From Dusk til Dawn

Butterflies

Day 12

The following days were spent getting to know her family, her clan and the lands that they were well known for.  Every day, she took Mo Yuan for walks about the valleys and mountain ranges that held many forest paths which hid their worlds most beautiful waterfalls, caverns rich in gemstones, hidden hot springs and valleys rich in wildlife and rare medicinal plants that Mo Yuan had no idea even existed.  And at each magical place she took him to, there was love making all over Qing Qiu.  But no matter how hard she tried to make a deeper connection, she couldn't, though he never once stopped trying or letting her know of his growing fondness for her.

On the 12th day of their trial, she held a meeting with her clansmen.  It started at dawn and would go through until the evening.  It was a time when they could ask for favors, express concerns on any number of things they might be having problems with, mediate between squabbling neighbors and even naming new born babies.  And though many of their problems would have been seen as trivial to anyone else, to Bai Qian, they were important to her people, so therefore they were important to her.  She never made light of their issues, and for that reason, her people cherished her.

Sitting under the Lean-to with Mo Yuan and Feng Jiu watching on quietly, her people came in droves.  "Pay attention Feng Jiu.  You know these people well, but they do not know you all that well, so listen to their needs, some will be very hard to take, but it's important to understand that even though you have a blessed life, not everyone else does, and in time, their issues will become yours" she instructed her niece before opening the meeting.

One after the other her people took their turn to speak privately with her, though she couldn't help but notice the looks the women were throwing Mo Yuans way, and it seemed to her that they had come merely to meet him.  And though she kept the smile on her face, and greeted each one by name, she couldn't help but feel a small twang of jealousy as they openly admired him, though if he noticed, he said nothing.

But eventually it began to even out, as the men approached with far more serious issues, one being an issue that had been going on for far too long.  As the two men approached, Mo Yuan immediately noticed her body stiffen as they knelt before her.

"Gu Gu." One said as the other waited patiently, though she could see he was ready to jump in at any given moment being a man with a very short wick and even less in patience.  "We cannot resolve our issues regarding the plot of land that borders our properties, it just isn't possible, not when he blatantly allows his cattle to free range on it.  And now they're breaking down the fences and encroaching onto my land." he said angrily.

"Gu Gu." The other man spoke quickly to ensure he got his point of view across.  "My cattle only did that once, and I replaced the fences, but he pulled them all out and moved them further in to not only increase his land share, but to shorten the plot we agreed to share." he said in his defense.

Smiling softly to himself, Mo Yuan could see this was one problem that would definitely need mediation to solve, and knowing how easily men could sour when it came to their own land, he said nothing as he waited to see what she would do.

But seeing as there were still a fair number of people waiting in line to speak with her, she ordered the land out of bounds to them both until the following morning, where a separate meeting would be held, and the issue dealt with once and for all.

But the truth was, she had no idea how to solve this mess, because it had been going on for so long.  Every clan meeting with her, they turned up with the same issue and regardless of the good advice she gave them, they just couldn't get past their dislike for each other, which was the root cause of their problems and not the land.   But she meant what she said, this time there would be resolution, but she needed time to think on it.