Chapter 1116 — Valentine's Day Special: Xiao Ning's Story, Part 1: Today Is February 14th, the Traditional Western Valentine's Day
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Goose-feather snow drifted down from the sky in careless abundance, and everything under heaven lay in a single sheet of white.
In countries and cities the world over, the mood was for the most part festive and peaceful; couples strolled arm in arm through the shops along the pedestrian streets, sweet and inseparable.
But there was one place that was the exception: the borderland of a small European country, where the temperature had already fallen to thirty-eight degrees below zero.
Here there was no clamor, no bustle. The silent frontier was buried under white snow, and the air was thick with danger everywhere.
Wei Zhao scraped a few mud balls out of the fire before him and tossed them to the girl at his side. "Eat," he said flatly.
The mud balls still gave off heat as they came out, but they cooled quickly enough.
The girl's nimble fingers broke the mud ball open; inside was a roasted sparrow. The clay shell had pulled away every last feather, and a smell of primitive roast meat rose from it, enough to make anyone's mouth water.
The girl held the bird meat up to Wei Zhao's lips and said cheerfully, "Open up — ah —"
"Not hungry." Wei Zhao frowned and declined her kindness, then rose to his feet. "Wait here for me. I'll go find some more branches — this little fire won't last the night."
"Don't go, I'm scared!" Seeing that Wei Zhao meant to leave, the girl hurriedly called him back.
Wei Zhao paid her no mind, turned, and went out of the cave.
"Eagle, wait for me — I'll come help you too." The girl set down the bird meat and ran out of the cave after Wei Zhao.
Wei Zhao's steps faltered for a moment; he only glanced at the girl and did not stop her.
In winter the earth was covered in white snow, and the dead branches were all hidden beneath it, hard to find. But Wei Zhao had no intention of gathering dead branches; instead he picked out a tree, leaped up into it, and began snapping branches off from above.
The girl stood to one side watching Wei Zhao, unable to help in the least. She stamped her foot, a little self-pitying.
If not for her own stubbornness and willfulness, the two of them would never have been separated from the group.
Wei Zhao broke off some branches, and when he judged he had enough, he sprang down from the tree, found a fairly pliant vine, and bound the branches on the ground together.
"Shall I... help you?" Watching Wei Zhao busy himself, the girl felt even more guilty.
"No need," Wei Zhao said without expression. He quickly finished tying the bundle and slung it over his back.
The girl felt utterly useless. She had wanted to help, and yet she had helped with nothing at all.
"Eagle, I'm sorry... I really didn't know that doing that would cause trouble..." Over the past few days, apart from building fires and roasting birds, Wei Zhao had not spoken a single unnecessary word to the girl, which made her think he was angry.
"Oh..." Wei Zhao answered flatly and started walking toward the cave.
"Hey, I've already apologized to you — why are you still ignoring me?" The girl was growing anxious.
The girl's identity was that of a representative of a great family in the country. She had come here this time to negotiate a partnership with a local tycoon; in truth, it was nothing more than a trial arranged for the family's younger generation.
Originally, there was no risk at all in this operation. Wei Zhao had been invited by Feng Tianlong to take part in the mission.
The mission was not an official one, but because the family behind the girl was enormously powerful, Feng Tianlong had naturally invited Wei Zhao, an outsider, to take charge of the operation.
But who could have guessed that after the negotiations ended, the group would decide to take in the frontier scenery — and that was when the trouble began!