Chapter 9 (1/2)

Chapter 9: A Peeper Betrayed

Spring left and came again, and the years flowed like water between the fingers, escaping all attempts to grasp them. Pear blossoms burst wantonly into bloom, inviting a delicate fragrance into the courtyard.

In the blink of an eye, I had pa.s.sed a few more years at this house. Fang Hua naturally forgot the events of that night, and I was all too happy to take advantage of the slip. I never brought up the words on the silk cloth again, and the two of us spent our lives peacefully until one day, I discovered that I’d grown quite tall.

The robe I’d worn in prior years seemed more and more fitting to my body, except for its tightness across the chest. I also felt depressed these days. When I was changing my clothes, I once hit against my chest and felt a sharp pain.

My body these days was really weird. It seemed like it was changing, but I couldn’t tell in what way.

I didn’t pay it much attention, because all the little ills and pains in this house were nothing to worry about. Even without mentioning the field of rare and precious plants behind the building because the house, I had Fang Hua, who could concoct all sorts of miraculous cures.

Fang Hua loved to fiddle with the plants and flowers.

He also once told me that medicinal plants and flowers all had their own set of seasons and years. Once that time that pa.s.sed and they faded, they would be useless. Actually, it was a pity because they could only continue living on as refined pills. But we simply had too many plants in our backyard, so only the relatively rarer ones were picked to be refined.

Every time he finished speaking, he would wear a regretful expression on his face.

But I couldn’t understand how mixing together all these medicinal plants, smas.h.i.+ng them to bits, and mixing them with different powders to form into round pills… …

…could do anything to prolong their lives.

Supposing they were human, getting pulverized like that would’ve killed them until even their bones disappeared.

I really didn’t understand a guy like Fang Hua.

Even though I said that, I could well imagine how many different types of rare medicinal ingredients were gathered by him and placed into the beautiful collection of bottles and flasks in the house. These things were precious beyond compare, and a single grain was worth more than ten taels[1] of gold.

Even so, I occasionally made off with one or two jars and dumped the contents in my mouth like soy beans to satisfy my cravings for a good snack.

Fortunately, he only turned a blind eye to these things.

Sigh… … [Most up to date translations for this series can be found on volaretranslations.]

It became hard to sleep with my endless suffering.

I could only lie there stiffly. Turning my body, I beat against my chest…

Seriously, this was so oppressing.

For Mother’s sake…

It was fine if I didn’t hit it, but when I did the pain was enough to make my eyes leak tears.

Pulling open my robes to peer inside, I couldn’t tell if I was being paranoid, or if my chest was really starting to swell a bit.

Could it be that the warm weather, combined with too much water I drank before sleeping, caused my body to bloat?

I bent my arm and gave it a glance, but it looked normal.

In one motion I got up and grabbed the mirror off the short table[2]. The bright yellow hue of bronze dazzled me to a point where I couldn’t open my eyes. I felt my face all over to ascertain that it was the same as before, besides the fact that my skin tone was lighter.

Ahh.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

It was no use, I couldn’t fall asleep no matter how much I tossed and turned. I might as well sneak into Fang Hua’s room and steal some medicine to eat and suppress these chest pains.

I hooked up an outer robe and draped it around my shoulders.

Like a thief[3], I stooped over to put on my boots. With my hand carefully s.h.i.+elding a lantern, I closed the door to my room and started heading outside.

A crescent moon hung high in the sky.

Fang Hua’s room was across the courtyard from mine. The cool and quiet brilliance of the moonlight spilled upon the ground.

His door was closed, and his windows were tightly shut.

Still covering the lantern light from view, I peered towards the paper-covered window. At times it looked pitch-black, but sometimes it seemed that light would waver in and out.

Was he asleep?

But it was still so early…