"I hate sleeping. But I keep getting tired, what should I do?" - Lin Si, 7, when describing to the doctor about her ailment
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He stood back up, turning away. "Thank you." he spoke quietly. She leapt up to approach him,
"What did you say?" But he quickly stepped away. She wasn't convinced in the least. "You appreciate it? Right? I heard it right, didn't I? Yes?'
He was getting annoyed by now, he turned to face her, "No need to go on so long!" However he only found himself gazing back into her gentle eyes. And then a soft hand approached him. He didn't move right away, the tiniest bit of trust still in him held him captured in place for a moment, and he didn't move as it lightly rested its tips on his stomach.
She glanced up, worriedly "Is it better?" Sun'er had approached, calling over madam Wang, and they were discussing the wolf pelts, picking them up to probably continue her treatment of them.
He moved away from her touch, but this time, slower, less disgusted compared to before. "Yes." He nodded, turning away again. "Do you…want to join us for breakfast?" He had accepted her courtship offer, one, because she was incredibly suspicious, yet he doubted he could find anything on her with his current resources, two, she wouldn't leave them alone anyway, and a hidden danger was always more threatening on than one by your side, and three, by bringing her into his house, he could observe her, find out her motives, find out her backing, and what she really was here to do.
However, to his surprise, she merely smiled, stated, "No thank you." And turned to walk out. As she reached the gate, he suddenly noticed he'd moved, his hand now placed on her shoulder.
Ah, this was awkward. Did he just stop her? Why? He quickly released his hand, to allow her to go.
But she turned around instead, an obnoxious, knowing smile on her lips. "Well, since you insist, I suppose I can…" But it was interrupted by the low growl of her stomach. Heh. He caught himself from a smirk, taking his face for a moment before he pushed it away, so that it almost never existed. Ah, strange.
She kneaded him in the waist with her elbow, annoyed by her stomach's protest. "Well, since you offered, what are we waiting for!"
When Lin Si entered the kitchen area, Li Junli instantly dropped his spoon in shock, mouth open.
She waved her hand, smiling widely. "Hi, xiao Li, is it okay to drop by?"
Li Junli nodded earnestly, unable to speak for the food in his mouth, but his face was grinning, barely able to choke down his mouthful. She sat across from them, with Li Junlong glared at her fiercely the entire time, completely silent, and she just trying to pick up a conversation with the easy one.
"So, you slept well?"
"Yes!"
"That's great, you're looking so good today,"
"Thank you!"
"Any plans for later?"
"Uh, no, no." He wanted to say more, but he was just too excited, he finally asked. "Wait, so are you gonna marry brother then?"
She nodded, glancing over at Li Junlong, enjoying his expression. "Almost, almost." She reached over, but Li Junlong took his hand away. "Hahaha" She laughed awkwardly. "I hope your brother likes me soon."
Li Junli nodded excitedly. "Ye, yes," he grabbed his brother, Li Junlong himself felt his heart skip with excitement at how much strength he used. "Brother, brother, you must marry her soon, please!"
He glared back at Lin Si, what did you do to him?
She shrugged back, I'm innocent! Innocent!
After breakfast, finding out Li Junli was an avid weiqi fan, she invited him out to play in the inner courtyard, and so they began their match, with Li Junlong hovering in the corner, watching them fiercely.
Lin Si leaned forward, whispered to Li Junli, "Does he normally do this?"
Li Junli shook his head, whispering back, "No, normally he practices martial arts in the morning, fights people around noon and then goes down to town to do something."
They continued the match, she found to her delight, he was actually really good at weiqi, and soon she became absorbed in the fight. It had been a long time since she had found a decent opponent, but also incredibly long since she'd played at all. People south of the central empire were rarely interested in anything that wouldn't help kill someone.
Suddenly a thought struck her. "How come he dares leave you here for an entire night over the weekend?"
Li Junli waved his hand offhandedly, placing down another stone. "He has a friend that comes by every week, and stays the night sometimes, or hovers nearby."
"Ah," she nodded, suddenly smiling, placing down her stone excitedly. "You fumbled hard, my dear."
