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Waking up in the morning isn’t easy, not when you are an ordinary Orchid living peacefully in the simingdian, trying to live as a mortal, or as the all-powerful Xishan Goddess. However, some strength would fool the ones around you. So there was no way in all three realms for the Moon Queen to wake up early in the morning, not when she is surrounded by the warmest of blankets and even warmer arms hugging her while she is too busy dreaming about cloud whales.
And there was it, a sudden push was enough to disrupt her dreamland and expose her to the realities of life. Xiaolanhua rubs her eyes to understand the surroundings around her. Even if Damutuo needed to leave the bed for his duties, he would be careful as to not wake her up, and even if she accidentally woke up, which she did, he would kiss her temple and urge her to sleep a little more. Except on the days when they have to see the sunrise, which was a special occasion even for them, they preferred not to sleep the night.
But this was different and she knew it, just a glance at her husband of 120 years, and she recognized the familiar unfamiliarity in his eyes but chose to ignore the truth in front of her eyes.
“Why is a fairy in my room? Who allowed you to be here?” The same mouth that spoke nothing but love utters these words with such indifference that Xiaolanhua sees herself in the Haotian tower for a moment. Damutuo wasn’t the one for such cruel jokes, and even if she thinks of it as revenge for the behavior of the Xishan Goddess, it has been way too long even for immortals to think about such a plan.
But even if it was such devious scheming by the biggest evils of all three realms, which Xiaolanhua prays for it to be, she can play along with her dear husband for a while.
“Damutuo did you drink in the morning to forget your wife? Today is not our yearly anniversary or the date of our first meeting or even our first fight, there is nothing to celebrate this early.” Xiaolanhua pouts, sending him the message that she is totally not taking his behavior seriously.
“Damutuo? Who are you to call me by such a disrespectful name?” Dongfang Qingcang reduces the distance between them, glaring at the fairy menacingly. “How dare a fairy from Shuiyuntian calls herself this one’s wife, if you don’t tell me the reason for your presence in my chambers, I’ll kill you.” Normally Dongfang Qingcang would not look people right in the eyes, but this was different, the fairy who calls herself his wife might be a Shuiyuntian spy, a very strong one to not even be scared as he leaves no distance between them, an easy tactic to make his enemies and even his subordinates cower in fear, lower their heads, and bow down to him.
“I am your wife, the Moon Queen, Xiaolanhua.” Xiaolanhua enunciates every word in an attempt to make him realize that this does not amuse her at all, and she would not return to the Cangyan Sea for 2 whole months if he did not stop his antics. “I am not just a normal fairy, I am your love, you understand that, Damutuo.” As if that wasn’t enough, Xiaolanhua points and hits her index finger on his chest to make her point clear.
“Love? I don’t love. Shangque, Shangque.” Dongfang Qingcang grabs her finger as Shangque arrives.
“What is it, my Lord?” Shangque asks, unaware of the current situation.
“Lock her up.” Dongfang Qingcang pushes Xiaolanhua to his subordinate, who looks at her with a questioning look.
“What do you mean my lord?” Shangque asks which was even more confusing to Dongfang Qingcang, not that he can feel emotions.
“I said lock this Shuiyuintian spy for investigation.” Dongfang Qingcang repeats, despite not being the one to repeat his orders, that he finds himself unable to be angry at Shangque.
“I am afraid I cannot lock the Moon Queen away, My Lord did you sleep properly yesterday?” Shangque knew that his Lord was recuperating after crushing the rebellion in the Northwest, and was unable to sleep at night after being attacked by the bolts of the black rock whip. It was Shangque’s fault really, that he was unable to save his Lord in time while his Lord saved him from the saber. Despite apologizing fervently to the Moon Supreme and his Moon Queen, them consoling him with repeated “It was not your fault.” and with the accelerated recovery of his Lord, he had finally found some solace in his incompetency, and with a vow that he would never let his Lord be hurt again, he felt himself free from that guilt.
“Moon Queen? Did she lie to you too? When were you such an idiot to fall for little tricks like these.” Even as he says that Dongfang Qingcang can’t help but look at the woman in front of her, unable to recognize anything about her. If she was really his wife, of all the people in the world, he would be the first person to know of her.
