The Plum Blossom Markets were living up to the hype. I can't remember the last time I've been so utterly surrounded by people - the Sect is huge, but we're rarely gathered in one place like this. It feels like the entire Sect could cram into this market place and still leave room left over for the goods.

To be fair, it's not as though we're actually being crushed like a crowded metro train or anything. As fairly obvious Cultivators, most people give us a wide enough berth, but there's plenty of room to just swing your arms about if you really wanted to even without that allowance.

But the stalls. The stalls. There's something utterly enthralling about a market to me. Maybe it's the human aspect of it - big stores, supermarkets, they're just a place to buy things. Everything at a market feels like it came from human hands, and usually by the person selling it to you. I imagine that's not quite true here, given most of the people present are probably merchants and traders, but there's plenty of craftspeople.

"Ah, you have an eye for fine wares, Young Master!" croons one of the traders, leaning closer to where I was busy inspecting his wares - assorted jewelry for the most part, but I was mostly interested in the hairpins.

I wouldn't call myself a vain person, but you know, a little decoration isn't too much is it? And I like the little personalized touch it gives. As an Outer Disciple, I mostly just wear the robes, so having something I can say is 'my style' appeals to me.

"Seeking to purchase something for your… companion?"

I spend way too long thinking 'Why would I be buying this for Zhou Cheng?' before I realise he's talking about Kong Meiling and almost have to slap a hand over my face to stop myself from laughing hysterically at the idea. I'm pretty sure she'd slap me just for having the temerity of even looking like I might be trying to court her! "No, no, Uncle, I was looking for myself."

To his credit, the merchant pivots without blinking an eye. "Then may I be so bold as to recommend this pin, Young Master? It is resplendent with elegance and refinement, perfectly befitting a gentleman such as yourself!" He gestures to a long, jade hairpin, with a head designed like a leaf.

It's elegant for certain, but I can't say it speaks to me. "I was thinking of that one."

He follows my finger to my selection - a spiraling double pin, with a small silver crescent moon as the head.

"Ah! An excellent choice, Young Master! It exudes strength and confidence, perfect for one such as you!"

Yeah, sure, let's go with that. I'm pretty sure the Moon does nothing of the sort - if anything, it'd exude beauty and refinement, which I am decidedly not. I do, however, quite like the style of it.

My selection made, all that's left is to haggle over the price - arguably one of the greatest joys of being at the market. I have… absolutely no idea how much any of this is actually worth however, as my memories of what it was like to have actual money are either from my previous life, and thus completely useless here, or as a small child to very rich parents. So also useless.

Ultimately, it's not like I care either. My main concern is not spending all my money at once so I can make it last the week, but also just a general sense that I don't want to be taken advantage of even if it's basically inevitable.

Finally, we settle on a price. I'm pretty sure I'm still overpaying, but it's not like I have the patience to do this forever. It's easy enough to replace my current pin with the new one, doing it up in the usual ponytail before turning around to face Zhou Cheng and Kong Meiling. "Well? What do you think?" I give the hairpin a little tap just for emphasis.

Zhou Cheng has the distant look of someone who tuned out several minutes ago, now blinking rapidly as he tries to pretend that he was paying attention this entire time. "It uh… looks great?"

True to form, Kong Meiling's gaze is cool and assessing - far more intense than Zhou Cheng's. "Hm. Not a bad design. Understated. An interesting choice."

"I try to be an interesting person," I quip back.

She gives me an unimpressed look, but doesn't comment any further. Well. Maybe dealing with her isn't that bad.

We wind through several more stalls, passing by all sorts of crafts and foods. Whilst a part of me yearns to sample every delicacy we come across, the fact is I've already tried most of it. I'm sure most of its good and delicious, but I want to try new things! Exciting things!

"What do you think of this necklace? Does it suit me?" Kong Meiling asks, drawing my attention. I'm not sure she wants my opinion given she's looking straight at Zhou Cheng when she asks, but it's pretty clear that Zhou Cheng has no real opinion on fashion or jewelry in any way given he's giving her the same rapid blinking he gave me.

"Um. It's nice?" The same noncommittal answer too!

The expression she makes tells me that she wants to roll her eyes but is too composed to actually do it. "What do you think then, Hei Lian?"

Ah, you're actually asking me now Senior Sister? I study it a bit more carefully. It's delicate filigree in silver, styled like… "A bit on the nose isn't it?" Maybe I'm being a bit familiar, but it should be safe to poke her for choosing a snowflake necklace. Gently. Because she's still scary.

