FMT 47

Chapter 47 Reunion

Since their last parting, two full months had passed.

The shopkeeper, knowing his place, withdrew and closed the door tightly. He stayed at the stairway of the second floor.

Inside the room, Xiaodan had already recognized her. He threw himself into the girl’s arms. She bent down to hold him and kissed his cheek.

“Xue Ming… no, I should call you Shuangruo.” Liandan walked over, held her wrist, and said with agitation, “How are you here?”

Chen Shuangruo looked at Liandan. Her smile stiffened on her face. Tears welled in her eyes as she said, “Liandan, may I beg you one thing? Just once in this life, I beg you to promise me!”

Liandan looked at her tears and her pale face. His expression turned blank. Even the rise and fall of his chest with his breath seemed to stop. He lowered his eyes. His eyelids covered his expression, but his trembling lips and suddenly pale face still showed his turmoil.

His lips moved again and again, as if it took effort. At last he squeezed out a sound, broken and halting, so unlike his usual voice. He asked, “Is he… is he dead?”

“No…” Chen Shuangruo shook her head. Liandan fell to the floor. His chest finally rose and fell again, and air passed through his throat. It was like he had just died and then returned to life.

Chen Shuangruo squatted, put Xiaodan down, and stared straight into Liandan’s eyes. She said, “I came to the shopkeeper first instead of going directly to Kaoshan village, because I was hesitating.”

Liandan, panting, looked at her. Chen Shuangruo said each word with weight, “If you had never come to Xinglong Treasure Shop, I would have left at once and never set foot within a hundred miles of Kaoshan village, letting you and your child live in peace without disturbance.”

Liandan’s eyes widened. He heard her continue, “If you came even once, to ask even once about him, then I would go to the village to find you.”

“Chen Shuangruo…” Liandan’s eyes were red. “Tell me, what happened to him?”

Chen Shuangruo choked, “He was badly hurt, nearly dead.”

Hearing this, Liandan felt like he was hit by thunder. His vision went black.

“When he fought the Left Protector, he lured him to a cave behind the residence. He collapsed the entrance with inner power. Liu Shuqi and the others could not get inside. By the time they cleared the rocks and went in, the place was full of blood. The Left Protector was dead. My brother stood with only half a broken sword for support. As soon as they entered, he collapsed and fainted. He only woke up a week ago.”

The girl reached to clasp his hand, pleading, “He forbade me from finding you, but I know he wants you with him. Liandan, even if I must beg, go to him. You need not do anything else. Just talk to him every day. Stay ten days. No, even three or five days will do. Please, Liandan!”

Chen Shuangruo broke down crying, more disheveled than ever before. Liandan used his sleeve to wipe her face, clasped her hand in return, and put his arm around her shoulder. His eyes showed resolve as he said, “Shuangruo, don’t cry. I promise you, I will go back with you.”

….

This journey could not be like last time. They could not go slowly, not with the child.

Liandan bought many things in town, packed quickly, told Aunt Wu, then, with Chen Shuangruo disguised as a carter, he left Xiaodan and those goods with his sister Lianye near town, asking her to take care of Xiaodan for a while.

Lianye agreed readily. Her husband and in-laws were also willing. Chen Shuangning had once helped them greatly. This time Liandan did not come empty-handed, he brought generous things.

Liandan saw Lianye happily playing with Xiaodan. She waved at him to go. He slipped out quietly.

Since Xiaodan’s birth, he had never left him before. Liandan’s heart ached, but still he walked firmly out of the village.

In the mountain outside, Chen Shuangruo held his waist. Her toes tapped lightly on the branches, and like a gust of wind the two of them were gone.

At another larger town, someone brought them two horses.

Liandan did not know how to ride. Chen Shuangruo rode with him on one horse, the other horse followed to be used when they needed to switch.

At the next city, others provided new horses. When they were too tired, they stayed in town, slept, ate, then continued.

With such speed, what would have taken four or five days by carriage, they reached in only two.

When they rode into the valley, Liandan already saw the familiar residence.

But the great gates bore cracks, and some houses inside had collapsed, not yet repaired. The sight showed how fierce that battle must have been.

Without greeting the people inside, Liandan washed quickly, ate a little, then followed Chen Shuangruo to the room where he had once lived.

Now the door was closed, not a sound came from inside. The sun was setting. No lamps were lit. There was a strange air of death.

