Chapter 141 - A Breath of Family, A Long-awaited Laugh
Zhengqi looked at Hao in disbelief. She covered her face, though her small hands and thin fingers did little to hide her blush.
Hao pulled the wet sleeve of his robe up off his skin. “Taoyi has no say in it, not anymore. Your work is your own, your pay, everything,” he smiled through the discomfort of tears that wet his shoulder, and the lingering anger Taoyi and his servant left him with.
The shock seemed to hit her a second time. She fell to silence, no more words to leap from her mouth as she looked at her Mother, Meiqi, with shock and awe.
Meiqi wrapped her arms around her. “You haven’t looked that way since you found out there was a baby in your belly, girl.”
And no wonder. How long had it been since either of them had gotten more than scraps and scorns for the work they had been forced to do?
She was just as surprised, but hid it far better. While Hao walked with her from Taoyi’s residence, she mocked and joked about her disbelief about ‘no longer being in that silent building’ because of his poor communication skills.
Never failing to be kind and harsh at the same time. Her voice and admonishment were enough to relieve some of his stress, just enough so he could deliver good news to the two of them and say the bad news in soft words.
“Young Master… what about my daughter…” Zhengqi stopped herself.
She knew it herself already, but hope seeped in when good things seemed to be on the rise. Hao understood that. The Secret Realm had taught him a lot in a short time, including the itch of hope, even though his were much darker.
Taoyi wouldn’t let Penqi go. Not nearly as easily as he did Meiqi, the girl was a talent of Hao’s age, and with the bloodline trait that skipped Zhengqi. Hao didn’t know why that was valuable, but the word ‘Dancer’ made Taoyi and the Fourth Elder into starved wolves when they spoke of their transaction.
Hao saw Penqi once. That was all just to taunt him, perhaps tempt him.
He brought them further away from the medicine hall. There, the mother and daughter embraced, and finally, it felt like they were all reunited. Saying too much felt like a betrayal of the moment.
“I bought time. For now, that is enough,” Hao smiled, knowing Zhengqi may buy the expression, but Meiqi would see through him like he was a pane of glass.
The two women hugged again. Sighing out with shudders that spoke of vanishing tension, yet a faint green eye, above a platter of wrinkles, looked at him with fire.
It seemed the words were enough for now; that alone strengthened his resolve.
Letting out his own sigh, Hao turned, “Follow me,” he said, waiting for them to gather themselves as they took the servant’s path down the mountain.
Most paths were cleared of people. There was no need for guards, not this high up within the Sect’s influence during midday. Someone gathered at night; not many, most were guarding gates or formations at the bottom of the mountain, according to Yishou. Hao had been down to see it.
“There were no guards on these paths, not even when I was taking the disciple trial; there were guests all over the mountain that day. The night I met the two of you,” Hao spoke with quiet remembrance, a few disciples glancing his way, and servants’ ears perking as they stared at the ground.
Meiqi caught up with Hao, holding Zhengqi’s hand. “Well, if a servant in those gray robes that live down there was seen on this path, a single round of what the Servants Hall calls discipline would kill a generation’s intention of sneaking in without proof or permission.”
Hao nodded, “Most of the people on this level of the mountain are far from the path anyway. Their gray robes were turning brown from the dust of the mine.”
He rubbed his fingers together. Almost able to feel the grit of stone dust behind his ears, on his eyelids.
“Young Master?”
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Hao turned his head, “We should be able to make it before the rainfall in a few hours.”
His voice dropped to a whisper. “It’s best if we take a bit of a scenic route. I don’t think Taoyi took my bow of appreciation with much grace.”
Meiqi and Zhengqi looked at each other. Zhengqi gave a snortle, covering her face in embarrassment at the sound, and Meiqi spoke for both of them. “Whatever you think is best, Young Master.”
*
Their journey wasn’t far. All three would certainly call it winding, even Hao, who spent months in the Mid-Summer cave chasing the ghosts of plans and dreams in circles.
He gave them a little tour. Places and things he considered dear, and looked at with a reverence, summoning up nostalgia.
“Those big berries, they originally came from these bushes. They are what I ate every morning when I couldn’t afford anything but food pills in the mining hall.”
