WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon

Chapter 63 Remembrance

Lan Zhan fell into a deep sleep.

There were no dreams, nothing to disturb his rest.

So when Haishi came at five in the morning, he decided to rise and go about his day.

Not thinking about the problem, namely what he was going to do about his mother, was actually a great help. His daily routine provided comfort in completing tasks and doing them mindfully, concentrating on each activity as it occurred was a meditation in and of itself.

Wei Ying was fast asleep and remained that way, until Lan Zhan returned from collecting their breakfast. There was a little bit of time before everyone else would wake and be hungry for breakfast.

So Lan Zhan sat down at the little table. His nimble fingers found the wooden knot on the side, and a secret drawer slid open. But before he could take out its contents, he heard the bedroom door open.

Li XiWang came out of the children's room and stood by him. She bowed and waited until he nodded, silently telling her that she should sit down by him.

She was a highly intelligent child, and unusually observant. She also never overstepped, and she was super conscious of her other father still sleeping on the bed a few feet away.

She noticed the open drawer, and not having known of its existence before, her burgundy eyes were wide with curiosity.

Lan Zhan expected her to ask about it, but she simply stared at him for a while.

"Why are you troubled, father?" She asked, twisting the edge of her robes between her fingers.

Lan Zhan wondered how much he should tell her. She was old enough to understand if he explained, but then he wasn't sure he wanted to burden her.

Children were best suited to playing and learning, especially at this sort of age. Li XiWang was almost twelve, and soon, the responsibility of being an almost adult would be upon her young shoulders. Lan Zhan wanted to protect her youth as much as he could, for as long as was possible.

So…maybe he could skirt around the actual problem. What if he told her just enough, just so she could understand why he was worried, but not be bogged down by the implications of what he revealed? It sounded like a good plan.

She had always been emotionally mature for her age, and she would have been upset to learn that Lan Zhan didn't want to confide in her.

She was young enough to still believe that problems went away if they were shared…

So Lan Zhan removed the item from the secret drawer and handed it to her.

Li XiWang carefully put it in the centre of the little table and examined the outside.

It was one of her father Zhan's white handkerchiefs, with tiny bunnies embroidered in the corners. She lifted one corner up and placed it flat on the table, before doing the same to the others. When all four corners were laid flat, a comb was revealed, nestling in the centre of the white fabric.

It was an exquisitely crafted item, made from ivory. The tips of the teeth were dipped in silver, and the head was similarly designed. Ivory clouds with a silver lining were carved into the unforgiving material. It was obviously worth a lot of money.

She looked up to find her father staring at the comb.

"It belonged to my mother." He said, finally.

"It's very pretty." Li XiWang offered.

"She never used that one. It was a courting gift…and she kept it like that." He nodded to the white handkerchief.

"Didn't she like it?" Li XiWang asked him.

"I have no idea. The only comb we saw her use was this one." He presses down on another hidden switch and another drawer opens.

Lan Zhan removes a slim wooden case and hands it to his daughter.

She opens the delicate catch on the oak wood case, which some skilled artist has carved, painted and lacquered with fluffy white clouds. The inside of the case has been varnished so it can preserve the contents.

There is a plain wooden comb lying inside.

"Sometimes, she would brush my hair with this, too." Lan Zhan tells his daughter. "And your Uncle XiChen."

"May I touch it, father?" She asks.

Lan Zhan nods.

Her little fingers pick it up, examining it with reverence. She turns it over and gasps.

"Father! What's this?"

Lan Zhan takes the comb from her.

There appears to be characters engraved in tiny writing on the little edge from which the teeth are protruding.

"I am not sure." Lan Zhan frowns at it. "It looks like a name…but I could be wrong." Why hadn't he ever noticed that before? He doesn't recall…except that in the past, XiChen had given it to him, and he had saved it exactly as it was, too heartbroken to actually examine it afterwards.

Wei Ying yawns on the bed and rises, stretching with both of his arms. He grabs a robe and ties it terribly around his waist, before joining them.

A sleepy kiss for Lan Zhan and a kiss on top of Li XiWang's head later, he sits down on Lan Zhan’s other side.

"Whatchya got there, my love?" He winks at Lan Zhan in an exaggerated way.

It works because Lan Zhan’s lips twitch upwards and Li XiWang giggles.

Lan Zhan gives the comb over to him.

He narrows his eyes at it, turning the comb this way and that, his fingers incredibly gentle with what is now an antique piece. And then he bends at the waist so he's almost parallel to the floor and slides his fingers under the bottom of the table, grunting when he cannot find what he's looking for easily.

They all hear a click, and then a third hidden drawer slides open.

Wei Ying beams at them before extracting a magnifying glass.

"Now we can read it." He says jubilantly.

And there's nothing else for Lan Zhan to do, except agree, with the realisation that not only had Wei Ying discovered the hidden drawers which had been keeping Lan Zhan’s mother's precious items safe, but he had gone on to make his own.

Which was utterly remarkable.