INFATUATION 2

Huan Shikang watched Rumilie who was writing while smiling, his eyes flashed in displeased. "How can you just sit sluggishly? You know, two districts becoming the main supports for our movement have been destroyed by the epidemic."

"I'm not sitting sluggishly, Bro. I'm writing poetry." Rumilie kept writing without looking at Huan Shikang. "Besides, it's raining outside. How can we do activities in the rain?"

"Hng! You are always smart in seeking for excuses!" Huan Shikang snorted.

"No need for us to do anything, Bro. Trust me, Zhou Wang has met a dead-end. Just wait for him to become depressed and do self-destruct. Or even better, he will go insane, turns into a cruel tyrant who oppresses his people and destroys his city just because of Hu Nayin."

"I don't believe in this strategy. How can a Fan Wang fall just because of a woman? He can get the replacement faster, and even much more than before!"

"You don't understand how painful it is when love has drawn its sword? Love can even kill people."

"But he is a Fan Wang, after all, he can find dozens of pretty women to replace Hu Nayin easily. If he sleeps with them and gets more pleasures than he can get from Hu Nayin, he will soon forget Hu Nayin!"

"The love I mean is not that shallow. Love is not all about sexual desire. Even more, much deeper, love is able to ring a bell in the deepest part of the heart. A man can fall in love with a woman even without any sexual intercourse between them - and a man can keep loving her until the end of his life."

"Impossible! A man loves a woman after having the sexual pleasure she gives him, simply because the addictive poison in sex is what makes a man's brain go stupid! Like the emperors in ancient times who were crazy about their concubines and forgot about state affairs!"

"Ah, you are so stubborn, perceiving love only from its dirty side. Love also has a holy part. That holy part is what makes love both complex and colorful. All emotions can arise because of love. Beauty, as well as suffering, arises because of love. Not being able to unite with our loved ones becomes suffering. Being betrayed by our loved ones, becomes suffering. When we are forced to leave our loved ones, that is also suffering. When love can make you feel both the beauty and the suffering, it proves that it is a holy love. Great love. That's the part you have to pay attention about love."

"Judging by what you said, you seem to be defending Zhou Wang?"

"We shouldn't be subjective and then look down on someone just because he is our enemy. That condescending mindset will definitely make us lose. If this is the truth, I have to say so."

"Humph, I still can't believe that a ruler can have such holy love. All of them are the power freaks who don't honor love at all. For them, women are no more than a collection of power markers. The more women they have, the more powerful they are. How can they understand such holy and great love as you said."

"Well, we'll see, whose talk will prove to be true."

Rumilie put down his brush, then raised the poem he wrote up high. "Ah... so beautiful! So romantic... so heartrending! Incredible!"

"What kind of poem are you writing?" Huan Shikang raised his eyebrows. "Don't tell me that you're writing?!..."

"Love poem." Rumilie was smiling.

Huan Shikang clicked his tongue and pursed his lips.

"I'll display it in my room." Yes, of course, I have to display this poem. This poem is about those I love. About Xie Wang... and about Wan Ya. How can I just throw it away?

***

"It rained very heavily. Thank Heaven we manage to avoid it."

Xu Gechang smiled at a middle-aged woman dressed entirely in white. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Deng, for your kindness to accommodate us."

"Don't say that. We are all Bai Lian Jiao followers, of course, we have to help each other if one of us is in trouble."

The six of them had come out of the meadow early in the morning, and it meant that they had been outside of Kaifeng. Now they were in a town that was quite small but comfortable enough to live in. There was also a Bai Lian Jiao follower in this town - this Mrs. Deng and her son. Her house was very large, Mrs. Deng seemed to be a very wealthy woman. Her husband had died long ago, so she only lived with her son who was 17 years old, even younger than Shao Rong. When the six of them came here, Mrs. Deng welcomed them kindly.

"We have many rooms here. You can choose whatever you like," Mrs. Deng offered nicely.

