Aimless Ascension

Xiaolin was anxious the whole journey, thinking what she would tell Grandma and her elder sister after they found out the bruises on her face as well as the tear mark she was hiding.

Well, she was mostly recovered, but she was certain they would scold her for hours about this. She certainly wasn't looking forward to this, even though she was looking forward to many other things. Playing with Rong'er, devouring foods made by her elder sister came first on the list. She probably had gotten a lot better since the last time she ate her food.

Other than Grandma, whom she respected wholeheartedly, there were still a couple of her friends, mostly handmaids and part-time workers at the inn. They were the only people apart from her family who didn't look down on because of her uselessness. She hadn't got time to say goodbye to them properly the last time. Xiaolin was looking forward to rectifying that.

She reached Wang's inn in the afternoon, and it seemed most of the renovation work had been taken care of. Well, Grandma had planned nothing big, after spending such a large sum on buying the fate lock from her master.

Renovating the whole place from the script formation to all the facilities might not take a lot like the fate-lock, but it was still needed a couple of thousands of gold marks.

That reminded her, she already spent over a thousand gold marks on cycling, and there was nothing but the scars to show for it. Well, she did make progress, a lot on manipulating Qi, considering before she only cycled Qi all day in her free time previously. She was looking forward to showing her elder sister the new skill.

Sun Ziang left for the enforcers' office after leaving her at the inn. Xiaolin expected to barge into the bustling regular customers, but there were none on the counter, as it seemed the inn was closed for the day. That doesn't happen very often.

"This is very odd," she muttered and proceeded to check on her elder sister first.

She found Wang Li on the open veranda, cycling with clear frustration on her face. She wasn't really in deep meditations, so it didn't take her long to notice the new presence.

Xiaolin was about to go and hug her when she stopped, finding something amiss. She couldn't point it out, but it seemed like something was wrong with this atmosphere.

Wang Li's face was red, but didn't look like from excessive effort in cycling or any other activities related to spirit arts. Her shoulder slumped in a disgruntled manner, as if nothing could lift her spirit for the time being.

"Linlin," Wang Li said, lifting her head. "When did you get here? Well, I didn't think you'd come to see us so soon, at least not before the festival." She turned her head midway in the direction of the pool. "Well, it's good that you're here. I've been missing your presence since you left. How many days are you staying, by the way? Oh, I won't let you go until I get everything out of you? Hey, do you want to try the meal I can cook now?"

"Elder sister, what happened?" Xiaolin asked as she came forward a couple of steps.

"What? Nothing."

"You talk like this when you're terribly distressed," Xiaolin said. She was about to come to her, but Wang Li stopped her. The last time had been when she couldn't find Rong'er even after searching the whole inn.

"I'm fine," her elder sister said, voice cracking. "You go meet the others. I'll join you after I finish with this."

"Elder sister--"

"Linlin, please," Wang Li begged, biting her lips, eyes all watery. "Leave me be for a moment. I don't want to talk right now."

Xiaolin stood there for a few more seconds and did what was asked of her, eventually. She left, though she turned back to give a glance at every step she took.

With a frown on her brows, Xiaolin moved to find her grandma. She found her in her chamber, playing with Rong'er through the atmosphere was a little stiff.

"Grandma, I'm coming in." Xiaolin got in after getting her permission.

"Linlin," Grandma Yushen said, "I wasn't expecting you, but it's good that you're back. Come in, sit close to me."

Xiaolin did as Grandma took her palm in her hand. She already forgot that the older woman would notice the tear marks on her palm, but after seeing her elder sister in such a state like that she was too perplexed to care.

"Grandma, what happened?" she asked, unable to keep up with the anticipation. "I saw elder sister a moment before. She was . . ."

Her voice trailed off as the older woman began. "I have made a mistake." Wang Yushen was about to continue, but her expression stung as she saw the little boy of two staring at her in perplexity. "Rong'er, why don't you go to your mother? She needs you now."

Rong'er nodded heavily as he ran out of the room. Grandma sighed.

"Gu Dong," she informed, eventually, "he left."

"Left?" Xiaolin repeated. "You mean?"

Grandma nodded.

"Just like that? What happened?" Questions like that floundered in her mind as anxiety for her elder sister grew in her head. Of course, he was aware of the situation between her elder sister and her husband, but things were never this bad, were they? Or was she too engrossed in her own thing to even discover that?

"I slapped him twice," Grandma said, her eyes narrowing. "I maintained a distance on their matter so far, as I should, but I couldn't endure it anymore. I still don't know if I did the right thing, but in the back of my mind, I know if I taught him this lesson before, he would never have the audacity to do this to my granddaughter."

"Elder sister, she. . ."

"She had broken up," Grandma said, "not because of what happened after, but because of what he said before I had to stop him."

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I guess you guys see this coming. . .

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