Hmm, yeah. So Chapter 12 and 13 are mostly different now. If you haven't read Chapter 12, please do. At least the ending part, because something may happen and I don't people to be confused! Sorry! X.x
Disclaimer: Dynasty Warriors belongs to KOEI and what not.
Chapter 13: Second Thoughts On Him
"I'm sorry." Qing Wan said softly as she avoided contact with the Tiger General. "I'm not Hua Yi." She noticed the man grunt as he tried to support himself off the wall.
"I know." He replied, "I'm sorry. You just." He looked at her trying to force a small smile. Qing Wan avoided eye contact again, remembering the conversation she had with Jiang Wei the night before.
xxFlashBack
"Lady Ji, do you think you can help me?"
"In what Lord Jiang? I'll help if I can."
"I want you to heal ZiLong."
"What?" she stared at the man wide-eyed as the two stopped in their tracks.
"You are the only one who can bring ZiLong out of this state. Ever since your arrival, Zhao Yun has been worse than before. Our Lord is very worried about this."
"But what can I do? I'm not your sister…"
"I know. I don't want you to become Hua Yi or anyone you're not. I just want you to show him, to make him accept the fact that she's dead." Qing Wan stared at the ground for a while, "Please Lady Ji, you are our Kingdom's only hope. We really don't want to lose a great Tiger general like him."
"I'll need to think." She replied her voice trailing. "I'm sorry I need to think."
"Please take your time." Jiang Wei gave her the warm friendly smile he had always shown her, "I understand it's something hard. So please, take your time."
XxEnd Flashback
"I'm really sorry Lord Zhao, for causing you all this emotional trauma."
"No, no. It's not your fault." He coughed, grabbing onto his head.
"Are you alright?" she asked helping him up, but since he was at least half her height she had to use the support of the wall to help.
"I just feel really dizzy." He said, his visions blurring around him. "I." He paused before tumbling forward; luckily Qing Wan had gotten a good grip of the man as she helped him back up.
"Lord Zhao? Lord Zhao?" she called as his arm slumped over her small body. "I'll take you home okay?" the man nodded as she slowly dragged him towards his house. Arriving at the big mansion with the words 'Zhao's Mansion' sprawled at the entrance, she began knocking furiously on the green gate. "Is anyone in there?" she screamed after minutes of knocking.
"Xiao Ling must not be home." He grunted, "Try the back door." Supporting the man on her again, they began the small walk towards the back of the house.
"It's locked too." She mumbled hitting the door a few times. She felt a strong amount of pressure as the Tiger General slowly bent down to the right. "Is there something?" Zhao Yun nodded and pointed to a bunch holes in the wall. Resting him on the wall behind them, Qing Wan stuck her arm in the hole that Zhao Yun ordered her to and felt around, when she felt a cold metal like object she pushed on it slightly hearing the door unlock. "That's…so cool." She said astonished.
"It's Master Zhuge's creation." He gave a weak smile as the two struggled into his room. Placing him on his bed, she covered him with his blankets. She stared at current environment he lived in. Clothes and wine jars were sprawled all over, papers thrown across the tables. There was even shards of an expensive vase near the bed.
"I'll go get you some water to wash your face." She said softly and opened the doors, hoping to find a broom to clean up the mess. Qing Wan looked around at yet another new area, but unlike Jiang Wei's home, she could clearly see the kitchen from where she was and began to walk there.
"Who are you?" a voice said abruptly, Qing Wan turned around to face a small servant girl with a broom in her hand. Seeing her homeowner's fiancé she screeched and threw the broom on the ground.
"Please." Qing Wan placed her index finger on top of her mouth, "Lord Zhao is sleeping and I'm not Hua Yi."
"So it's true, you're that woman who looks like her?" the small maid sighed with relief walking up to her and touching her chin. "You have a chin! You're not a ghost!"
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry for being so rude. My names Xiao Ling, I'm the maid that works here." She smiled, "Soo what brings you here Lady…"
"Ji, Ji Qing Wan. I was planning to leave though, but please take care of your Lord for me, and you should clean his room." Xiao Ling frowned.
