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Chapter 22

Xue hua didn't want to complain, but after a day of walking in tough terrain, she really wanted it to.
But her sister wasn't complaining, so why should she? Her sister was injured, yet she wasn't complaining.

Xue hua can see the weariness on her sister's face. Once or twice she wanted to ask her sister if she wanted to take a break and rest, but she didn't.

"Where are we going?" Xue hua asked for the tenth time.

"Somewhere I know we would be safe." Jin qing said softly.

Xue hua didn't want to ask anymore.

Another day passed, Xue hua was hungry. Jin qing hasn't said much the entire time, and the few berries she had picked wasn't going to fill Xue hua's stomach.

Finally, Jin Qing looked excited. Her steps became a little lively and her face brightened in a way she had never seen.

"Yes!" Jin Qing smiled, and began to run, stumbling a little but gradually began to speed up. "Xue hua! We're almost there! Come on!"

Xue hua tried to pick up her feet and follow her sister. It seems like Jin Qing had just received an extra boost of energy, but why?

Jin Qing climbed over a small hill and Xue hua followed, revealing a homely cottage with a garden next to it. The pond connected with a stream that most likely lead to the lake. Flowers grew around the simple mud and wood home, fences around the animal pens and the garden. It was neat, pleasant, and homely.
A young man around her sister's age was in front, chopping wood.

"Long yin! Long yin!" Jin Qing shouted with a huge smile on her face, pure joy radiating off her. For a second all burdens seemed to fall away from her, her injuries disappearing as she ran.

The young man named Long yin looked up at her voice. Confusion took over his face for a second, but when he saw Jin Qing's face, his face changed into joy. "Xin er!"

The two embraced, Jin Qing burying her face into his shoulder, seemingly crying.
Xue hua had never seen her sister like that. So happy, so tearful, so human.

"Xin er! Where have you-"

Jin Qing made a quick gesture that Xue hua couldn't quite catch.

"Where have you been all these years?!" He continued.

"I'm sorry I couldn't visit. I desperately wanted to too!" Jin Qing smiled. She turned to Xue hua and beckoned her over, and Xue hua shyly walked over. "This is the youngest son of the elderly couple I stayed with."

So this is him? Oh, Xue hua was at the place where her sister grew up in!

Xue hua curtsied a little, only to be stopped by both of them.

"This isn't the palace nor some rich noble's home. You may act as you please."  Long yin grinned, his hand on Jin Qing's shoulder. He turned back to Jin Qing "oh! We heard the Xue xian was somewhere near here and was captured, but I'd never expected you to come!"

"It took an escape attempt, and I remembered the terrain as we passed through, I recognized the places we used to play in! I knew it would be safe here, so I'd thought I'll come back." Jin Qing smiled.

"Oh mother is waiting! Hai Lin and Hong Hui is out getting wood but- oh I'm so glad you're back!" Long yin grabbed Jin Qing's hand, but she took it back.

"I'm running myself! I don't need your help like I used to!" Jin Qing laughed and broke off into a sprint into the house.

Xue hua was surprised.
Is this the Jin Qing she knew?
The sister she knew was reserved and quiet, an untouchable elegance surrounding her.

But here...

She seemed happier, lively, a bird free from a cage.

"Is she always like that?" Xue hua asked in disbelief.

"As far as we're concerned, that's who she is."

"But... she acts so differently than what I know her as..."

Long yin laughed "well, a bird takes the feathers of them around it. She's a wonderful actress."

If he was right, then she would have been hiding that side of her for eight years...

"I'm... speechless."

"Of course. When your father came back to pick her up, he didn't believe how fast she changed from a country girl to a proper lady." Long yin chuckled "I'm the same age as her, I remember that day quite clearly."

"Before... what did she mean by she doesn't need your help like she used to?"

Long yin sighed "I'm the same age as her, so I don't quite remember why but your sister was quite the frail child back then, always getting sick and injured. My brothers and I always had to help her around."

They were at the house now, where Jin Qing and an elderly woman were crying into each other's dresses.
The old woman's face was wrought with wrinkles, sleek silver hair dotted with grey was brushed and pinned up in a bun. Her warm eyes shone with tears and wisdom, seeing beyond her years.

"Mother!" Jin Qing was on her knees, hugging the old woman.

Despite being elderly, the woman looked as healthy as a horse, and her hearty laugh and steady voice showed it. "Xin er... it's good to see you again! Oh let me see the daughter I wished I had..."

"My mother." Long yin explained, gesturing to the woman. "Jin Qing was never our sister by blood but-"

"Oh, Long er! Does blood relationships matter? Xin er is our daughter." The old woman laughed.

"Has mother's health been well? Don't tell me Hai Lin still gives you headaches..." Jin Qing asked.

"Xiao Hai grew up and matured when you left." The woman chuckled. "Sit and rest. You must be tired after your escape and travel."

"No mother. I would like to see my brothers and father."

True old woman slapped Jin Qing's arm lightly. "Don't lie to me. I can clearly see you're injured. Sit."

"Jin Qing may be the most well known, but our mother is just as fierce." Long yin said softly and winked.
Xue hua laughed. She can tell where Jin Qing got her wit from after living with them for 12 years.

