What If...I Remember?

Chapter 12

"Ye Hua..."

He had just laid her down on her bed, when her eyelids gently flickered open, and Ye Hua looked at her sleepy eyes, "Awake already?" "Mmhmm." Bai Qian nuzzled her head against his arm, but when Ye Hua didn't smile and a frown continued to crease his forehead, Bai Qian knew something was wrong.

"About the blood..." Bai Qian wasn't foolish enough to not see that he was obviously upset over that, and Ye Hua stared at her with a slightly crossed expression, "So tell me, Qian Qian, how many people have you given blood to?" He was being sarcastic, that Bai Qian knew, and she frowned at him, "Look, Ye Hua, it was a last resort! No one else believed Shifu was still alive. No one else believed me! The Ghost Lord gave the Soul Jade to Xuan Nü back then as well. What else could I do?"

"70000 years? You couldn't find any better idea?" Ye Hua argued, and Bai Qian understood that he was concerned, so for once, she didn't play the stubborn part, and she gave him the pout that none of her family had ever managed to resist, "I'm not the smartest person, Ye Hua. I didn't even know that the Soul Jade had other uses until I heard one of my senior brothers mention it!"

"...fine." Ye Hua was wordlessly rolling the hem of the first layer of her dress, and Bai Qian glanced at him quizzically, "Ye Hua, what are you doing?" "We need to address your wounds." Ye Hua spoke flatly, continuing to tug on the ribbon, and Bai Qian blinked at him, "Ye Hua, are you literally asking me to undress right now?"

"Yes, and no. You can just remove enough clothes so that I can settle your wounds." Ye Hua managed to peel off the first layer that had become awfully heavy after all the rain, and Bai Qian glanced at his sodden black robes, "Were you hurt as well?" Silence passed as Ye Hua's hands worked on her second layer of clothes, not responding to her question, and Bai Qian didn't wait for his reply either; she used her magic to remove his robes, and the white clothes he wore below were dotted with blood as well.

"You're injured too!" Bai Qian pointed out, half in disbelief, and Ye Hua glanced at his wounds disinterestedly, before rummaging in the multiple storage chests in Bai Qian's room, "I'm fine, Qian Qian. Where are the bandages? You need some for the chest wounds." "Ye Hua, stop acting like this! I know you don't want me to worry, but at least dress your wounds as well!" Bai Qian yanked the bandages from his hands, and before he could do anything, she grabbed him firmly, wrapping his wounds carefully, her slim fingers working their way nimbly.

"Qian Qian, if you keep wrapping my wound like this, I'm afraid I can't fit into my robes after this." Ye Hua finally smiled after Bai Qian went for the sixth round around his torso, and Bai Qian glared at him, "That's fine by me." Gently placing his hand over hers, Ye Hua ripped the bandage, tucking it into its other layers, then moving towards Bai Qian to wrap hers as well.

While wrapping the bandage around her wounds, Ye Hua noticed a faded scar just above her heart, and Bai Qian saw him staring at the scar, before she explained to him, "Ye Hua, that's where I drained my blood from. But I haven't done so in over 300 years, so don't worry." Running his thumb over it, Ye Hua was still worried, but Bai Qian tackled him quickly, landing a kiss on his lips as she wrestled him down to the bed, "I said, don't worry. Besides, don't you have other things to worry about right now?"

"Such as?" Ye Hua glanced at her curiously, and Bai Qian returned him a sly smile, "Our marriage. The official one."

...

The sky was slowly reaching its darkest, and Bai Qian was snuggled warmly within Ye Hua's arms as he kissed her forehead gently. There had been a question lingering on his head for quite a while:

"Qian Qian...other than blood, what else have you given away to others?" Ye Hua asked absently, and Bai Qian suddenly tensed in his arms, "Ye Hua, are you provoking me on purpose?" Provoking? Ye Hua was confused. Had she ever done so? He didn't...oh. Her eyes. "I still haven't retrieved them, Ye Hua." Bai Qian stated flatly, and he felt the heat in the room double as Bai Qian's anger radiated off her.

