Three Lives, Three Worlds: Jasmine's Fate [Hiatus]

Reminiscence 6 - "The Beauty in the Spring"

Every day at Kunlun Mountain was a wonderful day, Qiao Er had decided. She was so happy they could stay at En Gong's home, even though Mother kept reminding her it was only temporary. Qiao Er was accustomed to their constant moving, but she didn't want to leave this time. There didn't seem to be any scary black-clad men around, she no longer dreamt of them, and her white-clad seniors never ceased to make her laugh with their teasing.

They often gave her treats. 7th and 10th Shi Shu, for example, would provide her with sweets when she would accompany them to visit the waterfalls. On several occasions, they would disappear while she was busy chasing the cranes. She wondered why they were so bad with directions, when she could so easily find her way back? Qiao Er even asked 6th Shi Shu to help her draw a map of Kunlun's waterfalls. 7th and 10th Shi Shu seemed puzzled yet smiled when she gifted it to them. They assured her they loved her gift but exchanged funny glances.

They were all wonderful and allowed her to study under them. She absolutely loved to learn. They each had their own specialty they wanted to share and so the list of lessons grew and grew every day. There were times they would play rock paper scissors to determine who could teach her. 11th and 14th Shi Shu especially never stopped bickering over her lessons, which made her laugh. She would sneak away while they were absorbed debating which of their skills were more appropriate for a young lady.

However, because of her love for numbers, Qiao Er always spent the better part of her morning on lessons with her favorite, yet stern 4th Shifu. He had officially made her his disciple. He was always very serious but smiled when she completed and understood her lesson. Today though he was busy - 5th Shi Shu had taken him away for an urgent matter. With nothing to do, Qiao Er thought to visit the kitchen to see if 2nd Shi Bo was making the delicious treats again and would let her lick off the spoons. But he was not there. Only 12th Shi Shu was present, working on some sort of sweet buns! Qiao Er was delighted when he invited her to assist him, and since he had extra dough, Qiao Er asked him to help her make rice buns for En Gong.

Once the buns were done, 12th Shi Shu helped her wrap them up. She immediately headed towards En Gong's quarters, carrying them proudly. When he had finally recovered from his injuries, he had surprised her during her lesson with 14th Shi Shu, who was teaching her weapon crafting. She had run into his arms and cried, while he held her tight and assured her he would not make her worry again. She had known it was a promise he would not be able to keep, but she hadn't argued. En Gong was well now, and that was all that mattered.

Since then, he had put himself in charge of planning her lessons and would oversee who got to teach her what. Every evening, he stopped by the room she shared with her mom to have evening tea with them and review her lessons. Mother would busy herself with polishing weapons, saying very few words. Qiao Er didn't understand why Mother was so indifferent to En Gong when she was happy and pleasant with everyone else at Kunlun. Mother had been so worried when he was injured, but now that he was well again, she was avoiding him. Qiao Er thought this odd, she knew her Mother cared for En Gong just as much as he did for her. She wondered what made them so distant, and if there was any way she could help.

"Qiao'Er," En Gong's voice caught her attention and she saw he was strolling towards her.

"En Gong!" Qiao Er ran into his arms and was picked up immediately.

"Little Dove, how are your lessons today?" he asked as he rubbed his nose against her, making her laugh.

She showed him the package in her hands. "I learned how to make sweet buns with 12th Shi Shu today."

He arched his head. "You're sure it's not 2nd Shi Bo?" he asked.

She nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yes, it was 12th Shi Shu who taught me. 2nd Shi Bo had some urgent business to attend to he said."

"Urgent business?"

"His swan is missing, he's looking for her," she explained.

"Aaahh, 2nd senior has been preoccupied lately with the injured Swan he's nursing."

"She's beautiful! Her feathers are lovely, especially the red ones on her side. She let me pet her too."

"Of course she did...," he smiled at her.