"I don't think so, Lord Zhao doesn't let most of us enter his room, he's usually a very neat person. So we rarely have to worry about cleaning his room. But, since you could of entered his room and he accepted your help…maybe you can do it? It's for Lord Zhao and all. Not being lazy or anything." Qing Wan paused for a while, but agreed to the girl's conditions. After all she felt she was part to blame for Zhao Yun's condition, and she wouldn't want him dying because of her or anything now. "That's great! I'll go grab the mop and the broom and all." Xiao Ling clapped running towards the kitchen.
"Wait!" Qing Wan shouted, the girl halted in her steps. "Can you grab me a pot of warm water? I want to wash his face." Xiao Ling stroked her chin as if she had a beard and grinned.
"OKAY LADY ZHAO!" she screamed slurring the last part.
"What?" Qing Wan cleared her thoughts, hoping she didn't hear what she did hear. Receiving all the proper utensils, Qing Wan began to clean his room. She threw all the clothes into the laundry hamper, put all the wine jars into the garbage can, placed all the papers in a neat stack with the rest of his business papers and swept the shards away. Damping the towel in the water, she gently pressed the wet fabric onto the sleeping mans face. Wiping away the dirt and sweat that had build up these past days, but the longer she wiped the handsome mans face she noticed that his face was getting redder and redder. Yet when she placed her hand on his face, it was as cold as the winter nights back in Wu. Being trained as a medic back in Wu, she grabbed on to his arm and felt his pulse. Getting up from her seat she ran towards the door and threw them open. "Xiao Ling?" she called repeatedly until the maid arrived. "Call a doctor, Lord Zhao Yun has a fever." Qing Wan frantically walked back and forth outside Zhao Yun's room as the doctor treated him inside. Xiao Ling, who was gardening behind her looked at this woman with awe.
"Lady Ji." She said, tired of her walking back and forth. "Are you sure you just met Lord Zhao?"
"What?" she stopped turning around. "What do you mean?"
"You seem like you really care for Lord Zhao." Qing Wan blushed a bit before shaking her head.
"I just think it's my fault he's like this. I don't want him to die or anything. You know." She replied quickly avoiding eye contact with the maid.
"Well, it's a good thing someone would really care for Lord Zhao. Other than Lord Jiang or other important generals, Lord Zhao hasn't really accepted people ever since the incident." She sighed, placing the gardening tool on the ground. "It really worries me sometimes, even though I'm a housemaid. To see him so upset and depressed. I really hope someone could fix it."
"Why?"
"Because Lord Zhao used to be such a happy person! He'd have many people come to visit him. He used to always smile. He was just a whole different person."
"How is he now?"
"Now? You never see him smile. Other then people from the army, he'd never receive company. He rarely attends banquets anymore, he's moody. He throws tantrums at himself in his room. Even Lord Liu Bei had tried to help him, but." She sighed, "He said he didn't want help." Qing Wan couldn't help but grow teary, she knew how it felt to be always moody and take yourself away from the world. Yet, she knew how different it was when you allowed people to enter your life, to help you take you away from your sadness.
The doors towards his room opened as the elderly doctor walked out with his box, he ran his fingers through his beard and closed the doors.
"How is he?" Qing Wan approached the doctor who continued to stroke his beard. He squinted at the sight of her, as if he knew her. "I'm not Hua Yi." She pointed out.
"I know you're not." The man chuckled, "But about Lord Zhao, his immune system has been pretty damaged. It seems like he's been lacking nutrition and been drinking way too much for a man with his strong body features."
"Lord Zhao hasn't been eating for the past two days." Xiao Ling stood up.
"That must be it, and also he's been in cold weather I presume."
"He was wandering around the streets last night." Qing Wan said, remembering how she and Jiang Wei abandoned him in the middle of the road.
"He also has a psychological problem." The man stared towards Qing Wan, "It might have to do with you and his past." The three were placed in an awkward silence before the doctor spoke. "If you could send someone to come and grab the medicine with me, we can cure the fever part for now."
"I'll go." Xiao Ling bowed, "Please take care of Lord Zhao."
"Me?"
"You've been taking care of him the whole day so far." She winked walking away with the doctor. Peeking into Zhao Yun's room to see him breathing heavily she closed the doors and headed towards the kitchen. There she began to prepare for some ginger tea, even if Zhao Yun was sick. From all the wine he drank he'd get a huge hangover, and she knew from past experiences with Lu Xun that ginger tea was the best way to get over it.
