Blue Cloud

Chapter 1

Girls' Talk

Qingyun's POV

I'm so excited, my Hairpin Ceremony is finally here! In a few moments, I'll be a full-fledged young lady, isn't it amazing?
It might not be for you but for me, it is, it really is. I've been looking forward to this ceremony ever since I discovered what it means. Hairpin Ceremony is an important part of a girl's life, it marks the end of being a little girl and the beginning of being a young lady, a marriageable young lady.

I'm not the only one excited actually, my mother is too. She's here with me in my room, in the courtyard next to hers, combing my hair while I sit in front of my bronze mirror. She is helping me fix my hair, for the first time into a lady's hairstyle. I think she's more excited than me though, she's literally grinning from ear to ear like she has some incredibly interesting gossip to share with me.

"Mother, what's with that big all-knowing smile? Do you have something you want to say?" I ask her. I know she wants to say something.

She looks at the two maids with us, Ping'er and Xiao'an. I look at them in confusion. They seemed to understand my mother's look, like she talked to them in their minds.

"Mistress, Missy, we're going to the seamstress to get your outfit and see if it needs any alteration." They say at the same time and I just nodded in agreement.

"Mother, you can tell me now." I urged her. She smiles wider than before.

"So, my dear daughter, is everything to your expectations?" Not surprisingly, she sounds very concerned.

I kind of understand her though, I know she loves me very much. Mother got married to my father when she was twenty and that's already considered old. She had 5 sons before she had me when she was already 35, she was almost sure she'll never have a daughter. Then I came along and became everyone's treasure. My family loves me very much, they'd do everything for me, more so my mother. My mother makes sure I am always taken cared of and get everything I want, that's how she loves me.

"Mother, thank you for everything you have done and given to me. I understand you sacrificed a lot for me and my brothers and I really thank you for that. Thank you for all the love, Mother! I want to repay you for all the hardships you endured for me but for now, I'll just add a little bit of hardships and ask you to feed me some more." I giggled to make her laugh.

She did laugh. She even slapped my right arm lightly.

"Qing'er, what's with you making me cry this early? Of course, I'll do anything and everything for you, you are my only daughter after all." She says as she wipes the first tear that escaped her eyes.

"We're going a little bit off-topic aren't we? Tell me, what are you expecting from this ceremony? Who do you think will give you hairpins?" She asks spontaneously as she wiggles her eyebrows at me like a little girl very eager to find out who her best friend's crush is. I can't help but giggle at her extremely girlish ways. My mother is so adorable!

"Mother, I think it's quite obvious? You, father and my brothers will give me one. And my friends too, they'll give me one because they're also excited for me. Even my cousins will give since they have to." I list all of them out happily. "And Brother Zhan too?" I giggled as I added.

My mother raises her eyebrows at me.

"Honey, did you know that when a boy gives a hairpin to a girl on her ceremony, it means he has feelings for her and wants to marry her. And if the girl wears the hairpin, she feels the same."

"Is it really like that, Mother?" I asked her shyly. I can't believe it. I was even expecting to get at least twenty hairpins. I probably sounded like a spoiled princess counting her gifts a while ago.