Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing outlive Li Lianhua by decades. On the twentieth anniversary of the day he finally succumbed to the bicha poison, Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing park the Lianhua Lou by the East Sea to visit his grave.
They are about to leave when the ocean mist clears, and they see smoke in the distance. Perhaps a raided village? Judging by how thin it is, it has been burning for some time. Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing are not as spry as they used to be -- gray streaks in their hair -- but they are prepared to investigate when they hear a cry.
The current washes up a baby in a basket, like an offering to them both. Fang Duobing rushes to pick it up, and when they finally make it to the village, they find that a local family has been massacred, their manor burned to ashes.
They raise the child as Li Anle, but call him Xiaohua or Huahua as a nickname. For the child is precocious as he grows, taking to martial arts as if he was born to carry a sword. When Di Feisheng first teaches him to spar, he rams the wooden sword into his chest as if he could see the spot where his scar is. When Fang Duobing brings home a dog, Huahua insists on a list of increasingly outrageous names, beginning with Qilin and ending on Hulijing.
The first time Xiaohua hears Di Feisheng call Fang Duobing by his milk name, he giggles and sings out "Fang Xiaobao!" the rest of the day, careless and unfilial. Fang Duobing does not have the heart to chastise him. And when Xiaohua begins dueling with the neighbors, he always uses his winnings to make Di Feisheng chicken legs for dinner. They try to convince themselves that it's because they miss their friend, that they're old and sentimental, but they're terrible liars, even to themselves. So they watch the child skip rocks along the East Sea, and when he turns around, they catch the sharp and clever glance of someone who did not merely wither into the earth, but like a lotus, transformed.
fang duobing is so special to me because he's grown up knowing exactly what his self-worth is independent of anyone else's opinion. childhood and everyone telling him he couldn't do something made him push back and say no, i can, and that doesn't rely on you believing me or not. and so now, he approaches others with an attitude of "take me or leave me, accept me as i am and don't try and tell me i'm worth less than i deserve".
that's also how fang duobing comes to treat li lianhua. he doesn't search for a ghost in him the way others cling onto li xiangyi, even after he learns about his identity. he's the one who knows li lianhua as his own person leading a different life. to fang duobing, having yourself be accepted and allowed to carry on without having your value or self questioned for it is respect, is love, and so he extends that to his relationship with li lianhua too.
my collection of dragons (imagery of dragons as depicted on artefacts exhibited at the forbidden palace museum and the chinese archaeological museum in beijing, china)