He glanced down, scanning the board, catching it almost immediately "tch," he clicked his tongue. "Shoot."
They had a couple more matches before Li Junlong finally left to beat up some people and returned for an afternoon meal. He was considering how to uninvite her when suddenly she brought up a topic.
"Say, Jingsheng, Li Junli and I were considering going down to watch the arena fights tonight. Would you be willing?"
Li Junli glanced at him, hope and fear intermixed in the gaze. He didn't think he'd accept. Li Junlong remained silent. Which Lin Si immediately took as an encouragement to speak more.
"Isn't it a good opportunity for your brother?" She placed a hand over xiao Li's, rubbing it gently, "He can't stay innocent of the world forever, you know."
To Li Junli's surprise, Li Junlong actually nodded in consideration. "You might be right."
"Alright, let's go!" She leapt up, moving toward him, to grab his arm, but he dodged her again.
+++
To keep both their identities somewhat hidden from the masses that night, she got them masks, and they both changed into darker tones, especially Li Junlong, wearing a full midnight black robe set.
"Sleek~" she complimented, giving him a look up and down as he came out.
He ignored her. "Let's go."
He carted his brother down the hill. The arenas were in full swing, even more people than the previous day were walking around. She walked side by side with Li Junlong, but his eyes were on his brother the whole time, witnessing his happiness at every sight.
They found a spot to stand with a decent view, near a couple stands selling treats.
"What do you think of it?" She asked curiously, inching closer.
"It's busy," he commented.
"Yeah," she agreed. "We've been working on moving it."
When she fell silent, he finally asked, "Where?"
She grinned. One way or another she'd get him to talk. "To the base of the mountain, between your home and the town, it just makes more sense, and will give you more peace and quiet."
He nodded.
"We've been working on it since yesterday, there will be four arenas like these two, and we've also started constructing stands."
"Long Wen sure made it rich."
"Yeah," she agreed. "He's doing well for himself, very happy, his brothers will also probably come to compete soon, I'm sure it will be fun to lord over them his new business."
He nodded. Then, asked, "And what will he do with this property?"
She shrugged. "Idk, do you wanna buy it?"
'No." he sniffed. "I don't need to be paying more land taxes."
She shrugged. "Who knows then."
It got quiet again, she walked away, returning with a stick, coated with dragon's beard, and some sesame balls. Handing a couple to Li Junlong, who refused more than a couple balls, she glanced up to Li Junlong. "Yo, want some?"
"No," he refused.
She instantly turned sorrowful. "Really? I'll have to throw it away then, since I can't finish all this…" she sighed sadly.
Suddenly she felt a large hand wrap around hers, grabbing the dragon's beard. "I'll take it."
She had to duck her head so he wouldn't see her smile. Man, that was kinda cute. It seems asking the little brother wasn't wrong.
As she munched on some balls, watching the business below, she glanced up again, his brow had relaxed a bit with the candy but had a light scowl. It seemed the noise really did bother him.
When she'd rejoined them, she'd stood even closer, and now, slowly, her hand inched over, till it brushed the back of his. He jumped a bit inside, but didn't move away for once, and she relaxed, as well, until eventually, one, finger, then two, slid into his palm, sliding into a hand hold.
He glared down at her, passing off the stick to a kid collecting waste.
She just smiled up at him. "Come on, please, aren't we basically engaged?" He let her hold his hand, not moving, she gazed down, leaning closer, against him. Is this what lovers do? Is this what her father meant by a "greater happiness" than she could get before? She didn't know. What was love? Did love make you happier? As happy as beating an opponent into the dirt? She'd had a crush once, but it had only brought her pain in the end…
Eventually, it got later, and when Li Junli finally yawned, she suggested they head back. Li Junlong nodded, agreeing with her, and they began to descend the hill.
However, right as they were exiting, suddenly Li Junlong stopped in his tracks. They were still holding hands, and she felt his grip tighten around hers, so hard she had to circulate qi to keep it from breaking. "Xu.." He whispered vehemently. She glanced over toward where he looked, a young man, cloaked in yellow and black was chilling with some others, making a racket while carrying a sharpened staff, alike to a spear, with a wicked curved edge on one end. "What is he doing here?" He spat. "He dares to walk this close to my home??"
