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Xue Baochai, Jia Baoyu had not agreed to this. Despite their individual differences, between Baobao's casual ignorance and cheerful optimism of the trials forced upon them since childhood and Baochai's competence in fulfilling all of the expectations required of an heir of the Jia Family… She thought that the three of them were headed in a good direction.
We could have found work at any Wing, or even some Fixer Association, Baochai thinks, and the position of family head would have landed easily in their laps. Qiu might be influential, but his tendency to resolve most problems with inexplicable methods is poor manners. Huan might be a little more measured, but he lacks the charisma and wits of Daiyu. Baobao might be inexperienced now, but Baochai knows, with enough time, as long as the both of them remain by his side, Jia Baoyu will be polished into a jade most refined.
But Daiyu has no interest in any of the family's interests. Refusing to relinquish her position from the front of the body, their body, she could potentially end up grinding up all of Baochai's years of effort into worthless jadeite sand.
Baochai does not agree, but she lets Daiyu have her way.
Lin Daiyu knows that she needs to leave, knows that Jia Baoyu needs to leave. She would have done so earlier, but relented due to Baochai's pleas. Thankfully, Grandmother sent them out anyway. So now she gets to pick where they will go.
Baochai might not agree with her plans but Daiyu forges ahead anyway, because she knows what is best for the three of them, for Jia Baoyu.
So she rides on their scooter, taking them farther away from the nest of H Corp. towards the appointed meeting place where she will carve out their life and fate away from the luxurious bloodied silken threads of the Jia Family wrapped so tightly around their limbs.
"Ahahahaha! This is quite a refreshing experience, Daiyu!" exclaims Baobao who had slipped out beside her.
"We usually have a chauffeur bring us around, this is the first time we're going on a trip by driving on our own! You always have the best ideas for entertainment~"
Daiyu adjusts the suitcase of their belongings between their legs, and returns his comment with a smile.
"We're going on a new adventure, Baobao. You're going to have many new experiences from now on! And you will meet new friends! And I don't mean those who try to kill you."
"Those were fun too~" he hums.
"Only because Baochai analyses them so well. Now that we're no longer at home, we don't have to deal with all that crap from Father or Grandma or the aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and cousins anymore."
"Eh? But I like everyone too!" Baobao protests innocently. Upon sensing her scowl, he adds, "But you like me more, right? Aha~ Then I will listen to you, Daiyu~"
Daiyu is grateful for the trust he gives to her.
Between her and Baochai, Daiyu knows that Baobao favours her. She is the only one who knows what he really needs. After all, it was her who was the first to become him.
Jia Baoyu was not yet three, just out of diapers, barely stable on two little feet when a slender bamboo pole was thrust into his still chubby hands.
"A Jia must not allow themself to be bested by a mere assassin," so said his father. "Your young age does not preclude you from being a target."
The first time he trips over his own feet, sobs fell from his lips. Xiren, his butler who was still a child herself (just several years older), held him firmly by his shoulders and pulled him back upright. Baoyu had not expected that. He wanted to be hugged and coddled like before, for Xiren to carry him to Mother so she can sing his tears away.
"You must be strong, Young Master," she says to him, pity in her eyes.
"… uu… waa-…" He was about to escalate into a full on bawl when he feels Xiren startle. He hears footsteps nearing and turns to see his instructor approaching, looking with disdain upon the maid.
"Come on now, Young Master Baoyu," Xiren wipes the tears off his cheeks with a shaky sleeve. "Please."
Xiren seemed scared. Baoyu does not want Xiren to be scared. So he smiles at her, picks up his light training bamboo weapon, and continues obediently copying the instructor's actions: step forward, vertical swing, to the side, horizontal swing, step back and turn, sweep across, step forward and recover.
He still trips over sometimes, and when he does, Xiren would gasp, so Baoyu quickly smiles at her to show her he is fine, gets up and resumes his training.
When his lesson was over, Xiren cheered for him. Even his instructor praised him! Baoyu noticed that Xiren looks happier when bringing him back to his room. He likes it when Xiren is happy.
There are many people in the Jia Family. Baoyu's grandmother. Baoyu's parents. Baoyu's cousins and siblings. Baoyu's uncles and aunts. But apart from Mother, none of the rest of them had time to spend with him. He has butlers like Xiren. He has tutors to teach him in the ways of business and academics, coaches to keep his body fit, doctors to keep him healthy, instructors to drill him into being strong. He has hundreds of toys and trinkets to play with.
Sometimes, he meets some of his older siblings. They were not looking to play, he knows. They were sizing him up, determining if he would be a threat to their position in the Family.
