30 Wooden doll

It took a while before Jing Chu and Bai Lu came to get her from Wo Long Temple.

The sun had already arisen and a new day had come for everyone in the Jing Capital.

On the way back to the Liu residence, Bai Lu had filled her up on what happened back home while she was gone. Other than her biao sisters asking to see her and Liu Sheng Xiao constant worry of Jiao Yu's whereabouts, also the people still looking for Mui Gu, nothing special happened.

And regarding the death of Mui Gu, it was not known by anyone else but Jiao Yu and Bai Lu, who helped her clean up.

Combing the silk black hair of Jiao Yu, Bai Lu could not help but to keep her hands on her young lady's hair, "Young lady's hair is really soft like the finest silk that no one could resist to touch it."

"Mm..." With her eyes closed, Jiao Yu indifferently replied.

"Is Young lady still thinking about Mui Gu?" Seeing that her young miss was not in the mood to talk, she wondered if it was due to the death of Mui Gu, "Young lady must not worry about anything regarding that night. This servant already took care of it and is sure that it would not point anything towards young lady."

During the course of three years, the only one who knew about her side line as a huntress and the truth about her identity was Liu Sheng Xiao, Jing Chu and Bai Lu. Both stayed beside her while acting accordance to their entitled relationship with Jiao Yu, one as her loving father and the other, her trusted maids.

Jing Chu and Bai Lu was Liu Sheng Xiao's people and was assigned to take care of her necessities and safety, since the time she took the identity of the real daughter of Liu Sheng Xiao. Along with their jobs as Jiao Yu's maid, they helped her avert some of the Liu family member's attention away during the time Jiao Yu had to get used being the lady from Liu.

"Mm..." Jiao Yu hummed her reply then said, "You two go out for now. I had not taken a sleep since last night and have to catch up to it. Wake me up once father has come to see me."

After dismissing her two maids, Jiao Yu opened her eyes and take a look at herself. There were faint red line marks around her neck and there were dark circles forming under her eyes. Jiao Yu stood up, lighting her sleeping incense and lied back on her soft bed, letting sleep take over her.

Rain started to fall from the skies, while thunder keeps on roaring, scaring the children inside their homes and waking people up from their dream.

"....Where am I?" Jiao Yu said as her eyes looked around her.

Jiao Yu stood in the middle of an empty ground. The sky was blue and the light coming from the skies were blinding that it made her squint her eyes, then the place changed from an empty ground to a place that was so familiar to her, the Xiang li village.

Just like how it was before, the place was indeed something to miss and remember.

Jiao Yu stood in front of the house she used to call home, she saw children come in and go and heard the voice she used to wait and wish would welcome her and hold her dear, it was Jiao Yu's father.

"Yu'er, come here. I've got something great to show you." Jiao Yu's father said calling her by Jiao Yu's nickname, as his mouth formed the usual smile Jiao Yu had been seeing since before long.

One did not know what was happening and why was she back in that place, she had longed for this place to vanish from her memories but no matter what, it would always come back to her.

Jiao Yu once heard her father's voice, "What's wrong Yu'er? Come.." Her father was looking at her as if nothing happened and it was the normal thing to do. However, on a second look, Jiao Yu's father was not looking directly at her but to the younger and smaller version of her, the past her.

She saw her past self who was standing beside her, running towards her father and smiled so happily and innocently at him while her father patted her head, showing her a wooden doll.

Jiao Yu could still remember how important and precious that doll was to her that it made her keep it at all cost. What made her keep it was not because of how beautiful it looked or how much her father spend it but because it the first gift he had ever given to her.

Jiao Yu's breath was caught on her throat and did not seem to want to come out. She wanted to get out of there, ran away and get as far as she could get. However, her feet was not moving and was stuck on the ground, as her tears started to fall from her eyes and the memories reeled back towards how her father held her in his arms and let her fall asleep while he told her stories about everything he's seen and how much he treasured her.

This was the father she had longed to see before all hell broke loose and made her hate the father she loved and destroy the things she treasured the most.

Jiao Yu wanted to scream at him, punch his face and ask her father why did he do that, why it had to be her, and why did he not act like a father would to her once she's in danger, protect her. And tell her father that it was all his fault that now, one had to pretend as someone else, live the life she had to now and suffer from the memories the past had left to her.

She begged to her heart to stop longing for something that was already gone, the fatherly love one had shown to her. He had betrayed her and sacrificed her for what goals he aimed to get and made her heart cold towards her father, but it did not mean that her heart would not move at the sight of the man she loved and cared for. She should at least be thankful that one had experience and felt what a real father would treat his child before it was gone.

Though, Liu Sheng Xiao showered her with love which she did not want to receive, Jiao Yu did not know whether it was because of pity and just because she was the replacement he had found for his daughter or maybe it was the guilt he felt for losing his daughter.

Memories after memories came rushing inside her head and felt her heart ache so much that she could not breath at how much pain she could feel just from remembering.

"Stop.. Just stop... Disappear already!"

Jiao Yu was so frustrated at her own fate that she screamed while sobbing loudly.

Like one was splashed with cold water, Jiao Yu woke up from her sleep with tears falling from her eyes and cold sweat running down her body, soaking her clothes and the quilt. She was breathing heavily and did not notice that Bai Chen and Jing Chu was already by her side with an anxious expression.

"Young lady!.." The two maids worriedly exhaled.

With the sudden noise coming from beside her, Jiao Yu rapidly looked towards them with eyes so cold that it made their hearts quiver for a second.

With clenched teeth, Jiao Yu coldly said, "Get out."