CHAPTER 22: GEGE MASTER

 

Two days later.

The day was hot with no wind to cool off the ancient earth. Only the white puffy clouds covered the sun to give shade once in a while. On the path going south, Mei Mei flew above Kai in her sparrow form. She flew back and forth and circled around him, enjoying the breeze in her free form.

“This is so cooling to my feathers! You’re missing out Kai,” she giggled.

“What do you expect me to do, flap my arms?”

She turned back into her mortal form and walked beside him. She nodded excitingly, “You could after grandma master teaches you. Then you can fly with me to enjoy the breeze.” She elbowed him on the arm, “Eh, you might even spot Cecilia from above when you fly.”

He liked the idea and nodded. “That’s not bad at all. Thank you little Mei Mei.” He patted her head.

She brushed his hand away from her head and gave him a mean look. “Stop! I hate when you do that!” she crossed her arms in front and huffed. “You’re so annoying!”

“I can’t help it. You such are a cute little bird,” he laughed teasing her.

She turned and corrected him, “SPARROW!”

“Whatever…same bird group…” he muttered.

Mei Mei stuck her tongue out at him. Then she glanced ahead and immediately stopped. She tugged Kai’s arm.

“Kai!”

Kai saw Mei Mei’s unblinking eyes staring straight at something ahead. He turned his head to look and saw the abandoned Yu residence. There were dried blood on the ground and on the exterior walls, and broken objects on the ground everywhere.

“Is this another demon massacre?” she asked.

He raised a brow, “You tell me. You’re the demon.”

She had forgotten for a split second that she was a demon and laughed slightly. “Oh…I guess being a mortal for over year does screw up a demon’s head,” she joked.

She enhanced her sense of smell to track any demon’s essences. A couple of minutes later, she shrugged her shoulders. “Nope. It is a mortal’s doing.”

“Let’s check the place then.”

Both walked to the residence. As they got closer to the entrance, they saw torn red lanterns and leftover firecrackers on the ground; and on the windows were half ripped red papers of the name Shuangxi.

“This was a wedding…” he said.

Mei Mei frowned, “This is sad. Nobody should experience a tragedy on their wedding day.”

He said nothing. He knew that in his world, he had killed many targeted criminals in similar events as this-from going to nightclubs to private birthday parties, he did it all. They entered inside and saw more dried blood on the ground and walls-some were smeared with blood hand prints and others were splashes of blood. The place was also crowded with wood debris and broken items. Two bloody swords and other small killing daggers were left on the ground. As Kai observed the tragic place, Mei Mei came out of Cecilia’s room with a cheerful look on her face. She ran to Kai to get his attention.

“Kai look what I’ve found!” She showed a necklace that hung from on her neck. “I’ve never seen anything like this!”

He looked down and saw the sparkling diamonds. Immediately he recognized the necklace.

She continued, “Isn’t it beau…”

He quickly snatched the necklace and the silver string broke.

“HEY!” she yelled upsettingly.

He took a closer look to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. The heart shape and the lining of the diamonds were the same.

This is really Cici’s necklace.

His eyes started to well up with tears as he smiled.

She scratched her head, “Do you recognize this necklace?”

He nodded and tried not to cry. “This is Cecilia’s necklace that I gave her.”

Mei Mei’s face was full of radiant and clasped her hands together in front. “I’m so happy for you!”

He turned to her, “Where did you find this necklace?”

She pointed at Cecilia’s room, “Over there.”

Kai ran inside Cecilia’s room with Mei Mei. She pointed at the opened wooden chest.

“I found it in there.”

When he reached to the chest, he saw her drawings and picked it up. One by one he looked at them and tears began to trickle down his face. He saw the drawing of her necklace, an image of the faceless couple, a faceless short hair man, and many more.

“She was here…all of this time she was living here …” he cried with joy.

Mei Mei was relieved to know that she was alive and living well, but then she quickly frowned.

“Uh, Kai…”

Kai kept looking through Cecilia’s drawings while he answered her. “Yes?”

