Chapter 20: His Past - Joining a Gang
When Chenglie woke up, that girl and her mother were there. She’s called Táng JiaXing. Her mother treated him with care. She even got new clothes for him. They weren’t too poor and she took really good care of him. The girl would give her share of food to him without her mother’s knowledge. This was the first time for him to be treated as such. He was happy, but he cannot believe it as if he was in a different world.
He had recurring nightmares about that day of the attempted assassination and that day it was severe and he was slashing in his dreams and woke up when he heard her scream. He opened his eyes and saw blood on her chest. His heart stopped when he saw the bloody sword in his hand, her mother’s concerned face and the girl trying to act like it’s not hurting and he ran away in panic.
Surely I’m better off dead! I hurt the only person who cared for me and now her mother hates me! They’ll look at me like my mother did! I’m not going back!
Then he wandered off in the mountains. Days passed. He wondered if the girl was okay and if she had already despised him or worse forgot him. But, he felt guilty as that wound would definitely scar. He ruined her life he thought. He felt abandoned and miserable and guilty. There is really no one for me.
Somehow he found that pond that day and unexpectedly, that girl found him there. He became so happy someone came looking for him and his eyes were clouded with tears. So he ran away trying to hide his tears and his guilt . But Xing who followed him, fell in the pond.
No! I can’t lose you!
He jumped in the pond. That’s when he realised he’s not a good swimmer. But he found her sinking. He extended his hand to get her and held her closely. He tried to swim back but he couldn’t as he had to drag her too. He saw her becoming unconscious.
No way! I want to live with you! If I cannot, I will die with you!
He gave his last breath to her mouth to mouth, but to no avail. Please breathe, he said while water entered his lungs and both of them were sinking deep slowly.
He almost lost his consciousness and that’s when that happened, her eyes opened and it glowed like amber and her hair glowed turned golden too. His eyes widened and he realised he could breath. He looked in the faint glow, they were surrounded by an air bubble. The bubble then raised out of the water and they were dropped in the shore. He looked at her and her eyes were closed again and her hair was black. He could not understand what happened back there.
Did someone else save them or was it her? Doesn’t matter.
He pressed her chest and she started coughing and she woke up. He was relieved. He immediately hugged her out of joy. This girl scared him to death. Only after she woke up did he feel relieved. He scolded her and she asked him to come home. ’Home’, an unfamiliar word for him. He grew up in the inner Palace and there were various courtyards and pavilions. His relatives lived in Manors. He had his courtyard, what’s home? "Home?", he muttered. She said if he’s sad he lost his mother, she’ll share her mother. ’Mother’, another word he didn’t understand well. "But I hurt you". "It’s fine", she said. Her eyes were clear and it had no hate or worry. He wants this girl so he said he’ll belong to her and she to him. He decided that day he would do everything in his power to protect and love her. He knows she has others to love her but he only has her.
They left for home and her mother accepted him in surprisingly. He still remembers how warm her hand that was holding his hand was and how secure he felt. Her mother never brought up that incident and treated them both the same. Finally he understood what home and mother meant. He was happy. He decided to repay it all tenfold.