It was seven in the morning. Knocking on the guest door, Jiang Cheng had thought Little Zhuqin was still sleeping in the room. He knocked a few more times to be sure and the only response he recieved was...Zixuan came out from the far end guest room to irritatingly greet the young...future brother-in-law.
"Ah, Zixuan-xiong (Elder brother Zixuan)," Jiang Cheng politely gestured both hands together in respect to the approaching boy.
"Hmph, ni zhao wo (You looking for me)?" Zixuan monotonely asked, not even bothering to greet Jiang Cheng with a general respected hand gesture.
"Uh," Jiang Cheng slightly hesitated to answer.
Zixuan knew the young lad was looking for his younger sister, but would the elder brother even consider sharing that Little Zhuqin was not in the guest room and elsewhere?
"Qin er..." Zixuan calmly began and stopped, standing in front of Jiang Cheng. "My little sister is still sleeping. How can you be creating so much noise first thing in the morning?" He irritatingly lectured.
Jiang Cheng's face went dead for a bit and only lowered his head then gestured his hands up in respect to point out that he was wrong for possibly disturbing her sleep. Thinking that no one else was around, Zixuan had thought his time had come to give a little piece of 'payback' for stealing the spotlight...last night.
"Wei (Hey), you seem to have so much time," Zixuan began and placed his hands on his hips.
"Time?" asked Jiang Cheng.
"Of course...time," The male princess of Lanling Jin responded. "Just because my little sister is in a guest room of your Jiang family, do you need to be coming in and out of it?"
Jiang Cheng quietly stood there, face to face with Zixuan. He was wordless at what to properly say in case the young lad said something wrong to his future elder brother-in-law. Different from Wei Ying, Jiang Cheng could easily get annoyed and respond however he liked but in front of Zixuan...the case was just different.
"Zenma, wo zhuo cuo ma (What, am I saying anything wrong)? If you have so much time to be coming in and out of my little sister's guest room, then can't you at least use that time to tell your older sister that I don't want to," "Xuan er," Baoqi said out loud and gracefully came out from the opposite guest room a little down Little Zhuqin's room.
While she fixed one of her hairpin, Baoqi took careful steps and maintiained her authoritative features as a mother as well as the lady of the Lanling Jin sect. She stood besides Zixuan and placed her hand on the young boys shoulder.
"Cheng er, were you looking Qin er?" Baoqi directly questioned with a smile.
"Ta (He)," Zixuan began and stopped immediately when his mother had slightly squeezed his shoulder.
"Greetings to Jin furen," Jiang Cheng greeted.
"No formality. We will become family in the future; therefore you can call me aunt if you like." Baoqi reassured and released Zixuan's pressured shoulder. "Anyways tell me, were you looking for Qin er earlier?"
Jiang Cheng nodded his head, followed by a quiet, "Yes."
"Our Qin er left a few moments ago with Yan er. I believe they are at the main hall." Baoqi honestly replied.
"Thank you so much Jin furen," Jiang Cheng stated with a courtesy bow.
After he gestured his hands in respect to Zixuan, the young Jiang boy immediately ran off.
"...Ta zou le (He left)," Zixuan irritatingly said and slipped away from his mother's grasp.
"Xuan er, how many times do I have to remind you of your manners while we are here in Yunmeng? Also, how can you be giving them bad impressions when we are about to leave?" Baoqi disappointedly asked.
"Who told him to keep visiting Qin er last night?" Zixuan openly inquired.
"Does it matter to you?" Baoqi questioned. "Why should it matter huh? You have a fiancé, you have a whole future ahead of you, so why should it matter that other boys approach Qin er? She deserves to be approached by anyone. Why should it matter?" She continued to scold.
Zixuan became silent at his mother's question because he knew it mattered.
...It just mattered.
"...It does matter to me," Zixuan quietly admitted as he looked down.
The mother's face showed a bit of remorse for putting his son on the spot and she sighed. Baoqi slowly reached out and placed her hand on Zixuan's head to caress it. Instantly, the young boy softly slapped his mother's hand away and walked towards the direction Jiang Cheng ran off to.
From the distance, the sunrise was already starting to spread its pigmented colors into the sky and as it did so, the rays began to softly show through the clouds. Jiang Cheng had caught up to his elder sister in the main hall...but Little Zhuqin was no where to be seen.
"A Jie, A Ling na (Sister, where is A Ling)?" He asked.
"Oh, A Cheng," Yanli walked over to her younger brother.
"Where is A Ling?"
"Not too long ago, father came and took A Ling with him. I was told they would be at the training field. Did you need something?" Yanli questioned.
"The bells that A Ling wanted are done." Jiang Cheng informed.
He showed his elder sister the newly engraved ornaments that were inside a small lacquer box designed with the nine petaled lotus flower. However, different from the usual silver color, the two bells that Jiang Cheng had was dark orchid purple with a small tint of silver.
"A Cheng, wo men Jiang jia de ling se shi yinse (A Cheng, our Jiang family's bell color is silver). Na ge yanse tianse butong a (Those colors seems to be different). Tamen shi shuangse; wuzi he nenyinse (They have two colors; dark purple and light silver)." Yanli stated, almost wanting to touch the ornaments herself.
"That's right. I requested the color to be different because I wanted the bells to match A Ling's name." Jiang Cheng responded, feeling proud about his decision to melt a different color, other than solid silver.
"Sha gua (Silly)," The elder sister smiled and lightly pressed her younger brother's forehead with one finger.
"Zenmeyang (What do you think)? Will she like them?" asked Jiang Cheng.
"Of course she will," Yanli responded with a reassuring smile.
With that being said, Jiang Cheng was going to go to the training field but quickly stopped in his tracks. He had considered Zixuan's odd behavior from earlier and remembered him mentioning something about Yanli.
"A Jie," Jiang Cheng started and turned back to face his sister.
"Hm?"
The young boy hesitated and could not say anything to his elder sister afterall.
"Mm...meishenma (Nothing)," Jiang Cheng quickly responded and turned away, making his way to the training field with the two bells.
Along the way to the Jiang's training field, Fengmian changed the direction and blindfolded Little Zhuqin first before guiding her to a long zig zag bridge, connecting to a side pavilion. Fengmian carefully guided the young girl onto the center portion of the bridge and asked her stand there. It was part of the father and adopted son's plan that early early morning.
"Jiang shushu, didn't you say we were going to meet Wei gong zi at the training field? Wait, why am I blindfolded?" asked Little Zhuqin who was on her tippy toes and hands behind her back.
That is right. Fengmian had led Little Zhuqin to believe that she was going to meet with Wei Ying at the training field and perhaps have a little chat before she left. Of course, Fengmian was not going to lie to her...partially.
"Just wait a moment A Ling," Fengmian tenderly said and slowly backed away from the girl.
From the sound of uncle Jiang's gentle yet excited tone of voice, Little Zhuqin could only expect a small surprise from Wei Ying...or Jiang Cheng...or someone.
"Well," Little Zhuqin thought. "I shouldn't be rude and expect too much." She mildly puffed her cheeks up and lightly slapped herself in the face.
From a distance, Fengmian quietly let out a laugh just as Wei Ying walked up from behind him with the three finished kites. The Jiang leader watched as his adopted son quickly scurried his way across the bridge to the other side of the small pavilion, brushing right past Little Zhuqin. Wei Ying placed his and Jiang Cheng's kite on the pavilion's stone table. Then with one hand holding onto the kite reel and the other holding onto the string near the center of Little Zhuqin's kite, Wei Ying again ran across the bridge from the side pavilion to the main house's opening back porch. He slowly let go of Little Zhuqin's kite and as expected from that morning's wind; her crimson lotus kite flew gracefully into the sky.
"It's flying! It's flying!" Wei Ying excitedly shouted out while holding onto the kite reel and slowly tugging at the bridle string to control the kite's movement.
"Wei...gong zi?" Little Zhuqin questioned.
