Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3: Foster Father Fang Hua

Were all Immortals so removed from the attractions of the mundane world?

I carried this question inside me for three days until I wanted to pound

Recently, the beautiful person alatchedHe would return to the residence after a long while, pleased, and then spend the entire afternoon reclining on a bamboo mat to doze

Fang Hua never arranged any work for me to do, and spoke to otten a person like me existed Even if I tried to increaseback and forth before him, he never looked directly at ed for three meals a day and waited upon me It was as if I wasn’t led here to be ordered about, but to enjoy a happy life filled with ease…

Seriously, what a weird guy…

—

Midday

As usual, he cooked so the chopsticks, he irab his robes and head out the door I quickly sed a few mouthfuls of rice, usedbehind him

The house he built here was pretty out of the way There weren’t even any neighbors around, and a field of reen trees was dense beneath the sureen waves that gave people an i

A white-robed silhouette disappeared into the ancient forest

Huh…

Weird, why did he slip into a place where the birds wouldn’t even go to poop? Enduring the rays of the scorching sun, I broke into a run until I found and leaned against the back of an ancient tree My neck craned around to look quietly

Huh…

I saw the beautiful person rise to the sky with a leap, his ie reflected in the pond below The white robes were airy as his foot stepped lightly on the surface of the pool without stirring a ripple Then, slender hands stretched forward to grab soround, as lovely as an immortal’s Only now, there was the stem of a lotus flower in his hand

Ah…I didn’t know he could set the [1] on a hot day to approach the water’s surface and gather lotuses was pretty yuppie At that ti within my heart

The beautiful person was like a painting, with long hair swirling in the air and flowers falling in riotous profusion He flawlessly tore off the petals from the lotus flower…please take note, he tore thean to chew

His expression then was as if he was trying a delicate, delicious flavor of the mortal world

I clung to the old tree, eyes wide as I watched this so-called iathered various flowers into his hands, settled into the tree, and stuffed them all into his mouth

After seeing hi water, I became as dumbstruck as a wooden chicken His table htly part in a way that radiated appeal Even if he had been eating the Five Grains[2] or si Whoever heard of sos…

Wait, a proverb said: many esteemed men of noble character do not follow norhto do with his diet Perhaps those flowers could iy?

Yes, that must be it

My face filled with greed as I ran below his tree to squat on ing tail He lowered his head to look at e in his eyes was obvious: why did you come here?

I feigned ignorance He tilted his head to one side, still chewing I stared fixedly, eagerly looking at hi eyes

“…you want to eat some?” He finally opened his mouth

My eyes shone and I couldn’t nod fast enough He really was generous, because ave me an entire bunch of flowers I bent my head to sniff them

Sweet…

But I couldn’t s particularly extraordinary

Earlier in the year when there was no food, I was even willing to eat tree bark Yet I’d never ate flowers, because I couldn’t tell between poisonous and non-poisonous types Not to ue

This…