Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

The sun was setting, and it was cold and quiet in the forest. The five of them dozed off and waited for nightfall to escape.Twice they heard the sound of horseshoes in the distance, because before going to Ou's house, he had sent a message to his relatives, so he knew they should arrive soon. But when others saw Jamin's bruises in the daylight, everyone objected to continue walking.Aya took out the ointment prepared in advance, and forced Jemin to lie down and let her apply the wound on his back. Now, hours after crawling out of the tunnel, everyone is waking up from their sleep and feeling restless.There was still an hour or two before dark, and Aya became more and more worried that Jemin would act like a hero and go back to O'Henry to settle the score.She knew that it was tiredness that made him fall asleep in the afternoon, and now he was looking around frizzily, "Can you really smell anything?" She asked Pei Ling, desperately wanting to divert her attention. "You know that's a rare talent? I've always tried to make perfume like the French, but the problem is that pressing dried violets doesn't necessarily make a violet-scented perfume, you have to mix certain plants together to make what you want the taste of."

"Like verbena smells more like lemons than lemons, doesn't it?" Pei Ling said. "Yes, I did some experiments, but after mixing four or five plants, I couldn't tell the difference between smelly socks and roses. If someone could help me..." "My sister can distinguish the difference between a hundred kinds of plants at the same time." Xiao Qiu said, still feeling sad for Pei Ling's betrayal, what happened in the tunnel made Pei Ling sit so close to Aya, and said to her Smile so happily in every sentence of ? Aya pulled out several plants and put them under Pei Ling's nose, and soon found out that what Xiao Qiu said was true: Pei Ling could even distinguish different barks.

"It's amazing, it's really amazing! You and I will make money by doing business together!" "We will never let Pei Ling sit in the store and let others stare at her." Xiao Qiu said rudely. "Staring at her? Because she's pretty?" "No, because she is blind!" "With a nose like hers, who cares if she can't see it?" "What?" Xiao Qiu gasped in surprise. Aya immediately realized that she had made a slip of the tongue: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any disrespect, I just suddenly forgot that Pei Ling was blind."

When Xiao Qiu was about to speak, Pei Ling said calmly, "I hope everyone will not remember that I am blind. I don't want to be a burden to my family." "Burden?" Aya said with a smile. "With your talent, you and I can definitely make a lot of money." Aya stood up and found that everyone was looking at her.She thought maybe she could make them forget their troubles for a while. "It's a real honor that you three still remember me being here. My behavior and personality have been evaluated by you without me expressing any opinion, and now you have decided to ask me a question. Finally, My honor is restored." She smiled at them. "I have no intention of participating in any of your proposals. I don't want to spend the rest of my life kissing women's hands and telling them... what they smell like."

Aya grimaced, and then she had an idea. "Perhaps it would be better to ask Pei Ling to go!" "Me?" Pei Ling asked. "At court?" "You can sit on a chair with velvet upholstery and have every lady come up to you. You hold their hands, talk to them, and decide which scent suits them best," says Aya excitedly. "Pei Ling can't—" "What about the man?" Xiao Qiu interrupted Jemin. "Don't forget men who want to have their own scent. What do you think Richard will smell like? Light or strong?" Pei Ling giggled. "What would a perfume called 'O Henry' smell like?"

"The smell of horse sweat!" said Xiaoqiu, making everyone laugh, even Jemin raised the corners of his mouth, and Xiaoqiu stood up, chest out, thumbs in his belt, like a cocky The tall man walked with a swagger. "I'm a man." She boasted. "I want something manly, something for real men!" Aya pretended to hold the perfume bottle and walked towards Xiaoqiu. "Oh, great hero, I have the most manly thing in the world here." "I don't want flowers!" said Jemin in a low, hoarse voice. "I must protect my manhood, girl." "Oh, yes, sir," Aya said coquettishly, blinking her eyelashes. "I can see your masculinity is unmatched, but you will find that we use the most manly materials in the world."

