Live Again, Love Anew

Chapter 11- Mao Fenfang's Diary

Summary

A look into the life of Mao Fenfang. We see some familar faces.

Beginning Note

This chapter is over 4000 words. I'm dead. I haven't edited it. Please don't expect chapters this long all the time.

Mao Fenfang

Today is my tenth birthday. A birthday is always exciting, but the tenth one is extra special to cultivators because...

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It is a pleasant day in spring when Mao Fenfang's tenth birthday arrives. Her clan is small, but she thinks that just heightens the excitement for the day. She could call every disciple, servant, and Elder by name, which just made it seem like she had one huge family.

Outside in the main courtyard, a large group is gathered, where the highest disciples and the most common of servants freely mingle, for what matters more than their precious Young Mistress' tenth birthday? Definitely not their standing in the clan.

Mao Fenfang, while calm and composed on the outside, kneeling perfectly and the very image of an elegant and beautiful young lady, is a ball of barely contained energy on the inside. It takes every fiber of her self control to keep from breaking out into a grin and whooping with joy.

It's her tenth birthday, but it's also the day she is going to be gifted with her lifelong partner, her protector and most precious friend; Her spiritual sword!

Ten years old has proven to be the ideal age for cultivators to get their swords. Their bodies are developed enough physically to handle the weight of a full sized metal sword, and their cores are strong enough to both wield the sword, and take some of the strain off of their still growing bodies.

Most cultivators have to wait until a few months after their tenth birthday to receive their sword, though, because most of the time kids are too close to that fine line between ready and not to be able to tell months in advance, and having a sword made or taken from the treasury isn't an instantaneous process.

Having a spiritual sword made takes months. You have to find just the right smith, coordinate what type of sword to be made (whether the sword is for a girl or boy, whether to make it lighter, with an emphasis on speed, or heavier, with an emphasis on power, how strong the person's core is, to know what the person can and can't handle, and a whole lot more.), and work in tandem with a carpenter if the sheath is going to be more simple and just made of wood, or another special artisan if the sheath is going to be a mix of wood and metal that requires a master of a very specific craft. In short, making a sword requires money, time, and lots of coordination and planning.

And then there's names. Mao Fenfang has a sword being made for her, which means she will be the first person ever wielding it. So naturally, the sword starts out unnamed. Finding just the right name for your sword can take months or years.

(Wei Wuxian laughs at this part, because when Uncle Jiang asked him what he wanted to name his sword, he had just offhandedly said "Whatever." and promptly forgot the exchange. So when Uncle Jiang had handed him his sword months later with barely concealed laughter, Wei Wuxian was monumentally confused until he had spied the name of his sword engraved on the sheath. Suibian . Literally, 'Whatever'. Both him and Uncle Jiang had then burst out laughing. Madam Yu had made him sit in the ancestral hall for a week and made him clean the south pier with only a bucket and a brush, and Uncle Jiang had been banished to the servants' table to eat breakfast for two weeks. Suffice to say, Madam Yu hadn't found the name half as funny as him and Uncle Jiang did.)