One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

56

It was only after Zhousheng Chen had stepped into the research institute's vehicle did He Shan finally turn around to stare, dumbstruck, after the car that had left so abruptly.

Outside the window, there was wind and rain.

He sat there at her bedside. Just as she had throughout these two months, she still laid there. Sleeping. Living within the world of her own dreams. Had it not been for the telephone call this afternoon, he would not have even believed that she had awoken once for a handful of seconds. Perhaps, because she had not seen him then, she had fallen back into a slumbering state again. He was not hurried. He would wait for her until she awoke.

His eyes were like crystal waters.

Quietly, he watched her.

After a long time had passed, Shi Yi's eyelashes gave a small flutter, and, as if sensing his presence, her fingers also moved ever so slightly.

"Shi Yi?" He held her hand in his and bent down over her.

She heard his voice and tried very hard to open her eyes. However, her eyelids were simply too heavy, and despite her efforts, she was unable to do so.

"Don't be anxious. Take your time."

Within that endless darkness, she finally could see a sliver of light.

Worried that she would be uncomfortable when she wakened, he had adjusted the lighting of the room so that it was very dim, so dim that initially, she could only make out the outline of his face. Gradually, after her eyes grew accustomed, she was able to see his features. She wanted to tell him, she had woken out of her dreams because she had wanted to see him. Her dreams this time had seemed like a reincarnation of her previous life. So wonderful. But she... wanted to see him.

She had been worried he was waiting, waiting for so long he would grow impatient.

Shi Yi wanted to speak, but the long coma had made it difficult now for her to produce speech, and she could only ever so slightly move her lips.

"This is Xi'an." His voice was somewhat lowered and was steady and gentle. "From now on, we will be living here."

Xi'an? Chang'an...

Within her eyes, there were roiling emotions that were difficult to conceal.

Smiling, he told her, "Riding a horse through the city would be very difficult, but I can still take you around here to see everything."

For a moment, she froze. And then, the view before her eyes grew misty.

Taking her hand, he guided it to touch his face.

Her fingers slid from his brows and eyes down the length of his nose.

Over each inch, she moved very slowly.

Those subtle rises and drops of the bridge of his nose and his browbone had not changed in the slightest.

......

"I have finished writing out 'Rhapsody of the Imperial Park.' Not a single word was missed," he told her softly.

She smiled, tears falling from her eyes.

" 'Beautiful bones. Those with bone do not have skin. Those with skin do not have bone. Yet, most people's eyes are shallow, seeing only the skin-deep appearance and not the bones.'" His voice was clear, like water, as he reiterated the words she had written on the title page of her book. "Shi Yi, say my name."

All this time, her eyes had been blurred with tears, unable to see him.

But, bewitched by his voice, she moved her lips to call him. "Zhousheng Chen..."

He made a sound in acknowledgement and told her in a low voice, "I think, I must have used my beautiful bones as an exchange for you to have unrivalled beauty, as an exchange for you to remember me, as an exchange for you to be able to utter my name when your lips moved."

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She smiled. Such extravagantly sentimental words were so unlike him.

Laughing also, he stated, "It seems it wasn't too bad a deal."

"Then..." She pretended to frown. "What about next life?..."

He could not help chuckling. "You continue being unrivalled in beauty. That's something, I don't really need."

Shi Yi smiled gently and gazed at him.

She heard him say:

"I don't remember, but I do believe. Shi Yi, everything you wrote, I believe."

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This floating life is but a dream. How often can life's pleasures be enjoyed?

Through the thousand years of desolation, when even that stretch of white bones has become as sand, Shi Yi, alone, is all that I ask.

[1] 师娘 "shi niang." Interchangable with 师母 "shi mu", which He Shan had once called Shi Yi as well (in chapter 8.1, on the phone.) Both mean "teacher-mother," the wife of one's teacher.