Nine Tails of Twin Brothers

Welcome

"For most people, it is early but for you this is insane, I've not seen you up this early since you played the infamous prank that got you sent to Kulun for years" Zhe Yan said, walking into the fox cave and towards Bai Qian

"Only an old phoenix such as yourself will bring up matters so old. Did you bring the wine?" She replied

Zhe Yan held out his hand showing the jars he held but made no move to hand it over to her "You should still have enough of this wine from the last batch you took, why do you need more?"

"They're not for me, I'm taking them to Shifu. Part of the welcome pack from Qing Qiu"

"Oh" Zhe Yan said, walking into the room, leaving her to follow him into the cave

"Yes, I remembered Shifu always had this particular wine while I was studying there"

Zhe Yan hid a smile behind his sleeve, Mo Yuan only requested the wine because she liked them, he hadn't felt the need to tell the other man Bai Qian would drink anything that had alcohol. It had been obvious even then that his sworn brother was in love with the daughter of another of their sword brothers. Not that he was in a position to judge, swap daughter for son and you'd have his exact situation. However, he was lucky, the object of his affection was not as dense as his sister and returned his affections. Bai Qian on the other hand simply saw a caring teacher & mentor in the man that was desperately in love with her. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"So that's the reason you've woken the entire fox clan this early? To welcome your old master?" He replied as he draped himself on a chair, stretching into a comfortable lounge

"Yes, I'd like to avoid the crowd as much as possible. And I can get back early enough to make up for the sleep I'm missing." Bai Qian replied, still standing. She looked up as footsteps rang out from the door "Mian Mian, do you have all the items I requested from the mushroom market?"

"Yes Gugu, Mi Gu has them along with the luminous pearl. He says all that is missing is the wine from high god Zhe Yan"

"Thank you, I'll be out with that in a few minutes and we can leave" Bai Qian replied and the other lady left the cave. "So, high god Zhe Yan, do you want to be part of the official Qing Qiu delegation to welcome back high god Mo Yuan. It probably would be more respectful to have a delegation of more than one member of the main family but by the time Mother, Father or any of my brothers get back, it would be disrespectful to just be going for the first time" She finished.

"I'm not a member of the main family" He replied flippantly

Bai Qian rolled her eyes dramatically "Formalities and even that is because you don't have the balls to ask Mother for fourth brother's hand in marriage"

"Xiao wu!"

"You really think she doesn't know? You two have been together romantically longer than I've been alive"

"Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Fine, I'll go by myself. I am after all, the queen of Qing Qiu"

"I'm going to take a nap here to make up for getting up so early. Say hello to Ye Hua" He said with a smirk. He'd really love to be there when Bai Qian met the twins together, but his presence would detract from the experience which didn't mean he wasn't stoke whatever embers he could. Mo Yuan would tell him what happened or more likely, Ye Hua would tell Bai Zhen who would tell him.

"Huh?"

"Get going already or all this will be in vain"

With a dramatic flail of her sleeves she swiped the jars of wine from Zhe Yan and started towards the door in one move.