"My talents are something to take pride in," she says primly, and okay, fair enough.

"Well. I cannot say it doesn't suit you, Senior. It accentuates your neck well."

She nods confidently, as though my answer were merely expected. Rather than haggle as I did, she simply hands the stall owner a handful of silver coins. Haggling is probably beneath her or something like that, I suppose.

It's not what I expected this trip to be about, but it rather quickly starts to revolve around Senior Sister and I buying various trinkets, accessories and even some clothes. I was a little leery of criticising some of the choices at first, but after a while, I felt more confident speaking my honest opinion. I couched it in the appropriate terms of course, because she was still my Senior, but I made it abundantly clear when I didn't like something.

"The silk in this pibo is very fine," she murmurs, holding the length of cloth in her hands. Pibo were a kind of shawl, usually worn about the shoulders and hanging loose in the front.

I just hum in feigned consideration. "The colours are… something to consider." It's very… green. Not even jade green, but more of an acid green. I don't know what Kong Meiling wears when she's not wearing the robes of an Inner Disciple, but I will say that the light pastel blues of Inner Disciples do not at all go well with this green. "Something darker or more striking would suit Senior Sister better."

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"Then this one, do you think?" She drapes another over her shoulders, this time in a deeper, sea blue.

It's not a bad look, but I think… "How do you feel about orange, Senior Sister?"

She catches my intention easily, and she adds the one I was looking at to the ones already draped over her, until she looks like an absurd flag. "Yes, I see it. And the pattern is quite striking as well…"

The seller stands there nervously, clearly worried about the Cultivators currently perusing his wares whilst Zhou Cheng makes a token effort to seem invested in what we were talking about. Honestly. It's just colour coordinating!

I've never really been into fashion, not in the kind of high concept ways that you'd see on runways or anything. I just liked looking pretty, and I had enough sense to know what colours matched together and which ones clashed horribly.

Satisfied with the selection, she pays the merchant - and judging from his expression, overpays him - and we move on to the next hapless stall.

"Why don't you find something to buy, Senior Brother?" I offer, eyeing the way Zhou Cheng is just kind of blankly staring at nothing in particular as he follows behind us. I know I kind of wanted to make him suffer (gently) as a quasi-revenge, but I would like to get him more involved and enjoying himself.

He blinks, clearly not expecting the question. "No, I'm… I'm fine just browsing."

Uh huh. "And what were you browsing, Senior Brother?"

I can actually see him scrambling to come up with an answer, eyes darting around wildly. "These… figurines." He gestures weakly towards a stall with a set of small figurines, all carved from wood. They're not toys by any means, but small statues of what look like various animals and spirit beasts.

"Oh?" Kong Meiling demurs, peering carefully at the small selection, "I did not take you for one with an appreciation for cute things…" At that, she glances subtly in my direction and I feel like I'm being called out for something. "... but I suppose I should've known."

… Is she calling me cute? I don't know how to feel about that.

"I just like their craftsmanship," Zhou Cheng says, sounding defensive as he reaches out to pick one from the stall, "The detail is… good."

Part of me wants to gently give him some lessons on lying - like, at least sound like you believe it for starters. He's not wrong though - the craftsmanship is something to be admired. The curves of everything are very smooth, and even the finer details are lovingly carved. "Why not buy some then?"

Zhou Cheng still hems and haws a little - I suspect because Kong Meiling called them 'cute', now he doesn't want to buy any, even just to get us off his back. "Well… maybe a few as souvenirs…" he mutters at last.

There, see? Was that so hard?

He picks out several, in the end - a selection of animals and people alike, all painstakingly carved from a variety of materials ranging from wood to jade. The detail in them is really quite lovely, it must be said.

… Hm.

Zhou Cheng makes his purchase with the same carelessness that Kong Meiling exhibited, and he immediately glances over to me to check where we're headed next.

I give Kong Meiling a subtle look and a small gesture with my shoulders, and she seems to take my meaning immediately. "Zhou Cheng, what do you think of these robes over here?" she drawls, dragging him away despite his clear reluctance, "I think they'd go well with your skin tone…"

With Zhou Cheng appropriately distracted, I turn to the merchant. "This one, please."

The trader for this particular stall had nowhere near as much fear and concern regarding Cultivators which was refreshing. He still had a healthy dose of politeness, of course, because he was still a Mortal. "The Dragon, sir?" he asks politely, and I confirm it with a nod. It's a beautiful thing, all elegant coils and delicate scales. It's carved from what looks like heartwood, and it rises up into the air as though it were soaring.

