Wangxian - The Road Not Taken

20. Its YOU?

Previously :

We reach the healer's village, baihu shitu and are mesmerized by its beauty and generous people. But the healer refuses to meet us. We stay in the village till we can meet her and in the meantime learn about the village and basic activities like sewing. We meet a cute lil vixen who soon becomes a part of our family though she gave me a heart attack with her scary entrance. I compose a song and play it for my family.

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After the song we stayed at the clearing simply taking in the view and letting the cool breeze soothe our nerves and anxiety. No words were needed, being in each other's company was simply enough. We spent the afternoon lying in the clearing with peaceful smiles just being in the moment. When it started getting chilly, we grudgingly agreed its time to get back.

Just as we wrapped up and got ready to leave back to the inn, it started drizzling. It was not much concerning as we thought we can still reach back in time before it started raining heavily.

Oh how wrong we were!

Seems like nature was in a playful mood today. Only side effect was that it was all fun and games only for one side.

We were not even halfway back when it was a straight up downpour like they had forgone the cloudy sponge and were directly spilling the never ending water smack from the source. Usually I like the rains but even I make exceptions when its in anger, or creepy fun mood.

A-Yang picked up Qiqi and we made a dash for safety. We reach our room and immediately collapsed on the table catching up with the breath that surely left us sometime back, not caring one bit about the sopping wet clothes.

Once we were back in the world of the living we changed and dried up ourselves and ordered some food. The food arrived as I was drying Qiqi, she eagerly jumped up smelling the delicious aroma of the food. We set up the table and began eating.

All was good up to the point where I made the mistake of taking a bite of the sweet and sour fish dish. The feeling of nausea was instantaneous. Yeah it just could not have been better if planned. After that I just couldn't stomach even a bite of food so I went to bed early feeling tired.

The next day the weather wasn't much better just like my health. I could only keep down a little bit of food that I consumed after the morning bout. I could feel the lethargy in my muscles, just not having the energy to even turn in bed.

A-Yang was so worried that he risked the rain to go to the Healer to ask to meet again, persisted for a few hours but came back dejected and almost in tears. That night I held him close singing to him even if I could only manage the whispers.

If the destination get faint
Then wait, take a moment
Wherever you'll be, look beside you,
Like a shade in the blazing sun
And a guide in the dark
I'll be there for you

It helped him quite a lot, his tense shoulders relaxed, reassured that I am there and will not be leaving him.

Next morning I had the usual bout of nausea but instead of settling, it just got worse and I could hardly eat a few bites. Like that wasn't enough, I was feeling more tired than usual and wanted to just lie in bed all day. But the weather cleared up in the afternoon and A-Yang encouraged me to take a stroll in the village, hoping it will do me good.

I didn't feel too well but this idea had merit so we went for a stroll. But I had overestimated myself. I didn't want to end it too soon otherwise A-Yang would feel he had hurt me by forcing me to overexert and anyways the work will keep my muscles in good shape so I pushed myself chanting 'Just a little bit more then I will go rest'.