CHAPTER 6: MYSTERIOUS BEAUTIFUL STAR

CHAPTER 6: MYSTERIOUS BEAUTIFUL STAR

“Stay alive for us…”

Cecilia woke up from hearing Kai’s voice. She tried to sit up on the bed, but was dizzy and plopped back down again. It took her a couple more tries until she finally sat up. She inspected the room and founded herself in an unfamiliar setting. The room was small and didn’t have much-only a wooden square table with four long rectangular chairs placed on each side, on the opposite corner were a couple of big wooden chests placed neatly against the wall, next to it was a blue blanket that covered the doorway, a window made out of squared rice paper, and the hard bed that she was on.

Then she started to have migraines. It felt like someone had taken a hammer and pounded hard on her head. She touched her right side of the head and felt a sharp pain. She yelped, and at the same time, felt a cloth wrapped around it.

Confused, she pondered, “What happen to me?”

Suddenly, a young man entered through the blanketed door carrying a tray with a small bowl on it. He saw her sitting up on the bed, “You’re finally awake,” and smiled.

Her eyes fixated on him, trying to figure who he was. The men looked as if he was in his early 20’s, slim body, and have an elongated face with sharped cheekbones. His black hair tied highly up into a bun and as for his clothes, he wore a brown rugged shirt tied with a black sash, and black pants.

“Where am I?” she asked.

He walked to the table and placed the tray there.

“You’re in the Yu residence of Chu Kingdom.” Then he picked up the small bowl and carefully walked toward her.

Her brow raised, “Chu Kingdom?”

She tried to recollect her thoughts, but her head hurts. The man sat next to her on the bed and handed her the bowl. “Here, drink this medicine while it’s still hot. It will minimize the headaches.”

Cecilia glanced down at the bowl and then back at him, hesitant in taking the medicine. He saw that she was unwilling and understood.

“I mean no harm, Miss.” He took a spoonful of medicine, blew to cool it down, and then sipped it to show her that he didn’t tamper it.

“See?” and gave her a big, goofy grin.

Cecilia searched deep into his umber eyes to see if she could find any faults in him, but there was none. He seemed harmless and took the bowl from him. She blew the medicine to cool it down and then sipped it. Her face scrunched up from the bitter taste. 

He saw her facial reaction and chuckled, “I guess you’re not the type that likes to drink medicine.”

Then she did the unexpected. She placed the spoon down on the bed and forced herself to down the drink fast like a thirsty beast.

He got worried, “Be careful, you may burn your mouth.”

She ignored his warning and continued to drink from the bowl. Her mouth and throat burned as she took each gulp, but it was the only way she could taste the bitterness all at once. He was in awe to see a daring woman that would drank hot liquid down in seconds and didn’t retract. She handed it back to him and wiped her wet lips with her sleeves.

She cleared her throat. “How did I get here?”

“I found you unconscious nearby the shore and took you in,” he answered. 

Unconscious? She pondered.

“My name is Yu Xing Fu. May I know your name Miss?”

She was going to answer him, but somehow she couldn’t. Her mind was blanked and couldn’t figure out why. She looked at him in distraught.

“Wh…why can’t I remember my name?”

She began to panic and grabbed a hold of his right arm tightly with her hands. His cheeks flushed red and felt his body getting hot.

In desperation, she demanded, “What’s my name?!”

Xing Fu didn’t know what to do. “D…Don’t worry. Physician Wei will be coming here shortly to check up on you, ok?” That was all he could say to comfort her.

He lightly grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her hands off of his arm, but her grip was too strong. She noticed what he was trying to do and immediately let him go.

“I’m sorry…” she shied away.

He shook his head and smiled, “It’s ok,” and rubbed his arm where she held.

Then an old man entered in the Yu residence, carrying a wooden box full of medicine on his back. He looked around and saw no one.

He stroked his grey beard and shouted, “Xing Fu, are you home? …Xing Fu!”

Back in the bedroom, Xing Fu heard a familiar voice calling his name and got excited. He turned to Cecilia. “He’s here. Wait here while I go get him.” He quickly got up and walked out of the room.

A few minutes later, Xing Fu came back in with the old man. She saw them and stared at the man to see if she recognized him, but nothing came to her mind.

They stood at the side of the bed. “This is Wei Li Yi. He is the Mu Village’s physician.”

“It’s my pleasure to finally see you awake,” said Physician Wei.

She gave a nod to acknowledge his presence. Xing Fu explained to Physician Wei of Cecilia’s situation and his eyes widened in surprised.

Stroking his beard, he asked politely, “Miss, may I check your pulse please?”

Cecilia didn’t hesitate and extended her arm. He placed his index and middle fingers on her wrist and focused on her pulse. Shocked by what he found, he quickly let go of her wrist and openly stared at her, wondering who she really is.

His stare made her nervous and uncomfortable. She gulped and asked, “Is something wrong with me?”

He brushed off the thought and answered, “Your injury to your head caused you to lose your memories. That is why you didn’t remember who you are,” he explained.

Appalled by what she had just heard, she slumped against the wall. She felt pain from the impact but didn’t care. The pain actually made her felt relieved, knowing that she wasn’t dreaming all of this.