"Flowers?" Xiao Qiu growled. "Oh no, not at all. Uh...maybe used one." "I don't want flowers! Don't you understand, little girl? I'm a man! I'm getting out of here!" "But, sir," Aya called to Xiaoqiu, who had her back turned to her. "It's kale bitten by a skunk!" That made everyone laugh out loud, including Jemin, and Joe stung back. "What else is in there?" she asked suspiciously. "The blade of a saw." Upon hearing that sentence, even Xiao Qiu almost forgot her role and laughed.It used to be that Xiaoqiu had the center of the stage and was cute, but now Aya and her are evenly matched.

"Rusty old saw blades, and broken swords, and the dirt where dead men lay—people who died in battle, of course." Xiao Qiu didn't smile. "of course." "And, as usual, with horse manure for the mix." "Just what I needed." "But..." Aya looked around, as if to see if anyone was watching her. "We added a very special material for you." "what material?" "Toe glue, collected from the toes of a tall Turkish man. He never took a bath in his life." "Bought it!" Xiao Qiu shouted louder than everyone's laughter. "I'll give you six castles and two hundred acres of land, is that enough?"

"I want three hundred acres of land." "It's all yours!" "Then I'll—" "Quiet!" Jietao suddenly ordered, then stood up and walked to the other side of the camp, motioning everyone to get down and keep quiet, his eyes searched the woods.Todd put his arms around Pei Ling out of protection, hiding her where even Jemin couldn't see her. After a while, Jemin smiled, and then turned to Aya who was lying on the ground. "It's your cousin," his voice was full of wonder. "I recognize that dazzling dress anywhere." Aya raised her head in disbelief, she looked past the fallen wood where Todd and Pei Ling were hiding, and saw Fulan walking towards them leisurely, as if she had all the time in the world.

Aya immediately jumped up, ran towards Fulan, and stood in front of Fulan hesitantly.Despite being kidnapped, Fulan still looks the same, but at the same time seems a little different.Just like Todd!Aya thought to herself. "What's the matter?" Fu Lan asked, "Aren't you happy to see me?" Then she spread her arms and they both rushed towards each other, hugging tightly.Aya was surprised to find herself very happy to see Fran. Jamin walked up to Fulan and was going to ask her many questions, but Fulan said she had no comment until she ate, and then she told him where she hid a whole bag of food, which shocked him .

