The Two Monks
Shortly after he woke up, Cao Pi felt a soothing aura filled up the atmosphere. He knew from where these aura came, who else if it's not from his sister? Or at least, as far as he knew, Cao Yin is the only one who had such a tender aura. But after the incident the day before, it grew gentler than how it usually was, far more gentle than the scents of the peach blossoms that bloomed simultaneously in the first day of spring.
Cao Pi turned around, saw that his sister was not on her bed. Actually, he wished to get some more sleep, fully rest his spent body after transformed into a phoenix the day before. Though only occurred for a short amount of time, the transformation cost much of his stamina, left him in a vulnerable state. And since the Emperor declared the order, he had to stay beside her everytime, ensuring her safety. He decided to get up, searching for his sister who was sitting on the roof, looked up to the sky while humming the same song over and over. A smile was there on her face, she seemingly enjoying the fine day.
"Good morning, Zihuan!" the White Snake greeted. She waved her hand enthusiastically as the smile grew wider. "Slept well? I tried to wake you up so you could enjoy the dawn with me, but no matter how hard I tried, you didn't even budge."
It's not that he didn't want, but his weakened state forced him to stay bedridden.
He watched her beaming face, a face that she usually put on. But this time, added with a slight flush on her cheeks. Cao Pi raised an eyebrow upon the slight changes on this expression. He jumped onto the roof, sat beside Cao Yin.
"You seemed so spirited," he said.
Cao Yin turned to face him. She landed a strong pat on his back. Strength of a phantom could not be measured only by their appearances. Cao Pi grunted in response.
"You should be more cheerful, Zihuan!" she adviced.
"…"
Nonetheless, all that he was showing on his face was that cold and stiff look of his. Cao Zihuan is not someone who was easy to provoke, he rarely shown any emotion beside that face. His smiles occurred once in a blue moon, his expression changed ever so slightly from time to time. Though, in front of his sister, he's a little more expressive.
Cao Yin took a deep breath, exhaled quietly. A pair of blue orbs were being pampered by the beautiful scenery of lush green Hengduan Mountains, as if it was never touched by the humans.
There's only one thing in her mind from that day; it was the man whom she saved. Her lips widen in a shy smile, she couldn't help but to giggle as she suddenly felt being tickled by some invisible hands.
This warm, weird feeling… it makes me feel contented, nervous and...
"I… wanted to meet him again…" she turned around, moving closer. "Zihuan! Let's go to Chengdu tonight! He must be there too!"
Cao Pi knew that sooner or later, he would hear this sentence. He dared himself to take a glance, saw how drastic the expression has changed, he could say that the drastic change was like leap over a thousand stairs in a single jump.
"I hate to say this but, you are not allowed."
"But… but…"
He had a reason to reject it. Chengdu is a huge city with more than one million people in it. They did not know how much hunters were mingling with them, and if they were found out, there would be bloodshed and chaos in Chengdu. Even if they managed to escape, the news of their appearances would strengthen the Emperor's assumption about their presences in Sichuan.
Cao Pi averted his pair of azure orbs, he didn't want his decision waved by those pleading eyes of his sister's. An eye contact in a split second would tear him apart, causing Cao Pi to once again debating between two decisions; 'yes', or 'no'.
"Duanwu Festival is near too!" Cao Yin patted his shoulder. "That means there are some grape wines in stock! We should go and buy some, Zihuan!"
Damn! She knows how to turn me into submission!
Cao Yin smirked victoriously. She knew that her brother would not be able to resist when it comes to grape products; wine is one of them.
He was ashamed to admit his defeat. He turned his head, trying to hide the slight flush on his face, nodded.
Cao Yin gained a total victory over her brother.
She jumped down, dancing and humming a song as her victory pose. That left Cao Pi speechless as he could only stare blankly at her childish behavior. He chuckled, smiled slightly in satisfaction.
Well, out for some fresh air isn't a bad idea either, the Azure Phoenix thought. He looked up, watched the soft white cotton ball passing slowly across the blue sky. He hoped that he would not regret his decision later.