"I'm sorry, we will bother you for a while, Mrs. Deng. On the next day we'll leave here immediately," Xu Gechang said.

"If you want to stay longer, it's fine," Mrs. Deng replied.

"We can't. We must go. Because the government army is pursuing us. And we don't want to get both of you into trouble."

"Wow... finally Bai Lian Jiao from Kaifeng declares their resistance movement blatantly?" Mrs. Deng was in awe.

"Initially, we don't. It is all originated from this incident." Thus he told about their experience in brief.

Mrs. Deng and her son stared closely at Hu Nayin and Wu Qi. "Wow... such an extraordinary chance to meet with Wang Fei and Chief Commander of San Hu Wei."

"No need to be such formal, Ma'am," Wu Qi replied politely.

"It will be impolite if we let such prominent guests stay only for a day. Stay here for at least a week. Please feel free, we are glad with your visit."

Everyone was busy in their small talk, once in a while they laughed politely. On the other hand, Hu Nayin remained silent. Her odd expression immediately caught the attention of the house residents, especially Mrs. Deng's son.

"Why does Wang Fei stay quiet?" The boy asked.

"Hey, Linping, don't be rude!" Mrs. Deng rebuked him

Deng Linping stood on for himself. "I'm not impolite, Mom. I'm just curious about Wang Fei's quietness. It must be a reason for that, right?"

Wu Qi swallowed hard. "That..."

"Moreover, Wang Fei's facial expression is weird. She looks unwell. Hmmm..." Deng Linping stepped forward, then started to take Hu Nayin's pulse.

"Are you a physician, Dude?" Wu Qi was confused.

Deng Linping did not heed him. Now he was observing Hu Nayin's face.

"Actually Linping's father is a physician. A genius physician... He is an imperial physician in the era of the Hongwu Emperor."

"What?!?" Not only Wu Qi was surprised by this news. The four of Kaifeng Bai Lian Jiao members were also the same.

"Well... I'll just tell you the truth, since we're on the same boat anyway. My husband is an Imperial Physician. Problems occurred when the Emperor fell ill, and thus died. Accused of being unable to prevent the Emperor's death, my husband was severely punished along with the other imperial physicians. The punishment was a serious blow to my husband who was a nerdy and weak man, it made him died shortly afterward. And, to avoid any disaster that might arise, we then moved to this town, and changed our surname to Deng." That was how Mrs. Deng ended her story.

"The Death indeed has been destined by Heaven, if the Emperor dies, then nobody must blame their physicians!" Wei Han grumbled. Meanwhile, Wu Qi was stunned. One more bitter truth he heard about the Hongwu Emperor, and it made his dislike towards the Ming Imperial family - whoever he was - increased more.

"That's why, you are willing to join with Bai Lian Jiao?" Ma Ya asked.

Mrs. Deng nodded. "Actually I don't like Linping to study medicine. It is a double-edged sword science. If you fail to treat people, they'll blame you. I don't like it."

Xu Gechang watched Deng Linping who was pushing Hu Nayin's eyelids downwards with his index finger to closely observe her eyeballs. He smirked. "But it seems that your son really likes medicine. If he is really passionate about that field, then you must support him. He will be able to do good karma by helping many people."

Now Deng Linping put his index finger in front of Hu Nayin's eyes and moved it left and right. Mrs. Deng said gloomily, "Ah, that kid is so crazy about medicine. No matter how hard I forbid him, my effort will end in vain. He just does it. So I give up." She looked at the altar of her husband. "I just pray, that my husband is willing to protect him from Heaven."

"Wang Fei herself also really likes medicine. She even has a supernatural talent for examining people and selecting medicinal herbs. It's a shame she is unwell, otherwise, the two of them will be become good partners in discussing medicine," Wu Qi sighed. "Well, I hope this young physician will be able to treat Wang Fei... in this hard time, the Young Physician gives much help."

"I've found Wang Fei's problem!"