One spring morning, about two months after the New Year, the Ji estate was shaken by a thunderous laughter that curiously belonged to General Ji. 

It was so loud it shook some of the smaller trees, sending the immature leaves to fall off the branches. Some poor colorful birds, initially happily singing their spring love songs, had the shock of their lives and flew away in fright. All the fish in the pond, initially happily swimming and busy eating some floating moss, quickly scampered away to hide below the rocks... .

When the two Madames arrived at the training room with Meng-momo in tow, they saw their husband still laughing like a madman. Ji SongLi was standing at one corner while covering his ears with his two palms, slight mirth and helplessness on his expression. Ji SongLi's smaller bamboo sword that he used earlier for practice leaned against the wall. The two Madames knew how hard it usually was to draw just a tiny smile from their seemingly-always-sullen husband, so they were worried when they heard him laugh.

Ji LanBai and YuLan were curious, thus they also tagged along. Xiao Hui and Xiao Lin had followed as well. When thee four girls peeked inside the training room from the door, Ji SongLi noticed them and gave a small wry smile.

"What's wrong?" Hai FenChu hastily walked inside the room. She saw her son and was suddenly nervous he might have done, or not done, something that had annoyed Ji ChanFang. But from the way the her husband was still laughing so boisterously, it seemed to be a happy occasion?

Ji ChanFang's earthquake-inducing laughter finally slowed down. When he stopped to catch his breath, he looked at his two wives and daughter, then pointed at a spot on the floor. On it was a long bamboo sword, that had been broken in two.

"That's the bamboo sword I used," Ji ChanFang said, his eyes were still wide with delighted bewilderment. Yet, his voice contained pride.

Wu JianRui and Hai FenChu stared at it for a few seconds, then their pupils dilated in disbelief. Ji LanBai's eyes brightened, and Meng-momo smiled. 

YuLan was still at a loss.

Then Ji ChanFang walked to where SongLi was standing and smacked the back of his head. The slap was not sufficent to hurt him, but hard enough for him to stumble a few steps forward,

"You brat!" Ji ChanFang hollered delightfully, "That was Ji's late intermediary sword art! Not only have you actually mastered the nine primary arts, you actually managed to execute the last stance of the mid-level sword art."

"Truly wonderful!" Wu JianRui also smiled. She walked towards Hai FenChu and patted the younger woman's hands softly.

Hai FenChu had tears in her eyes. She had never doubted her son's talent, but Ji SongLi had always put a distance between him and other people. As his mother herself, she could not open his heart or share his burden. Not to mention, being in a military household, the strict upbringing and expectation her husband placed on Ji SongLi was not for her to intervene or understand. 

Ji LanBai ran straight into her brother's arms, wanting to hug him around his waist. However, her arms were still too short to fully encircle his body, thus she only ended up clinging onto his robe.

"Father, Li-ge is truly awesome, isn't he?" Ji LanBai grinned at her father as Ji SongLi ruffled her hair, "Didn't you say you only mastered the intermediary arts at fourteen years old when you were young?"

Hearing this, Ji ChanFang's eyes twitched a bit and his smile faltered somewhat. But then he chuckled again merrily, "Yes! Yes! That is correct!" He nodded, "Son, I am truly stumped. Just for a few months I haven't tested you in full strength. Truly, a worm that has grown into a dragon!"

YuLan was not sure if that last bit was an insult or a compliment... .

Ji SongLi only bowed and cupped his fists, "This child does not deserve Father's praise. This is all because of Father's guidance."

YuLan was very certain that Ji SongLi had given her a quick glance after that last word.

Ji ChanFang nodded again in satisfaction, "Then today shall be celebrated. Chu-er, ask the kitchen to make his favorites for dinner!"

Hai FenChu bowed her body in slight curtsy, acknowledging his order. After smiling at her son, pride also apparent on her face, she headed to the kitchen to relay the menu for tonight.

Ji ChanFang walked towards his first wife, then they started a whispered discussion. YuLan was quite close to where they were, so she could hear a few things:

"He's ready... ."

"Not too early?"

"... Has mastered the Needle Sword art... ."

"... Take him with me next month to the eastern borders... ."

Ji LanBai then walked back to YuLan's side, breaking her focus, "YuLan, we should celebrate with a cake!"

Ji SongLi's face immediately paled, suddenly feeling phantom pain in his right arm.

YuLan smiled at Ji LanBai, then at Ji SongLi, "Yes, absolutely. It's truly a wonderful achievement worth celebrating." 

When everyone had left the training room, Ji ChanFang stood by the broken bamboo sword, his head still looking down and his brows furrowed slightly. The spot where it had split was devoid of splinters. SongLi's movement was very precise and clean. If he wielded a real sword, this 'Needle Sword' art would have poked a small hole in Ji ChanFang's body. 

In Ji clan sword art, 'Needle Sword' was not the deadliest move, but it was extremely hard to master. In fact, with more practice and given the boy's agility, he's quite sure SongLi could easily turn this move into a deadly one if he could execute it in rapid successions and on the opponent's meridian points.

*** *** ***

Later during the day, Ji SongLi found out that thankfully he did not have to whip the egg-whites, despite his initial resignation. 

