When Ming Yue was finally awake, it was 4 PM already, she remembered that her brother would be coming soon. She quickly woke up and freshened up, she changed into something appropriate to recieve her new brother. Ming Yue wore a beautiful blue skirt embroidered with flowers paired with a off white top.
As she went to the receiving hall, she that only he father along with Zhu geng and feng shui were there. She had not expected that the only son of the Lee residence/manor would be so coldly welcomed, but atleast their father was there.
Ming Lee had seen Ming Yue arrive from his peripheral vision. They all waited for around 15 minutes, then a tall silhouette of a man came riding a horse, slowly the tall man's face came to light to show a face similar to that of Ming Yue, Ming Hong the heir of general Lee had finally returned.
Hong was painfully handsome, he looked someone who jumped out straight from a TV commercial. He had straight arched brows, a hig bridge nose and thin lips, he looked very similar to Ming Yue but his skin was rather tanned from the harsh training he has to go through.
Ah Hong got off the horse then started walking towards the receiving hall, since they (Ming Yue and Ming Hong) were small children Ming Hong doted on his little sister because they had no one in this world except for each other. Though their father claimed to love them, he was never present for them when they needed him the most. When Lue Yi and Luo Yi used to bully them, he was never there for them, one time Ming Hong even complained that the mother daughter pair were bullying them, but he just said "Ah Hong, you might've misunderstood it." and shrugged it off. Since then, he's decided that his only family was his little sister.
Ah Hong politely bowed and greeted his father, it felt like a family reunion. Ming Lee was very satisfied with his son, his heart swelled up with pride looking at the son who had grown up to be a fine man! But ah Hong didn't feel anything while looking at the man who was smiling with a proud face. He then noticed a small petite figure beside his father, a beautiful little girl with skin like porcelain and hair as black as nights but her gaze held a certain type of unknowing, a distant type of feeling, Ah Hong turned towards Ming Yue and dotingly said "How is Yue Yue?"
Ming Yue looked at the man standing in front of her who was her brother, she politely replied
"Yue Yue is fine, big brother. How is big brother?"
She was not a small child anymore, he felt distant towards her but he would certainly make up for the time they didn't get to spend together, he snapped out of his thoughts and replied
"En big brother is fine as well."
He then turned towards his father, who was about to say something and said "Father, I am not feeling well and I'd like to return to my courtyard, I'll be returning first." He bowed and started striding towards his courtyard with long steps, before going he patted Ming Yue's head and smiled at her. Ming Lee's eyes showed guilt and regret as he watched his son's back, slowly he regained his thoughts while Ming Yue was looking at him.
Ming Yue knew that her father was very negligent towards them for the very first years of Jiang Mo lan's death, though he loved them dearly he couldn't show it, which led to ah Hong think that he didn't love them anymore.
She was thinking about this, when she noticed that she was staring at Ming Lee the whole time!
She said "Father, Yue Yue will also be returning. Yue Yue had prepared a gift for big brother's return so Yue Yue will present this gift to him in today's banquet." Ming Lee nodded, and Ming Yue left the receiving hall with Mei. Ming Yue had purposely said that she had prepared a gift to give her father an idea, She wanted to rebuild the bond of the father and son duo.
Ming Lee thought about what Ming Yue had said, he also thought of giving ah Hong a gift, but he was confused as for what to give.He called Feng shui and asked
"What present should I give Ah Hong as a welcoming gift?"
Fend shui knew his master's past mistakes and he was glad that his master was trying to rebuild his bond with his children. Feng shui thought for a while and said "Master, this servant believes that, as young master will be reaching 18 this year, a hairpin would be appropriate gift from master to young master."
Men in that era would have coming of adulthood ceremony where they would be given a hairpin carved out of precious stones/metals, with design of a young dragon growing its tail. Ming Lee thought it was a great idea, he knew that the coming of adulthood hairpin was only to be given at the ceremony, he took out a box from his shelf it was a black box carved out of wood, he opened it to reveal a beautiful and simple jade hairpin, only by one look it would be seen that this was an extremely high quality of jade. He said to feng shui " This hairpin was given to this general by Jiang Mo lan, now this general will give this hairpin to her son."
Meanwhile
Ming Yue wa sin her courtyard and was racking her brains to think of a gift for her brother. She had brazenly said that she had a gift prepared for her brother, but in fact she had no gift! Ming Yue then remembered that older Ming Yue used to embroider, she called Mei and said
"Mei I used to embroider right?"
Mei looked rather suprised at her miss cause miss would embroider all the time, still she replied
"Yes miss"
Ming Yue beamed and said
"Mei can you bring all of my previous works?"
Mei went towards the drawers and brought a huge collection of handkerchief and sachets, they were all embroidered amazingly, Ming Yue looked through them and selected a dark green sachet with white peony flowers embroidered on it along with a thin gold lining, she filled the sachet with some Indian sandalwood, and some sweet smelling herbs. She had prepared a gift for her brother.