From the Ashes of Love

Chapter 13

Li-Hua had awoken earlier than usual this morning. The amazing dream she had lingered in her mind.

"Runyu... he said his name was Runyu" she thought to herself, visualizing his gentle smile.

Then she thought, "Could it be the SAME Runyu that the Storyteller told me about?"

At first she scoffed at the idea, but then she thought it was quite possible, because she had invented this person in her dream.

"The Storyteller said that Runyu was the Heavenly Emperor, and that would make him a dragon" she considered.

"Is Runyu the dragon I saw in the water? How did he make himself look human?" she wondered.

"Probably because I wanted him to look human" she answered herself. "This was JUST a Dream!" she scolded herself mentally.

Mother stirred restlessly in bed. She would be up soon. Li-Hua decided she might as well get up and start the day. They would have a lot of work to do.

The men of the village were going to be working in the millet fields, and it was the job of the women to assist them. She and her mother would be hauling water buckets from the well to the fields, in order to help the men quench their thirst. They would make several trips back and forth, carrying the heavy buckets on yokes which would rest on their shoulders.

It was understood that this backbreaking chore was solely theirs, because their household had no man to work in the fields and they were living on charity. The other women would assist in the fields in other ways. Gathering grains that had been cut, fetching tools, sharpening blades, cooking and serving lunch. There was plenty of work for everyone.

During the course of that day, whenever Li-Hua felt too hot and tired and sore to go on, she would visualize the ocean in her dream, and the white scaled form of the dragon coiling through the water. She wished she could dream the same dream again tonight.

The sound of hoofbeats coming up behind her startled Li-Hua out of her reverie.

"Water!" barked out the young nobleman from astride his horse.

Li-Hua hastened to fill a dipper with water from her bucket and handed it up to the son of the Lord who owned these lands. He took it without looking at her and drank deeply. He wiped his mouth with his arm, and then tossed the dipper in her general direction.

Li-Hua angrily bent down to pick up the dipper from where it had fallen on the ground, when her large conical hat slipped off of her head.

"Aiyah!" she exclaimed in frustration. She bent over again to pick up her hat, then straightened up, fumbling at the strap to untie it.

Her outcry had attracted the casual glance of the young nobleman on the horse above her. The sight of her face made him pause. She happened to look up, and noticed that he was staring at her.

Quickly she looked away, putting her hat back on and re-tying the strap. One of the villagers called for water, and she hastened over with her buckets with relief. The staring had made her uneasy.

At various points throughout the rest of the day she would feel her skin prickling and look up, to realize that the nobleman was staring at her again.

It was dusk when the villagers were released from the field. They all walked together in a mass, clogging the road, talking and joking.

One of the older women called out loudly "Huang Li-Hua! Give us a song!" Her singing ability was well known in the village.

Li-Hua obliged, signing an old song about the Zodiac Race, where the Rat wins by riding the back of the big Ox, while the villagers listened approvingly. They were proud of her ability. Singing for them always made her smile.

In the distance behind them, the nobleman watched and listened to her fading voice.

After washing up, Li-Hua crawled into bed without dinner. Mother was too tired to cook, and she was too tired to eat. She breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes.

"Runyu... did I invent you?" she wondered.