One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

35

"Are you familiar with Wu songs?"

"No......" How could she be familiar with those sexually evocative poems for the bedchambers that had once circulated through the common folk?

Zhousheng Chen's palm was somewhat rough, or at least, to her skin, the feeling of its presence was very strong. When his hand stroked over her bosom, she gasped lightly, and her eyes shut themselves even tighter so that even her lashes were quivering faintly.

Beside her ear, his voice was very soft, very low. "At morning, upon the terrace. At evening, resting in the orchid pond. Borrowing the light of the moon to pick the lotus flower. Night after night, I take the lotus seed."

Vaguely, she could hear the suggestive overtones of romantic relations.

But her mind had already drifted away somewhere. This was her first experience being so physically intimate with a man, and her senses were very much heightened.

No matter where his hand slid to, she felt the urge to evade it. Whether this was intimacy or torture, she could no longer tell.

"In ancient texts, the 'lian' in 'lotus flower' [莲荷 'lian he'] is substituted in place of the 'lian' in 'loving tenderness' [爱怜 'ai lian']," he told her in a low tone. "'Lotus,' therefore, means love."

There was perspiration on his arm as it rubbed against her body.

Sunlight passed through the window glass and fell upon her body, which no longer had any garments to conceal it.

Finally, he turned her around to face him. Lowering his head, he kissed her lips as he removed his own shirt and trousers.

In her hazy perception, he never ceased reciting to her in a quiet voice those poems she had never before heard and should be shared only between lovers. Most were too metaphorical, so he would explain them to her. His speech was low and quiet but focused and thorough as he took these sensual, amorous poems that were laden with sexually suggestive overtones and explained them like he would if he was lecturing in a college classroom.

Their bodies pressed up against one another, fitting together tightly.

He, however, still did not progress his actions to the next step. Shi Yi could already feel that her awareness was drifting away, and she did not know what she should do. For a moment, she even felt that this must be an hallucination, and she questioned herself whether she was truly here, together with Zhousheng Chen, skin against skin and nothing between them......

In a low voice, he told her, "I am going to start now. It may hurt somewhat."

A flush spread across her body.

She did not even dare to breathe. It was something that she knew, but from his lips, it was seduction.

Serious, seductive lovemaking.

All of her senses seemed as if they were suspended. His slightest motions caused her to inhale lightly from anxiousness.

"When I was little, I recited 'Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals.' The elders in my family all would say, 'The charms of beauty; gleaming teeth; the music of Zheng and Wei - these are pursued for the pleasure they bring.'" Zhousheng Chen's voice seemed as if it had been burnished, carrying in it a hint of huskiness due to thirst. "Beautiful women and music for entertainment purposes are both things that you should not allow yourself to become too absorbed in. Have you heard it before, this particular saying?"

Biting down on her lip, she gave an "mm."

"I once regarded those as below my consideration, believing that neither was worth becoming absorbed in. Now, though, I do not think that."

He was trying. Her body quivered from the pain.

Beads of perspiration trickled off his body and fell on hers. Zhousheng Chen did not dare make any hasty movements. When the pain subsided and grew faint, she summoned her courage and arched upward to meet him. Zhousheng Chen was somewhat taken aback and paused momentarily. Looking down at her face that had turned slightly pale, he saw it was slick with perspiration...... "Shi Yi?" he suddenly called her.

Shi Yi's eyes fluttered open.

In her mind, this was where it had all began.

Many memories, both from her past life and this present one, all seemed to surge up, one upon another. Memories of swirling sand and dust, of the smoke of beacon fires surrounding on all sides, of him sitting alone in the library tower, of him riding with her as he spurred the horse across Chang'an...... If, that day, they had not reined in the horse and halted the direction they had been headed in......

Zhousheng Chen was very patient and would continually ask her softly, "Are you still okay?"

In the beginning, she would answer him, but later, she could only give a disjointed "mm" as she gripped tightly to the bed sheet beneath her. Her hands would clench and then loosen. The numerous, jumbled images in her mind were far from her now. The real person, the person who was here with her, was him. Yet, it also was not him. Shi Yi's palms were covered in sweat. She stretched a hand up to his face. "Zhou--... sheng Chen."

His voice was low as he answered her.

"I love you," she told him in a hoarse voice.

He answered with a quiet "mm."

Her hand caressed his face. It was covered in perspiration. Their two bodies pressed down upon the bed sheet. It was hot and damp.

At last, he held her in his arms and rolled to his back so that she could lay atop him to rest. Grabbing the thin, cotton blanket, he pulled it so that it covered most of their bodies. Exhausted, Shi Yi could not open her eyes as she rested her face against his chest and listened to the beat of his heart.

There was very long period of quiet, so quiet that she nearly drifted off into sleep.

Her fingers, though, could not resist and moved to stroke the skin at his waist. "Before, did you ever... with someone else..."

With eyes closed, he chuckled, "No."

Shi Yi also gave a little giggle, and in a sleepy voice, she quietly stated, "And you aren't ever allowed to either."

"Yes, it won't ever happen." His hand was on her back and lightly slid over it.

"If I end up dying first, then I'll trouble you to suffer through for a little while. Next life, I'll make it up to you." Shi Yi felt she was being overly sentimental and melodramatic, but she still could not hold back the words. It was only in this time that she dared say these things to this great scientist.

He let out a slight laugh and then, lightly, he answered with an "mm."

Satisfied, Shi Yi lifted her head and placed a soft kiss on his lips. Then, she carried on with gently caressing the skin around his waist until gradually, her breathing grew steady. There, lying on top of him, she fell into a contented slumber.