She was about to take off her blindfold when Wei Ying abruptly told her not to and quickly walked to her, handing her the kite reel as well as the string.
"Is it..." She thought with a grin. "...the kite?" Little Zhuqin openly said with an excited smile.
Wei Ying slowly untied the blindfold and as the ribbon slipped off, Little Zhuqin's eyesight began to readjust itself to the morning light. As she slowly tugged onto the kite string by the kite reel, the young girl followed the string up to the sky where she saw her kite; a big crimson lotus at the center of the diamond shaped kite, thick white peonies drawn around the lotus and three long crimson-purple tails gliding along the bottom.
"Did," Little Zhuqin suddenly thought and took her eyes off the kites then looked directly at Wei Ying. "...Did you...help finish my kite?"
Wei Ying looked over at Little Zhuqin and noticed that her smile looked abit troubled.
"Ni zenma la (What is wrong with you)?" He asked.
"Well," The young girl began and looked back up at her kite.
"Could it be..." Wei Ying began and widened his eyes to the thought that Little Zhuqin possibly did not like the finished product. "Could it be that you don't like it?"
"Ni shuo shenma, zenma keneng a (What did you say, how is that possible)?! Wo xihuan, dangran xihuan (I like it, of course I like it)!" Little Zhuqin cheerfully encouraged and smiled back at young lad, lifting a heavy boulder off his mini shoulders.
"Phew...I thought you didn't like it," Wei Ying laughed.
"A Ying a, didn't I tell you that it looked really good last night?" Fengmian asked and approached the two children.
"Last...night?" Little Zhuqin asked.
"Uh..." Fengmian began, almost forgetting that the boy stayed up until three in the morning to finish the kites.
"You...you finished this last night?" Little Zhuqin asked, almost in disbelief.
"Yes,"...was what Wei Ying wanted to say but...even he knew how to be humble and shook his head then replied, "Meiyou a (No)."
"HmmmmmmmmmMMMMM??????!" Little Zhuqin questioned while staring into the eyes of Wei Ying. "Nandao...ni pie wo a (Could it be...you are lying to me)?!"
"Me? Lie? Who does that?" Wei Ying laughed and crossed his arms together.
"A Ying a, didn't you say you did not want A Ling to feel sad that was why you wanted to finish the kites last night?" Fengmian continued to press on...not forgetting about the bet he made with Ziyuan.
"I did?" The boy pretended and wandered his eyes around the sky.
"You did?!" Little Zhuqin asked out loud and almost dropped the kite reel. "You stayed...you stayed up last night...until last night to finish...THE KITES?!"
The young miss gasped out loud while the adopted father and son duo looked at her then only laughed to their hearts content at the funny jokester.
"Jiang shushu, how can you two be laughing?" Little Zhuqin asked and looked over to the side pavilion.
She saw two other kites on the stone table and only assumed them to be Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying's kite.
"Wei gong zi stayed up until last night to finish all of them?" Little Zhuqin questioned, wanting to confirm the true fact.
"No," Wei Ying denied again.
"Oh, shi ma (Oh, is that so)? A Ying a, ni shuo zhen da (A Ying, are you saying the truth)?" Fengmian asked with a rather calm voice.
"...No?" Replied Wei Ying.
"WHICH IS IT?!" Little Zhuqin asked out loud.
Seeing that the girl was probably frustrated with his undecisive answers, Wei Ying only laughed out loud to himself.
The young girl could not help but enjoyed the unusual yet comforting laughter of the young boy in front of her. Of course Wei Ying stayed up until MORNING to finish the kites...but all that was not important at the moment, for the young boy at least.
He ran to the stone table and grabbed onto his kite, then with the same action he did earlier, Wei Ying's lavender purple kite flew into the sky; side by side with Little Zhuqin's crimson colored one. She decided to momentarily forget about how late Wei Ying stayed up and wanted to only enjoy the moment as a typical six-year-old would...not question it. Little Zhuqin gazed up at her kite that was flying next to Wei Ying's kite.
She had never flown kites before...
...and she had always come into close contact with with her elder brother...
...the young boy next to her was really nice...
...and Little Zhuqin had thought...
...What WAS Little Zhuqin thinking?
She stopped looking at their kites and glanced over at Wei Ying...who had his eyes on the young girl.
"...What are you looking at?" Laughed Little Zhuqin.
"What else?" Wei Ying smiled.
"You!" Little Zhuqin also cracked a smile and as children would, both of them began to chase each other while still holding onto their kite reels.
As the two children laughed merrily, Fengmian slowly backed away to watch from a distance. He crossed his arms together and as a father would; his tender smile was able to show how much he appreciated the company of Little Zhuqin. Never in his life did Fengmian think he would find another young girl to properly like Wei Ying for who he was. Or even...never in his life did Fengmian think he would find a potential young girl for Wei Ying...for Wei Ying...for what purpose?
Fengmian shook the thought away and only tried to enjoy the moment as the two children were.
"Fengmian, what is the meaning of this?"
The Jiang clan leader noticed the voice of his irritated wife and turned around to see Ziyuan, Baoqi, Yanli, Zixuan and Jiang Cheng all approaching the happy trio.
"Ah Sanniang," Fengmian naturally replied with the same gentle smile.
Well...perhaps even Fengmian knew he was doomed (lol).
"I thought you weren't going to participate in this bet of ours." Ziyuan conceitedly said as they all stopped a fair distance from Fengmian.
"You came up with the idea, so how can I not play along?" Fengmian bluntly said with the same smile.
In the background, Wei Ying and Little Zhuqin were still chasing each other, their innocent laughter still echoing in the surrounding area. Feeling aggravated, Ziyuan shouted out for Wei Ying to stop playing and had asked why the young lad was not studying in his room, but slacking off. As usual, Wei Ying's free spirited mind suddenly went from 100 percent to 20 percent; the young lad had to at least obey Ziyuan since...he was an adopted child...with no mother or father.
"Sanniang!" Fengmian began with quite the aggressive tone of voice.
"What? Are you going to let your 'eldest' disciple-to-be slack off and ruin the name of Yunmeng Jiang?" Ziyuan mocked. "Instead of studying in his room, he is here with A Ling?!"
"A Ling does not come often so it only makes sense for A Ying to spend time with her." Fengmian argued.
"Wei Ying?! You think only Wei Ying wants to spend time with her? Then what about A Cheng?" Ziyuan angrily questioned.
"...Oh...I see what they were betting on." Baoqi realized and sighed, watching the two unhappy couples quarrel.
"Did I ever not allow A Cheng to spend time with A Ling?" Fengmian asked.
"If you didn't then why did you lie to A Li that you were going to the training field?" Ziyuan angrily argued.
"I...did?"
"You lied to A Li that you were going to the training field and A Cheng went all the way there to look for you because he wanted to give something to A Ling. But who knew that you would lie to have your Wei Ying spend time alone with her?"
Of course, Fengmian did not mean for things to turn this way. In fact, he was planning to go to the training field with Little Zhuqin to show her the hard working disciples of Yunmeng Jiang...and possibly show Little Zhuqin that his proud wife was the teaching instructor. However, Fengmian arranged it differently with Wei Ying and...everything turned out to...be a messy misunderstanding.
"I did not lie about anything." Fengmian sighed.
"Did not? You think I would," "Jiang gong zi, what is it that you want to give me?!" Little Zhuqin purposely interrupted the angry aunty and quickly ran over to Jiang Cheng.
In the lacquer box, she saw the two orchid purple-silver bell ornaments and immediately lit up. Curious as to see what it also was, Wei Ying happily ran over to the two and peeked at the ornaments, also admiring its unique difference from the usual Yunmeng Jiang disciple bells.
"Wei Ying?!" Ziyuan angrily started again, startling the trio,
"Yes...Yu furen," Wei Ying replied with a respectful hand gesture.
"What is it that you should be happy about? You already had your time with A Ling! Now go to your room and study!" Ziyuan demanded.
...Indeed, the atmosphere began to feel a little odd...if not, even cold...again.
