Dance of the blades

Chapter 52 Wei Shushu?

Within the demon slayer corps the main means of communication between members was through the assistance of messenger crows, personal messages for friends and family on the other hand were replaced with letters carried by pigeons instead. 

Although it was common for family members or friends of demon slayers to write messages to keep in touch with them, they normally do it after the demon slayers have complete a set number of missions. This was so that the newly full-fledged slayers could avoid any distractions from their personal lives and to lift them from any weight in the case of death in their early missions. 

While this tradition is not upheld by some families, most demon slayers who came from large and prominent clans would enact this out of courtesy. 

Thus Jin Ling was quite surprised when he found someone from his clan had written to him. He had thought that it would take until two to three more missions before he would hear from them. Who would have known that they couldn't wait until the first was completed to send one over!

Nevertheless this did not deter Jin Ling from tearing open the envelope to read its contents. Lan Sizhui watch in interest as Jin Ling's face turned from an expression of fondness to confusion and finally to that of perplexity as he skimmed through the words written on it.

Seeing the drastic change in Jin Ling's expression, Lan Sizhui along with Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen became curious and leaned closer to his side.

 Peering from the side, Lan Jingyi curiously asked, "What's with the long face young mistress Jin? Were your clan Elders discontent with our performance last time and are forcing us to split?" 

Hearing this Jin Ling couldn't help but roll his eyes. But as he thought about it, he couldn't completely blame Lan Jingyi for making that assumption.

 Out of all of them Jin Ling's relationship with his clan Elders was the most strain out the the three. His clan Elders were prideful bastards that saw status and power as their most valuable asset. Looking down on those with lower standings.

Unfortunately this led to them meddling with the clan heir's affairs and them pushing their ideals onto him. And of course his choice in friends were no exception. Ouyang Zizhen and Lan Jingyi were both unfortunately very familiar with the scrutinizing gazes of those Elders on them.

So when Lan Jingyi had spewed this question in the spur of the moment jokingly , he was actually half serious. Thus, he was genuinely relief when Jin Ling shook his head to answer back with a negative.

"As if they would go out of their way to lower their stuck-up selves to write us letters. Besides if they did they would have used messenger boy, not a bird. This one was sent by my mother" as Jin Ling said this his original sharp gaze soften into that of fondness. Even without looking one could tell that the mother and son relationship was quite good by the tone of his voice alone.

Upon hearing the mention of the Jin clan's madam Ouyang Zizhen immediately perked up, " Jin Furen? I heard she was sent away on a mission to the south just a few days ago, has she already come back that quickly!?" 

Ouyang Zizhen had been a long time friend of Jin Ling's for a longer time than Lan Jingyi. Naturally he had met the young madam of the Jin clan before and got along quite well with her at the matter of fact. His eyes would even brighten up at the mere mention of her name.

"Apparently yes. Muqin even had the time to include Wei Shushu in her letter" Jin Ling let out a soft groan as he off handedly replied back, leaving Lan Sizhui dumbfounded as he recognized the familiar sir name.

Wei Shushu as in Wei Changze! Of course! How did Lan Sizhui not realized it? Thinking back to Jin Ling's odd reaction to the name when he was confronted by him in the demon house, it should not be odd to assume Jin Ling was familiar with Wei Changze.

Oblivious to the thoughts circulating through Lan Sizhui's mind, Jin Ling calmly raised the letter to display in front of his friends before continuing, "That old man really got time to nag. Ugh! He even got time to write a portion in the letter too, take a look" 

As Jin Ling said this, the other three boys in the room took in the letter's contents with interest. On the letter Wei Changze had written the following,

Dear Jin Rulan,

I heard you and your friend had gotten injured from demons in the village you were recuperating at after you had already completed your mission. Rest assured I was able to inform your parents of your well being before they were informed of this. I hope your training is going well at the wisteria manor. Before I forget, I heard from Zi Jing you had already met Sizhui and his father, rest assure that I mean well when I say that they pose no harm. In fact I hope you can learn a thing or two from the young boy on your attitude. 

From your martial grand uncle,

Wei Changze

Scrolling down to the bottom of the letter, there was even a short message responding to Wei Changze's part in the letter from Jin Ling's mother.

"A-Ling I'm so happy that you made a new friend! Sizhui his name was it? Do you how this boy and Sishu know each other? Shishu won't tell me no matter how much pry into it. Remember to tell me more about him when you have time" as Jin Ling read this, he could feel the presence of his mother before him saying these exact words with a gleeful tone. 

Having had read finish, Lan Sizhui dragged his eyes from the letter to gaze at Jin Ling in a stupor. He still hadn't registered the words in his mind before Lan Jingyi happily exclaimed.

"That means that Sizhui and his father really did meet with Wei Xiansheng before! I can finally put my mind at ease now!"