The days passed quickly for Wu Jian, who had followed Wu Meiying and his mother’s advice and done nothing but train. Since he was still a child and could not cultivate, he trained his body. Push-ups. Sit-ups. Pull-ups. Squats. Lunges. Dips. Planches. He did every exercise he could think of, working his body for the first half of the day before spending the evenings in meditation.

Unlike with cultivators, meditation did not offer any qualitative benefits, but it was good to understand how to properly meditate for when he became a cultivator.

At the moment, he was doing something called Archer Chinups. He was hanging a pair of ropes from the support beam running the length of his room. Attached to the ends were simple metal circles twice the size of his fist, which he was currently hanging from. Slowly, ever so slowly, Wu Jian pulled his body up with just his right arm while keeping his left arm completely straight. The muscles in his arm strained hard as he pulled himself up until his chin was higher than the metal bar. He held it, feeling his arm shake from the exertion, the muscles burning, then slowly lowered himself back down and pulled himself up with his other arm.

Sweat dripped from his arms, back, legs, and feet. Droplets splashed against the ground, forming a puddle underneath him, but he kept going through his exercises. After he finished doing Archer Chinups, he flipped his body around so he was hanging upside down, slipped his feet through the circles, and let go. Blood rushed to his head as he hung upside down. His feet felt the pressure of his weight on them. He took a deep breath, placed his hands on either side of his head, and moved up, doing a sit-up while hanging upside down. Wu Jian held this position for eight seconds after reaching the maximum height he could achieve, then slowly lowered his body and repeated the process.

There were a large number of exercises that he was able to do simply with these bars, and he went through each one, until it felt like his body was drenched in sweat, until his arms felt like they were going to fall off and his back muscles burned like fire was inside of them. Finally, he finished. He lowered himself to the ground and prepared to let go of the bars.

“Haaaaaa—aah?!”

Unfortunately, he had completely forgotten about the puddle of sweat now staining the floor and slipped. He crashed to the ground with a yelp. Pain shot through his tailbone. With a grimace, he slowly clambered to his feet and rubbed his now sore behind.

“Oooh. That smarts.”

Hissing, he limped his way over to the bed. He didn’t sit down since he didn’t want to get his sheets covered in sweat. Instead, he grabbed the towel, wiped the sweat from his face, then cleaned up the puddle.

A pair of servants came in not long after he finished cleaning. One of them was carrying a tray containing a bowl of congee filled with various fruits and nuts. The other carried several large buckets hanging from a metal pole. While the second one went over to the tub and filled it with water, the first one set the tray of food on his bed.

“Thank you very much,” Wu Jian said with a smile.

The servant eyed him for a second, then nodded. Wu Jian’s smile became a little fixed, but he said nothing. The servants had been warned against talking to him. This was apparently part of his punishment too. He was not allowed to talk to anyone. They were also not allowed to talk to him.

The servants left him alone. Wu Jian sighed, but then slapped his cheeks to pep himself up and went over to his food. He was starving.

Wu Jian gobbled up the congee within seconds, then spent another half a minute just staring longingly at his empty bowl. He was still hungry. Very hungry. It was probably because he was training so hard, but he found himself getting a lot hungrier than he used to. It was just too bad the servants didn’t bring him more food.

The final part of his training came after he finished breakfast. Wu Jian stripped off his clothes, grabbed the Silver Lotus, and walked over to the tub. He first sliced off a bit of the stem and tossed it into the water. The stem hissed as it dissolved into the water, and though nothing looked different, he knew better. After the stem dissolved, he plucked two seeds from the inside and tossed them into the water as well. They, too, dissolved, then Wu Jian placed one stamen and one silver petal into his mouth and lowered himself into the water.

It was not a hot bath like what he normally took, but that worked fine for him. The lukewarm water felt nice against his hot skin. As he crossed his legs and closed his eyes, he focused inward. His breathing slowed, body stilled, and his awareness of the world around him evaporated.

That was when he felt it.

Felt his body absorbing the nutrients from the Silver Lotus.

The Silver Lotus had several uses. The first use was strengthening the body, increasing the strength, hardness, density, and flexibility of his muscles. Its second use was purifying his body. Removing impurities from the body didn’t help him right now, but it would supposedly be useful once he began cultivating.

Wu Jian didn’t know how long he remained in the bath, but the water had grown cold, and when he opened his eyes, the bathwater was black. All of the impurities within his body had been released from his pores, turning the water a turgid, disgusting color.

He quickly stepped out of the bath and wiped himself down. Then he dried himself off and got dressed in his under robes. He didn’t wear anything else since he was not allowed to leave his room.

With a sigh, he flopped onto the bed and closed his eyes.

“I wonder how Meiying is doing?” he said out loud.

***

Wu Meiying paced across her room in frustration. Her bare feet padded along the ground and made soft thumping noises, but she could hardly hear the sound, her mind focused entirely inward.

“I can’t take it. I can’t take it. I can’t take it. I need to see him.”

She raised a hand to her mouth, extended her thumb, and bit down. She didn’t bite too hard. Wu Meiying was not interested in tasting her own blood.

“But if I sneak out, there’s a chance Aunty will find out, and then she’ll punish me. I might even be forced to remain in this room for longer than a month.”