"...Yes, Yu furen," Wei Ying replied and began to slowly reel in his kite.
Seeing that the young boy was about to leave...and was not being treated equally...Little Zhuqin could only make up another excuse to properly make peace at the moment.
"Oh that's right, Jiang Cheng, didn't you say you wanted to fly kites with Wei Ying and me?" Little Zhuqin suddenly questioned then quickly handed her kite reel to Wei Ying, disabling him from reeling in his own kite.
"I...said what?" Jiang Cheng confusingly questioned.
"Yesterday while we were making the kites, you said you wanted to fly them with Wei gong zi and me, didn't you?" Little Zhuqin smiled again.
She quickly ran to the side pavilion to grab Jiang Cheng's finished kite and hurriedly sprinted her way back before aunty Ziyuan could say anything. With a bright smile, she held up Jiang Cheng's kite and even tried tippy toeing to reach his height.
"I," "I know you want to fly kites with us isn't that right Jiang gong zi?" Little Zhuqin abruptly interrupted and without hesitation as a guest, shoved the kite reel into Jiang Cheng's right hand with a happy grin.
Lucky for him, the bell ornaments did not drop out from the box in his left hand.
For Wei Ying, he decided to just play along while Fengmian knew the little girl was putting up a good show...that will possibly sabotage the bet he made with Ziyuan, but Fengmian preferred Little Zhuqin to be putting up an act to get Wei Ying out of trouble then to have him being treated poorly in front of guests.
"Aiya Jiang Cheng, don't be like that." Wei Ying began.
"Don't be like what?!" Jiang Cheng questioned, finding himself looking up at the flying kites.
"Like that!" Wei Ying laughed.
"Dui a (That is right), Jiang gong zi, won't you come play with us?" Little Zhuqin asked with a still smile.
The boy was not aware that Little Zhuqin was just putting up an act to get Wei Ying out of trouble...but even she was sincere about flying her kite with her new friends before leaving back to Lanling.
"Na hao ba (Then ok)," Jiang Cheng finally said and grabbed his kite from Little Zhuqin. "A Niang, can I go play with A Ling and Wei Ying?"
Thinking that Jiang Cheng possibly won Little Zhuqin to have her insists so much, Ziyuan graciously allowed for her own son to go. For Wei Ying? Of course, he was once again ordered to go back to his room to study the proper ethics of being a cultivator. But when Little Zhuqin used her innocent charms to help Wei Ying escape the angry aunty's verbal wrath, even Ziyuan was no match...let alone, even Baoqi and Zixuan was helpless at that moment.
With no other choice left and not wanting Little Zhuqin to possibly be angry at her for not fulfilling her child-like request (lol), Ziyuan had to allow Wei Ying to play with Jiang Cheng and Little Zhuqin. Now with the final decision of the mother, Little Zhuqin began to reel in her kite as she motioned for Wei Ying to do the same.
"What are you doing A Ling?" Ziyuan questioned.
"As you can see, reeling in my kite." Little Zhuqin shortly responded and after reeling in the kite, she quickly nudged Jiang Cheng on the elbow.
"What?" He asked.
"Zao a (Let's go)!" The young girl cheerfully said and gestured her head towards the end of the bridge, connecting to the main backyard porch.
Just as Wei Ying got done reeling in his kite, Little Zhuqin also nudged his right elbow.
"Qin er, where are you planning to go?" Zixuan quickly asked.
"To a bigger place. This place is so crowded, how are our kites going to fly freely if we are all squeezed in one spot?" Little Zhuqin explained.
Of course...the place was definitely crowded. Crowded with tension (lol).
"That, aiya A Ling a," "Zao lo (Let's go)!!" The young girl cheerfully interrupted Ziyuan.
"Qin er, such manners is," "Mm, Aunty," Yanli finally spoke with a gentle tone of voice.
"Such manner is only expected from my thoughtful younger sister who wants to have the greatest time here in Yunmeng. Aunty, Jin gong zi and A Ling will be leaving us very soon, so it's only natural that we give them time." Yanli tenderly suggested.
"Hmph, if only you had such fighting or cultivation skills like that mouth of yours, then perhaps you can become the future mistress of Lanling Jin." Zixuan irritatingly thought to himself.
With Yanli being the support of the children's decisions, Little Zhuqin nudged Wei Ying's elbow again while the boy playfully repeated the same action back and followed her. Jiang Cheng quickly followed behind Wei Ying, not bothering to look anyone in the eyes. Without a care in the world at the moment, the trio had gone to the training field to let their kites fly. From the side pavilion, Fengmian, Ziyuan, Baoqi, Zixuan and Yanli could see the crafted kites. Ziyuan and Fengmian was a bit baffled as to whose kite would be designed with a big red lotus in the center but with a closer look, only Zixuan knew it was Little Zhuqin's kite...the painted white peonies.
Baoqi only knew that kite would belong to Little Zhuqin because of the birthmark on her back; a phoenix flying over a crimson lotus. From a distance, the flower on the kite looked beautiful and bright...but Baoqi only hoped the flower did not have a sinister meaning since Little Zhuqin decided to choose a crimson lotus as the main motif on her kite. Not to mention, even painting it red instead of pink or white. However as Baoqi stated to Zixuan yesterday, color did not matter when it came to representing an entire sect...or could it? Could color even represent the true feelings of someone's inner self?
...Back at Yunmeng Jiang's training field...
"Hey, why did you make me lie like that?!" Jiang Cheng asked while he held onto the kite reel and the string to balance his kite.
"...I didn't make you lie." Little Zhuqin pretended and laughed at the thought that Jiang Cheng was partially joking.
"That's right Jiang Cheng! If you didn't want to lie then why didn't you just say no and stay with Jiang shushu and Yu furen?" Wei Ying laughed.
"Well that's because," Jiang Cheng began and did not know what the exact feeling was...but he knew that he just needed to tag along with Little Zhuqin and Wei Ying. "That's because..."
"Yinwei shenma na Jiang gong zi (Because of what young master Jiang)?" Little Zhuqin cheerfully grinned and nudged the young lad's elbow once again, making him slightly lose grip of the kite reel.
"You, what do you want?!" Jiang Cheng embaressingly asked.
"Me? What do I want? What do YOU want Jiang gong zi?" Little Zhuqin playfully laughed.
"Stop calling me Jiang gong zi! We're...already so close," Jiang Cheng unconsciously said while he looked away.
"What? We are?" Asked Little Zhuqin.
"You guys are?! WHEN?!" Wei Ying chimed in.
"I mean we already know each other so no need for such formal names." Jiang Cheng corrected himself.
"I guess..." Little Zhuqin began. "...Jiang-gong-zi." She finished saying and just quietly laughed to herself as Jiang Cheng glared at her.
Aside from the jokes, through yesterday and that early incident alone, Little Zhuqin was already aware of how Wei Ying was possibly treated by the angry aunty; Yu Ziyuan. As a curious human child, she asked the two boys but they had only assumed that since Wei Ying was the older of the two and was going to be the eldest disciple in the future, Ziyuan was just being strict on him. However even adults had their own secrets and stories to hide from children...and Little Zhuqin hoped she could create some understanding between the Jiang family in the future.
"Don't worry A Ying, I will make sure there is peace!" Little Zhuqin said with determination and while her statement was to be taken seriously, Wei Ying could not help but laugh at her facial expression; so full of determination with two puffed cheeks.
"A Qin a, isn't that what I'm supposed to say? No, isn't that what WE are supposed to say, right A Cheng?" Wei Ying laughed and with one hand, he wrapped his arm around Jiang Cheng's neck.
"...You call him A Ying and don't even bother to call me A Cheng?" Jiang Cheng asked, having not even paid attention to Wei Ying's statement that moment.
"Uh...A-Cheng," She began. "What are you talking about?" Little Zhuqin innocently began with a bubbly smile.
