Fanfic: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan 2.0 - Chapter 35b (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)
Chapter 35b
written by kakashiedited by LigayaCroft & Panda
“Hey,” Shao Wan giggled, “people might see us.”
In response, he lifted her up anew and carried her further away from the path, swiftly stepping behind some fragrant bushes, where there was fluffy moss like a carpet with tiny white flowers. A suitable bed, he decided and put her down again.
“Better?” he asked as he impatiently pulled apart the robe she was wearing. The sight of flawless porcelain skin glowing in the daylight made his mouth water and he bent down to shower kisses on her stomach and lick her perfect little belly button.
“If Donghua or Zhe Yan catch us,” she panted, “I’ll tell them I lost a bet.”
“I already told you they’re not here,” he replied impatiently, continuing to part fabric to bare her breasts. When they jiggled free from their confines, the sight of them gave him instant pause. Could such beauty exist? Firmness and softness combined in its curves and peaks, the opposites forming a wondrous whole. No artist would ever be able to draw lines of similar perfection.
He stared at her lying in front of him, suddenly unsure himself whether it was a dream or reality.
“If your father finds out…” she said at that moment, a fine line of doubt appearing on her forehead as she lifted her hands to cover her nipples.
“He won’t find out,” he replied and swiftly pushed her hands away to replace them with his. So warm. So soft. No, it couldn’t be a dream, no dream of his would ever be able to conjure up such feelings.
“But what if he does!” she insisted, “I’ll be banned from school or worse.”
“I’ll follow you whatever happens,” he assured her, watching her nipples grow hard and wrinkled from his touch, feeling an overwhelming need to suckle on them, “now stop talking, please.”
“Audacious,” she laughed, “it’s always the quiet ones, they say. But for you to defy your own Father…”
He put his mouth over her right nipple and sucked and teased, effectively shutting her up. The only thing she said was “Ah” and “Oh” and “Ah” again when he put his hands to good use elsewhere too. She was obviously ready as well, which was a relief because he could not wait any longer.
“Be on top,” he told her, “I want to see as much of you as I can.” He could not even put in words how much he had missed her. He could not even fathom how he had been able to live without her.
“I already remember something,” she said with a smile as she reached up to cup his cheek, “I always tried to make you open your hair but you always resisted.”
He grabbed his hairpin and ripped it out, shaking his hair so that it fell down. “I won’t resist you anymore,” he said, grabbed her and rolled under her so that she straddled him, her robe hanging open, awarding him the view he had craved. “Now ride me.”
“I don’t like to be ordered around,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him, but she started to grind her core against him the whole length of his shaft underneath his clothes.
“We’ve done this many times, yes?” she panted, “I remember it. But tell me, is this why I like going on missions?”
“Please,” he pressed out, “can you continue to remember things later?”
She looked down on him with a slight, almost shy smile as she freed his bone hard shaft by slightly pulling apart his robes. When she touched the swollen head lightly, he groaned. “It’s been too long,” he pressed out, “please.”
“Celestial, are you… begging me?” she asked full of wonderment.
Indeed, he was. And he did not care in the slightest.
The moment she took him inside of her, time stopped. Or was it speeding up?
Impermanent, yet never changing, with no beginning, yet not eternal. It was everything, yet did not even exist. It flowed through them, making them one and nothing. Moving, not moving, a wave with no motion, a mountain crumbling to dust. Perfection made from imperfection.
No more thoughts.
He held her afterwards, carefully filling his lungs with air, emptying them, listening to the sound of her heart. “I love you,” he told her. It was as simple as that and it was enough.
“I remember,” she whispered, burying her face into his hair and inhaling deeply, “you’ve loved me for a very long time.”
***
He was not sure how long they had lain there in each other’s embrace, but with the inevitable return of time came reason and the remembrance of rice and soup. And… “Seventeenth!” he exclaimed and shot up.
“We only did it seventeen times?” she pouted, “ever? That’s clearly insufficient. You want to do it again?”
“No, she’s my disciple,” he explained, putting his hair back into a topknot and righting his robe. Maybe he would feel scandalized by his own behavior later. But now, he was primarily one thing… hungry.
“You pretend to be a teacher?” Shao Wan yawned. “Is she part of our mission?”
“Yes. Absolutely,” he lied. “You pretend to be my student too - Nineteenth. We need to protect her. She is… a Queen’s daughter in disguise and we need to make sure she can be reunited with… the Crown Prince. Who is her husband.”
“Protect her from what? Why are we getting involved in this?” Shao Wan complained, but got up to brush the dirt off her clothes and bring them in order. Mo Yuan stepped up to her and started to brush his fingers through her hair to untangle it and remove remnants of moss and leaves. She smiled at him. “I remember! I always wanted to go on missions with you in the hope we would find time for other… enjoyments.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You remember this?”
She nodded.
“You don’t remember hating me instead?”
“Huh? Hating you? I never hated you. You annoyed me, and you still do, but I never hated you. I even thought you handsome almost immediately after first seeing you. Girly, but so damn handsome.”
