Peach Orchard Dreams 💔

Ch 13 - 🎼 只有爱 - Only Love

Mandarin Title Pronunciation: Zhǐyǒu ài

Author's Note: When we last left off, Feng Jiu had disappeared and Dong Hua had some possibly prophetic dreams regarding Serpents and Equines. As usual, a song has inspired this chapter which opens the second act. I cannot stop playing Only Love and I want you to think about it in relations to Zhe Yan's journey in this chapter. I am tentatively giving Act II the title Love Debt. Something that is part of the culture which I really want to explore in this book is Karmic Debt in regards to relationships as related to the DongFeng Story. There will be more coming soon as my brain is bubbling, and I already know exactly where we are going in this story.

Bihai Cangling, Zhe Yan and Mo Yuan go to the palace to check on Dong Hua's mental state

Zhe Yan had at first thought his old friend had taken Feng Jiu. He had gone to the cave to give the Fox his gift and had been flummoxed to find the cave empty of all but the luminescent pearl with collected memories of the Fox Queen. When Dong Hua had come and promised to find the body of the Fox and her missing spiritual pieces, he had finally decided to believe the ancient god.

Zhe Yan and Mo Yuan had been given full privileges to travel to both Taichen Palace and Bihai Cangling to take care of Dong Hua. Today looked to be a potential disaster in the making and both ancient gods feared the worst. Chong Lin, who had been entrusted to be the liaison between the venerable former co-lord and the two high gods, had already reported that Dong Hua had been acting very oddly. Zhe Yan and Mo Yuan were at Bihai Cangling in the immaculate room of Dong Hua's chief steward.

"Dijun has sequestered himself to his study in total darkness. He is neither meditating nor sleeping. The lord is sitting and staring into the void. This steward has never seen Dijun so..."

"Out of sorts?" Mo Yuan queried.

"Sorry for himself?" Zhe Yan interjected after the God of War had spoken. Mo Yuan looked at him quietly with a slightly longer stare than usual.

"Well, it was only a matter of time." The two gods had suspected the spell would eventually stop working or even backfire. If the energetic signature of the incredibly stubborn god were to be disrupted by any further systemic shock they knew they would have to formulate a completely different pill. This had been the worst-case scenario that both Mo Yuan and Zhe Yan had prepared for fortunately.

"It is time for a more sophisticated containment procedure." Mo Yuan breathed the words in his customary sonorous tone.

"Please, no more bells or other doomsday devices. The world cannot stand more of your innovation." The old bird fired the insult at him rather calmly.

Chong Lin waited for a rejoinder that never came of course because Kunlun's chief teacher was poised and collected in the best and worst of times, so he simply ignored the physician and asked for the direction of Dong Hua's study. It was his first time being in Dijun's residence and he was frankly intrigued. The place resembled a well-lit, sparsely decorated Fox Den. Dong Hua had a penchant towards dark colors, but these rooms were cavernous, cold, and brilliantly illuminated. It was as if the small palace had been designed during a time the former master of heaven and earth had anticipated a different future, one with the possibility of an empress to share space in his home.

He blinked his eyes as he turned the corner to the main entryway of the palace. He could clearly see his departed mother Heavenly Goddess Hou Tu talking with her then disciple Dong Hua. He saw her giving him some copper bells on a simple red-brown string and although he could not hear the conversation, he witnessed the younger version of Dong Hua bowing. It was a jarring sight indeed as Mo Yuan could never recall seeing Dijun bow to anyone so deeply and reverently. He also had never seen such a young version of the ancient god.