Closing the door behind her, Lin Songmei made her way over to the bed, unwrapping the package that had been left on her bed with care.

Songmei let out a small murmur of amazement. The robes that were in the packaging were nice, and that was an understatement. They were a pure snow-white lined with a pale blue, then, on each shoulder there was an emblem made of three pairs of wings representing her status as a direct disciple.

She didn’t know why the emblem was three pairs of wings, but Songmei wasn’t complaining, the robes were nice and they were free. Folding the robes with care, Songmei laid them next to her other folded clothes. She wouldn’t need these often but Songmei was glad they looked and felt comfortable.

She wasn’t interested in wearing sandpaper for official events... she had already done that for her whole life.

Done with opening the package, Songmei made her way to Mingqing’s room, pushing the door open after knocking and asking if she could enter.

A mess.

That’s all Songmei could call it.

Well, maybe she could call it a disaster.

Bags strewn across the floor, all half-unpacked, clothes here, books there, Songmei was speechless.

Striding through the maze of stuff on the floor, Songmei took a seat next to Mingqing. “This... this really is a mess.”

“You’re just in time!” Mingqing rejoiced, folding another pair of shorts and putting them into a pile beside her. “Please help me out! My bags are all just... kinda stuffed with stuff, so if you could help organize that’d be great!”

Nodding, Songmei began to fold while sitting back to back with Mingqing, catching up with Mingqing, asking her how she was doing, what she had been up to. After talking about a book that Mingqing had read, Songmei asked as the question resurfaced in her mind. “So, how did you end up in the sect? It’s... kinda a massive coincidence that we ran into each other again, you know?”

“Well, probably a few reasons...” Mingqing pondered out loud, standing up to put a pile of her clothes into a cabinet. “One would be that this is the best sect on the continent, and my family’s main house is on this continent, so it’s been a tradition for my family members to join the sect. Along that vein, my brother is one of our seniors, he’s out right now though.”

“Another reason might just be that they wanted to pair people up this year it seems,” Mingqing explained, pointing in the general direction of where Liu Xueli was resting at the moment, “Our master took two disciples, and the other master who took in disciples also took in two. Lu Qiang and Cai Yufei.”

Enlightened, Songmei let out a murmur of amazement at Mingqing’s little impromptu analysis, that wasn’t something she was good at. Songmei had instead spent the last hour or two just sitting there in wonder, impressed that fate had lined itself up that way.

With a smile appearing on Mingqing’s face after Songmei’s compliment, Mingqing coughed before changing the subject, “A-Anyhow, do you know what we’re going to do in the next few days?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I think it’s just to familiarize ourselves with the people around, with the directions, that type of stuff.” Songmei answered, unsure herself. “We can ask Xueli during lunch, she said we’d all be going out, right?”

“Yeah...”

Opening her mouth to reply, Songmei froze as she opened the bag that she grabbed. It was one of the last few bags, so Songmei had grabbed it to be helpful. But, after opening the bag, Songmei closed it once more, handing it over to Mingqing without a word.

Maybe opening random bags while unpacking wasn’t the best idea...

Songmei really... really didn’t want to be that one person who took the initiative to unpack sensitive items while helping someone else unpack. Songmei felt that taking out someone’s family pictures and their diary would’ve just been... insensitive.

Folding some extra clothes that she had found in another bag, Songmei paused for a second, handing over some of the already folded clothes to Mingqing. “This should be the last pile of clothing. Put away all the stuff and we’ll be done.”

Getting a thank you and a passionate hug, Songmei returned the embrace before the two made their way out of Mingqing’s room, towards the larger courtyard where Xueli was up to her ‘young person’ hobbies.

Snowfall.

With the still gentle snowfall, Songmei and Mingqing both admired the snow covered scene in the middle of their smaller courtyard as they walked around it while under the covered wooden walkways.

A pair of trees in opposite corners, a small creek that ran through the courtyard, a number of small snow-covered bushes, and in the center, a small table with a couple of chairs. Though everything was covered in a layer of snow, the pair paused for a moment.

“We should sit there and do homework together...”

Agreeing with Mingqing’s little wish, Songmei then let out a small lamenting sigh. “It’s a shame we still have to go to school though... Xueli mentioned it a while back and just... it’s sad.”

“I know, right?!” Mingqing exclaimed as they turned the corner, waving and getting the attention of their master, “My family also told me that the school you attend here will also last longer than if you weren’t a cultivator...”

“That sounds like hell...” Songmei shuddered, remembering the self-reflection forms that she had written.

... Even Songmei’s wrist was beginning to throb again.

Putting on some slipper-like shoes by the edge of the wooden walkway and walking into the courtyard, Mingqing and Songmei were greeted by a lazing Xueli.

Songmei raised her eyebrows as Xueli seemed to almost flip herself up, standing before the two with a bright smile. “You two done packing?”

““Yep””

“Alrightyy~” Hummed Xueli as she motioned for them to follow her, “Come with me, come with me, you’re just on time, I just finished feeding my koi. I have some stuff to give you two before we go to lunch.”

That sounded ominous and mysterious for no reason.

Songmei looked over towards Mingqing who also looked towards her. Sharing a silent bewilderment, the two followed behind Xueli. If it was a gift though... damn this sect was rich. They gave out so many free things, it was like being showered in money.

Rustle.

Digging through a drawer that was letting out dust like a reverse vacuum cleaner, Xueli, after what felt like a year of looking, pulled out two bracelets that had little inscribed pieces of jade on them. “For the two of you! These bracelets should let you two freely enter the residential islands without issue!”

More gifts...

With each gift of these gifts, no matter how big or small, Songmei felt her heart being warmed, she’d treasure them, she’d received a handful of gifts beforehand in her life until now. At the same time though, with each of the gifts, Songmei was really starting to understand the appeal of marrying into money...