“And you showed your admiration by challenging me to bloody fights on a daily basis?” he asked her rather incredulous.
She shrugged. “It’s an honor to battle with a Demon. In fact, I think I’d like to fight you now. And then, I want to ride you again. Then fight again. Then…”
“I get it,” he interrupted her quickly, “but we need to get back to the Queen. No fighting.”
“Just you wait, I’ll get you later,” she grumbled but she took his hand as they walked towards the house, making him very happy.
To his great relief, it was still standing, and he told Shao Wan to wait in the courtyard as he went to look for Bai Qian. Forcing the silly smile off his face, he walked into the kitchen… and found her sound asleep next to the cold stove, head on her folded arms.
“Seventeenth,” he called softly. “Seventeenth, we’re back.”
“Shifu!” she cried and shot up. “I am so sorry, I must have fallen asleep! Oh, but I did remember to put out the fire first when I got drowsy… I am so sorry about the food…”
“No matter,” he said, “but listen carefully. I had to tell Shao Wan you’re a Queen’s daughter we need to protect.”
“Excuse me, Shifu?”
“She… she believes we’re still at school together. And this is a mission.”
“Oh,” Bai Qian said, furrowing her brow. “And you did not correct her? Shifu, is that advisable?”
“I tried,” Mo Yuan sighed, “she thinks I’m playing pranks on her.” And she remembers she has always liked me, despite the memory wipe, he added in his head, feeling a new wave of happiness wash over him. “She seems much more content than before,” he explained further, “maybe we should just let her believe it for the time being.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea, Shifu,” Bai Qian said. “Shouldn’t she be told the truth? And… shouldn’t we focus on cultivating? Excuse me for saying so, but I really want to go home.”
“I told her she is pretending to be my student too,” Mo Yuan quickly said. Indeed, he had wasted time he should have spent cultivating. He had to get his head straight.
After dinner.
He bent over the two pots. “You stirred well, Seventeenth,” he said, smiling, “let me reheat and fix this.”
No, he didn’t want Shao Wan to know the truth too soon. Because he feared the sadness would return and with it his own doubts and fears that he was living on borrowed time.
***
“She is very beautiful,” Shao Wan said outside.
Hello! I can hear you! Bai Qian wanted to scream, but she only cleared her throat loudly. She had “retired” into her chamber … leaving her two elders to sleep outside, since a Queen’s daughter most certainly got the bed in the only proper room and the two students from Shuǐ Zhǎozé would guard her door.
Though Bai Qian felt uneasy about their current situation, she had to admit that the Demon Queen was rather cute in her delusion. And her Shifu was adorable in his mooneyed state. And both looked radiant. If she had to guess why, then it was because together, they gained cultivation much faster.
“It’s dusty in here!” Shao Wan had declared earlier and pointed at the broom in the corner while looking at Mo Yuan with a small pout. Without a word of resistance, her Shifu had started to clean. And he had flattened the bed linens and shaken out the blanket, had arranged the chairs around the table neatly and had even gotten some wild flowers for the vase. They had such a domestic streak, these brothers, she thought fondly.
“What clan is she from?” Shao Wan quizzed him outside. “I cannot sense it properly without my powers.”
“Fox clan,” Mo Yuan answered curtly.
“Ahhhhh,” Shao Wan made, “then I understand why we’re protecting her! She’s a relative of Bai Zhi.”
“She is.”
“And she is married.”
“Absolutely.”
“To what Crown Prince?”
A short moment of hesitation, then: “A mortal one.”
Shifu was smart and quick-witted. Of course, while Father Immortal had reigned in the Heavens, there had been no Ye Hua, and if there would have been a Celestial Crown Prince at the time, it would have been Mo Yuan himself.
“Fox royalty marrying a mortal? Extraordinary,” she sounded impressed. “Poor woman, she’ll be heartbroken, they die so quickly.”
Bai Qian scoffed.
And then, after a bit of silence: “You seem close.”
Bai Qian held her breath.
“I’ve known her… for a long time,” her Shifu said and her heart started to beat really hard. Surely, her Shifu knew she was awake? She cleared her throat again, but there was no reaction from outside to indicate they had heard her. Was the wind too loud? It had picked up and there was a lot of rustling in the forest. And there were waves crashing against the lakeshore. Maybe she should rush outside and demand they serve her tea.
“She has broken your heart before?”
There was a thing about the truth that was uncanny. As long as it stayed hidden, it was possible to pretend it wasn’t there. But it did not want to stay hidden. It wanted to burst out, to gain power and when it did, to acquire the ability to move mountains. The truth brought catharsis, but it could also destroy everything.
Jealousy… Bai Qian sure was no stranger to it. In fact, she was so prone to it, she had meddled with her now husband’s mortal trial, making sure the little boy would remember and pine after the mysterious woman from faraway Qing Qiu all his life. But she had still not believed he would be true to her, stupidly falling for Su Jin’s machinations, punishing him needlessly afterwards - almost losing him in the process.
Jealousy… Ye Hua had shown so much of it because she had fed her Shifu her heartblood and he had believed she did it because she was in love with the God of War. Have you never? an evil little voice said in her head.