“Do you not remember anything My Lord, You have been married to her for centuries.” Shangque was even more confused. If they were fighting among themselves, he would never have been summoned like this. There was a high chance that his Lord has woken up not remembering anything at all, especially all things related to Lanhua Shenniu.
“Shangque, your Moon Supreme thinks that he can act very well, lying about not remembering me, tell him I was better at it than him.” Xiaolanhua doesn’t look at her husband, waiting for him to come to her and apologize for his behavior, despite losing hope with every second passing.
“Centuries? Who settled my marriage while I was in Haotian tower? Did Xunfeng sign a truce and they sent her to me?” Dongfang Qingcang looks at Xiaolanhua, unable to discern anything special about her.
“Haotian tower? Do you really not know me?” Xiaolanhua asks, her voice thick with emotion. She does not know how to deal with this at all, sure she can give away her life to save him or live for him, but what is she supposed to do if there is no her in his life?
“Please calm down, we can solve this.” Shangque looks at her with pity, and she realizes that she absolutely hates it. So before anyone could stop her, she storms out of the room, fat tears escaping from her eyes.
After calming down from a flurry of panicked emotions, Xiaolanhua finally gathers her breath. Even if Damutou doesn’t remember her, she is still his wife and as a promise of staying together through weal and woe that they have always abided by, she will make sure that even without previous memories, he would still be loved as before.
So here she was, sitting down and preparing flower cakes early in the morning. Even though she has been missing him by hair’s breadth for the past two days, and the same few sentences are spoken by Shangque every time she inquires of him, the Moon Supreme is busy attending to state affairs. She raises her head when she sees a familiar black silhouette from the corner of her eyes, thinking that her husband has finally remembered everything after all her trials to do so.
And yes Xiao Lanhua has tried everything, from adding more flowers in their- his room, to imbuing all familiar scents into his clothes, lest anything reminds him of their time together. Even these pretty pastries were sent to him with his food even when she could not go close to him. And what she herself couldn’t do, meet and talk to him for one, was done by the Moon Supreme’s younger brother, Xunfeng .
~~~~When Xunfeng got to know about his brother’s memory loss, the very first emotion on his face was guilt, the Moon Supreme had no reason to go fight when he was there, yes Dongfang Qingcang is adamant, no, he is stubborn to the core but Xunfeng should have said something to stop him. This guilt increased even more when Dongfang Qingcang did not remember that he had been forgiven by his didi, so much so that he couldn’t face his sister-in-law for the mess his ignorance has made.
But Xiao Lanhua approached him first, quick on her feet, asking him hundreds of questions in a frenzy that was even foreign to him. From what he gathered from her onslaught of dialogue that his brother might have lost all his memories and it was something even the Xishan Goddess could not heal.
Sure Xunfeng did not think of as the smartest person in the world, but he was pretty knowledgeable at certain things and he knew from his very first meeting with the Moon Supreme that this condition was precisely due to his presence in the rebellion. Yes, he had to summon Shangque to get more information about this uncertain situation, and the moment he heard about the black rock whip, his face fell.
The black rock whip was one of the most important artifacts in the northwest region, and despite its fame, the whip itself wasn’t something that could cause anything other than physical pain. It was the wielder that could put a curse on the inflicted, any curse they could think of. No one except the curser knew the severity of the curse and how to remove it. And if you killed the person who did that, you would never know how to remove it or if the curse was to get away on its own and Shangque did just that. Yes, they have retrieved the whip, and it's resting in a treasure house in Cangyan Sea, but the person who hit the Moon Supreme was no longer in the world of the living.
Sure they could just ask his soul or talk about this to court healers, but how could they do anything without noticing the Moon Supreme, the only person whose permission is required for them to operate in the Cangyan Sea. If he knew about their unordinary partnership to get his “memories” back, he wouldn’t let them leave easily.
Even then both Shangque and Xunfeng decided to tell the Moon Supreme about his life before losing a huge chunk of his memories, everything that happened right after he was freed from Haotian tower, and despite him not believing that he was saved by the little orchid, he would still listen to Shangque talking about how he prepared morning dew and flower soup for the same fairy. How the fairy was actually his love and not some person that Xunfeng had integrated into his life.
