Chapter 62 - The Path of Slow Coaxing (2) (1/2)
He opened the message and was taken aback by the contents. Reading in between the lines, Wu Wendi’s consideration toward Xu Lan and her determination to find the killer was revealed.
She stated that in light of everyone’s fixation on finding Bai Wu, she went by herself to the bar in Lanshan with the hope that she might find a lead. After typing out the message and deleting many parts of it, he finally replied with four words, ‘Be careful out there’.
Both their situations were reminiscent of a lone ranger going to war, and indeed, there was no other way to describe it. The only difference was that she was alone, whereas Xu Lan had Bai Wu at least.
Under Xu Lan’s loving guidance, Bai Wu wilfully sat down at the cave entrance. His legs turned stiff – akin to a popsicle that came fresh out of the fridge – and trembled continuously. His hands held onto Xu Lan firmly and in his tremor, he softly called out ‘Papa’.
Holding in laughter, Xu Lan coaxed Bai Wu patiently. The man was so close to success, but the slightest small movement – deemed suspicious by the boy – frightened him so much that he stopped moving altogether; he simply threw himself into the man’s embrace and started wailing. That whole ordeal could be considered to have satisfied some secret delight, one where Xu Lan was able to move Bai Wu’s pretty face to tears.
After repeated wailing, Bai Wu almost cried himself to muteness. Finally, he realized that it was all a joke to Xu Lan. He grabbed Xu Lan and firmly bit into the man’s arm. Even when the coppery scent of blood began to surface, he did not loosen his bite.
“Oh God, I’ve been wrong, I did the wrong thing. Bai Wu, could you please let go of me?” Xu Lan asked in between bouts of chuckles. He began carrying Bai Wu into the cave. Xu Lan would never take a person’s life as a joke. After all, a deep overhanging cliff was present beneath the cave
“Ss! Bai Wu dear, I know I was wrong. Please let go, my flesh is about to come off. Human meat isn’t tasty at all.”
“Agh, I wouldn’t dare to do it anymore. There won’t be a next time, haha, please, let’s go in. We’re on the verge of falling.”
While Xu Lan used sugar-coating and sweet-talking as his weapon, Bai Wu was finally enlightened as to the power of words, or lack thereof – that night, he made the decision not to speak with Xu Lan!
Bai Wu cut a sorry figure and got up. He wrapped himself in the blanket and lay down beside the extinguished bonfire, then closed his eyes and went to sleep.
“Hmm, Bai Wu, are you mad?” Xu Lan immediately went up and sat beside Bai Wu. He held in his laughter and asked if Bai Wu was angry.
“No.” Came Bai Wu’s muffled grunt. He turned over to the other side so his back faced Xu Lan. Anyone could see that he was angry. Not even the dark cave could obscure the writing on his face which said, ‘I’m angry. Make it up to me’.
Xu Lan sighed and said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made things hard for you.”
“…”
“Hey, there won’t be a next time. I have completely realized my wrongdoing and the evilness of my actions. Can you forgive your papa?”
“…”
After more sighs, he pleaded, “Bai Wu dear, I know my wrongs. Please forgive your papa. Don’t stay silent all by yourself. Do you want to bite me another time?” Noticing how Bai Wu remained unyielding, Xu Lan panicked. Xu Lan had gone too far, apparently.
“…”
“Fine then. Since you’re not willing to forgive me, I’ll offer my death as an apology. I’ll walk to the entrance of the cave now. I’ll count until three. If you’re still unwilling to forgive me, I’ll jump down. Would it be better this way?”
“…”
“One…” Xu Lan stood at the cave entrance and slowly uttered the word ‘one’. No response.
“Two…” Still no reply. “Mm, I’ll jump now.”
“Three.”