It was the first time ever that he saw his mother walked around with slight bounce in her steps. She seemed truly happy that he received Ji ChanFang's recognition. And with his sister chirped happily for the rest of the day, how would he have the heart to say no to her request for cake? Even his usual supporter in this, his father, did not voice his displeasure.

But when he arrived at the kitchen, he was greeted with chaos. For starters, the kitchen servants had to re-prepare everything by the Second Madame's order. Ji SongLi felt quite bad about this. He personally did not care too much about what he was going to eat, but his mother was so excited that she had given a list of all his favorites to the on-duty servants. The meal plan for the day had to suddenly change to include mushroom dishes and braised mutton, which they normally only served during winter.

YuLan's tiny body was almost hidden in the middle of all kitchen servants and she also seemed awfully busy. She was in the middle of whisking something inside a big pewter bowl. When she noticed him, she set aside the bowl on a bench just to push him out of the kitchen, not quite explaining anything. Befuddled, he finally walked away after waiting for a while to make sure that she would not call him back.

At night, after dinner, the entire members of Ji family were still seated around the circular table despite the earlier dishes had been taken away and cleaned. Ji LanBai's little legs swung back and forth in excitement, her nostrils flared every once in a while in anticipation of a familiar delicious aroma that she was very fond of.

Then it came, though it was not quite the same aroma she remembered.

YuLan, with Xiao Hui once again accompanying her, brought a couple of plates in. 

On them were deep green squares, emitting unmistakable aroma of tea.

When YuLan overheard Wu JianRui and Ji ChanFang's whispered discussion earlier today, she was certain that Ji SongLi would not be around for his birthday in summer. Therefore, remembering his previous request on a certain New Year's early morning, she decided to make one for him before he was yet to be dragged by his father to the outside world. 

And as the cake was intended for him, she could not possibly ask the recipient to whisk the ingredient for his own cake, could she? Yet, as she was still not strong enough to do the whisking herself, she chose to bake another type of cake.

She ended up making a tea pound cake, the specialty of her mother in her past life. In this world, there was no butter available, at least not in this household. She also could not be bothered to churn some on her own. She could not even whisk egg-whites, how could she churn butter with her twiggy looking arms?

Thankfully there was powdered tea, almost as green as the Japanese variety she was familiar with in her past life. Due to lack of butter, the cake was quite crumbly and had a different subtler aroma. She used some sugar cane juice and full chicken eggs to bring all the mixture together. The result was dense, crumbly, but moist tea cake.

YuLan took one slice from the plate and moved it to a smaller one, intending to give it to Ji SongLi first. As soon as she had put it in front of him and was about to serve the rest of the slices to everyone else, he stood and lightly touched her robe's sleeves to stop her, giving her a slight smile. He then proceeded to move a slice each from the plates to the smaller ones intended for his family. 

As the slices were bigger this time, after SongLi distributed them, there was only a slice left. Ji SongLi also moved it on to a plate, and gave it to YuLan.

YuLan stared at the offered plate and then looked at him in silent confusion. She had particularly counted them when she cut the cake into pieces, so the extra slice was intended to be served to Ji SongLi.

"If this is made for me," SongLi said, "Then I'd like for you to also have a share."

Noticing the rest of the family not voicing their disapproval, the two Madames even smiled at her encouragingly, she accepted it.

Xiao Hui, God knows how and when she could do it so fast, already moved a spare wooden chair and set it just to the right of Ji SongLi's seat, clearly intending it for YuLan. YuLan wanted to groan when her little friend winked at her mischievously before walking away, leaving the rest of the Ji family and her alone inside the dining room.

"Um, if everyone do not mind with this servant's humble creation," YuLan anxiously said, not quite sure if she should stay or bolt, "Please enjoy the tea cake. For Young Master and Master Ji's taste, this servant did not put too much sweetener in it."

While everyone had finally given into temptation of the wonderful aroma and started eating, Ji SongLi's eyes were still on YuLan who was still standing in her place. Upon seeing his gesture, clearly asking her to sit, YuLan let out a resigned sigh and sat down. Only then, Ji SongLi took a bite of the tea cake.

His smile grew wider. This was perfect for him. Glancing at his father, the Ji ChanFang seemed to enjoy it very much as well. In fact, the stern-looking general practically shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

The green morsel had an astringency unique to that usually tasted from well-brewed tea. It had just a touch of bitterness from the powdered tea, slight sweetness from the fresh sugar cane juice, and dense enough that it gave substance.

Ji SongLi noticed YuLan looking at him at anticipation, and he smiled at her, "I like this very much. Thank you."

Only then YuLan was completely relieved and smiled in turn at him. She looked down and slowly ate the cake in front of her, savoring the taste as slow as she could. Despite not quite being the same in flavor, it reminded her of her mother, and her chest grew warm with longing. 

Noticing her solemness, Ji SongLi poured a fresh cup of tea and pushed the cup on the table until it finally entered her peripheral of sight.

Looking up, YuLan noticed the smiling faces around the table, and then she looked at the youth sitting to her side. Ji SongLi's young face showed calm gentleness, causing his smile to bring  a different kind of warmth inside her.

The warmth was a feeling that she could belong here. For the first time in this life, YuLan felt that she was part of a family.