“You woke up.” The old man exclaimed in an aged, peaceful voice, and looked him up and down.
The teenager nodded and then asked, “Where am I?”
The old man narrowed his eyes, and for a moment did not answer the teen’s question. Eventually he responded peacefully. “I saved your life when you were seven or eight years old from a ravine in the west. You remained unconscious even as I used almost every conceivable method to help you recover. You’ve been unconscious for ten whole years. You neither ate nor drank, yet there was no sign of your vitality waning away. I was surprised to see that you were even able to grow taller during that time! I’ve seen a lot during my lifetime, but I have been completely amazed by you over these past ten years. Can you tell me your name and your story?”
“ten years?!”
The teenager was shocked, but calmed down very quickly. He tried to remember everything, suppressing the waves of emotion that threatened to overwhelm him.
“What is my name? Who am I……”
“…..born in Hua Xia… lived in Jinghua……. Jinghua is the capital city of Hua Xia….. My father is…… mother is…… I am……”
Fragments of past memories trickled by, but he failed to remember everything. He could only recall the country he was from and everything about it. He could also remember everything he had learned, but he could not name any one related to himself.
Could it be selective amnesia? He felt his headache worsen from the surrounding chaos. In response he covered his face with his hands until he was able to come to terms with his mind.
Why did I lose my memory? What did I do before losing it?
After a long silence, he sighed and dropped his arms. His soulless eyes looked into the sky. Perhaps only god could give him an answer.
The old man looked at him pensively.
A soft breeze brushed by and brought with it a refreshing coolness. It lifted into the air a single withered leaf, which dropped slowly back towards the ground. Subconsciously, the teenager reached out, and pinched the leaf between two fingers. He looked out again into the cloudy sky with no moon or stars. The old man blinked in confusion at what he was doing.
To have no memories is to have no past. The mind is fated to wander aimlessly like falling leaves in attempt to find its way back. The teenager sighed, brushed the leaf away, and proclaimed loudly, “I am Ye Wuchen!”
The old man smiled. “Is that your real name?”
Ye Wuchen showed a slight grin. “I am Ye Wuchen… at least until I get my memories back.”
“I see. It’s a real pity. But, you are absolutely not an ordinary teenager so you should be able to retrieve your memories very soon.” The old man said.
Judging from his reactions, the old man had been able to surmise that the teenager had lost his memory. In addition there was no trace of the teenager’s past memory. Had it been twelve years ago, the old man would have spared no expense in exploring everything about the mysterious teenager. But he was old now and had been trapped there for decades, and so he was tired.
“What should I call you?” Ye Wuchen looked at the old man.
“What should you call me? For an old man like myself, it’s almost difficult to remember my name. If you don’t mind, you can just call me grandpa Chu like the other children do, or just call me old man” he said with a smile.
Ye Wuchen thought the old man just was not willing to tell him his name, so he said, “Alright, grandpa Chu, I will certainly pay you back for saving my life.”
The old man shook his head and sat next to Ye Wuchen on the grass. He said to him, “You have only slept since I saved your life. It isn’t a big deal. If you were an ordinary teenager, you would have died many times during the past ten years.”
Ye Wuchen also sat. Even though his body was still stiff, he could at least move with some freedom.
“No matter what, I still owe you. Grandpa Chu, where are we now? How far is it from Jinghua?”
“Jinghua? Where is it?” The old man turned to him, confused.
Ye Wuchen frowned slightly and said. “Jinghua city is the capital city of Hua Xia. Isn’t this Hua Xia?”
Despite the confusion, the language they were speaking was definitely that of Hua Xia.
The old man shook his head. “I have never heard of a country named Hua Xia. I walked to almost every corner of the continent when I was younger, and I’ve never heard of the name. When someone loses his memory, some of the fragments that resurface may be imagined. So maybe everything that you’ve remembered isn’t real.”
“Really?”
Ye Wuchen closed his eyes and thought about what the old man said. He asked. “What on earth is this place called then?”