Morning light illuminated Jin Ling's room, and he woke up when the sun rays hit him. He rolled over, contented and half- asleep. His eyes shot open when he remembered last night.
He was so caught up in stargazing that he didn't notice Qini sneaking up to him. When she was close enough, she surprised him and resulted to Jin Ling screaming quite loudly.
"What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?!" Jin Ling shouted, embarrassed. Qini just shrugged. "You looked like you were going to put some holes at the night sky the way you look at it. What's wrong?"
"None of your concern! And why would I tell a stranger anyways?" He angrily shouted, once again embarrassed when he was caught in his vulnerable state. When he cried in front of everybody as he was told to lower down his father's sword, he vowed that he wouldn't show any vulnerability to anyone again. And when Qini witnessed a crack in his facade, he was ashamed and angry at himself.
Qini's face fell quite a bit but it was back to her cheerful self just as fast as it fell. "Well, I respect your decision. But, if ever you want someone to talk to, I'm here, okay? I promise." She smiled, and Jin Ling looked at her retreating figure.
Jin Ling frowned and covered himself with the blanket, ashamed. He was sick of people looking down at him just because he grew up without his parents around. People were always pitying him, thinking that he couldn't do it. Not to mention that he was suppose to take over Lanling Sect when he's at the right age, but people were skeptical, just because of the fact that he had no parents, but Jiang Cheng and his supposedly bad guy, his uncle Wei Wuxian.
He'd always have mixed feelings with his other uncle. He did helped Jin Ling many times, only to find out that he was the reason why his parents was killed, then to find out that Wei Wuxian was framed, and the blood of his parents weren't in his hands. But it was instilled to Jin Ling that Wei Wuxian killed them, and he was having a hard time to change his mindset overnight. In fact, he occasionally still have the nightmares that Wei Wuxian killed his parents.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock. He immediately took it, and the Lans were there.
"A'Ling ah, we're going," Jingyi said. "But first, we need to ask you; how are you? You seemed off when we got here. Did something happened when you were away? You never told us anything." Sizhui said sadly. "A' Ling ah, we're still friends, right? We made a promise that no matter what, we will still be friends." He continued.
"Promises were meant to be broken." He shut the door, but he caught the glimpse of Sizhui's shocked face and Jingyi was enraged. Jin Ling swore, that never again, he'd be showing weaknesses. And having friends was making him weak.
. . . .
Y/n was strolling in the Lotus Pier she saw the kid at the fountain. The kid was again, holding a lotus flower, running towards a house. He knocked twice, and the granny showed up, smiling. She saw y/n and she waved to her, telling her to come in. Y/n smiled and ran too.
"A'Qi ah! It's nice to see you! How are you, my dear?"granny asked while holding y/n's shoulder.
"Oh, I'm just fine! I was just taking a stroll." y/n saw a flash of pink inside. "Is that a lotus flower?" she asked.
"oh, yes yes, our A'Jing brings flower to his sick mother." granny said sadly.
"A'Jing?" y/n looked at the quiet child, who gave the flower to his mother.
"His name is 里静柳Lǐ Jìngliǔ (Quiet willow) and he preferred to be called with his name than his courtesy name. His father gave it to him, and so he refused to share it and to use it."
"What happened?"
"no one knew, and he refuses to say so. Maybe his mother knows, but she refuses to talk to anyone either." Granny led y/n to a table and they both sat down.
Y/n felt sympathy for the family. The mother rarely speaks, the father was shady, and the kid was forced to grow up early. she was about to cry but she swallowed and forced the tears at bay.
"How about you, granny? I never got your name."Y/n asked, smiling, hoping that granny didn't see the trembling of her lips.
The granny smiled. "Just call me granny; everyone does. I served the Jiang family as a herbalist."
"How long have you been here?"y/n poured Granny some tea, and offered it to her. "How was it like?"
"What can I say, it's nice here. The masters were kind, and they even took in Wei Wuxian, a son of their friend, and they treated him as their son. But the mother grew bitter as Wei Wuxian showed more potential than Jiang Cheng, who was the heir to the throne. They were always being compared with each other, and it grew some nasty rumors. It influenced the Madam, and she hated Wei Wuxian. It's a good thing that Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian didn't take it to the heart, and that they had a sister who loved them dearly." Granny's eyes were far away, as if she was reminiscing the past.
"It's hard to believe that Jiang Cheng was good with someone. The aura around him was suffocating."Y/n muttered.
"Oh no, my dear, he wasn't like that before. Something changed in him." a knock could be heard, and Granny came to the door to answer it. "I need to go, I'm need somewhere. A'Jing ah, don't forget to let your mother drink the tea that I made; it's her medicine. And A'Qi, Jiang Cheng called for you." Granny fixed her stuff and headed for the door. "It's nice meeting you again, Qini, I hope we will meet again." She smiled and she went out with the servant.
Jiang Cheng was at the courtyard, training the disciples. He would go around fixing the statures of the person, shouting, giving advices on how to improve, and so on. Y/n was a bit scared to approach him, but she reckoned that he will be much more scarier if y/n ditched him. She stood at the steps awkwardly as the guard who guided her went ahead and notified Jiang Cheng. There was a lot of bowing and talking going on, and after a while, the guard left and Jiang Cheng approached y/n.
