Vale woke him up around the three-hour mark of deep sleep, and as Gale had hoped, no sign of exhaustion could be seen in his figure. Still, he needed to meditate and break the wrong attitudes he was gravitating towards.
If this went on, he would probably be useless in no time.
Gale's eyes drifted towards the upper floor where the practice chambers were. A closed-door meditation or cycling held little attraction to Gale, not that the chambers were at fault even though they were inferior. He never really liked close-door practice to be fair.
That reminded him of the calm pond by the garden—that seemed like the proper place for him to meditate. With his renewed spirit, Gale proceeded out of the Inn.
People were already busy with their work. He peeked into the kitchen to find Grandma Lu watching over the whole thing inside, where a few more washed the floor and tables of the dining room.
Upon reaching the ground floor, Gale found there were a few figures already present, seated in lotus positions in meditative poses. Gale spotted Xiaolin in one corner, meditating near an old crone who kept most of her black hair intact even at her age. She watched over the boys and girls, sitting in a rocking chair. Her fingers were working in mechanical efficiency on the sweater she was stitching.
That should be Grandma Wang—the one Xiaolin talks about so much. She sensed his presence the moment he appeared and threw him a look, but didn't converse. It wasn't the time for that yet.
Thinking that, Gale sat near the edge of the pond and proceeded to meditate. Vale sat beside him in his ever the guardian pose.
Gale awoke from meditation to find Vale playing with Rong'er. The hound was chasing after the little boy playfully while the boy was literally bursting with laughter. A smile crept on Gale's lips seeing this.
Gale lunged from his spot, instantly travelling ten paces to appear before the hound. Vale woofed and took a U-turn, while the laughter ended from the little boy's lips instantly.
Rong'er looked at Gale with all seriousness a two-year-old could muster. Finding the lanky stranger not giving in, he too turned his head and ran.
Gale laughed and chased after the two. Vale managed to flee without an issue, but Gale's real target was the little boy. With another leap, he appeared before the boy again with a wicked smile on his lips.
The boy looked around and found his great-grandma. He was about to call when a large hand swooped him up from the ground.
"Grandma . . ."
Xiaolin watched with Grandma Wang from the veranda. The old woman was having hot green tea, calmly watching the play.
"Woof!" Vale barked, protesting Gale. Nevertheless, his tail waggled in spirit, running in circles around Gale.
"Okay, okay," Gale said, "I won't hinder your fun."
Saying that, he placed the little boy on top of the furry hound. Gale stooped face to face with Rong'er as the little boy looked at him with much reservation. Perhaps the presence of his great-grandma gave him the little confidence needed to face this strange foreign man.
"What's your name?" Gale asked, smiling.
The little boy blinked and tilted his head to look at his grandma, who nodded her head. The boy took a deep breath and said, "Rong'er."
"Rong'er," Gale repeated, "do you like magic?"
The infant nodded his head with some suspicion.
"What else do you like?"
The little boy looked lost at the question.
"Do you like sweets?" Gale revised his question.
The boy nodded.
"Okay, do you want to see magic?"
Rong'er nodded his head earnestly.
Gale smiled. "Look at my palm." He held his right palm open and wide and wiggled on the infant's head. "Do you see anything?"
Rong'er shook his head in incredulity.
"So, you see nothing," Gale said and snapped his other palm a good few times above it, "but I have this in my palm."
A chocolate bar appeared out of thin air on his palm. He gave it to the boy, whose eyes sparkled at the magic trick.
"There you have it. Your magic and sweet."
Rong'er didn't eat the chocolate, however. The sparkle in his eyes dimmed as he considered the sweet. A conflicted look replaced the sparkle on the boy's chubby face.
"You're not going to eat it?"
A sign of distress crept into the eyes of the little boy. He tilted his head to look at his great grandma as if waiting for the green signal. But finding nothing, the boy only looked with uncertainty. To eat it or not.
Gale's eyes widened. Never had he ever seen a kid resisting sweets like this. Rong'er clearly had the desire to eat it, but something was stopping him. 'Maybe because I'm a stranger?'
After several seconds, the little boy held out the chocolate bar for Gale to take it back. "Rong'er will not eat it."
"Why?" Gale asked, curious.
"Mama and Papa fight when Rong'er eats many sweets," the little boy said.
Gale gave an incredulous look and turned to look at the old woman, who just sighed. The thing was probably like this: Rong'er's father doted on him too much and gave him too many sweets whenever he comes home. However, sweets weren't really the healthiest thing for a child. So the husband and wife probably argued before the kid. And you know what happens when a couple argues: their argument goes tangents on countless topics.
In the end, it wouldn't be about sweets anymore, but it provided the little kid with enough reason to reject sweets.
Still, Rong'er had to be smart enough to understand arguing isn't a good thing, and he could do something about it.
"I wish I was as smart as you when I was younger." He sighed and pushed the chocolate bar. "Give it to your mama. She'll decide when you eat."
The infant's eyes widened, and he nodded.
"Well, Rong'er is smart and too cute to refuse. I'm sure your mama will let you have it."
After the little boy left to find his mother, Gale turned to the women as they were waiting for him. The old woman was mostly calm, minding her business. While Xiaolin's eyes were wide and curious.
"What?" Gale couldn't help but ask. "Do you want chocolate too?"
"Ah--" Before she could answer, Gale tossed her a bar of chocolate. That reminded him, he only had a limited amount of chocolate and cocoa beans, and they would run out in a few months.
"On the topic of chocolate," Gale asked, "are there any cocoa farms in this valley?"
"I don't think so," Xiaolin said, examining the dark chocolate bar. "I have never seen this. Chocolate. Is this some foreign sweet?"
"You can say that," Gale said as a grim premonition struck him. What if there's no chocolate in the eastern domain? It had taken him over two years to come across cocoa in this xianxia land. So far from what he had seen of the eastern domain, chocolate didn't seem like a typical commodity.
Do I have to travel half of the world just for chocolate?
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