Chinese Novel Review 1

Falling Dreams of Fang Hua

COO 63 + 3 bonus chapter

At first I got frustrated when reading this novel since both MC never say anything about their feeling and didn't get any hint from the other. After reading the epilogue bonus, it got better and everything become clearer.

Shao Hua lives as a beggar in the temple, she always get her food once a day from an old beggar. The old beggar always said that she has a mother who'll picked her up, so she need to endure everything. But that old beggar is dead, leaving a rancid mantou for Shao Hua. She is fighting with the other beggars when Fang Hua come and ask her to live with him. Fang Hua brought her to a desolate house in bamboo forest, there's no other houses nearby Fang Hua's house.

Fang Hua gave Shao Hua her name, he said it come from her hairpin which look like a spoon. When they were eating, Fang Hua didn't eat any food, he went to flower field and eat herbs and flowers. Shao Hua thought that the flower taste good and tried it, she spat everything and said that it was not a human food. Fang Hua answered that indeed it was not a human food. Shao Hua thought that she angered Fang Hua, she hug him and called him mother because the old beggar said her mother has a mole below eye just like Fang Hua. Fang Hua refused her calling him mother so she called him yifu (foster father). Fang Hua gave her a man robe which bigger then her size, he said the seller insist to give him bigger size since child will grow up soon. Shao Hua thought that she'll still fit in it for 5 years. When she went to piss, Fang Hua saw her and asked her why she's squatting when doing it. Shao Hua answered she'll make a mess if she do it standing. Fang Hua check her sex and thought that she was castrated until nothing.

Fang Hua said that he is Fang Hua beast so he eat flowers. Every tenth day on tenth month, Fang Hua went somewhere and return tired. When Fang Hua's drunk, he said that Shao Hua has the same expression with someone he knew(Fang Hua used 'he' to describe his friend). The next morning when Fang Hua sobered, he said that Shao Hua shouldn't give him meat and drown him in rice wine which angered Shao Hua since he's the one who stole her meat and drunk the wine.

The next year Shao Hua tailed him when he go out, she saw him looking sadly to a red wood. Later Shao Hua knew that red wood is Fang Hua Wood which is Fang Hua beast who got withered and become a red wood. Some time after that Shao Hua went into Fang Hua's study. She read about Fang Hua beast:

The Fang Hua Beast is taciturn and often has still and silent expressions. Its white skin resembles that of a woman, and it exudes an unusually sweet scent all year round. Beneath its eyes and eyebrows is a cinnabar mole, and the color of its teardrop-shaped mark pales according to youth. Upon reaching blackish-red, dim red, or pitch-black, the Fang Hua Beast will flee. After fleeing it turns into a sea, then transforms into a piece of dead wood called Fang Hua Wood. This is considered the Fang Hua Beast's soul, and it is capable of dispelling tens of thousands of poisons on Earth. If one buries the wood in the dirt, and feeds it a mixture of crushed medicinal herbs mixed with dew touched by the first rays of the morning sun, one month later the dead wood will be as red as fire, with the disposition of jade.

Two months later, the wood will grow four branches, and its color will fade. Three months later, the wood will develop the five senses of a human adult, whereupon the wood will turn soft and supple, white without compare. Four months later, the root of the wood will break, and the Fang Hua Beast will be born. If the Beast grows to be ten months old, use true love's blood to wash it daily so its soul can continue to exist. This will help the young Beast recall its memories from a previous incarnation.

A young newborn Beast does not know human language and eats flower nectar as well as a small amount of medicinal herbs. But he grows very quickly, and in half a year will appear no different from a young child. His language skills will become fluid and smooth, and he will become exceedingly intelligent. Afterwards, its every ten days will be equivalent to a cycle of one year in human terms as it continues to mature.