Liandan, pale, walked up and knocked. He waited. No response.

Beside him, Chen Shuangruo’s voice was hoarse from travel. She said quietly, “Since waking, he refuses to see anyone, not even me.”

Liandan’s fingers twitched. He bit his lip and asked, “If he won’t see you, then how do you treat him?”

Chen Shuangruo broke down crying, shaking her head. “I only gave him medicine when he was unconscious. After he woke, he has not taken a single dose.”

Liandan’s eyes reddened. Tears welled up, but he forced them back. He opened his eyes wide, clenched his teeth, and pushed the door.

The door, which should have been shut tight, opened with a creak, leaving a gap.

Chen Shuangruo froze, then joy came over her face. But Liandan, for some reason, hesitated at the door, unable to step in.

Anxious, Chen Shuangruo gritted her teeth and shoved him from behind. Only then did Liandan stumble into the room.

Behind him, the door creaked shut.

In the dim light, through layers of bed curtains, Liandan saw a tall figure lying on the bed. Strands of long black hair trailed down to the floor.

He smelled blood and rot.

The smell stopped him at once, because he remembered, he had smelled this before.

The room was silent except for shallow breathing. So when he heard a hoarse, strange voice, Liandan’s body clearly trembled.

“Who let you come?”

Fear showed in Liandan’s eyes, but he clenched his teeth and answered, “I wanted to come.”

“To do what? Are you still longing for me, do you want to climb into my bed?” The hoarse, strange voice spat with venom.

Liandan’s face went white. His body shook harder. He was afraid, but more than that, he felt aggrieved.

Tears he had held back for so long fell, silently flooding his face. The man inside the curtains could see in the dark. For a long time, he said nothing.

Silence stretched. Liandan choked out, “I came to talk with you.”

Still silence.

Liandan wiped his face, took another step, and reached the bed curtains. When he was about to lift them, the man inside spoke coldly. “If you came of your own will, why did you hesitate at the door?”

Liandan lifted his head toward the figure behind the curtains. He wiped his face again and said, “I was afraid I came too late, that I would see you already dead.”

The man inside fell silent again, then asked in a low voice, “Do you want me dead?”

Before the words even faded, Liandan answered quickly and with certainty, “No.”

“Do you pity me?”

“No.”

Again, the dialogue ended.

Liandan pinched the curtain lightly between his fingers and waited.

Until a faint sigh came from inside. The hoarse voice said, “Come in, Liandan. I hope you will not regret it.”

Liandan clenched his teeth and lifted the curtains, layer after layer. Finally he could almost see the figure, thinner than before, face turned inward, hidden under long hair.

When he lifted the last curtain and hooked it onto the bedpost, the heavy stench rushed at him. He did not back away. He knelt onto the narrow couch at the bedside.

He looked at the hand lying outside the quilt. The wrist was so thin the bones showed.

The sourness in Liandan’s chest spread like bitter water through all his limbs.

He carefully held that hand, afraid of breaking it, and lowered his face to rub his cheek against it. The skin held no warmth. It was cool.

“Liandan…”

“Mm.”

“Look at my face now. If you are not afraid, then stay.”

Liandan looked up in confusion. On the bed, the man slowly turned his head. Long hair slipped away, revealing a twisted jaw, rows of bared white teeth, the nose reduced to two holes of bone, and bulging eyes.

Liandan’s chest heaved. His scream stuck in his throat. Eyes wide, he stared at the skull-like face.

Until that face twisted into a ghastly grin, the hoarse laughter rising louder and louder, like it would laugh itself to death.

Liandan turned toward the edge of the bed, covering his mouth, retching.

Seeing this, Chen Shuanning became furious. With a violent jerk, he flung away Liandan’s grip from his withered hand.

But something hidden in his chest was thrown out as well.

Liandan saw it. At first he froze. Then his eyes widened. It was the embroidered pouch he had once made with his own hands and given him.

He almost did not recognize it, it was worn and old.

Chen Shuangning noticed too. For a long time he said nothing. Bloodshot lines spread in his bulging eyes. His teeth ground together, making him look even more terrifying.

At last, through his teeth, he said, “If you are afraid, then get out…”

But before he could finish, his words cut off.

Because that frail boy, trembling with fear, not only still clung to his hand, but also threw himself onto the bed and wrapped him in a desperate embrace.