"Don't worry, Young Master Baoyu," Xiren assured him. "You are not old enough for them to be allowed to kill you."
So those times when he does meet his siblings, Baoyu smiles and greets them cheerfully in what he hopes makes it look like he is harmless. He does not think about being old enough to be killed someday.
The first time Baoyu played truant was when he had started learning to spar.
It hurt when he was hit, both the bruise on his tummy and the disappointment on his instructor's face that Baoyu had allowed himself to be hit at all.
But Baoyu will not cry, cannot allow himself to cry. He picked up his blunt training spear, puffed up his flushed cheeks and bit down on his lip, got up on his feet and faced his instructor again.
And got hit again. It did not hurt as much this time, almost like his instructor had not been expecting him to be able to parry the blow at all. The droplets from his eyes tasted salty on his tongue. The boy hastily wiped his face on the back of his gloves.
With the most self-control that he could muster, the child walked to his instructor and gave a respectful bow.
"Thank you, Shifu, for being gentle in striking me! I want to think about what you taught me so far, so please let me leave the lesson now!"
He does not wait for the instructor's response before turning away, walking as briskly as he could out of the training room. The boy broke into a run the moment he was sure that he was out of sight.
A part of him wanted to run back to his bedroom. But the “him” at this moment wanted to go to the library.
Lin Daiyu was tired, angry, frustrated and hurting. Jia Baoyu is just a kid! Mother had read old stories to them before, to Baoyu and Xiren. Children should be playing in gardens, drawing in sand, climbing trees, singing and laughing with other children. But what they have had to go through every day were lessons: physical agility lessons, combat lessons, calligraphy lessons, accounting lessons, etiquette lessons, and Daiyu was very sick of all of them. Tears overflowed from her eyes and ran down her cheeks freely.
She does not know how she had lived all this time acting out the role of the perfect son to the Jia Family, but Daiyu is no baby puppet, no “Baobao” anymore. From now, she determined that she would live out their life on her own terms.
She picks out a picture book, the continuation to one that they had read last week, and sat down on the floor to read.
"That was random of you!" said Xiren as she fussed over Baoyu later in his bedroom. "You've always been so compliant, so I wasn't expecting you to just leave!"
She applied an ointment over his bruises.
"The instructor was so worried if he would lose his job. Whether for letting you run away or for upsetting you, I don't know." She chuckled good-naturedly.
Baoyu's eyes widened.
"I… I ran… from lesson…?"
He had not remembered much of what happened since the combat lesson started.
"Well, not exactly ran, but you asked to stop the lesson very nicely."
"Won't Shifu be angry at me?"
"He wasn't really, just very surprised because you've never not complete a lesson before."
"… oh." Baoyu made a mental note to apologise to his instructor tomorrow.
"Well, taking breaks once a while is fine," Xiren ruffles the hair on his head as she tucked him into bed. "Just don't make it a habit, okay? The Master won't be happy to hear that."
"Okay!"
It was strange, Baoyu thinks to himself, as Mother reads a story scroll to him during their literature lesson.
He had been feeling this way for a long time now, the sense of something not being congruent. Mother would tell an old story, read a book, and Baoyu would feel a sense of déjà vu. He was certain that he had already read that very same story before, only he could not remember when he did, almost as if he had dreamt it. It had been happening since they were reading picture books and now they are already progressing on to reading word books.
There were also so many times where Baoyu had found himself in the library or in his bathtub or in his bedroom with no memory of how he got there when he was supposed to be in the middle of training or a lesson. He tries to probe Xiren, not wanting to worry the butler about anything being wrong with him.
"What does Shifu think of me today?"
From her answers, Baoyu figures out that sometimes he had stayed through a difficult lesson that nearly left him in tears, other times he had asked to leave early.
Father was not too pleased with those times and had given him a whipping for that one day. Baoyu does not know what happened after that, for the next thing he remembered was Xiren applying ointment over the heated red lashes on his thighs. Yet, nothing hurt: That was strange because it should hurts, because Xiren was looking so sad about it.
That night, Baoyu cries as he lies in bed.
Why am I crying? he wonders in confusion, blinking at the ceiling through blurry eyes.
Sorry, Baobao, he hears a voice sobbing in his head. I will have to remember not to run away when Father is around to hear of it.
Ah…? A friend? He thinks.
"Hello there, Miss!" He whispers a greeting to the voice in his head enthusiastically. "I am Jia Baoyu, may I know your name?"
"Stupid Baobao. I know who you are." Her voice still sounds like it comes from inside him, but feels much clearer. She sighs, "I am… Lin Daiyu."
"Lady Lin? You seem around my age… I'll call you Daiyu then! Nice to meet you~"
Daiyu huffs grumpily.
