Otherworldly Merchant

I sent Mrs. Qi a short text message. “He does not have a clear mind right now. Wait until he starts to draw a picture. I think he will recover and recognize you. Just wait…”

Mrs. Qi could only wait. However, by looking at her face, I knew she was a little restless.

After taking a bath, Mr. Qi went to his study room, vomiting another mouthful of heart blood onto the Xuan paper.

His heart blood looked really light tonight, to the point that it didn’t even look like blood.

Mr. Qi started to grind his ink with water and began drawing.

He had drawn four or five pictures of the beauty, but he hadn’t recognized Mrs. Qi yet. I was a little worried and wondered if Mrs. Qi looked different from the beauty in his picture.

Left with no choice, I had to ask Mrs. Qi to ‘enter the trap’ herself.

I raised two fingers and signaled at Mrs. Qi to proceed with the second plan.

Mrs. Qi nodded. She stood up and elegantly strolled toward the study room. At the same time, she began to read the poem, “The quiet, peaceful melody.”

Clouds recall her robes,  blossoms her face, Spring winds caress the rail,  dew-laden petals grow lush. If you do not see her  atop Jade-Cluster Mountain, Then surely you shall meet her  at Jasper Terrace beneath the moon. 

On a bough of brilliant red,  dew's thickening fragrance, The clouds and rain upon Mount Wu  recklessly break men's hearts. Should you ask,  in the Han Palace, who can compare? Fetching Flying-Swallow,  at her ease, adorns herself anew. 

The "Acclaimed Flower"  and the "Ruination of Kingdoms"  take pleasure in each other, 

So lovely that the prince  watches with a smile.

It was the poem Li Bai had written to Yang Guifei when they first met.

Mrs. Qi now moved nobly and recited the poem in a sweet and tender voice. She really had the aura of an imperial concubine, which made people gape at her.

After hearing someone read his own poem, Mr. Qi was perplexed for a while. Skeptically, he lifted his head to look at Mrs. Qi.

Mrs. Qi smiled at him. “Sir, do you remember me?”

Mr. Qi dropped his jaw, and his entire body shivered in excitement. The brush in his hand fell to the ground, and his passionate eyes gazed at Mrs. Qi as tears rolled down his cheeks.

However, he quickly got a hold of himself. He checked and adjusted his robe and gently read, “Beauty folds the bead curtain, her exquisite brows furrow. Though one sees wet tears stain, he doesn’t know whom she laments in her heart… Guifei, is that you?”

Mrs. Qi nodded. “Yes, it’s me.”

Li Bai was so excited that he rushed toward her. “I can’t believe that I can see you again in this life. Now, I can die without regrets.”

“Just call me Yuhuan.” Mrs. Qi smiled.

Mr. Qi nodded. “Yuhuan, do you know how much I have missed you? I’ve missed you a lot. Even if I cut all the bamboos in the southern mountains to make books, they wouldn’t be enough for me to write how much I’ve missed you.”

“I understand,” said Mrs. Qi. “How could I not feel the same? After you suddenly left, I yearned for you and missed you dearly. I thought I would almost turn crazy…”

Li Bai comforted Mrs. Qi. Then, they began to share their stories and exchanged passionate words. They cried as if they were two lovers that had been forced apart.

It was understandable as the time they were apart was much longer than other couples. They couldn’t meet for several thousand years.

I watched, and seeing that things were proceeding well, I exhaled in relief. Mrs. Qi seemed to be well immersed in her role; I felt that everything would be fine.

I then asked Li Mazi to keep an eye on them as I drifted into sleep.

I didn’t know how long it had been when Li Mazi’s shout woke me up. Dreamily, I heard Li Mazi gasp and say that they had started doing it.

I didn’t pay attention to Li Mazi’s habit of peeping and drifted into sleep again.

After some time, I was awoken by someone screaming. I opened my eyes and saw the bewildered Mr. Qi standing in the kitchen. His eyes angrily gazed at us as he shouted and cursed.

Mr. Qi had returned to his senses, but it seemed he had no recollection of what had happened.

I smiled and said, “Mr. Qi, welcome back.”

Mr. Qi looked around cautiously. “You, why are you in my home this early in the morning? Do you want to steal my antiques?”

The sleeping girls behind me had also woken up. They looked at Mr. Qi with drowsy eyes and fumed, “Do you have no shame? We saved your life, and you’re treating us like this?!”

Mr. Qi was startled since he didn’t understand.

When Mr. Qi saw the girls, his eyes sparkled with desire. He hated that he couldn’t just swallow them. However, he managed to control himself. “Mr. Zhang, who are they? Why haven’t I seen them before? You’d better tell me the truth. Otherwise, don’t blame me for calling the police.”

“Call the police for what?” Mrs. Qi yawned and walked out of the bedroom. She had changed into a short nightgown, but her makeup was still on.

She looked beautiful at this moment. The makeup had touches of ancient and modern styles.

Mr. Qi quickly went over to his wife. “Sweetheart, you’re up. Is your belly okay?”

Mrs. Qi was stunned at first. She then sighed and hugged her husband, sobbing. “You’re back! In the end, I still prefer the current you.”

“The current me? What do you mean?” Mr. Qi was baffled, which made his silly face look fun to watch.

Mrs. Qi then told him about the whole possession thing. Mr. Qi didn’t believe her and insisted that the ink slab wasn’t a problem.

He carefully hugged the ink slab as he was afraid that Mrs. Qi would throw it away.

In the end, Mrs. Qi forced Mr. Qi to hand me the ink slab. Otherwise, she would divorce him.

Mr. Qi was very reluctant but still gave me the ink slab.

However, as he was a savvy businessman, he didn’t want to bear any losses and asked me to pay the money he had used to buy the ink slab.

Mr. Qi’s life returned to normality. Through this experience, the relationship with his wife was strengthened.

Mrs. Qi was touched since the first thing that Mr. Qi had asked when he woke up was her well-being. Mr. Qi had almost died, but he still worried about his wife. Any woman in this situation would be touched, right?

And, after a passionate night with Li Bai, Mrs. Qi found that she preferred her husband. Mr. Qi was a capable man and was filled with concern for her. On the other hand, Li Bai only cared about revenge and the country.

Under the wheel of history, a person's love was very fragile. It couldn’t endure even one hit.

However, Li Bai had waited for Yang Guifei for thousands of years.

You could say that he was silly, or even obsessed.

But he was Li Bai, the one and only Li Bai.