Falling Dreams Of Fang Hua

Chapter 53

I laid on the bamboo mats for awhile before I felt a large damp spot on the pillow. When I touched my face, I discovered the faint trace of tears by my eyes and lifted my head, only to feel a splitting headache. My body had been acting strangely these days, as if some sort of inner energy kept channeling its way through my chest. It felt warm and refused to dissipate...as if it was trapped, but I always felt refreshed in body when I woke up, as if my memory had gotten much better.

Every time, Fang Hua would smile and say it was his medicine taking effect.

Nonsense...

His medicine couldn't even cure himself, so how could it cure me?

Neither of us ever mentioned the incident that happened the day we brewed wine. The sorrowful, grieved Fang Hua I saw only appeared when he was intoxicated. He usually took on the image of a refined and handsome scholar. Don't think he was some celestial being free from wants or desires, though...his one demerit was his habit of feeding your his own medicinal brews. A nice way to put it was that he enjoyed sharing his misery.

Pah, what an attitude!

Thinking back on our time, I used to joke that Fang Hua had no scholarship to him, because he never read anything in his free time. He didn't answer my jab, but picked up a medical book in his spare time and began to leaf through that. Even though it was him who was reading...I discovered that I could recite the material from heart as well. It surprised me, but he wasn't moved at all. He said I had this skill from before, so it was nothing unexpected. It seemed like he understood everything.

However, there was one thing I didn't tell him.

Every night when I closed my eyes, I'd sense someone kneeling by the edge of my bed, as if reciting something softly to me. Before my eyes would appear a word or a phrase, in scraps and pieces, but it also felt like they could be connected into sentences like some sort of passage or incantation.

And when I woke up the next day, I'd feel energized all over my body. Of course, sometimes I'd get a headache, but after taking Fang Hua's medicine I'd feel better again, with no discomfort anywhere. Hey...was that medicine really that miraculous?! Still, I was puzzled over why such a powerful medicine couldn't cure Fang Hua. Was his body so weak that nothing could fix it? But it didn't look that way. Although he had the occasional cough and was easily tired after his sluggish walks, he still looked energetic. Sometimes when I tried to support his arm for walks, he'd look at me with a disdainful air and roll his eyes.

Our days thus passed like this. The emperor's men never searched this far. Thinking back to my promise not to leave Fang Hua before his illness got better, I realized I'd gotten used to taking care of him. Now it was hard to tell whether it was better here or at the palace...though sometimes I'd think of the emperor. Who knew if he was worried now that I'd disappeared for so long, and whether or not he wanted to find me?

It was a little chilly on the porch. My hands rested on a bamboo bench as I slowly got up, realizing I had an extra layer of robes over my chest. It was a man's robe, the fabric soft and warm. Lowering my head for a sniff, I caught the distinctive scent of Fang Hua on the clothes. My lips curved up into a smile before I stretched lazily. Since I'd just woken up, I wasn't sure what to do next just yet.

I spaced out for a while before the words I'd dreamed about suddenly rose from my gut. Knitting my brows, I counted on my fingers before the strings holding up a set of bamboo windchimes suddenly snapped off the eaves, falling to the ground.

A single lamp hung swaying from the eaves in the wake of the wind.

Shocked, I stared at my fingers for a while before grinning. I didn't have time to consider where this martial arts skill came from, but only felt extremely excited. Pulling up my pants, I rushed inside the room to fish out some rough straw paper before heading for the outhouse. Kicking open the door, I went inside, turned around, and squatted down, finishing a series of actions as smoothly as flowing water and floating clouds. I rubbed my stomach before humming a bit. When I got up, my limbs stretched and felt free from inhibitions. My entire body was trembling, but the sound that had entered my ears was changing from blurry indistinction to something clearer, and it was growing more and more lively. There were the sounds of people talking, of cicadas chirping, even the lively bustle of a night market. I looked around me before suddenly, the noise disappeared.