Although it was not the first early afternoon where floral nature blossom their petal wings to celebrate the end of the winter coldness, a white peony glowed delicately on the front of her yellow chest garment; the peony, 'Sparks Amidst Snow,' and the golden silk patterns on her small embroidered garment reflected magnificently against the suns ray. On her small six year old forehead, a miniature yet noticeable vermillion dotted mark was placed from birth to symbolize the action of opening doors towards wisdom, aspiration and to shine the vermillion light upon the world. On her small back, and towards the left side of her shoulder, even though it was forbidden to be seen by all, the mark of the female empress; the Phoenix was engraved hovering over a red lotus from her birth. Her voice was like a playful child who had yet to explore the wonders of the cultivation world and while she walked along the stone paths with her elder brother, Jin Zhuqin stopped to gaze upon the bushes of white peonies.
"They are even more white this year Zixuan ge ge (elder brother Zixuan)." Little Zhuqin commented and grabbed onto her elder brothers hand to pass on the excitement she had felt that moment.
"That is right."
Jin Zixuan, The only legitimate son of Jin Guangshan who is the current leader of the Lanling Jin Sect in the top four cultivation clans. Known to have a beautiful appearance in spite of his quick to anger personality at a young age and only ever shows his soft demeanor towards his little sister, Jin Zhuqin. Because of his beautiful appearance alone, he is known as the male princess of Lanling Jin.
"However I get a feeling that the whiter they are, the more they will be left stained with red." Zixuan openly said with a kind yet unforgiving monotone of voice.
Of course, Little Zhuqin knew her elder brother did not mean harm to her own sense of excitement those few seconds but she knew he only meant the truth for as she knew; the cultivation world was a competitive place. Even her own mother, was quite a handful for the Lanling Jin Sect and the Gusu Lan Sect; ranked second in the top four cultivation world.
"Red?" asked Little Zhuqin, knowing the color to represent blood in all knowledge.
"Nothing pure can stay for as long as there is still evil in this world. For something so innocent, there will always be wickedness lurking within." Zixuan replied with the same monotone voice while he clutched gently onto his little sisters hand.
As Little Zhuqin began to feel the tense atmosphere squeeze the living loquats (a type of yellow Chinese and Japanese plum that is also known to be as 'Pipa') out of her, she thought of picking a few white peonies and bringing them to her mother, Lan Yunlin, who resided in Jinxing Tang or Golden Stars Hall.
"Zixuan ge ge, why don't I pick some peonies for my mother? Would you think she will like that?" asked Little Zhuqin as she began to walk over to the flowers.
"I would think that you have already learned your mother does not appreciate your efforts Qin er. Based on the number of attempts she had on you for the past three years, would that not already alarm you of how dangerous that woman is?" Zixuan plainly said and looked at Little Zhuqin to have her realize the danger her own mother would put her in.
Little Zhuqin was baffled and did not want to clearly hear the somewhat rude opinion her elder brother had to say on her own mother. However, the 'attempts' Zixuan had reminded her was true; Yunlin, Little Zhuqin's own mother, had previously tried to murder or even assassin Little Zhuqin for the past three years. Of course, before her mother became a crazed assassin and began to lust for Little Zhuqin's father's attention, Lan Yunlin had quite the behaved beauty herself back in Gusu Lan as the youngest sister of Lan Qingheng, who was the current leader of his respected clan.
Her beauty was well refined; her manners elegant, her words full of wisdom and her music always reached into the souls of any individual's heart. Although her cultivation skills were at their lowest for a direct disciple of the Lan family, her dignified beauty was able to catch the attention of potential cultivation partners. Surprisingly, she refused every men as well as women who came and asked her to join their fellow journeys. For Lan Yunlin however, she first encountered a young Jin Guangshan of the Lanling Jin Sect through a traditional scarf dance performance in Caiyi Town, Gusu. For Guangshan, although he had a beautiful wife and his four year old legitimate son, Zixuan at home, Guangshan was determined to take Yunlin as his own concubine even after sleeping with three other women two years prior. Yunlin, as a mere woman in the cultivation world, gave in to Guangshan's marriage proposal on the first day and wedded with him in hopes of establishing greater terms and alliance between Lanling Jin and Gusu Lan. Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately for Yunlin, she became Guangshan's second wife in public title but secret concubine in Lanling Jin sect's private quarters. Unbeknown to her, she had believed Guangshan to love her and was pampered by him, as he was the first man she ever fell in love with.
Supposedly he was the 'first' man...
