The Librarian and the Fox Princess: a Donghua Dijun and Bai Fengjiu story, V.I

Chapter 64 - Open Water

Dong Hua was about to tell her he was not Dream Dijun until she mentioned this one thing.

"I'm so glad it's you Dream Dijun, I have to tell you the update about Real Dijun!"

"Oh?" he asked while feeling intrigued and pensive. 

Update? 

There was an update about him? He held her as she clung to him and rested her chin on his shoulder. He couldn't help himself. He was curious to hear about this "update." He felt her lips brush over his bare shoulder. He closed his eyes briefly. Had she placed a kiss there? He couldn't tell.

Dong Hua carefully pried her away from his shoulder and she sat back on the edge of his lap and looked up at him with her large dark eyes. 

"Xiao Bai, how do you know I'm Dream Dijun and not Real Dijun?" 

She bit her bottom lip and he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was seriously considering his question.

"Well ... everything is different," she said as she looked around the basin. "Before I fell asleep, my body ached, and my arms really hurt for some reason." 

Dong Hua's chest tightened upon being reminded of the pain he had inflicted on her. 

She moved her arms gracefully in the water as if she were about to do a water dance. "I don't hurt at all." 

He suppressed the curl that wanted to form at the edges of his lips.

She looked down at her robe. "And Real Dijun would make me wear layers and layers and layers upon robes if I were in the bath with him." She plucked her the clingy wet fabric on her shoulder. "I'm just wearing two. I think my body makes him uncomfortable," she said while clutching her stomach tightly.

"Is that what you think? That he doesn't like your body?" This troubled him. Dong Hua gently unwrapped her arms she had clutched tightly around her midsection under the water. 

"Dong Hua is in perfect physical condition," she said while jutting her chin out to him. She looked down at herself. "I am not ... he's also very disciplined ... and if you look at me, obviously, I am not." 

"I've thought about it a lot, actually. I think I make him uncomfortable. Like take baths, for example. In Qing Qiu, going to the hot springs can be a communal thing with people you're close to. Everyone sits in their section of the hot spring, relaxes, talks, sometimes there might be some wine or some snacks. Nothing bad or untoward happens, it's just a chance for people to spend time with loved ones."

"Truthfully, since I've missed him so much, earlier I very much wanted him to stay. But, I know it's not proper to ask him to take a bath with me. I've learned Celestial life is very different. Perhaps, I could have suggested he take his scroll and sit somewhere around here, just so we can be around each other. And when he's finished reading his scroll we can just talk or something. But, it's my fault. I wasn't brave enough to say anything so I just watched him walk away," she said while looking down at the water.

Dong Hua let what she had just shared sink into him.

"But, you're here now. It's everything I've wanted. So, this has to be a dream," she said as she lightly tapped her index finger on his chin. "I know I'm just barely 30, 000 years old, but I know that life is not about always about getting what you want." 

"Then what is it about ... for you, Xiao Bai?" 

She sighed and relaxed in his arms, leaning her head into his shoulder. 

"For me?" she said, thoughtfully considering his question.

She thought about the love Zhe Yan and Fourth Uncle shared. "It's about being passionate enough about what you believe in, irregardless of other people's judgements, and being willing to fight for it with every fiber of your being."