General Ramas had been born of a declining family, one that had t.i.tles, but lacked money for various reasons. The man had been a di born son, but born to his old father"s third wife and was named his seventeenth son amongst brothers and paternal cousins so his importance was almost as lacking as a few of his shu born brothers. Just as with the previous two wives, the family bled this wife"s dowry dry and began seeking other money to fund their spend-thrift ways; selling off daughters as concubines, taking new ladies from merchant families as brides... it was all quite disgusting and the boy, who"d been seventh born awoke his inner root in anger.A child who could cultivate would seem as a treasure in most families, more so in a greedy one like this. But immortal sects would have a child cut off their relations from the past in order to focus on cultivating, this family desired his life blood to make their lives more comfortable. The seventeenth son was intelligent and had others suggest that they enrol him in the army to learn the ways of a soldier. He"d learn to cultivate and be paid a soldier"s wage. It was a pittance, but they would not need to give him money to live and could press on filial duty to have him send any treasure or access funds back to them. And so, the child grew up mostly in the confines of the first King"s army, rising through the ranks through battle and blood.
He returned home a seasoned officer, that while not high ranking, had decorations of merit all earned by himself and not through family links. The family were happy, wanting to leech, suggesting brides from wealthy, even n.o.ble families who would be quite happy to wed a warrior such as himself. He sneered at their ridiculousness; who didn"t know their ways by now? He only came for his mother"s bones and mourning tablet, for she had met her death when he"d been deep in campaign and was unable to investigate the circ.u.mstances before they buried her. Not being able to save her was his deepest regret.
The First King had granted him one request and he had only asked to be able to separated from the parasitic family and form his own branch. The King had hesitated, for he believed deeply in filial duty, but he was not unaware of his soldier"s family history and so he agreed to it, only stipulating that he would have to send to the main branch some silver each year as filial reparation. After renting a courtyard on the outskirts of the First Capital, the man had returned to fight for his King.
It was many years before he"d been decorated as a general and many years as he built his King"s forces, before declaring independence from the kingdom for political reasons and moving to Cenapar, forming his own mercenary forces and his own family. He married a genteel woman from an official"s family, a third born daughter, hoping to instil the manners and understandings of such into his own children, that their opportunities in life be better than his own. During this time, he"d broached the bottleneck of Core Formation and failed to step through it. None of his sons nor daughters were born with inner roots, nothing to awaken and so he"d placed all his hopes on the next generation. But one grandchild after the other...
Sun was not the first born with roots, he was actually the fourth. The first two had tertiary roots, waste roots, the third had his root accidentally destroyed when an awakening was attempted and later died to pneumonia one winter. This was unforeseen and he was mourned. And then Sun was born...
"Currently," Sun concluded over tea, "Eldest Uncle has one Di son and one Di daughter, Dia. Dia ran off to join the First King"s army rather than marry the man First Aunt picked for her. My father was second born and is an officer in the General"s army. Third Uncle... he is the father of cousin Elara and cousin Hime, two of those girls and plus my shu cousin, Sky, who awoke a Fire root and is now Grandfather"s hope. Even though he is not their full brother, they became more open in their conceit. He"s been adopted by Third Aunt to improve his status too. Fourth Uncle only has daughters, but that"s not from want of trying. I think his ninth daughter was born just a few months ago. And Fifth Uncle only has Carmine, her mother died in child birth and she was raised by my grandmother. Fifth Uncle never remarried nor took in concubines, so she has no compet.i.tion in the fifth branch. She"s a bit... two-faced. She has three roots, a minor root and two body roots, making it difficult for her to cultivate well. That... and she doesn"t like to cultivate much."
"And?" Jin Li"s expression was less than impressed by Sun"s family matters. "When will the tea be finished?"
"D-done!" Leon smiled, triumphantly and placed the honey coloured beverage before Jin Li with a slight flourish. A look of amus.e.m.e.nt flickered over the Martial artists features and Leon blushed with embarra.s.sment. He attempted to retreat but was captured by the wrist and tugged into Jin Li"s lap. As his waist was captured, Leon could only hide shyly against the other"s chest. "This is sp-spring orchid leaf and sunset n-nettle t-tea, m-meant to help ch-ch-ch... see away fatigue and r-refresh the b-body."
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Medicinal tea was a fairly new thing to Leon, but he caught on quite well to the concept. Also, the tea was much less potent than Medicinal Cuisine or Medicinal Wine, so though the benefits were less impressive, the teas could also benefit non-Cultivators. There would also be hardly any side-effects if the brew was not produced correctly, just would not provide anything of value either. As the teas required precise amounts of herb to water, Leon had also pre-measured some of the herbs carefully and placed them in labelled jade bottles before they had left, in order to make Jin Li"s favourite teas at anytime.
Jin Li"s black eyes which often reflected the abyss in cold and darkness, had softened to resemble warm velvet and although he was tempted to whisk Leon away to show his appreciation in a more physical sense, he held in the impulse and elegantly picked up the tea cup in order to taste the beverage. It was slightly bitter with an aftertaste of sweetness and infused his stomach with a feeling of refreshment. "It is well made," he complimented, before biting the lips that curved into a smile before him. They were just too inviting!
Sun coughed and glanced away. "Um... my grandmother is a bit... forceful and straightforward. Her mind is very hard set, inflexible. If she says things... anyway, she won"t go against grandfather and he"s accepted you. I"ll sound her out during morning greetings."
"Your family is q-quite large," Leon said, more as he couldn"t really think of a compliment. It was fine for Sun to complain about the unpleasant sides of his relatives, but just too rude for an outsider to say things. In his heart, though, with perhaps the exception of Sun"s older brother and grandfather, he really had no good impressions of Sun"s family so far.
"Young Master..." as a son of a prestigious family, Sun had a few servants, mostly males as he had driven off any potential tong fang a couple of years ago as he had found them quite irritating... but this older woman was not one of his people. She bowed politely, her eyes having already scanned over the two youths sitting with her employer"s offspring with calculating eyes. "Young Master, Second Madam asked this servant to bring you to see her."
Sun"s expression was a little complicated. "We"ll be summoned for the family meal soon, won"t I see mother then? Mother is always in such a hurry for things." He fidgeted in his seat as he glanced over at his friends. After the three of them had arrived at Sun"s humble courtyard (which was much less humble than Leon"s own, honestly, the study was the size of Leon"s main room by itself!), the servants had provided them with hot water and towels in order to freshen up and they had changed out of their dusty clothes into something new, before sitting in the courtyard and enjoying the only slightly bitter air.
Leon caught the frown on the older woman"s face, clearly disapproving and nudged at Jin Li. The other just rolled his eyes and said; "My mother"s last summon was in order to test my sword skills. I lost. She did not go easy on me at all." Leon was out of his depth in such complicated family situations and had hoped Jin Li could provide the answer, but clearly such was wishful thinking.
He thought of his own mother, who would sometimes sit with him at dinner, even when she"d eaten free at work, just to keep him company. A twinge of discomfort settled in his stomach. That had been the mother of his last life, not this one. He would never see the woman who painstakingly raised him by herself again no matter how much he missed her. He didn"t know the relationship between Sun and his mother, but he knew if it were him, he"d want to accompany her if he could. "M-maybe," Leon murmured, "since d-dinner is shortly, Sun c-could accompany her t-to where we will eat?"
"Yeah, I suppose," Sun sighed and rose to his feet, before instructing one of his men to guide Jin Li and Leon to the hall in half of an hour. His mother"s servant"s eyes softened and without knowing it, Leon had gained her approval.