However after giving birth to Zhuqin, Guangshan had informed Yunlin that the only reason he ever married her was in hopes of her bearing him a son to take on the Lanling Jin name if anything were to happen to his first son from his first wife; Zixuan. As rumors were beginning to come true, Guangshan had grown tired of Yunlin and began to shun himself away from his second wife or concubine. This in turn, caused Yunlin to lose herself in evil magic and the dark arts of the cultivation world. She even began to feel resentment towards Zixuan's mother as well as Zixuan himself. However, because her cultivation skills were lacking, Yunlin fortunately did not cause too much tragedy within the Jin sect.
As days passed by, Yunlin began to lose herself even more and planned several attempts over the years to assassinate her own child, in hopes of gaining Guangshan's affections back but to no avail. Instead, even citizens of Lanling Jin and Gusu Lan began to have conflicting thoughts. At that point with Yunlin's impatience and strange wickedness, rumors began to cycle their way from Gusu Lan back to Lanling Jin.
"Could it be that Lan furen (madam Lan) was married off to our Jin leader because Gusu Lan was planning to overtake the Lanling Jin clan?"
"Lan furen is too much. Why would she try to kill her own daughter?"
"Even though her child is a girl, she is still the legitimate daughter of our leader."
"Who does she think she is?"
"If she is trying to kill our leader's legitimate daughter, doesn't that mean she is already putting shame on Gusu Lan?"
"Forget about our leader's legitimate daughter, what if Lan furen begins to plan her assassination on our own leader?"
"Does that mean Lan furen is a spy for Gusu Lan?"
"No Gusu Lan is known for their etiquette nature, so there is no way Lan furen was married off to our leader just for the sole reasoning of killing him."
"We cannot be too sure."
"Won't the clan and Gusu Lan need to take action soon?"
"Poor child, she was born into this world knowing nothing and yet she is being chased down like a prey by her own mother."
On the other hand, Guangshan paid fine attention to his only born daughter to this day. His real intentions were unknown as of yet because his actions towards Yunlin was contrast to Zhuqin however people within Lanling Jin could only assume that Guangshan was becoming a fine father to Zhuqin, who was at most, always being verbally and emotionally abused by her mother.
When Little Zhuqin had thought of the echoing flashbacks of the whispers within Lanling Jin and her mother's murderous actions towards her childlike innocence, she of course did not want to take another step towards the white peony bushes. However because Yunlin WAS her blood born mother, Little Zhuqin could not help but want to at least clear a bit of darkness in her bewildered heart and therefore she proceeded to pick one single white peony from the bush.
"You're really going to risk your life?" asked Zixuan.
Little Zhuqin could not help but sighed a little to her elder brother's insisting tone of voice.
"I don't think she is that bad Zixuan ge ge. I mean," "You mean her practicing the dark arts to murder you is not that bad?" Zixuan abruptly interrupted to have his little sister think her choices over.
Little Zhuqin took her gaze away from the newly plucked white peony in her hands than looked at Zixuan, pausing for a bit in her train of thoughts.
"Zenme (what)? Am I right?" asked Zixuan.
"Of course, whoever practices dark arts is considered a bad person," Little Zhuqin quietly whispered.
"What did you say?" Zixuan asked as he stepped towards her.
"I said if you don't want to go with me than just say so." Little Zhuqin said as she puckered her lips together.
Then without making it obvious that she was at least a bit upset at her elder brother, Little Zhuqin walked off the path towards Jinxing Hall. Without saying another world, Zixuan shook his head in slight irritation and hurriedly followed his little sister from behind. As they approached Jinxing Hall, Zixuan grabbed hold onto Little Zhuqin's hand. She knew he was not afraid of the Hall or her mother, but Little Zhuqin knew her elder brother was just being as usual; overprotective over the fact that her mother would jump out of nowhere and attempt another plot to harm Little Zhuqin. They approached the opened door entrance and proceeded inside with Little Zhuqin calling out to her mother.
"You think she will answer you?" Zixuan asked while looking around the room.
"Should I make my voice lower to sound like a boy? Will she answer me then?" Little Zhuqin jokingly asked and cleared her throat as Zixuan could not help but slightly scoff a laugh at his little sister.
As they continued to walk through the big hall, they approached the back door to the palace and saw Little Zhuqins mother dancing elegantly in the back garden with her hazy grey colored scarf in both her hands. Little Zhuqin was astonished with the scarf dance but Zixuan could not pay his lone attention to Yunlin's dance for he knew that she hated him. Before he turned away, Yunlin unknowingly used her Gusu Lan's blue magic to whip the scarf towards their direction. He caught the act and pulled Little Zhuqin out of the way before the scarf potentially harmed her or him. Impressed with Zixuan's quick reaction, Yunlin only scoffed and conceitedly clapped her hands together while she walked into the hall as Zixuan pulled Little Zhuqin out of her mother's way.
