Chapter Text
There’s a beautiful woman in front of Jingyi.
Her eyes are stern and her face is only accentuated by the sharpness of her features.
For a moment the air around her sizzles and Jingyi can already tell that this woman is a cultivator.
Jingyi usually runs away from cultivators, especially ones who looked at anyone disdainfully like the elder sister in front of her but she smells too much like bread and Jingyi stomach is aching for food as he recalls the only thing that he has managed to ingest for the past two days was water from the nearby river.
At this point Jingyi might just collapse if he can’t work his innocent and youthful charms on her.
Jingyi’s plain white robes has long lost their glamour days ago but his bright smile is something that he has learned to use to charm some of the unsuspecting younger girls who look at him in pity.
It is always easier for him to gather sympathy from women whose motherly instincts would awaken just by looking at him and this also applied to the rich but naive cultivators who wanted to feel that they were doing a good deed by feeding the poor orphan in the street.
After numerous trial and errors, where Jingyi had learned how to nurse his bruised body back into shape, JIngyi had gotten used to choosing who to beg from.
Based on past experience, it was generally easier for him to approach a group of girls rather than one accompanied by men, and the more younger the women the more susceptible they were to his charms. Young female cultivators however were among the creme of the crop, as these traveling warriors were not familiar around the town to be able to garner enough hearsay about Jingyi that would make them avoid him like the townspeople around him.
Since the town lay in between Gusu Lan and Lanling Jin, Jingyi never had any reason to go hungry, despite the townspeople refusing him aid.
But it just so happened that during the past few days no one new had entered the village.
The only ones left were the ones who already knew him as the orphaned young beggar who begged on the streets and although people pitied him it wasn’t enough for them to actually extend help.
Still, Jingyi may had lost his parents but he had not lost his spirits.
Jingyi feels guilty at even considering tricking a immortal beauty like the woman before her but a child must eat.
“Shijie!" Jingyi cries, tugging the woman's robes as he kneels and pleads with his eyes.
"Please help this little one. This little orphan has not eaten for almost two days.” As he mentioned, Jingyi's stomach grumbles loudly enough for some of the villagers who were steadily avoiding the scene to pause and see what was going on.
He thanks whatever diety that was present for making his act more believable.
Jingyi has his pitiful voice to an art.
No woman could ever resist for the first time.
As he pleads while his own stomach grumbles in hunger, Jingyi sees the elder sister’s expression soften and he knows it was only a matter of time.
Time for the waterworks.
Jingyi begins to give the elder sister before him, his best version of his puppy dog eyes.
"I'm so hungry." Jingyi's stomach once more grumbles.
Hook.
Tears start falling from Jingyi's bony face and the shijie is panicking at what to do to comfort this angelic oprhan of a child.
Line.
“Please shijie” Jingyi begs, voice as sweet as a honey trap.
And Sinker.
Jiang Cheng has no idea what led him to this moment.
And no, Jiang Cheng is not questioning why he is dressed like a maiden, coercion from his attendants was the reason why he is stuck wearing makeup and flowing robes during his vacation.
What's bothering Jiang Cheng is how in the world did he manage to saddle himself with an orphan who is shamelessly devouring all the food in front of him.
The child wore brown robes that were more dirty than the actual color brown, which somehow caught his attention and he had proceeded to plead with Jiang Cheng in his shy and shakey voice for scraps of food.
Jiang Cheng says fuck you to his own soft heart as he had gone ahead and invited the child to eat with him which lead to his current predicament.
Now that the food is in front of them, the child is eating unabashedly. Jiang Cheng doesn't think much of it considering that the child is all skin and bones. Each plate that gets served, quickly disappears and Jiang Cheng tells himself not to be bothered by the way this child didn't even politely offer some food to him (her, now that she was in disguise) but instead is happily devouring everything.
"Shijie, are you not hungry? Why aren't you eating?" the child says but it comes out as nothing more than a muffled words as he chews every chance he gets.
This brat. Can't he see that he isn't even leaving any grain of rice for Jiang Cheng to pick up.
"There won't be any left for you, you know." the child manages to grin even with his mouth full.
Jiang Cheng scowls at the child's word but he doesn't even notice when his lips begin to break out into a smile.
The customers of the restaurant all breathe in awe as they bare witness to the Lady of Yunmeng's unguarded smile. Most of them stop what they are doing and even one artist hurries to unpack his wares to capture the lady's otherworldly cool beauty.
Luckily for the bystanders, the Lady of Yunmeng, Jiang Cheng, does not notice. Otherwise at their insistent staring, tables would have already been broken.
