What If...I Remember?

Chapter 3

"Princess Miao Qing, I'm sure you know who I am."

If Su Jin thought she could intimidate the princess, she really was mistaken, Ye Hua mused. Miao Qing was arguably as headstrong as Su Jin, seeing as how she would even be willing to be a lowly maid in the heavens rather than stay a East Sea Princess.

"Please, Princess Su Jin, I don't want to be betrothed to that tyrant Die Feng!"

Die Feng? Ye Hua almost smiled. Yes, he was an excellent subject indeed. It was Ye Hua's blessing to have such an excellent leader under his rule. If Miao Qing thought she could easily rub some dirt and grime on his name to make herself look pitiful, it wasn't going to work.

"It's up to you to stay, or come. I don't care." Ye Hua turned away from the drama, but apparently Su Jin hadn't had enough, seeing as how she stayed behind, and there was the slightest increase of magic in the air. 

Returning back to the banquet hall, Ye Hua realised with a jolt that Bai Qian was no longer there, and with panic he grabbed a maid who was clearing the dishes, "Where did the High Goddess and the Little Prince go?" "Replying to the Crown Prince, they went to the coral gardens." The maid curtsied, and Ye Hua began running wordlessly, heading in the direction of the coral gardens.

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"Goddess, why do you wear the veil? Is it because you don't want others to gawk at your unrivaled beauty?" 

"Your words are sweet, Little Riceball. Did your Father teach you to say so?" Bai Qian laughed, shaking the sand out of her skirt, and the Little Prince shook his head, "No, Cheng Yu taught me that." "This Cheng Yu is impressive." Bai Qian commented, wondering how a deity might have taught the Little Prince such things right under the nose of the Crown Prince, when A-Li tugged at her skirt, "Goddess, can I see you without your veil please?"

"Just this once, okay?" Bai Qian obliged, bending down to his height as he eagerly brushed her veil away, and when she smiled kindly at him, A-Li faltered, stepping back, "Goddess...you look familiar..." "Familiar?" Bai Qian frowned. She had never revealed her face the past 300 years. How would the Little Prince know of her features?

Just then, a streak of lightning flashed across the sky, and Bai Qian immediately shut her eyes, the light too glaring for her to bear as she backed away, her blindfold naturally appearing over her eyes.

"Mother?" A-Li gaped, and Bai Qian blinked at him. Her veil had fallen back in her face when she had stumbled backwards, the flash of light blinding her momentarily, and Bai Qian removed her blindfold, glancing around and finding no one else in the garden before staring back at the Little Prince in confusion, "Little Riceball, who are you calling?"

"Mother!" A-Li threw himself against her leg, his height barely even reaching her hip, and Bai Qian brushed her annoying veil from her face as she gently attempted to separate him from her leg, "Little Riceball, I haven't even married your father, how can you call me Mother?" "No! You are Mother!" A-Li was almost in tears by the time Bai Qian finally pried him off, and to her horror, she glanced up from A-Li only to see Li Jing standing there, looking slightly dazed and lost.

"Apologies. I must have..." His apology ceased abruptly as he saw Bai Qian's uncovered face, and he stumbled in his haste to grab her forearm, "A-Yin?! Is it you? Is it really you?" 

"Mother?"

"A-Yin?"

"Mother?"

"A-Yin?"

"Mother?"

"A-Yin?"

"I am Bai Qian of Qing Qiu!" Bai Qian lost her patience, throwing her hands in frustration and flinging away the Ghost Lord, before firmly setting down the crying A-Li, "Little Riceball, how about I bring you to find your father? I have to go." "No...I want Mother!" A-Li tugged at her sleeve, his sniffles and tear-filled eyes making her feel nothing short of being at a loss of what to do.

"Goddess?" Ye Hua appeared from nowhere, and relief washed over Bai Qian as she carried A-Li and placed him in Ye Hua's arms, "Lord Ye Hua, please look after your son. He might be missing his mother too much, seeing as how he mistook me for her. I take my leave." 

Then, even as she fled hurriedly, Ye Hua observed the flicker of her veil in the wind, before turning to chide A-Li, "A-Li, how could you have mistaken the Goddess for your mother?"

And A-Li sobbed piteously in his confusion, "But she is Mother..."

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