Sons of Nature

3 The Witch's Dance (6)

It took a whole week for Zhan Cheng to feel somewhat normal again. At this time, he was finally able to visit some of the other towns in the vicinity to stock up on a few more supplies even though he felt completely drained after each visit.

Looking at everything that he had gathered, Zhan Cheng nodded to himself with satisfaction. This wasn't bad. There were some dried fruits, two types of grain, even some dried meat. All things that could be stored for a long time but would still add a bit of variety to Gongliang Ye's meals.

He would have loved to bring him something fresh but that wouldn't be convenient. It needed to be something the witch could store. Otherwise, he'd be hard-pressed to use it up immediately which would interfere with his life too much. He didn't want that.

Zhan Cheng packed up a few things that he was sure he would be able to carry even in his current state and then set everything down, going to bed for yet another night. He had trouble falling asleep at first, his thoughts constantly on how his meeting with Gongliang Ye would turn out.

What would the witch say when they saw each other again? Would he ... maybe give him a smile? Come to think of it, he didn't think that he had ever seen him smile even though he had been there twice and had even spent a night at his place and shared three meals with him. Gongliang Ye probably wasn't the type to smile much.

Zhan Cheng's thoughts drifted further and further away and finally, he fell asleep after all, the exhaustion after another day of preparations overwhelming him.

The next morning, he got up as soon as he woke up, rushing to freshen up and put on his best clothes before he grabbed the bundle he had packed yesterday. Then, he carried it into the forest, making his way over to the witch's house again.

At this time, Gongliang Ye had already gotten up and was inside, going about his days as usual. This witch, he probably hadn't thought of the man that he had helped just two weeks ago even once.

Zhan Cheng stood in front of the small staircase, looking up at the door on top, unsure what to do despite having thought about this moment for a long time last night. Should he knock and then hand the things over to him? But what if Gongliang Ye rejected it? That wouldn't do. Then maybe he should just put it down where he was and wait for the witch to discover it himself? It seemed to be wrong though. In any case, with how suspicious Gongliang Ye seemed, he might think that somebody was trying to poison him or something.

While Zhan Cheng was still agonizing over this, the witch inside the hut had already realized that somebody was outside. He waited for a moment, thinking that another patient was hesitating over when to come in or not but the person still hadn't left after several minutes but also didn't come inside.

He sighed and walked out from behind his counter where he had been preparing some herbs, and opened the door. He wanted to tell the person his opinion but stopped when he saw just who it was. "What are you doing here? You wouldn't have gotten yourself infested with another ghost, would you?" He looked him over but couldn't see any kind of sign that there was something unnatural going on with him.

Zhan Cheng straightened up, his ears turning red. "That ... No. Just ..." He hugged the bundle in his arms a little tighter and then finally just walked up and stuffed it into Gongliang Ye's arms. "I brought this over for you." He hastily took a step back, afraid that the witch would hand it back to him and refuse.

In fact, he was of half a mind to turn around and just run away. He probably would've done that but it would've felt impolite and might imply that he was afraid of him which he definitely wasn't. In fact, looking at him, he felt ...

Zhan Cheng glanced up and then looked away again, his ears reddening further. Over the last few days, he had thought back to how the witch had looked at the time he was banishing the ghost every now and then. He had usually pressed the thought down and tried not to focus on it but it was an image he couldn't get out of his mind.