Falling Dreams Of Fang Hua

Chapter 59

(Fang Hua, I've brought back that person for you.)

(The gentle wind, the endless grass...the low notes of the qin, the evening's setting sun. Ten years endured by that grave with nothing but the floating scent of flowers.)

—

I was flustered, wholly and truly lost. I'd never felt such a strong sense of unease. A Fang Hua Beast injured by sentiment lived every ten days as if it was a year. I'd been by his side...for a very long time...

When he picked me up from his doorstep, I'd already discovered that the color of his mole was very dark. But despite everything, he should still have held out until I returned. Why was it like this? I'd brought back Han Zichuan...why did it turn out like this...

The bamboo seemed to be sobbing quietly, their forms flashing back and forth in the wind. The windchime beneath the eaves tinkled as the bamboo stalks dashed against each other.

"Shao'er, Shao'er, the yellow earth hill. Fang Hua's at the yellow earth hill."

Astonished, I saw a small feather float down from the air and raised my head to see the parrot standing on the roof, staring at me with its liquid eyes.

The yellow earth hill...

When I forced Han Zichuan up the mountain, we'd passed by that place, but there was no sign of anyone there.

"You little beast, you're teasing me again," I laughed in spite of myself and got up. It was hard for me to believe my own words, but I kept repeating them anyways. "Fang Hua's body must have been ailing, so Second went with him on a walk."

The parrot landed on my shoulder anxiously, shuffling its claws as it pecked me with its beak.

"Fang Hua's always been docile. When I said I didn't like other people seeing him, he used to stay with me for a month or half a year without ever going out. Second's the lively type and Fang Hua's softhearted, so he was probably persuaded to take a trip to town," I seemed to have lost part of my soul as I walked along, slow and stupid.

"Shao'er, Shao'er, the yellow earth hill. Fang Hua's buried by the yellow earth hill."

Its voice suddenly turned sad and shrill...

Abruptly, I came to a stop. It was as if something I'd only tacitly understand had broke through to the surface, tearing apart my last traces of hope. My body started trembling uncontrollably as the shoulder where the bird had pecked me started to ache. When I turned back, the little creature was urging me along, as if it was more anxious than me.

My eyes swept past the corridors, seeing every door flung wide open with no sign of Han Zichuan in sight. Something occurred to me just then and I quickly used my internal energy to leap out of the house, stepping past the bamboo to head to that place.

The yellow earth hill didn't have such a name originally. Perhaps a place like this, where all sorts of mysterious flowers and extraordinary plants took root, might have an even prettier name. I'd just never bothered to ask Fang Hua what it was.

As I rushed on, the thin leaves of bamboo brushed across my face, chilly and a bit painful. There was a single grave standing within that valley, a desolate peak surrounded on all sides by medicinal plants and the aroma of flowers. I could see an indistinct form bending down to pluck something out.

That person was Han Zichuan...

I narrowed my eyes and rushed over, grabbing his hand.

"What are you doing?"

Han Zichuan looked at me with a smile. "I saw your Fang Hua..."

The wind gradually picked up, assailing us with the scent of flowers. I stood dumbfounded as I stared at that smiling face. There was no surprise nor sorrow there, only his usual calm and high spirits, as if everything here had fallen within his predictions. The grasses around the yellow earth hill were sweet-smelling and fragrant, billowing in the wind like soundless sobbing...