I never had the chance to, she answered it truthfully. She had not even considered it possible. She had acted out of love indeed, but not the love a member of the Fox Clan reserved for the one mate they wanted to share their entire life with. She would never have dared to consider herself worthy of him in that way back then. She would never have believed it possible that such an ancient, perfect God could love her. But now she knew … in other circumstances, in an alternate universe... she knew she could have. They could have. And they probably would have.
That knowledge, it allowed her not to regret. It was a comforting thought, in fact, because in this universe, their lives that were intricately connected through love had turned out the best possible way. She hardly dared think it, but because of his mistaken hope, he had returned… and because he had, the Queen Shao Wan had.
It was very quiet outside. Her Shifu said nothing and the Demon Queen did not press the point. But after awhile, she said: “Silly woman. Now I am here and she only got a Crown Prince.” She sounded satisfied.
Jealousy… no more need for it.
Bai Qian snuggled back into the furs and cushions, feeling content. Her Shifu would get them off of this mortal world and back safely to their immortal worlds. He would make sure his wife remembered everything and he would dote on her until she gave birth to their children and he would dote on her even more afterwards. His happiness would only multiply her own.
Ye Hua, she thought, I miss you so much.
She was drifting off to sleep when there came a grunt from outside followed by a giggle. She shot up in outrage. They weren’t…?
I’m right here! she wanted to scream, stop it!
“I’m going to meditate in the forest,” her Shifu’s deep voice declared, “you stay here and make sure nobody gains entry.”
“Pah, uptight Celestial,” the Demon Queen chuckled, “yes, be a good boy and go meditate… Maybe I’ll check on you later...Shifu.”
Bai Qian heard his hasty footsteps as he went down the wooden stair and then it became quiet again, apart from the rustling of the leaves … and what seemed to be some agitated mumbling at her door.
I wonder what she is ranting about? Bai Qian smiled to herself. Shifu’s ways?
She must have fallen asleep sometime later, because she was awoken from her slumber by an outcry from outside. Not even thinking, Bai Qian grabbed a candle, rushed to the door and ripped it open, ready to battle any danger that presented itself to her.
But there was none, just a frightened, shaking woman clutching her head.
“Am I dreaming?” she pressed out when she became aware of Bai Qian, “where is he? Is he dead?”
“Who? Shifu? No,” Bai Qian assured her, squatting down to peer into her eyes, “he went into the forest, he said. Did you fall asleep?”
“I thought I’d killed him”, Shao Wan lamented, “like I did so many times before.”
“You’ve never killed him before,” Bai Qian sternly said, “it’s just a nightmare. You are no longer dreaming and everything is alright. You are both alive and well.”
For a moment, it looked like the Demon Queen would calm down, but then: “There’s something inside of me!” Shao Wan screeched in a new fit of panic and started clawing at her body, “get it out, get it out!”
“Shhhh,” Bai Qian said and grabbed her hands, “yes, it’s your babies. Shimu, you are pregnant. You carry babies inside.”
Shao Wan stared at her in confusion, but the shaking subsided. “Babies? My babies... I thought I’d...“
“All if well, Shimu,” Bai Qian assured her again, but she was more and more certain it wasn’t at all well. The Demon Queen’s repeated terror chilled her to the bone. She had to go fetch Shifu. He had to explain to them what had gone wrong during the soul transfer and they had to fix it.
“Wait here,” she commanded the Demon Woman. “Go inside and lie down on the bed. I will get Shifu. He’ll explain. And you’ll see how well he is.”
Waiting for the other woman to comply, Bai Qian rushed down the stairs as soon as she had assured herself she was tucked in properly and halfway calm and entered the forest. It was dark, she realized, much too dark for her poor eyes. Where would he have gone?
“Shifu!” she shouted, “where are you?”
No answer.
Extending her arms so she wouldn’t bump into a trunk, carefully lifting her feet high so she wouldn’t stumble over any roots, she went in deeper, occasionally calling out to him. A very bad feeling started to take hold of her. It was creeping up from her stomach and lodged itself in her throat.
Stupid.
She was lost.
“Shifu,” she whimpered. Was it already getting lighter among the trees? Or was it her eyes finally adjusting? “Please…”
“Seventeenth, what is it?” he sounded alarmed and she was so relieved to have found him, she threw her arms around his neck and started sobbing.
“It’s Shimu, she…”
He needn’t hear more. Grabbing her hand, he started racing through the forest, dragging her along behind him. She knew she slowed him down, but she clung to him selfishly, too afraid to get lost again and he held her firmly, matching his strides to hers.
They broke free of the forest not long after and now, Shifu let go of her hand and flew forward like an arrow. Into the courtyard, up the stairs, into the bedroom…
Bai Qian’s side hurt so much she wanted to just stop and lie down, but she forced her feet to follow him, hoping, praying…
But when she reached the open door and saw him stand there with his head in his hands, she knew she had been right before.
Nothing was alright.
The Demon Queen was gone.
Chapter 35c