"Why?" He couldn't help but ask, and Bai Qian smiled bitterly, "Ye Hua, wouldn't it be extremely weird if even your family has yet to seen this High Goddess Bai Qian of Qing Qiu, but she already has hatred towards them, enough for her to remove the eyes of your sister, or your side consort? It would look awful on me, not to mention the whole of Qing Qiu. Not that we might really care, you Celestials owe us far too much to dare to attack us."

"I'm sorry, Qian Qian. But we will get your eyes back, I promise." Ye Hua hugged her tighter, and Bai Qian sniffed, "Come to think of it, when can I see your family? I'm not some little wife anymore, I'm your fiance. They can't do anything about us. Besides, they'd be thrilled to see me, would they not?" Bai Qian laughed at her own joke, and Ye Hua smiled amusedly. Thrilled indeed, they would be, all the more if Ye Hua ever revealed the mortal that they had ill-treated was the High Goddess of Qing Qiu.

"I'll bring you back tomorrow. You could also borrow the Medicine King's hot spring as well, it's great for injuries." Ye Hua ran his fingers over her bandage, and Bai Qian yawned, "Then it's settled. Tomorrow...I shall see...your...parentssss..."

And Ye Hua smiled as she heard her gentle snoring. She had fallen asleep.

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"Mother!"

Bai Qian woke up to A-Li jumping onto her bed, and she blinked hard, her eyes unable to adapt to the light in all the suddenness, "A-Li, are you attempting to scare the life out of me? I'm not as young as your Father, Riceball." "Mother, the Ghost Lord is here." A-Li seemed unhappy as he said so, and Bai Qian flicked his forehead curiously, "Why, do you have a grudge against him?"

"He's trying to separate Mother from Father!" A-Li shouted as loudly as his little voice would allow, and Bai Qian quickly clapped her hand over his mouth, "A-Li, you can't just say these words casually!" Regaining her composure, Bai Qian laughed at the supposed look of anger on A-Li's face, and she pinched his cheek gently, "What makes you say so?"

"He kept calling you "A-Yin, A-Yin" when he asked for you just now, and he looked terrified when he knew I was Mother's son! But anyway, he has something to give you, something that can help you greatly, he said." A-Li had an annoyed expression on his adorable face, and Bai Qian readjusted her clothes as she stood from the bed, holding her hand out for A-Li, "Let's go, Riceball, and see what this Ghost Lord might have to present me."

...

"A-Yin!" Li Jing rushed forward to greet Bai Qian as she approached the terrace, and she nodded at him, "Ghost Lord, please address me as Gugu, or High Goddess Bai Qian. I have a need to protect my identity, as you should know very well." She shot him a pointed look, and Li Jing looked down sadly, "A-Yin, have we really reached the standard of being strangers?"

"Between you and me, our relationship was over long ago, Ghost Lord. The past is past. Besides, Li Jing, I am happy and content with my family now. I have a son and a loving husband, one who will not betray me as you did." Bai Qian didn't even bother glaring at him. He wasn't worth it, she thought. The saying went, "If there is no love, there is no resentment". She felt nothing toward him anymore.

"If you were simply here to reaffirm that I won't go back to you, then Ghost Lord, please leave-" Bai Qian had yet to finish her words when he pressed something smooth and cold into her palm, and she stared at the pebble-sized green object, before laughing dryly, "Ghost Lord, what is the meaning of giving me the Soul Jade?"

"I suppose you haven't heard, High Goddess Bai Qian. The Soul Jade of the Ghost Realm and the Soul Gathering Lamp of the Su Jin Clan are a set of magical items. They can work together to gather broken pieces of soul and place them into a body. I believe the lamp is in the possession of your husband, it should be easy for you to acquire it." Li Jing explained, and Bai Qian felt her eyes narrow, "Ghost Lord, why are you aiding me in Shifu's revival?"

"Consider it as the last thing I can do for you, A-Yin." Li Jing sighed, a miserable expression shadowing his face, "After all, you won't ever come back to me."

And before Bai Qian said anything, Li Jing turned around, and began walking away from Bai Qian, away from Qing Qiu, away from everything there that would never be his again.

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