Falling Dreams of Fang Hua ✔

Chapter 015: Meeting at the Jade Pool

He looked as if he was very surprised.

I felt even more astonished.

I narrowed my eyes and looked at the thing between his fingers. It was rather black, and looked like a piece of skin.

He was completely stupefied.

Pushing aside his robes, he knelt down on one knee, the simple action filled with aristocratic grace.

He stared at me, then back at his hand, rubbing the thing between his fingers. "What do you usually put on your face..."

The thick, sticky black thing between his fingers slowly fell to land in the water, where it dissolved away. With an unexpected jerk, I touched my face, feeling out a section of skin that felt as smooth as tofu, surrounded by a layer of wrinkly stuff. It felt like if I tugged...then it might...

My eyes widened, and I tore off another piece of skin.

Che, I wasn't that wrinkly, so why was I shedding skin?

I lowered my head and rubbed at my face... A handful of black stuff appeared...like pieces of my skin were falling off. I cupped a palmful of water and started to furiously wash my face.

A sweet fragrance wafted out, and the sound of rustling clothes and a soft breeze reached my ears.

"Brother Shao." Han Zichuan's voice was as soft as spring wind or a fine drizzle, his tone carrying traces of light laughter and a little pity. "How could you be so crude..."

In the next moment, his hands had brushed aside mine, and he started to expertly rub at my face. My eyelashes were soaked with water, so even though I squinted, everything before my still looked blurry.

A gust of wind stirred the tens of thousands of willow catkin heads around us.

He knelt by the shore, back straight as he looked at me with a scholarly air. The wind stirred his sleeves, water soaking the edges of his robes, but he didn't mind, only wearing a pleasant smile on his face. A finger pointed at my face as if he enjoyed himself too much to look away.

His eyes made me feel a little worried.

"Han Zichuan, you stop that..." I backed away. "I can do this myself."

He leaned forward and took my hands, gently setting them on his chest. I shook away his hands as if I'd been burned by boiling water, but his grip only tightened, and the heartbeat I felt beneath his robes was pounding wildly.

I was stupefied. He raised his eyebrows with a smile, and the haziness in his eyes disappeared. The astonishment of his face also changed to an expression of amazed excitement, and the hand stroking my face began to tremble, his voice rising to match. "Brother Shao. Unexpectedly, your looks are matchlessly beautiful."

His sincere gaze came from the bottom of his heart.

It was a clean, pure look, as if he was complimenting me for compliments' sake, with no ill intentions at all.

"Why did you want to hide a face like this..." He looked as if he didn't understand, but his eyes didn't move from me a bit.

-

Fellow brother, it wasn't my choice to cover it up.

I've looked like this since I was little...

He smiled softly, finally shifting his gaze from my face to my shoulders, then my collarbone...and rubbed it gently.

Surprised, I started to swim backwards, but his hand pressed firmly on my shoulders, unmoving. I could only stutter out, "Y-y-you, what are you doing..."