“I…I don’t know how to say this but…If she lived here, then the attack…she may…” she paused and didn’t know how to explain it to him. All she knew was that Kai will be upset and get heartbroken.

Kai’s smile suddenly turned upside down and his eyes widened in disbelief.

He shook his head, “No…it can’t be…Cici cannot be…” he turned to her, grabbed both of her arms, and squeezed them hard.

He yelled at her as tears continued to stream down his face, “She is still alive!”

His fingers dug deep into her skin that it became unbearable for her to withstand.

“Ow, Kai you’re hurting me!”

Kai realized what he did and quickly let go of her shoulders. He took a deep breath to calm down and then looked away.

“I’m sorry Mei Mei,” and he wiped his tears.

She faintly smiled, “It is ok. I know you didn’t mean to.” She looked around and sighed sadly, “I felt a lot of pain and sorrow from all of the mortals that died here, but I don’t know if Cecilia was one of them.”

He didn’t say anything.

She continued, “Look, let’s keep on moving. When we meet my grandma master, she may know if Cecilia is still alive.”

He nodded, “Alright.”

Mei Mei left first while Kai stood to gaze at the room. It was small and cozy for a person to live here. At the corner of the room, he saw some makeup and hair pin accessories on a small wooden table. He walked to it and picked one of Cecilia’s hair pins. He grasped a hold of it in his hand and closed his eyes.

“Cici, deep in my heart I know you are still alive. Wait for me.”

---

They arrived at Mu Village and Mei Mei was elated to see so many people. She stopped, closed her eyes as she smiled, and sniffed the air.

“I’m so glad to be back home.”

On her right side, she saw some red balls of candy sticks from a vendor table and clasped her hands in front. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him to it. When she reached to the candies, she grabbed a handful and took a bite. Mei Mei was full of satisfaction that she took some more bites. She giggled while her cheeks were stuffed with candies.

“Miss, you have to pay for those…” said the man.

Knowing that she had no manners, Kai asked, “How much?”

“Two silver pieces,” said the man.

Kai grabbed his money pouch, took out two silver pieces, and handed it to him. The man thanked him.

After she swallowed a mouth full of candies, she exclaimed, “Mmm…It still have the same taste!” then she handed a stick to him. “Here, try it!”

He took it and bit into the candy. It was sweet and melted in his mouth like chocolate. He had a smile on his face.

“Not bad,” and took another bite.

She giggled and took some more bites while they continued to walk through the crowded street.

“This place has so many memories. I remember chasing gege master all across this village, because he stole my little silk pouch that grandma master gave to me. He threw it in a pig pen and I had to go in there to get it. He was a bully gege master!”

“Why do you call him gege master? Aren’t you way older than him?” he asked curiously.

“Let me explain it to you. I was captured by Grandma Master eighteen years ago. She was going to take me to the Black Forest, but her son saw me in my sparrow form and liked me. He pleaded his mother to spare my life and she did. Since his mother saw the goodness in me, she later advised me about the Righteous Path to Mortality to become a mortal being. When he knew about this, he then gave me my name, Little Qiao Mei Mei and took care of me.”

Kai interrupted her, “So if you did became mortal back then, your age would have been zero and then you would have been younger than your gege.”

She clasped her hand, “EXACTLY!”

He shook his head sighing. “You demons with ages…Anyway, did you get your gege back for what he did then?” he asked.

She chuckled. “Oh yes I did. I used my powers and had him stuck on the ceiling for half a day. He cried like a baby and shouted for his mommy and daddy.” Then she frowned, “After his parents found out what I did, I got punished.”

“What did they do to you?”

“Grandma Master placed me in a bird cage for three weeks.”

Kai tried to detain himself to not laugh, but it exploded.

She became offended and yelled. “It’s not funny! It was worse than living in Demon Realm!”

Still laughing he replied, “I…I’m sorry…I couldn’t help it.” She huffed angrily and walk ahead of him.

