Western Lake
At the venue promised, Xu Hanshan stood with a grave look on his face, wearing a dark outfit. Dongyue arrived at the lake, flanked by his companions. Upon seeing the man approach, Hanshan looked hopeful.
“Master Xu,” Dongyue greeted him with a smile. “You’re early.”
“Master Zhan, you are finally here,” he greeted them with a bow. Hanshan had been waiting for Dongyue for some time, but the rich young master did not understand the rules of punctuality. It was an hour that he had been waiting, and the sun above him was scorching. He was glad the men had eventually arrived.
Dongyue returned his bow and introduced his companions cordially. Both men did not speak much but just went along with Dongyue’s decision to heal Xi’er. Hanshan revealed that his humble cottage was not far from the lake and he could have brought Xi’er, but she was too weak even to move.
Dongyue nodded to indicate his conformation that they would accompany the man to his abode to heal his wife. After walking for some minutes, they ended taking a twisting path to arrive outside the Xu residence.
The Xu residence turned out to be a wooden shack instead of a cottage. Inside the house, a haggard woman with a weak constitution trembled from the cold, pulling the sheets over her head. Dongyue understood that the sickly-looking woman had to be Xi’er, but what had come over her to make her so unwell?
“Do you think Young Master is capable of healing?” Ya’Xing whispered to Xiao Tian. The man just smiled meekly. Nobody knew much on Dongyue’s healing abilities, but such an opportunity had happened when he was a young boy of eight. He had come across a pigeon that had crushed its wings in the garden and was close to death.
At that time, Dongyue could still move about freely about the mansion without being confined to any chambers, and he was determined to save the bird’s life. In the end, the bird had survived, so he was sure he could reuse the method on Xi’er.
When he next used the method, it was on an old civilian in the village. Depending on the injuries and the physical size or age of the person, he needed some space. He didn’t like healing in the open, where anyone could see and preferred to heal in the privacy of a room. Of course, his parents couldn’t know of this, so the second and last time had happened when he was twelve. He didn’t manage to treat anyone after that.
Dongyue then instructed Xiao Tian to fetch him a basin of warm water, along with a clean cloth and some kaffir leaves, which he took into Xi’er’s bedroom. Next, his orders were for everyone to leave him to work in silence as he didn’t like being watched. While Hanshan was anxious about leaving his wife in the hands of a stranger, the men assured him that Dongyue would never dare to take advantage of a sick woman. They would have explained further that he was the son of a wealthy tycoon, but such explanations weren’t necessary.
Wang Xi’er was only twenty, but she was now reduced to the constitution of an older woman. She wasn’t aware of how she had been cursed or why it had happened, but she could only blame one factor: Karma.
She must have poisoned her husband too evilly against the woman who was his first friend in Muxue, and now that Muxue Xiyu was not taking it against her and even sent help to her, she counted her blessings.
She knew that Xiyu had never asked for anything from Xu Hanshan but his friendship. But she was envious of Xiyu and feared that one day, she would have lost everything to Xiyu, including Hanshan. So she thought of a plan, cooking up a story that a fortune teller had told her that Xiyu would one day be her undoing. Due to the conflict of energies between her and Xiyu, they would end up clashing bad, and she would die. Hanshan believed his wife without searching for the fortune teller to confirm his doubts.
Now, she was close to death herself, and she could only blame herself for creating negative karma for herself from her misdeeds. Perhaps Hanshan did not belong to her after all, she thought sadly. When she departed from the world, who else could take care of Hanshan but Muxue Xiyu herself? Hanshan had neither kith nor kin, and his entrance into the island had been an accident. He was the accident then, and now, Dongyue and his companions were the accident.
“Hanshan,” Xi’er whispered as she lay shivering in her bed. Dongyue said nothing, but placed his warm hand on top of her crown, inhaling and exhaling slowly. Eventually, he drew back and said his words.
“You won’t die, Madam Wang. A little imp has possessed your body, and I have my ways to expel it.”
She sat up suddenly upon feeling a heavy burden ripped from her body. Turning towards the male voice, she was startled that a dashing young man was in the room with her, while Hanshan was nowhere to be found. The man took the clean cloth Xiao Tian had given him and placed in the basin, squeezing out the water from the fabric efficiently before putting it on her forehead.
It was at the same time that she leaned forward and vomited, a strange brown emulsion of what appeared to be dead bugs, blood and a black mixture.
“Next time,” he said, “Don’t dabble. What is yours is meant to be yours.”
He got up and headed towards the door, fathoming that his work was done. Before he reached the door, the woman stopped him with her words.
“Can you keep it from Hanshan?”
“That’s between you and him. As long as he stays from my Miss Muxue, everything can be discussed.”
“Thank you,” she said, lying down on the bed. She looked weary but was not as weak as she was earlier. Dongyue had blessed her with a prayer spell that would last for some hours, but he had also given her a vial of holy water that he brought along with him on his travels. The imp that he had banished from her body remained in his pocket, struggling while encased in a small pouch. He would handle it later, he told himself.
“Sleep well, Madam Wang,” he said solemnly. The door closed behind him. He walked casually into the living room.
Xu Hanshan was still earnest and fidgeting with the cups and bowls on the table, but at the sight of Dongyue exiting his wife’s chambers compelled him to ask if she was alright.
“She’ll be back to work in no time,” Dongyue said. “I hope you stand to what you’ve promised.
From the open window, they heard a sudden rustling of leaves from one of the flower bushes as a figure in red ran across the yard swiftly.
Dongyue understood and only smiled.
He was fatigued and needed a rest at the inn, but his efforts had been worthwhile. Xu Hanshan would never be a threat to his pursuit of Xiyu, he thought to himself, thinking what would be the next stage of his efforts to make Xiyu his.
Now, the question was when they could embark on the journey.