Following the banquet's conclusion, Wu Ling and Su Xiang joined Su Yao and her parents for a carriage ride back to the opposite side of the city. Despite the late hour, enough people milled about the main thoroughfares and night markets to keep the trip at well over an hour.
The first several minutes of the trip passed in awkward silence as both Su Yao and her parents tried to organize their thoughts about the many events of the evening. From Su Yao's astounding calligraphy performance to Wu Ling's shocking duel, there was plenty to talk about but no one knew quite where to begin.
"Sister Su Yao," Wu Ling finally said when the silence became so heavy as to be unbearable. "You should make an attempt at Awakening soon. From your calligraphy tonight, you're very close, you just need the energy of some good incense for the right push."
"I've actually been saving a set of incense at home for a few months now," Su Yao confessed. "I just didn't feel confident enough in myself to give it a try. I'd thought that my zither playing wasn't good enough to get me all the way there. If you hadn't suggested it, I'd never have thought about using my calligraphy to Awaken," she added gratefully.
"Yao'er," Su Yao's mother Zou Suyin asked. "Why didn't you ever tell us you had so much passion for calligraphy? We always thought your heart belonged to the zither."
"No one ever asked me to do calligraphy for them," Su Yao said awkwardly. "People just wanted to hear me play the zither. I didn't think anyone cared about my calligraphy so I practiced it just for myself. Tonight though, I didn't only get to do my very best calligraphy ever, I saw Brother Wu fight and win a duel with calligraphy! I didn't even know that was possible!"
"Words have power Sister Su Yao," Wu Ling said with a smile. "Calligraphy is about harnessing the power of words. I honestly think your calligraphy is better than mine," Wu Ling praised. "I used to watch you in class and think 'That's what real talent looks like.' I'm dividing my attention between zither, painting, chess, tea and calligraphy but you've been narrowing your focus to just zither and calligraphy and the latter is clearly where your heart lies. I'm sure it won't be long before your brush will open all sorts of doors for you."
"Do you think so? Do you think that Young Lord Fang Lin was impressed with the word I gave him tonight?" Su Yao asked nervously. "He seemed a little distant when I presented it to him like he didn't quite know what to do with it."
Wu Ling hesitated before answering Su Yao's question. After watching Fang Lin in the waiting room with his friends and throughout the banquet, he didn't have a good impression of the young lord. "Let me ask you a different question," Wu Ling said after several moments of thought. "Do you think Fang Lin's mother liked your calligraphy?"
"I, I don't know," Su Yao said, furrowing her brows in thought. "When we met at the start of the banquet, she was very overwhelming, I felt a little like I didn't belong in the same room as her, but once the banquet started, I don't think she said more than a few words."
"You're not wrong about that," Zou Suyin said with a sigh. "I felt just as, I don't know, overshadowed I suppose, as you did when we met but while Fang Muchen seemed to have plenty to say, she didn't say anything the whole evening, even when Fang Lin was demonstrating his barrier."
"I hope no one takes this the wrong way," Wu Ling said delicately. "The Bamboo Silk House isn't unfamiliar with helping powerful and wealthy men find trophy wives that fit their personal tastes. Some of them even spend time in the sect to receive training before they start their lives as the wives or concubines of those powerful men. Sister Su Yao, I don't think that you would enjoy life as a bride of the Fang family," he finished earnestly, looking into Su Yao's pale blue eyes with great concern. "I think you should look at Fang Lin's mother as a warning of the kind of life you'd be left to live. Beautiful, envied, shown off with pride, but you wouldn't be free, and while you might be treasured, you wouldn't be cherished."
"Yao'er, as much as I dislike agreeing with Aesthete Wu, I think he's right," Su Jixin said. "I wasn't entirely impressed with the company Young Lord Fang Lin kept and his father didn't seem to have much respect for you or our Su family. If your heart is truly fixed on him then I'll permit him to court you, but I won't offer an engagement without seeing something that changes my mind about him and his family."
"Father, you," Su Yao started, her eyes beginning to mist at the thought that she might miss out on happiness but when she thought about what everyone had said she started to wonder if persisting in her pursuit of Fang Lin would be the thing that cost her a lifetime of happiness. "I understand," she said, looking down and feeling deflated.
"Sister Su Yao," Wu Ling said, reaching out to pinch her petite nose and lifting her chin to look at him. "Remember what I said on the ride over? I have an idea but I want to be sure of something first. Do you think you can successfully awaken in the next day or two?"
"I felt so close tonight," Su Yao said, wondering what Wu Ling was after. "I could probably awaken tonight if I wasn't so tired after the banquet."
"Tomorrow is soon enough," Wu Ling said with a smile. "After that, once you've had a chance to stabilize your cultivation, I want to take you to the Bamboo Silk House to meet some of the cultivators there. The sect has its own requirements to admit a new disciple and I can't give you a backdoor entrance if you don't have the skills for it, but I'd be amazed if they weren't interested in a talent like you."
"Aesthete Wu, isn't this a little inappropriate?" Su Jixin said, frowning at the young Artist.
"Not at all," Wu Ling said. "Sister Su Yao is free to make whatever choice she wishes, I won't put any pressure on her at all. You have to admit though, as a second-rank sect with a path to the Inner City, the Bamboo Silk House could be a golden opportunity for your daughter. She just had a chance to see what her life could be like if she pursued a romantic entanglement with a rising young lord. It turns out that the future she saw with Young Lord Fang isn't as shiny as she thought it would be," Wu Ling said bluntly. "I just want to show Sister Su Yao that there's another opportunity out there. She's never had a chance to tour a sect that might welcome her as a disciple, much less a second-rank sect like the Bamboo Silk House. Let her see what it's like and then she can make her own decision."
"Aren't you just giving her another gilded view of a future that won't be as shiny as she thinks it will be?" Su Jixin challenged, still uncertain of accepting Wu Ling's offer.
"Hardly," Wu Ling said. "There are lumps that go with sect life, Sister Xiang knows that I've had my share of struggles with the sect. I can introduce her to my mother too, she has her own thoughts on the matter and I promise you that they're very nuanced. Ultimately, my mother felt that it would be better for me to accept the sect's invitation when I awakened than to refuse it and I think Sister Su Yao may make a similar decision but the choice is hers. What do you say," he said, turning to look back at Su Yao who quivered visibly with excitement. "Would you like to tour the sect with me?"
"You really think I could join the Bamboo Silk House as a disciple?" Su Yao said, her eyes sparkling as she imagined a bright future among countless fellow artists where she could develop her talents without limit. "Will they really take in someone who's only good at calligraphy?"
"There are two junior sisters assigned to tend to my mother's needs right now who specialize in acrobatics and sleight of hand," Wu Ling answered. "The Bamboo Silk House nurtures all talents, even calligraphy."
"If that's the case," the young woman said with a brilliant smile. "Then how can I refuse?"