third.

“He has even influenced HánGuāng-Jūn, this is just unbelievable.”

“What are you guys talking about? What did Yílíng Lǎozǔ do this time?”

“Have you not heard the rumour that is circulating around?”

“A few days ago, in the upper reaches of Han River, it had rained just a little bit. However, Yílíng Lǎozǔ mobilised a large troop, and forced the villagers from Wěishàn to leave their village.

“Then, he blew the village’s dam, inundating the entire village in order to diverge the flood of Han River.

“Fortunately, the villagers had run away quickly, otherwise, they would have been drowned because of his actions.”

“I heard that many people had died.”

“Regardless of whether people had died or not, he had definitely flooded their ancestral graveyard. He either uses people’s graveyards to summon corpses, or floods them. Why he always has to destroyed other people’s ancestral graveyards.”

“Still, HánGuāng-Jūn does not do anything about it.”

“Don’t you know that people are the product of their environment. Since he has spent so many years with Yílíng Lǎozǔ, he also becomes like him. I’m afraid that HánGuāng-Jūn is just a self-righteous person.

“And GūsūLán sect just yearns to possess the devices that Yílíng Lǎozǔ invents from time to time.”

“I heard that it was HánGuāng-Jūn who destroyed the dam. So, he is also to be blamed for the killing of those people.”

Wèi WúXiàn clenched his fists, while, inwardly saying, “I thought that my heart was as hard as a rock, that nothing will shake me up. I was wrong.”

Then, once again, Jiāng Chéng’s account began to echo inside his head, “Lán WàngJī and you become inseparable. Lán WàngJī protects you because people still hate you.”

“If the rumour was only about me,” said Wèi WúXiàn inwardly, “I would not care in the slightest. However, I can’t tolerate the fact that Lán Zhàn has been bad-mouthed, as well.”

Wèi WúXiàn didn’t know how to face his uncertain future, or why was he still by Lán WàngJī’s side?

“Wèi Yīng.” Lán WàngJī’s voice sounded to his ears as if it came from a far distance, like in a dream.

Wèi WúXiàn turned his head and noted that Lán WàngJī was looking at him with all the kindness he had.

“Let’s go” said Lán WàngJī.

Then, he held Wèi WúXiàn’s hand, and led him away from the bookshop.

Wèi WúXiàn then gently freed his hand from Lán WàngJī’s.

“Wèi Yīng, don’t mind what they said, because it’s not the truth.” he said.

Wèi WúXiàn let out a dispirited “uh-huh” sound. His devastated mood and racing thoughts remained unchanged until they got on the boat.

There was one crucial question that he had opted to suppress so far. However, right now, he could no longer prevent it from emerging.

Why people still hated him despite the issue of the last survivors of the Wēn clan had been settled, and despite he had already destroyed the Tiger Talisman?

His decision to protect those people from the last branch of the Wēn clan would never be understood by others. His ruthless methods used during Shooting Star campaign would always stay in their memories. How could he be accepted by them?

And, why was he staying with Lán WàngJī?

Was there no place for him in this vast world?

In a gentle voice, Lán WàngJī said, “Wèi Yīng, you haven’t harmed anyone in that village. The relocation has already been settled between the villagers and the authorities---”

Wèi WúXiàn interrupted Lán WàngJī, “Lán Zhàn, I know what kind of person I am, and what I won’t never do.”

With a derisive smile, he carried on, “It’s just that other people don’t think that way.”

“You never care about what others think.” remarked Lán WàngJī.

“But I care about what you think.” he unconsciously uttered those words.

They were both, at once, surprised by what he just said; Lán WàngJī was surprise because Wèi WúXiàn had completely forgotten how they cared for each other, while Wèi WúXiàn didn’t understand why he said those words.

Then, Lán WàngJī laughed; this was a very rare occasion to see him laughing, that Wèi WúXiàn was absolutely amazed, and his heart began to beat rapidly.

Lán WàngJī said, “Wèi Yīng, you once said ‘What is right or wrong is decided by oneself. One’s reputation is judged by others.’ So, you don’t care about the rest. So, neither I.”

“Lán Zhàn, you laughed.” said Wèi WúXiàn while laughing as well.

“You, too.” he replied.

The swaying movement of the boat gradually swept away Wèi WúXiàn’s melancholic thoughts.

“I have ordered from the bookshop a collection of books that you wanted to have. Do you want to read them?” asked Lán WàngJī.

“Yes.” he replied.

Lán WàngJī then took out from his sleeve a set of books fastened with a red string.

On the cover, there was a picture of an one-eyed young man clad in red, wearing black boots and a sword on his waist, and a young Taoist in white robes, with a rain hat hanging on his back.

“A King Demon And A Taoist.” read Wèi WúXiàn while undoing the red string, “By the title of this book, it is indeed something that I would like to read.”

“Yes, of course.” remarked Lán WàngJī, “You have already read the previous volumes.”

There were four volumes in total, and Wèi WúXiàn took the first follow-up volume, read the first few pages, then said, “Yes, indeed. Somehow, the story seems familiar to me.”

“You usually read in your spare time.” Lán WàngJī said.

Then, he placed a plate of roasted melon seeds and a plate of fresh fruit close to Wèi WúXiàn, and then, he began to make some tea, while thinking that if the story had left a vague impression on Wèi WúXiàn, maybe it was because he had read it so many times before.

Wèi WúXiàn finished reading the first book, and was convinced that he knew not only the plot but also the characters of the story.

After carefully reading the whole second book, he felt somehow a resemblance to a character of the story, and yet, there were also some differences between the character and him. And, he had an intuition on the fate of the character.

He then quickly read the third book. Upon finishing it, his hand was already on the last one, stroking its cover. However, he did not dare to open it.

“Lán Zhàn!” he called out.

“I’m right here.” said Lán WàngJī while serving him another cup of tea.

“Does this story has a happy ending?” he asked.

“Yes, I think so.” he replied, “The author of these books never writes tragic ending stories.”

Wèi WúXiàn then felt relieved, and opened the last volume.

Lán WàngJī summoned WàngJī, then, he began gently to strum on the guqin, playing a serene melody.

After a while, Wèi WúXiàn finished and closed the book. He was very excited, and, once more, he began to wonder, “In the story, the character’s situation has some similarities with my own. We both, no doubt, have also a similar personality.”

He carried on, “A warrior is always by himself, walking his path alone. Luckily, the character in the story has someone, who never leaves his side.

“This kind of bond between two people is so heart-warming, making one feel envious of their relationship.

“If Lán Zhàn and I could also be like this...”