"As expected from jie jie's (older sister-used to call the first woman who married your husband before the second, third etc wife or concubine) only son, Zixuan. You have quite the skills at such a young age."
Lan Yunlin, a previous member and disciple from Gusu Lan. She is the younger sister of Lan Qiren and Lan Qingheng. Yunlin is the second wife or concubine of Jin Guangshan, the mother of Jin Zhuqin and the step mother of Jin Zixuan. She was known to be an extremely elegant lady in Gusu Lan but after Guangshan shunned her from the birth of Zhuqin, Yunlin completely changed to a person from righteousness to the dark magic of the cultivation world. Because Zixuan seems more favored by Guangshan in her eyes, Yunlin precisely hates and from time to time, mocks his skills as a cultivator's son. Because Zhuqin is a girl who supposedly fools around, Yunlin destests her and finds Zhuqin unworthy of Lanling Jin's love. She holds a dark secret involving a family member of the royal Lanling Jin sect and is also responsible for the deaths of her sworn sister and her sworn sisters husband.
"...Good afternoon Lan furen (Madam Lan)." Zixuan greeted with a low yet clear monotone voice without looking at Yunlin in the eyes.
It was not because Zixuan was afraid of Yunlin but because he himself detested her and thought even his beautiful gaze was not fit for such a corrupted lady.
"Yo, even jie jie's own son does not want to look at me in the eyes. Are you that afraid of me?" Yunlin questioned and sat down in her cushioned chair while she neatly folded up her hazy grey colored scarf.
"Hmph, you're not even worth looking at." Zixuan irritatingly mumbled to himself as he took his arms off Little Zhuqin and crossed his arms together.
"What did you say?" Yunlin angrily slammed the small table besides her and stood up, seemingly going to attack Zixuan.
"Niang (mother), calm down. Zixuan ge ge was just joking." Little Zhuqin tried reassuring her mother while she knew that Zixuan did not like her mother as much as.
"Calm down you say? If he was joking, he would be looking at me in the eyes and telling me what he said just now. And who are you to tell me what to do? You're just a mere girl who has no power in telling what anyone should do." Yunlin conceitedly argued and sat back down in her cushioned chair with an irritated manner.
"Lan furen, there are things that should be said and should not be said.," Zixuan said as he looked Yunlin straight in the eyes.
"What, now you are also going to argue against me? Could that little brat of mine be spreading her stupidity? Why don't Guangshan just sell her to some brothel already?" asked Yunlin.
"You," "Mother, I picked a white peony for you. Because it is so beautiful, I want to give it to you." Little Zhuqin interrupted Zixuan and handed her mother the white peony with her right hand while her left hand tugged on Zixuan's right sleeve.
Yunlin looked irritated at the innocent intention her little daughter had and slapped the white peony away as a few petals scattered while falling flat onto the wooden floorboards.
"Look at you. Your words are just as sweet as that father of yours and yet you cannot even take this time to properly train yourself to become like him." Yunlin lectured and stood from her chair, seemingly going to strike six-year-old Zhuqin in the head as punishment.
However, Zixuan noticed the act and pulled his little sister up close to him.
"Hmph, Zixuan, if you keep being with my little brat like this, your father will come to hate you and your mother as well. Is that what you want? Or do you and your mother want your father to hate me even more huh?" Yunlin questioned and slammed the small drinking table again while Little Zhuqin gave a small jump to the sudden loud noise.
"We never had such intentions," Zixuan said as he gazed towards the side.
"Never had such intentions? Then stop running around Lanling Jin picking worthless flowers." Yunlin stated then walked over to her sleeping chamber and sat on her bed with imaginary smokes running out of her ears.
"Mother, don't say the white peony is worthless. Father and brother told me those flowers are our Lanling Jins family treasure." Little Zhuqin said while she fast walked on over to her mother with Zixuan following from behind.
"Your father? Your father is more loyal to those flowers then me? Then just what am I to your father then?" asked Yunlin while she stood up again and approached Little Zhuqin while Zixuan again pulled his little sister to reassure her safety by his side.
