Still Learning To Live As A Cultivator

Chapter Eighteen - Just who is Jin Li?

Her mother-in-law's words had been along the lines of; "Find out from young Sun the family background of the young master Jin Li."

Actually, it was not just Sun's grandmother who wished to know this; the one who had instigated her was curious as well, but to that one's mind, so long as Jin Li was not a poor peasant or a good-for-nothing, what did his background matter? He could always marry into their family and be added to their genealogy should his background not be equal nor better than theirs!

There was also General Ramas, but that wily old fox was not just interested in the family background of Jin Li, he also wished to know about his ability as a Martial Artist. That and he did not rule out Leon from his investigations, as he was sure that there was more to that boy than met the eye.

Sun left his mother's courtyard in a bit of a daze thinking; actually what did he know about Jin Li?  He'd vaguely mentioned in passing that his immediate family consisted of his father and mother, two brothers and himself.  There seemed to be no concubines nor shu siblings included in the family, as far as his knowledge went, but then he did not know whether those brothers descended from the same mother either.  Jin Li had mentioned that his mother was a tough one, a Martial Artist in her own right by the sounds of things, so he couldn't quite picture her as being a concubine or wife that would put up with other women in the background... but what did he know what was within a woman's mind. 

Oh... but wasn't there an Uncle too...

As for everything else, he met Jin Li on the day they were assigned rooms.  Jin Li didn't talk much about himself... or anything else at all really.  He never even knew that Jin Li had an acquaintance in Leon until the alchemist first appeared before him.  He felt shamefaced recalling that he thought the older youth was Jin Li's servant at the time, but then, wasn't that what Jin Li had told him...

After that, Jin Li would disappear often to visit Leon and leave him behind. Jin Li randomly took him on missions for points, but then spent those points on Leon. Jin Li bossed both he and Leon about, yet if anything happened to Leon, Jin Li would take care of him. Sun began to pout. He never took care of me, though. A sigh escaped him in the next moment as he supposed that was the difference between a friend and a boyfriend.

Other than that, he realised that he really didn't know anything about Jin Li, his past, where he came from or anything before they enrolled in school. He wondered vaguely why he'd never asked, before shrugging. It was not as though Jin Li was the approachable type prone to sharing, it was probably due to his cold, aloof aura that prevented him from asking.

He conveniently forgot the background he'd originally imagined for Jin Li back when he'd first had stars in his eyes after meeting the 'heroic' Jin Li and then becoming roommates with him, which became so ideal to him that it never occurred to him to ask for the truth.

Flakes of snow fell upon his nose and the chilly breeze awoke him from his musings and he hurried back to his courtyard to warm up by a coal brazier. He then sent one servant to go to the guest courtyard where Jin Li and Leon resided to ask them whether they wanted to join him for the evening meal and called to another to draw him hot water for a bath.

The first servant returned while he was soaking in the warm waters, thinking that it was a pity that he hadn't added Leon's bath salts to saturate his meridians and improve the movements of his spirit energy through them. The small jar that Leon had gifted him was running low and he'd decided to use it sparingly for now as Leon wouldn't be able to make a new batch until late spring.  That servant had to say that young masters Jin Li and Leon had not yet returned and so he had left a message with the servants assigned there. This caused Sun to pout once more thinking that the pair were off having fun without him again and his bath no longer felt satisfying, so he got out of it. He dismissed the servant who attempted to help him dry and dress, having now the habit of performing these small tasks himself, but he did allow the man to comb and pin up his wealth of brown hair.