บท 182: Bai Lian's Troubles - Finding The Elder.
"When did you get back Shu He? You were gone for a while." Bai Lian lent over the stall in order to get closer as her pure silvery white hair cascaded over her shoulders and her crystalline blue eyes glimmered with interest.
"A few days back" Shu He slightly lent back away from her.
"You should have said! It's been too quiet around here recently…" she complained as she turned and lent back on the side of the stall "Have you seen the others?". "Not really, I've been too busy since I got back… oh, but I did speak with Wei Yu" Shu He replied, remembering the short meeting he had with his distressed friend.
"Oh… did you do something then? Those two have been distant for a short while, but It seems to be fine now." She asked with a slightly dull expression on her face, Shu He shook his head "No, not really, I just had a little chat with him, and Wei Yu realised what he should have done".
"Really?" She tilted her head in doubt "You know, you said before to me that you don't like getting involved with others much, but it seems to me you're really good at it?". Shu He sighed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly "It just happens, you know?" he then looked at the stall "By the way, I didn't know you were part of the Crafting Division?".
Shu He was at least sure she hadn't been in it when he left the sect to go on his mission, although disciples have three slots for Divisions it isn't necessary for them to fill them immediately after all, they'll be spending a long time here, they can take their time to figure out where they want to be.
Bai Lian sighed and a faint cold air left her mouth as she slumped on to a chair behind the stall, her actions at odds with her groomed ladylike appearance, a depressed look cross her expression as she went silent for a few seconds to find her words – "I joined because I thought it'd be a good way to relieve stress…" she looked at the few pieces of cloth, clothing and decorations on her stall, clearly it didn't help much.
"…" Shu He felt the awkward atmosphere between them, normally before he would have redirected the conversation elsewhere… but this time, he felt a tug to do otherwise; Hadn't he just criticised himself for pushing others away?
"What happened?" He asked, feeling like a chain he had holding him back just shattered; Bai Lian looked up at him with surprise, becoming unsure of what to actually say, eventually she found her words "There's been a… development within the Bai clan and… I just… don't understand it" she clasped her hands as they shook slightly.
Shu He frowned 'She doesn't understand it? Isn't she the 2nd daughter of the Clan Patriarch?' "What exactly happened? For you to not understand it…".
Bai Lian looked up at him with a conflicted expression before she stood up and leaned over the stall once more "Please don't tell anyone else, I shouldn't be telling any outsiders this but…" Shu He hesitated but then leaned in to hear the 'secret'.
He heard her whisper in his ear combined with a slight chill that carried down his spine.
"My sister has been engaged to the Huo Clan's first son".
Shu He froze as his brain tried to process what he just heard, there was so much wrong with it that he was in disbelief; First of all, Shu He doesn't know Bai Lian's sister, nor any Huo clan member personally, but he had learned enough about clan structure to understand why this simply shouldn't be happening.
The Bai Clan was a unique clan in that it had a dual Patriarch and Matriarch structure, one male and one female at the head of two different families that ruled over the clan, the way succession happened was that the first son and first daughter of both families would compete for the seats when they came of age and the succeed when the current ones retired providing they had the ability to do so.
Because of this, it was possible for siblings to become both Matriarch and Patriarch, since unlike in a normal clan, the two weren't married and instead had their own families.
The key point here is that, in the current running in the Bai Clan, both of Bai Lian's elder siblings, her brother and sister, were already slated to become the next clan heads! Yet now her elder sister was being married off?!
It made no sense for such a marriage to be arranged, it was undermining the clan structure and future! Let alone the fact that the succession for Matriarch would have to be held again, most likely putting Bai Lian in that position.
And this is all ignoring the giant elephant in the room – The Bai Clan and the Huo Clan were one step away from mortal enemies at this point, under no normal circumstances should this engagement exist!
"What on earth…" Shu He couldn't help but murmur, this truly was a secret that both clans would want to be kept under wraps "And you have no idea why this would happen?" he couldn't help but ask her in a hushed voice.
Bai Lian weakly shook her head "You understand, right? There's no way this should be possible… I even spoke to Father about this, but he didn't tell me anything… It's just…." She shook slightly, there was a hint of panic in her voice but underneath that…
Was anger.
"Why? Why would they do this?...".
Shu He felt his heart clench, he felt a little guilty; He could do nothing to help her, it was an affair far beyond his reach… and yet, he didn't feel like ignoring it. "If you need me to help, I'll try to do what I can" he couldn't help but say, wanting to at least reassure her.
Her shoulder's shook slightly as she looked oddly at him "You're being weird today" she laughed slightly "I thought you'd brush me off like you normally do".
"Is it really that weird?" Shu He coughed awkwardly "I just thought… I'd try being a bit different from now on".
"I think you're better this way, you were too hard to approach before" She nodded, smiling lightly causing Shu He to freeze for a moment before he lightly chuckled.
"Quack!" [Hey!]
All of a sudden the two's attention was caught by a duck who had managed to climb on to the stall and was currently staring at the two of them that were talking while leaning over the stall to one another.
"Oh! Who's this cute little thing?" Bai Lian's face lit up as she ran over and picked up Little Xue who panicked slightly before being pulled into her embrace.
"That's Little Xue, she's my new partner" Shu He introduced the little duck which stuck her breast out with pride when her name was said. "Little Xue? Xue (Snow)?" Bai Lian tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the little duck in her arms, more specifically at her scarlet red plumage. "Isn't that name a little… misleading?" she couldn't help but laugh as she asked.
"Ah- Uh, well, let's just say we lost the lottery when it came to matching appearance to name" Shu He awkwardly explained, but he couldn't just change her name!
"Well, never mind!" She held Little Xue out as they stared at each-other face to face "Xue is a great name! It doesn't matter what she looks like" Bai Lian said with a cheerful smile, Little Xue nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, she can understand me?".
"She's a spirit animal after all" Shu He crossed his arms as he watched the two interact, relieved that the little duck seemed to have improved Bai Lian's mood. "Right! You wanted a pillow before, was it for this little one? I can make a better one just for her! I'm sure she'd love it!" Bai Lian's eyes seemed to sparkle as she hugged and petted Little Xue.
"Really? That would be great, I'm sure she'd be pleased" Shu He nodded, going along with it, not even thinking if it would cost even more points.
"Quack! Quack! Quack!" [Yes! Pillow! Nice!] the little duck exclaimed as Shu He translated for her.
"Oh right, before I forget we were here for a specific reason" Shu He recalled that he had, in fact, came for one thing.
"Hmm? What is it?" Bai Lian asked while carefully stroking the duck's plumage.
"I need to request something from the Division Elder, I've got a letter for him from my own Division Elder yet apparently only his direct disciples know where he is? Do you happen to know where any of them are?".
"The Division Elder? He's hard to find… I only met him once when I joined… but if it's a direct disciple you want then I can take you to my Senior Brother" she stood up from the stall, not willing to release Little Xue from her embrace as she walked out.
"Really? Won't it be a problem leaving the stall like this?".
"It's fine, there are security measures for people stupid enough to steal" She shrugged as she began to walk off "Come on! He might move on if we take too long!".
"Okay…" Shu He followed her, who held Little Xue in a deadlock in her hands up the stairs.
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