Sure Moon Supreme looked at both of them, his trusted subordinate and younger brother like they had grown horns, especially how Xunfeng looked like he cared about him and was not conspiring against him out of sheer hate for his father. Sure Xunfeng would make a fool out of himself when Dongfang Qingcang looks at him as the young inexperienced person babbling about his presumed past and not the person who held the reins of Moon Tribe in the centuries the Moon Supreme was away.
Aside from talking to his barely recognizable brother and doing his daily duties, Xunfeng went to the Moon Queen to tell her all about what her husband have been through. Even though he knew that the Moon Supreme was avoiding the person he saw when he first opened his eyes in an unfamiliar state, he dared not to say anything to either of them.~~~~
Xunfeng saw how Xiao Lanhua’s face fell when she saw him, and how her hands stopped shaping the pastry, halfway done in her hands, as if she was expecting someone else. And he even felt disappointment in her voice when she asks where he has been.
“Xunfeng why are you here so early? Is something troubling you?” Xiao Lanhua asks him, putting the half-done pastry on the plate.
“Nothing is troubling me, it’s just that dǎ gé saw his glazed fire for the first time,” Xunfeng tells her, almost in a whisper.
“For the first time? It’s already been two days.” She knows she shouldn’t be here gossiping about her husband who does not know that he is her husband, but the way Xunfeng has been talking to her, fearing that the Moon Supreme might be listening to their conversation from some hidden corner, made her feel like the way mortals idle around and gossip.
“His face did not do a very good job at hiding his surprise, you know. He even asked me about it. I had to tell him everything-
“And he didn’t believe you.” Xiao Lanhua cuts him, sighing in resignation. She seems to do that a lot the past few days. “He looked like he believed me, and I can’t just question him, he even asked Shangque to go around and find ancient texts on glazed fire from the three realms, which he and his wife are doing now.” Xunfeng does not know if she believes him but he hasn’t really been lying to her for the past few centuries so that does count for something.
“Oh, so he is not busy anymore. Shall I go and talk to him.” Xiao Lanhua’s eyes beam like she has seen the first ray of sun after an eternal night.
“I would advise you not to.” For you’d be hurt by his demeanor remains unsaid.
“Yeah, I would just get back on these. Thank you Xunfeng.” Xiao Lanhua does not look at him anymore, letting him know that she does not want to talk anymore, resuming to shape the cakes as delicate flowers, not when the slightest sliver of hope has been trampled over by cruel reality.
But that wasn’t what surprised Xunfeng, the simple thank you uttered by his sister-in-law was enough to steal his ability to speak, and he gets up and leaves without uttering anything else, too overcome by emotion.
After sending the flower cakes to Dongfang Qingcang, Xiao Lanhua takes refuge from thinking by watering the plants and carefully ignoring that she got a letter from Shuiyuntian to attend the immortal examination a few days from now. She tried so hard to not think about how her own immortal examination went and what events took place after that. It was all Damutuo in everything she thought about.
She knows she would not go to the immortal examination, not when Damutuo is like that, but still when both of them were invited as guests despite Shuiyuntian’s differences with the Moon Tribe, she knew that they wanted her to come to the examination and handle some affairs. It was not new that the highly venerated Xi Yun was regarded as an example for people to live by, especially for the aspirants who prepared diligently to ace the exam and serve Shuiyuntian.
Xiao Lanhua tries to think of something else, anything that does not fill her heart with a characteristic sourness. It's not that she cannot go anywhere else, leave the palace and spend her time with Jieli and her kids, or even go roam the markets to look at her people. But she knows that nothing would be successful enough to pull away her mind from her heart, and even though she seems resigned, something in the back of her mind is still preparing her for the scenario of Damutuo’s miraculously gaining his memories in her absence, and how regretful would it be if she was not there with him after not having a proper look at him for days.