After a while, they finally reached their destination and stopped in front of the red iron doors. Mei Mei looked nervous and took a deep breath. Then she lifted the door knocker and knocked three times. Seconds later they heard noises from the other side. The door opened and revealed two servants, wearing dark grey outfits, looking at them up and down.

“May we help you two?” asked one of the servants.

She stepped into the resident and held her arms out wide as if she was going to hug them. “It’s me! Little Mei Mei!”

The servants stared at her in silence for a couple of seconds; then they glanced at each other and began to laugh hysterically at her.

“She said she’s Little Mei Mei!” laughed the other servant.

Kai looked confused of why they would laugh at her. It was her home but they were ridiculing her. Mei Mei lowered her arms back down and pursed her lips.

“Little miss, stop wasting our time and leave.”

Her brows furrowed, “But I am Little Mei Mei!”

The servant waved his hand forward for them to leave. “Go. Get out.”

He pushed her on her right shoulder and she stumbled, bumping into Kai. Kai couldn’t bear the servant’s rudeness toward Mei Mei anymore, so he grabbed the servant’s hand and twisted to the side. The servant yelped in pain. Stunned, the other servant alarmed the others.

“HELP, INTRUDERS!”

Other servants quickly rushed from all directions to the front and surrounded Kai and Mei Mei.

Mei Mei turned to Kai, “Don’t kill them…”

Kai, still holding the servant’s wrist, used his weight to lean on one leg, and pushed the servant forward. He let go of the servant’s wrist and the servant staggered uncontrollably to the ground. The other servants began to charge at them.

---

In the study room, Qiao Shun finished drawing the map and was preparing to leave when a servant hurriedly entered in. The servant panted and kneeled down in front of him.

“Young master!”

He turned and saw the frightened servant. “What’s wrong?”

“Two strangers trespass and are attacking us!”

Surprised, he rushed out of the room. Moments later, Qiao Shun reached to the entrance and saw Kai and Mei Mei fighting his servants. His body flipped in the air and landed where the fight was to intervene. Kai threw a punch to hit a servant’s torso when Qiao Shun deflected it with his hand. Kai’s arm flew up and Qiao Shun thrust an open palm onto Kai’s chest but missed; Kai had already dodged to the side. Both continued to block each other’s hits until Qiao Shun snuck a hit onto Kai’s torso with an open palm, making Kai staggered backwards. Qiao Shun stood there with his hands folded in the back with his servants on each side.

Mei Mei’s eyes fixated on Qiao Shun. His scent hit her nose and she immediately recognized him. Kai was going to charge at Qiao Shun but Mei Mei stopped him. He stopped and turned to give her a quizzical look.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I know him,” she said softly.

She had a big smile on her face and waved at Qiao Shun.

“It’s me! Little Mei Mei!”

Qiao Shun smirked, “Miss, you cannot be Little Mei Mei.”

She frowned, “But I am! Don’t you recognize me?”

He shook his head and was getting annoyed. “Stop pretending to be Little Mei Mei and leave!”

Her brows furrowed. “But…”

Something brushed against her feet and she looked down to see a small white furry dog scurrying passed her. She jumped to the side from the unexpected animal. The dog made a high pitch bark as it ran toward its master. Qiao Shun picked the dog up and turned its face to Mei Mei.

“THIS is Little Mei Mei.” Then Qiao Shun teased, “If you want to be Little Mei Mei so badly…” He saw that she was cute and continued, “…I don’t mind that either,” and grinned.

Laughter surrounded the whole place, making Mei Mei felt worthless. She frowned and Kai had enough of their jokes.

“She is here to see her grandma master and gege master, and not a bunch of assholes!”

Gege master?

Qiao Shun narrowed his eyes at her, wondering who she really was. Nobody called him by that name except a demon sparrow. He let go of the dog and walked toward her. He stood a foot away from her and searched deep in her eyes to find those golden colors, there were none. Then he thought of something. Still gazing at her, he quickly grabbed her right wrist and raised it up. Kai thought he was harming her and took a couple of steps to intervene.

Qiao Shun turned to Kai, “Stop. I only wanted to see something from her.”