"Were you crying earlier? Is that why I was crying?"
"I cry because you won't cry, dummy!"
"Should I be crying…? Don't people cry when they feel sad? I don't feel- "
Daiyu raises her voice, and Baoyu feels like someone had smacked him on the side of the head.
"It is because you don't feel sad that I have to be!"
"… hm?"
She sighs.
"It is okay, Baobao, you don't ever have to feel sad. Because I am here to take that for you. I will take all your pain, your loneliness, I will feel all your sadness, your anger." The boy feels a cool comforting embrace around his chest that makes warm bubbles float through his body.
"I will protect you, Baobao, so all you have to do is to keep being happy."
"… ah. Is this why it doesn't hurt when Father beat me?"
He feels Daiyu nod.
"Thank you, Daiyu~ You're very nice, aren't you?"
"Shut up, stupid."
"Have you been taking over me to read books, Daiyu?"
She nods.
"I see. It is okay, you can keep doing that, I don't mind~"
Baoyu feels a jab to his chest.
"You can't mind that, Baobao. This is our body."
"Oh~?"
"I am just as much Jia Baoyu as you are."
"… wow~ That's super cool~ I am actually two persons in one body? Oh, hmm? Wait, I am still one person, that's why you are calling me “Baobao”~ I thought it was just because you think I am a baby."
"That too."
Baobao giggles. "Both of us are Baoyu, aren't we?"
Daiyu nuzzles into his shoulder.
"Took you long enough, Baobao. Let's go to sleep now, goodnight."
There were many visitors to the Jia Household. Grandmother's guests, Father's guests, Uncles and Aunts' guests, some of his older adult cousins' guests.
All children are always taught to carry themself properly in order to represent the Jia Family well. Baoyu was still too young to be expected to serve guests, although he still had to at least present himself and greet everyone graciously.
Baobao likes those moments, because he gets to see his older relatives being gentle and polite. He likes Qiu's confident presentation on marketing strategies, likes Yuanchun's elegant dance moves with her fans, likes Huan's mellow voice as he recites poetry.
So even when some of them become different people when they are with him, Baobao is not scared.
He is not old enough for them to kill him without consequence, so he trusts their lies and empty praises, he does not fear their loud voices or their hands on him or their whispered threats. For surely, by the time he is older, he would be able to defend himself. According to his coaches and instructors, his progress has been rather ideal.
(Most encounters with their family leaves Lin Daiyu soaking their pillow in tears at night.)
The first time Jia Baoyu fought back against his sibling was during his fourth day of starting duels. While Baobao barely felt anything from the injuries he received, rather enjoying the excitement and interactions with his older cousins himself, Daiyu was struggling to keep them from rolling their eyes in annoyance or shouting in frustration.
It was Jia Huan they faced this time. Being the younger one, he was allowed three moves without Huan counter-attacking.
"Our cousins have been handicapped by 3 moves and you still can't beat them?" His older brother scoffed at him. "Should have started with me first before you shamed our branch like that."
Daiyu had a good mind to just trip him before the match even started proper, but instead left the fight to Baobao, who obediently waited for the cue to start.
He charged him, aiming a slash to his left side, which Huan easily sidestepped.
His upward swing was blocked by his opponent's spear.
He tried to disengage his polearm to attempt a third strike before his butt got whooped, but found it still pinned down by the spear. And Big Brother Huan was sneering.
He was not supposed to do that. Baoyu had one-and-a-half more moves. Daiyu was furious. They might have been defeated by their cousins before, but none of them did anything until she made her fourth move.
The younger boy's eyes narrowed as he dropped his weapon, then made use of his opponent's momentary loss of balance to elbow him on the inner side of his arm, causing Huan to drop his own weapon as well.
They hear their instructor clap. "Why, well done, Baoyu. That piece of metal and wood in your hands aren't your only weapon, no — your whole body is. Well done too, Huan, for making your younger brother realise that."
Baoyu recovered his posture and smiled widely at his older brother, as though oblivious to Huan's attempt at sabotage earlier.
"Thank you for your guidance~ Dear Brother!"
What was that!!??? Daiyu seethed in their minds when Baoyu was alone. "That nasty cheating - "
"Wasn't Big Brother so kind? We won't have thought of using our arm without his tip!"
Daiyu groaned. "That was not his intention, stupid Baobao. Though I guess, if you did manage to disarm Huan, you're not that stupid today."
"… eh? Yes, I guess, I did…?" Baobao tilts his head quizzically, finger pointing to his nose.
"Sure wasn't me, I was about to give Huan the scolding of his life."