Wei Ying only laughed at Little Zhuqins way of taking jokes to a whole new level and even took a greater liking to the new friend. However the sudden thought of her going back home to the Lanling Jin sect perhaps even saddened him.
"A Qin, I'm afraid that when you leave, we will be bored." Wei Ying began and took his arm off Jiang Cheng.
He looked away from his kite then gazed at Little Zhuqin who was beside him.
"Bored? How can that be? Didn't you say that there are lots to do in Yunmeng?" Little Zhuqin straightforwardly asked.
She did not know that it was Wei Ying's intention to have her answer something more reasonable and more...melancholy.
"Also, I won't have anyone to sit across from me when I eat. I also won't have anyone to save my butt when I'm in trouble." Wei Ying continued and sighed, knowing that Little Zhuqin had been putting up fake acts to save him since yesterday.
Even the excuse from earlier was a perfect play staged by Little Zhuqin alone.
"You make it seem like we live ten thousand days apart," Jiang Cheng said and with one hand, face palmed himself.
"JIANG CHENG, THINK ABOUT IT! We are children. We can't go anywhere without our parents being with us..." Wei Ying said. "...Unless we...run away...HEH!" He laughed as his teeth peeked through his smile.
"Running away?! You think running away will make us adults?! A Niang and A Die (Mother and father) will come looking for us. They will be worried sick." Jiang Cheng encouraged with a concerned facial expression.
For a moment, Jiang Cheng was right. However when Wei Ying had thought that Fengmian and Ziyuan was not his own parents, he went silent. Even if Wei Ying ran away, perhaps even Ziyuan and Fengmian would not go looking for him. Well maybe Jiang shushu would...but not Yu furen...was what Wei Ying had thought.
From the training field's main entrance, Little Zhuqin saw the parents, Zixuan and Yanli slowly approaching them. Wei Ying's sudden silent behavior scared her; not frightened scared...but concerned scared. She knew the young boy was only feeling or at least thinking about Jiang Cheng's statement of not running away to lessen the stress level of Fengmian and Ziyuan. But Little Zhuqin also knew that Wei Ying was the adopted son of the Jiang family....and to not be too welcomed as a possible outsider by Ziyuan, the angry aunty, Little Zhuqin felt horrible to know that Wei Ying was going through such difficult times. Even she wanted to relate....but as a little human being; she knew it would not be right to compare their lives. Perhaps in the future she could...but not right now.
"A Ying a!" Little Zhuqin began with a cheerful smile, catching the attention of Wei Ying with her outgoing tone of voice. "Even if I am not here, you should take care of yourself so when I come back, you can take me pheasant hunting and lotus seed head picking. Didn't you promise me that you would take me?"
Of course, Wei Ying still remembered. How could he forget?
"Also, you have to take care of yourself so when I come back, we can eat and drink together!" Little Zhuqin added with the same bubbly smile.
From those happy thoughts alone, Wei Ying immediately lit up. He smiled and was glad to know there was a supportive girl in his life, aside from Yanli and possibly Ziyuan.
"Xie xie A Qin (Thank you A Qin)," Wei Ying said with the softest and tenderest tone of voice he ever had...since yesterday (lol). "You...are beginning to mean a lot to me." He smiled.
Little Zhuqin felt a sudden skip in her heart beat and turned to look at Wei Ying who was still looking at her. She accidently dropped her kite reel and from that, her kite began to float its way down onto the training ground. Little Zhuqin quickly bent down and grabbed the kite reel along with the kite. The young girl did not know what the exact feeling was, but to her, it was the first time a boy had said such thing...and such thing she wanted to cherish. However even she was wordless at his thoughtfulness and just cheerfully smiled back at him.
"...Am I beginning to mean anything to you too?" Jiang Cheng asked with quite the monotone voice and began to reel in his kite when he saw the parents approaching with Zixuan and Yanli.
With Jiang Cheng's joke and monotone like voice, Little Zhuqin and Wei Ying only laughed at him as Jiang Cheng also began to openly cackle at his own joke...not knowing that he was probably feeling left out of their conversation.
"Ha, ha, ha! ...So," Jiang Cheng stopped laughing. "Who finished these kites?" He asked as the parents and the two betrothed individuals arrived behind them.
It was only a wonder as to who finished the kites since they were left to dry from the paint yesterday before the late afternoon dinner.
"Uh...you should ask A Ying that," Little Zhuqin suggested, knowing that it was not too polite to proudly say that it was one person.
"Wei Ying?" Jiang Cheng proceeded to ask.
Wei Ying was going to embaressingly admit that it was him who had finished the kites, just to get things out of the way AND because it was Jiang Cheng who had asked. But since Ziyuan was there, he only gestured a finger across his mouth and childishly refused to speak.
Little Zhuqin knew he refused to say it was him because the angry aunty was there. So again, she wanted to put on a last act before she left back to Lanling Jin.
"Aiya, I have a question," Little Zhuqin started. "A Cheng, didn't you ever wonder how these kites got finished so fast?"
"I did?" Jiang Cheng questioned, not knowing that it was another play staged by Little Zhuqin. "...I did."
"You DID! Last night, you showed me the guest bath and we were both there...so who could have finished the kites in one night?" Little Zhuqin asked, even sharing the misunderstood fact that she was with Jiang Cheng in the Jiang family's guest bath.
"YOU WERE ALONE with that boy in the guest bath?" Zixuan began with a loud voice then slowly lowered his voice down to appease Baoqi (lol).
"No Xuan ge, what are you thinking?" asked Little Zhuqin.
Zixuan only stayed quiet and crossed his arms together while his face flushly turned pink as Yanli softly giggled at his embaressed behavior.
"Anyways, A Cheng, you and I couldn't possibly finish them in one night. I was told that Jiang shushu is an expert at making kites." The young girl said and looked at Fengmian who had an imaginary sweat drooling down the side of his head. "Jiang shushu, was it you?"
"Uh..." Fengmian began. "I was on night patrol. How could I have time to finish all three kites in one sitting?" He said and looked at Wei Ying, sending all their attention to the young lad.
He shook his head side to side.
"But...when I was passing by the dining hall, I saw a small sillouttee working on the kites." He continued. "If A Ling and A Cheng was at the guest bath house, your mother asleep, A Li asleep, Zixuan and Jin furen asleep, and I on night patrol..."
"...Shi...Wei Ying (It was...Wei Ying)?" Ziyuan slowly inquired, with the same irritated tone of voice she had when anything had to do with the son of Cangsen-Sanren.
"RIGHT! It HAD to be A Ying. If not, who could it have been?" Little Zhuqin immediately said.
"A ghost?" Wei Ying finally spoke.
"Aiya, aunty, you should be lucky to have such a loving and patient son." Little Zhuqin openly said, ignoring what Wei Ying had just responded.
"Him? Son?" Ziyuan asked.
The situation was going to only turn worse if Little Zhuqin did not pay attention to Jiang Cheng, and quickly looked for the lacquer box with the two purple-silver bell ornaments inside. Finding it, she quickly ran to it and picked it up then scurried her way back to the crowd.
"Aunty, not only are you lucky to have Wei Ying as your son, you also have such a thoughtful and girly A Cheng as your son." Little Zhuqin jokingly ridiculed and showed the two bell ornaments to Ziyuan, trying to reassure her that even Jiang Cheng was going to be praised for such efforts in trying to make her happy.
"...Girly?" Jiang Cheng asked himself.
Baoqi could not help but laughed just a little to lighten Ziyuan's mood.
"Yuan jiejie, I apologize for my daughter's behavior." Said Baoqi and gracefully lowered her head at Ziyuan. "She had never gone outside so it's only natural that she does things and says things a child would normally do or say."
However Ziyuan was not going to forget the bet she made with Fengmian yesterday and proceeded to openly ask her question.
"Then A Ling, do you prefer aunty's loving son or thoughtful son?"
"Do I prefer?" Little Zhuqin asked herself.
"Does she prefer?!" Wei Ying, and Jiang Cheng asked eachother.
