Xiao Tian jolted up in his sleep.
The image of the woman in his dreams appeared to be a bit clearer now. The woman in grey smiled upon him in sheer brilliance as her hair hung loosely, billowing in the wind. Her eyes were downcast, and though she was smiling, she appeared remorseful, like she was guilty of a sin she had committed. In other words, she was smiling but crying inside.
He felt it as if he was wide awake. It had been so real.
His surroundings didn’t appear to be either Yilong or Muxue. They seemed to be from another area he had not seen before. Above the woman’s head was a cherry blossom tree, where birds were chirping melodiously and flying about the air. He sensed all his concerns and burdens being lifted and carried into the air.
“Son… I’m sorry.” The woman’s voice resounded in his mind. He wondered why he had never heard her so clearly in the past.
Every time he had this dream, Xiao Tian would wake up in tears. But this time, he had got to hear her call him ‘son,’ and it confused him more. Several questions materialised in his bewildered mind.
What did it mean? If she called him 'son', did that mean that she was his mother?
Why didn’t he remember anything about the woman who had given birth to him?
His shuffling around in the darkness of the room had awoken Dongyue, who lighted the bedside candle and glanced at him with a most understanding look across his relaxed face. Dongyue was a light sleeper, and the very least of movements would wake him from his dreams. With a simple gesture, Dongyue signalled for Xiao Tian to accompany him for a walk outside, not to bother the sound asleep Ya’Xing. Xiao Tian understood. The young master was very empathetic towards the servant.
Dongyue watched the engrossed look on Xiao Tian’s visage as they headed out of the room. The man had a very distinguished appearance, and he firmly believed Xiao Tian to be an upright person, one full of virtue. Had he not trusted Xiao Tian’s character, he would not have offered him to become his sworn brother or sworn a blood oath.
In Yilong, they performed the rites for taking a sworn brother with blood. Traditionally, they would prick both men’s fingers with a needle and drip the combined drops of blood into a bowl before drinking from it. They would then swear an oath to each other to treat each other as brothers from the same day onwards. Then, they would celebrate with wine. If wine were not available, they would use tea as a substitute.
His oath with Xiao Tian was sworn at the riverside while they were making preparations for the journey. It was not something his parents would have acceded to since they believed Xiao Tian was destitute, but that was just what the brilliant son had wanted them to believe. If they knew Xiao Tian was not poor, Dongyue would never have the chance to put him up at the Zhans’ mansion for such a long time or even pay for the physician’s fees!
When Dongyue had found Xiao Tian, the man was clad in a set of exquisite robes, with an emblem containing a green lotus. The robes were in the style of a martial arts practitioner’s robes, but it was not the typical type of robes that they would wear. Dongyue observed that there were looser and broader in some regions compared to traditional robes and sensed the martial arts he had practised was not of a standard type.
He even sought to test his sworn brother’s martial arts in a private sparring match, but because Xiao Tian was severely injured, he had to go easy on him. Maybe in the future, he would get another chance to test Xiao Tian.
“Xiao Tian, did you have the dream again?”
Xiao Tian nodded but did not say a single word. He was still very clueless on what he should do, and how he could have his dream explained to him. He had heard of experts who could piece together dreams and derive a proper explanation. Perhaps such an expert existed in Muxue.
“Don’t worry, Xiao Tian,” Dongyue comforted the young man. “We will find her. But I do have one favour to ask from you.”
Xiao Tian was anxious at the word ‘favour.’ Indeed, this Young Master Zhan was not going to ask him to die for him as a favour? He was afraid of the strange people and the absurd frozen island, but to die here was not one of the things he wanted to do. Besides, he wasn’t even close in regaining his memory yet.
“Xiao Tian, I won’t ask you to die unnecessarily,” Dongyue cajoled him as if he was able to read his mind. “You know, we can’t live on the gold we have left. Soon, it will run out, and we will be living like beggars, unsure if we can ever leave this island.”
Xiao Tian nodded slowly, not willing to say a word.
“I have struck a deal with Miss Muxue,” Dongyue added. “She has a quest for us where we will help her claim her birthright.”
He didn’t know what risk was involved and knowing this was the only way for him to become closer to Muxue and, at the same time, for them to be able to sustain their living on an island far from home.
“I guess we don’t have a say on this one,” Xiao Tian eventually spoke. “But are there no other options?”
Dongyue shrugged. “You all could go find work with others, but for me…”
He knew he was a rich young man who never had to work a hard day of his life. He had dozens of male servants and never stepped outside his chamber until the day his father had fallen sick, and he offered to head down to that male relative’s house, the very same day he met Xiao Tian. He couldn’t even lift a heavy object without getting tired. Perhaps it was one of the downsides of being born in a wealthy family.
“You don’t have to say anything more, Brother,” Xiao Tian smiled to indicate his comprehension. “No matter what, I am your younger brother. I will support you. I owe you just too much, Brother. As for Ya’Xing, I do not doubt he has your best interests. We will go with you on this. But please do promise us one thing.”
“What is that?” Dongyue asked calmly, reading the relaxed look on Xiao Tian’s face.
“Please do heal us if we get too badly injured,” the man answered.
Dongyue crossed his arms in front of his body in the coldness of the snowy night. Ah, why didn’t he think of that? The men were afraid of sustaining injuries or being close to death.
He could use a ‘bless’ spell and also create a warding circle around them to protect them from evil creatures and keep them safe as much as he could. There were other ways, but he didn’t understand them, nor did he have a logical explanation of why he was imbued with such powers and abilities beyond his understanding.
He knew that in a mere few days after his visit to the shack, Wang Xi’er had recovered so abruptly that she was back to selling vegetables and fruits at the market and washing clothes for the other island residents.
The coincidence of the events was just too mystical. Initially, he had just thought that he could do lesser healing as how he did before, on Hanshan’s wife to inspire her to believe positively so that she would get well faster. But now that he looked at it, it didn’t seem the same thing as how he healed that little pigeon to make it fly again.
It was all much more tremendous than that.