Yue Family Village was small, quiet, and easily forgotten on most maps. But to those who lived there, it was their home
A few hours walk to the north lay the forest that led to the Black Pine Mountain Range. The forest and the lower slopes were safe enough for hunting, gathering firewoods and herbs but beyond that lay the deepest part of the mountain forest.
The villagers called it a cursed place, a place where hunters vanished without a trace, where wild boars as tall as a man's chest roamed freely, and where rumours about bandits lurking deep inside the forest in recent years.
The old men often muttered over their wine cups,
Worst of all, the other end of the mountain forest were connected to the border between Daliang and Shen country. Smugglers and bandits both treated it like their personal road disrupting the trade roots between two countries slipping into their mountain hideouts when the pressure from soldiers grew too high
For most people in the village, staying away from the deep forest was a matter of survival. For Yue Zilan, it was where she belonged.
If she was to leave this village, she would need to make some preparations and have enough silver to travel. With the few coins granny yue left behind she could do nothing with it and in a place like this, there were only two ways to earn quickly.hunting some games or selling yourself to a richer household in the town.
She would sooner starve than choose the second.
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Zilan had been striking since childhood. As she grew, that beauty only deepened, with a face that could bring ruins to countries.
Granny Yue had always feared that one day something would happen to her.
When Zilan turned thirteen, the old woman began applying a thin smear of black herbal glaze to her cheeks and forehead whenever they went to the market. It made her look shallow and slightly ill.
At the time, Zilan had only smiled faintly and allowed it. She understood the danger better than the old woman could imagine — beauty could be both a shield and a blade, and it was never given without a price.
Now, standing before the small bronze mirror in the hut, she traced her own reflection with a fingertip. The glaze was long washed away. What looked back at her was the breathtaking beauty. Her lips curved into a creepy smile
"Hehehe… I hope i could get some good prey because of this face"
Now, when she stepped outside without the familiar dull smear, the difference was startling.
A few women drawing water at the well froze mid-motion, their chatter fading into silence. An old man leaning on his cane blinked twice, as if unsure whether his eyes were playing tricks on him. They had grown used to seeing the dirty and sickly girl Granny Yue presented to the world — not this ethereal beauty with skin like polished jade and eyes that seemed to hold their own light. Whispers started almost at once, rippling from one neighbor to another, and Zilan felt them all without so much as glancing their way. She neither slowed her steps nor offered an explanation. Let them wonder.
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Her plan was simple: hunting in the forest for game, sell the meat and pelts in Qinghe Town, and collect enough silver to leave before anyone could guess her intentions, if some prey comes knocking my door then I think I might gain some extra wealth
How long it has been since she had roasted meat and strong wine, tsk tsk..because of this old lady my ten years of life was wasted.
It had been too long since she'd eaten her fill of anything worth remembering.
The next day morning she set out , the air was cold, the frost clinging to the grass. Zilan strapped Granny Yue's old crossbow , the dagger hidden in her sleeve,and took some rope and a simple pack over her shoulder that contained some food and water.
The villagers barely spared her a glance — a slim figure walking toward the northern path was nothing unusual. Only the old hunter, Uncle Wu, squinted after her from his doorway.
"That girl is heading towards the forest", he muttered to himself. Best hope nothing will happen to her. These days, venturing into the forest is getting more and more dangerous.
Zilan noticed his gaze and stopped for a moment. "Uncle Wu," she called out, a faint smile playing at her lips, "if I don't come back in three days, help yourself to whatever's left in my hut."
The old hunter frowned, leaning on his walking stick. "Girl, this isn't the time for jokes. The forest's been restless lately. Even seasoned hunters stay close to the edge."
She only shrugged. "Then I'll make sure to come back with something worth the risk." Without waiting for his reply, she turned and continued toward the shadow of the pines, her figure soon swallowed by the mist.