"Aya, don't be so surprised," Fu Lan said with a smile after Jemin left. "How do you think my family fed themselves before climbing up to Mei's house?" "I—I don't know." "Steal. I was an expert at stealing chickens when I was only four years old, and I stole the eggs as soon as the hen laid them." She turned and walked towards the rest of the camp. Aiya stood there blankly looking at Fulan's back. Ever since she knew Fulan, she always thought that Fulan's family was the kindest and kindest family in the world.After recovering a bit, Aya also walked back to the camp. An hour later, supper was cooked—Fulan was helping out—and everyone sat around Fulan, waiting for her to tell how she had escaped. Aya felt weird, as if her world had completely changed.Todd, who used to look at her with admiration in the past, now gazes at Pei Ling with love; and Fu Lan, who has never been able to take care of herself, escaped from the stone room and fried bacon and eggs on the campfire, as if it was a kindness for her. It's a common thing for me, but before Fulan couldn't even tie shoelaces, let alone make soup with her own hands. Also, her demeanor is a bit different...perhaps full of confidence!Aya thought, now Fulan seems to be more confident than before. "Tell us quickly," Xiao Qiu urged, lying on the grass with outstretched limbs and looking at Fu Lan, wondering why her brother would reject such beauties and go to Aya.Still, it's fun being with Aya... well, maybe Aya isn't that bad. "Tell us how you escaped," Xiao Qiu said again. "I drew doors on the wall." Fu Lan replied with a smile, looking at everyone expectantly, but no one showed any understanding. But then Todd laughed. "Like Aya," he said.As Fran looked at him, Aya saw the two of them exchange glances, as if sharing some personal secret. Fu Lan signaled Todd to continue. "It was a trick Aya played once when she was twelve," he said. "One time she stayed up all night drawing half-open doors everywhere, mouseholes, gates and low doors." "There are still some windows." Fu Lan added. "The cook used to drink a lot of wine, and it was almost driven crazy by Aya, because when she went out for several days in a row, she found herself bumping into the wall." Todd said with a smile. Aya had completely forgotten about it, but now she also remembered that she once painted daisies all over the walls of Fulan's room.Thinking of Jamin's reaction to the daisy-covered cloak, Aya prayed to Todd and Fran that they would never bring up the past again. "How did you escape?" Aya urged, hoping to change the subject before Todd and Fran continued to explain her childhood pranks. "I asked myself what Aya would do in this situation, and I followed suit." Fran said proudly, then looked at Jemin and said, "Aya is very smart, you know." That sentence made Aya's mouth open, and her teeth nearly fell out. "I have to start from the beginning," Fran said. "It was fine at first, Henry was nice to me because he just wanted to marry Jemin's sister and was going to trade me for her. But then his horrible brother came and said to him: 'Henry, you caught me. To be the heir to the May family, and want to trade her for a girl who is too poor to repair her own roof?' He told Henry that he should marry me, and I was locked up in the stone chamber in the tower." Fulan took a deep breath and looked at her audience.Before, Aya's liveliness would always attract all the attention, but now everyone looked at her and listened to her.She kept reminding herself that all this attention would end when she was found out to be not the real heir.Although she was kidnapped and imprisoned, she enjoyed playing the heir to the Mei family. She continued to tell her story, "In order to make Henry like me, I told him that I drew the dragon chariot, because I was very scared at the time, lest he find out that I was not Aya, uh..." She glanced nervously Aya and Jemin glanced at each other. "He knows," Aya said. "Anyway," Fulan continued. "Henry thought I was the best painter in the world, so when he locked me up later, it was only natural for me to ask him for paint, especially since I was so scared—and so alone, that only Todd could come in and please me. If It's not him, I..." At this point, Fu Lan turned her head away and blushed. To Aya's dismay, she saw Pei Ling pursing her lips tightly. Fu Lan continued: "I have been thinking about how to escape for several days, but I can't think of any way, because Henry brings food to me every day. I may be able to reason with other men, but not with Henry; He's the kind of guy who, once he makes up his mind, can't change it." She paused and smiled slightly at her audience. "And then I thought, what would Aya do? Then I remembered those doors that were painted on the walls, so I asked Henry to give me brushes and paints, and I started drawing on the walls like you, Aya, all night without sleep There are three doors and a window, and a bird is painted on the windowsill." She looked at Aya with a gleam in her eyes. "And outside the window is a large field full of daisies. I have seen Aya draw a lot of daisies, so I can draw pretty well." She said with a smile, looking at Aya's pink face. "Then I blacked out the actual door to make it look like a stone wall." She looked at Aya with regretful eyes. "I'm not very good at drawing, but Henry's eyesight is terrible, so I decided to try." "And he was cheated," said Jermyn, making everyone turn to him. "I didn't dare to escape from the tunnel because I was afraid they would vent their anger on Fulan, but after a few days, I heard the guards talking about Fulan's escape, but the