Christmas Eve was only two days away.
There was a festive atmosphere everywhere.
School was already on winter break, but Baili Weibu still insisted on working part-time at Dati's Restaurant to conveniently hide her whereabouts.
Every day after work, she would go to see the siblings, Kevin and his sister, bringing some medicinal herbs to aid in his sister's recovery. Although her arrow wound had healed, her mobility was still somewhat limited.
In truth, she wanted to see him.
It may be a joke, but as a hunter, she had fallen in love with her prey.
If this was the work of the curse, Baili Weibu would even be grateful for its existence.
However, she had yet to find a way that could both break the curse and save her brother while also ensuring he came out of it unscathed. She searched through all the family records and discovered that the enchantment placed by her great-grandfather could only be lifted by the males of the Baili family. Now, apart from her father, no one else could do it. And it was absolutely impossible her father could break the enchantment and let him go.
She was practically at her wit's end at the moment. She even considered using tranquilizers on those relatives. The Nine-Color Sunflower only bloomed for one day, and once its flowering period passed, they wouldn't be able to craft the Flame Crystal Arrows again until another ten years.
But what about her younger brother? He couldn't hold on much longer.
He was the only son of their parents.
Her head hurt so much it felt like it was about to split open, yet she was powerless.
She walked dejectedly on her way home, her eyes filled with only one color: gray, a lifeless gray.
On the quiet road, she walked with her head bowed, burdened by her thoughts.
There was a strange sound in the trees behind her, like an animal passing through, yet also like a bird flapping its wings.
Baili Weibu suddenly snapped out of her wandering mind and quickly turned around.
Lately, she always had this feeling - between the dense trees, there was a pair of faintly discernible eyes peeking at her. Occasionally, there was the crunching sound of footsteps on the snow, but it always disappeared before she could turn around.
However, this time when she looked back, it startled her.
A slender figure stood behind her, wrapped in a thick black overcoat, with the hood pulled down, almost covering half of the person's face. Only pale lips and a chin with pachylosis were visible, making it impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman.
"Do you... need something?" She turned around, looking at the person with some caution.
"The Nine-Color Sunflower is about to bloom..." the person spoke slowly, with the voice of an elderly woman.
She was instantly shocked; no one except the Baili family knew such a thing as the Nine-Color Sunflower.
"The true method to break the curse does exist," the old woman stood there motionless, like a withered tree stump.
"Really?!" Baili Weibu rushed towards her without thinking, the ecstasy in her heart matching that of seeing a god who could save the world.
"Don't come any closer!" The woman quickly stepped back a few paces. "Just listen to what I have to say!"
She hurriedly stopped in her tracks, not daring to move any further.
"In the basement of the Baili house, there's a shrine with a wooden box on top..."
Amid the sounds of wind and snow, the old woman's voice was sometimes indistinct and sometimes clear...
"This is the true method to break the curse. It's not that the lioness who cast the curse didn't leave behind a way to undo it. It's just that no woman from the Baili family has accomplished it so far. Our parents knew all along but wouldn't say." The old woman’s voice suddenly choked up, "Back then, I ultimately didn't have the courage to open it... A hunter who loses her courage is like losing her soul, and her body will age rapidly as a result, until she dies."
Baili Weibu's breath seemed to be frozen by the cold air.
"You’re..." She went mad with excitement, disregarding everything as she rushed towards the old woman, grabbing her arms, "You're my sister? You're my sister, aren't you?"
A few tears fell from under the hood onto Baili Weibu's hand.
"For ten years, I hid myself. Because of my cowardice, I lost him and lost myself. I often stand at a distance, watching the lights of our home. I also saw you grow up day by day, and I knew you met him... But I no longer have the face to return to the Baili family, let alone the face to see him." The old woman slowly lifted her hood, revealing a wrinkled and weathered face that had turned gray over the years. Despite that, the familiarity in her features was unmistakable. It was her long-lost sister of ten years, Baili Weiqing.
"Sister, do you..." Baili Weibu's tears flowed uncontrollably. "Do you know how long we've been searching for you?"
"Don't tell Mom and Dad that I came to see you," Baili Weiqing put her hood back on. "I know there are people from the family here, and I know what they intend to do. I've already lost the most important courage of the centaurs, and now I am just a useless ordinary person. Weibu, just treat me as dead and preserve my last shred of dignity."
"Sister!" She grabbed Baili Weiqing and shook her head desperately.
"I hesitated whether to tell you this method," Baili Weiqing looked at her younger sister. "In the end, I still came to find you. We're women of the Baili family with the blood of centaurs running in our veins. We are born hunters and courage is our soul. Without it, we're nothing but empty shells." She pulled down Baili Weibu's hand, and a smile appeared on her lips, "I hope you can accomplish what I couldn't do back then."
With that, she left a dazed Baili Weibu standing in the freezing weather, and quickly disappeared into the deep dusk. The wind and snow instantly covered her tracks, as if she had never appeared before Baili Weibu.
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