A Chanting Night in the Clear River

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Don't Eat Alone

"Aiyo, I'm hungry..." Jin Ruyin grumbled from Ge's back.

"A-Niang called you several times earlier for dinner, but what did you do?" Jin Ruyin pouted at his statement of 'fact'. "You always declined, saying you were full from eating four chun juan. So, who was to blame?"

Jin Ruyin replied, "It wasn't my fault that I was full at the time! Besides, 'earlier' isn't the same as 'now'."

Jin Ling flaunt a disapproving bearing, "You talk so rudely. Don't use such a tone of voice to me."

She smirked at the remark of chastise, she quips, "You should first fix your own, Laoxiong."

Jin Ling was astounded, "..."

Her irritatingly smug grin grew wider.

His left eye twitched at the sight, "..."

The curve in her lips then disappeared into ether.

"Uwah!" She yelled in surprise when Ge unceremoniously dropped her on her butt.

"Walk on your own." He said before nonchalantly stepping forward again.

Standing while she rubs her lower back, Jin Ruyin said, sarcasm apparent. "Ge, you're a true 'gent'. Treating your little sister like this..."

Ge gave an incisive reply, "My back hurts." his hand balled into a fist to dab the small of his back, "To relieve the pain, you need to get off."

"Ge, wo feichang hen ni." Sulkily, Jin Ruyin aimed her foot to hit one of his shins.

Glaring, Ge deflected the sneaky strike. "Hah! The feeling is mutual."

Seeing that she failed, and answered with an offensive phrase, Jin Ruyin rolled her eyes. She dashed ahead to tell Yuan-ge -- who was standing rooted to the ground -- of her predicament.

"Yuan-ge. Do you have anything to eat?" She lifted his arm, his qiankun sleeve flowing fluidly through the cool breeze from the gesture. "You do!" Jin Ruyin scavenged inside his sleeve for food. She was overjoyed when she took hold of them. "These four pies are enough to satiate my growling stomach--!"

"Selfish! Don't hog everything to yourself!"

Ge is now beside her.

"Give me one, too!"

His brows come down and together. His eyes intense, as though it could burn someone to ashes. And there is a narrowing on his lip corners.

Jin Ruyin wasn't fazed by his show of anger, "Eh? I thought A-Niang's lotus root and pork rib soup had filled you up already?"

Like a fish, his mouth bobbed up and down, he didn't know how to respond, Ge appeared to be so.

Jin Ruyin ups an eyebrow.

Was her question so hard that he couldn't reply right away?

Nonetheless, she waits for his reply with patience.

Ge says when he found the words: "I'm just hungry all of a sudden..."

Jin Ruyin was speechless, "..."

Without warning, she erupted in a fit of laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA."

Ge's cheeks was flushed red, "B-Bizui! What makes this... so funny?!"

"Your excuses are truly appalling, Ge!"

As if nothing happened, he said, "Don't eat alone. Share your food with others." flipping his ponytail in the process, "Did you know? He who feeds the hungry are blessed by the Almighty."

"Oh?" She wiped the stray tears from her eyes. "You're more compassionate than I thought! Since you liked swinging swords around every single day and spewing negativity, I figured you wouldn't even care about your people. But this..." Jin Ruyin was so taken aback that she couldn't finish her sentence.

"I'm just, just worried..." The 'about you.' was left unmentioned, "it's better not to plant seeds of selfishness than to try to eradicate them once they've grown into giant weeds."

He's looking after her, she reflected.

Jin Ruyin felt her chest becoming warm.

Her Ge isn't as hard-hearted as she thinks, it seemed.

Yuan-ge's profession of Ge being a 'sweet person'... a 'sweet gege', rang solid. Now she's fully convinced.

"Okay. Hao de," She handed a pie enveloped in greaseproof paper, "this one's for my beloved Ge." prompting him to reach for the baked dish instantaneously. "You've earned it!"

He frowned, he wants to say something, but instead bit into the pastry.

Feeling satisfied, Jin Ruyin rerouted her gaze to Yuan-ge. "Yuan-ge, you've been unusually quiet, what's up...? Hmm?" She noticed her cousin's center of interest, "Xiaoshushu?"

Hearing the address, Jin Ling's expression became cold, with no traces of warmth nor radiance visible.

He traced her line of sight. "'Xiaoshushu'... you still call Mo Xuanyu that?"

His voice filled with derision. His visage emotionless. Attitude unkind.

"Jin Ruyin, do you still remember? That man disgraced Lanling Jin Clan! The reason... you already know 'why'."

Jin Ruyin felt a bitter taste on her mouth.

"..."

But she grounds for optimism. "Xiaoshushu is still our xiaoshushu, he is still A-Die's brother."

"You don't know anything." He enunciates each word slowly. "Earlier, he--"

"A-Ling." Yuan-ge shook his head, indicating that Jin Ling should avoid broaching 'that' subject.

Curious, "What?" Jin Ruyin asked. "He... what?"

"Yin-er."

Jin Ruyin directed her focus to Yuan-ge, "Yuan-ge?"

He suggested, smiling, "Let us approach Mo-gongzi and share a pie with him." his smile was like a sudden beam of moonlight, shining through the deepening of the night.

The smile is contagious, as it causes Jin Ruyin to smile as well.

She declares, "En!"

"Xiaoshushu!"

Jiang Cheng awoke from his state of stupefaction.

...Xiaoshushu?

When she closed their distance, she asks, "What is Xiaoshushu doing here at this hour?"

'I could ask you the same question, kid.'

She tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. "Are you, perhaps, also looking for Yin-er's whereabouts?"

What was Jiang Yanli's daughter talking about?

Jin Ling lets out a deep, booming cry. "Why would 'he' do that?!"

"Xiaoshushu is my companion." She grinned from ear to ear. "I know he'll search for me if I go missing."

'Is'... not 'was'.

Mo Xuanyu wasn't as 'unlucky' as he claimed he had.

"Xiaoshushu, this one's for you."

A xian bing rests on her palm.

"Let's eat together."