Chapter 11 (2/2)

Two hours later, I walked out with my head bathed in steam. Fang Hua was drinking tea at the stone table, smiling as he waved towards me. I lightly stepped over, furiously shaking my hair. He shook as I splashed him all over with water.

“How unruly. Did you take a bath or just wash your hair? You didn’t even dry it first, be careful you don’t catch a chill.”

I was ridiculously happy.

Just thinking that I’d gained five years’ worth of internal energy made my face split open in a grin. He couldn’t help but sigh before standing up, taking a cloth out from who-knows-where to cover up my head. Those warm and gentle fingers slowly rubbed it dry.

Nice…

It’s really comfortable.

“Yifu, you said Shao’er would get a gift at fifteen years.” I leaned back and fell into his torso, rubbing the damp hair against his robes. Clutching his sleeves, I brazenly asked, “Where’s Shao’er’s present?”

He couldn’t help but smile as he dug inside his sleeves, pulling out an object that he placed in my palms.

A haipin?

It was neither made of wood nor jade, but something blood-red in hue, finely polished to a simple yet elegant shape. A nostalgic scent wafted from my fingers as I caressed it gently, but I couldn’t recall what it was.

“Do you like it?”

“Un.” The pattern was simple and unsophisticated, as if it had been handmade.

“You’ve almost come of age, so you shouldn’t wear your hair loose all the time. Tie your hair up nowadays, you’ll look more energetic.”

“What kind of wood is this made from?”

Mahogany?

It didn’t seem like it…

Bamboo?

Do you think I’m stupid, that’s even more impossible.

It’s weird, this feel really familiar. I’ve definitely smelled this scent somewhere else.

“…this…I’ll tell you in the future, don’t just sniff it blindly.”

He reached out from behind me to take my hair, wiping his hands on my robes before coiling it two or three times. Then he took the hairpin from me, hesitated a moment, and said, “Shao’er stayed with yifu for so many years. You must be lonely.”

I was suddenly seized with panic before I could react. My scalp hurt, and when I touched my head…

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

My hair didn’t even get to dry before he tied it up. The air was so humid. If you tied up half-wet hair like this, you’d grow lice!

Aye!

Fang Hua had never called himself yifu in front of me. That was the first time, which was why I was so surprised and forgot to reply him. Before I turned fifteen years old, I thought I would live with yifu  for the rest of my life. But I was wrong.

It was when he appeared.

The second day after Fang Hua gave me the hairpin, he calmly followed Fang Hua back. He was tall and slender and straight as a ramrod, dressed in a robe adorned with plum blossom branches that made him seem seven parts elegant and three parts heroic. He looked a bit older than me, and his every moment was graceful and n.o.ble. From a long way off, he spotted me with a clear smile.

He said, Shao Hua, I know you.

He said, Shao Hua, I’ll be living here now with you and Fang Hua.

n.o.body had ever called me by my full name before. Yet I remained staring fixedly at one point. His slender white hand held Fang Hua’s, the ten fingers closed together, but Fang Hua just smiled and said nothing.

The rain fell as a fine drizzle, the mist covered waters surrounded us for tens of thousands of li, the sun began to set.

A single strand of the willow tree, a single measure of feelings.

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

[1]li (里) －a traditional Chinese unit of distance approximately half a mile, or 500 meters long.

[2]qi (气) －air, chi, energy that circulates within the body, etc. Chinese medicine believes in treating qi to gain a healthy body.