"This...is NOT happening." Zixuan angrily thought to himself.
"This...is not an open engagement." Fengmian disappointedly thought.
The Jiang leader was hoping Little Zhuqin would choose Wei Ying, the loving son, because the leader was totally rooting for his adopted son at that point.
"A Niang, just what are you expecting from mei mei (younger sister)?" Yanli thought with quite the concerned look.
"Cheng er isn't bad, nor is Ying er...but should that even matter right now? We have to leave soon. The sun is almost at its highest. If we leave now, the sooner we will get home. I would assume brother-in-law and them are planning..." Unlike the others, Baoqi was obviously thinking of something else.
Little Zhuqin just stood there. With her height, she was obviously being looked down upon and...well, THE PRESSURE WAS ON. Although it may have looked like the pressure was on, she simply thought the angry aunty was telling her to choose between two friends and choose who to stay with as friends forever. However she also thought that the angry aunty wanted the little girl's opinion as to who the angry aunty should treat better in the future.
"Aunty, I don't understand what you mean by prefer. But I would only hope you feel proud to have both of them as your sons." Little Zhuqin bluntly said, and quickly ran off to the main docks outside of the main Jiang household entrance gate.
Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng chased after her then left the parents, Zixuan and Yanli standing there a little perplexed as to what just happened. Perhaps Ziyuan was a bit dumbfounded and Fengmian was just...wordless. However at this point, Ziyuan and Fengmian had probably thought their bet from yesterday...was already at loss because Little Zhuqin obviously did not choose either or. Instead, Fengmian was silently thinking to himself that even though the young girl did not choose either of his sons, he had only hoped that Little Zhuqin's innocent statement made Ziyuan think twice about how she treated Wei Ying differently from Jiang Cheng just because he was Cangsen-Sanren's son...Fengmian's deceased secret love.
From the main Yunmeng pier, Little Zhuqin looked out into the open lake filled with greens of Lotus leaves and flush pink blooming lotus flowers. As she held onto her kite and kite reel, she could almost feel her childlike heart sink because Little Zhuqin knew that after she left Yunmeng that morning, she possibly could not return until she reached of age to wander the cultivation lands alone. To think about such thing was probably childish (hence, she is a child lol), and she knew she could always tag along with her step mother and Zixuan...but how many times could she tag along for when she knew there were high expectations from her?
"A Qin?"
High expectations...
"A Ling?"
...High expectations....for?
"A Qin!" "A Ling!" Both Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying shouted, as they both waved their hands in Little Zhuqin's face.
The young girl had blanked out for a moment; not realizing the two boys had took turns to call Little Zhuqin to return back to her senses.
"Are you ok? You looked like you got possessed or something." Wei Ying joked and patted her little head.
"Dui a (Right), you looked like something possessed you." Jiang Cheng repeated.
Naturally, Little Zhuqin only played along...again.
"...WHERE AM I?!" She began with a loud voice, catching even the attention of bystanders.
"...In Yunmeng?" Wei Ying replied.
Little Zhuqin then quickly dropped her kite and grabbed onto Jiang Cheng's arms, surprising the young boy to a whole new level.
"What's wrong with you!?" Jiang Cheng immediatly asked with an imaginary sweat drooping down the side of his head.
"I..." The young girl began and as if she was really possessed, she closed her eyes and shook her head side to side as if she was trying to think really hard as to what was wrong with her (lol). "...Where...where..."
Even from yesterday, she was not able to put up such a good show like the one right now. Therefore...even Wei Ying was a little convinced that the evil-free girl was now possessed.
"Wei, bu hui ba (Hey, it's not possible right)? A Qin, ni shi zhen da zhong mo a (A Qin, you are really bewitched by evil spirits)?" Wei Ying questioned with a nervous smile and dropped his kite to possibly help the possessed crazed girl.
"I...am the spirit of a dog." Little Zhuqin pretended and looked up at Jiang Cheng with such a sinister gaze, the young Jiang boy totally thought...the girl was now possessed...by anything but a dog.
"Of all things, the spirit of a dog possessed her?!" Jiang Cheng loudly said, not knowing that he even caught the attention of Zixuan who began to run towards them with his spiritual dog talisman in hand.
Having quite the severe case of cynophobia, Wei Ying's nervous smile froze and he slowly backed away from Little Zhuqin. Since the supposed spirit of the dog did not take shape of an actual furry dog, Wei Ying thought he was going to be ok...until they all heard a few barking sounds approaching their way.
It was Dan Dan.
"DOG?!" Wei Ying screamed and without a care in the world, he jumped off the main dock, splashing into the lake below them.
"A Ying????!" Little Zhuqin realized that she may have gone too far with her joke and turned her attention to Wei Ying who was floating atop of the lake, trying to actually swim away from the main dock.
Dan Dan arrived and stopped in front of Little Zhuqin as Zixuan caught up then grabbed his little sister by the shoulders, shaking her as if he was mentally telling the 'spirit' to leave (lol).
"Wei Ying?!" Jiang Cheng shouted, realizing that his elder adopted brother was in the water, doggy paddling for his life.
"Aiya stop shaking me!" Little Zhuqin said and tried shaking off Zixuan's hands.
"Are you still my Qin er?" Zixuan quickly asked.
Little Zhuqin managed to shake off her elder brother and then realized that even though she may had pretended to be possessed by the spirit of a dog, Zixuan...along with Dan Dan, were the true perpetrators (lol).
"Ge (Brother), why is Dan Dan out?!" Little Zhuqin asked, feeling quite troubled that it was also her fault for making Wei Ying jump into the water.
"Of course he's out. If not, that spirit dog would have kept itself attached to you!" Zixuan encouraged.
"What spirit dog? I was only pretending you hear me? Pretending!" Little Zhuqin argued back and patted herself of the clothing parts her elder brother wrinkled. "Why did you have to take out Dan Dan?!"
Of course, the young male princess was not aware that his little sister was pretending therefore it was not his fault. On the other hand, never in Zixuan's life was Little Zhuqin ever that quick to get angry or at least argue against him. He knew...that Jiang Cheng...or at least Wei Ying totally had an affect on her.
Dan Dan walked to the edge of the main dock and began to endlessly bark its loud vocal voice at Wei Ying, making his legs weak. For a moment, Little Zhuqin heard Wei Ying gurgle water as if he was going to drown and with all her little might, she punched Zixuan's stomach. Even that little punch was able to shoot into his abdomen and as he squatted down in pain, Dan Dan himself immediately vanished into thin air, leaving only small speckles of gold dust.
Not hearing the barking anymore, Wei Ying was able to feel alive again and looked up at the main dock, seeing Jiang Cheng reaching out his hand to the youngster.
"I don't know what just happened but that dog is gone." Said Jiang Cheng.
Little Zhuqin also turned around and reached her hand down to Wei Ying as the parents, and Yanli began to approach from behind. She was a little small but she was determined to pull up Wei Ying no matter what because...it was her fault and Little Zhuqin was willing to admit it.
"Come, let us help you up!" The young girl said and reached her little arm down to him with a smile yet through that smile, Wei Ying could tell Little Zhuqin was taking the blame.
The young boy reached his left hand up to Jiang Cheng's hand and as Jiang Cheng pulled him up, the Wei youngster also streteched his right hand up to Little Zhuqin so she could also help.
However, her arm was too short.
"Why is this happening?!" Little Zhuqin said and slightly laughed, feeling helpless because of her short arms.
"Don't laugh!" Wei Ying said and also began to endlessly laugh himself.
Feeling the vibrating through Wei Ying's laugh, Jiang Cheng felt as if he was also going to be pulled into the lake...perhaps as the potential male princess of Yunmeng Jiang, even HE did not want to wet his clothes at the moment (lol).
"Wei, Wei Ying (Hey Wei Ying), you better stop laughing so I can pull you up!" Jiang Cheng irritatingly said, trying to pull the boy up with all his effort.
"I can't help it! Look at that determined face! She is so determined to help me but with her little arms, I don't know if I can...pft!"
