After he had finished having dinner with his family and the special guests from Lanling Jin, Wei Ying went back to his room and sat in his small study area that had a separate wall to his bed. When he was adopted into the Jiang family, Fengmian had told the youngster that he would make Wei Ying the eldest disciple in Yunmeng and encouraged the young boy to study the proper ethics of being a cultivator. Although he probably needed to study the basic important ethics of a cultivator, Wei Ying found himself staring at the nine petal lotus crest that was on the separate wooden wall beside him. He had remembered creating the kites with Little Zhuqin and Jiang Cheng that afternoon...not finishing them of course. He was told that Little Zhuqin would be leaving tomorrow to return to Lanling Jin and with the kites unfinished...or at least, with HER kite unfinished, Wei Ying had thought that he was going to break his promise.
Not to mention, how happy would she be if the kite was finished by tonight and ready to fly tomorrow morning before she left?
With that being said, he quickly jumped up from his seat (leaving his study books opened), blew out his bedroom candlelight and left his room to the extra dining hall where the kites were set to dry that afternoon. A single lotus patterned lantern in one hand, Wei Ying placed it on the floor and began to work on not just one, but all three of the kites for Little Zhuqin as well as Jiang Cheng. The next step after painting color on the kites was to rub Tung or Chinawood oil onto them to ensure their lightweight stiffness so the kites will still be able to glide across the sky. He spread the oil onto Jiang Cheng's and his kite, making sure the process was messy free as well as smooth. While he waited for their kites to dry with the Tung oil, Wei Ying creatively hand painted detailed peonies around the red lotus in the center of the kite. He used a silky white colored paint and made sure that even the white peonies themselves were as vibrant as Little Zhuqin.
Unknown to little Wei Ying, Fengmian was on patrol duty for the night (lucky that it was not Yu Ziyuan) and happened to silently come across the hard working boy.
"A Ying?" Fengmian thought to himself while holding the same lotus shaped pattern lantern in his right hand.
The father observed his adopted son's craftsmanship and gently smiled, knowing that his adopted son was totally putting in the effort of satisfying the happiness of Little Zhuqin. For a moment, he was suddenly reminded of Ziyuan's game from earlier that late afternoon...
"Should we bet on something?"
"...Since you are so fond of Wei Ying, why don't we bet the outcome of who A Ling will choose before she leaves Yunmeng tomorrow?"
At first, the Jiang leader seemed hesitant in accepting the challenge that his wife had proposed...but now, Fengmian was confident that Little Zhuqin was going to choose Wei Ying...going to choose Wei Ying...
Fengmian paused in his train of thoughts...
"Huh? Just what...is she going to choose him for?" He had asked himself.
He was still hesitant, but since it was his respective wife who came up with the idea, perhaps even Fengmian wanted to secretly play along. Of course, he made his decision then. Little Zhuqin is going to choose Wei Ying tomorrow before leaving back to Lanling Jin...but how will she choose him? Ziyuan did not say anything about the parents themselves helping the children, therefore, Fengmian only had the same right as Ziyuan; Fengmian was going to help Wei Ying gain the friendly favor of Little Zhuqin.
Again, Fengmian tenderly smiled at the thought of Wei Ying putting in such efforts and without disturbing or getting noticed by the boy, he quietly left him.
After having the thick silk white peonies dry on Little Zhuqin's kite, he spread Tung oil onto it repeating the same process of being careful and neat. While her kite getting air dried, he framed Jiang Cheng and his kite, added the bridle strings to help make the kite fly, then with two separate kite reel, he made sure the bridle string was strongly attached to the kite reel so the strings did not run out when flying. The process itself took him quite a bit of time since he was working on two to three kites at the same time. However, though he was working on them alone, he found the craft to be quite easy since he always watched his adopted father craft their kites for them.
The last step was to add two long tails at the end of the project to make sure the kites flew straight while in the sky. On both of Jiang Cheng and his kite, he added two long lavender purple tails to represent Yunmeng Jiang. Seeing that he had finished two kites, Wei Ying stood up from the carpet floor and placed his hands on his hips
"Phew, not bad," Wei Ying said with a smile and wiped the small spots of sweats off his forehead. "Just one more left!" He said with quite the energetic tone and stretched his body out in order not to fall asleep while finishing Little Zhuqin's kite.
Again, he kneeled on the carpet floor and repeated the same kite making steps with Little Zhuqin's craft after it was noted to be dried.
At this point, it was already two in the morning. Around the same corner, Fengmian again quietly walked by with the same lantern and quietly admired his adopted son's determination or at least endurance to get the kites done for tomorrow...or that morning. Wei Ying was obviously already starting to get tired himself and yawned a couple times while slightly rubbing his eyes.
