Falling Dreams Of Fang Hua

Chapter 11: Gift of a Hairpin

Recently, Fang Hua's movements had gotten more eccentric.

His expression looked very suspicious too...

Typically, he'd stay in the house fiddling with medicinal plants, or adjusting some things with his weird and fantastic pills. He'd only take a trip every half month to visit the markets to buy some rice. Sometimes he'd bring back a pair of ducks or chickens and let them loose in the courtyard until life ran its course, feeding them grains on occasion.

I was grateful for such actions...

After all, he still remembered that these animals had different tastes than himself.

Sometimes I wondered what would happen if he never took me in. Maybe he'd never leave his house and just guard the plants and flowers for the rest of his life. He'd never talk with ordinary people, much less go bargain-shopping for groceries.

I remember when I first arrived, he rarely talked. For half a year, the words I spoke with him didn't add up past ten sentences. It was as if ignoring people was routine for him, as if he was a noble figure who live outside the realm of mortals.

This piece of land rarely saw humans. We had no neighbors for hundreds of li[1] in four directions. The house was surrounded by a bamboo forest: clean and quiet, elegant and calm, a good place to live in seclusion.

In the past, I used to think our meeting at the run-down temple was a simple coincidence. When the Fang Hua of that time met the pitiful me, with no one else to depend on, he must have been looking to adopt a child and nothing more.

But I don't think that's the case anymore.

Fang Hua naturally preferred quiet, and didn't seek fame or fortune. He always descended the mountain with a fixed goal in mind. That time when we met–was it serendipity, or intentional?

I couldn't tell anymore. After that serious illness in my youth, I didn't even know who I was anymore. How would he know my birthday, or my age? It was really weird.

I've thought too much...now everything's tangled up...

My brain seized up and my eyelids felt heavy. My entire person wanted to sleep. Sprawled on the stone table, I yawned as I stared at the tightly shut door, spacing out. Fang Hua kept going out these past days, so it was rare to see him. Sheesh, he's such a hard guy to understand...

Suddenly, there was a noise from the door. I gave a start and woke up half-way, getting to my feet.

A figure appeared outside the gate, his shallow red robes covered with dust. But it was still hard to take one's eyes away from the sight. His expression looked somewhat tired and sleepy as he stared blankly in my direction. "Shao'er, what are you doing still standing there? Shouldn't you be soaking in your herbal bath?"

I wanted to ask where he went, but the words didn't come. I only said in a low voice, "I've already heated up the water, but I forgot which medicinal plants I should add in again..."

He smiled. "It is a little complicated, though I've told you plenty of times already. Look at what kind of memory you have."

Actually, my memory was very good...

By listening and watching, I'd grasped the general properties and types of all sorts of medicines. But since I knew them so well...I also understood which combinations of plants had no effects on me.

Lowering my head, I followed along behind him. I listlessly brought over some hot water and poured it into the tub. I watched him lift up his sleeves and pluck a few herbs, considering them inch by inch as he added them into the water.