- 14 years later in the Hou Kingdom -
A young girl with a turquoise dress was running on the green grass, whose black hair shines silver in the sunlight and a cheerful smile adorned as she ran. Her maids try to keep up with their young miss, making sure she didn't cause trouble once again.
"Third young miss! Please slow down!"
One of the maids told her yet she did not stop. The cheerful third young miss ran in the garden where the first and second young misses were, who both were admiring the flower bushes when they saw their youngest half-sister running across from them.
"Sister, look how unbridled she is! How can she be part of our Bai Family? Such unruly behavior!"
The second young miss complained to the eldest young miss.
"No matter how much you want to complain Huanhuan; she is Bai Yue Ji of the our Bai Family. Grandfather dotes on her the most, so we shouldn't be careless to offend him when it comes to her."
Bai Huanhuan sighs out of annoyance to her eldest sister's words.
"Elder Sister Wuyan. If we don't discipline her as the older siblings, then she would become more bold to get Young Master Mu's attention wouldn't she not?"
Bai Wuyan's expression momentarily falters upon hearing her blood-related sister's words, but only for a little bit before coming back to her stoic appearance.
"Don't be silly. Have you ever seen her expression change when we mention him? She doesn't care. Now let's go greet Grandfather."
The eldest miss heads first to their grandfather's courtyard with Bai Huanhuan following after.
"Trip her."
The second young miss secretly whispers an order to one of her guards to shoot a pebble at the third young miss's leg; therefore causing the girl to trip and lose balance. She falls to the side of the bridge and into the pond, making her maid attendants panic and call for her while some went to find and alert the patriarch of the situation.
When Bai Wuyan saw Bai Yue Ji fall off the bridge, the faint light in her eyes became bright as she turns her head to Bai Huanhuan smiling at the scenario.
'Why?'
"Ji'er! Ji'er!"
A woman with gentle beauty and a purple dress ran over to the shore of the pond calling for the third miss. She was the only concubine of Lord Bai and Bai Yue Ji's mother, Su Ai.
"Hurry! Whoever can't save Ji'er will get flanked 30 times over!"
The maids panic even more that a few of them started jumping into the pond to save her daughter from drowning. Some weren't very good swimmers so they ended up helpless in the water while the other ones were able to drag Bai Yue Ji back to land.
The ones who weren't able to swim had drowned in the pond, agitating the second madam.
"Idiots! If you didn't know how to swim, why even jump in the first place?! Guards! Throw these garbages out!"
The nearby guards ran over to silently dispose of the corpses, but Bai Yue Ji's choked voice stops them.
"Mother, send them back to their family and give gold to them for their service. The orphaned shall be buried in the Death Temple."
The deceased maids with family will be brought back to their home while the orphaned ones will be brought to the Death Temple. It was a place where the deceased low-borns would be buried to appease the God of Death, Fu Jing.
"Alright alright, send them there! Bring Ji'er over to my place."
Su Ai has her daughter rest at her courtyard while the servants were informing Lord Bai and the grandfather of the young misses about the incident. Lord Bai shook his head and sighs in his chair as he places a black piece on the go chessboard. They were both in the middle of a game.
"Yue Ji has been running wild lately. I told my concubine to teach her well but it seems that she just made her more unbridled as time went on."
"Bai Wenlan, Ji'er is your youngest child so it's only natural for her to be carefree and spoiled. Come, let's go see Ji'er. Oh and. . .you lose."
Grandfather Bai puts his white piece down on the go chessboard which concludes the game with his victory; thus Bai Wenlan chuckles at the fact that he'll never beat his own father at go. As they head to Su Ai's courtyard to check up on how Bai Yue Ji's doing, Bai Wuyan and Bai Huanhuan went to visit their mother.
She was the legal wife of Bai Wenlan, Nangong Shuli. Madam Bai was resting in the pavilion next to a table with tea when her two daughters came to greet her.
"Yan'er, Huan'er, come here."
Both ladies came closer to their mother as she takes their hand in both of her hands.