"It is a Shenlong, isn't it?" Shenlong are Storm Dragons, and are known for controlling the weather. I'm a little rusty on identifying dragons though, so I can't be certain I've got it right until he confirms it with a nod of his own.

"Lot of the townsfolk like to use them as offerings, sir," he explains, although I hadn't really asked, "Harvests are very important here of course."

I imagine they would be when you called yourself 'Plum Town'. Having no plums would just be embarrassing. "I take it there's a Temple then? We should pay our respects."

"Aye sir. It's in the the north of the town, by the Imperial Courthouse."

I'll file that away for later. Normally I'd haggle as well, but I'd better get a move on before Zhou Cheng dies of boredom - or before I miss out on him being forced to model some of those robes. I want to soak in his embarrassment for as long as I can today.

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Given we were in Plum Town, it only felt appropriate that our first dinner involve plums. I'd been kicking ideas around in my head the entire time we were visiting the markets, and then to the follow up trip to the Gardens, but I really think just starting with a traditional plum sauce was best.

We could have chicken stir fry, roast duck, wontons, spring rolls - a small smorgasbord of food, with the addition of plum sauce to tie it all together.

The most readily available variety - and they had quite a few - was the 'Eternal Blossom Plum', renowned mostly for just kind of being in season twenty four seven. They were said to increase longevity as well, and they certainly seemed to have more than a touch of Qi about them, but they weren't anything I'd consider particularly treasured or rare. The recipe itself was fairly simple as well - pit and dice the plums themselves, chop up an onion, and add them all together with various other ingredients into a pot and boil. I think in a more 'modern' environment, you would then blend together once soft, but I'm not actually sure how you'd do it by hand. A mortar and pestle, perhaps? Mash it with a fork, push it through a sieve?

I just cheated by using Qi. Just a touch, just a little - it was enough that when I whisked everything, everything blended. Then it was just a matter of toasting some spices, wrapping them in a small cloth to use as a little packet, adding that, and letting the whole mixture boil whilst I focus on the actual dishes themselves.

"Your knife work needs practice."

I look up from where I'm mincing some onions, right into the face of an austere looking woman. Her greying hair is done up in an elegant but relatively plain looking bun, and her face is lined with wrinkles that suggest she's spent more time frowning than she has smiling. I can't sense any level of Cultivation from her, and the worried and anxious stares from the other cooks tell the rest of that particular story.

They expect me to lash out or something, or be insulted. I'm not sure what I look like to them - perhaps some kind of Cultivating Servant, given I'm here in the kitchens, but Servant or no, I am still a Cultivator and they still fear me.

She doesn't, though. I can't sense the tiniest bit of fear from her. If anything, she seems vaguely irritated.

I glance over at the onions. I can't say she's not entirely wrong - I like to think my knife work is good, but it's never been what I'm best at. "It's as you say, Auntie," I concede, giving her a polite bow - just a small incline forward really. I respect her, but she's still a Mortal, and the kitchen is one of the few places I have my pride. "Would you be willing to give me some pointers then?"

She scoffs. "I don't have time to show some brat how to use a knife." A hush falls over the kitchen, as the tension really ratchets up… for everyone else.

I can't say I'm not a little annoyed, but I'm hardly going to flip out over it. I may, however, needle her back. "... Your oven's too hot." It might be a little childish of me, but in my defense, I am a child right now. "You'll burn your roast around the edges."

Her eyes narrow slightly in response. "Oh? And what would a brat like you know about cooking?"

If I were to ever exclaim something like 'You dare?', now would be the time. It's tempting to needle her back - it's just… not productive, is it? We're going to be sharing this kitchen for a week. I'd rather we do that in peace. I've already fired my little shot, no need to escalate into outright war. "Not as much as you've forgotten, I imagine," I concede, because even in my past life, I wasn't like… a professional. That, and I'd died relatively young, so even if I hadn't reincarnated, I could safely assume she'd still spent longer than I had cooking.

That defuses her annoyance some, but she still doesn't seem particularly pleased. It must grate at her, I suppose, having a twelve year old take over her kitchen… even temporarily. She stares at me a little longer, eyes assessing before she turns away. "Don't cut all the way through at first," she declares stiffly, "And hold your knife like this. You'll have more control."

See? It's so much easier. "Thank you for your guidance, Auntie." It's nice to know that being polite still pays off.

"Don't thank me," she grumbles, "Just temper my oven."

And maybe a little reciprocity doesn't hurt. "Of course, Auntie."