"Lu Xun has his own wife to help him now anyways." She gritted her teeth, chopping the ginger angrily as she was reminded by that woman. She sighed as she fanned the fire slowly, she couldn't help but remind herself of all the agony she has created for herself and the people back home. Yet she knew she'd be worse facing Lu Xun every day back home. For now, ChengAn and Shu were her reality and her home.
xx
Qing Wan slowly crept into Zhao Yun's room and placed the tray on the table. It was almost reaching afternoon and Jiang Wei would soon be on his way back to the mansion expecting to see her. She looked at the lifeless man lying on the bed, in a way she pitied him. Giving up a great life for a woman that you could no longer see, but she knew she couldn't do that. Because once she was the exact same, giving her life for a man that no longer loved her. She placed her hand on Zhao Yun's right cheek removing it quickly when she heard the doors open. "Lady Ji." Xiao Ling shouted causing Qing Wan to jump back a little. "Not planning to go home?"
"I was waiting for you to return!" she retorted, "Have you got the medicine?"
"I was going to go boil it now, but you know I saw you here still." She grinned, "I'll be back in about an hour! Ta ta!" she waved with the yellow package and ran off. Qing Wan sat on the chair bored and looked around.
"They must be worried sick about me." She thought, walking over to the side table with all the brushes and ink. Looking around, she started to make ink and began writing her letter back home.
Dear father,
I'm sorry for leaving without much notice. Please pass that sorry towards everyone. I am a selfish and stupid person, I didn't care about any of your feelings before running off. Please try to forget about me, and take care of my sister. Hope you all take care of yourselves respectively as well.
Cheng Qing Wan shang
Qing Wan allowed the ink to dry, but had to quickly stick it in her blouse in a crumpled heap when she saw movement from the bed. "You're up." She smiled happily as the Tiger general rubbed his head. "Here." She placed the now warm ginger tea in his hand. She watched him take sips slowly, making faces at the odd taste.
"You've been, watching me over all this time?" Zhao Yun coughed handing the bowl back to her, Qing Wan nodded and placed it back on the tray. "You cleaned my room?" he pointed out to the empty room.
"I didn't mess anything, I promise. All your documents are there."
"Nono, I didn't mean anything like that." He shook his head, resting his back on the wall. "Thank You."
The two sat in silence for few minutes when Zhao Yun noticed her fiddling with her fingers, "Your ring, it's very pretty."
"I got it back home." She happily said covering her mouth. She didn't want to say that Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao got it for her on her birthday.
"Where are you from?"
"I'm originally from…the country." She lied, "I'm a ronin now, I travel."
"The country has city rings?" he arched his eyebrow.
"Well, the guy who sold this ring. Was from the country, and he gave it to me cause I helped his son do stuff…"
"You're up!" Xiao Ling screamed running in with the tray in her hands. Zhao Yun quickly gave a face of disapproval.
"I'm not drinking that!" he was directing to the brown liquid in the bowl, "That' s gross!"
"You'll have to drink it three times a day the doctor said!" Xiao Ling pouted, "Lord Zhao!"
"Forget it, I'm a tiger general. I don't need to drink that."
"Xiao Ling," Qing Wan spoke, "Can you grab me some dry plum seeds?"
"Dried plum seeds?" Xiao Ling stared at the girl, "If you're hungry just ask. I can get something whipped up for you."
"Nono, it's not for me. It must not be a custom in ChengAn, but where I come from. Dried plum seeds help take the taste away."
"Well, if Lady Ji says so." Xiao Ling scratched her head, returning with a bowl of them.
"Now Lord Zhao," Qing Wan placed the cup to his lips, "Please?" Zhao Yun stared at the girl and his maid before taking the liquid. He took a small whiff and turned his head to gag. "Plug your nose!" she said quickly. Listening to her steps, Lord Zhao drank the thick liquid quickly, when he was done. He stuck out his tongue, afraid of closing his mouth. Quickly Qing Wan placed a dried plum seed in his mouth while he chewed. Zhao Yun gave numbers of disgusted faces before he finally swallowed the seed. "How was it?" she asked as he was still sticking his tongue in and out.
"You expect me to drink that THREE times a day?"
xxEnd Chapter 13
Woosh. Off to sleep. Next up…..A NEW CHAPTER:D Review plx! Kthx xD
xReika