MDZS: Scars Remain Unforgotten.

Chapter-2: A Guqin's sound, first appearances all over again.

It was night. Deep night, soundless, pitch dark yet starry with clouds. I wandered the Lan sect's halls, I didn't feel like going back to my room and sleeping, I just awoke. And I didn't want to lay recalling the unwanted thoughts looming in the corners of my mind.

So many things, so many events, I wasn't present there at all. I did not know whether relief or aching caressed my heart. I sighed.

The past, as people say, is the past. You must only look towards the future, do what is to do in the present. Past mistakes can never be repented. Not unless no one remembers you or what you did!

Was I to run from this sect or become a disciple or be a guest here and repeat my leisure-filled days? Questions flooded my brain.

I leaned against a pillar and stared into the night once more. What do I do?

I knew no more.

Then I heard it. I knew it. Song of Clarity. 'It's him.'

Light strumming, it eased my mind. 'It's him for sure, except, he doesn't remember me.'

I heard it playing from the Library pavilion. I immediately rushed there. The Magnolia tree still stood tall outside. I didn't abruptly enter, I peeked through a window while keeping low, I wanted to see if...I hesitated...our first appearances were to be repeated once more. I hated the first impression he had on me.

It stopped. I could only hear, I could not see him.

"Who goes there?" My eyes widened upon hearing his sharp tone, his voice gentle and calming as ever, but his tone: brisk yet slowed, yet threatening.

I kept low as possible. I knew he would either get up to check or ignore whoever was there. He decided to check.

'Ai...Lan Zhan...' I became disappointed. He was not going to see me like this!

I stood up. Our eyes met, and I got agitated. He was here, outside, standing right in front of me. Not a single change.

His clothes remained all the same, white, cloud-like. His hair: properly tied in place. And his face: serene, soothing to glance at, devoid of expressions and emotions. Not matter how many times I looked at his clothes, the one thing always popped up in my head like a triggered thought, 'funeral clothes!' No matter how many times I looked at his attire, but his grace, I have to say, awed me...to some extents.

"Lan Zhan! You haven't changed at all!" After I spat that out without thinking, I could see he was taken aback.

"We have never met before." He made no eye contact with me and held his head high. Such a snob.

"Ai...yes, yes." I fiddled with my fingers awkwardly.

"You called Hanguang-jun by his given name sir! Do you not know who he is!" I turned my back to Lan Zhan and stared at the boy. The disciple yelled and looked at me wide-eyed.

"AND HOW DID YOU KNOW HIS GIVEN NAME!?" Another disciple yelled, surprised, shocked, it was as if I'd committed a crime.

Then they were unable to speak. "He used silencing charm." I whispered under my breath. I lightly grinned.

"Children are not to interfere when adults speak." Lan Zhan spoke, his voice stiff and unforgiving towards them. The disciples whimpered.

I turned back to Lan Zhan.

"Hanguang-jun, Hanguang-jun, ah, sorry, sorry, I-" before I could finish, he walked away.

'Well...so much for focusing on first impressions.' My face drooped.

What had suddenly made me care for his approval?

I shouldn't have cared. Even if he remembered he would be the same old boring, bland person he would be. Now that he doesn't remember anything, I am a mere stranger to him.

A discomfort aroused by the fact I tried to impress him. I thought over my actions again. What did they mean? What did he mean? Why was he only on my mind?

"Lan Zhan..." I groaned softly out of displeasure.

"Mister..." A disciple approached. It was the one who yelled as if I had committed a crime.

"How...how..." He looked at me.

"Ai! All of you exaggerate! Just because I am a stranger doesn't mean I haven't heard of Lan Zhan!"

"Lan...Lan..."

"Sorry, sorry, okay, Hanguang-jun, Hanguang-jun."

He blinked like a fool at me. I left. As swift as Lan Zhan arrived, before my face. I turned back an inch to see if he was still there or not.
The disciple still stood there, processing. I sighed once more. Then I walked on.

What should I do? Stay here, become a disciple, or leave...never to come back.

"Hanguang-jun and Zewu-jun will be going to the Carp Tower tomorrow."

"Why?"

"I don't know, all I know is that they're going."

I overheard two disciples talking.

'Carp Tower hm? What if...'

'Maybe...' Maybe.

"Looks like I'll be pleading and holding some feet tomorrow."

Ruckus. I'll create it. Something Wei Wuxian and The Yiling Patriarch never failed at.

Answers. All I need are answers.