How To Polish A Pearl

Chapter 37 - Collecting

Here he was again. Another day, another pine tree. "It's your fault that I smell like a forest every day. Picking out pine needles from my hair every night..."

Irritated, Wen Ke Xing brushes some twigs off his robe, the corners of his mouth twisted with displeasure whilst continuing to mutter under his breath, "The least you should do is help me take them out." Then again, I would have to explain where I got them from...

Resigned, he takes out a metal flask from somewhere inside his wide sleeve. Opening the top, he takes a few hurried sips of his favorite wine, a few droplets spilling to the side and running along his jaw and down the side of his neck. I even have to drink this cold! Why are you out here every single day?

Zhou Xu and his army of guards are now on their eighth day in a row of searching Mount Quingya. At this pace they have covered roughly half of the entire Ghost Valley and are currently on track to finish searching the entire valley within another week.

If it wasn't for the fact that Wen Ke Xing was annoyed that he still had not been able to figure out what Zhou Xu was searching for, he would have admired how methodical and meticulous his husband was. He had combed through every pass, up and around every peak and down every valley. It was some sort of plant, of that he was atleast certain of. The ghosts that had been assigned to Zhou Xu had helpedprepare large clay pots outside.

Pine trees aside, at least there hadn't been anymore assassins or ambushes. To be fair, they hadn't seen a single 'living' soul since they had moved beyond the inhabitable areas. For the past two days they had been moving deep into the desolate side valleys where not even the most outcast or exiled of ghosts resided.

This specific pass they were currently ascending had suffered significant damage during the earthquake with huge rifts twisting in intricate patterns up the mountain sides. The rough terrain didn't slow Zhou Xu down in the slightest. From where Wen Ke Xing is surveying, he has a perfect view of his man moving gracefully through the air as he advances through the rough terrain.

Having done nothing but stare at Zhou Xu for over a week, he had come to familiarize himself with every part of his husbands body language. His fluidlike movements, as he moved like the wind itself through the landscape, definitely doesn't make him think of that uninhibited naked body moving around him in the hot spring.

Zhou Xu's focused expression, as he soared through the air, sweeping the surroundings in search for the thing he had obviously not found yet. His eyes glistening even from a distance absolutely does not remind Wen Ke Xing of the hot sparks radiating from his eyes, right before he climaxed.

Wen Ke Xing just can't help himself from being somewhat distracted by Zhou Xu's azure blue robe shimmering in the sun, his hair flying wildly in the wind. He certainly is not thinking about wrapping that long black hair around his fist and pulling it back as he licks the jawline of that perfect skin. His mouth goes dry just thinking about the flavor.

Deep in thought, it takes him a while to realize that the group has stopped. Forcing himself out of the daze, which he is in full denial he just was, he leaves the pine tree to move in closer to where the group is lingering.

Zhou Xu is hunched over a few boulders that looks like they might have found this new location during the earthquake. The guards efficiently fan out in a secure-and-protect formation around Zhou Xu.

Wen Ke Xing peaks out from behind one of the landmasses that had shifted in the earthquake, definitely preferring this location of the trees. He watches Zhou Xu carefully remove each rock one by one until a single inflorescence (1) is peeking out between the remaining rocks.

Zhou Xu picks one of the soft amethyst colored florets (2) from this sole survivor and holds it up towards the sun. After carefully examining it, he removes one of the petals and places it on his tongue, cautiously tasting it. What is he doing?

One of the guards hands Zhou Xu two medium size bags which had likely been used for grains or something similar before getting repurposed for this mission. Zhou Xu puts them both on the ground and removes a tool from one of the bags. Very gently he breaks open the soil to expose the roots, carefully making sure to not damage them. He pours water on a piece of cloth until it is soaked through, then very gently wrapping it around the roots before carefully putting the entire inflorescence in the bag. He slings it around his shoulder and motions for them to keep going up the pass.

Following from above, Wen Ke Xing sees the guards fall back into formation with Zhou Xu at the center. Turning around another bend to head up a smaller pass, the scenery changes from cold and twisted granite constellations and rugged pine trees to a sea of purple. Or a more accurate description of the scenery is possibly whatever washes up on the shores in the aftermath of a storm.

On this north facing side of this pass, which is deprived of any sunlight for the most part of the year, the same inflorescences are growing in abundance. Or at least they had been growing in abundance, until the earthquake hit. Vast rifts and landslides are mixed with fallen pine trees and florets.

The earthy scent blends with the sweet and slightly exotic scent of these unidentified flowers. It reaches Wen Ke Xing where he is peaking around the corner from higher up the mountain side where he is snug against a vast crack that had split open the peak. Though he can't hear what they are saying, he can see Zhou Xu giving orders, his posture natural like he was born to lead or had been a leader for most of his life. Well, there he is, the man I chose down in theprison.

Half the guards fan out in the same secure-and-protect formation whilst the rest take out tools and slowly spread out along the mountain side. He watches his ghost guards carefully move across the landscape, avoiding stepping on any of the inflorescences. These calmer and more coordinated ghosts were unusual to say the least. To be honest, it had probably never happened before. At least not what Wen Ke Xing could remember from the time he had been dragged into the Ghost Valley as a child.

The splitting headache that slices through his head without mercy ripples so deep it makes his vision blur. Steadying himself against the cliffside, he takes a few deep breaths and suppresses whatever memory it was that had resurfaced. I don't have time for this right now.

>_<|||

Author's notes:

(1) In case you're not a flower nerd like me, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches.

(2) Any flower in an inflorescence may be referred to as a floret, especially when the individual flowers are particularly small and borne in a tight cluster. The stalk of each flower in the inflorescence is called a pedicel.