3 Find A Way Out

"Don't always be so suspicious of everything. Can't we as parents want to spend some time with our precious daughter?" said Liu Xing making Liu Xinyu's jaw drop in shock. 

One against two, how could Liu Xinyu even think of winning? Since there was no chance of winning, there was no point in a desperate struggle too. She decided to not waste her time and just go along with her parents. It's not like they asked her for something every day. 

"You both can stop now. I'll go," she said and focused on eating in silence. 

"How is my latté art this morning? I did a good job with the heart, right?" asked Liu Qin to his wife, looking like a man who was asking for some praise.

"It's cute," replied Liu Xing to her husband with a sweet smile, looking like a woman in love. "You did good." She even patted his head to encourage him and Liu Xinyu lowered her head even further, not wanting to eat this dog food so early in the morning again. "I also made some Chinese walnut cookies. I'll pack some to take along."

"Okay. I love the cookies you make," said Liu Qin happily as if he just received a huge reward.

Liu Xinyu held her forehead plate and turned her chair around. Not very surprisingly, her parents were so lost in each other that they didn't care what reaction she had. For someone who grew up with this constant display of affection, one would say she should be used to it by now but she clearly wasn't. 

And if she even dared to tell them to just 'get a room' they'd tell her to find her own partner and stop being sour. She was left baffled by them way too many times in her life. Which parents encouraged their children to date? In fact, she once even pointed that out saying, "Baba, aren't you worried that I'd date the wrong person? What if someone broke my heart?"

And he replied very naturally, "Xin Bao, how can you be scared of a broken heart? That's part of growing up. It's okay to have your heart broken a million times rather than keeping it empty and not teaching it how to love. If you don't know how to love, how pitiful is that?"

Then Liu Xinyu said, "Usually, you'd be an overprotective father. Why are you so lax in this matter? Shouldn't you be protecting me?"

Her father lovingly caressed her head as he replied, "I don't want to build a glass castle for you to live in. Because glass has a habit of shattering once it encounters the first rock around."

Later, Liu Xinyu never brought up this topic. Sighing to herself, she ate her breakfast in silence before going back to her room to get ready.

Around noon, Liu Xinyu finally knew where her parents wanted to take her. Because now, she stood looking at the big wooden plate that read; 'PuTou Temple'. Who would have thought this would be their destination for the day? At least, she didn't think.

The ancient temple had a rich and long history, which could be seen from just the intricate architecture of this place. It was located at the foot of the Wulao Peak. 

"What are we doing here?" asked Liu Xinyu as she followed her parents in the temple.

"We are here to ask for some blessings for you," answered Liu Xing, patiently. "The previous year hadn't been very good for you, so we came to pray for a good year ahead of you. This is our wish for your twenty-third birthday."

"I..." Liu Xinyu didn't know what to say for a moment. "Mama, I don't think it's gonna work. Let's not waste time here."

Liu Xing's expression changed as she stared at her intently, "Liu Xinyu! Whether you believe it or not, you are gonna stay here. I don't wanna hear another word from you. You are insulting your parents' good intentions."

"I am not!" replied Liu Xinyu. "I am just saying that rather than believing in this, we should be doing something practical to change my life."

"You, of all people, who are always running out of luck and suffering as a result of that, should not be so disbelieving in this," retorted Liu Xing.

"Thanks for the reminder that I don't have the best of luck around here but..."

"Can you both stop?" Liu Qin had to stand between the two ladies to stop them from arguing here. "I feel really helpless when I have to stand between you two ladies who are equally important to me. So, don't make me choose a side." He took a deep breath and looked at his daughter, "Xin Bao, there is a lot to see around here. You see, so many tourists come here just for the sake of seeing the ancient architecture. Not everyone is a believer here. You don't have to believe it too. It's for our mental satisfaction that we came here to pray for you. You don't have to do anything. Why don't you look around? Your Ma and I'll find you later."

Liu Xinyu contemplated before nodding her head in agreement and separating from them. She also noticed plenty of other tourists who were wandering in the temple courtyard. She also followed them to look at the beautiful architecture of this place. 

"Should we check out the east garden?" 

Liu Xinyu heard one of the young girls suggesting to her partner.

"I heard the magnolias have bloomed and it's a sight worthy of Weibo status!"

Since Liu Xinyu had nothing else to do, she also followed the girls to the east garden. They had already passed the east garden but she still didn't see the magnolias. It was only later she realized that the magnolia trees were actually in the forest behind the east garden. 