Even she herself knows it’s unwanted anxiety especially when they have vowed to be with each other for the rest of their lives but even with the control of Xi Yun, the little orchid who is scared of being alone still lives in her mind. For the past two days, the little orchid has been replaying thousands of scenarios if her Daqiang’s memory did not return. Even with several places to live in the world, and the company of numerous friends, she would be extremely lonely. And when she thinks of the five hundred years and fifteen hours without her love, how each day felt like decades, how sunny days felt bleak, and how each night felt extremely cold, such bone-deep cold that could not be lessened, no matter the motley of fires used to fight it.
Instead of leaving her home, she goes to find old Moon tribe texts. Reading was not her forte, sure as Xi Yun, she had gained some perspective but she was still not keen to read on a daily, and definitely not as a way to spend time. Normally she never had enough time to well, think about what she needs to do. Even when she was lazing around, it was filled with company, the same company that would make her laugh even when she was not in the mood.
‘No, no, no Xiao Lanhua don’t think about that, don’t think about him.’ She chides herself, barely focusing on the texts in the book under the dim light of various candles. It was a cool night, and despite her not being a fan of the cold, it was hard for her to get up from her seat and move to a warmer spot.
She was doing her best to read, rereading the same paragraph twice or thrice as she loses focus, and she was losing her focus a lot, only because of someone who should not be named. As the night went on, cool breezes flew in from the balcony hitting her back periodically. But Xiao Lanhua was close, this close to finishing her first book when she feels the heaviness in her head, followed by lulls of sleep causing her to rest her head on the table.
She decides that she would get up from the table in a while and head straight to the bed, she just has to close her eyes for a while. What she does not expect is that as she is half asleep, she is covered by the comfortable warmth of a blanket, protecting her from the cold wind. But even as the person doing this tries to escape as quickly as possible, she grabs their arm with such might, succeeding in surprising even herself.
She raises her head from the table and looks at the benefactor through the dim light of a few candles and the full moon from the windows. It was without a doubt him, her Damutuo.
“What brings you here Moon Supreme?” Xiao Lanhua asks with as much courteousness as you would expect from a person who has been rudely woken up.
“I just saw that you were sitting with the window open.” Dongfang Qingcang replies, not considering her rude behavior, so what if she did not bow to him, he is the one who woke her up in the first place.
“Thank you.” was all Xiao Lanhua could utter, she knew that he did not just remember her but if he was going to approach her like this, there might be a reason. “But you could have closed the window you know.” She chuckles, sounding fake even to herself.
“I am supposed to do this, you are my wife after all.” Dongfang Qingcang says it matter of factly.
Even though these words act like a balm to her pained heart, it increases the pain even more. These foreign words coming from the person who called her his wife several times a day felt almost puppet-like, with no substance to the words themselves.
“If you treated me like your wife, you should not have been avoiding me for these past few days.” Not when we promised to face everything together left unsaid.
“I was busy.” A curt reply, too befitting of the Moon Supreme.
“Not busy enough to go to the Northwest.” She knows that she is crossing the lines in front of the Moon Supreme, but there were no lines between her and Damutuo.
“It was a personal concern, why do you know about that Sh-” Before he could call Shangque, Xiao Lanhua grabs his wrist once more, almost shushing him to keep his voice low.
“Do not blame him for this, I, the Moon Queen asked him myself. And didn’t you say it before that I’m your wife, there is nothing to hide between husband and wife.” She still has a grip on his wrist, not willing to let it go.
“Then why didn’t you tell me that you are the Xishan Goddess?” Dongfang Qingcang asks, his eyes narrowing.
“You never asked.” Xiao Lanhua just shrugs, if it was going to be like this she would have preferred to go to bed early.
“Did the me before this” Dongfang Qingcang gestures to himself, almost too awkward to continue the conversation, “know about it?”
“Yes, you knew about everything, and so did I.” Xiao Lanhua could tell him about everything if he asked right now, sure she was sleepy but it was for her husband, not sleeping one or hundreds of nights would not be a big thing.
“I did?” Dongfang Qingcang says in almost a whisper, but not low enough to not be heard.
