A Gentle Torment

Unwanted Surprises

Bai Qian grips onto the tea tray anxiously, making her way down the hallway as she laments over her own fate.

Sixteenth... that little traitor!

Mo Yuan had canceled their classes today since he would be busy for the bulk of the day in a meeting with Ye Hua (the Crown Prince of the Nine Heavens and her Shifu's younger twin brother) and Dong Hua Dijun. While Shifu's disciples still had chores and were 'encouraged' to study, she and Sixteenth had planned on sneaking out at dawn to pay a visit to one of their favorite mortal teahouses. However, due to an unplanned turn of events she ended up walking towards the main hall to help play hostess (or more accurately, her niece showed up to pay her a visit on her birthday, Die Feng caught them in the process of leaving and shoved them into the kitchen when Feng Jiu proudly offered to cook - everyone knew that she was far more competent than Si Yin in the kitchen).

It might not be so bad if she didn't get nervous every time the twins were together and she was in the same room. 

Dong Hua Dijun knew she was secretly a woman taking up the disguise of a man almost the moment he laid eyes on her. They didn't talk much, but one day he revealed his knowledge to her while he was waiting for Mo Yuan. His eyes glistened with mirth when he promised not to reveal her secret, lest it became absolutely necessary. She could put up with him even if he wasn't her senior, but Ye Hua was another story.

He was Mo Yuan's twin, but due to a strange turn of events, he was nearly  70,000 years younger than him. That didn't stop their bond, however. Strangers who first met them thought they'd always been together -- it was as if they had a telepathic link between one another, and they always shared everything.

Yet still, being around her Shifu's younger brother left Bai Qian feeling undoubtedly nervous. At one point, he might have even stumbled across her bathing in one of the many beautiful, warm ponds that are littered throughout the mountain where Mo Yuan's school resided.

Since that day, she made it her goal to spend as little time near him as possible.

"I must admit, brother..."

Bai Qian stops in her steps, pulled out of her thoughts when she hears Ye Hua speak in the main hall.

"... surprised to see that you actually let her stay."

"You know how Bai Zhi is, Ye Hua."

"Just make sure that you send her my way should she start to show any signs of--"

Blinking, she furrows her brows when she hears Zhe Yan's voice. Shaking off her nerves, her grip on the tea tray tightens before she walks into the main hall. She might as well keep up the air of having nothing to hide.

"Seventeen," Mo Yuan's voice is gentle when she finally enters the room. It leaves her stomach clenching with a warm sort of delight that is still foreign to her when she takes about pouring Zhe Yan's cup full of tea before setting the small pot down on the table he was sitting behind. 

Turning to Mo Yuan, she offers him a formal greeting to make up for her delay, "Shifu, First senior wants me to finish helping him in the kitchen. Do you need anything else before I go?"

"Come here, little seventeenth." Mo Yuan's voice is surprisingly soft - the flush in her cheeks that follows as she walks up to him isn't missed, either.

Ye Hua fights a smirk as he watches the interaction from across the room.

"Are you feeling sick, Seventeenth?" Mo Yuan asks quietly once she's close enough, gently testing the back of his hand against her forehead.