Chapter 27:

Chapter 27

~~~Ya Xue~~~

It should feel stranger than it feels, being taken in as a concubine.

It should feel stranger that after I was taken in by big sister Bao. Sleeping near her husband, even if in the open and sharing a bed even if nothing untoward happened should have changed something, anything.

It should have, and yet I felt the same as before. Even as I pack my supplies into my backpack, I feel just like yesterday and the days before when I had abandoned my banner and put my family in the position where they would have had to pick me or the banner.

Now I was invited to sleep at the side of Tai Su by his own wife in a clear sign that I am family to be trusted. If the man were to have done so alone then it could have meant something else, but as it was Bao that did so, then it meant that both of them agreed to take me in.

“I expected this to feel different.” I observed as I put my backpack on.

“What should feel different?” Bao asked.

The men were busy relieving themselves as they travel in group of three. Only Cheng Lin was left with us as Da Xiu, Haoran Lin and Tai Su left in a group to relieve themselves away from sight and smell and make sure nobody would ambush them.

He was talking with big sister Yu now and she seemed to smile at whatever it was he was saying.

“Being a concubine. Marriage and other events would always have a large festivity happening, so maybe that’s why?” I answered.

The woman whose marriage I joined shook her head at that.

“City folk do things weirdly. You don’t need some large celebration for marriage, Tai and I didn’t have any. Once we became adults we just started calling ourselves married and that was that. You still walk the same road as yesterday, you’re now just further along with it, both of you.” She replied.

I turned my head to my left and looked at the other woman who is now my peer.

The Ice Blooded looked at us with the same blank mask she always wore when Tai wasn’t ‘feeding’ her whatever it is that he was sending her to make her look like a proper living thing. She was breathing, her voluptuous chest was rising and failing, her eyes were moving too, but her face… it looked as if it was a corpse some demon kept alive. Her eyes were dull and devoid of emotion, her lips were set in a thin line and when she wasn’t speaking one could be forgiven for thinking it was made out of porcelain.

She was already wearing her backpack and I saw her lips curl into a slight smirk as I was adjusting my own.

I did my best not to shudder when looking at her. Even if Tai had managed to get her to be loyal somehow, an Ice Blooded is an Ice Blooded and you can never turn your back to them if you don’t want it full of holes.

She was beautiful still, and despite knowing what she is, I had to admit that her red robe she still looked good despite me being unable to look at her with anything but distrust.

“Relax Ya Xue, the last thing I want is for Tai Su to decide I’m too dangerous to keep around. It’s easier to do that if he thinks I will defend my fellow concubine.” She declared, her voice carrying a hint of amusement.

I nodded but did not answer her. I am not prepared for that conversation still, I still needed to make sense of what I am feeling and why.

First, my own bannermen abandoned me, then the lemons took me in and were far, far friendlier than the old soldiers said they were. Then the bastard Ma happened, then cultivation then me deciding to leave the banner, then this. It’s too much to process, too much to care and so it left me feeling numb.

A soft embrace took me from my side and I relaxed beneath the smell of paper and ink.

“We’re in this together Ya.” Bao whispered to my ear.

“We are, I am fine Bao, I am… it’s a lot to take in, I need time to know what I am feeling.” I answered.

I did not stop the hug, it was one of the few ways I found to make the dark thoughts stay away. I could easily lose myself in the warmth of Bao’s hugs.

“The others are returning.” Yu Zong interjected loudly.

It wasn’t a shout, but it was a close thing and it was the signal for the hug to end.

“Alright, everyone has all Of their kit? Food, rope, fire starters, small branches, sleeping sheets?” She asked.

All of us confirmed it and even looked around the camp to make sure nothing was left. Our food supplies were getting low, especially as the Lins had few of them and so we had to share our own limited supplies.

At least the forest had some fruits we could eat to supplement our reserves, even if we hadn’t seen any animals we could eat and easily hunt since entering this forest, except some birds which always stick to a considerable distance from us.

“Is everyone ready?” Tai Su asked as he came near the rest of us and put his own backpack on his back.

“Yes, we just did the final checks.” Bao replied for all of us.

The other men took their backpacks and bags as we helped them put them on.

“Excellent, like we’ve decided we’re heading south east to the next supply drop point, resting there for a few days as we try to see if we can refill our food supplies then rush straight for the sect.” Tai Su said as he repeated the plan we agreed on last night.

The map Bao made has been worth her weight in gold as it allowed us to plan our steps ahead and know how close we are to out destination.

All of us started to silently go towards our destination as we split into groups.

The twins took the back, the women the center and our husbands the front.

I removed the waterskin from my waist and took a sip of water from it.

‘Halfway empty.’ I observed silently to myself.

My last source of water was unlikely to last me for more than two days and I knew that the others were in a similar position to mine, but we could not find a water source near this supply drop point to refill it and so I had to subsist off morning dew besides the water I managed to store.

Hopefully the river’s water is potable, we have enough water left for a day at most.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tai Su~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking through the forest has always been a therapeutic experience for me in all of my lives. There is something about the ability to walk through a forest and relax as you go through it and enjoy the nature or to merely walk through it with a given purpose.

Now that I had others to look after, the experience was far less relaxing.

Me, Da Xiu, Bao, Ya Xue, Yu Zong, Mei Lin, and Cheng Lin and Haoran Lin made for eight people.

Eight people I needed to look out for.

Our formation was a simple thing, the men in the front and back in the grouping we’re most comfortable in and the women in the center. Two spear users in the front, three in the center, one axe user in the center and two axe users in the back.