Concerned, Xing Fu turned to Physician Wei, “There must be a way for her to regain her memories right?!”

Physician Wei noticed that Xing Fu seemed to care a lot for the woman’s wellbeing and had a huge grin on his face. “There are some ways…” he paused for a second and then continued, “…One thing you can do is to take her around the kingdom to see if her memories triggered anything.”

Xing Fu thought Physician Wei’s suggestion was brilliant and smiled excitingly. “I will do that!” Physician Wei laughed at Xing Fu’s enthusiasm and stroked his beard again.

Then he looked at Cecilia. “Flashbacks of your memories will come to you unexpectedly, so my suggestion is for you to record it on paper if can. It may help you on your journey to recovery. I will come once in a while to check on your progress. Make sure you drink the medicine that Xing Fu provides for your headaches daily.”

She nodded and thanked him for his help. Xing Fu happily escorted him out of his residence. While they were gone, Cecilia tried to recollect her thoughts again, trying to remember her name and how she got injured. Nothing came up in her mind, so she slammed her fist on the bed in frustration.

“What happened to me?!”

Xing Fu came back into the bedroom and saw her frustrated look. He walked and sat next to her.

“Don’t worry, you will regain your memories again,” assured Xing Fu.

She glanced at him and saw his warm smile. She relaxed and thought to herself, if he hadn’t found her on the shore, she would have been dead. She owed her life to him and slowly nodded.

“Good. I have a pair of clothes for you to get changed in.” He quickly walked to one of the wooden chests and opened it. Xing Fu grabbed a yellow folded outfit out of the chest and walked back to hand it to her.

“This was my late sister’s that I’ve kept. It’s never been worn by her. Take it”

She took the outfit from his hand. “Thank you.”

“I’m going to step outside so you can change. After you’re done, come out and eat.”

He turned around and left the room. One by one, she unfolded parts of the outfit and was baffled by the design. The clothes looked unfamiliar to her, so she let out a big sigh.

Thirty minutes later, she came out of the bedroom wearing the yellow outfit. From a distance, she saw Xing Fu setting the table with plates full of delicious meat and vegetables. She could smell the different aroma sauces that were used to prepare the food and was heavenly taken by it.

Xing Fu glanced up and saw her stood across the room, wearing his sister’s outfit. The sunlight snuck through the opened windows and shone uupon her, illuminating her whole body. He stood frozen and speechless with the last plate of food in his hands, wondering if he had saved a heavenly fairy instead. He snapped back to reality and placed the plate on the table.

He quickly walked toward her with a big smile on his face. “My sister’s outfit suits you well.”

She shyly thanked him for his compliment. Xing Fu then escorted her to the dining table and had her sat down. She stared at the colorful food and her mouth started to water.

“You’ve cooked all of this?”

He proudly admitted, “Yes I did.”

“It looks delicious,” she complimented.

Then her stomach growled, loud enough for Xing Fu to hear. He chuckled and she felt a bit embarrassed.

“I don’t blame your stomach for crying. You’ve been unconscious for a couple of days.”

She was in disbelief for being unconscious that long. Xing Fu noticed she was bothered by it and changed the subject. “Let’s eat.”

Each bite that she took from various dishes mesmerized her. The taste of herbal spices from the meat and the vegetable’s sweet sauce were delicious. Xing Fu watched her gobbled down each plate like nothing, and laughed slightly from her unlike lady behavior. As they ate, he kept glancing at her.

She caught him staring, and with her full mouth of food, she asked, “What?”

“I was wondering. I can’t call you ‘Miss’ all of the time, so how about giving you a name?”

She swallowed her food. “What name do you have in mind?”

Xing Fu started to think for a while, and then he got a name for her. “How about…XIAO in ‘Beautiful’ XING in ‘Star’…Xiao Xing. What do you think?”

She thought about the name, “Xiao Xing…” then she nodded, “I like it.” She gave him a big smile, showing her teeth, and was happy to finally have a name.

Xing Fu laughed joyfully, “Great!” He picked up some more vegetables from the dish with his chopsticks and put it in her rice bowl. “Here Xiao Xing, eat more.” She nodded and started to eat the vegetables that he had given her.
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Cecilia stood in the center of all-white scenery, wearing her ivory satin nightgown. All she saw around her were thick white fogs and wondered where she was. As she slowly paced through the fog, she looked around to try spotting anyone that might come to view, but there was no one. She was alone.

Suddenly, images of her past memories projected from the fogs in front of her like a movie. She saw the time when Yang Kai Li kissed her on the cheeks, him putting the diamond necklace on her neck, them laying on each other’s shoulders, their passionate kiss, and his words “I love you”. However, in all of these images, their faces were blurred and unrecognizable for her to tell who they really were.

Then the images abrupt in flames and she jumped in sudden fright. The deadly flames began to spread everywhere around her. Frightened and disoriented, she tried to find an exit but it was too late; she was trapped. Flames got closer… and closer…until it finally engulfed her by its fiery wrath. She shrieked in agonized pain as it crept its way inside of her, devouring her flesh and tissue organs.

