“What? All those?!”

Ye nodded proudly.

“The mountain must be really old!”

“Would you like to read about it?”

“Yes!” She said excitedly and then looked sad. “Oh but… I don’t know my characters very well so…”

“Is that all?!” Ye laughed and hopped on to the table. “I know all my characters! If you like, I can teach them to you!”

“You know how to read?!” Her Mother had never mentioned that about fairies.

“I do. I can write and do math too.”

“You’re really smart.” She complimented, impressed.

Ye’s little fairy face blushed, apparently surprised by her genuine but simple praise.

“Before you came I had a lot of time on my hands. I was bored every day. So I learned a lot of things just to give me something to do.”

“You must know a lot then. I will call you Teacher Ye from now on! I am in your hands, Laoshi Ye!” She gave a mock bow and giggled.

“Laoshi Ye? I like it!” The leaf fairy laughed and then cleared his throat, looking magnanimous. “This Esteemed Laoshi shall call you Student Mei Hua. Student Mei Hua, this Teacher will have you reading and writing and so much more!”

“More?”

“Of course, Student Mei Hua. If this Laoshi let you starve to death on the mountain, how could he live with himself? Laoshi Ye will tell you everything you need to know!”

Mei Hua’s eyes widened. He’d said it flippantly but she was touched. There was a real chance she’d die if someone didn’t teach her how to survive.

Genuinely moved, she got on her hands and knees and bowed, saying seriously, “Laoshi Ye, this student will listen carefully and never disobey.”

“Aw, come now, come now, don’t bow like that to me.” Ye jumped down from the table, next to her head, and patted her gently on the cheek. “I was only joking. We are friends, friends! Don’t forget!”

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Seeing him anxious, she straightened herself up.

“Sorry. I didn’t forget we were friends. But I really am grateful.” She smiled. “You can call me MeiMei if you like, my family use to call me that.”

A flash of sadness crossed Ye’s face at the mention of her family. He’d heard her say her parents were dead. However, he knew better than to pursue the topic right then.

“MeiMei it is then!” Ye grinned widely. And then waved his hands widely. “This place, you can live here as long as you like! Like I said, it’s great for when you’re lost!”

Mei Hua nodded. “This place is really amazing. When the person who lives here comes back, I’ll thank them a lot!”

Ye turned around, looking at the cave and shook his head.

She heard him mutter, “…never come back…”

“Ye?”

The leaf fairy looked at her, and smiled a little sadly. “The person who owns this place had to move.”

“Move?”

“Yep. It was very… sudden.”

“Oh.”

Neither said anything for a while. Mei Hua could tell Ye got sad when he thought about the person who lived here. The little fairy tried to hide it, but she could tell.

Maybe they’d been friends. Maybe Ye was sad that he couldn’t see his friend anymore. Just like how she was sad she couldn’t ever see her parents again.

Picking Ye up, Mei Hua gently brought him to her chest, as if giving him a hug.

“It’s ok Ye,” She said with feeling. “I’m here now. I won’t leave you.”

“That’d be nice if it were true.” Ye said quietly.

“It is true! I don’t have any home but this one, so I can stay forever!”

Seeing her fervent promising, Ye chuckled, “Forever is a long time.”

And thus began Mei Hua’s life on the mountain. As Ye promised, he taught her not only how to read and write, but also how to survive on the mountain.

Every day Mei Hua sang for the Fairy Emperor. She first started with simple lullabies and children’s songs, because those were the only one’s she knew. But later, at Ye’s suggestion (because he was bored of those songs), she began making up her own.

When she began singing her own songs, Ye brought her a pipa lute and began teaching her how to use it. She didn’t bother to ask where he found it, as he would say it came from their home (the Traveler’s Cave). He would often find things for her to use, claiming it came from there. But, as with the pipa lute, she could not figure out where it was stored in the cave. There was no space for it.

Eventually she gave up trying to figure it out and just considered it a “fairy thing”.

Because her life was very simple, she had plenty of time to practice the pipa lute. Though she had no one to compare herself to, Ye swore up and down she was an excellent player. (And then claimed all the glory himself, as her teacher, which made her laugh.)

It was hard at first to live on the mountain. There were many days she went without meat, having to survive off the food in the jars within their home. This worried her at first, because she failed a lot at the beginning. Surely she’d use up their contents and then die with the way things were going!

But to her utter amazement, the jars always remained full. Ye claimed that, as long as the items could be found on the mountain, the jars would always refill themselves.

Fairy magic really was amazing!