“You can still learn about it, memories or not, you are still the same Damutou.” Xiao Lanhua speaks in almost excitement, her fingertips burning the skin on his wrist, spreading the green warmth of her life in his bloodstream, making him pull away his hand quickly. He wordlessly gets up, too tightened up by the conversation they just had, and leaves her in empty thoughts, too busy gathering herself and thinking about what went wrong.
Morning came to Xiao Lanhua a little late, unable to wake herself up from the happy dreams of both the past and the future. She had not been able to sleep well for the past few days and used early mornings to meditate and calm her heart. She chuckles to herself thinking that only by talking to her husband, was her mind able to produce good dreams, even when the real love and affection were unavailable. Xiao Lanhua took her sweet time getting up when she knew there was no apparent reason to get up early except to go to the people and listen to their troubles as the Moon Queen.
When she gets out of her room to eat some late breakfast, she bumps into what she immediately thinks is a wall in front of the door. Well, that wasn’t possible, not when the wall smelled like home. Only by stepping backward and facing the person eye to eye did Xiao Lanhua confirm who it was.
“Xiao Lanhua.” it was impossible that such a huge man would sound so small but Dongfang Qingcang was a man of many mysteries, making every impossible task easily possible, what’s one more?
“How can I help you Moon Supreme.” Xiao Lanhua asks, averting her eyes from him.
“It’s me.” Dongfang Qingcang tries again, going as far as to grab her arms lightly to make her look at him. And it was the same look in his eyes as it was 100 years back, trying to make her realize that he is indeed her Damutuo.
“You, you.” She knows she is making a fool of herself, so if she is still dreaming, no one would know of her inability to speak. “Yes, it's me.” Saving herself from more confusion, he takes the initiative to hug her tight, he knew what happened in the past three days and how he had hurt her unintentionally,
“You are back.” Xiao Lanhua asks him, her voice muffled in his robes.
“I was never gone.” He replies, his voice thick with emotion, if she ever felt that he was not beside her no matter what happened to him, it was on him.
“You were, you didn’t even recognize me, you didn’t even look at me, how do you, how do you remember me now?” Xiao Lanhua looks at Dongfang Qingcang, while still in his arms.
“The person who did this to me did not realize that you have touched my soul and planted love in it, no matter how strong a curse they put on me, I’m still bound to return to you.” He smiles at the person who made it possible for him to feel the purest emotion in the world, who pulled him from an eternal frost and brought spring to the barren land of his heart.
“If you leave me again, I will not talk to you.” Xiao Lanhua smiles at her Damutou, making him feel at ease, telling him that none of this was his fault without using words.
“I will never.” Dongfang Qingcang kisses her forehead, silently vowing to her.
“We are still at the doorstep - oh- oh what are you doing, put me down.” Dongfang Qingcang picks his wife up, “This is not your room.” While walking toward a destination in his mind. “Damutou put me down, the guards are looking at us.”
“Have I ever cared about what others think? I have breakfast prepared for you.” He only lets her go when they are in their room their safe haven, the place that is permeated with strong scents of hundreds of flowers, way more than the state Xiao Lanhua saw the room at, and she silently giggles to herself, she did not actually remember how many pots was sent to Damutou but seeing her work in person was enough to fill her with silly pride.
“I have counted them already, there are about thirty-three pots in the room.” Dongfang Qingcang tells her, seemingly aware of what she is thinking.
“Thankfully it wasn’t thousands or you would have a hard time counting them.” Xiao Lanhua laughs, recalling the vivid memory of Damutou counting thousands of flowers in the simingdian garden.
“Even if you had sent me hundreds of thousands of flowers, I would have counted them all.” Dongfang Qingcang proclaims, kissing her. Anything would have been better than him losing the memories and forgetting her. He could go through excruciating deaths, again and again, lose all his primordial spirit, and still, it would not compare to seeing Xiao Lanhua’s face and not remembering her.
Xiao Lanhua kisses him back and feels a warmth entering her body, it felt similar to the burning sensation that her powers had caused last night, the only difference being that it was not being transferred from her. It was her Damutou, even his burning fire felt like a soothing warmth encapsulating her, telling her that they are together once again. And no matter what happens, how many more challenges they have to face, as long as they have the love for each other, they will return to each other.