A simple and easy formation that also served a social function of allowing the woman to talk through their problems and social issues, while we did the same and pretended we couldn’t hear the others.

The girls were talking about taking care of babies of all things and we? We were talking of something close enough.

“Two concubines already Tai Su? Bold of you.” The man near me said with a smirk.

“It would have been only one, but my wife won the fight with yours for her.” I answered back with a similar smirk.

“Lucky you, I suppose, I don’t know how you’ll handle three pregnant women at the same time.” He said, his voice thick with amusement.

“I’ll learn from my senior. If Yu Zong isn’t pregnant from how long the two have been attempting, then it would be a surprise.” I answered.

“We’re not doing it that much.” He denied with a grumble.

Now that was a bald faced lie if I ever heard one.

“Once a day brother. It may not be that much to you now, but it is a lot, you have to keep your energy for other things as well as you have been getting tired teaching the twins and they get tired from doing ten push ups.” I cajoled in good spirit.

Cheng Lin and Haoran Lin weren’t that bad. Their sister noticed that when people go on a long road towards the sect they don’t return past a certain point and are forced to return if they don't reach it. As such she reasonably thought that the march there tires you to exhaustion, and so had all three of them train specifically for it, despite being townsfolk. I think, they are townsfolk at least, they don't strike me as what stories told me of how city folk act they are far too hard working for that.

Townsfolk may not be city folk in how hopeless they are in the endurance department but one could say they had the worst and best of all worlds where they had the same education as villagers, with the same training as those from the cities, but they weren’t that bad.

The other man muttered something I couldn’t hear, but when he spoke next his amusement was gone from his voice.

“I won’t ask how you’re keeping the ice blooded loyal exactly, I don’t want to know, but she and her siblings are a net drain on our resources, especially water. We need to do something about it.” He said seriously.

I nodded at that.

Mei Lin and her siblings weren’t without their own resources, but they only had one water flask on them each, while the rest of us had four each after we took some from the cherry bannermen’s corpses. We spread them around to them as well, but we do need to refill them.

It doesn’t help that their paltry training also went through our water faster than normal.

“Once we reach the river we’ll fill our waterskins, find the camp and rest at it for a day or two before refilling them again and not stopping except for food and sleep. We can’t afford to stay too long in the places with the most beasts.” I answered simply.

“We’ve been lucky to not find any yet.” Da Xiu observed

“Yes we have been.” I admitted.

“I don’t believe in luck.” He continued.

I would have said something to that, but I saw the footprints near our camp, all three of them.

The sect is monitoring us, and they want us to know we are being watched or the footsteps would not have remained there for us to see in the morning. Da Xiu and I erased them before the girls noticed just in case, but the message was sent and it was quite a potent one of ‘Behave and be vigilant.’

Cultivators can fly, influence emotions and perception, control the elements and so much more. Us noticing their presence even if only after the fact could have been nothing but intended, and it not being made obvious means that we shouldn’t act like we know.

“We’ll have to be vigilant regardless of your opinion on luck, as luck only multiplies what you have, it doesn’t stop beasts from ripping you into pieces.” I answered plainly.

The man gave me a simple nod and from his emotions I felt a sense of acceptance.

It was possible we were just imagining it, but we are halfway through our trek and we’ve found absolutely no beast except some birds that keep themselves as far away from us as possible, and while that is possible, what is more likely is that those beasts were purposefully kept out, until the sect saw we wouldn’t die at the first beast we see.

Now that there’s eight cultivators here, now that we’ve had time to look things through and put a cast over the social issues now we were ready for whatever is to come. Last night served as a warning from the sect that we need to hurry and be prepared for what comes ahead.

“Speaking of heavy stuff, have you considered my proposal? Our first born marrying assuming they have the right gender.” I asked.

I have been preparing for sect life and that includes ensuring that Bao can give birth in safety and without issued as well as the life our children will have. I don’t know how life inside the sect works still and what’s their stance on child rearing and the like, but assuming some of the tropes in my past life hold, then each of us will have to provide some sort of contribution if we want to stay in it.

If we pool our resources together, then six individuals will be able to provide the contributions for eight if we work together and failing that, five would be able to do the same for six.

“Yu and I are open to it Tai Su, but it’s more complicated with us. You know I am part of a clan already, even if we’re not much of one. They are willing to welcome Yu in it, but I can’t just enter into an agreement with you so that my children join yours or your child joins mine. I need to talk to the clan head and the elders and then you have to talk with them.” He answered sheepishly.

“You are a cultivator, once you are in the sect you will be the only cultivator in your clan by your own admission. They can't tell you no if you want to do it.” I observed.

Cultivators are only second to the Empress and the high nobility and peers to the officers of the Banners. If a cultivator wants to enter into an agreement then those of lower social standing can’t do much about it, even if they are family.

He shook his head.

“Clans don’t work like that Tai, once you’re in it you don’t just leave it without a good enough reason. I love my family and I am not in the same position as Ya Xue. I am not saying no, as I am for it, but I need to talk with my family to arrange it. This is how these things go.” He replied reasonably.

I sighed at that.

Social obligations are annoying, especially when you are in good standing to those you owe filial piety to, but I will accept it for what it is, a ‘I want to but, I need to ask for permission.’

“I’ll hold you to that Da Xiu.” I declared with a smile.

I implicitly promised Bao to make sure that we can have our first child as soon as possible in exchange for Bao’s trust which she has always given me freely and I intend to fulfill my end of the bargain.

“I’ll hold myself to that as well Tai Su.” The man swore with a smile that matched mine.