At the sight of this path lined with magnolia trees, Liu Xinyu was in awe for a moment. Standing amidst the white and pink magnolias, their delicate petals swaying gently in the breeze, she couldn't help but feel their ethereal presence. With each whisper of the wind, the blossoms seem to dance, casting a spell of tranquility over the surroundings.

Liu Xinyu felt herself being intoxicated by the sweet scent that seemed to be imbued in the air around her. She felt like being hugged by a floral fragrance. As the sunlight filtered through the canopy of the leaves above, it illuminated the blooms, accentuating their purity and beauty.

Liu Xinyu pulled out her phone to click a few pictures as she couldn't hold herself back. Then she thought for a moment before deciding to upload the photo to her Moments with no caption. 

After doing this, she looked up and was startled to find that she was the only one standing there. The group of girls that she followed seemed to be nowhere around. How long had she been lost in a daze that she didn't even notice them leaving? She was baffled.

Not taking this seriously, she decided to leave here and join her parents. But as she was about to leave, she noticed a red rope on the branch of the magnolia tree. She held the rope and pulled it as she whispered, "Why would someone leave this here?" 

Shrugging to herself, she dropped the red rope and followed the trail to go back. She walked and walked and walked some more. It took her twenty minutes when she came to see this small magnolia forest but now, she seemed to have been walking for over an hour but she was still finding herself back at the magnolia forest instead of leaving. 

"Is this a maze?" she asked out loud to no one in particular. "Why can't I leave here? Did I forget the way? How is that possible? I am not even directionally challenged like my Pa. Then what is wrong here?"

She took a deep breath to calm herself down and started walking again. How did she end up finding herself in front of an intersection, she had no idea. She only that this scene reminded her of the nightmare she had early in the morning. If the nightmare represented her journey of life where she was feeling lost then in reality, she seemed to be really lost right now.

"Of course, I'd get lost in a forest. If I won't with my super bad luck, who would, right?" 

She rubbed her forehead and didn't allow herself to panic in this situation. Even with the weather suddenly changing, with the sun being covered by the clouds and the wind picking up, she held her ground and didn't panic. Panicking won't help but would only make her situation worse. 

Liu Xinyu felt like she saw someone so she hurried over. Indeed, she found a silver-haired woman with a wooden hairpin, clad in ancient robes sitting on a rock with her eyes closed as if she was meditating. She looked so serene that Liu Xinyu had to contemplate whether to disturb her or not. It'd be too selfish to ruin someone's mediation just because of her personal agenda.

But she didn't have much of a choice here either.

She didn't get a chance to disturb the woman as the latter asked, "Are you lost?"

Liu Xinyu jumped a little in shock and patted her chest to calm her jumping heart. "Yes. It seems like I am." She replied. "I clearly remember the way but it's leading me nowhere."

The woman opened her eyes and Liu Xinyu felt like she was being sucked into those clear dark pools that were her eyes. She seemed to be able to see right into her heart and soul which actually made Liu Xinyu feel a little vulnerable in front of her.

The silver-haired woman smiled at Liu Xinyu as she said, "Sometimes, memories can also deceive you."

"Huh?"

The woman raised her slender finger and pointed towards the north saying, "Follow that path, maybe you'll find a way out."

"Thank you!" replied Liu Xinyu to her. "Thanks for your help and sorry for disturbing you too. How about..." she rummaged through her pockets before taking out her favorite sour candies and offering them to the woman, "I only have these. You can have them. They are delicious."

Liu Xinyu didn't know if this ethereal-looking woman would take her candies or not but to her surprise, she took one and even thanked her for it too. 

Liu Xinyu smiled back at her before turning onto the path that the woman pointed at. While following the trail, Liu Xinyu finally thought to herself that the woman earlier had silver hair but her face didn't look like she was more than thirty. There were no wrinkles at all. Were the hair dyed? 

It's quite possible. She thought to herself before throwing it to the back of her head.

She had only walked for ten minutes when the sky became darker and the lightning roared in the sky along with it came the rain. 

"It really can't get worse than this," said Liu Xinyu to herself feeling really tired. She wasn't even surprised that she got lost in the woods and the rain also chose this day to come. Even though it was clearly a sunny day prediction from the weather forecast.

Liu Xinyu took her phone out again and decided to call her parents for help. But to her dismay, there were no signals. What the hell! "How deep am I in the mountains to lose the signal? Does that still happen in 2023?"

Pulling her thin jacket closer to her body, she started running in the rain without caring. Her only purpose was to get out of the woods for now. She finally saw a way out and speeded up. In the curtain of rain that blurred her view, she didn't see clearly when a person came in front of her and because she was running too fast, she couldn't stop in time either which led to her running straight into the person.