The Librarian and the Fox Princess: a Donghua Dijun and Bai Fengjiu story, V.I

Chapter 20 - Almost Eighteenth

When she dreamt of Dong Hua, she felt as if he were there in the room with her. She could almost feel his cool slender fingers stroke her cheek. He was silent but the look in his eyes conveyed not only tender concern but also deep regret.

Of course his face was that way, she thought. It was her dream, so he would look however her subconscious would want him to look. She wanted him to miss her and to be sorry that he had yelled at her. She wanted to tell him in the dream that she was sorry. She was sorry if she had made him angry. Then she was sad that she always felt the need to apologize to him. 

He should apologize to me too.  

She was lying in bed battling with her conflicted emotions when she realized that this would be her first full day in Kun Lun and was nervous because she didn't know what to expect. She was grateful that High God Mo Yuan allowed her to stay. If Dong Hua was going into seclusion, she thought she'd go into her version of seclusion as well. Kun Lun had been a wonderful place for Gugu, and she hoped that even though she was just a guest there, she would be able to fit in somehow.

She was taken away from her thoughts when Zhe Yan entered her room and sat by her bed. "Xiao Jiu, did you sleep well last night?" he asked while he held her wrist and read her pulse.

Xiao Jiu nodded. "But I dreamt of him."

"Of course you did," he nodded softly to her. "This makes sense now with what happened this morning."

Her eyes grew big and wide with concern. "What ... happened?" she asked cautiously.

He sighed and smiled. "This morning when First and Third Uncle came to say goodbye to you before they had to leave, you grabbed First Uncle, pulled him down and grabbed a huge handful of his hair and brought it to your face.  You wouldn't let him go and Third Uncle and I had to pry your little fingers open."

Her eyes grew bigger and he decided to continue.

"Then when it was Third Uncle's turn to say goodbye to you, you grabbled him by the collar, pulled him to your face and said 'I know exactly what you want.'"

She clapped her hand to her mouth and gasped. "No! I didn't!"

"I'm afraid you did, my dear," smirked Zhe Yan. He knew that all the Dong Hua talk at last night's dinner had infiltrated her subconscious. Old memories were being rehashed and regurgitated in her state of half-asleep with her uncles that morning.

She was silently glad that she had told their story to her family last night, if not her behaviors this morning would be even more bizarre and unacceptable. "And everyone else?"

"Migu went back to look after the fox den and your Gugu had to go back to the Nine Heavens late last night after you fell asleep. Your fourth uncle is talking with High God Mo Yuan now." She nodded as she took this all in.

"Xiao Jiu, for now, just rest here. Let your energies heal and recuperate. After you start feeling better, your fourth uncle, High God Mo Yuan and I will start training you in preparation of taking the throne as Queen of the Eastern Lands in Qing Qiu." He decided to leave out the part about how she would break the almighty god's ego in half like a twig and make him fall at her feet begging for forgiveness.

"High God Mo Yuan will really train me?" she asked in awe.  "But, I'm not that important for him to train."

Zhe Yan shook his head. "Don't be silly, you are the future Queen of Qing Qiu, the better you are prepared and trained, the better it is for all the realms. You know everything is interdependent." She nodded.

After she said her goodbyes to Fourth Uncle and Zhe Yan, she wandered around the grounds of Kun Lun not sure of what she was to do with herself. She sat on the front steps, leaning against the beautifully carved stone pillar and just looked out at the distant view before her. She couldn't help but wonder how her librarian was doing.