But, there's something that bothered him since a few moments ago. And that is…
"How do you know that fool is going to Chengdu tonight?"
Cao Yin chuckled. "It's a secret," she replied. With a playful smile on her face, she hopped from one branch to another, leaving Cao Pi all alone. He stood up, gave a chase to his sister who loves to went off somewhere at her heart's content.
"Dui ni mi lian, shi yi chang mao xian…
Wo xin gan qing yuan zai hong chen gen qian…"
…
…
…
"Ciqian!"
A short statured young man walked towards the tall young man who was sitting at the edge of the pier at the riverbank, what he currently was dreaming, only he and the Heavens knew.
Wen Yang turned, saw his friend sat beside him. "Good morning, Zhongquan," he greeted, a smile plastered on his face.
"What are you engrossing yourself in, Wen Yang? You seem… happy upon something... How to say it… uh… like a drunkard?"
"That means he's lovesick!" a voice responded from behind, startled them. They turned around, glanced at the man who interrupted their conversation. The interrupter was a man in his early twenties, has a slim body and fair skin. His steps were like a person in his sweet dreams.
Wen Yang's face began to flush bright red. He turned, looked fixedly at his own reflection on the clear surface of Changjiang.
"Brother Du Kang!" Xiahou Zhongquan alias Xiahou Ba greeted. He waved his hand to the young man who excels in herbs and toxicology… aside from he was a drunkard who was able to gulp down ten barrels of wine.
"Zhongquan! Ciqian!" he greeted back. He sat beside Wen Yang, bent down slightly, laughing out loud heartily found how red his friend's face is. His stomach and back began to hurt, tears rolling down his cheeks from his tightly closed eyes. Whereas all Wen Yang could afford was biting hard his lip in embarrassment.
"You fell into the river yesterday and being like this since then!" Du Kang patted his shoulder, made him gasped in slight surprise. "A penny of your thoughts, Ciqian. Did you manage to go to the Heavens and find a pretty Goddess whose beauty is unparalleled by those flowers from the earth?"
Wen Yang stuttered. "E-… even if I told you, I'm sure that you won't believe in me!"
"Hmm? So you DID manage to go to the Heavens?! Wow! How lucky of you!" once again, he landed a hard smack on Wen Yang's back. "Alas, you can bring no Goddess down to the earth."
"It's not like what you are thinking!" Wen Yang was getting annoyed being teased constantly by the drunkard. "Yesterday…" Wen Yang locked gazes with his own reflection on the calm currents of the clear river. "…I was saved from drowning… by a pretty young lady…"
Du Kang was almost chocked by the wine he was drinking, as for Xiahou Ba, he was dumbfounded.
"My lifesaver was the prettiest lady I have ever seen… clad in white, her flawless face, hair like silk and a pair of sweet red lips…
So, who is the drunkard? Wen Ciqian? Or Du Kang?
It seemed that both of his friends didn't have to go far away to Wuyuan just to adore the spring. Just by staying close to a daydreaming Wen Yang, they could experience the best spring in their short life. They didn't even bother if what Wen Yang saw was merely a hallucination, they just let Wen Yang be for the mean time.
"We should go for some rest now!" Xiahou Ba stood upright, taking steps to leave the pier. "Tonight, we are going to party in Chengdu, aren't we?"
Du Kang raised his fist, as if he was trying to punch the azure sky above. "WINE AND WOMEN! HERE COMES DU KANG TO CLAIM YOU ALL!" he shouted with such a passion.
Xiahou Ba patted his forehead, while Wen Yang was not disturbed from his own small world.
Wen Yang tried to remember every inch of his lifesaver, it was as difficult as scraping old memories from long time ago. He could only remember the silk-like black hair of hers, a pair of soft red lips touching his and a smile which made his heart pounding, while his soul screaming in pure joy.
How much he wanted to meet his lifesaver again. He wanted to know her name, age… anything about her.
She… she was like a Goddess descended from the Heavens just to save my life… I… I wanted to meet her again…
"Hey…!"
Wen Yang was still attached to his dreamland.
"HEY…!"