She had no idea how Wu Àiliàn knew she had been sneaking into Wu Jian’s room every night, but now that she was aware of this, Wu Meiying knew she couldn’t be careless.

“Surely they won’t find out if I just sneak out once. I won’t even visit him. I’ll just watch him from afar. No. That won’t work. There’s no way I could watch him and not want to be near him.”

When Wu Meiying closed her eyes, she saw several possibilities play out before her, like moving paintings. Each was a possible future. Like threads of a spiderweb, she could see the possible futures branching out in many directions.

This was her unique power. She had no control over this ability. She didn’t know why she had it or even how it worked. However, this power had been with her since she was just a baby, and she had used it to her benefit when sneaking into Wu Jian’s room.

When she was younger, this power caused her to cry a lot. She often saw horrifying visions as a child, and since she had no control over them, they would haunt her day and night. The only time they ever became manageable was in Wu Jian’s presence. For reasons she didn’t understand, he was able to calm her visions just by being there.

Now that she was older, they didn’t affect her like they used to, and she had even been using them to her advantage.

Unfortunately, each possible future involved her getting caught and punished even further.

Wu Meiying sighed and sat on the bed, exhaustion seeping into her bones. Being by herself was horrible. She was keenly aware of Wu Jian’s absence in her life. It was like a gaping hole in her chest where her heart should have been.

For as long as she could remember, Wu Meiying had been in love with Wu Jian. Even before Wu Jian began sharing her feelings, even before she became consciously aware of them herself, she had loved him. She didn’t understand why she felt this way. However, whenever she looked at him, her heart felt warm and at peace. Perhaps that was why her visions calmed in his presence.

And yet…

“I wonder why I also feel such sorrow when I see him?” she asked herself.

It was not something she had told anyone, not even Wu Jian, but her heart ached when they were together. Sorrow and regret always filled her. She didn’t understand these feelings and was even afraid of them, so she often pushed them to the side, but now that she was alone, those feelings came to the fore and refused to go away.

Groaning, Wu Meiying fell back onto the bed and covered her eyes with her forearm.

“This sucks,” she muttered.

***

The month soon passed. A servant came to the room and told him that his father had summoned him to the meeting hall. Wu Jian was so excited that he almost forgot to put his robes on, but after remembering to don his hanfu, he rushed outside and just stood in front of his building for several long seconds, breathing in the fresh air. Only after he’d had his fill did he begin moving.

The final effects of winter had dispersed while he was confined, giving way to spring. The snow had melted but the wilted flowers were not growing yet. However, as he passed several gardens, Wu Jian saw many branch family members planting seeds and raking sand. The motes and streams that were frozen over before were now flowing again.

“JIAN!!”

“Ah. Meiyi—gya?!”

Wu Jian turned at the sound of Wu Meiying’s shout—only to feel the air leave his lungs in a rush as something plowed into his stomach. He hit the ground hard. Stars filled his vision as he smacked the back of his head against the stone pathway.

“Wu Jian! Wu Jian! This is you, right? You’re really here, right? I’m not dreaming? Hmm. Hmmm. It certainly smells like you. Yup. This is definitely Wu Jian’s scent.”

“Uuuh… Meiying. I’m happy to see you too…”

After uncrossing his eyes, Wu Jian smiled and began stroking Wu Meiying’s hair. He had missed this silky feeling. Several seconds passed before Wu Meiying set her chin on his chest and grinned mischievously at him.

“I wanna kiss you right now.”

“You probably shouldn’t. Everyone is watching.”

Wu Meiying’s cheeks swelled as she pouted. “I know that. I’m just saying I want to.”

“Well, that’s fine then.”

They couldn’t remain like that forever, so Wu Jian asked Wu Meiying to get off him, and the two walked together toward the meeting hall. His father was already waiting for him alongside his mother and Wu Taohua. While Mother smiled, Father retained his stern expression, and Wu Taohua looked at him with cold indifference.

“You called for us, Father?” asked Wu Jian after kneeling in a subservient pose.

“I am here as you requested, Uncle,” Wu Meiying said, also kneeling.

Father twitched at being called “Uncle,” but he let it slide, even though Wu Taohua looked dissatisfied by Wu Meiying’s informal term for her husband.

“Your one month confinement is over. You’re free to move about as you please. However, I hope what happened will serve as a lesson to you both,” Father said.

Wu Jian and Wu Meiying couldn’t help but share a smile, but they knew there was still decorum they needed to follow. Still kneeling, they placed the fist of their right hand against the palm of their left and lowered their heads in a bow.

“Yes, Father.”

“I understand, Uncle.”

“Then you are both free to leave,” Father said with what almost sounded like a sigh.

Wu Jian and Wu Meiying scurried out of the meeting room after giving one more bow, then stood underneath the sunlight, basking in their newfound freedom

Everyone else was getting started on their day. Some people were working on the gardens, others were walking toward their destination—wherever that was—and several courtyards were being used as a sparring ground for the older clansmen.

“What should we do now?” asked Wu Jian.

“Hmm…” Wu Meiying tilted her head to the side, then smiled. “Breakfast?”

“Breakfast,” Wu Jian agreed.

He offered his hand. Wu Meiying reached out and grabbed it. Lacing their fingers together, they headed for the dining hall.

---