Meilin ran up to me and tackle hugged me to the ground when i walked out of the pagoda "tell me everything, what god is your father, what did erlang say" she talked fast, faster then shed ever talked before. "you first, your a" "huli jing" she said softly "a fox spirit, protector of this village, of all bàn shén. we are a long lived species. and about 200 years ago. a child of huxian the god of foxes. they went on this journey—it was a dangerous quest—basically what happened was an uprising—they took it upon themselves to take the name of sun wukong and they tried to overthrow heaven. it was a group of demigods, spirits, guai, and—gods. her quest was to rescue a god that had been kidnapped. she managed to succeed and afterwards cultivated to a point that she ascended to immortality. then she created this village. with the permission of erlang shen she made a small safe haven. "i actually cultivated and ascended on the quest little fox" Hua Chun said from behind me. i quickly spun around and stared at her in confusion "what do you mean" "what she just said—the story isnt exactly correct. So I corrected her—arent i just wonderful like that" she spoke as if what she said made perfect sense but that story was from 200 years ago and she didn't look nearly old enough to have been around that time. as she realised why i was so confused she laughed softly and whispered in my ear "dear im much older then i look i have lived lifetimes and spend my years building this little village up from the ground"
Meilin giggles softly next to me. "ill take her to show her the town in more detail" she said as she was already pulling me around by my arm. both Hua Chun and Xue Wen waved us off while talking t each other in hushed tone, the only words i could make out were "seer", "journey", and "save".
as Meilin pulled me by my arm towards one of the main paths she asked me again "so who's your father?" "fuxi" i said softly. Meilin grinned at the sound of that and said in her usual happy and exited voice that she was happy i knew now. both about my father, her, the gods—all of it. we walked around the valley for hours. we walked past the peach orchard, the tea trees, the blacksmith, and the siheyuans after hours of walking we sat down next to the river that split the valley in two. as we were talking about the absurdity of everything. from mr Yang being a guai, to Meilin being a kitsune and my father being the god Fuxi. we talked and laughed like we hasnt seen each other in years. "Baihe—can you—play me a song" she had never asked me to play her something on my dizi before, i always had to beg to let me play something and she would still refuse me. i looked at her with wonder in my eyes, probably looking more exited then i had when i heard my father was a god. "YES!" i answered before i could think. i grabbed the dizi i was carrying and said a small prayer before i put it to my mouth, closed my eyes and played my favourite song to her.
after i finished i slowly opened my eyes and saw that Meilin was staring at me. "it suits you" she said quietly "the hairpin" she quickly added. i lifted my hand to my head to find the hairpin in my hair and i remembered what happened only a little bit ago and i looked at her for a few seconds before asking her just what this is. she looked at me opened her word as if she knew she had to say something but wasn't sure what words to use. "Bagua—is its name—Xue Wen gave it to me. it is an old relic from the days of old. he said to give it to the heroine who will paint the green red." i looked at her for a moment "what" i asked her "how would he know youd meet me, and what would happen—before it happened" she looked at me for a second trying to figure out what words to use. "Xue wen—is a seer" she talked in a hushed tone "sometimes he gets—visions—of sorts" the more she talked the more sad she looked and the more depressing her tone got "he is the one that gives out quests if needed" tears now streaked down her face but before i could try to comfort her a bright light erupted from the other side of the river. from behind me i heard yelling from other people "whats going on" i heard someone yell "what is that" i heard from somewhere to the left of me. somehow i knew what was happening. i could—feel it, the patterns being made, the walls rising—i could feel everything. a new siheyuan was being made. as the light seized to be. we could finally see what it was. and i was right. a small siheyuan had appeared on the other side of the river. "what happened" i could hear Xue Wen yell—i ignored him. i stared at the siheuan then at the river i knew i had to get to it. i closed my eyes and focused on the qi around me. that of the trees, the river, the people around me—i sat there for a second then grabbed my dizi and put it to my mouth as i slowly stood up and played a song and almost instinctively took a few steps until i was at the edge of the river. i stoop still for a mere moment trying to resist this urge, trying to think of a reason not to listen to myself but it was to no avail. as i played my dizi i focused on the qi around me like i had never done before. and i walked on the water. i took small steps. and before i knew it i was on the other side of the river. i looked over my shoulder a smug smile on my face and fell down to the ground laughing. "are you ok sweetie" Hua Chun yelled out sounding concerned. "yes im ok" i said in between laughter. i looked up and stared at the other side of the river and saw that about a dozen people were staring at me. "how did you do that dear" she yelled out for some reason sounding even more concerned then before. i looked at her then at the water in between us "to be honest—i have no idea" i looked at them for a while before Xue wen suddenly said something "stay there for a second i will be right there, we do not know if that siheyuan is safe" it was the first time id heard him raise his voice. usually he spoke in a quiet tone, sounding unsure if he was even allowed to speak. he sounded—good—when he raised his voice i thought to myself. with a whistle Xue Wen summoned a small black cloud which he climbed on top of and rode it to the other side of the river. as everyone except for Meilin and Hua Chun left to go back to whatever they were doing before.
i looked at im as he jumped off the little cloud and said something to it in a soft and gentle tone to which it quickly flew away again. "hi" he said his voice back to the earlier tone. I still wasn't used to him sounding like this. He looked sweet and gentle. I suppose in a way this tone of voice suited him too. I quickly turned away to look at the newly appeared siheyuan after i realised i had been staring at him and asked him if this is usually how siheyuan appear here to which he simply stated he wished it was. he hesitantly raised his arm and put his hand on the door "are you ready" he said unsure if this was the right decision "i think so" i answered to which he slowly opened the door.