Baobao blinks blankly. "It was me, but~ I don't… think it was fully me either…? I heard someone telling me to…"
Daiyu pushes herself to the front and whispers aloud. "Okay, speak up, I know what's going on. Who are you?"
Good evening, Miss Daiyu and Mister Baobao, says a polite voice in their mind.
"Oh!" exclaims Baobao immediately. "I know you~"
"You know her…?" Daiyu would be glaring at him if she could. "You knew someone else was in here and you didn't think to tell me!?"
"Yea! She's been doing our calligraphy too! And oh~" He points over at the neat stack of books on the desk in their bedroom. "You know all that ethics and mathematics homework? She did them too!"
"WHAT!!?? I thought that was all you!"
"Well to be fair~ I did do them all at the start. But I realised I wasn't very good at being so detailed and organised y'know? Those are a little boring… so I just sort of drifted out and I guess she started taking over. I forgot about that, heehee~"
"Oh!" incensed that her Baobao had been keeping secrets from her, Daiyu snarked at him in an accusatory tone. "So now you got a nice big sister to help you out with work, you don't actually need me anymore, do you?"
"That's not true!" Baobao squeezes a pillow tightly to his chest. "You are my first friend, Daiyu, you are always important to me- "
… Silence.
"… oh, oops, she's gone?" He sits up and looks about his room despite the knowledge that Daiyu only exists in their mind.
He feels a pat on his shoulder.
I am sorry I caused you two to fight, the new voice in their head apologised.
"It is quite all right, Daiyu has bad moods sometimes. She will be back in the morning~? Or in a few days~"
Would we be all right without her?
"I don't know… Well, we just have to make sure we don't get beaten or disciplined while she isn't here, won't we? And hide really well from the brothers and sisters!
"But wow~! You were really cool back there! On top of being great at academics and etiquette, you're good at martial arts too?"
The presence in their mind blushed at the compliment. I simply do what is expected of us as Jia Baoyu.
"Amazing~! I have never been good at being a good child of the Jia Family, so I think you're so awesome~ Uhm… Do you have a name?"
Name? I, I don't know. I've only thought of myself as Jia Baoyu.
"Well, that can't do, Daiyu says Baoyu is all of us~ I know! We'll ask Daiyu to give you a name when she comes back!"
Daiyu does not come back for the next three days. But with his new companion providing him tips and directions, Baobao was faring well in his combat training and his opponents' handicap had been reduced to two moves.
They return to their room to find that all of the origami animals that were on their desk in the morning had been cleared away.
"Ah… A maid must have cleaned them up, what a pity~ I shouldn't have left them there, Daiyu usually keeps those on the shelf."
My deepest apologies! the yet unnamed one squeaked. I missed Daiyu so I brought them out to look at while writing, it was me who failed to return them where they should be…
"Don't worry about it~" Baobao cheers her up, "We always throw some of them away anyway, whenever Daiyu makes more of them. In the meantime~ How about I fold some new ones?"
He takes a seat at the desk, pulls out an elegantly patterned scented square paper from a neat stack in the drawer and begins to fold.
"Look, this is crane!"
Ah yes, it looks like it, Baobao.
Another paper. Another folding.
"And this, can you guess?"
Uhm… Bear?
"Dog~ But it could be one of the bear-looking dogs right?"
That one is a cow…?
"An antelope! Ah, maybe I need another inner fold and bend here for the horns…"
Oh, I know this one. Flower!
Baobao holds out his crinkly lopsided paper flower proudly. "Yes, you got it~ Isn't it pretty?"
He allows her to front their body as she reaches for it. She feels about their hair tied up in a topknot for a loop to tuck the flower into.
"Stop, stop! Stop, don't you do that!" shouts Daiyu's voice in their head.
The other girl drops the paper flower back onto the table.
Ah! Sorry… I just thought that it would be nice to wear flowers in my hair… I had planned to take it out before we go out! I didn't mean to make that choice for all of us…
"Daiyu, you're back!" Baobao chirps excitedly. "It is fine, isn't it? She is a girl after all, girls should be allowed to- "
"That's not what I am angry about!" If Daiyu could pull on Baobao's ear, she would.
"Are you folding these things terribly on purpose!? With my origami paper too? Apologise to the paper for the mockery you've made of them! Don't you dare let anyone put that hideous thing in our hair."
Baobao raises a hand to his mouth and pulls open the drawer, giggling.
"Why don't you do it then?"
Daiyu scowls as she goes to the front, picks out two sheets of paper in a pleasant shade of teal patterned with an array of aesthetic triangles and lines and begins to work on them. When she was done with assembling the paper lotus flower, she undid their boyish topknot and restyled their hair into a feminine bun updo, then carefully pins the teal paper flower onto the front of their bun.
