Chapter 82: Camellia Blooms, the Man Departs (Part 1) First encounter with

Camellia Village, nestled between mountains and the sea, named for the camellias that can be seen throughout the village. The moment Ye Qingzhan fell off the cliff, she thought she was doomed. But upon waking, she smelled the fragrance of camellia.

She could see nothing.

It was as if she had fallen into a bottomless abyss, the darkness before her eyes boundless. Shocked and panicked, Ye Qingzhan was even more worried about the safety of her mother, Jiang Xuejun.

"Mother, Mother? Are you there?"

No one answered.

Ye Qingzhan sat hugging her knees, tears streaming down her face, recalling the events leading up to her fall.

After returning from praying at Yuntai Mountain, she and her mother rode in a carriage, descending the Jade Butterfly Peak Road. They intended to visit the Zhuxi Ancient Shrine to pay homage to the two immortals, but were blocked by a rolling boulder.

The boulder, careening down the mountainside, struck the driver on the head, killing him instantly. The carriage was shattered by the rolling rocks. She and her mother, one falling to the ground, the other on the broken planks, were pulled by the frightened horse to the edge of a cliff.

Her head hit the rocks, and a crooked tree at the edge of the cliff supported her shaky body. Dizzy, she struggled to raise her head and saw a young man in red, holding a long sword with a faint blue glow, approaching her mother.

The moment the sword's tip touched her mother's throat, she screamed in despair and fell off the cliff...

After withdrawing from her memories, Ye Qingzhan's body trembled violently, her mind filled with thoughts of Jiang Xuejun.

What happened to her mother? Who was that young man in red? Why was he pointing a sword at her mother?

A series of questions lingered in her heart. After calming herself down, Ye Qingzhan groped for a branch on the ground, trying to find support. She found it, pushed herself to her feet, and continued forward, her thoughts pounding.

There was a crooked tree where she fell off the cliff, and that tree was located on the hillside of Jade Butterfly Peak. If she fell from the cliff there without any shelter, she would surely die after landing.

Ye Qingzhan touched the back of her hand, her arms, her face... there was no pain. She stopped walking and began to carefully recall the details of the cliff fall.

The mountain wind was very strong when she fell, and she closed her eyes in despair and fear. The moment she closed her eyes, she felt a lightness all over her body, as if she was caught by some soft silk, and then it was as if she fell on the back of something - hard and thick.

Ye Qingzhan remembered that she slowly opened her eyes, and her clenched hands loosened. She mustered up the courage to grab the things that were carrying her. But after hearing a painful howl, her eyes stung, and then she completely fainted.

When she woke up again, she could not see anything, and could only smell the fragrance of camellia.

Now that she thought about it, the creature that was carrying her and making calls must be some huge bird - thinking of this, Ye Qingzhan searched her body again, but she did not find any hard feathers like scales that she had torn off from the bird. When she was looking for branches just now, she did not touch anything with the same texture.

Feeling lost, Ye Qingzhan continued to move forward. If her guess was correct, she would reach Camellia Village in more than ten miles. As long as she got there, she could ask for water to drink and survive. Only by staying alive could she find her mother and figure out what happened today.

The further she walked, the stronger the fragrance of camellia became. Ye Qingzhan counted her steps in her heart, and when she was about to reach the place, someone called her.

"Listen to the footsteps, girl, you are not from Camellia Village

, are you?" Ye Qingzhan stopped and wondered: Why does this person identify people by footsteps instead of using his eyes? Could it be...

"Don't panic, young lady. I'm Hu Shuo, a villager from Camellia Village, also known as 'Hu Banxian'. Like you, I have an eye injury and can't see." Hu Banxian stroked his beard and explained.

It turns out that the real fortune teller of Camellia Village is Hu Shuo. Ye Qingzhan has heard of this legendary figure.

Hu Shuo, as his name suggests, likes to talk and is good at talking nonsense. Nine out of ten words are false, but the truth in his words often contains great fortune and luck. If someone is destined to hear it, they can use this opportunity to turn things around and rise to prominence. However, most people who come to him for fortune-telling will be cheated out of everything.

Ye Qingzhan never believed in fortune-telling. He just wanted to get away from this charlatan and asked the villagers for a drink of water.

"Hello, Immortal Hu. I am indeed not from Camellia Village. You have such good hearing. I came here to visit my relatives. You are blind, but you can tell that I am also a blind girl. You are really amazing."

After listening to what she said, Hu Banxian suddenly laughed a few times: "The girl came all the way along the flower and stone road, knocking the bamboo pole in her hand. I, Hu, am blind, but I am a famous 'wind-hearing' person." He paused and continued, "I counted with my fingers and listened with my ears, and I knew that the girl was lying. There are only a few families in Camellia Village, and I have never heard of anyone having a blind relative. Besides, I only heard the girl's footsteps and the sound of the bamboo pole knocking on the road. There was no other sound. Who would let a blind person visit relatives? The girl must be alone!" "

Aren't you afraid of hearing it wrong?" Ye Qingzhan couldn't help but tighten his grip on the bamboo pole, thinking that this person was really difficult to deal with.

After hearing what she said, Hu Banxian laughed out loud again, even louder than before, "I have never heard it wrong."

The man's words were all about self-affirmation. Ye Qingzhan did not want to linger, so she lifted her bamboo pole and walked lightly to leave. As soon as she took a step, she heard the man say again: "I know that the young lady is worried, so I will not bother you too much. If the young lady trusts me, go straight ahead for a mile and then walk east for 200 steps. There is a nunnery there and you can stay there. In a few days, go to see Dr. Li Yingli from Camellia Village for treatment. She is not here these days and has gone out to see patients."

