Spring Winds

Chapter 23: Sisterhood

Ah, freedom! Basking in the warm, late summer sun, a smile naturally falls on my lips.

Finally, no more closed-door cultivation!

"Haha, who knew that Senior Sister could be cruel!" Locking me away for nearly three months! I almost missed the entire summer season!

Well, it's in the past now. I'm free! I can go where I please! "I'm free, baby!"

"Martial Aunt Jing Ran, is that you?"

"Ah? Bai Yin?" Turning around to the call, I spot the small girl nervously fidgeting behind me. Ah, how long has it been since I've seen another person? (; v ;)

"It's been a while, what's up?"

"I-I've come to return your handkerchief that you've lent me. P-please, accept it!" Holding out a neatly folded white handkerchief, air of small white hands nervously crinkled the folded edges.

"Ah! Thanks," smiling, I took the handkerchief from her. "Oh, you embroidered it!" On the corner of the white cloth, a few white lilies decorated the space.

How cute! She's pretty good. Stroking at the neatly embroidered lilies, I couldn't help but marvel at how realistic looking they were.

"Uh, yes," Bai Yin squeaked. "There was a stain that I was unable to remove s-so I covered it with some embroidery. I-I hope you don't mind!"

"Em, not at all. If anything, I think you only added to it. It looks so realistic!"

"Really?" Bai Yin's eyes practically sparkled at me.

"Yeah, of course!"

"T-thank you," stuttering with a red face as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I-I never embroidered anything for anyone other than my Big Brother, s-so I wasn't sure how others would react to it."

"I'm sure anyone who receives your work will understand the love and care you put in," with this amount of detail, how dense would one need to be not to see that effort she puts in. "I'll be sure to take extra care of this handkerchief now."

"O-Oh, no need," shaking her head, her face continued to redden. "I-If you need another, I-I make you one, Martial Aunt."

"Are you alright? You're getting kind of red," placing my hand on her forehead, I felt how hot her skin was against my palm.

"I-It's fine," backing up; she held her face in her hands. "It's probably just the late summer heat getting to me. Um, I better get going"

"Wait, let me walk to your destination," can't have her fainting from heatstroke or something. Who knew that summer at Yun Cai Peak could be so fierce?

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"I-I can't trouble, Martial Aunt."

"It's no issue, plus we girls look for each other. Isn't that what friends do?"

"W-we're friends?"

"Ah? You don't want to be?" Huh, could it be I misread her intentions? I suppose we did only meet once a few months ago, so there wasn't much time for us to interact.

And I did sort of tackle her down by accident last time.

"N-no, that's not it. I would be glad to be your friend, Martial Aunt."

"Great! Now the first rule of being my friend, stop calling me Martial Aunt. It makes me feel old when people only a few years younger call me auntie."

"B-but, according to etiquette, I must address Martial Aunt by her status."

"Aiyah, so there was such a thing?" Hmm, what would be a good substitute?

Ah!

"Alright, you can just call me by my sect name."

"J-jing Ran."

"Hurray!" Slinging my arm around her shoulders, I cheered, "To sisterhood!"

"Um, Jing Ran, I need to go the opposite way," Bai Yin squeaked.

"Oh, my bad," turning us around, I started over. "To sisterhood!"

---

"Jing Ran." Walking side by side, Bai Yin and I walked along the shaded side of the road, avoiding the blasting sun as the day grew late.

"Uh-huh, what's up?" It was unusual for Bai Yin to start the conversation this time. For this entire trip, it seemed that I was just talking to myself while Bai Yin listened.

"You've mentioned that you've been freed from something, what was that about?"

Oh, haha, that.

"Erm, haha, it's complicated."

Three months ago

"Yawn," uh, so sleepy. "Ugh...."

Tossing the brush onto the table, I let my head rest on my desk as midday light poured the semi-open windows of the study. Ugh, has it been half a day already?

"Why are you stopping, you still have three more copies left to do." Turning my head, I look over to the heartless slave driver, making me write until my hand cramps up.