"One would think he was really in love with me but after you came, he completely avoided me. He won't even give me another chance and here you are telling me that flowers are important? Are you being silly or just being stupid?" Yunlin lectured again and raised her hand to slap Little Zhuqin but as she did so, a woman dressed in a full yellow garment walked in from the front entrance with a sternly mature manner.
Yunlin stopped in her tracks and backed away, then sat on her bed, pretending as if she never raised her hand against her own daughter...and possibly the son of the woman who had just walked in on her.
"Jie jie, you have come?" asked Yunlin in a somewhat embarrassed tone of voice.
"Mei mei (younger sister) What were you intending to do to the children before I walked in?"
Qin Baoqi, first wife to Jin Guangshan, Jin Zixuan's blood born mother and Zhuqin's stepmother. She is said to come from a prominent family as an extended branch of the Laoling Qin Sect that is part of the Lanling Jin sect and is known for having a fierce personality where even Guangshan is afraid of her. She takes matters seriously and cares more of the well being for children than those of an adult. She is said to be sworn sisters with Yu Ziyuan, the wife of Jiang Fengmian.
"My intentions you say? Well I was just," Yunlin slightly hesitated. "...going to show them a new dance I recently came up with." She continued and walked over to Baoqi who was not going to buy false information from her immature intentions from earlier.
"Then come. Let me see what new dance you have thought of to even want to test it out on the children." Baoqi slightly scoffed at the lie Yunlin told and sat on the cushion chair Yunlin had sat in earlier. "Come children. Let us see what new moves my good mei mei has in hand." She finished and motioned for Zixuan to walk on over to her side with Little Zhuqin following by her elder brothers side.
"You want me to show my dance right now?" asked Yunlin, knowing that she had the slightest chance to escape the fierceness of Baoqi.
"Of course. I want to see whether the dance move can improve your cultivation skills or not." Baoqi immediately replied and after fixing her hairpin, she looked up at Yunlin, locking eye contact with each other.
"But jie jie, the children are here," Yunlin said, trying to make an excuse for herself.
"What does it matter if the children are here? They can learn from you, or are they not allowed to?" Baoqi calmly argued back and turned her attention to gently caress Little Zhuqin's head.
"Of course they are but," "But what? Stop with the excuses and show me mei mei." Baoqi continued to calmly argue.
"Jie jie, I would like to show you but I think right now is not the right time." Yunlin continued.
Aggravated at the ongoing excuses Yunlin had in her sleeves; Baoqi stood up calmly and locked her attention on Yunlin again.
"Mei mei, what are you so afraid of? It is just a simple dance that you need to perform for us to see. Or could it be that you had no skills to perform after all?" asked Baoqi while Yunlin felt her irritation rise up one level.
No matter how annoyed Yunlin was at this point, she had no words to verbally argue back against Baoqi who already knew Yunlin's clear intentions from earlier. The warm wind from outside slowly passed by them and as it did, the scattered petals from the white peony caught Baoqi's attention. She saw the flower on the ground and picked it up, gently caressing the leftover petals that were still holding onto their dear lives on the flower itself.
"Xuan er, did Qin er (-er used to show close bond/attachment) pick this flower for mei mei?" asked Baoqi.
"She did, but Lan furen seemed to have not taken a liking to it as usual," Zixuan replied as Little Zhuqin went up to Baoqi and slightly tugged on her sleeve for attention.
"She didn't mean to throw the flower away." Little Zhuqin said as Yunlin felt her breath quicken just because she seemed to not have things going her way that moment.
"You say that she didn't mean to my little Qin er? You mean she didn't mean to slap your hand away when all you did was simply hand her a flower?" Baoqi questioned and turned around to look at Yunlin.
"What? Jie jie, I didn't do it on purpose." Yunlin said, trying to get herself away from the tense situation.
Yunlin herself did not even register that Baoqi could have been watching her actions against the children that early afternoon.
"Didn't do it on purpose? Then are you telling me that when you rose your hand against the children earlier...was that also not on purpose?" Baoqi inquired and walked up to Yunlin, standing directly in front of her, face to face.
"I, I," Yunlin began to feel bummed out and slightly stuttered at her own replies.
"You, you? No matter the case, Qin er and Xuan er are still Guangshan's children. It is only expected that they are treated respectfully and are raised with proper love so they can become the best cultivators there is in the world." Baoqi lectured and bringing the white peony with her, she walked out of the front entrance into the front yard while Zixuan pulled Little Zhuqin along.
"By the way Xuan er, wasn't Yunlin mei mei prohibited from seeing Qin er ever since the last attempt?" Baoqi questioned with her back turned towards them.
