Glass Sight

Chapter Four 四

"Y-You stupid girl," I've been looking everywhere for you. "You're here." She recognized his voice and her apathetic eyes filled with an unrecognizable emotion. Tears swarmed her eyes and she croaked out his name. She reached her hands and he awkwardly helped her get up, but she wrapped her small arms around him. He tried to push her away but she was firm and quietly cried. He didn't have the motivation to push her away anymore and just patted her head. He felt partially responsible for today, so he let her do what she wanted.

"S-Sorry, I lost the silver tael." She stuttered as more tears fell from her eyes. He wanted to scold her but her wounded face and arms proved that she was lying. She was most likely taken advantage of and robbed. Seeing as his wounded and bruised she was, Zixin guessed that she must've been resisting quite intensely. For someone blind, she was definitely stubborn.

He didn't answer her and raised his own arms, returning her hug. She stilled for a few seconds but didn't say anything. His affection surprised him as well. He didn't like her nor did he like that she had become his junior sister, but she had suffered and he had finally found her after so long.

"Let's go." Home, but he didn't say the last word. She nodded and released him, but gripped his hand strongly. Although she was very weak in comparison to him, he felt that her fear was giving her extra strength.

They walked in the forest again in silence and he suddenly spoke. "I-I didn't come look for you, just came back because I forgot to buy something for teacher." Ying Yun didn't debunk his lie and remained quiet. He was lying and she easily discovered that by his sweaty body. He must've been going everywhere to look for her.

"Either way, thank you, honored sir." She said sweetly, but he shuddered.

"Hey, hey! Don't use those words! I have plenty of hair and I'm not a Buddhist monk!" He frowned and she realized the double meaning behind her words.

"Sorry, honored sir!" She changed her words and he shook his head.

"And now, you're being sarcastic. Just don't use that!" Ying Yun had no idea and had just wanted to respect him.

"Then...what should I use to refer to you..." she pouted and he sighed.

"Just call me gege." Zixin still didn't like her, but he preferred being called older brother rather than a Buddhist monk or her being sarcastic!

"Is that alright?" Ying Yun asked hesitantly, like she was afraid he would scold her again.

"Yes, yes, I've already given you permission! Besides, I'm only thirteen years old. I'm not old enough to be called a Buddhist monk." She chuckled quietly to herself. It seemed like he would never forget about her mistake.

"X-Xin'ge." Silence followed and Ying Yun noticed that he didn't mind, so she repeated it. "Xin'ge!"

Zixin hummed a response and the rest of their journey was quiet. Zixin was a bit disappointed. He wanted the cute little girl to call him gege, but Xin'ge was cute too.

Wait, did I just think of her as cute? He thought in horror. Is she getting to me like she is getting to Shifu? No! I need to resist! I still believe she isn't fit to be a fellow disciple!

They finally saw the mansion of Li Jianyu and both sighed in relief simultaneously. Although Zixin's eyes widened in horror when he noticed who was standing at the entrance.

Shifu! He tried to turn around and leave but his teacher had already caught up to them and grabbed him by his ear.

"Now I want to know, why a trip that would only take a couple of hours had taken you the entire day?" Li Jianyu's angry tone made Zixin shiver in fear.

"It's...a long story?" Zixin said cheekily, but Li Jianyu was having none of it.

"Ying Yun, are you alright?" Li Jianyu asked softly and Zixin couldn't help but scoff at the difference. The favoritism! His teacher was already beginning to bully him and favor her. But Ying Yun didn't have a chance to respond when he grabbed her face in shock. "Who did this?" His question wasn't directed to Ying Yun, but Zixin. Zixin wanted to say that he had no idea either, but his teacher was already dragging the girl inside and telling the servants to summon a doctor.

Zixin was left forgotten as everyone scurried everywhere since their master's voice carried such urgency...

Some notes:

You shi: (酉时) 5-7 pm.

Junior sister: so this would technically be used in a sect or a Wuxia novel, but also when learning martial arts under the same teacher. Ying Yun would be his junior sister and he would be her senior brother.

Honored sir: so the joke behind that is first, Ying Yun uses zun zhe (尊者) which means 'honored sir' but mostly used to refer to a Buddhist monk or higher seniority. Then, she changed her words to zun jia (尊驾) which literally translates to 'your honored carriage' but usually means 'honored sir' albeit sarcastic.

Gege: (哥哥) means older brother. Not literally an older brother (although it can be), it's used for an older male that's close by both genders. Although it's usually just one 'ge' since 'gege' would be used by someone very young and usually in a cute manner. If Ying Yun were to be referred to as his younger sister, it would be meimei (妹妹) and the same rules would apply (not literally a younger sister, but can also be a younger woman). Also, don't mistake gege for dage (大哥) because that one also means 'older brother' but it's usually used by gang leaders or a man around the same age to show respect.

There's also older sister and younger brother, but I'll explain those and add their chinese characters if they're used in the chapter since explaining everything would take forever.

That should be everything, but let me know if you have any questions. I forgot to post this Friday... forgive me *kowtow*. See you Tuesday!

- Scarlettt