This story is about the birth and development of the best friendship between Donghua Dijun and his little fox.
In my re-imagined story, I am attempting to give our beloved leads a genuine chance at love with their own thoughts, behaviors, and desir...
After she had gotten out of the tub, dried herself off and changed into the beautiful white robe that Dong Hua had left her, she went back to her room through the secret door to comb her hair. Walking through the door still proved to be a daunting task. She had somehow managed with a strange combination of closing her eyes and putting her arms out to feel the chilly barrier as she walked through it.
As she sat at her vanity combing her hair with the brilliant blue lapis lazuli comb he had given her, she reflected on one of the most poignant memories from her dream.
"He asked me to wait for him, and so I did," she whispered to herself. Tears brimmed in her eyes and she bit down on her lip to hold back the sob that wanted to spring forth from her chest. This one phrase had changed the whole emotional landscape of Dong Hua having gone into seclusion.
The part about how he had to lock himself away to deal with his illness was just a cold hard fact. This new critical knowledge of how she had waited for him was like a drawing that had stepped out of the confines of the paper and had come to life. This new truth that she was re-aligned with had endless possibilities about how they could have spent their time together yet apart those many years ago. It was a kind of creation magic in itself and its intent was to soothe the jagged edges of a forced and unavoidable separation.
"It's the best I could have done" she said to herself.
Acceptance is not the most beautiful flower in the garden. But it's the flower that one chooses to notice because it has bloomed.
She had remembered laoshi telling her this once when he had taken her along for a walk to view the majesty of the Kun Lun Mountains.
As she slowly and carefully combed her hair, an envelope magically appeared before her on her vanity. She opened it and upon seeing the distinct hard edges of the brushstrokes, her body immediately tensed.
After reading the letter, the sigh she released contained not only frustration but also trepidation.
She proceeded to throw it into an incense burner. She was resolved to not let anything ruin the sleepover. Her librarian had lived for almost an eternity before finally reaching this milestone and she would not let anything get in his way.
---
(back to current time)
Dong Hua conjured all of her snacks onto a low table in front of her. These were the snacks she had conjured when she had marched up to him demanding to have snacks in his bed. He had used magic to keep them in stasis for this special occasion.
He smiled upon seeing her eyes grow wide with wonderment as five-spiced roasted nuts, zongzi sticky rice dumplings stuffed with rose water sausage, spicy squid jerky, small round pastries stuff with salted duck egg, cardamom cookies, and curry-spiced roasted sweet potato chunks manifested onto the table.
She waved her hand out and a lacquer box with peach cookies materialized. He moved over to sit next to her and he watched as she organized the table. Directly in front of him was the box of peach cookies and directly in front of her was every other dish.
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