Jiang Yingyue quietly stood and turned to grab Jiang Cheng's hand, only to pause when she saw the tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. "Oh, A-Cheng. Everything will be okay, A-jie promises." She soothes as she wipes his tears away with her thu...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Starting from the end of Lotus Pier, after just a while of paddling, one will notice an immense lotus lake, more than a hundred miles in length. The wide, verdant leaves and the smooth, pink and violet hue blossoms brush shoulders against one another. As a breeze blows over, the petals and the leaves sway as if nodding their heads. Amid the purity and grace, one can also feel a naive sense of clumsiness.
That is often the thought Jiang Qianzi has of her beloved home, but at the moment her thoughts betray her as she walks on the edge of the pier, each of her hands gripping tightly around smaller ones.
The midnight summer air is comfortably warm, as the full moon's reflection settles calmly across the surface of the river water. Jiang Qianzi knows the calm is a cover for the quiet tension that has been suffocating the sect since mid-morning when Furen Yu went into labor.
The firstborn child of the sect leader was about to enter the world, and with their birth, her children's future as cultivators would be set in stone. "Mama, is the xiao-baobei here yet?"
Jiang Qianzi glanced down to her daughter, who wore an impatient expression on her face. Her dumping cheeks puffed up with the frustration any five-year-old would have when waiting. "Not yet Jia-er." Jiang Qianzi hummed as she gave her daughter a bemused smile as they came to the end of the dock.
"Why is the baby taking forever to get here, mama! It's been ages!" Jiang Jiayue whined as she ungracefully let go of her mother's hand to plop herself down on the floor of the wooden pier.
Jiang Jiaoyue had let go of Jiang Qianzi's other hand to stumble over to give his younger twin sister a few pats on her shoulder for comfort that he often witnessed his baba do for his mother when something upset her. "Jiayue-mei, the baby is probably scared and shy to come out." Jiaoyue soothed with a soft smile. "The world is a big place, and they don't know anyone unlike the two of us who came together."
Jiang Qianzi couldn't help the smile that curls on her lips as she takes in the sight of her twin children, who she loved to the depths of her soul. Twins they could be, but opposites they were.
Jiang Jiayue had taken after her in looks and temperament, with the only thing she could claim from her father was the shape of her nose, eyes, and smile. Jiang Jiayue had a heart-shaped face and hooded clematis eyes known well to the Meishan Yu bloodline. Wild curls of warm oak-brown hair could only be tamed into two Yunmeng braided buns she wore on the top of her head.
Jiang Qianzi knew her daughter's playful banter and energetic energy was from her. 'I suppose this is my karma for being a right terror to my own a-niang.' She muses dryly in her mind as her eyes fell on her quiet son, who was attempting to reassure his twin sister. 'My son, on the other hand, takes completely after his father, but is tempered down with my kindness.' Jiang Jiaoyue had taken after her husband in appearance and manners, with his ebony hair and clematis eyes that gave way to sharp, delicate cheekbones and a calm temper.
