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"Fang Xiaobao, Lao Di," Li Lianhua said, his tone nonchalant but his smile very fond. "Long time no see."
"You!" Fang Duobing sputtered. He stepped forward and made as if to grab Li Lianhua's robes at the chest and shake him, but changed his mind at the last second. He smoothed out the shoulders of his fur cape instead, his movements gentle and trembling.
"How could you do this to us? Where have you been?" Fang Duobing finished his sentence in a voice so low Di Feisheng—standing right there—almost did not catch it.
"Ah, Xiaobao, it's a long story," Li Lianhua said with a sigh. He reached up and, just as gently, removed Fang Duobing's hands from his shoulders.
Di Feisheng crossed his arms over his chest. Li Lianhua did not so much as glance his way.
"So tell it," Di Feisheng said, after no one said anything. "We have time."
"We have time," Li Lianhua agreed demurely. He still was not making eye contact with Di Feisheng. "But it's not very comfortable here, is it? It's rather windy and salty."
"Let's go then," Fang Duobing said immediately. "Here, you can ride my horse."
"Very well," Li Lianhua agreed readily, somewhat to Di Feisheng's surprise. He mounted Fang Duobing's horse while Fang Duobing held the horse steady as though Li Lianhua were a child.
"And just where are we going?" Di Feisheng asked, as he took the reins of his own horse without mounting it, following Fang Duobing on foot.
"North along the coast," Li Lianhua answered. He did not venture any other details.
"You owe us an explanation," Fang Duobing said as he walked at his horse's head, without looking back at Li Lianhua. He sounded extremely cross.
Di Feisheng could not blame him for that, but Di Feisheng was more patient. He would see that he got his answers eventually.
"You already know the story," Li Lianhua said, his voice soft. "I told you in my letter. What else is there to say?"
Fang Duobing sputtered so indignantly it appeared he was lost for words.
"Why you said you're dying when you're not, for starters," Di Feisheng offered in a dry tone.
"Oh, that," Li Lianhua said, as though it weren't a question he'd even thought of. "I did die, or so I thought. I gave the fisherman the last of my money and lost consciousness on his boat. But three months later, I woke up in his house. I had not died, and the Bicha poison was gone."
Fang Duobing looked away from Li Lianhua, which happened to be in Di Feisheng's direction. Tears were shining in his eyes. Di Feisheng averted his glance and looked up at Li Lianhua.
"Bitterwind poplar," Di Feisheng surmised. "I expected it could keep a person alive even in such an extreme situation. But it took three entire months to burn away the poison? I didn't expect that."
"The poison had settled very deep for a very long time," Li Lianhua said with a sigh. "I've only just now gotten strong enough to walk again, when the fisherman gave me a detailed description of the two of you wandering the coast."
"We've been searching for you everywhere without stopping," Fang Duobing said, sounding choked up.
Li Lianhua met Di Feisheng's eyes, almost with exasperation, as though he could not believe Fang Duobing would do or say such things.
Di Feisheng refused to indulge him in this show of indifference and heartlessness. He faced Li Lianhua with a grim expression.
"Both of us have been searching," Di Feisheng confirmed.
Li Lianhua briefly looked at the sky, as if seeking help or answers, but eventually returned his eyes to the beach in front of them and stayed silent.
"I'm glad you're alive," Fang Duobing managed to say.
Li Lianhua still did not respond. Di Feisheng found nothing else to say, and Fang Duobing took the silence as discouragement. They completed the journey without speaking again, all the way through their arrival at a small, ramshackle collection of fishing huts tucked inside a minor cove.
"We can spend a night here," Fang Duobing said. "But then we're going home, back to Lotus Tower. All right?"
Li Lianhua sighed. "Xiaobao, I don't know if I have the strength for such a journey."
"We'll help you," Fang Duobing said stubbornly.
Li Lianhua ignored that and opened the door of one of the fishing huts. It was tiny, with a small table and an oven in the middle and a mattress in the corner. There was possibly not room for two more, even if they slept on the floor.
"Make yourself useful and collect some wood," Li Lianhua said to Fang Duobing. "And if you have some money, leave it on the table for my fisherman friend."
Fang Duobing took a pouch out of his belt and put it on the table, his movements a bit stiff.
"We would have taken care of you for three months, if you hadn't left us," he said, sounding sulky and offended. "And don't give A-Fei that look again, like you want him to join you in making fun of me! I was doing something productive with my grief and my fear and searching diligently for the last three months. I wasn't the one wandering in the swirling snow looking brokenhearted and reciting mournful poetry over the shards of your sword."
With those words, Fang Duobing flounced out of the hut in search of firewood.
"How does he know any of that!" Di Feisheng exclaimed, too late for Fang Duobing to hear him.
Had Fang Duobing and Wuyan been talking? Di Feisheng would have to have words with Wuyan about that.
"How embarrassing, Lao Di," Li Lianhua said with a faint smile as he sat down at the table and pulled a stone grinder towards him.
Di Feisheng reached out and placed a hand over Li Lianhua's on top of the grinder, stilling his movements.
Li Lianhua tilted his face up to Di Feisheng with a look of inquiry.
"I'm not embarrassed," Di Feisheng said, as clearly as he could. "I was heartbroken to lose you. You are everything to me."
Li Lianhua drew in a sharp breath. He looked stricken, vulnerable and wounded, like Di Feisheng had stabbed him through the shoulder again.
"A-Fei," he protested, his voice breaking.
"You aren't dying. You're alive. I'm alive. What is it you fear?"
But Di Feisheng already knew the answer to this question. Li Lianhua believed his resurrection ten years ago consisted of rising out of the muck of his old life, severing earthly connections and living free and unencumbered. He was afraid of losing his new philosophies and he was afraid of anything that reminded him of Li Xiangyi's values and desires.
So Di Feisheng did not wait for Li Lianhua to answer him. He laid a hand on Li Lianhua's temple, brushing long strands of stray hair out of his face. He bent down and kissed Li Lianhua on the lips, trying to pour everything he felt in his heart into the physical connection.
Li Lianhua kissed him back without reserve, his lips sweet and soft. When they broke apart to catch their breath, Li Lianhua's face was showing faint signs of pink spots.
Di Feisheng stroked his thumb over Li Lianhua's hair again, as tenderly as he knew how.
"Still so clingy," Li Lianhua said, the words breathless and short like his mind was entirely elsewhere.
"Get used to it," Di Feisheng advised.
Li Lianhua closed his eyes and actually leaned into Di Feisheng's chest, resting against the sturdiness of Di Feisheng's strength. Di Feisheng did not let go of his hair.
"Yes, all right," Li Lianhua said softly. "I won't leave again."
"I doubt that," Di Feisheng said with a tiny smile. "I know you too long and too well to believe such a thing. But I will accept the promise in the spirit in which it was given."
"Kiss me again," Li Lianhua murmured.
And as that was all Di Feisheng wanted to do with the rest of his life, he complied.