Chapter 182: Chapter 181: Lost Memories
Lin Wanwan looked at her own hand, so white it seemed transparent, holding a tuft of white hair. Her expression faltered, and she murmured to herself, "How could this happen? Why am I so white? Who am I? Where am I?"
The incessant sound roared in her ears, yet she heard nothing, her mind filled with the sound of her own questioning.
"Darling, come quickly, mother will take you for an outing; the mountain flowers have bloomed, let’s go compete in flower picking with the sisters." A lavishly dressed lady from ancient times stood at the street side, beckoning her with a smile.
"Okay." The scenery on both sides swiftly retreated from her view, leaving only the increasingly clearer image of the lady in ancient attire on the street.
Lin Wanwan walked forward a few steps and was suddenly blocked by a little girl with white hair and pale skin.
The little girl screamed at her, heart-wrenchingly, "Why? Why doesn’t anyone want me! Is being white my fault? No! No! No! Why don’t you all want me!!"
"I am not, I didn’t..." she murmured in confusion, "I didn’t not want you."
The little girl vanished abruptly, replaced by an old woman with gray hair, who shouted and cursed at her, tears streaming, "Your father is gone! Gone! How can you not shed a single tear?! Why is it your father and not you! You and your mother are jinxes! I knew people with pointy chins were no good, cursing husbands and fathers! Woe is me! My son died so unjustly!"
"This child is still young, so foolish; no parents left, now she must become a wild child."
"No! I’m not a wild child! I’m not!!" Lin Wanwan shouted suddenly, and everything around her fell into silence swiftly, the sky changing positions, her eyes seeing the scene change once more, and a pair of iron arms suddenly appeared, pulling her back a step.
The sky had turned dark.
Lin Wanwan took a cold breath, looking at the steep slope before her, breaking into a cold sweat; a single step further, and she would have fallen to the bottom. That slope was twenty to thirty meters deep, though not extremely high, but a fall could still be perilous.
Her mind was spinning in confusion, everything before her turned hazy again; in a daze, she saw a tall figure with graying hair approaching, wielding a terrifying needle towards her.
She tried to turn her head to avoid it, but found her face fixed in place, her soul struggling, yet her body did not react at all, her eyes helplessly watching the needle tip draw closer.
A crescent moon hung in the sky.
Lin Wanwan felt the sound of faint sobbing in her ear, wanting to open her eyes to see, yet her eyelids felt as heavy as thousands of pounds.
Moments later, she felt a weight on her chest, a little head resting upon her, making it somewhat difficult to breathe, but oddly comforting. Her eyelashes trembled a few times, then she finally opened her eyes, scanning around to find herself lying on a bed in the guest house of Ge Xian Temple, with no idea of how she got there, having no recollection at all.
Then, Lin Wanwan looked down, and indeed saw little Qingyu asleep on her chest; in the confusion just now, she had caught a scent of milk from little Qingyu, slowly waking her.
Lin Wanwan pinched the bridge of her nose, rose up, and moved little Qingyu to the side. By the light of the faint candle, she saw little one’s face streaked with white tear marks. Beside the bed, Hua Nong leaned with half-closed eyes, who knows how long she had been keeping watch.
As if sensing Lin Wanwan’s gaze, Hua Nong suddenly opened her eyes, her body trembling, sat up straight, and exclaimed in surprise, "Mistress, you’re awake? Is your headache better? You scared the life out of me."
Lin Wanwan leaned against the bedhead, throat feeling parched, and softly said, "Get me some water."
Hua Nong swiftly responded, poured a cup of warm water, and handed it to Lin Wanwan.
Lin Wanwan drank it slowly, finally feeling a bit better, and asked her, "How did I get back here?"
With lingering fear, Hua Nong replied, "Mistress, you were carried back here on Kun Lun’s back today; you remained unconscious the whole time, it scared everyone. Then, Immortal Sun gave you medicine and performed acupuncture before leaving."
Lin Wanwan pondered for a moment, not remembering any of it, and asked, "Did the ancestor say what was wrong?"
Hua Nong answered, "Immortal Sun said you might have eaten poisonous mushrooms, resulting in hallucinations. Mistress, did you eat wild mushrooms from the mountain with the Xiao Family ladies?"
Lin Wanwan furrowed her brows slightly, she hadn’t eaten any mushrooms! Today, first she helped Immortal Sun save a patient with acute heart failure, then treated several difficult cases, feeling sickened by the smell of medicine, she went to the peach grove to find her cousins from the Xiao Family.
Afterwards... what else happened? Why couldn’t she be sure?
"Forget it, Hua Nong, go to sleep; once I wake up, we can discuss further." It was late, Lin Wanwan was particularly exhausted today, deciding to sleep first, and think things through once her energy is restored.
"Alright." Hua Nong bowed, "Mistress, if you feel unwell during the night, just call me, I’ll be sleeping in the outer room."
"Mmm, go now."
Hua Nong extinguished the light, closed the door, and left the room.
Lin Wanwan turned over, grabbing little Qingyu’s chubby hand by her head and holding it in her palm, this gave her a bit of real sensation. She intended to sleep immediately, leaving any matters for tomorrow, but as the surroundings became truly quiet, sleep evaded her.
Immortal Sun said she suffered a hallucination; why would she have hallucinations for no reason? She hadn’t touched any toxic mushrooms.
It seemed a part of her memory was missing, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall anything from separating from the Xiao Family sisters to waking up again at Ge Xian Temple, nothing in between.
Vaguely, she felt she had encountered someone, had conversed for quite a while. But, who was it? What did they say?
Oh, if only she had brought Kun Lun today, she shouldn’t have left Kun Lun at the Elder Hall to assist them.
Lin Wanwan released Qingyu’s hand, turned over, eyes fixed on the mysterious darkness within the room.
No, something strange did happen today!
She saw a lone, crying albino little girl, and before encountering her, she smelled a peculiar fragrance. Could it be that the fragrance was toxic?
"Little girl?" The next moment, Lin Wanwan remembered everything.
Everything that happened during the chaos of dusk rapidly unraveled in her mind; Lin Wanwan immediately understood. All the strange events of the evening started from when the little girl left.
"But why can’t I recall the little girl’s appearance now?" she mused, the more she tried to remember the albino little girl’s details, the more it became a blur, her face automatically obscured in her memory.