Chapter 285: [Unswerving Devotion] A Moth to the Flame
Xu Taotao had no idea how long she stood frozen there, staring ahead.
Yet that pair of embroidered shoes seemed completely motionless.
Unsure where she found the courage, Xu Taotao carefully stood up while clutching her violently pounding heart.
Her eyes remained fixed on the corridor without blinking, but as she stood, her field of vision steadily shifted upward.
Once her gaze rose above the railing, revealing a wide-open view, she found no trace of any figure.
As if it had all been merely her imagination.
Xu Taotao couldn’t describe the feeling in her heart, but surprisingly, the stifling emotion that had been pent up inside her was vented out.
So she simply stood up, patted the fallen leaves off her clothes, glanced left and right, climbed over the railing, and left.
Yet she had no idea where she ought to go either—primarily, she just didn’t want to return to her room.
After wandering around the courtyard for a while, the sky turned completely pitch-black.
A winter night was still exceedingly cold, causing her to shiver.
After taking a full loop, she wandered back to the main hall.
Only a single maid was on duty here.
Upon spotting Xu Taotao, the maid bowed in greeting.
Ignoring her, Xu Taotao drifted aimlessly around the area before walking behind the folding screen.
Standing here today to look at the people outside, one couldn’t actually see them very clearly either, able to discern merely their silhouettes.
Xu Taotao hadn’t genuinely disdained the suitor for being thin; she purely hated meeting prospective matches, and she hated marriage.
She felt her thoughts were somewhat rebellious and outrageous.
Which woman in this world didn’t marry?
Yet she simply couldn’t stop such thoughts from surging up, spreading and growing rapidly like wild weeds.
Xu Taotao looked outside through the screen.
Only a few dim candle lamps burned inside the room, making it even harder to see anyone outside clearly.
A inexplicable sense of sorrow welled up in her heart.
Separated merely by such a screen, her entire life was to be decided.
She felt truly terrified and uneasy.
Suddenly, a light seemed to approach.
Xu Taotao froze.
“Zhu-yun?” She tried calling out the name of the maid on duty outside.
“What is it, Miss?”
Zhu-yun’s voice sounded from the side door.
She had been standing there right from the start.
Xu Taotao fixated her gaze on the light source steadily approaching outside the screen—there was a shadow of a person.
No candle lamp stood beside her; the candlelight shone from before her, so the silhouette ahead was bound to be a person’s shadow.
Yet Zhu-yun was by the side door, so who was this?
“No… it’s nothing…” Xu Taotao said, swallowing hard.
Her heart rate accelerated once more, her entire being trapped in a state of inexplicable excitement.
She felt she ought to be terrified, yet strangely enough, she felt no fear whatsoever, experiencing instead a bizarre sense of thrill and tremor.
Perhaps it was because she felt her life could be seen straight to its end at a single glance, whereas these incomprehensible, fantastical occurrences happening right before her eyes brought a few ripples to her stagnant, dead-water life.
What if… what if special, supernatural things truly existed in this world…?
Then was it possible for her to choose a different kind of life by coming into contact with these things?
Even if it meant being a moth drawn to a flame?
A moth flew into a flame because it caught sight of light, yet what about her? She couldn’t see where her own light lay.
Xu Taotao stared at the silhouette before her for a long while, then extended her hand.
She pushed the folding screen open.
Yet no one stood before her.
Disappointed, Xu Taotao took two steps forward.
An earring fell to the floor with a soft ding. She cast a glance at it without paying it any mind, taking another loop around the room instead.
“Miss, what are you looking for? Do you need me to help you find it?” Zhu-yun asked.
“No need,” Xu Taotao declined, feeling deeply disappointed.
Why could she never see them? Was it because her present mortal flesh lacked a third eye? She had heard that seeing these things required a special constitution or a specific environment.
Regrettably, she couldn’t tell anyone about this matter.
Trouble had already struck their household, right around the turn of the New Year to boot—if her parents learned she was seeing dirty things, she might truly be finished.
“Miss!” Biyun came looking for her.
“Miss, so you are here! Hurry and return to your room with me to rest.”
Xu Taotao fell silent briefly; she didn’t want to go back.
“Aiya, Miss, Madam was simply far too worried about you as well! After all, if something happens to Master, this household of ours might collapse.”
Even as Biyun spoke, she tried to support Xu Taotao to lead her away.
Xu Taotao pushed her away forcefully.
Biyun felt thoroughly astonished.
“Miss?”
“Don’t touch me! I don’t want to go back! My father hasn’t woken up yet—we’ll talk after he wakes up!”
Saying this, Xu Taotao walked out through the side door.
Biyun caught up with her.
“Then are you heading to Master and Madam’s room? That works too—I’ll go along with you. It’s dark out, so don’t trip!”
This time, Xu Taotao didn’t refuse.
Although she still didn’t particularly want to go back and face her mother, when all was said and done, she was quite worried that something might go wrong with her father as well.
A corridor lay beyond the side door, leading to her parents’ room after making two turns.
Yet after taking two steps, she suddenly recalled something and said, “Did my earring drop?”
Biyun paused, inspecting her ears carefully before nodding.
“One did drop.”
“Then go look for it for me. It’s new, just made for me by Mother—see if it dropped over by the screen earlier.”
“Then Miss, you…”
“Give me the lantern. I’ll go to my mother’s place on my own, and you can come find me there in a bit.”
Nodding, Biyun shoved the lantern to her, then retraced her steps to search for the earring.
For reasons unknown, Xu Taotao let out a breath of relief.
Not that she held any grievance against Biyun, but she simply wished to have no one beside her.
It gave her an airtight, suffocating feeling.
Xu Taotao cast a glance at the lantern in her hand, then walked toward her parents’ room.
As she reached the corner, a gust of wind blew past.
Shivering from the cold, Xu Taotao rubbed her arms.
When her fingertips swept past her side, she felt as if she had brushed against something.
Freezing briefly, she instinctively looked to her side.
No one stood there.
Yet moments ago, she had genuinely felt as though she touched something, much like being blocked upon brushing against someone’s sleeve.
Had someone been by her side all along?
“Is anyone there?”
She called out softly.
Yet apart from the sound carried by the passing wind, no other noise echoed.
A feeling of inexplicable disappointment welled up in Xu Taotao’s heart.
If only she could see it.
“Miss!” Biyun’s voice sounded as she walked back with quick strides.
“Found it! Look, is this your earring?”
Xu Taotao took it absentmindedly, holding it in her palm without even looking at it.
Upon reaching the room, the doctor happened to be stepping out from inside.
Her face pale, Lady Li was seeing the doctor off. Upon catching sight of her, a glint flickered in her eyes, followed by a surge of anger.
This caused Xu Taotao to press her lips together, halting in her tracks.
Until the doctor departed.
“You, get over here!” Shaking slightly, Lady Li pointed a finger at her.
Reluctantly shuffling her steps, Xu Taotao walked inside.
A bitter smell of medicinal broth permeated the room.
Her father on the bed had awakened, yet the corner of his mouth drooped—it seemed he was indeed paralyzed.
Lady Li grabbed her abruptly, attempting to shove her to the floor.
“Kneel down!”