Even the pains seemed fond. He took a giant fist-sized purple fruit from the Spirit-holding bag and compared it to the tiny, shriveled berry that fell from the bush. All the results of the crystal and energy from the Drinking Orb, the sole thing in the bag that was still beyond his full control.
When he came across the pond, he smiled, “A lot happened here.”
Meiqi pushed his shoulder, not quite able to gather enough strength to shove him into the water, “Well, go on, tell us, we can keep a few secrets.”
He told them of taking the pill Elder Ya gave him. The secret meeting he had with the Second Elder here was a story that made the two of them squint their eyes. He moved on quickly. Some things were better left unsaid, so he talked of breakthroughs and battles as they continued a little further.
The sky soon became cloudy, and his stories went dry. There was more, but none to tell, not without Meiqi biting him and scanning over his scars.
They were almost there. Hao turned back, seeing the two shiver, their small hands tucked under their arms, popping out to rub their red noses.
“Oh, right, I was inconsiderate,” he said, not thinking about the thin white robes they wore or how much heat they could hold.
Two tattered fur robes appeared in his hand, slightly dirty, their origins likely corpses, white with speckles of gray and brown from debris and blood.
“These are robes from other sects, don’t let anyone see them, they are somewhat magical, they can hold heat, or shed it.”
Meiqi nabbed hers and wrapped herself up. “Young Master, they smell rather bad.” Her smirk said it all as she sighed, her neck sinking into the white robes.
“The Blue Moons Mountain Sect used it to withstand the weather inside the Mid-Summer Cave.”
Zhengqi smelled her robe too; her head pulled back quickly.
“Sorry,” Hao turned away. It was a bad, bad idea to tell them they were ripped off the bodies of the recently deceased.
His mind brushed the Feline Demonic Beasts in the bag. Pure white, with black stripes moving down their bodies like brushstrokes.
“If I can, I will have new ones made, maybe even better.” It was one of his better ideas in recent days; it didn’t involve him jumping into a battle that would result in the death of himself or a dozen others. Baby steps.
“Are those the buildings right there?” Meiqi ran up, brushed by him, her shiver gone as she pointed out, the hood hiding the back of her head. The faint wrinkles on her hand made her easy to identify.
“Yes,” Hao stepped up next to her, another place of nostalgia.
He found it back when he was first exploring, thinking it was some ruins, a place for workers forgotten in time, or a secret residence of an Elder.
Decimated by wind and weather. Wails and echoes of forgotten grief seemed to sound in time with the clatter of the lid of the well that didn’t quite fit. Rain and critters could get in. Worse, cobbles were knocked, and not outside of the well, but inside, staling any water that could have remained with stone grit.
“This is…” Meiqi took the lead in talking, “a bit shit.”
“Mother…” Zhengqi ran over, tugging Meiqi’s arm.
Hao laughed, his body relaxing like it hadn’t in a long time; his spine went from a spear to bamboo in the wind.
“We won’t be able to stay here for long, but it’s close to the Sect Courtyard, further away from the Disciple Quarters and Taoyi, hidden, and I chose it while I was in a rush…”
Winter was there, kind right now, but lingering in the background, the cold was already too much for the two women, and they were resilient compared to most. If it were Hao a few months ago, he would have been shivering worse than they were without the robes.
A bit of uncertainty crept in. Poking at him as he walked towards the houses, two of them just needed a few repairs, and the well, too, needed a lot of work.
Meiqi let out a chuckle.
Zhengqi followed her, still hand in hand, pulling down on her arm again as she laughed, “Mother!”
They got ahead of him. Meiqi put her free hand on the wooden door that hung half of its hinges on the largest building.
“I’m sorry, young Master. I am just a little relieved,” she said, pushing the door open, wind blowing out from inside a hole in the ceiling, letting light shine through.
“You left with such a cold expression, chasing revenge and murder, you came back, and your face was just as cold… Seeing you make a silly choice like this for so many good reasons makes me feel relieved.”
She walked to the well, kicking the lid off. “It was partly my fault. It haunted me while you were away. What I taught you. At the time, in my mind, it was right, I wanted a pawn, a tool for revenge, I wanted to make you into a Demon.”