"Can what?!" Jiang Cheng continued.
"If you can climb a tree, can't you just climb the wooden part of this dock?"
"More likely, can't you just swim somewhere shallow and come out?!" Jiang Cheng suggested.
"I can't...I can't swim anywhere now that my legs are so weak and...pft...HA HA hAHAAA!!" Wei Ying laughed.
"BIE XIAO LA (STOP LAUGHING)!!" Jiang Cheng shouted and without helping it, Wei Ying's laughter combined with Little Zhuqin's puffed up cheeks began to also make the young boy burst out in laughter.
The bystanders all just stood from the distance and looked on to see what was happening. Whispers were beginning to pass around as the parents and Yanli came up from behind Zixuan.
"Xuan er, what is happening?" Baoqi asked.
Paying attention to the childish struggle of the trio, Zixuan rolled his eyes for a second and was not thinking of helping that Wei Ying out from the lake. But because he also felt partially responsible for making the trio make such hopeless efforts, Zixuan decided to lend a helping hand and forced his younger sister to make way while he rolled up his sleeve. After doing so, he reached his hand down to the adopted child of the Jiang family and grabbed onto his right hand with a strong grip.
"You could have seriously swum to a shallow area and walked your way out of there, but if you insists on getting pulled up here, then even I have no choice." Zixuan monotonely said and with Jiang Cheng altogether, they both began to pull Wei Ying up.
"Uhhh...Then thank you Jin xiong (Elder brother Jin)," Wei Ying embarrassingly said with an imaginary sweat drooling down the side of his head.
The Wei youngster seemed to be making progress in reaching the main dock as Fengmian could hear the sound of dripping water from his clothes. Just as he was about to reach the dock, Zixuan had pulled a little too hard and accidently bumped into his younger sister. Lucky for her, she fell onto the edge of the dock while the lacquer box with the two bell ornaments unfortuately fell into the lake just as Wei Ying stood atop of the dock.
"Darn it!" Wei Ying said then jumped back into the lake, followed by Jiang Cheng who also saw that the bell ornaments had fallen into the water.
"Wo de ma ya (Oh my goodness), are they going to be...ok?" Asked Little Zhuqin.
"A Ling a, if it is A Ying and A Cheng we are talking about, they are perfect swimmers so they should be fine." Yanli reassured with a gentle tone.
...A FEW SECONDS LATER...
"Bwah!!" Wei Ying popped out from the water as his black hair whipped back and forth with dripping water. "Found it, I found it A Qin!" Wei Ying happily said as he waved one of the purple-silver bells at her.
Followed by his elder adopted brother, Jiang Cheng also resurfaced with the lacquer box and the other bell decoration.
"You mean we BOTH found them!" Jiang Cheng corrected and smiled at his elder brother, feeling accomplished at working together to find Little Zhuqin's precious keepsakes.
With Wei Ying the first to come up, Fengmian smiled just a tad bit...knowing that Wei Ying was quite his favored son...adopted son.
As the two boys were helped up onto the dock again by Ziyuan, Zixuan and Fengmian, Little Zhuqin had to admit herself wrong then sincerely apologized as a child would to continue being good friends in the future. However, Wei Ying was not angry at her for pretendingto be possessed...nor was he entirely frustrated at Zixuan for surprising him with his spiritual dog...Wei Ying was just grateful that Little Zhuqin was going to be part of his life from that day on.
Now...the sun was at its highest. Baoqi, Zixuan and Little Zhuqin had to return back to Lanling Jin, where fun and laughter was a leading question because since the elder brothers of Lan Yunlin had arrived (along with two little minion decoys), it was only predicted that some serious matter was going to take place...again. This time however, the matter was going to be...more tragic.
After the bells were dried properly, Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying placed the bells inside the lacquer box, handing them to Little Zhuqin. A different boatman was called then the one yesterday and he slowly made his way over to the main dock.
"Baoqi, won't you and your children at least consider staying for a short breakfast before leaving?" Ziyuan asked.
"Jie jie, we would like to stay. If anything, we would love to stay a few more days but since my husband has important matters and guests at home, it is only my responsibility as a wife to support him." Baoqi replied.
"Guests?" Ziyuan continued to question.
"Yes, from Gusu." Baoqi informed, trying to keep things short and simple.
"Gusu?" Ziyuan said.
She had remembered that Lan Yunlin was the daughter of the previous Gusu Lan sect leader and the youngest sister to Lan Qingheng, the current Gusu Leader and Lan Qiren, the youngest instructor in Cloud Recesses. Of course, Ziyuan also knew of her former friend's crazed condition and knew Little Zhuqin's story of being chased down for murder by her own mother. It was only obvious that as sworn sisters, Baoqi would confide with Ziyuan when they had the chance.
"It may be the Gusu Lan sect," Ziyuan thought.
Baoqi only nodded her head and while the two exchanged their last bit of conversation with eachother, Yanli tried to spark up a chat with Zixuan as well. But as expected, the male princess had his eyes fixated on his younger sister and only responded here and there with only one word or so. For Little Zhuqin, when she was reminded of some guests from this place called 'Gusu,' the youngster just had to tell her two new friends what kind of guests...or children they were (lol).
...Fengmian was standing in the middle of three talking pairs and although he had no one to talk to, several Yunmeng residents showed up here and there to greet the Jiang leader.
"Before we left Lanling, I met these two weird kids. I think those were the guests my mother was talking about," Little Zhuqin began.
"Weird kids?" Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying questioned at the same time.
"Dangren le (Of course). The first kid I met, he had such a plain face, I thought he was a plain piece of writing paper." Little Zhuqin said, comparing Little Zhan's face to a blank piece of calligraphy paper (lol). "But he also had a type of wine smell that was...bitter but sweet."
"Shenma (What)?! A kid that has a blank face and smells like bittersweet wine?!" The boys both questioned again.
"...He was so afraid of me touching him that he even curled up into a mini ball. I was asking if he was a boy or a girl, and he said to me," Little Zhuqin continued story telling.
"Ta shuo shenma (What did he say)?!"
"Ta shuo 'wo shi nan zi, bu shi nu hai zi haishi nan hai zi (He said, 'I am a man, not a boy or a girl).'" Little Zhuqin responded, mimicking Little Zhan's exact facial expression along with his tone of voice when he had stated that remarkable claim.
"What? HA, ha, HAA!" Wei Ying laughed out loud and slapped Jiang Cheng's shoulder. "Even I don't consider myself a man yet!"
"You're not?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"I am?" Wei Ying pointed at himself.
"Aiya, and about the other kid," Little Zhuqin continued. "Eeeeee....That other kid..."
"What about that other kid?"Jiang Cheng asked.
"Is he ugly?! Scary?! Hairy?! Hmm," Wei Ying said out loud.
"Bu shi da (That's not it)! His smile is so...angelic and his words are so carefully chosen, it's hard to know what that kid is even thinking." Little Zhuqin admitted.
"Ah?" Wei Ying questioned. "...Isn't that we call a wise..."
"Wise...buddha?" Jiang Cheng suggested and only made Little Zhuqin and Wei Ying laugh altogether, not even sure of what they were even talking about; the kid or a wise Buddha.
"Ha, ha, ha...so a kid that has a blank face and smells like wine while the other kid has a scary smile and is a wise Buddha!" Wei Ying jokingly summarized, feeling as if his stomach was going to hurt if he kept laughing.
"Ni bie xiao (Stop laughing)!" Jiang Cheng and Little Zhuqin said, breaking out into laughter as Fengmian looked on in the near distance.
A faint thud hit the main dock and slowly caught the attention of the Jiang and Jin family. The boatman had arrived and was preparing the proper arrangements for his guests to ride across the lake to get back on mainland. Baoqi got onto the boat first, followed by Zixuan who respectfully said his goodbyes to Fengmian then to Ziyuan. He had also made it obvious to refuse a farewell hug from Yanli.