Oh…! The other girl gasps when Daiyu shows her their new hairstyle in the mirror.
So beautiful… I… I look like a girl, she blushes.
"Well, I do make for a beautiful boy myself~"
Daiyu hushes Baobao.
"Do you like hair accessories? Your name… We can call you “Baochai”, precious hairpin."
My name… Baochai… I like it! Thank you, Daiyu! My name is Xue Baochai. Pleased to meet you, Lin Daiyu and Baobao!
"Why am I the only one with a baby name? Daiyu~ Give me a proper name too~"
"Nope~"
Despite her rejection, Baobao laughs, happy that all of Jia Baoyu is present.
So it is with the co-existence of the multiple people in their mind that Jia Baoyu grows up in the Jia Household.
Lin Daiyu took on the role of their advocate and guardian. She makes choices for their own happiness, protects Baobao from any negative feelings. She knows that she might be excessive, that all she is doing is keeping him a perpetual child. But she also loves him too much and never wants for him to bear any pain.
Xue Baochai protects them in her own way. She studies every subject well, does everything immaculately, observes every detail, points out any incoming threats and proposes countermeasures when possible. She makes sure that their family would never find any fault with them. With her guidance, Jia Baoyu will become the perfect heir.
It often puts her at odds with Daiyu, but Baochai knows that being perfect will not make Baoyu happy. Even when she does not understand, she accepts that Daiyu knows them better than Baochai herself does.
As for Jia Baoyu, or rather, “Baobao”, as he is known to the girls? Daiyu and Baochai think that they have sheltered him from the evils of life. Perhaps they have, for there is nothing that displeases him. Riches and exploitation, cooperation and betrayal, comfort and violence, pleasure and pain, saving lives and killing people, taking and receiving — all these things simply are. Whatever he is made to do, whatever is done to him, is just how it is. There is no meaning in forming his own thoughts on them, not when they have no bearing on how he will live or how his life will end.
Beauty isn't perfection, and even in good things hide evil. Jia Baoyu is content to let the good in him — Daiyu and Baochai — lead the way, for he knows that they will outshine the darkness in him.
Even before Grandmother gave her decree, Lin Daiyu had already been making plans to escape the Jia Family. There were many options for a man with the noble background and combat ability of Jia Baoyu. But she refuses to rely anymore on their family.
They can go to the Backstreets. The farther from District 8 the better, to lower the odds of Baoyu being targeted by assassins from their cousins and siblings. Join a fixer office or a syndicate. Anywhere that their family's influence does not reach.
She had been researching their options of their potential new employers when Jia Baoyu caught the eye of some Wing-hopeful company, a Limbus Company. Their colleagues in the Bus Department will be eleven other people from various walks of life from all over the city, and they will do fixer-like jobs wherever their clients requests them to.
The job requires them to live on a bus, and as long as they protect their boss they will not die. Moving around constantly, always with a group of other people and a boss who guarantees that they will all stay alive? Both Baochai and Daiyu likes that idea.
It is a company that Jia Baoyu can learn to be themselves, Daiyu senses, hopes.
She lets Baochai dutifully read over the pages of the contract, asking questions and providing answers when asked. The terms were bizarre but nothing less unreasonable than what they would expect of some backstreet syndicate. She signed their name on the contract. It was the last action she ever took.
"Daiyu…?" Hong Lu whispers in his mind, sealing the pen cap after signing on the paper.
From what he remembers, a clause of the contract involves reducing a part of his strength to a level that matches his new colleagues. It had seemed exciting to him, to imagine that he would magically weaken, like a curse or a game!
He had not been prepared for the contract to take Daiyu away, but if he thinks about it, it makes sense? Daiyu is his strength after all.
What about Baochai? He senses her somewhere in his mind, even if her presence feels weaker, as though she is asleep.
"Jia Baoyu? If there are no further issues, then let us proceed." His new colleague from Limbus Company calls out.
"Ah~ You know that part in our contract where we can customise our uniforms? May I request for a different name to be used?"
"You may. Would you also like to use a different name?"
"Yes please~ Please call me “Hong Lu” from now~" For the first time, he says aloud the new name he had given himself.
His colleague nods approvingly. "It is a wise idea for your name to hide your family of origin."
Hong Lu, a name that makes all of his past life within the red walls of the Jia Household feel like a dream. A name that belongs to him only. If Daiyu ever comes back, if Baochai becomes conscious, he can introduce himself to them. He has grown a lot from being their baby, after all.
He is now Hong Lu, Sinner Number 6 of Limbus Company Bus Department.