Kai stopped but was on high alert. Qiao Shun looked at her wrist and saw the red jaded bracelet. Stunned, he glanced at her.

“So you are really Little Mei Mei.”

She nodded. “Gege master.”

Happy to see her, he hugged her tight in his arms. “Little Mei Mei.”

The servants became speechless and glanced at one another, while Kai smiled to see their happy reunion. He could not wait until it was his turn to be reunited with Cecilia. That feeling of longing for her physical affection and her sweet voice made his heart ached.

---

Cecilia and Guo Jing waited at the clinic for Qiao Shun to come back with the map. They had been waiting since early morning and were anxious to leave. Then two men with swords entered in.

“Are you Physician Guo and Miss Xiao?” asked one of the men.

They saw the men and Guo Jing answered, “Yes, we are. You two are…”

The men’s hands folded in front and they introduced themselves, “We are Young Master Qiao Shun’s men. I’m Hou Liang.”

“…and I am Liao Wei.”

Liao Wei handed a folded paper to them. “Due to an important matter, young master could not meet the both of you. This is the map that young master wished to give to the both of you.”

Guo Jing took it from his hands and looked at it. The Map showed the landscape of Chu territory and Wu Mountain. There was a line that was drawn from Mu Village and ended at the foot of the Black Forest. Most of the path that they had to take weren’t open paths but more small trails. They had to go through forests and steep hills, cutting their way through villages to shorten the time and length of traveling.

“Tell your young master we thank him for the map,” said Guo Jing.

The men nodded and didn’t leave.

She raised a brow. “Uh, aren’t both of you going to leave?”

“Young master ordered us to accompany Guo Jing and Miss Xiao to Wu tribe,” said Huo Liang.

Cecilia and Guo Jing glanced at each other in surprise. They didn’t expect Qiao Shun would do this when Guo Jing specifically told Qiao Shun not to help them.

“I appreciate your young master’s kindness, but there’s no need. We can manage without any assistance,” said Guo Jing.

“I’m sorry, but we have to obey his order,” said Liao Wei.

Guo Jing was about to say something but Cecilia stopped him. She shook her head, “It’s ok. They can come with us.”

Guo Jing nodded. “Fine…”

“Young master already have four of his fastest stallions waiting at the front gate of the village for us. We should depart now before the sun sets,” said Liao Wei.

Cecilia and Guo Jing nodded and left with the men.

---

Mei Mei ran across the garden with her arms raised up to the sky, twirling around and giggling. Behind was Qiao Shun with his hands folded in the back, walking and watching her playful mannered. She transformed into her sparrow form, flew around the flowers, and landed on Qiao Shun’s right shoulder.

He turned to her, “You have to be careful about your transformation. Most of the servants and maids are new here and will be frightened to see a demon.”

She flew off his shoulder and turned back to her human form. She crossed her arms and huffed.

“But I’m not a bad demon.”

“I know, but people will talk. Look what happened this morning. The servants were surprised to hear me called you Little Mei Mei. Now, you are going to be the center of attention within these walls.”

She raised her fist and narrowed her eyes, “Then I will teach them a lesson!”

Qiao Shun chuckled seeing her get worked up. “Don’t worry about, rumors will fade. But if they do cause any harm onto my Little Mei Mei, they will get punished then.”

Happy, her hands wrapped around his arm and she placed her head on his right shoulder. “I knew gege will always protect me.”

He smiled down at her. “You know, when you disappeared, I thought you were killed by the demon hunters. I cried ten days and my parents would buy me different sparrows to comfort me, but it was never the same.”

She giggled a bit to hear that he cried for her.

“Where did you go?” he asked.

She reminisced the past and began to have a glowering look. She let go of his arm and folded her arms in front.

“That stupid demon hunter captured me and sent me to the Black Forest. I was so close to become a mortal but he had to ruin my Righteous Path to Mortality.” She turned to him, “I couldn’t help mortals if I was stuck in the Black Forest you know,” and pouted.

“Well it’s a good thing that he didn’t kill you. I bet…” he paused.

