Beyond Which Lies the Wind

13: Tea and Blooming Flowers

"It's nothing, please go ahead, Dad," you said hastily.

"Ah, all right." He placed his chopsticks down on the table, weighing his next words. "I know times have been tough lately on everyone, but things are looking up. You've been offered a marriage proposal."

"What?!"

"I know it's a little sudden," your father admitted, and the way he crossed his arms meant there were some lingering reservations on his end as well. "But this is a golden opportunity. Not many of that family's caliber would take someone that has not been well-established in Liyue."

"I've never even met –" you hesitated, because as much as your parents had given you a hefty amount of freedom in your lifetime, arranged marriages were dreadfully common, almost an expectation. It was a way for children of families of lower social standing to move up by marrying into wealthier society. Up until now, you hadn't thought your parents had been considering it. But it shouldn't be particularly surprising.

"They are a good and respectable family," your father pressed. Right. Marriages of convenience had never been about love, or anything of that sort. It wasn't about a union of two people, but a union of two families.

"Do I get a say in this?" you asked bluntly.

He looked surprised. "Why yes, of course –"

"Then I would like to meet this family first."

-

The An family had a daughter and two sons, and you were right to meet the parents who have been trying to set this up first, before anything else. They rented out the most luxurious pavilion overlooking the city for the entire afternoon, and the tables along the center of the room groaned under the weight of fancy appetizers and delicate sweets. A fragrant cup of tea sat before you, untouched. A classic scene and an undeniably good initial impression, but all you could taste was bile in the back of your throat.

The budding flowers that they had thrust into your hands had bloomed upon contact with your skin, and immediately you tensed, politely refusing the bouquet. There was no insistence, no niceties as they brought the flowers away with plastic smiles still plastered to their faces as they asked you to sit down and make yourself comfortable. They were a friendly middle-aged couple with straying white hairs and silken robes but the statement that they had made was more than enough to lose your trust completely.

"Who put you up to this?" you demanded, the first words out of your mouth after a polite greeting shattering your own first impression. The corners of Mrs. An's eyes crinkled in such a way that made her look vulnerable and hurt, but you wouldn't buy it. You refused to back down.

"Who put you up to this?" you repeated, cold and unrelenting.

"Please, surely you misunderstand," Mr. An said cajolingly. "I apologize if this gift was not to your taste."

"It was in very poor taste," you agreed. You folded your arms over your chest, glaring them down as if challenging them to refute your next words. "I won't ask again. Who sent you to test me in this absurd manner?"

He shook his head and clasped his hands together as if in prayer. "It wasn't intended to be a test. With a scrap of Lady Ningguang's paper snow, a fortune teller advised us to seek out the one with the power to move mountains and shape forests, the strength of a thousand years that begins with a single budding qingxin." He nodded at the bouquet of white flowers that had been cast aside on the floor. "Surely that is you, the owner of the bountiful flower shop that is the talk of the town lately."

Move mountains and forests? That was ridiculous, that sounded like the power of the Geo Archon and not someone with barely containable Dendro elemental energy.

"I'm afraid you've come to the wrong person," you said, slowly exhaling out of your mouth. "I can help you with your flowers, but that is the extent of my abilities. My powers are terribly limited and a little unstable, you're better off asking Mr. Baizhu."

"We do not desire to use your powers," Mrs. An said with a pleading note to her voice. "We simply want your auspicious fortune; be it name, birthplace, and background, the matchmaker has dictated that your compatibility will benefit both of our families greatly. We ask for nothing else but your cooperation."

That was putting it a little too lightly.

"I apologize," you said, "But I do not wish to marry under these conditions. It's far too preposterous to expect a total stranger to comply, when it doesn't benefit us in any way."

Mr. An puffed his chest up, angry now. "We own half the dockyard and you still want to know what's in it for you? What an ungrateful brat."

His words sent a shockwave of anger of your own down your spine. You couldn't believe your father's acquaintance could be so insufferably dense, as if the amount of mora in his bank account could make up for a terrible personality.

His wife rested her hand against his shoulder comfortingly and said in a low voice. "Dear, think about the virtue and filial piety of one to covet none of our wealth. We must acquire this child by any means necessary."

Despite her gentle tone and her almost-kindly words, they were even harsher and more oblivious than her husband's, treating you as if you were a thing to be acquired. It didn't matter if the birthdays and the strokes in your name complemented so perfectly with that of their children that you were a match made in Celestia. You were never going to marry into this arrogantly wealthy family, even if it were for the sake of yours.

The distaste and outrage seemed to show on your face, and the fear it traced into theirs gave you a strange sort of satisfaction.

"Thank you for your time," you said, performing a low and respectful bow. "I'll see myself out."

-

That marriage meeting solidified your resolve that no one needed to know of the Vision you carried around in secrecy.Your mother had told you that Liyue Harbour was home to many Vision-bearers, but the complete lack of trust you had for people kept you skeptical, and that had kept you relatively safe and unknown to the world. It was even stranger this time, that they had claimed they had no use for your powers. They'd forced unbloomed flowers upon you, clearly testing the limits of what you could do. What a bold-faced lie it was.

And that matter of the one they spoke of, Lady Ningguang...

You wondered if it was a matter worth pursuing, why the Tianquan's fabled paper snow had led such a couple to seek out someone like you. It couldn't have been merely a coincidence. As for the fortune teller that told them someone who could bring a qingxin to bloom, how could that have so perfectly guided them to you? How did the powers of other Dendro wielders manifest, if not in the same way as yours?

If you investigate the matter of Ningguang's involvement, go to Chapter 24.

If you pay a visit to Baizhu at Bubu Pharmacy, go to Chapter 25.