"Perhaps he is still shy since it's been five years since we last met," Yanli thought in her mind.
"Even if she wants me to visit, the only time I will ever visit is when Qin er comes," Zixuan silently said to himself as he stood behind the tip of the boat and waited for Little Zhuqin to come in.
"Well...it's been fun." Little Zhuqin said with a smile, not knowing WHAT to say as all people go through when they are about to leave and then go blank as to what they should say to properly bid eachother farewell.
Seeing that the young girl in front of her was holding the lacquer box close up to her chest, Jiang Cheng smiled and only hoped Little Zhuqin would treasure the little gifts from a boy from Yunmeng to a girl in Lanling.
"You better treasure those." Jiang Cheng suggested and tapped one of the bell twice before Little Zhuqin looked up at him with a big smile.
"Thank you and I will! I will also wear them so when I walk around, people will know 'A Qin, A Ling, or Qin er is coming!'" The young girl proudly planned and held up one of the bells by the string, then shook it side to side; even the ornaments sounded bright and fresh.
"Ha, good idea! That way, I will know you are here and can start planning what to do!" Wei Ying encouraged and patted her on the head once again.
Little Zhuqin felt numb and felt as if she did not want to move from that one spot because if she moved, it was either taking a step backwards into the boat to leave Yunmeng or to take a step forward and beg to stay a few more days with the Jiang family...or was it...?
"Sounds good to me!" Little Zhuqin gratefully grinned.
From the ground (yes it was not mentioned), she slowly bent down to pick up her kite and the kite reel then handed it to Wei Ying.
"Thank you very much for finishing our kites for us." She began.
"It...wasn't," "I want to take my kite home with me but Lanling Jin is a place filled with a lot of trees, side pavilions, small ponds and huge rocks, so my kite might rip if I bring it home." Little Zhuqin hastily interrupted Wei Ying with a still smile, trying to have the young boy understand that with him as the keeper of the kites, his effort to make her happy would not go to waste.
Speaking of home, Baoqi was reminded of Yunlin again...the crazed lady who was Little Zhuqin's blood born mother. She secretly applauded her step daughter for taking such careful measures in having Wei Ying keep the kite for her since anything big that was given to Little Zhuqin would be destroyed by Yunlin one way or another. Heck, even the white peony flowers lost part of their petals every time.
For a moment, he stood there and did not know what to exactly say since he did not want to force her to take it. Then without a single word of denial, Wei Ying looked at Little Zhuqin's kite and then looked up back at her. Her bubbly smile was hiding a scarred secret that the young boy did not know, but all he did was reached out and grabbed the kite along with the kite reel.
"A Qin, don't worry." He began with a reassuring smile. "Until you come back, I will keep everything for you."
The mutual understanding between the two made Little Zhuqin feel safe and happy that she was able to make new friends with such a reasonable lad...
"You mean WE will." Jiang Cheng added and nudged Wei Ying's elbow, sending a load of laughter into the trio, followed by Yanli, and Fengmian.
Little Zhuqin placed the Yunmeng bell back into the lacquer box and bid her farewell to Yanli, thanking her for having taught the girl how to cook. Fengmian and Little Zhuqin shared a fatherly and daughterly embrace before she turned her attention to Ziyuan.
"Aunty, thank you for having us!" She politely bowed and received a pat on the head from the angry aunty.
"Come back anytime A Ling," Ziyuan encouraged.
"But aunty, can I say something?" Asked Little Zhuqin.
"Shuo ba (Go ahead and ask)," The Jiang lady replied with a smile, hoping Little Zhuqin was going to put in a few good words for Jiang Cheng.
"A Ying and A Cheng," Little Zhuqin began, perking up Ziyuan's interest as she was still onto the bet of Little Zhuqin choosing between the two boys. "I know I have no right but no matter what, it is only right that you love both of them!" She openly said with a big smile as the wind began to pick up, sending strands of Little Zhuqin's hair into the air.
The wind was soft yet strong enough to lift the Yunmeng Jiang bells on the five Jiang family members. The sound of jingling bells sounded delicately and as they all looked at each other, Ziyuan laid her eyes on Wei Ying who also carried the name of a Jiang family member only under his father's surname; Wei.
"...Qin er," "I know I have no right to say anything because I don't know anything mother. But you know? I know the feeling of not being wanted." Little Zhuqin immediately interrupted Baoqi with a tranquil smile.
"Not being wanted can feel very lonely and make you sad sometimes, but even we can pretend to be happy, right?" Little Zhuqin continued to ask and smiled at Wei Ying.
Knowing that someone else understood him, Wei Ying's heart began to hurt emotionally. But instead of looking as if he was about to melt down in tears, the young lad just simply returned her smile.
"A Ling a," Ziyuan began.
Her gaze was fixated on Wei Ying at the moment.
"A Ling a, are you telling me that I should love Wei Ying as much as I love my own son?" Ziyuan asked with quite the irritated tone of voice.
"Aunty, I'm not telling you, I am asking you." Little Zhuqin lightly argued with the same smile.
"Child, you wouldn't know this. Jiang shushu's se," "Aunty...the feelings of not being wanted...you know it too right?" Little Zhuqin kindly interrupted the Jiang mistress.
The Jiang lady immediatley went silent.
Her eyes widened at the thought of Little Zhuqin guessing that even SHE felt unwanted at times...because she knew that Fengmian, her husband...was possibly still in love with the deceased Cangsen-Sanren...maybe...? The young girl herself did not even know what their exact history was.
"...Anyways, even though I am not my mother's real daughter, she loves me dearly and my elder brother loves me a lot too! So we're always a happy family!" Little Zhuqin said with a happy grin and held Ziyuan's hand.
For now...there was a happy family...
"I believe that aunty will be able to open up her heart someday!"
With that last bit of small wisdom, Little Zhuqin quickly hugged her angry aunty and cheerfully smiled one last time at Ziyuan before walking to the edge of the main dock.
"Take care A Ling," Jiang Cheng said, and placed his hand on her right shoulder.
"Ah?" Little Zhuqin questioned and quickly turned around to face him. "You think I would be happy with just a pat on the shoulder huh Jiang gong zi?!" She joked and while holding onto the lacquer box, Little Zhuqin pulled Jiang Cheng up close to embrace him.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Jiang Cheng embaressingly asked and lightly shoved her away, only to have Little Zhuqin laugh at his shy behavior. "Doing this in front of so many people..."
"Ahh?! What do you mean by that?" Little Zhuqin questioned...knowing exactly what the young lad meant (...such innocence).
"I mean what I said," Jiang Cheng simply said and crossed his arms together.
As Little Zhuqin held onto the box with the bells, she took one last glance at Wei Ying and only smiled at him once more.
"A Ying, you have to take care. When I come back and visit, you have to take me pheasant hunting and lotus seed head picking!" The young girl cheerfully reminded.
Wei Ying could have easily just nodded his head or even playfully said 'ok,' but even the young boy himself had feelings and wanted to properly thank the girl.
Thank her for?
Thank her for so much...that even the happy-go-lucky Wei Ying could not count.
The young girl turned her attention towards the boat and as Zixuan reached his hand out to grab his little sister's hand, Wei Ying immediately dropped the kites. He quickly turned his body around and to Little Zhuqin's surprise; the young boy had already embraced her in his little arms. His movement was so fast that even Little Zhuqin had no time to flinch. The bells fortunately did not fall out of the young girls hands this time.
"A...Ying?" Little Zhuqin quietly said out, eyes blinking in and out.
"Thank you A Qin," Wei Ying began with the same quiet voice. "...Thank you for everything."
His chin was relaxed on the young girl's head and Little Zhuqin could feel his entire body warmth along with the small vibrations of his voice. To say that Little Zhuqin did not know what the feeling was was probably an ingenuous joke...but again, she just thought the feeling felt good...and as a child, she simply liked it. However, even the young girl knew how to be embarrassed herself but in the midst of the moment, she expertly pretended to not be humiliated.