"I can do this! I just need to make the tails and her kite will be ready for tomorrow!" Wei Ying encouraged himself, perhaps not even knowing that it was already the next day.
From a secretive distant, Fengmian smiled at the thought of Wei Ying's strong patience and had even wanted to walk over to his adopted son to help with the last bits of steps for Little Zhuqin's kite. As a father, he was on standby...in case Wei Ying fell asleep (lol).
...A few moments later....
"I'm done, I'm done! I am finally done with A Qin's kite!" Wei Ying excitedly said out loud then immediately lowered his voice.
Fengmian quickly blew out his lantern light and with the same tender smile; he stood by in the shadows, still praising his adopted son's good intentions.
"Wo de ma ya (Oh my god)...!" Wei Ying quietly whispered to himself and looked around the dining hall, then squatted down in the same sitting position.
He had thought he was alone...but unknown to the little boy (lol), Fengmian was just a few feet away from him...watching him... (In a good way).
"I forgot who is on patrol tonight but if it is Yu furen, I am dead meat." Wei Ying slowly said and aimlessly wandered his eyes from left to right.
However, perhaps even the thought of Ziyuan being on night patrol did not really stop Wei Ying from just sitting still on the dining hall carpet. He continued to admire his finished craftsmanship and although he did not keep track of time, it was already three in the morning.
It WAS already three in the morning.
He grabbed onto the crimson silked ribbon tails on Little Zhuqin's kite and carefully caressed them. Unlike Jiang Chang and his kite, her kite was dazzled with a single big red lotus in the center and patterned around the lotus were hand-painted designs of white colored peonies personally done by Wei Ying himself.
The young boy then stood from his squatting position.
"Hm," He began. "I think adding a third tail on A Qin's kite would look even better."
Wei Ying cut another crimson silken ribbon and attached it with the other two tails for Little Zhuqin's kite. As Fengmian continued to silently observe, the young lad ended up adding a third tail for Jiang Cheng and his kite; now all three of them had...three tails. Now feeling satisfied with his artwork, Wei Ying decided to just 'lay' down a little...and lying down he did.
"Jiang zong zhu," A Yunmeng Jiang disciple approached Fengmian from behind and slightly surprised him. "As usual, the Jiang resident is," "Shh," Fengmian immediately shushed and placed his index finger onto his own lips.
"We can't let the child know that we are here," He quietly whispered.
Fengmian and the disciple then noticed Wei Ying to not be moving and as predicted from his fatherly intuition, the tired boy had fallen asleep with his entire body stretched out.
"Sha hai zi (Silly child)," Fengmian quietly laughed to himself and brought the son back to his own room along with the kite supplies as well as the three finished kites.
After properly setting Wei Ying in his bed, Fengmian was about to leave the room when the boy's voice reached out to him.
"A Ying...is something wrong?" The Jiang leader naturally responded.
If anything, his fatherly sensitivity had kicked in and even he had to turn back to tend to his adopted son's needs.
"Jiang shushu...do the kites...look ok?" asked Wei Ying in a somewhat half-asleep-half-awake tone of voice.
The tender father glanced over the three kites that were on the knee length drinking table across from Wei Ying's bed. Indeed, the young boy had certainly inherited such crafting skills from Fengmian and naturally, the father was impressed.
"Shi a, zhen da haokan (Yes, they are really good looking)," Fengmian instinctively replied.
"Thank good...ness," The young boy began with a half-asleep smile. "We didn't get to finish them earlier. I thought...A Qin was going to be sad if she did not...get to fly hers before she left."
The Jiang clan leader was still feeling proud of his adopted son, and to know that the child had such mature consideration for an individual he had just begun getting along with. Of course, Fengmian did not forget the bet he secretly made with Ziyuan from their afternoon dinner.
"A Ying a," Fengmian began. "Jiang shushu xiang wen ni yi ge wenti hao ba hao ma (Uncle wants to ask you a question, is it ok)?"
"Hao ba...shushu (Go ahead...uncle)," Wei Ying tiredly replied with the same half-asleep smile (lol).
Upon seeing that the child was probably too tired to even properly answer his curious question, Fengmian hesitated for a bit and as a father would to his own child, the leader knew Wei Ying was already beginning to enter dreamland.
...Five minutes...later.
"Jiang shushu," Wei Ying started, still waiting to hear Fengmian's question. "Please go ahead...and ask."
"Ah?" Fengmian slightly blinked out for a bit.
Was he probably tired? Was Fengmian just daydreaming? Or did he just want to keep admiring his adopted son's determination to make an individual happy? (lol)
"Please ask," said the young boy.
