Jiang Gunian Made A Change

Part 8

"You've changed, Jie." Jiang Cheng threw the statement out like he was throwing a rock into a river.

"How so?" His sister looked into the small brass mirror, seeing no changes in her appearance.

"You're..." The heir struggled to find the words he was looking for. "Different. Than you were back home."

"More decisive, ShiJie," Wei WuXian agreed. "You talk back to that peacock instead of letting him push you around. It's nice to see him getting treated as if he was just another person instead of the 'heir to LanlingJin'." He puffed out his chest and made a face to imitate Jin ZiXuan.

"A'Xian," she scolded. "Be nice. How is Lan Er Gongzi doing?"

"Both jades look completely normal. It's weird. I wonder if they cry when they're alone."

"You should keep him company," she ordered. "Maybe spar with him. Help him get some of the hurt and anger he must be feeling out."

Wei WuXian pretended to be shocked. "My beloved ShiJie wants my other best friend to beat me up?" He scooted towards the door to avoid Jiang Cheng's foot. "I'm going, I'm going. No need to kick me out."

Once only the siblings remained, Jiang YanLi relaxed a bit. "You're the heir to Lotus Pier. You should learn to play nicely with the other heirs."

"I will," Jiang Cheng crossed his arms over his chest. "Except for Jin Gongzi." At her sad look, he rushed to defend himself. "You didn't hear what he said about you, Jie. Nasty things no husband should ever say about his wife. Especially you! You're the prettiest girl in the world and so nice, and what he said? He's lucky Wei WuXian punched him first. I was going to pummel him half to death."

"You need to apologize to A'Xian for that," she reminded her sibling.

"Apologize? For what? Fighting for your honor? I should award him!"

"Apologize for failing to keep your temper. Because of you, he was sent home from Cloud Recesses, and did not finish his studies there. Because of you, Mother beat him with Zidian."

"How am I to blame for any of that? I didn't make him fight. He did that on his own. Even if I'd been home, I couldn't have stopped Mother. No one can. Not when she's in one of her moods."

Jiang YanLi firmed her spine and her voice. "The YunmengJiang heir was about to get into a fight with the LanlingJin heir. The very least that would have come from that is the dissolution of the betrothal agreement. Any treaties we have with the Jin? Any trade agreements? They could all have been wiped out because you wouldn't control your temper upon hearing your sister insulted. You could have set back relations with the Jin for decades! And you think you don't owe A'Xian an apology for anything? A junior disciple, no matter his title, is at the end of the day merely a junior disciple. A beating or exile from the sect would be an appropriate punishment for a junior assaulting an heir. Which is exactly what he got."

"But...." The younger brother curled his hands into fists. "Are we supposed to just allow that peacock to insult you and not have any consequences?"

"The worst that insults would have caused is for Father to request the betrothal be dissolved. So.... Not only do I no longer have a husband in my future, our brother was punished at Cloud Recesses, kicked out of their lectures, and whipped by Zidian. Are you sure fighting was the better option?" She struggled to control her emotions. "You need to learn to think of all the repercussions of your actions, Didi. Not just the ones staring you in the face."

Her brother looked down, suddenly ashamed, perhaps. "I'm sorry, Jie. I didn't think. I... I just wanted him to pay for his insults."

"You caused the wrong person to pay for those insults, A'Cheng," she stated as gently as possible. "You need to apologize."

"Yes, Jie."

Dear readers.

It is an absolutely gorgeous weekend here. We bought an inflatable kayak this summer and took it out on two different lakes. I remembered to put sunscreen on today.... (I forgot yesterday. Bad Aitch!) Skin care lesson: wear your sunscreen!

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So these chapters, as stated, are written for tumblr. So it's basically how long my thoughts are for a post. But now, putting them on AO3 and Wattpad, I realize how short they are!

When I first started writing chaptered fanfiction, I set myself a goal to write a thousand words a chapter. And boy, was that a challenge! With Rising, I set myself a 2k min chapter length. I think it was 3k for Perfection. Just to see if I can write a long chapter that is cohesive. I've since dropped my mins to 2k and... Gotta say, it's a lot easier to write 2k words now than it was to write 827 words 9 years and a few days ago (my first fanfic was Aug 3, 2014).

As always, thank you for reading, voting, commenting, making my day brighter.
- Aitch.