Jin Qing sat down on a hard bed with a bamboo mat and allowed the old woman to cluck disapprovingly over her minor wounds.
"Ai yah, getting yourself into fights again?"

"I'm sorry mother..." Jin qing looked genuinely ashamed.

"Don't get into them. You know your limits."

Long yin had gone to fetch the other brothers, and Xue hua can hear them.

"Xin er!" A man shouted. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, tall and muscular. Behind him was a young man younger than him but definitely older than Long yin.

"Hong hui!" Jin Qing smiled. "Hai Lin!"

The man embraced her and so did the other one, tearful.

Xue hua had never seen men break down like this.
Xue hua felt invisible, but she was happy for her sister.

"Oh we were so worried about you!" Hong hui exclaimed.  "Don't get captured again like that!"

"We know you're smart, but please!" Hai Lin agreed.

"Where's father?"

"Taking his time. But Xin er, how have you bee-"

"Where's father?" Jin Qing asked again.

Everyone but Xue hua laughed. What was the joke?

"Outside by the cherry tree." Hong hui answered, still laughing.

Jin Qing leapt off the bed and sprinted out.

Xue hua was so confused.

"And who's this?" Hai Lin asked, turning to her.

"Xin er's sister." Long yin explained.

"Pleasure to meet you." Hai Lin winked.

"Hai," Hong hui said reproachfully "she's a lady."

"Xin er is one too."

"But she grew up with us. She's basically our sister." Hong hui replied. He stood up and turned to Xue hua "anyone Jin Qing considers family is ours too. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Xue hua nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you call Jin Qing, Xin er?  Her name doesn't have Xin in it."

The boys looked at each other, not too sure how to respond, but the mother laughed.

"She came to us when she was a child. The person who dropped her off didn't tell us her name, so we picked Xin er. One dear to the heart."

"And the father she was asking about?"

"You can say the etiquette and the brains were from him. He used to be a military general, but retired to the countryside to be with me." The old woman chuckled "he knew that Jin Qing wouldn't stay here forever, so he gave her gloves to protect her hands and taught her almost everything she knows."

Xue hua nodded.
So this is the people her sister grew up with.

She got up to find her sister, and her 'father.'

<>

Jin Qing skipped toward the cherry tree in the back.
The place hasn't changed, at all, and neither has the people.

The place she grew up in. The place where she truly considers home.

The old man was sitting on the stone bench, both hands on the same wooden crutch she had helped him make oh so many years ago.
His eyes were closed, but Jin Qing knew very well he knew she was there.

"Xin er. You have returned, as you promised."

"Eight years ago." Jin Qing responded, her voice once again formal.

The partially blind man turned to her, looking at her up and down, and chuckled. "You've grown from a little girl to a woman. How old are you now?"

"I'm almost twenty-one."

The old man stroked his beard "that makes me in my late sixties."

Jin Qing smiled, he acts like a regular old man, but underneath that acting was a brilliant mind and agile body. He was the one who taught her many of the things she knows.

"Come, sit." He smiled, gesturing to the seat across from him. "And have tea."

There was no tea on the table, but it was his way of saying to chat. Jin Qing obediently sat down, folding her hands on her lap.

"You aren't surprised I'm here?" Jin Qing asked.

"Of course not. I heard a certain someone was on it's way to act an exchange for peace. I'm surprised you haven't seen the signs of brewing war?"

Jin Qing hung her head, a little ashamed. "I was too distraught about my brother's captivity. I didn't notice how it might be a trap until it happened."

"Of course. Don't let your emotions blind you."

This old man is one of the few people Jin Qing was afraid to cross. She respected him as both afather and a teacher.

The old man got out a box from a hollow in the stone table- a set of Wei Qi.

The objective of the game was simple- capture territory using black and white rocks.
The table had the grid of the game etched into it, made by Jin Qing when she was younger.

Jin Qing eagerly opened the box and handed the old man the black set.

He chuckled. "You still prefer to play the white one? I'm not surprised."

Jin Qing smiled and went first.

<>

Xue hua came out not a few minutes later and found the Jin Qing she had known for eight years, sitting quietly playing Wei Qi.

"Xue Hua." Jin qing nodded.

"And who is this young lady?" The old man asked "Xue hua? What a pretty name."

"Thank you." Xue hua curtsied a little.

"I apologize for my behavior before. I know you aren't used to seeing me like that." Jin qing said to Xue hua.

How did she know that Xue hua was uncomfortable?

"I'm not used to that... I didn't know you had that side."

The old man laughed out loud. "Well! You should have seen her when she was a child! Weak and fragile, yet always wanting to move around."

Xue hua looked over at the board and rose her eyebrow. Was her sister losing?

The old man noticed her confusion and chuckled, "Don't be too worried. Your sister wouldn't lose that easily."

"I've lost to you so many times in the past. I wish to claim my victory today." Jin qing said with a determined shine in her eyes.

"You may try."

That was a challenge, and Jin Qing won't back down from one too easily.

Xue hua watched the two play, mystified by how her sister was able to switch personalities so easily.

Perhaps there were more things about her that she didn't know of.

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