way she escaped seemed a bit mysterious, so I tricked the guards into taking her Tell me what happened. He said that when Henry opened the door of the stone room, he found Fulan lying still on the bed. In fact, Fulan was hiding behind the door. When he walked to the bed, Fulan took the opportunity to slip out and closed the door. Closed, Henry spent several hours in circles in the room, trying to open the doors and windows painted on the wall. He thought it was the most incredible thing he had ever seen, so he was not very angry at Fu Lan's escape, ’ He winked at Aya. "He also swore he smelled daisies." "But his brother doesn't think it's funny," Aya said softly, stroking Jemin's hair.She didn't need anyone to tell her that she knew that Fulan's escape was the reason for Jamin's beating. "Indeed," said Jemin softly. "His brother was furious." He looked at Aya lovingly, letting his eyes speak for him, and during his time in the dungeon he realized that he never told Aya how much he loved her.Almost all the time he spends thinking about Aya and what Aya means to him.Part of him wanted to kill Aya because she risked her life to save him, but part of him loved her all the more for it. Tonight, Jemin thought, tonight he was going to sleep with her in his arms and tell her how he felt. "It's getting dark," said Jemin, rising. "It's time for us to go home." Fran was the first to stand, and Aya looked at her again in surprise as she began to clear the camp.On the way to Bao's house a few weeks ago, Fu Lan never offered to help, and when she lived in Mei's manor before, Fu Lan didn't seem to know how to do anything. "I don't understand." Aya whispered when they were some distance away from the others. "What don't you understand?" "How could you..." Aya managed to recover. "Fulan, you are the worst person I've ever seen who can't take care of himself, but you were able to get in and out of the kidnappers, and you even cooked things yourself—" Fulan's smile interrupted her, "Aya, it's not that I can't take care of myself." "But you—you..." Fu Lan looked directly at Aya. "I just pretend I can't take care of myself because that's what you need. You like people who can't take care of themselves." "Me?" Aya's tone was half angry and half disbelieving. "Aya, you are always afraid that no one will like you because of you. No matter how much others love you, you always think it is because your father is rich. I was only a child when I was brought to your house, but I have I will take all the pains of the world. To avoid being sent home, I am determined to play any role you want me to play." "And you think I need you to look like I can't take care of myself?" Aya asked sarcastically. "Yes, Aya, you have to feel 'useful' in your terms. You always feel you have to prove to others that you are worth more than your father's money, and you pull out all the stops to prove it. Please Don’t get me wrong, you’re so useful that everyone around you thinks you’re so useless. It’s so easy to sit with your legs crossed and keep you busy with everything.” "So, is it also my fault for letting you blackmail me all these years?" "Yes," Fu Lan said happily. "And I still keep every penny. Aya, you are really good at making money, and I believe you will be very suitable to be Jemin's wife. There is a blind sister-in-law and that boyish little Qiu, you will be in this life It was very useful," Fu Lan smiled. "I trust, Aya, that you'll keep them all busy making money, and you'll find a way to turn air into gold—like your father." For a long while, Aya was dumbfounded, unable to understand what Fulan said. "Everything changed," she murmured. "You've changed, and Todd has changed." "Yes," Fu Lan said, the smile on her face gradually faded, and she quickly glanced at Todd - he was helping Pei Ling dust off her skirt. "Todd uglified himself in front of O'Henry, and made the most vulgar jokes with his face and body. Let alone seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn't bear to listen to it." She took a deep breath, as if trying to calm down the uneasiness in her heart, "He did that for me. I used to think that he hated me and didn't care about me at all, but I didn't expect him—" Fu Lan stopped talking , looked back at Todd. "He's changed," Aya said. "I can't say it, but I can feel it." She looked at Fu Lan. "It's like you're different. What happened to change the two of you so much?" "Aya," Fulan said hurriedly, grabbing her arm. "There's something I have to tell you, it's very important, and I have to tell you before I leave here—" She didn't finish her sentence, because at this moment Xiao Qiu ran towards them.Just now when they were talking, Jieming heard the sound of horses' treading, so he sent Xiaoqiu to see who was coming. Everyone hoped that the person who came was a relative of the Meng family. "It's Mayboken himself!" Xiao Qiu said happily, waving his hands. "He came for his daughter!" Neither Fulan nor Aya had time to think or speak. They just held each other's hand tightly and looked at the direction Xiao Qiu was pointing at.Neither of them had seen the man coming out of the woods, but they both knew who he was, and over the years, Aya had asked every visitor to the manor what his father looked like.Through their descriptions, she painted many portraits of her father, and even painted two oil paintings. Now, there was no doubt that the little man who was walking towards them was Mayboken—the richest man in England. He walked directly in front of Aya. "Well, daughter, how do you justify yourself?" His eyes were stern, and his voice revealed uncontrollable anger.