She's a clear Halo [Mdzs/The Untamed FF]

生日快乐!

Happy Birthday!

It is the day! Finally it is Mingxia's 9th birthday. The day started with Mingxia waking up and going to class as usual. Once afternoon came when nearly everyone is resting, Sizhui and Jingyi came to give their presents to Mingxia. Sizhui gave Mingxia a box with a few straw butterflies, a sachet of chocolate and a few useful books for Mingxia's studies. Jingyi on the other hand, gave Mingxia a kite and a spinning top. Mingxia thanked both of them for the gifts. Jingyi suggest that they take Mingxia to fly the kite and Sizhui just nodded discontently. 

Mingxia called for her friends and they went near the waterfall to fly the kite. The other girls of course don't know that it was Mingxia's birthday but Mingxia doesn't mind. She never really told them about it anyways. Jingyi taught them how to fly the kite and Sizhui is automatically in charge of keeping the kite away from getting stuck on trees. Jingyi also showed them his powerful spinning top move that the girls laugh at him about. The top ended up falling into the water and Jingyi had to get himself wet to get it back. 

Time pass by quickly as they play around and have fun. Soon, dusk could be seen coming and they went back to their respective rooms. Mingxia quickly wash up and waited for Xichen's return as she sit near the pool where Huan and Xi resides in. She occasionally switch her attention between reading the book she picked up and Huan and Xi.

After some more waiting, Xichen finally appeared. He brought a few things with him and have Wangji follow him from behind. Mingxia bowed as they arrived in front of her. "It's getting cold outside, let's head in." Xichen went in first and the two other followed. The three sat around the table in the middle of the room and the boxes were all set on the table. Xichen started to speak again, "How was your day, Mingxia?" Mingxia's face immediately light up as she started to tell Xichen what happened today. Wangji's expression soften when Mingxia mentioned Sizhui's gifts. 'Straw butterflies..." 

After listening to Mingxia's story, Xichen smiled widely and took a box from the stack and hand it to Mingxia. "This is from me. Open it." Xichen excitedly tells Mingxia. Mingxia happily opened the box and it revealed a sachet. It is beautifully sewn although Mingxia had received a lot of them. It is as if Xichen read her mind when he explained, "This sachet can fit 30 guqin inside. It isn't like your ordinary one. It will also stay light no matter what you put inside." Mingxia breath out a small "Wow." 

She opened the sachet and reached in to find it really has a large amount of space inside. Not only that, she felt something inside and pulled it out questioning what it could be. Once she did, it revealed a nicely made Guqin, with Gusu's aesthetic carved and painted beautifully. "Now you don't have to borrow my Guqin anymore." Xichen said playfully, feeling extremely overjoyed by seeing Mingxia's reaction. Mingxia ran her fingers gently on the strings with an evident sparkle in her eyes. 

Before she gets even more lost in admiring the Guqin, Xichen hands her another box. "This is from Uncle Qiren." He said as Mingxia start to open it. The gift was an encyclopedia for spiritual beasts that will be very useful for her studies for years to come. Inside the book was a metal bookmark nicely shaped to look like a magnificent crane with light blue strings tied on top of it. Indeed it was a nice gift. Mingxia thought to thank Lan Qiren later after dinner. 

Lastly, Wangji himself handed Mingxia his gift. He opened the box for her and Mingxia thanked him. It was a high quality leather like belt that has a sword handle. It's lighter than normal leather and looks smooth similar to silk. The actual material is unknown but Wangji has seen a few people wearing it for convenience while traveling. Mingxia was happy with it. She tried it on, though it's slightly too big for her at that moment, her sword fit right in on the handle. She bowed and said thank you again to Wangji, feeling really grateful for the gift. 

Wangji left to his room after giving his gift and Xichen went to get ready for dinner while Mingxia played around with the notes on her new Guqin. The sounds were nice but surely need more practice. Soon, it is time for dinner. 

As usual, dinner was quiet and peaceful. Mingxia enjoyed the healthy food provided. After dinner was finished, Mingxia caught up to Lan Qiren and greeted him. "Grand uncle Lan, Thank you for your gift. I will certainly use it well." Qiren nodded as a response and pat her shoulder. "Study hard, good luck." He simply said before bidding Xichen and Mingxia good night. With that, the duo went back to their rooms. 

Arriving outside the Frost Room, Mingxia found a box. It was a box for her. She showed Xichen and Xichen said to bring it inside. "Let's go inside and take a look shall we." Mingxia nodded and made her way to the table in the middle of the room where she opened her gifts earlier. She set the box on the table before opening it. It was a box of hand made sweets and two clumsily folded crane origamis. Xichen shook his head with a smile on his face at the gift. "They didn't say who it was from." Mingxia said confusedly looking around the box. "They might want to keep themselves anonymous." Xichen explained. 

Mingxia nodded and set the box aside. "I will share these tomorrow. It's getting late." Mingxia said. Xichen nodded and stood up to tuck Mingxia in. He gave Mingxia a tight hug, "Happy birthday, dear." He said giving Mingxia light kiss on her forehead. 

"Even though it might not exactly be your birthday, I still think it's a special day... Because it was the day I found you a few years ago. I still remember it like it was yesterday... Seeing you grow up like this, makes me feel thankful for finding you that day." Xichen thought to himself as he went to get some sleep himself after putting Mingxia to sleep.