Don't leave me, you rascal, don't leave me with him. Y/n thought, looking at the back of the guard, who didn't notice y/n's glare.
When Jiang Cheng was near enough, y/n bowed, just as she observed with the guard.
. . . . .
Boom and I'm practicing cliffhangers as well as hanging sksksksksk
Henlo guys, wassup!
Ok so, I hab a lot ob explaining to do with this chapter ehehehe
Ok, first of all, I know it can be quite confusing with being y/n or Qini. So, in CQL, they have names ( well duhh my god Mingchu ) and they have courtesy names. Commonly, they use their courtesy names. Their names are considered as formal strangers call them by their name and not by their courtesy name. And also, they have nicknames, which they put A' ( part of their name only )and only the family can call them with this. I might be wrong, but this is my observation. For example:
Title: Yiling Patriarch
Name: Wei Wuxian
Courtesy name: Weiying
Nickname: A'Xian
But, if they have a title, strangers should call them by their title, as a sign of respect and tradition. For example, Hanguang jun is commonly used rather than Lan Zhan, as calling them by their title is more respectful. But, if they don't have any title, one can call them by their name that would suffice.
And as for you, my dear readers,
Title: Yet to be found
Name: Y/n
Courtesy name: Qini
Nickname: A'Qi
I just find it cute because the qi in Qini ( 奇妮 ) can mean strange, queer, rare, absurd, or remarkable, wonderful, or the adverb too and very. It depends on the usage. The Ni in Qini simply means girl or a character to indicate that the person is girl. In conclusion, you are both a strange and a wonderful girl ( although in the story's eyes, you lean more into being a 'strange girl' but don't worry, you as you and not as y/n is amazing. :D )
Another note:
I left some notes in other chapters, but since this is the first that I post a chapter with a note, I'll summarize the notes that I put in the previous chapters:
Ok so, as you're at this far ( yeyy I really love you ) as you notice, the prologue isn't exactly part of the chapters and it consists of the introductory of y/n's family, which wouldn't make sense if it was your first time reading it, when it started modernly and not in the CQL lore. I reckoned that even though Y/n's family would be in far farrrr away, like maybe after 10 chapters or so, but then if I introduce the family in the middle of the climate, it would take the excitement out, so I put it as the prologue.
Also, the italicized paragraph could be a dream, a memory of the person. Now, I don't want to put Y/n's POV or Jing Ling's POV or etc. because I guess it's obvious whose POV it was and I think it might remove the climax of the story if I put those. think of it as cameras. Imma give you an example:
"Maybe something changed in him. I hope he still look at us as his friends."Sizhui said, quite troubled. Jingyi looked at him, studying, and he clenched his jaw. There was a subtle jealousy in his eyes as he looked away, with his fist clenched.
At the dark corner, Jin Ling saw this, and he too clenched his jaw, jealous. He didn't quite know what he's feeling, but he knew that he didn't like how the two of them were close. He wished that he was at the center of them, be the partition between them. Can't take it no more, Jin Ling turned away and ran.
If I put the indicators:
Sizhui's POV
"Maybe something changed in him. I hope he still look at us as his friends."Sizhui said, quite troubled. Jingyi looked at him, studying, and he clenched his jaw. There was a subtle jealousy in his eyes as he looked away, with his fist clenched.
Jin Ling's POV
At the dark corner, Jin Ling saw this, and he too clenched his jaw, jealous. He didn't quite know what he's feeling, but he knew that he didn't like how the two of them were close. He wished that he was at the center of them, be the partition between them. Can't take it no more, Jin Ling turned away and ran.
See the difference? Yeah, kinda awkward, right? Don't worry, I make this book confusing- free as possible, that I put the name clearly of whose POV was that, but if it's still confusing ( and in other aspects ) don't hesitate to tell me :D
And, I know that this is a Jiang Cheng Fanfiction, but I also want to focus with the other characters, hence I gave you perspectives of the trio ( Sizhui, Jingyi, and Ling ) because I don't want to bore you if it's just about Jiang Cheng and y/n.
Oh yeah, just a thought, maybe the reason why Jin Ling only uses his courtesy name because it was Weiying who named him as Jin Rulan, which he hated because Weiying was the one who 'killed' his parents? Hmmmm
Oh yeah, I have a question, do ya'll prefer short chapters ( 1000+) or long chapters (2000+)?
Anywho, that's all, I guess, and comment if you have questions or other insights!
Xoxo,
杰娜
🥀
Fun fact:
I'm not Chinese, but I study Foreign Languages majoring in Chinese, so I know a lil bit of Chinese and my name, Jiena 杰娜 is given by my Chinese teacher. I wanted to have a Chinese name because I reckoned that my birth name is hard to pronounce for the Chinese, so I want one and it's also kinda cool to have one :D my name has a meaning, but it's kinda embarrassing to explain, but if you're curious then ask me or just research fo it ehehe