Chapter Text
Hua Ying followed quickly behind Sect Leader Jiang. Once the four of them reached the gates to the Sect grounds, the Sect leader waved his hand and the two Jiang disciples on guards opened the gates allowing the four to pass. Inside the gates was a massive courtyard filled with disciples practicing sword forms. Hua Ying couldn’t keep his eyes off the gleaming swords which shone in the afternoon sun.
Once past the Main courtyard, the group of four continued walking until Jiang Yanli was called over by a few different women dressed in intricate robes in different shades of purple, some lighter some darker. Some even had lotuses embroidered along the hems of the sleeves. Hua Ying had seen intricate robes before but they weren’t as pretty and intricate as his Bàba and Diēdie’s robes. Hua Ying was pulled out of his thoughts by a tug on his hand that was still being held by the Jiang Sect Leader.
Sect Leader Jiang, Hua Ying, and Jiang Cheng continued down the corridor that connected to the main courtyard. The Corridor was made of a dark Lacquer wood that had been polished recently, Along the walls sat many different pieces of art, some only contained paintings of high quality while others were different pieces of calligraphy. Hua Ying heard someone scoff, That’s when his eyes caught a female figure at the end of the corridor. The woman had what seemed to be a permanent scowl adorning her face. “ What is the meaning of this Fengmian?” the woman questioned as the trio approached her. Jiang Fengmian gestured to The woman named Yú Zǐyuān and then to Hua Ying. “Ziyuan, this is Hua Ying. He’s lost and can’t find his parents, Ive-” Jiang Fengmian said before being rudely interrupted, “ You’ve what? Taken in a street rat without telling me?” Yu Ziyuan spit out in anger. Hua Ying shrank back a little out of shock at the anger the woman was displaying towards him. Yu Ziyuan then continued her face somehow scowling even more than before. “ Well, what do you plan to do with him since you decided to take him in without telling me? Hm??”. “ Yu Ziyuan, Not in front of the kids-” Jiang Fengmian tried to plead, Yu Ziyuan appeared to shake with rage as purple sparks emitted from a ring on her right hand as Jiang Fengmian plead with her. “ WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO YOU WHEN YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT MY OPINION! BRINGING IN A STREET RAT THAT CAME FROM WHO KNOWS WHERE!?! HE COULD BE A WHORE’S CHILD FOR ALL WE KNOW!!” Yu Ziyuan shrieked as she marched up to the trio to point a finger at Jiang Fengmian’s chest. Hua Ying didn’t quite understand the last obscenity that left the angry woman's mouth, ‘What was a Whore? Is that a bad thing to be? Hua Ying made a note to himself to ask his Bàba what it meant.’ that’s when movement in his peripheral caught Hua Ying’s attention. Jiang Cheng seemed to have shifted back from the two arguing adults and was looking at the ground where his foot was rubbing the wood flooring seeing Jiang Cheng this calm as the two Adults argued made him think this was a regular occurrence. Hua Ying allowed his attention to drift back to the two adults Jiang Fengmian was now holding two hands up in a placating matter while Yu Ziyuan looked about ready to slit someone's throat open as she continued to yell at Jiang Fengmian. Hua Ying realized staying near the two adults wasn’t the brightest idea, He turned towards Jiang Cheng and grabbed his hand and whispered “ Let’s go.”. Jiang Cheng gave him a look at first before allowing himself to be pulled back towards the main courtyard. As the two boys left the adults didn’t even notice they had left.
Once the two boys were back in the Main courtyard Hua Ying stopped tugging on Jiang Cheng’s hand and asked while tilting his head to the side in a curious manner, “ Is that normal for them to fight?”. Jiang Cheng seemed to scowl at Hua Ying’s question before sighing “ A-Niang and A-Die argue all the time, It doesn’t bother me anymore.” He said as he shrugged his little shoulders. ‘Hua Ying knew arguing was normal between people even Bàba and Diēdie argued sometimes and they always made up afterwards. But to be arguing all the time isn’t normal…’ Hua Ying sat down on the little platform that separated the Courtyard's sandy ground from the Lacquer wood. He Heard some shuffling before he saw a pair of tiny legs sit right beside him. The two of them sat in awkward silence watching the Deciples train under the beating sun, About one Shichen later a Young woman approached the boys and addressed Jiang Cheng first, “ Young Master Jiang, Yú-fūrén has requested you to meet her in the main hall.” Jiang Cheng stood and dusted his robes off before strutting off to wherever the Main hall was. The Young woman then turned to Hua Ying “ Hua Ying, This one has been instructed to lead you to your room for the time being.” At the mention of his name Hua Ying had already stood up and nodded his head to the young woman as she lead him down a different corridor that was less decorated then the other one he had been lead down earlier. This corridor was also livelier than the other many people walking up and down it, He deduced this must be the servant's quarters as the people who flitted past them were all wearing servants' robes. About two doors down the corridor the woman stopped in front of a door and gestured to it, “ This is your room.” she stated as she opened the door and let him enter.
