Chapter Text
"What are you doing, daddy?" said Mo JIn as he watched Shang Qinghua on his knees twisting Meixiang's hair as she stood in front of the full-length mirror in the master bedroom.
"I'm making ox horns," Shang Qinghua said. "The Japanese call this hair style 'odango' which is a type of round dumpling." The little girl had seen an anime character with that hairstyle and had been bugging him for the past week to put up her hair like that. After making two buns on he top of her head and using hair pins to keep them stable, he then covered them with circles of pale peach silk brocade and ribbons. He said to her, "How do they look?"
She nodded happily.
Shang Qinghua sighed. "I'm glad there's tutorials online for this." Ah, I miss Li Na, he thought. She had finally left to open her own restaurant. While he could call on the in-laws or the occasional babysitter for date nights out, he missed having someone who was always around to help.
Mo Jin frowned and saw a white hair on Shang Qinghua's head. He pulled it out.
"Ow! What are you doing?" said Shang Qinghua.
Mo Jin was frowning at the short white line. "What's this?"
"This is a white hair. Don't just pull hair out of people's heads."
"Only old people have white hair."
"I'm . . . not old but I'm getting older."
Mo Jin tried to pluck out another white hair.
Shang Qinghua said while gently slapping his hand away, "I said stop."
Mo Beijun stuck his head in the room and intoned, "Breakfast."
***
"I want to be a cultivator," said Mo Jin after they watched an animated xianxia drama called "The Rise of the Dream Emperor."
Shang Qinghua looked at Mo Jin. "What? Why?"
"I want a flying sword."
Shang Qinghua sighed. Little kids and their imagination, he thought. Mo Jin really enjoyed watching anything involving powers and swords. "Aren't your father and grandfather teaching you magic? Why do you need more magic?"
"Because father and grandfather can't fly."
"Huh," said Shang Qinghua, trying hard to remember if he had ever seen any of them fly. "You're right." He was tempted to say that cultivators didn't exist but demons existed and maybe they knew more about that stuff. Then he remembered that Li Na had very low levels of cultivation but could still count as a cultivator. However, she had not known any human who knew any more than she did.
Mo Beijun said, "My father should know if it's possible. However, not even all humans are capable of cultivation."
Mo Jin pouted.
***
During a visit to his in-laws' estate, Shang Qinghua said to his father-in-law as they had tea in the salon, "Ah, Mo Jin asked me if cultivation exists. He's been watching TV shows about cultivators and wants to fly on a sword." Mo Beijun and the kids were outside with his mother-in-law where she was showing the children how to make little animal puppets out of snow and ice.
The man laughed. "Oh, he's curious about that, is he? Well, I don't know about any cultivation sects existing nowadays though I wouldn't put it past a stray immortal cultivator here or there living quietly while still practicing. I have a few manuals he could look at it, however."
"You do?"
"Yes, though my wife often scolds me for constantly being on the lookout for various curiosities she considers junk. All of them have their provenance thoroughly vetted. My prize possessions are the manuals from Cang Qiong sect and the Huan Hua Palace. A few slick bastards tried to peddle trash to me. I put a firm stop to that by showing sellers at the gate what would happen if they tried to cheat me." He stood up. "Come with me!"
Shang Qinghua followed him to the clan's main library. He knew of its existence but it was treated in many ways like the treasury room as he could go but would have to be accompanied by one of his in-laws. It wasn't that they didn't trust him but certain items in both the treasury and the library could have unfortunate, even lethal effects on humans. The room was kept cold and dry and each shelf plastered with preservation talismans to keep books from becoming delicate and brittle
A demon who reminded Shang Qinghua of a human librarian sitting in the library stood and bowed towards his lord. "My lords," he said. "How can I help you?"
"Today, I am in the mood to see the cultivation manual from Cang Qiong sect."
The demon nodded, put on gloves, went into the shelves then came back with a book. "Please put on the gloves. The oils on the skin may stain and dirty the book."
Shang Qinghua put on the gloves as did his father-in-law. His father-in-law slowly flipped through the book showing Shang Qinghua the diagrams and pictures along with textual instructions. "It reminds me a little of tai chi," said Shang Qinghua.
"They are distantly related," he said. "Besides, cultivation manuals, it helped that the Cang Qiong sect had caves that radiated spiritual energy that they could meditate in to help break through spiritual roadblocks. Besides special areas, there are lots of herbal concoctions that helped strengthen one's meridians. Those would be in a separate book. I'll ask a doctor to examine him to see if he can cultivate. I will have the librarian make a copy of this book to take home."
***
Ah, how did it end up like this, thought Shang Qinghua as he was sitting next to his son as they were sitting on the floor, meditating or at least trying to. They had gone to the hospital that catered to demons and found a specialist who confirmed that Mo Jin did have a meridian system that responded to human cultivation. Mo Jin then had insisted that he practice with him so they could fly on swords together. Part of cultivating was meditating. Unfortunately, Mo Jin could barely last fifteen minutes before sighing and having to run around because being that still for that long drove him crazy. Meanwhile, Shang Qinghua . . .
Shang Qinghua felt a poke in his side and opened his eyes. "Huh, what?"
"You were sleeping!"
Shang Qinghua shrank before the accusatory expression in his eyes. "No, I was resting my eyes while meditating?"
"You were going like this . . ." Mo Jin closed his eyes and did some breathy snores in imitation of him.