"CIQIAN!" a powerful smack from Xiahou Ba pulled him out of his dreamland. Wen Yang gasped, shook his head. "There's someone calling us from the other side of the river! From their looks, they are monks. I think they need our help to get across."
Wen Yang turned, saw two monks standing at the other side of the river. He hastened his pace, get into the boat and drove it to where the monks were.
"Ah! Thank you so much!" the younger monk ran towards his boat. "We are so sorry for troubling you but we need to get across!"
"Zhao," the older monk walked to the younger monk's side. "Keep your voice down. And, sir," he bowed to Wen Yang, "we are grateful for your assistance."
Wen Yang smiled. "You're not troubling us at all."
Both monks got into the boat, went across the river. On the way, they began some conversations by introducing themselves. The older monk is Sima Ziyuan alias Sima Shi, his rosary name is 'Fahai', and the other one is his younger brother, Sima Zishang alias Sima Zhao. Both of them came from the Jinshan Temple, located in the Jinshan Island as the name implies. They are not just any monks who sits and read sutras, they were in charge of hunting down evil phantoms and seal them in the Leifeng Pagoda to repent their sins.
Sima Shi noticed that the boat was full of baskets of herbs. He picked a honeysuckle flower, observed it carefully as if inspecting the pureness of a piece of gold bar. "You are a physician?"
Wen Yang nodded. "Yes, I am."
"I thought you are a sailor or a fisherman!" exclaimed Sima Zhao.
Wen Yang let out a chuckle. "Do I look like a fisherman or a sailor?" he joked.
"You're from Shouchun?" Sima Shi asked, still observing the flower for some time before it was carried by the wind, landed on the water surface behind.
Wen Yang nodded. "I came here because Sichuan has a massive amounts of herbs."
"You came far away for that…" Sima Zhao murmered. "Ah… that reminds me. Brother Wen, what is your life goal?"
"Hmm… I'm aiming to become a great physician like my father did!"
"Wow! That great!" he praised, then turned to his brother. "Big brother! If you have a backache, you should seek brother Wen instead!"
Sima Shi chose to remain silent.
"Then, what is your dream, Zhao?" asked his brother.
"Me? I wanted to become a abbot from Jinshan Temple-"
"Did you just wish me to live a short life?"
"Ah-… that… that's not it!"
Sima Shi raised his hand slightly, began to count with his fingers. Sima Zhao watched with a look of perplexity on his face, trying to understand what on earth was his brother doing.
"I'm counting my days," Sima Shi replied calmly.
"Don't scare me like that!"
"Isn't it should be me who said that? You're the one who wished me a short life."
"Dear Heavens!"
Wen Yang could not help but to let out another light chuckle, gaining attention from the Sima brothers who soon followed him with a light laughter. When they arrived at the other side, both of the monks got off the boat, wishing him good luck and continued their journey.
To Be Continued…
Author's note: I finished this translation just in two days... well, that's pretty fast. This chapter was originally more than 4k words long but I decided to separate it into two chapters.
For those who don't know about Duanwu Festival, it is known as the 'Dragon Boat Festival'. Duanwu Festival is celebrated in honor of the Chu kingdom's adviser, Qu Yuan. Also, you have to eat the zongzi (sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves) and drink the realgar wine (you don't have to drink this since realgar was said could harm one's body).
Du Kang here is my OC who originates from the founder of wine, Du Kang. While the real Du Kang is a founder of wine, my Du Kang is a physician (and a drunkard). I ever posted his sketch on my IG (Kaien-Aerknard), feel free to check out his looks lol X3
And... my headcanon is that Wen Yang and Xiahou Ba are buddies. In most of the AU stories I made, both of them are doing well with Sima Zhao too, as Sima Zhao has this friendly attitude.
Actually, I thought that Wen Yang basically has no real personality besides he is kind, brave and calm. He's more like a empty plastic bag that you can fill with anything. I saw that most of his fanarts in Pixiv characterized him as a... how do you say it... uh... funny fellow? Like... he was easily flushed, embarrassed and such.
Stay tuned! Reviews are much appreciated!