"Oh...ok," Fengmian began. "Na...A Ying a, what do you...think about A Qin?"
That secret bet he made with Ziyuan (lol).
"Did you say A Qin?!!" Wei Ying's eyes immediately opened up wide and he quickly sat up from his bed.
He...did not seem half of anything at this point...not even tired or half-asleep.
"If anything, she has good spirits, she is considerate, she is intelligent, she is cute, she is learning how to cook, she isn't afraid of anything, she is," "All the virtues that young maidens should have at that age, am I right?" Fengmian abruptly interrupted Wei Ying with a slight chuckle to the side.
"That is right uncle!" The young boy responded with a big cheerful grin and crossed his legs together in a lotus sitting position. "But that doesn't mean Shijie (Jiang Yanli- used to call a female senior from the same disciple school) does not have all that." Wei Ying reassured.
"Your Shijie is a different story. She already has all the virtues that her future husband needs in the future." Fengmian replied.
"Of course she does," Wei Ying proudly said. "But...just one thing..."
"What is it?" asked Fengmian.
"Uhm...about that Jin Zixuan, uh no, I mean Zixuan xiong (Elder brother Zixuan)...is he really worthy of Shijie's affection?" Questioned Wei Ying.
"Worthy?" The clan leader asked.
"From what I see, Zixuan xiong does not seem to have much interest for Shijie." Wei Ying bluntly said.
Surprised to hear of his young adopted son's honest opinion, Fengmian could only stay silent and take in the somewhat true observation. The clan leader has already seen from that day alone that the interaction between Zixuan and Yanli was not as mutual as predicted. He sighed to himself and had even thought of breaking off the engagement in order to prevent misunderstandings in the future...like with him and Ziyuan. At that point, Fengmian did not want his daughter and Zixuan to be forced to marry each other for allying purposes then find out that there had been a one-sided love all along. However...what could possibly go wrong? That day alone was just one day in five years that both children have properly met and spent time with each other...so what COULD possibly go wrong?
"You all are still young A Ying; it is only natural that Zixuan and A Li slowly get to know each other as children." Fengmian encouraged with a somewhat fake smile.
Wei Ying believed his adopted father or Uncle in whatever opinion he had, therefore the young lad was quick to approve of the clan leaders decision. However, Fengmian wanted to continue with their previous conversation about Little Zhuqin.
"Uh...about A Ling..." He began. "I know it's a little early to mention this, but do you also plan to get together with someone in the future?"
"Get together?" Wei Ying immediately questioned.
"Yes...with a cultivation partner..."
"Cultivation partner?" asked Wei Ying.
"As I expected," Fengmian thought to himself and only smiled back at the boy.
There was no way such a young and free-spirited child could possibly think of marriage at such an immature age. It was more likely...Fengmian wanted the child to live as free and happy as possible. Perhaps he had thought too much about Ziyuan's challenge and asked a question that made him step back a little.
On a positive note, Fengmian was already happy that Little Zhuqin was receiving good remarks from Wei Ying...that is a plus for Ziyuan's bet.
"What...cultivation partner?" Wei Ying continued to quietly mumble to himself
"Oh...nothing," The Jiang leader smiled and breathed out a small reassuring chuckle.
"A Ying a," Fengmian began again and placed his hand on Wei Ying's head. "You worked very hard today. You should get some sleep."
"Actually Jiang shushu, talking about A Qin makes me want to stay up a little," Wei Ying instantly said with the same big grin.
"Child, you should get some sleep. If you do not sleep, how are you going to fly your kite with A Ling tomorrow?" Fengmian asked...perhaps even forgetting that Jiang Cheng's kite was also going to be flown together with the two of them.
"I..." Wei Ying said and thought that even Jiang Shushu was right.
But...the young lad did not care. Whether it was late, very late, early or...even almost four in the morning, Wei Ying wanted to tell Jiang shushu what he wanted to share.
"Jiang shushu, you know? Today A Qin and I..."
As Wei Ying began to share his fascinating adventure that day with Little Zhuqin, Fengmian could not help but instinctively sit and listen attentively to the child speak with such delightfulness. As any parent would, he wanted the young son to just go back to sleep and even for a moment, Fengmian had thought it was his own fault for bringing up Little Zhuqin when Wei Ying was already half-asleep. Even at this point, Fengmian had thought because Wei Ying was so tired, he just wanted to ramble on about Little Zhuqin to stay awake. But because the young lad used such expressive body language as well as vocal performances, the Jiang clan leader knew the young boy was passionate on not going to sleep but sharing his thoughts on his new friend.
In just a few hours, the morning sunrise was going to give way for another beautiful and memorable day.