Always By Your Side

Chapter 17: Historical Dream

It was the third time Fu Beichen visited Yuxi. Many years ago when he’d come for the first time, it was also August, the season of reeds. At that time, Yuxi hadn’t developed its tourism industry yet. Therefore, it revealed a simple place where people lead traditional lifestyles. Now it had become one of the most famous towns south of the Yangtze River. It was livelier and noisier than before.

This time, he was here to confirm exactly who the princess’s husband was. Princess Jiachun and her husband had been supported by the Cheng family for thousands of years. Most important of all, however, he was here to see her.

The princess and her husband’s shrine was not luxurious. Its beauty derived from the devout support of many generations. Nowadays, though, tourists were mostly interested in how the princess and her husband had renounced their position and wealth. In the middle of the Lushan Mountains, even lacking food, they solely sought to hold hands and pass an ordinary life together.

The front hall and the main hall were newly built. Not only were there cauldrons for burning incense, but also painted statues to worship the princess and her husband. Fu Beichen didn’t stop at the front. He walked unhurriedly to the rear courtyard where there were few tourists, stopped at the stone monument encircled by iron railings, and looked at it with rapt attention. On the monument, the name of the princess’s husband was distinctly written—Fu Yuanduo.

Fu Yuanzheng, Fu Yuanduo…His eyebrows tensed, and he couldn’t help thinking of the fourth brother in his dream who resembled him by six or seven points. Was it him?

What was right? Was it the historical information that had been recorded, or this place?

Selfishly, he wanted to believe that this monument was right. Because that would mean he had not betrayed her.

Leaving the princess and her husband’s shrine, Fu Beichen walked along the road he had followed in the past. Unconsciously, he walked to the red bean tree. At this time, the tree was full of pods, as if brimming with hope for passionate love. Fu Beichen was unable to approach it. There were too many tourists.

He frowned slightly, remembering that year when he had met her for the first time under this red bean tree. She led the way for him, and the painting he treasured happened to be left behind with her. In an unexpected turn of events, he had also seen Zhao Jue for the first time that day. After that, his dreams about fire and that porcelain bottle gradually began to increase. He started to see a story cut to fragments. So, when he couldn’t see her clearly in his dreams at first, he had mistaken her for Zhao Jue—even though, from start to finish, he had never had any special feelings for Zhao Jue.

After thousands of years of turnover, he finally found her.

After crossing Taiping Bridge and turning right at 500 Years, one would see Yuan Yuan Teahouse.

Yuan Yuan, Yuanyuan. Fu Beichen stood in front of the shop’s door, staring at the woodcut sign. The corners of his mouth raised slightly. He liked the name of this shop very much.

He went up the stairs, pushed open the wooden door, and entered the shop. On one side was a cabinet with tea leaves and tea sets, and on the other side was a wall full of photos.

Fu Beichen walked towards the colourful wall and saw a photo at a glance—under the moonlight, some porcelain works were laid out irregularly, casting shadows overlapping with each other on the ground. The tone of the photograph was clear and cold, revealing a kind of arrogance. The photo next to it was of raging, dazzling flames spraying from an enormous chimney. The feeling it gave off was “honour does not allow one to glance back”, a determination that violently contrasted with the previous photo.

He recognized that these two pictures had been taken from Gao Ling’s mountain villa.

“Fu Beichen?” Hearing this voice again, Fu Beichen felt extremely familiar with it, like he had been listening to it for a millennium. 

He smoothed his brows and turned to face Yuanyuan. “Right, it’s me.”

He had crossed a thousand mountains and ten thousand waters just to be at her side. Her heart didn’t belong to anyone yet, and he felt more joy than anything.

“Why are you here?” Yuanyuan was endlessly shocked, thinking of the conversation she’d had with Jiang Xiaoqi at the temple. At this moment, she really felt that Buddha had appeared! Then, recalling the text messages she had sent in fury, she suddenly felt embarrassed.

“I…” Fu Beichen paused, then said, “I specially came to your house to ask for a cup of tea.”