Cecilia woke up and quickly sat up on her bed, expelling in shuddered breath as a pool of sweat dripped down from her face and onto her clothes. She started to check her body for flames and found nothing. Relieved, she realized this was just a dream.

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The rooster crowed, alarming everyone of a new day. Xing Fu woke up and sat on his bed half dazed. He yawned and stretched his arm. Then he sensed something was on his bed and quickly glanced to his side to see Cecilia sleeping there. He jumped back and hit his body against the wall, covering his mouth with his hands, and tried not to scream. He was bewildered by her strange behavior, but at the same time, stared at how peaceful and cute she looked sleeping. Careful not to disturb her, he got off the bed. Upon success, he pulled the blanket up to cover her and grabbed his day clothes. As he headed out of his bedroom, he turned one last time to look at her and thought about his reaction a while ago. He thought it was funny and chuckled silently. Then he turned around and left the room.

Hours later, Cecilia woke up from her peaceful slumber and looked around. There were more stuff in the room-painted pictures hung from the walls, more chests, a couple of bookshelves against the walls, and the on the bed, it was more decorative with white and blue cloths. She realized that she wasn’t in her room and panicked. She got out of bed and left the room in a hurry. As she opened the blanketed door, she recognized the parlor, relieved she was still in the Yu’s residence.

Questions started to float in her head as she tried to figure out how she slept in Xing Fu’s room. Then she remembered her nightmare from last night and how she felt afraid. Cecilia concluded that she must have come into his room and slept there, knowing that she felt safer being with him, than alone in her own bedroom. Xing Fu entered in from outside and saw her stood there in silence. Cecilia turned and saw him at the doorway. In his hands, he held a basket full of different fresh herbs that he picked up.

Embarrassed by the bed scene, she apologized. “I didn't mean to sleep in your room.”

“Don’t worry about it. You have your reasons. Now go and get wash up. After that, I will dress your wounds.”

She was surprised to see how nonjudgmental and calmed he was. She shyly nodded and walked straight to her room. Thirty minutes later, she came out and saw Xing Fu pounding the herbs he picked earlier with a pestle in a small, clayed mortar.

He glanced up and saw her stood there and stopped pounding. “Come here and take a seat,” and continued to pound the herbs.

She walked over and sat down next to him. The pungent smell from the herbs quickly stung her nose, so she leaned back and covered her nose with her hands.

“I know the smell is strong, but it is very effective to treat open wounds like yours,” he said.

“Are you also a physician as well?” she asked.

He laughed and shook his head. “No. Physician Wei had taught me some surviving skills when young.”

She became curious and wanted to know more about him. “Where’s your family?”

He stopped pounding and thought for a bit about his life. He responded in a sad tone of voice, “They died from sickness…Physician Wei tried to save them, but there was nothing he could do.” He continued pounding the herbs while talking to her. “After my parents and sister died, he took me in and taught me basic medicine skills to survive.”

“I’m sorry to hear of your losses, but why didn’t you stay with him in Mu Village?”

He finished pounding the herbs and grabbed a cleaned white cloth from the side. He laid it flat on the table and started to scoop the mixed herbs on top of it.

“I wanted to enjoy a simple life of being independent,” he answered while scraping the rest of the herbs from the mortar onto the cloth.

She understood and respected his decision. Xing Fu finished and turned to her. “I wish I can ask you about your life, but due to your circumstances, I know you cannot.”

She felt bad and sat silently with her head tilted down.

“Don’t worry about it.” Then he pointed at her and stared straight into her hazel eyes. “That is why I’m going to help you regain your memories. Now, let me replace the old herbs from your head wound,” he said.

She sat still while he came behind her. He carefully unrolled the cloth from her head. After it was off, he gasped. His eyes widened in shock and his body shuffled away a step or two from her.

His voice trembled and stuttered to find words. “H…How c…could this be? Y…Your wound…”

She saw Xing Fu’s face was white as a ghost and started to freak out. “You’re scaring me! What is it?”

“Your wound…the stitches…are gone…”

It was her first time feeling her bare wound so she raised her hand to touch the side of her head. She felt a long bump on her scalp and traced her fingers on it. There were no stitches and only a linear scar.

Her brows rose in confusion and affirmed, “Are you sure that there were stitches in the first place?”

His bobbled his head. “That day when I found you, your wound was opened and you had lost a lot of blood. Physician Wei came over and stitched your wound together. Since then, we’ve only applied herbs on it.” Then Xing Fu remembered her other wound and pointed at her arm. “You had a wound there also.”

She looked down at her arm and touched it puzzling. She shook her head, “I didn’t recall any wound there. In fact, after yesterday, my body didn’t ache anymore…” 

“What about your headaches?”

She shook her head again, “No…it’s gone”

He looked dumbfounded and collapsed onto a nearby chair. He thought to himself, “How could somebody healed so quickly?”

He couldn’t explain it and stared at her, trying to figure out the cause. Feeling uncomfortable, she looked down to avoid his eye contact.

“Let’s go visit Physician Wei,” he said promptly.