Moonlight Lotus

Chapter Five

"When I die,

Plant flowers over my grave,

so when the seeds bloom,

you can pick me,

and hold me again."

Many changes had happened within the next two years, when Wei Wuxian, the protagonist, finally showed up at Lotus Pier. The leaves turned green, and then to red and back again, but with it came growth.

The growth came with the rivers rushing playfully, and then frozen over in silence of winter, only to giggle happily again when spring renewed its playfulness. It was growth that came with those who enter Diyu and the ones who, after finishing Meng Po's soup, return free and unburden. It was in the kitchen, with its sweet scents and savory flavors changing with the seasons as their muse.

It was in the way the Clarity Bells rang with happiness from official disciples who passed their graduation. How the kites fluttered in a windswept dance in the sky, how the lotus flowers bloomed, weathered, and then bloomed again.

Lotus Pier and Yunmeng as a whole had excitement dancing in the air, and joyful eagerness and pride as drums sounded, flutes played, and cheers of goodwill were shouted happily.

Today was the day Jiang Xiaohui would have her hair-pinned ceremony and be given her courtesy name. It was the day for announcing she had survived childhood and now was stepping into adulthood. 'Jiang Jiaoyue despairs with heavy bereavement in knowing that he would soon drown in even more marriage proposals.'

The hair-pinning ceremony was currently happening in private, with only her closest female relatives and friends there to cheer her on and help her enter the next stage of life.

The room smelled florally, to the point it slightly burned and tickled Jiang Yingyue's nose as she tried her best to breathe softly. One moment she smells jasmine, and the next second it's roses or lavender. She was starting to get a headache, but she keeps her gentle smile and withholds a wince when her meimei tugs a little too hard with unbraiding the traditional Jiang braids wore by the children of clan from her hair, while her a-niang softly with nimble fingers redid the braids into the ones she would now wear in adulthood.

"The first time I saw you, I loved you." Yu Ziyuan spoke suddenly into the room, it startled everyone from their own quiet chatter.

"A-Niang?" Jiang Yingyue muttered with a low hum of confusion, because while she knew her mother loved her children, she showed it in a cold and distant way, which often left teary misunderstandings with her siblings.

"You weren't supposed to make it out of my womb, A-Yue." Yu Ziyuan softly spoke as she stopped braiding for a moment to give a light caress to her eldest child's cheek. "Do you know why your courtesy name was chosen to be Yingyue?"

"It's because when I was born, a beautiful full moon was reflecting brightly on the river, and the blooming lotus flowers that floated happily along with it." Jiang Yingyue replied softly, as she felt her mother's thumb brush softly against her inherited cheekbones. "Mama?"

"True, but no." Yu Ziyuan uttered as she pulled her hand back and waved at Jiang Jiayue to start preparing the tea, before continuing her task of doing the adulthood braids. Unlike Yanli still learning nimble fingers, her fingers were firmly nimble and sure, but a touch gentler due to her years of experience in braiding and unbraiding hair. "When I was five months pregnant with you, an unknown assassin managed to slip through our barriers and poison my herbal tea. I unknowingly drank it for several weeks until I suddenly nearly miscarried you. It was a rare type of poison I had not become immune to due to the rarity of it."