Hearing this, Yuanyuan was a little relieved in her heart. He didn’t think badly of her because of those texts. After reflecting on his words, Yuanyuan laughed. She shook the small jar in her hand and said, “Then you came at the right time. I just came back from Master Jingshan, and he gave me another jar.”

Fu Beichen thought about the “meditation tea” he’d had in her office before. With a casual smile, he asked: “Is Master Jingshan a master of Chongfu Temple?”

Yuanyuan nodded and said with all smiles, “He’s also my old classmate.”

Suddenly, Dai Shufen came out from behind, “Yuanyuan, you’re back? I heard you talking to someone from the back.” As she said this, Dai Shufen saw that the person was Fu Beichen. She was a little surprised. “You’re Mr. Fu who brought Yuanyuan home last time, right?”

Fu Beichen greeted her politely. “Yes, hello Auntie.”

“Hello, hello. Last time the house was a complete mess and I didn’t receive you well, I’m really sorry.” Dai Shufen hurriedly invited him to a tea table and said enthusiastically, “Don’t stand, have a seat. The new Chinese cinnamon I have tastes pretty good, give it a try.”

After the funeral, she had asked Yuanyuan about the identity of the person who sent her back that day. She learned that Fu Beichen was a distant relative of Cheng Shenghua’s family and had helped Yuanyuan a lot.

“Many thanks.” Fu Beichen sat down with a smile.

Yuanyuan sat opposite Fu Beichen and said, “My mom has good tea but she won’t steep any for me, she says that I can’t taste the difference between good tea or bad tea anyway.”

“So, you can only drink Master’s meditation tea?” Fu Beichen jokingly smiled.

“Master?” Dai Shufen suspiciously raised her head.

Yuanyuan smiled: “It’s Jiang Xiaoqi…”

Every time she talked about Jiang Xiaoqi, Dai Shufen couldn’t help but sigh: “Why did he leave home to become a Buddhist monk? But sometimes, I think that he’s still a little interesting. Ai, he has suffered a lot…”

Seeing that her mother wanted to talk about those days again, Yuanyuan quickly changed the topic. “Mom, do you remember that I told you when I was a child, I showed a big brother the way, and then I picked up that big brother’s painting?”

Dai Shufen looked at her doubtfully, apparently not remembering such a thing.

Fu Beichen was also watching Yuanyuan quietly.

Yuanyuan further added: “The painting was of a very beautiful bottle. Later, when I went to Jingdezhen on a business trip, I made porcelain according to the appearance of that bottle. I saw the master make it look very simple, but the result was that I…Well, in short, it was a huge failure.” Yuanyuan thought that Fu Beichen was an expert in porcelain, so she had picked up this subject to suit his fancy.

“Well, you’re not a professional, so your work is already quite good.” Fu Beichen consoled her, then said, “But I really want to see the original painting.”

“Bottle?” Dai Shufen asked.

“Yeah, Mom, back then I asked you to look at it but you said you were too busy. The bottle in the painting is really beautiful, so I’ve still kept it even now.” Then she said to Fu Beichen, “You want to see it? Then I’ll get it for you!” She hopped up and ran away. Fu Beichen watched her back, a smiling expression emerging. Dai Shufen looked at Yuanyuan, then looked at Fu Beichen. Her heart had some thoughts.

“This girl always speaks and does things quickly.” Dai Shufen poured a cup of brewed tea and brought it to Fu Beichen.

Fu Beichen thanked her, lifting the teacup to his mouth. Before he tried it, he immediately smelled a fresh fragrance. He took a sip, took a moment to swallow, and then said with admiration: “I have always heard that good Chinese cinnamon has frankincense. At last I’ve finally tasted it.”

“Seeing you drink tea, I just know you’re a connoisseur.” Dai Shufen poured some more for him.

After a while, Yuanyuan flew over with the painting and spread it out like she was presenting a treasure.

As soon as Dai Shufen saw the painting, her head buzzed, “This…”

She saw that Fu Beichen was also looking at this painting. His expression seemed somewhat like he was reminiscing. At least, it was as if he wasn’t seeing it for the first time.

“Mom, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” Yuanyuan discovered that her mother’s complexion wasn’t very good.

