LightReader

Chapter 4 - 04 | their first encounter

Bai Yuqi stayed on the phone for hours with her family. First, it was Bai Haoyu who was talking to make sure that she was fine. Then it was her parents, while Bai Haoyu had left with others toward the Baiyun Forest. But just like Qin Xue Ran had said, finding the exact location was proving to be nearly impossible. The forest stretched for miles in every direction, and they could only narrow down her location to within a five-kilometer radius. 

It was not long before the phone ran out of battery, and Bai Yuqi wasn't ready to step out of the room and ask for a charger. 

She was currently lost in her thoughts, thinking of the past two weeks. That's how long she found out she was missing. She remembered coming back from school. The car was only five minutes away from home when two black vans suddenly blocked the road. Her driver had tried to protect her but was shot for it. She was relieved when her parents told her he had survived.

After that, everything had become a blur of dark rooms, ropes, and harsh voices. She shook her head, pushing away those memories. She didn't want to think about them. Instead, her thoughts drifted to Qin Xue Ran.

The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that this girl had to be her twin sister. The resemblance was too strong to be a coincidence. She'd always known she had a twin sister. Her parents had told her the story when she was old enough to understand. They'd been born prematurely, and her elder twin had died just a few hours after birth. Every year, their family would go to the cemetery, burn paper money, and mourn for her. Never in her million years did she ever imagine her to be alive. 

She hadn't told her family yet. She didn't know how to tell them. They were already worried enough about her. She didn't want to add more shock to their hearts. They would find out when they arrived anyway.

She was lost in these thoughts when the door suddenly opened and an old man entered, carrying food on a tray. He stared at her for a second, at her face to be exact, and something flickered in his eyes. 

"How are you feeling now?" he asked, setting the tray down on the nightstand. He gestured for her to hold out her hand.

"Much better, thank you," she replied, extending her hand.

They sat in silence for a moment while he checked her pulse. Finally, he nodded and released her hand.

"You are recovering well, but it will take time for you to fully heal," he told her.

She nodded.

"Xiao Ran told me you have contacted your family." 

"Yes… Thank you."

"That's good," he said with a small smile. "I've sent her to pick them up. It's hard to find this place if you don't know where to look."

"What is this place exactly?" she asked hesitantly, looking around the simple room.

The old man chuckled. "Just a small place where this old man spends the days he has left."

After this, the silence fell over. Bai Yuqi stared at him while he started packing up the leftover herbs from yesterday. He noticed her gaze.

"Ask if you have any questions." 

"Qin Xue Ran..." she started, then paused, unsure how to phrase what she wanted to know.

"She is probably your sister," the old man said matter-of-factly, not looking up from his herbs, though from the corner of his eye, he was observing her reaction. "I found her when she was just a couple of days old, abandoned in the forest. She has lived with me since then."

"She's lived her whole life in the middle of nowhere?" Bai Yuqi asked, trying to imagine what that must have been like.

The old man laughed, a warm sound that filled the small room. "We don't live in the middle of nowhere, child. We live in a village about an hour's walk from here. We just come to this cottage occasionally because this place is peaceful. 

"Oh," 

While Bai Yuqi was talking with the old man back at the cottage, a couple of miles away by the river, Qin Xue Ran was sitting on her usual folding chair with her fishing rod in hand. Her teacher had told her to go pick up those people who were looking for Bai Yuqi, but honestly, she was too lazy to do it. So instead, she'd sent Ma Chenxi to do it, bribing him with some money. 

She looked down at her basket, counting the three fish she'd caught. Satisfied with her catch, she decided to pack up when she heard the sound of heavy boots shuffling through the underbrush behind her.

"I found someone here," a voice called out.

Soon, more footsteps followed, and she could sense people moving to surround her position. She didn't turn around immediately, instead taking her time to pack her gear.

One pair of boots stepped closer until the person was standing just a few feet behind her. 

"Miss, we didn't mean to bother you, but we are looking for someone," the voice said.

Qin Xue Ran looked at the time on her watch and stood up slowly, dusting off her dress. Finally, she turned around to face whoever was speaking to her.

They were all dressed in black military uniforms, but her attention was focused on the man right before her. He was tall with a slightly muscular build that was evident even under his uniform. His face looked like something an artist might spend years perfecting, with sharp cheekbones and a strong jawline. His phoenix-shaped eyes were curved at the corners. His black hair fell messily across his forehead.

"Yuqi!" someone suddenly called out, and she saw another man in uniform running toward her from the side, but he was stopped by the man before her. 

"Boss?" Deng Weijun looked at Gu Ziyan, confused why he was staring at Bai Yuqi with that intense gaze. 

Earlier that day, their Azure Dragon legion had received a call from the White Tiger legion's admiral, requesting help. The admiral's niece, Bai Yuqi, had been kidnapped and was somewhere in Baiyun Forest, which was closest to their base. They had been searching for her for hours. Even the Bai family had arrived twenty minutes ago, but it was only now that they'd found her.

"She is not her," Gu Ziyan said. 

Deng Weijun frowned and looked at the girl. Their legion was not unfamiliar with Bai Yuqi, as they would often come across her in the main army base when she came to meet her elder brother and uncle. Now staring at this girl, she looked exactly like Bai Yuqi. Except this girl wore a white hanfu and had long hair. 

Just then, a crackling voice came through someone's radio: "We just met someone named Ma Chenxi who said he knows Bai Yuqi and would take us to her. He told us she is living in some cottage nearby."

Immediately, multiple guns were pointed at Qin Xue Ran from different directions, but except for raising her eyebrow, she did not show any other reaction. 

"Is this how people treat others nowadays?" she asked genuinely. Qin Xue Ran knew she was not like other people and had difficulty with emotions. So instead, she would always observe others and try to logically understand their emotions and actions. 

"Who are you?" Gu Ziyan asked. In his mind, he already had a guess. 

"Qin Xue Ran," she responded. "If you want, I can take you people to the cottage they mentioned." 

More Chapters