Thirty

That they even had a stream flowing through their compound? She immediately followed the sound to the backyard.

Indeed, there was a stream that delivered water into a large pond and the water was continued out through several branches that delivered water to different areas.

But Dong Mei didn't have the mind to look at the water or the bamboo over head. She stood in the middle of the entrance to the spring, paralyzed.

She fell into a trance, one of those ones where time seemed to slow down. The ones were light seemed stuck and dusk would never come. The ones where even air didn't move and the world seemed to revolve around one moment.

With short curly dark hair that barely crossed the shoulders and stuck to the skin because it was wet, and back muscles that flexed with every slight movement, he looked ethereal.

He raised his hands from the pond to his face and water cascaded down his body which glistened under the light as though smeared with thousands of stars.

Her muscle on his arms seemed to bulge every time he raised his hands to pour water on his body.

Who is this? 

The air around Dong Mei seemed to get hotter. Every breath was warm and uncomfortable and so it seemed that she didn't have enough air. She started to take in deep breaths and her heart pounded hard against her chest. She felt that it would be heard from a mile away.

Noticing the oddity, the person in the water started to turn.

Time seemed to start moving again.

Instinctively, Dong Mei dashed for the nearby house, trying hard not to be seen.

"Who's there?" a deep voice sounded.

Dong Mei; !!!!

Dong Mei's every body cell was startled.

"Show yourself before I get there," the voice sounded closer already.

How could she miss this person? It was the only voice she hated hearing nearly as much as she hated hearing Li Hua's.

Cang Mang. It was Cang Mang.

Dong Mei wanted to jump into an ocean and drown herself. Her anxious heart pounded fiercely. She started to argue with herself.

How could she not tell that was Cang Mang? Who else in the village had such a body? She had even seen it on other occasions, why was it so different when he was in the water?

But she really couldn't guess that it was Cang Mang? What if it were someone else? How would that make the situation better? Also, she had never known that he kept his hair short. It was always in a crown on his head.

Dong Mei found herself full of questions and she really couldn't collect her thoughts, it was better to go home- no! It was better to run home.

Dong Mei let out a heavy breath and prepared to run. She had just turned when she bumped into an enormous wet left pec. She stumbled back and almost fell but Cang Mang pulled her back.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as he stepped away from her so that he could see her clearly.

"I- I ha! I gah- I HAHA!" was her response.

Cang Mang corked an eyebrow at her, "what?"

"I- I didn't think- know. I. you see it and and..sch! Han- hug. Uhm- wouldn't expect th- uh' oh! Ho! Haha," she kept having to take breaths in between.

Cang Mang was still confused.

She suddenly stopped talking and looked at his torso, seeming lost in thought. Her eyes widened in alarm and her head snapped downwards.

Dong Mei breathed a sigh of relief. He had his pants on and he held them at the waist. They were wet, exposing the curve of his thighs but the did a lot to cover up. For a second she had thought that he had simply walked out of the water to find people without covering up.

Cang Mang put a finger under her chin and raised her head so she faced him, "eyes here," he signaled between his and her eyes.

"Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Haha! Ha," her laugh ended drily. She turned and quickly walked away before bursting into a sprint.

Cang Mang; ... okay.

As soon as Dong Mei reached home, she deeped her face in the buckets of water that had just been fetched.

The maid came shouting at her, "Dong Mei, are you mad? I've just fetched that water."

Dong Mei raised her head, "I'll use this one for showering." She gave an excuse and put her head back in water.

Only when she felt her temperature drop did she stop repeatedly dipping her head in the water.

She was still in disbelief, so much so that she sat on the dusty ground without a care for her clothes.

How could she? And of all people, Cang Mang? Was she mad? Had she actually become mad as in the book and still acted sane enough for people to pass her off as so?

She shook her head and refused it. She refused it.

"It must have been a mistake. It was clearly an accident," she assured herself, "in fact, I don't even know what it is."

She nodded and took deep breath. With every breath, her brows wrinkled more. As she breathed, she happened to catch the sight of the water she had just dipped her head in. The scene of Cang Mang pouring water over his body flashed through her mind. She quickly shut her eyes to stop it.

In the next moment she jumped up while shaking her eyes, "I'll chant some sutras."

She went to the living room and knelt before the image of the god her mother normally worshipped and started to chant verses that her mother had forced her to learn as a child.

She chanted and chanted and when she was done with the entire prayer, she started over.

She really did her best to chant as though she was trying to break generational curses.