"She was. But no matter what, Qin er wanted to see her mother." Zixuan obediently answered.
"That is right. It is not my mother's fault that this problem started again." Little Zhuqin added.
Baoqi turned around to face the children as Yunlin walked to the front entrance door. She handed the white peony to Little Zhuqin and smiled gently. Of course, Baoqi knew Little Zhuqin was trying to defend her crazed mother but Baoqi was also well aware of the ill intentions Yunlin had towards her own daughter for the last three years. It was only a year ago that the elders of Lanling Jin demanded the mother and daughter to be separated for they feared that Yunlin was capable of killing Guangshan and his only daughter. For that one year alone or perhaps more, Zhuqin missed the motherly affection one could have for their own daughter and so starting a few weeks back, Zhuqin had wanted to earn Yunlin's motherly love through the white peony. However, no matter how many times Little Zhuqin wanted to earn her mother's love, she was turned away to only receive love from her elder brother Zixuan, her stepmother Baoqi and her father Guangshan.
"If I had not come in this time around, you could be lying on your bed and sleeping for a few hours to even two days," Baoqi said and caressed Little Zhuqin's head once more before standing by Zixuans side. "Anyhow we have got to be going my good mei mei. I apologize that we bothered you on such a beautiful afternoon." She slowly pushed Zixuan and as they walked towards the front wall gate, Little Zhuqin turned her head to see her mother once more.
"Mother, I'm sorry I couldn't pick a more beautiful peony again! Eat well and stay healthy!" Little Zhuqin cheerfully said while Yunlin turned around to avoid the possible guilt she had towards her own daughter again.
As Zixuan and Little Zhuqin walked out of the front gate, Baoqi stopped walking in her tracks.
"Yunlin, I understand your sadness for not receiving proper love from Guangshan. I share your pain of being left alone to deal with your own problems because we both have a husband who has often forgotten about us in his path of womanizing. However, I suggest that you treat your daughter more kindly in the near future and help her become a cultivator." Baoqi said.
Yunlin turned back around to look at Baoqi who was still standing near the front gate, seemingly taunting her.
"How long have I been alone for jie jie? Six years? Ever since that child was born, Guangshan had never paid any attention to me but just her." Yunlin said.
Baoqi ridiculed this thought and turned around to face her mei mei from the distance.
"Even if Guangshan does not give his love to you, he is properly loving and raising Zhuqin as his own. Doesn't that make you happy enough?" Baoqi asked. "You should at least consider yourself lucky mei mei. To think my child and Zhuqin are being properly cared for by Guangshan, it already makes me happy enough to keep living. I pity the women that Guangshan stays with. Those children are fatherless and the mother is often shamed as to whoring herself to a man who does not even want to take responsibility. At least you are living in Jinxing Hall, eating good food and having your child be taken care of Guangshan himself. The way I see it, you're almost worse than Zhuqin." She continued and turned her away from Yunlin again.
In Yunlin's mind, what Baoqi had stated was true. Yunlin lived in a proper home and received proper attention from the maids with the absence of Guangshan. For other women, they were probably receiving even less and perhaps they could not even care for their own children. However Yunlin refused to be ranked below her daughter. Even worse, her mind could not accept that she was 'almost worse than Zhuqin.'
"How dare you say I am worse than my daughter?!" Yunlin asked with rage.
"Yo (haha, if some of you watch Chinese or Mainland...er Traditional Chinese drama, you will know what this 'yo' is kind of like. It is like saying, "Really?" in a more...conceited, sassy and 'I don't believe you' way), your daughter? When did you ever consider Zhuqin as your daughter?" Baoqi questioned and walked towards the front gate.
"Because of all of you that I am like this!" Yunlin shouted and threw herself on the wooden floor, seemingly throwing a silent tantrum.
"Gusu Lan is known for their elegance and etiquette behavior. However, I wonder where that all went in you. No matter the case, Zhuqin will grow up better than you and you had better not regret any choices you make in this life my good mei mei." Baoqi stated and walked out of the front gate.
Yunlin was left sitting on the wooden floorboards of Jinxing Hall, swallowing yet another shameful guilt she had performed that afternoon. When she crawled over to the cushioned chair to use as a support to stand up, Yunlin saw a few of the white peony petals and made her remember those countless times she refused to accept a rather simple gift from her own daughter; even her own daughter's birth was a simple gift to Yunlin herself six years prior. Yunlin picked up the remaining white peony petals and walked to her back garden, scattering them in the wind as they picked up the petals, carrying them to unknown places that afternoon.