The man known as "Banxian" was full of sincerity in his words at this time, without any hint of joking smile. Ye Qingzhan also put away his doubts about him, thanked him, and continued to move forward.

—— She had not seen the person behind her, and her closed eyes slowly opened the moment she turned around.

Hu Banxian looked at her back as she walked away, smiled with curved lips, and disappeared into the night.

She had walked this path along the flowery gravel road with her father before, but at that time, she had only seen the beautiful, idyllic village from afar. She had no idea how to get there once she entered. She did, however, hear that there was a temple called Si Ning Nunnery, home to many kind nuns.

Remembering Hu Banxian's words, "Nine out of ten lies, but the one he said is true," Ye Qingzhan, holding a bamboo pole, followed his instructions.

Sure enough, a hundred paces away, she encountered someone carrying sandalwood. The woman spoke in a female voice. After learning of her story, she agreed to let her stay temporarily.

Hungry and exhausted, still shrouded in fear and worry, she simply wanted to find a place to stay while she recuperated and asked around for information about her mother's whereabouts. Once she was more or less healed, she would return to Sui'an County to find her father.

Thinking of her father, Ye Qingzhan, curled up in bed, felt a pang of sadness. If this unforeseen event hadn't happened, she and her mother would have safely returned home, sharing a meal with her father and their experiences along the way. But...if she didn't return home on the agreed date, her father would be extremely worried and would send people to look for her and her mother.

She hoped that her father could find her mother earlier than she did.

Her mother must still be alive.

Somewhere in her heart, a voice was shouting firmly.

Fatigue came over her, and as soon as Ye Qingzhan closed her eyes, she dreamed of what happened during the day.

A young man in red came with a sword in his hand. The red iris between his eyebrows was like a dancing flame, burning her heart bit by bit as he walked. Her mother was not in the dream, and the person the sword was pointing at was her...

Ye Qingzhan woke up from her dream and took a deep breath.

Sunlight shone in through the window. She could feel the warmth, but she could not feel the light with her eyes.

A night passed, and she still could not see.

There was no time to be sad. Ye Qingzhan got up, folded the quilt, groped to the table, and followed the instructions of her sister Shoujing who took care of her yesterday. Following her memory and counting the steps, she went to different places to change clothes, wash, dress, and eat.

When Ye Qingzhan appeared in the laundry area wearing the clothes that Shoujing wore before she became a nun, there was some surprise in the eyes of the nuns. Although she could not see, she could hear.

Shoujing took her arm, looked at the sky, turned around and asked: "Why don't you sleep more? It's dawn now. You fell from a high cliff and must have been very frightened. You also walked for a long time. How can your body bear it if you don't get enough rest?"

Ye Qingzhan smiled and said, "It's okay. You are all busy here. I always feel guilty sleeping in bed." After losing her sight, her hearing became extremely sharp. She listened to the gurgling water and the sound of pounding clothes for a while, and her anxious heart calmed down. She couldn't sleep, so she might as well do something to relieve the burden in her heart. "Sisters, is there anything I can do?"

After that day, Ye Qingzhan stayed in Si Ning Temple, recovering from her injuries while helping out in any way she could. She also inquired about her mother Jiang Xuejun and kept an eye on her father Ye Shaolin. There

was no news from her mother, and her father had not yet come.

As she waited day after day, Ye Qingzhan inevitably felt despair, and the uneasiness in her heart continued to rise like a tide. She could not see the light in her eyes, and always cried alone at night.

Until one day, she heard from the villagers of Camellia Village about the tragic case of the Ye family being wiped out in Sui'an County.

Ye Qingzhan fainted.

After waking up, she cried and shouted to go home. Shoujing accompanied her back to Sui'an County. Her hand touched the cold seal, and at that moment, her heart sank.

She didn't understand why all the misfortunes came to her overnight? ? She didn't understand even more that a kind person like her father would die at the hands of his neighbors, with no remains left!

She didn't believe it!

"My father's body has not been found, it has not been found! He must still be alive! You are lying to me, you are all lying to me!" Ye Qingzhan pushed away Shoujing who was holding her arm, stumbled and tried to push the door open, but was knocked unconscious to the ground by the yamen runners who followed behind her.

From then on, Ye Qingzhan fell silent. Her smiling face was gone, and her expression was dull and lifeless, as depressed and lifeless as a withered old tree.

She often sat alone by the sea, listening to the sound of waves hitting the rocks.

From sunrise to sunset.

She knew she couldn't do this, and she told herself again and again to cheer up.

Finally, in the days when she couldn't see the light, Ye Qingzhan received good news. The miracle doctor Li Ying was coming back.

She asked her to heal her eyes. She wanted to go find her missing parents. She would never believe that they had left her.

There were lightning and thunder, and the wind and rain were raging

. Before the storm at sea came, Ye Qingzhan finally came back to life. She got up from the rock, held the bamboo pole tightly, and moved forward carefully, but amid the thunder, she could distinguish a strange sound of footsteps.

Ye Qingzhan turned around and was startled.

The cold breath brought the moisture of the sea breeze, with wisps of plum fragrance, and it came over like a blanket, surrounding her in an instant.

The hair on her temples was blown up, and a strange smell suddenly came to her, like a cage, tightly trapping her.

Ye Qingzhan knew clearly that there was a person standing in front of her, but only a few inches away.

The breath was too overbearing, as if it was going to burn people. Ye Qingzhan was panicked and asked in a trembling voice: "Who are you?" She

waited for a long time, but heard no answer.

She thought she would not get a response, but in the next moment, her shoulders suddenly sank.

It was like -someone was leaning on her shoulder.