ZuoMeng: To Dream

Tea

The two of them were left now. ZhenYu's personal servant, YongKang too left a while ago, as he went to fetch a fan for the young master. The one he had, had a hole in it.

ZhenYu's gaze fell on the woman.

JinGe was a beautiful woman but there was something more to her, if he was going to describe the woman. The jet -black strands of her hair which hung loosely on her shoulders.

A slight breeze passed them by, lifting up the thin strands, JinGe used her slender fingers gently tucked them back behind her ears.

There was something that was at the same time real and surreal as if reality and dream merged into one. However, in his dream, he would raise his hand and reached for the dry leaf that was left by the wind in her hair. He removed it then she would smile before looking away. Her face slightly blushing with a pinkish hue.

Unconsciously, his hand was raised as well but as if waken up, the girl turned away. Reality was once again in motion.

ZhenYu quickly hid his hand behind his back while she walked towards the wall, although she looked as if she was looking down at the people down below, he could tell she wasn't.

ZhenYu looked at her, "Am I making Miss Yang uncomfortable?"

"No, you are not," replied JinGe as she continued to looking at the people below.

"But I feel that Miss Yang. You tend to avoid me. Did you not run away when I first meet you at the old tea house not too long ago?"

JinGe quickly turned around and explained, "I wasn't avoiding you. I was feeling unwell at that time."

However, when their eyes connected, subtly she looked away back at the scene below, avoiding his gaze.

Silence enveloped them as the bustling of the market below acted as a cover.

However, suddenly ZhenYu asked her, "Have we perhaps met before? Are you perhaps the same JinGe that I met at a small-town years ago? You were collapsed at the side of the road. I remembered faintly that I have heard your name somewhere before."

JinGe was a bit surprised that he remembered that girl whom he had met once but it was not at the best action to admit it was her and she dismissed him and said, "No."

"Do you by chance know how to play the flute? The person was a good flutist. She called herself, 'Flutist of the East'."

"No. Maybe it was another person with the same name," lied JinGe.

No matter how she may want to appear calm as water outside. Inside, JinGe was quite flustered. "Is the memory spell not working? Since he can remember somewhat of our memories? Anything related to me should have been removed or altered. Affecting not only ZhenYu but also those who knew me as Bai LiQin. Just like ZhenPing, ZhenYu shouldn't remember anything about me," thought the girl.

ZhenYu looked calmly and said, "Hmm, I see. I was hoping to thank her. She was a great person who gave me great advice. It changed my relationship with my wife."

"Ah I see," was all she could utter in response.

ZhenYu talked more about himself, how he met the masked 'Flutist of the East', how she had given him advice, and how it shaped his relationship with his wife later. "We were quite happy."

Her hands were sweating profusely. Thoughts were running wild in her mind. "Why is he mentioning about her? His memories. These should have been removed this. He should have only remembered LiQin as a cold person. They never talked much, and she died during the trip due to her sickness relapsing.