▶ Requested by no one
▶ Fluff 💞
▶ Female reader
▶ MC is his aunt <3
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"A-Ling where is your uncle gone?"
The 14 year old jumped, caught off guard. He immediately stood. "Ayi-"
[Y/N] was a cold and sharp looking woman. She was intimidating to those who didn't know her personally and didn't hesitate to speak her mind. But she was caring and always very sweet and gentle to Jin Ling.
"A-Ling."
He shrunk back. "Uncle has a meeting..."
"A meeting?" [Y/N]'s voice turned cold. "He had a meeting? What was he supposed to do with you? You aren't telling me he just left you here?" In a den of vipers, went unsaid but Jin Ling understood.
"It was an urgent and very sudden meeting..." Jin Ling rambled. He didn't know why he was trying to defend his uncle. His aunt would still chew him out later, in private of course.
[Y/N] clicked her tongue in distaste. "Come along A-Ling. I don't have time for this." She spun around on her heel and was almost halfway through the hallway by the time Jin Ling lifted his head and scrambled to follow after her.
[Y/N] had plenty of time. She always did her paperwork and any business on time, never wasting a second to push it off. She had bounds of free time and money. Being the sister of a clan heir left you with a lot of money and not a lot of ways to spend it.
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Jin Ling sat across from his aunt who was pouring some tea into two cups. It was his favorite set. And it's because it came with a story; a story that he had always begged his aunt to tell him when he was ready to fall asleep. He had her tell him it even when he had long memorized what happened. It went like this:
[Y/N] and her brother, his father, had this wonderful tea set that their mother had given them when they came of age. It was of the finest porcelain that could be found and was very expensive. One day after a bad fight, the siblings had decided ignore one another. They walked away from each other without even risking a glance and that lead to both of them stumbling into the table which knocked the tea set off and sent it shattering to the floor. In order to fix it, they glued the pieces back together and painted the cracks with gold making the tea set even prettier than before.
Jin Ling was always so scared of breaking it when he was younger, he still was, but after that story he started to look at the tea set in another light. Beauty could be found even when something is thought to be broken.
"A-Ling you really shouldn't slouch," [Y/N]'s voice brought him back to the present. He looked up to see a soft faced and very concerned [Y/N]. Her perfect brows were furrowed and her painted lips were dipping downwards into a frown. "Its bad for your posture. It will come back to haunt you when you're much older, like your uncle."
'Its bad for a clan heir,' is usually what people said.
"I still can't believe your uncle just left you." [Y/N] continued, taking a sip of her tea after blowing on it briefly and cutting sharply through the wisps of steam wafting up. "If that ever happens again come and find me. You are always welcome, okay?"
"Yes Ayi," Jin Ling agreed.
"I mean it," [Y/N] said firmly. "I don't like you being left alone. Anything could happen." She set her cup down and reached across the table, resting her hand on top of his own. Her hand was warm and gentle.
"I know Ayi." Jin Ling smiled. "I just don't want to disturb you."
"No, you will never disturb me. And if you do," she paused, looking like she was fighting back a smile. "Well its a welcome disturbance."
Jin Ling frowned. "Ayi-"
She pulled her hand away, rolling her eyes. "Aiyaaaa... You better count your days before you're having to deal with the council."
Jin Ling huffed. "Ayi! I know they're bad, but are they really that bad?"
"Trust me my dear, you'll be begging for a 5 year old to come in and disrupt the meetings." [Y/N] sighed, straightening her golden coloured and rather expensive looking hanfu. "All they do is argue in circles and make it so nothing can get done."
Jin Ling hid his smile behind the rim of his cup.
"Once I find your uncle I'm going to force him to deal with the council since he's so keen on leaving his nephew anywhere." [Y/N] said, glaring at her cup.
Jin Ling always wondered why she had kept the set. Since it was both hers and his fathers. Jin Ling had always wanted to know why she had kept the set if it brought back so many unwanted memories.
"Oh A-Ling, I brought some new buns the other day and I wanted you to try them with me."
"What kind are they?"
"I don't know but they looked rather good so I bought 30!"
"H-huh?! Ayi! Thats too many!"
[Y/N] narrowed her eyes. "A-Ling don't yell at me!" She sighed. "At any rate, what else was I supposed to do? I have too much money but I can't use it on anything good because the council will throw a fit!"
"You could try using it on other regions like Yunmeng or Qinghe," Jin Ling suggested. He finished the last of his tea and set the cup down.
"A-Ling, that's very smart," [Y/N] praised. "You must get that from from your mother! Xuan-Ge was never one for brains."
Jin Ling beamed at the praise (and the mention of his parents. No one ever seemed to want to talk about them because it might 'upset' him. How could he be sad when he knows nothing about his parents?!).
"Xuan-Ge obviously would be clan leader because he's the first born and a male but he never really had the brain for it. He was too socially awkward and could never speak up. Our plan was he would become clan leader and I would help him the shadows, we would be a team." [Y/N] trailed off and Jin Ling didn't want to push. [Y/N] was in a really good mood. She, like others, rarely talked about his parents unless she was in an amazing mood.
"Ayi, what about the buns?" Jin Ling decided to change the topic before his aunts mood really soured.
"Oh yes! Thank you for reminding me A-Ling! You've become such a good young man." She smiled warmly at him. "I'm sure Xuan-Ge and Yanli-Jie would be very proud of you."
Jin Ling blushed, embarrassed, but also warmed by the praise.
He took his aunts word that his parents would be proud of him. Because [Y/N] never lies to him.
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▶ Jin Ling has had tough love all his life, he really needs a kind and loving aunt (because his kind and loving mother is dead)
▶ Jin Ling, I have some news for you... MC has lied to you before...
Completed : 7/14/2023