He was too quiet for Li Junli to hear, but with Lin Si's superior hearing, she instantly caught on, she quickly tugged his hand. "Not now, he probably didn't think you would come out of your home to see here. I recognize the one on his right as someone who was here last week, so that guy probably informed him you wouldn't know. Either way, this isn't a good spot or time to start something, and besides, maybe…you can bait more in if you wait."
He finally abated his rage with the last of her words, deciding against attacking. Meanwhile, she also relieved a sigh inside, since it would destroy everything she'd started if he began to massacre people here, plus, his brother was nearby, and with all the martial artists, even if he was the strongest in the world, if they defended the young master of General Xu, then more blood than necessary would be spilled.
She pulled him forward, and he followed mutely, before letting go when she saw a familiar acquaintance.
"Yo! Old man! You came tonight too?!"
The old man she'd met at the noodle shop strode up, also with a smile on his face, rubbing his beard as he did so. "Yes, yes, I did, but please, mind your manners to the elderly, little one."
"You-" suddenly she heard a voice behind her, something hit the back of her head as a wave of killing intent spread out from Li Junlong past her toward the old man.
The old man instantly narrowed his eyes, frowning. "What is Li Jun-" Suddenly his mouth was covered, by Lin Si's hand, as she made a shushing sign.
"No need to cause a scene, old man, even if you know who he is!" She was kinda impressed he recognized him so quickly tho.
"Sage Gongli" Li Junlong spat out. "To think I would see your face again here."
Lin Si was beginning to think that Li Junlong was the problem with how many enemies he had, this was getting exhausting…
But Gongl…wait, that Gongli? She glanced over at her hand, quickly taking it back, bowing politely, "Ah, excuse this slave for not recognizing, it deserves to be fed to the dogs for its actions!"
The old man felt his face slapped a bit by her antics, "Fine, fine." He waved his hand at her. Before turning away, his face frowning profusely. "However, tonight we'll part, I'd rather not talk with a man like him." Striding away.
Interesting. So Li Junlong even had beef with sage Gongli himself? He was an ancient, one of the few she hadn't met, since he tended to wander the central plain's jianghu a lot, among one of the few ancients that hadn't chosen to retire in peace, he liked to still often get involved with the current conspiracies of mortal conflict.
He was the man everyone wanted on their side, in recent times he'd been heard to be advising the emperor a lot, so what was he doing out here?
She gave up trying to figure it out, pushing the innocent little brother, completely unaware of all the undercurrents back to the residence and his room, where she was pushed out by the other brother.
"Let me see her one last time," murmured Li Junli from under his covers, "before I sleep."
Li Junlong firmly wrapped him under the covers, whiffing out his candle. "No." He stated viciously, before exiting.
He met Lin Si right outside the room, striding out so quickly they almost collided. She stepped back with agile movements.
He stared at her for a while. "You can stay the night."
She nodded, a bit thankful, but also exhausted, she hadn't slept in three days. She barely felt like talking much less going all the way to town to get an inn, which, considering the crowds, would be very difficult. And the ground…considering how long she wanted to sleep, out of the question, she did not want to deal with the cramps she'd get, she was a dead sleeper, who never moved after falling into a slumber, hence it was vital she got comfortable before sleeping if she was to rest more than 6 hours.
He led her past his room to the other side. She was surprised by how it was next door to his, but at the same time, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. It kinda made sense he'd choose it, but still, it was sorta cute, she thought. He opened the door. "Will this do?"
It was dusty, no one had cleaned it, and the bed didn't even have covers, but bringing in an oil lamp, she glanced around in satisfaction, glancing back. "Yes-"
The door shut, Li Junlong stood in front of it, trapping her inside. Intense rolls of intent spewed out from him.
She set down her lamp, as he approached, but the closer he came the farther back she slid, until her back hit the wooden wall. He trapped her in with both arms, hands leaning against the wall.