"Aiya, A Ying a," Little Zhuqin began and gently pushed him away. "Didn't you promise me that you would take me around Yunmeng when I came back to visit?"
"Uh...dui a (Uh, right)," Wei Ying confirmed.
"Then don't make it seem as if I will never be coming back silly!" Little Zhuqin joyfully said and tippy toed to pat the young boy on the head a few times before she was helped onto the boat by a...rather infuriated Zixuan.
As the wooden boat began to slowly depart from the Yunmeng pier, Little Zhuqin held onto the lacquer box in one hand and with the other, she waved at her fellow Jiang friends from the small distance. While Fengmian and Ziyuan stood silently to bid their special guests farewell, Yanli made it obvious to wave goodbye to Zixuan.
"Hmph," Zixuan simply ridiculed and turned away to look at the lotus flower scenery in the water.
"Xuan er," Baoqi said.
Having no choice, the young male princess of Lanling Jin turned his head and slightly nodded at Yanli.
Jiang Cheng simply waved his right hand at Little Zhuqin while Wei Ying...was jumping up and down from the main dock.
"Take care A Qin! Take care!" Wei Ying shouted as they all drifted further apart.
"I will! You all take care too!" Little Zhuqin hollered back with the same merry smile.
Then Wei Ying suddenly realized something...he did not properly give Little Zhuqin a souvenir gift as a special guest and friend from Lanling. The boat was already floating further away from the main dock...and Wei Ying could not possibly make something at the moment...or could he? Without thinking twice, he swiftly jumped back into the lake and disappeared from his Jiang families view.
"Wei Ying!" Jiang Cheng yelled out. "What...is he doing?!"
"A Ying," Fengmian began and only smiled at the thought of knowing what his adopted son was up to.
The Jiang leader knew his adopted son's way of doing special things in an extraordinary style...and only knew Wei Ying was up to something good while Ziyuan simply clicked her tongue at the thought that that adopted child was 'trying' to win the favor of Little Zhuqin. But she could not possibly think of that right now since the subject of not being 'wanted' was still wandering inside her head.
From a near distance, Little Zhuqin saw a few splashes here and there in the water. She could only wonder what the mischevious Wei Ying was up to now and specifically asked Zixuan to hold onto the lacquer box with the bells inside. However Baoqi noticed something...
"Qin er...usually Yunlin jie jie tries to find every way to destroy what is given to the child...she took the bells Cheng er requested for her...and left the kite Ying er made for her. Does that mean Qin er likes Cheng er because she took the bells?" Baoqi quietly whispered to herself, not knowing that his irritated son was eavesdropping.
"My little sister taking the bells requested by that boy does not mean she favors him. The color, sound and ornament itself is simply appealing to any child so that is why Qin er decided to take it. Qin er does not like that boy." Zixuan annoyingly argued.
"Xuan er, you...just what do you want?" Baoqi questioned, feeling at loss at what to even say to her son at that point.
"...I want to rest...I'm tired," The boy simply responded and went silent.
Aside from that, Little Zhuqin looked on as Wei Ying's head was bobbing up and down from the water, getting closer to the boat. She had asked the boatman to stop for a bit and as Wei Ying reached the boat, he hastily untied his long red ribbon then splashed up at Little Zhuqin with bits of water dripping down her face.
"Na, zhi shi ni de liwu a (Here, this is your gift)!" Wei Ying happily said with a bright grin and handed up his red ribbon to the young girl.
She looked at his red hair ribbon than gazed at Wei Ying's black shoulder length hair, floating amongst the water and lotus flowers.
"Your...but this is your hair ribbon," Little Zhuqin humbly said. "You didn't have to come all the way...for this?!"
"Eeei bie zheyang be (Hey, don't be like that). If I didn't want to give it to you, I wouldn't have swum all the way out here, hehe." Wei Ying encouraged.
He gestured for Little Zhuqin to give her hand to him and as she did so, Wei Ying pulled his red ribbon onto her hand, then closed it.
"See you around A Qin!" Wei Ying merrily said.
"Wei, A Ying deng deng (Hey, wait A Ying)!"
Without waiting to hear another humble word from Little Zhuqin, he quickly turned and began to swim the way he came from. For a second, Wei Ying stopped swimming again and turned around to happily bid farewell with his usual cheerful grin then turned around to swim back to the main dock. Little Zhuqin thought for a bit and knew that even her excuses would not work at this point.
"Na...xie xie ni de liwu (Then, Thank you for your gift)! Haiyou, nimen deng wo a, wo yi ding hui lai ne (Also, wait for me you guys. I will definitely come back)!" She shouted across the water surface, knowing that even if she continued to humbly refuse, Wei Ying would not take no for an answer.
"Hao de (Ok)!" Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying both shouted back in response.
Now as everything was finalized, Little Zhuqin happily wrung the water out of Wei Ying's red ribbon and neatly folded it then placed it in the lacquer box along wth the bell ornaments.
"Zhi shi shenma dongxi (What is this thing)?" Zixuan asked, knowing exactly what the thing was and who had just given it to her.
"As you can see, it's a red ribbon." Little Zhuqin replied.
She grabbed the box from Zixuan's hands and proudly waddled her way to the front seat of the boat. Baoqi motioned for the boatman to go and as the boat swayed away from Yunmeng, the mother then questioned if Little Zhuqin liked both Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying.
"I like them! They're really nice and fun to be with!" The young girl openly said.
"Qin er," Zixuan started with quite the frowny face. "Have you already forgotten about me?"
Little Zhuqin did not realize how, in Zixuan's own words, neglectful her six-year-old self was ever since yesterday. Her behavior and actions were probably different from when she was in Lanling, but it was only natural since she was still a child afterall. The actions and words she did or said to Zixuan may have temporarily strained the sibling relationship between the two, but Little Zhuqin knew she meant no harm when all she was trying to do was make new friends.
The young girl reflected silently to herself then innocently apologized to her elder brother, who could not help but quickly accepted his little sister's apology. Little Zhuqin then sat quietly while she held onto the small lacquer box in her lap. She looked up at Baoqi and gratefully thanked her for giving the young girl the chance to make new friends.
"Child, there is no need to thank me. I'm only glad you were able to make good memories and new friends," Baoqi responded. "Buguo na Qin er, niang zhen da haoqi a (But Qin er, mother is really curious). You went outside for the first time and met the two Lan young masters before Cheng er and Ying er...why do you treat them so differently?"
Did she...treat them differently?
Did Little Zhuqin even notice?
Well maybe she noticed...but how different did she treat them?
She DID say Little Zhan and Lan Huan were weird kids...perhaps that were a difference from Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng. But maybe Little Zhuqin just found out-going, playful, responsive and easy-to-target friends more interesting.
Playful...
"Here, my souvenir gift from me to you!"
...Easy-to-target.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
For a moment, the young girl remembered Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng's echoing voices inside her head. She could not help but laugh while Baoqi and Zixuan looked on as if she had been truly possessed by a child who totally enjoyed her stay with the Jiang family.
"I treat them differently?" She began. "Maybe...wine friend and smiling friend just needs to be more of my level?"
More of Little Zhuqin's level...as in mischevious, playful and...cute (lol)?
Baoqi just smiled at her step daughter's innocent honesty and gradually walked over than sat next to her. She wrapped her arms around Little Zhuqin's shoulder and lightly embraced her while the two stared out into the open lake of lotus flowers and leaves. For Zixuan? The male princess crossed his arms together and simply laid his head back, closing his eyes for a short nap.
Meanwhile for the Jiang family, they all walked back to the main household. Wei Ying hurriedly ran to his room for a change of clothes and while Jiang Cheng tagged along with him, Yanli went to the kitchen. Fengmian and Ziyuan went to the main hall, possibly to discuss their outcome for their bet.
What was their game again? Would Little Zhuqin choose Fengmian's adopted son Wei Ying or Ziyuan's beloved son Jiang Cheng...
The answer was simple.
LittleZhuqin did not choose...none.