"Aibing," a stern old voice spoke, "That's enough."
The old man who declared the practice over was none other than He Xiaoli, a legend in the unnamed city. Over the years, his unageing appearance had faded and he was showing hints of his true age. Perhaps it was the job of becoming a private teacher that made him age in the past two years, maybe not. No one knew what the teacher-student pair of He Xiaoli and Hua Aibing, did. But they did know that it was something that was beyond their imaginations.
At his words, a tall child collapsed onto the stone floor. She was tall, and lean, but the lack of curves hinted at her real age. The foreign looking child, a blonde with blue eyes, was only eight years old. And was exhausted after training.
Too tired to complain, Aibing remained on the cool floor. The only noise that followed her thud to the ground, were the exhausted pants from her small lungs. The only thing keeping her awake, was the pain she wanted to complain about.
"That was good. You can go home now." He Xiaoli commented. Disregarding the pitiful child on his floor, he walked to the small bookcase hidden behind his desk's frame. "Take this. I'll be gone for a bit, and when I return you better have learnt all of it's material." He said as he handed her an old book.
Aibing, too exhausted to lift even a finger, only stared at her teacher as he left the book on his desk and walked away. He had told her a month prior of his business in the capital, but he hadn't told her when he'd be leaving. She didn't care when he left though, she even wished he'd stay gone forever!
'Stupid teacher!' She insulted in her mind. Forcing herself to look over her accumulated injures and fatigue, she nimbly walked over to the desk. The book that He Xiaoli had placed on the spotless desk looked out of place. It was old, and showed obvious signs of diligent usage. It didn't suit the man's perfect image. She scoffed, grabbed the book and shoved it in her bag before leaving the room.
"Miss Hua." A tall man spoke as Aibing left the study. Startled at the sudden voice, Aibing slightly jumped, causing a slight smirk to form on the man's unchanging face. "I hope my father didn't work you too hard today."
"No, no. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle." Aibing replied hurriedly. It was only after she had spoken that she realized her words seemed as if she was gloating her expertise. "I mean, he was lenient today." Aibing said with a light smile, hoping that her words wouldn't offend the young master of the manor.
"That doesn't sound like him." The tall man, He Xiaoli's only son, He Delun, replied with a nostalgic glint in his brown eyes.
"Ha," Aibing replied with an awkward fit of laughter. "Maybe it was because he wanted to leave early?"
"Mm. Perhaps?" He Delun replied quickly. He didn't move from where he stood, allowing no escape route for the awkward eight year old. "Would you like to stay for dinner? My father would love it if you were fed," he paused before resuming, "Properly."
His words made the uncomfortable Aibing mad, but she was forced to cushion a smile and keep her manners. He Delun was, after all, her teacher's only son, the man who would later become the lord of the manor, the one who would rule the village.
"My family is waiting for me tonight, so I must regretfully decline your offer." Aibing responded, sounding nothing like an eight year old. It was this particular habit of hers, that piqued the curiosity of Young Master He Delun.
"Ah, is that so?" He Delun replied with his usual monotone voice. "Then, until next time Miss Hua."
After his last words, he finally moved. Disregarding the fact that she stood in the doorway to the study, he walked past her to enter. His shoulders slightly brushing against her own.
When the door closed behind him, Aibing was finally given a chance to escape this horrible manor. It took every bit of control that she possessed to not run away, from the manor, and the residents who lived inside. Only when she got outside, did she breathe again.
He Xiaoli was her teacher, and she respected him. However, the horrid man used her prowess for multiple research projects. The only reason she complied with his requests, was because she also gained something from the multiple experiments. With every one, she grew stronger. Although she almost died earlier in the day, she was sure that she would gain profitable benefits from the training.
He Xiaoli didn't wish for her demise either. He was, albeit weird, a good man. He ensured her older brother's entry to a good education, and gave her father a new job after he had been discarded from his past position - all thanks to her. Even though she complained about him on a daily basis, she liked the old man.
However, his son was a totally different matter. He Xiaoli and his late wife had He Delun at a late age, which had been the most probable reason that his wife had died while in labor. He Delun, who had inherited his mother's beauty, was a living heartache for the old man. And he left raising him up to the staff at his household.
Because of this, the maids who raised him had an inflated ego. They would mistreat Aibing, if they even bothered her a glance. But that wasn't the reason why Aibing disliked Delun.
He Delun was preparing for his sixteenth birthday, and was nearly eight years older than herself. However, despite their age gap, he treated her in a way that he would never treat another child.
As a soon-to-be sixteen year old boy, more responsibilities were being loaded onto his shoulders. One of them being marriage. Although he had three years to prepare for it, the topic was supposed to always linger at his mind. But, it should be with a girl of proper age, not an eight year old.
Although Aibing suspected his intentions towards her, he never made it clear that he liked her, or wanted to marry her. In reality, he found the smart child amusing. In the past two years that she had trained at his house, she had gained leaps and bounds of knowledge and experience. In the near sixteen years of his life, he had barely managed to not fall behind to the child. He sort of saw her as his rival, and wanted to learn from her and influence her training. Although he did have some inappropriate thoughts here and there.
Despite holding her breath as she exited the He estate, which took at least five minutes, Aibing was not tired. In fact, the process was nothing compared to what she had gone through earlier today. The training that she had to endure early in the morning was practically asking her to kill herself, as she had to stay underwater for two minutes, then five, then seven. The number continued to grow, until finally, the last time, she was under water for thirty minutes. It had taken her all day, and it was still unsatisfactory to He Xiaoli.
With the cruel training she had gone through earlier, she didn't even have to catch her breath. Instead, she resumed on her way back home as if nothing had happened.
"A'Bi," a little girl squealed in delight upon seeing Aibing walking through a broken door, "A'Bi!" She exclaimed with a bright smile on her face. However, the recipient of the little girl's feelings didn't share the same excitement.
As the little girl ran to greet her older sister, Aibing walked past her coldly. Instead, she went straight to her room. Being ignored by her older sister, the two year old child cried.
"Mei Mei," an indifferent boy said as he picked up his youngest sister. "Don't cry."
"Can't she at least say hi?" The children's father, Hua Jiang, complained. He had gotten used to his daughter's cold greetings, but when his youngest daughter began to become the recipient of them, he was finally getting old of it.
"Honey, you know better than all of us why she does that." Their mother, Yan Cuifen, replied indifferently. She was neither happy, nor angry at her middle child. The young girl had once jumped into her family's arms, until she realized that it hurt them. So instead, she had isolated herself. Not even greeting her family when she returned from her daily ventures.
Hua Jiang's face contorted with pain, as he became overwhelmed in his own memories. It had been two years ago, after He Xiaoli had taken in Aibing as his pupil. She had returned after her first day, eager to have started a sort of school. And her family too, had eagerly waited her return.
However, after picking up his daughter and hugging her out of excitement, a sudden pain had made Hua Jiang collapse. It was only after the father-daughter pair separated that the pain eased. But, his left arm would never be the same after being practically frozen to the bone.
"She's a monster." Hua Jiang whispered to himself. He, like everyone else in the unnamed city, was scared of her.
What he didn't know, was that the 'monster' Hua Aibing, had heard his comments. She was planning to get herself some food, which would take her out of the shelter of her room. But, she stopped once she heard her family's conversation.
Upon hearing her father's words, a coolness spread over Aibing's body. A layer of frost had covered her heart, which would soon turn into ice. If Aibing was normal, she would've died on the spot. However, she had the ability to summon ice and snow on a whim. There was no way that a little bit of frost would kill her. But, what would kill the young child, was the pain in her now entrapped heart. The pain that was initiated by her own family.