Spring and Autumn Dream II
To indulge in food, drink, pleasure, and playful banter was Xiang Bao’s ultimate goal in life—yet fate played a small but significant trick on her. Fan Li once said, “If I abandon Xiang Bao in this li
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I. Before Memory Fades
For two days now, Xiangbao had been burning with a relentless fever.
After sending away the seventh physician, Wei Qin returned to the boat with a grim expression and sat beside Xiangbao. He raised his sleeve and gently wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead, then dipped his fingers in warm water to moisten her dry, peeling lips.
The physician had just said that if the fever did not break by tomorrow, Xiangbao might never wake up again.
Wei Qin clenched his fists and slammed one hard against the deck, causing the boat to sway slightly. He was unwilling to accept this; he had been so close to whisking her away to freedom. After a long moment, he rose and looked toward the opposite riverbank, where a man in white sat. That man had not moved for two days, like a statue carved from stone.
“Xiangbao, didn’t you hate him? Seeing him like this now, do you feel any better?” Wei Qin spoke softly, gazing at the white-clad figure.
The woman on the couch did not stir.
Wei Qin bit his lip.
“Doctor Fan, His Majesty has summoned you several times, asking you to enter the palace with him to see the King of Wu,” Shi Lian called out from the riverbank in a cold voice.
Fan Li still did not move, only staring quietly at the river, as if it held the spirit of the woman who haunted his dreams. So this was how painful it was to lose the one you loved. When he had returned from the battlefield, his memory lost, Xiangbao…how much pain must she have felt?
Wei Qin had been watching the white-cl