"Wah, Senior Sister, why do I still need to copy scriptures? I didn't even do anything wrong!"

"This is important for you to remember."

"How is this important?" Heart and Mind Purifying mantra! Seriously? What could I've done that warranted such a cruel task? "Even if I copy all of these, I don't think that I'll remember any of this stuff!"

"If you can't remember it, copy it ten more times."

An icy chill went down my spine. Ten more times!

"I know you don't like to use your head, so in this case, you can use your instinct and muscle memory. Consider this multitask training."

What! How is this any better?

Aiyah, what did I do to warrant such icy treatment from Senior Sister? (T^T)

Think, think, think

Ah! Could it be about her loss in last week's match? If so, I didn't peg Senior Sister for being a sore loser. She usually is pretty humble about things like this and doesn't dwell on loss too long.

Hah, so what could it be, ah?

Wait.

Did I do something to offend Senior Sister recently?

Ah, that can't be! I've been an obedient disciple and junior for a week now! Any of my old teachers and classmates would marvel at this record of mine!

"Senior sister, can we take a break? At this rate, my hand is going to fall off!" To enforce my power, I added my signature pout and puppy eyes combo.

Senior Sister stared at me for a while, but I could tell that it was working, though she tried not to show it.

Haha, how cute.

"Fine, it's lunchtime anyway," turning away, Senior Sister stood up from her seat and started to walk out the door.

"Hurray!" My looks and charms continue to carry me to victory! Let's go! "Wait for me, Senior Sister!"

Lunch today was delicious as usual with a subtle variation of greens and meats, courtesy of Senior Sister's strict dietary restrictions on Master.

The table looks more green than brown, much to Master's chagrin as he picks at his food with his chopsticks.

Ah, whatever, food is food in my mind, and I'm not going to let myself starve. Digging in, I tried to eat as slowly as possible.

I have to let my hand recover after all, and I wasn't in a rush to finish the rest of those accursed scripture copies.

I let lunch drag on as long as possible before Senior Sister started to shoot icy glares at me.

Hah, fine, I'll go. ('.) *sniff*

After we finished lunch, like a prisoner walking to the execution yard, I followed Senior Sister back to the study.

An eerie chill came over me when we arrived back.

"Why are you dragging your feet, come inside."

"Erm, Senior Sister, don't you think you're a bit unfair on this junior? I still don't know why I need to copy all of these scriptures if there's no other reason than the fact they are 'important for me to remember.'"

Senior Sister didn't say anything as the room seemed to drop a few degrees lower as her hands slowly curled atop her desk.

"Ah-ha, Senior Sister?" Why do I feel something terrible is going to happen?

"Junior Sister, do you recall the book you handed me the other day," Senior Sister asked, enunciating each word with an eerily calm voice.

"Um, yes?" Was something wrong with the book? Though I didn't check the contents yet, I thought the title was self-explanatory, "The Fastest Way to Cultivate." I figured Senior Sister would appreciate something that might increase cultivation speed.

So what's the issue?

"You call this a legitimate cultivation method," throwing the book at me with a red face; the small booklet hit my chest before landing open on the floor.

"What it's just a- Oh my gods!"

On the thin yellow pages of the book, was a crude drawing of a man and woman doing- doing uh, pa pa pa danced across the open pages.

"This can't be the book I gave you though, Senior Sister," grabbing the book, I shut the book closed.

Sure enough, the title read, "The Fastest Way to Cultivate."

"I-I uh, Senior Sister, let me explain!"

"Very good, very good," Senior Sister nodded slowly as a pink blush dusted her cheeks. "You want to cultivate faster, then let's go into closed-door cultivation."

"Ah, wait, Senior Sister, have mercy!" As I attempted to run away, Senior Sister was quicker as she hit my acupuncture point, making my body go slack.

"Noo! Wu wu wu," I couldn't do anything but pitifully cry as Senior Sister dragged me into closed-door cultivation!

Senior Sister, I was wronged! I didn't know, ah!