Chasing the Fleeting Flower

1: Wingless Girl

"Catch her!" a man's coarse voice echoed through the deep, maze-like forest.

A girl around the age of sixteen panted heavily as she ran with all her might through the complicated woods. Avoiding all the fallen lumbers and thorny bushes, the sunlight quickly engulfed her as she reached the opening end of a high cliff.

She cautiously peeked down and noticed a large running river several miles below her. Her heart raced a hundred miles per hour and loudly hammered against her chest, drumming her ears. She glanced back at the men who were slowly catching up to her and returned her gaze back to the river.

Millions of thoughts rush through her mind as she debated on her next move. She took several deep breathes and counted to three as she ran towards the cliff. On the last digit, she jumped off the edge and flew into the air before diving down.

The raggedy men came to a stop near the cliff and peered down at the river. There was no movements after a large splash was heard, while the ripples had already been washed away.

The leader tsked angrily before ordering his men to go search for her; regardless if she was alive or not, her body must be brought back.

As for the girl who flew in the sky without wings, she passed through numerous tree branches and plunged under the water. Her injuries were not major nor minor, but the situation was definitely better than being captured by the men who were sent after her. Her vision blackened the moment she hit the water while her bloodied body floated down the river before colliding against a large rock.

"My robe..." a man with a gentle voice called out from the side. His refined eyebrows knitted when he witnessed a girl falling from the sky out of nowhere. He watched every branch she hit on the way down, and every bird that was disturbed flew away. The unfortunate ones were smacked to the side by her featherless wings.

While she fell, she happened to grab ahold of the gentleman's outer robe that was wrung from being freshly washed and hung. Now, they were back in the river and even covered in her blood. Fortunately, it was a simple black robe.

Walking towards her, he grabbed one of the fallen branches and dragged his clothes away from her. He frowned deeply and kneeled down to wash the bloodstained robe. His face remained neutral while he cleansed his robe free of dirt and blood. When he stood up and began to walk away, he turned around to glance at the girl.

Her wet, black hair covered her face. Blood oozed from her head while her tight blue robe was torn to shred and revealed her bloody gashes. He felt that she looked rather pitiful. It couldn't be suicide. Why aim for the pool of water then?

He looked down at his damp clothes and sighed silently as he walked towards her. Heaving her towards the edge, he carried her off into a nearby hidden cave where he had resided for the past couple days.

"How troublesome..."

He did not know why he helped her or bothered to even take another glance. Shaking away his thoughts, he started a fire and removed her out of her wet clothes. Not bothered by her indecency or nudity, he treated her wounds and wrapped them with strips of white-cotton cloth. Afterwards, he dressed her with his spare clothes and adjusted it to her smaller frame by folding the edges.

Now that she was all cleaned up, he observed her face as he sat by her side. Quite pretty, he thought. If one were to ignore the black and blue bruises—along with the cuts on her face—she was actually quite pleasant to look at. Six out of ten.

He thought nothing more and stood up to hunt for food. By the time he came back and finished roasting fish, she had finally showed some movements. She slowly opened her eyes to reveal a reflection of the endless night sky in shapes of orbs behind her eyelids.

Her pupils surveyed the room before her sight landed on the gentleman, assuming that he was her savior. She blinked slowly and opened her mouth to speak but bursts of pain bombarded her entire body. Knitting her eyebrows, her eyes glanced downwards, covered in treated wounds and a new set of clothes.Sensing that they were the only ones in this cave, she assumed that he changed her clothes. Panic rushed through her body. It did not sit well with her that a man had seen her naked before she even got married but her body refused to move. After doing a personal scan of her body, she confirmed that she had remained untouched and noticeably relaxed her tensed muscles.

She lay immobile on the thin mat and was seated next to the warm fire. The smell of grilled fish waffled their way to her nose, instantly awakening her stomach and letting the entire world know of its hunger cry. A small blush made its way to her cheek as she looked away in embarrassment.

The handsome young man said nothing as he walked over to check her temperature. His eyes were gentle while his lips were as flat as her chest. He looked amiable while at the same time, extremely cold-hearted. She could not tell what he was thinking.

"Gentleman..." her hoarse voice cracked.

He nonchalantly handed her a leather bota bag. With great effort, she slowly took a small sip. Her injured arm screamed at her for using its strength but she dares not to ask him to help her.

In a more clear voice, she started once again, "Gentleman, thank you for saving me. May I ask for your name?"

He stared at the fire with vacant eyes before turning towards her expressionlessly. In a soothing voice, he answered, "Yu Jian."

"Gentleman Yu Jian, I will have to trouble you for a few days. Should you ever need anything, you can always tell me and I will do it!" she firmly exclaimed through small breathes.

He raised one of his refined eyebrows, "Anything?"

She gulped slightly but did not back down, "I am a person of honor, I stick to my words."

He did not express any more interest and handed her a grilled fish on a stick. The girl stared at the delicacy with conflicted eyes. Although she was not keen on being dependent on others, she was currently heavily injured and probably crippled at the moment. This man is quite heartless...

"Not eating?" he asked gently in a soft tone.

She swallowed her saliva and her eyes revealed a bit of wrongness, "...will."

With great difficulty, she bit her inner cheek to endure the pain. Though she did not have the appetite to eat, she still had to fill her stomach in order to recover. However, the pain was excruciating as sweat began to cover her back and her face paled a little more.

'Endure, endure.'

Her hand became visibly shaky, catching Yu Jian's attention. He turned towards her and caught the fish before it fell to the floor. Holding it by the end, he held by her mouth.

"If you need help, just ask for it. Don't waste."

Feeling a little embarrassed, she quietly thanked him before nibbling on the grilled fish. Though he was quite frank and blank, she didn't mind the refreshing personality. He seems like an honest person. It was better than people constantly sucking up to her then trashing her behind her back.