"I heard what happened with your youngest sister. I'll give you both some nourishing medicine for her to take so she'll feel better then she won't have to go against you both since she'll owe us gratitude."
Bai Huanhuan smiled alongside Madam Bai except Bai Wuyan who looked at their expressions silently, knowing that they had something in mind. The eldest and second miss prepare the medicines to gift to the youngest miss soon enough.
In the concubine's courtyard, Bai Yue Ji was resting in her mother's bed in deep peace. Her front was facing towards the wall while her back faced her mother who was right on the bedside.
"Ji'er, have some rice congee. It's been prepared for you."
Su Ai beckons her daughter to eat, yet was left with no answer from the child. Just as she was about to pull her out of bed, the maids inform the woman that her husband and father-in-law had arrived to see Bai Yue Ji. She could only hold back and bow to them as they arrive.
"This concubine greets husband and father-in-law."
"Rise my dear. How is Yue Ji?"
Bai Wenlan helped his concubine up as he questioned her. Grandfather Bai sees his granddaughter turning around slightly to see him before facing the wall again, the old man's face shifting in confusion.
"The doctor said Ji'er is fine. She just needs to recuperate for awhile and then she'll be back to normal, but she refuses to eat."
Lord Bai sighs and walks over to the bedside to see his third daughter.
"Yue Ji, you won't have energy if you don't eat something. As long you eat well, get better, and be careful from now on then that's best. Bo Lie!"
Bo Lie was his personal servant and friend during their years. He came into the room on his lord's order.
"Bo Lie is here my lord."
"Later on, choose a maid with martial arts to protect Yue Ji. Do not allow them to follow orders from the madam and my eldest and second daughters, she shall only listen to Yue Ji's orders."
"Yes, my lord."
"Alright. Let me talk to Ji'er. I'll try to convince her to eat."
Grandfather Bai sits down on a chair as he has everyone escorted out except for Bai Yue Ji's maid attendants.
"Silly brat, you know how to act truly unwell for this old man to be so worried?"
"Grandfather, it's not like that!"
Bai Yue Ji quickly sat up and turns to her grandfather with a smile.
"Father is always busy and doesn't usually visit me, so I find it difficult to talk to him whenever he talks to me. It feels awkward."
"Then why don't you go visit him? If he sees how filial you are by visiting him and helping with his work, isn't that at least the best thing you could do to ease him?"
The third young miss became silent as she stood up from the bed and went to massage her grandfather's shoulders.
"Grandfather. . .you know that I'm not that sociable. I can only talk with you normally like this but with mother, father, second mother, eldest sister and second sister. . .it's too awkward to do so."
"But they're your family. Why would you feel awkward around your own family? As long you talk to each other then you don't need to feel that way anymore."
"I don't know, I feel that second sister and second mother naturally don't like me because you favor me Grandfather. While I have no hatred for them, once they hurt those I like then I will naturally hate them. The maids who tried to save me. . .I only wish for them to live better in the next life."
As a concubine-born daughter, she had less fair authority when it came to being a young miss of the Bai Family. She had seen countless maids die for her sake due to her mother threatening them, and this wasn't even the first time. The death of her maids steeled and solidified Bai Yue Ji's personality to distance herself from being close to another person ever again, with the exclusion of her grandfather who showered her with endless wisdom and love.
"Ji'er, family is forever. While you may not have a good relationship with your second mother or your second sister, you must not live your life in vain and hopelessness. The only real family will be those who sincerely wants to protect and shelter you no matter what, so you must live on. Live on to also make your own legends and legacies in your own hands without succumbing to anyone believing that you won't be able to do it. You must be strong inside and out no matter what, you hear? Only then will you find solace when the time is right."
Grandfather Bai's words made the third young miss silent, but also thinking of it all. She still has a long way of being able to not doubt herself one bit and trusting herself a bit more, but she must press onward faster in pace as time is always limited to mortals.
"Ji'er will heed grandfather's words in heart."