“Bet what?”

He lightly pinched her cheek, “You were so cute that he couldn’t bear to kill you,” and laughed heartily.

He let go of her cheek and continued to walk laughing. She stopped. Her face turned flushed red from his comment, and she placed both of her hands on her hot cheeks.

Why does my face suddenly feel so hot?

Then she touched her chest.

Why does my heart beat so fast when he did that?

She had a big smile and ran to catch up with him. During their walk, she told him about her adventure in the Black Forest when she was captured. She told him how she was bullied by other demons because she didn’t want to be like them-full of hatred and wanted to feed off from mortals. Then she told him about her escape and met Kai. She explained to Qiao Shun who Kai was and his search for his lost love, Cecilia Lin. She told him how Kai protected her, so she could continue her Path to Mortality for a year. Then she frowned when she told Qiao Shun about their encounter with the Lurker and how she had to break the Path to Mortality to save Kai’s life.

Qiao Shun picked a pink blossom flower from a tree branch and handed it to her.

“Here, for you. My little Mei Mei has gone through so much and I wasn’t there to take your burdens away. From now on, I will not let my Little Mei Mei experience anymore hardships.”

She felt better and gave a big smile, showing teeth. “Gege, you’re the best!” and hugged him.

He patted her back. “Yang Kai Li is very dedicated to find his lost love. I admired him a lot,” said Qiao Shun.

She let out a big sigh, “It’s romantic but sad at the same time to know he have been separated from his Cecilia.”

“Just like you and me?”

She quickly pulled away from him and gave a quizzical look. He chuckled by her facial expression and changed the subject.

“So, what do you want me to help Kai with?”

“I want grandma master to help teach him so he can defeat demons.”

He had a glum looked on his face and sighed. “I’m sorry, I cannot let that happen.”

She tugged his sleeve, “Why gege?”

His eyes started to get teary and looked away, “My mother is dying.”

She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. “Can I see her?”

He shook his head, “Not today. She’s resting. Father has been there with her every day to keep her company.”

She started to sob, “Grandma master…Little Mei Mei just got back home…don’t leave yet…”

Qiao Shun hugged her again and patted her back to comfort her. Seeing her cry saddened him as he thought about his mother’s last stage of life. He was about to cry also, but held it in to keep himself strong for Mei Mei.

---

In a guestroom of the east wing, Kai stared down at the diamond necklace in the palm of his hand. He started to reminisced his and Cecilia’s times spent together. He knew her for seventeen years and had gone through a lot together. With so many good times, there were also bad, scary, and funny times. He remembered when she tried to bake for the first time. It was his twentieth birthday and she wanted to surprise him of her skills. When she presented the cake to him, it was charcoaled and hard as stone. Kai laughed from the memory and held the necklace tight in his hand.

His front door swung opened and Mei Mei and Qiao Shun entered in. Kai got up and walked toward them, anxious to see Qiao Shun’s mother.

“Am I going to see her?” Kai asked.

“Not today. My mother is resting now. When she is ready to see you, then I will let you know,” answered Qiao Shun.

Upset, Kai raised his voice, “What do you mean?! How long am I going to wait for her? Honestly, I don’t really care about her teaching me. I only wanted her to tell me what happened to Cecilia.”

Qiao Shun was silent.

Mei Mei cried out, “Grandma master is dying Kai!”

Kai was baffled of the news and turned to Qiao Shun, “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I won’t bother her then.”

Qiao Shun tightened his smile. “Thank you. I will inform you when she is capable in meeting you. As for now, please be patient.”

Kai nodded.

Qiao Shun was about to leave when he saw Mei Mei stood there. “Little Mei Mei, aren’t you going to leave?”

“Why? I sleep with Kai.”

Qiao Shun glanced at Kai and then her. “Unmarried Man and woman should not sleep in one room.”

He grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the room. Kai could hear their voices as they left.

“But…gege…”

“There are a lot of guestrooms in this Manor. I will choose one for you.”

Kai shook his head and smiled.