It seemed as if the gods watching over Jingyi had watched over the restaurant owner as well because Jingyi says one line that shifts all Jiang Cheng's attention to the brat in front of him.
"Shijie, you look more beautiful when you smile."
Jiang Cheng glares at the unexpected compliment and the child pulls his bowl closer to his face in an attempt to hide from his ire.
Despite his harsh reactions at the child's words, Jiang Cheng can't help but smile at how this brat is so shameless.
Somehow seeing this child move, brings back a memory from the past to the forefront of his mind-
Of an orphan and a man who had brought a child back into his family.
Of a woman who was reminded of the love she never had.
Of a child who had longed to be seen despite being present.
And of him, who had lost everything.
The familiar pain Jiang Cheng had experienced during his childhood, that had fizzled long ago began to sizzle back into his very being and he finds himself clenching his robes underneath his hands.
“Shijie, can I call you shijie,” the child speaks but the dam that holds Jiang Cheng's own suppressed sorrow is already open and the mere mention of the moniker reminds Jiang Cheng of the taste of warm soup and late-night hugs that he will never be able to have again.
His frown deepens and the surroundings close in on him, the sadness permeates through his body and it takes every inch of his control to calm his tears. Yu Huian’s words ring in his ears as he tries to control himself and he holds on to them like a man clinging on driftwood.
Free yourself sect leader. The whole purpose of this excercise is to help unwind your troubles. You cannot carry your burdens if they are not yours in the first place. Leave them as you leave your own identity behind. Allow yourself this moment of peace.
Jiang Cheng can't breathe, he can't see but he knows he's crying.
A hand holds on to him, rubbing his back and words that drone in and out of his ears repeat worriedly.
“Shijie, Im sorry! I'm so sorry! ”
Its that child.
Jiang Cheng has never heard such a clear voice, except from his own nephew.
"I'm really thankful to Shijie! I promise I wont eat anymore waahhh"
The child is wailing now.
A child crying is usually irritating to Jiang Cheng but this child's voice is the rope he has been waiting for to climb out of his own mind.
Jiang Cheng breathes focusing on the voice. He recalls the usual way that Jin Ling provides his own support and he wants to see if he can ask this child the same thing.
"Sing for me brat. It will help with my condition."
The child follows his orders and does not hesitate to sing.
With each note, his breath becomes steady and the dark fog in his eyes began to clear replaced with vivid images of his own memories of bright sky's and the green lakes of Yunmeng. His shijie is smiling at him, telling him that everything was going to be okay.
He scrubs the tears from his eyes as he nods his assent at the phantoms of his memory and he is greeted by the sight of the restaurant and several people turning their heads quickly away from the incident that had just occurred.
When he finally sits straight back up, he can see how the child's face is red and puffy from crying and he can't help but laugh at the child balloon in front of him despite everything that happened.
"Shijie, y-you didn't have to s-scare me like that j-just to get food." the child is sniffling, which makes some of his words hard to understand as he wipes the remainder of his tears.
Guilt and shame fills Jiang Cheng at how his own behavior had inadvertently scared a child. One that continued to cry while clutching her robes. Jiang Cheng begins to embrace the child in an effort to calm her down and in her own way apologize. It works as he hears the child sniffling decrease as each minute passes.
With the two comfortable in their own bubble, Jiang Cheng will forever remember the words that leaves her tinted lips at this moment.
The one that would start it all.
"Would you like to accompany this Shijie?"
When the Lady of Yunmeng returns after her scheduled excursion with a child in her arms, nobody dares to make a comment.
The disciples of Yunmeng all seem to share one brain as the ridiculous questions in their head simultaneously jump from, "Can Sect Leader Jiang get pregnant and give birth right away?" to "Does this mean Sect Leader Jiang needs to be called Madam as well, now that he has a child?"
Fortunately, even though the disciples intelligence were lacking, their wisdom was not. Each of them knew if any of their innocent speculations dare leave their mouths, they were sure to get a beating from their own sect leader.
So they kept their mouth's shut.
It was only common-sense after all.
At the very least they didn't wan't to disturb the piece in their hearts which was prompted by Sect Leader Jiang's alternate persona.
All the disciples definitely rejoiced as they got to see the Lady of Yunmeng once more!
With a child in her arms, somehow their sect leader had become even more beautiful.
Unbeknownst to the person himself, the soft expressions Jiang Cheng was making as he looked at Jingyi did absolutely nothing to stop his growing fan club.