The room itself was small but not uncomfortable small, The furniture adorning the room was the bare minimum, A small bed shoved in the top left corner of the room beside a small window that had the sun shinning in on an awkward angle, A dresser pressed against the Right wall, and a small Table in the middle of the room. After looking around Hua Ying turned back to the Young Lady who was still standing in the doorway waiting for him to finish looking. “ Dinner with be within 2 Shichen, Someone will be sent to lead you to the dining hall.” she paused and looked Hua Ying up and down before continuing “ As for robes… someone will drop some old robes for you to borrow.” Hua Ying bowed and thanked her as she closed the door and left him in the room alone. Hua Ying flopped down on the bed and curled up into a ball now that he was alone, A silent sob racked through his small form as he cried to himself. ‘Bàba… Diēdie… when are you going to find me? Why haven’t you come and taken me back home?’ He continued to cry to himself before passing out from exhaustion.
~ At Puqi Shrine~
Two Figures were thrown onto their knees in front of Xie Lian and Hua Cheng. “ SPEAK!” yelled Feng Xin The marital god who had thrown the two men to their knees and stood to the left of them. The Two men violently shook with fear but, stayed silent. At the Continued Silence, the man on the right side was kicked forward face smashing against the floor of the shrine. “ TELL THEM WHAT YOU TOLD US. “ Roared Mu Qing as his foot continued to push on the back of the man who was kicked forward. The other man who wasn’t being shoved in the ground kotowed and started hysterically rambling “ WE TOOK A YOUNG BOY FROM OUTSIDE A RESTAURANT IN YILING, WE PULLED HIM INTO AN ALLY RESTRAINED HIM AND SEARCHED HIS SLEAVES FOR ANYTHING VALUABLE. “ the man took a shutter in breath in before continuing, “ ALL HE HAD WAS A DUMB WOODEN DRUM. WE STARTED ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER UNTIL SOMEONE SCREAMING THE KID'S NAME CAME CLOSE SO WE KNOCKED HIM OUT THREW HIM ONTO A HAY CART, AND RAN OFF! I SWEAR WE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING EL-.” The man was trying to finish explaining what they had done when his head was suddenly smashed into the ground by a tall man in red robes whose expression was terrifyingly enraged. “ And where is this hay cart?” asked Hua Cheng who had now lifted the head of the man he smashed into the ground seconds before. “ We do-don’t know, we ran away afterward…” Coughed the man as he spat out a tooth or two. Hua Cheng didn’t like that answer and shoved the man’s head back into the ground. He snarled one word “ WHERE!”. The other man was the one to speak up “ We don’t know. It should still be in the same alleyway we brought him to, unless it moved.” at this Xie Lian walked up to the two men “ You’re going to bring us there and hope it’s still in the same place.” Xie Lian spoke softly, but the aura Xie Lian was radiating was suffocating. At Xie Lian’s statement, both men nodded as best as they could with their heads being shoved into the ground.
~ Back at Lotus Peir ~
Hua Ying woke to a knock on the door. At first, he was confused as to where he was but, then the memories of the morning flooded in. While hopping off the bed Hua Ying glanced out the window the sun was almost fully set, leaving only a little sliver of the sun above the horizon. Another knock sounded on the door again this time more agitated sounding. Hua Ying scrambled over to the door and opened it, On the other side of the door was the Young woman from earlier who led him to his room. “ Come it’s time for dinner, You need to learn the way around here quickly.” She spoke as she started to show Hua Ying towards the Dining hall. He quickly ran after the young woman as she walked at a brisk pace to the dining hall, Once at the Dining hall she quickly excused herself and took off leaving him standing in the entryway to the disciple's dining hall.
Hua Ying slowly walked into the Dining hall to find it bustling with life, so many people sitting and enjoying dinner together while having meaningful conversations with each other. He slowly scanned the room and found a line of disciples waiting to receive dinner formed against the other side of the hall. Hua Ying joined the line and grabbed a clean tray that was set on a nearby counter. The line didn’t take too long for him to reach the Chief, A medium bowl of congee with bits of tofu and different types of peppers was put onto his tray with a cup of tea. Hua Ying nodded his head in thanks and went to a semi-empty table to sit and eat his food. ‘The food was a bit bland and wasn’t anywhere near as good as his Bàba’s but, this was all he was going to get for food’. Hua Ying quickly finished his dinner and followed the disciples who had finished their meals and placed his dirty tray on the stack of other trays and his bowl and cup in a container full of dirty dishes. Once he had cleaned up after his meal he exited the dining hall and retraced his steps back to his room.
Hua Ying entered his room and found a pile of old robes left on the bed for him to borrow. He sorted through the clothes and found a clean pair of inner robes and quickly changed into them before shoving the rest of the robes into the dresser. Hua Ying crawled into his bed and pulled the sheet over his head as he curled up into a ball again, As soon as he closed his eyes he passed out cold.