“Oh, I’m fine.” Dai Shufen gradually relaxed. She picked up the painting and looked at it seriously, then said to Yuanyuan, “Yuanyuan, I suddenly remembered I ordered steamed glutinous rice cakes from your Auntie Wang this morning. Help me bring it back.”

Yuanyuan was stunned, “Now?”

“It’s getting late, your Auntie Wang closes the shop early. Quickly go so you can come back soon.”

Yuanyuan glanced at Fu Beichen, then reluctantly left to run the errand.

Fu Beichen was sharp. He naturally sensed Dai Shufen’s unusual behaviour. When Yuanyuan left the teahouse, he looked at Dai Shufen and waited for the other party to speak first.

“Mr. Fu, you…have you seen this painting, or perhaps, have you seen the porcelain bottle in this painting before?”

Fu Beichen only hesitated for a moment, then said: “I have indeed seen the porcelain bottle in the painting. Furthermore, this painting was done by me.” Fu Beichen thought about how he had never said these words to anyone. But today he didn’t hesitate to reveal the truth because she was Cheng Yuanyuan’s mother.

“You painted it?” Now, Dai Shufen was even more surprised. “May I ask where you saw this porcelain bottle?”

“If I say, you might not believe it.” Fu Beichen paused. “It was in a dream.”

When Dai Shufen heard this, she thought he might have seen it somewhere before, then dreamed about it and simply forgot.

“Auntie, are you interested in the porcelain bottle from this painting?”

Dai Shufen released a long, deep sigh. “Our family once owned a bottle that looked exactly the same.”

“And what about now?” Fu Beichen’s hands on his knees slowly clenched, then loosened. This wasn’t unexpected, but such a coincidence still made him unable to calm down.

“There are many porcelain bottles that have a similar shape, how can you be sure that the one I painted is the same one from your family?” It was certainly the same one.

“Because not only is the shape exactly the same, but the words painted on it are completely identical.” Dai Shufen pointed to the words on the bottle in the painting and said, “Our family’s porcelain bottle is also engraved with ‘Autumn Breeze’, with stones and cattails painted on it.” She then added: “Not long after Yuanyuan was born, this porcelain bottle suddenly disappeared. Because it was an heirloom passed down from generation to generation, Yuanyuan’s grandmother held a grudge towards Yuanyuan. From time to time, she’d take her anger out on the child…It caused that child’s heart to…” When Dai Shufen recalled these past events now, she only felt that they were like a lifetime ago. “I have never been able to understand how a well-preserved bottle could disappear for no reason? If it was a thief, why didn’t the thief steal other things, why just the bottle?” In the end, Dai Shufen shook her head with a smile. “Actually, I thought that if I could find this porcelain bottle and bring it back, I would be able to solve the matter that gnawed at Yuanyuan’s heart. But perhaps this child has already stopped taking offence long ago. Yuanyuan is usually carefree, but also hot-tempered when she handles matters. At least this way, she won’t be too obsessed with certain affairs. She’s able to adopt a lighthearted perspective more than I thought. So, Mr. Fu, about today’s matters. Just pretend I didn’t ask.”

Fu Beichen naturally cooperated. He suppressed his heart and said, “Okay.”

At this time, Yuanyuan quickly returned carrying two big bags of steamed glutinous rice cakes in each hand.

Fu Beichen didn’t stay at Yuanyuan’s house for too long. After drinking two cups of tea, he stood up and took his leave: “I’ve disturbed you for so long, I’m going back now. Auntie, thank you for the Chinese cinnamon.”

“You’re leaving now?” Yuanyuan widened her eyes at him. “Have dinner with us and then go.”

Fu Beichen smiled lightly. “Thanks, but next time. Tonight I must accompany Professor Fu for dinner.”

Dai Shufen originally wanted to urge him to stay, but seeing that the other party already had an appointment, she didn’t keep him any longer: “Then Yuanyuan, you send Mr. Fu off.”

Yuanyuan let out an “oh”. When she reluctantly sent Fu Beichen out, she heard him say: “After the Mid-Autumn Festival, I’m going to Japan for a business trip.”

“You’re going to Japan?”

“There’s a porcelain research exchange over there. I’ll probably be back in a week.”

“That long?”