12 Xin Rufei

It struck Fu Shulin to his core to be talked to in such a dismissive way by someone he had been admiring just moments before.

A surge of bitter, angry tears, rushed up to his eyes. He lowered his head to hide his humiliation.

"I'm not a beggar," he mumbled, struggling to keep his voice steady. "And if I was, so what? What have beggars ever done to you?"

The boy didn't expect that answer. He turned towards Fu Shulin with open curiosity, walking towards him slowly, hand around the hilt of his short sword. His every step chimed with the sound of his waist ornaments and the silver trains of his hairpin.

"Look up at me," the boy said. His voice still held a trace of childishness.

Fu Shulin raised his chin. The tears hadn't spilled but were still clinging to his eyelashes and reddening his eyes. He glared at the other boy, holding his head up despite the potent urge to lower it again.

"I suppose you're not a beggar," the boy conceded. "What's your name?"

"Fu Shulin." After a moment's consideration, "What's yours?"

The boy's fine nose wrinkled in distaste. He wasn't in the habit of giving out his name to those below him -- usually someone introduced him. But he supposed he could condescend to doing so, just this once.

"Xin Rufei." He cupped his hands in front of his chest and bowed very properly. Fu Shulin returned the bow clumsily. "You can call me young master Xin."

Fu Shulin remained quiet. He didn't want to call this boy only a few years older than himself young master. "Xin gege, can't we be friends?"

"No. I'm only friends with my fellow sect siblings. There is no point in being friends with someone outside of Jade Dragon Manor. I only came outside today to accompany my shixiong, I usually don't leave the sect. We will never meet again, so it's best not to form attachments."

He spoke decisively, but the childish lilt of his words made the words sound petulant and smug.

Fu Shulin glared at him. "Fine, who wants to be your friend, anyway? How can you even play, wearing all of that?" He made himself smile imagining Xin Rufei tripping on his soft fur-lined boots and falling on his face.

"How dare you!" Xin Rufei's cheeks coloured with indignation, standing out starkly against the white of his rabbit fur collar. "You can't talk to me like that."

Emboldened by the other's anger Fu Shulin crossed his arms in front of his chest with a smirk. "You know, I'm going to be a cultivator too. I was born with strong spiritual roots."

Xin Rufei's anger disappeared as swiftly as a cloud in a windy day, replaced by a bout of derisive laughter. "I don't believe you."

"It's true! The old physician told my mother so!"

Xin Rufei shook his head in fake sympathy. "There are many charlatans who take advantage of people's ignorance. Is anyone in your family a cultivator?"

Fu Shulin bit his lower lip. No one, as far he knew. Xin Rufei read the the answer in his silence.

"Strong spirit roots run in families. My mother was a cultivator, and so was my uncle. They were both disciples of Jade Dragon Manor. I joined the sect when I was five. You're already so old..." He shook his head again, sighing, affecting an adult's depth of feeling. "There's no hope you'll ever develop a golden core."

Could he be telling the truth? Fu Shulin's heart was beating a frantic rhythm inside his ribcage. His family had given up so much for the promise of him becoming a cultivator. What were they going to do if Fu Shulin didn't become a cultivator and couldn't provide for them?

Terror enveloped him like a noose, making it hard to breathe, he fell to the snow with a shudder. The tears were falling freely now, Fu Shulin clutched his knees while he sobbed.

"I need to become a cultivator. I need to help my mama and papa and my brothers and sisters."

Xin Rufei had never seen someone cry so openly and didn't know what to do. The street was deserted, but he didn't want anyone to overhear Fu Shulin's cries and think he hurt him. What would his shixiong say?

He knelt beside Fu Shulin on the snow, wincing at the cold. "Don't cry. Didi, don't cry. Our sect will have open trials in six years. They're meant for the talented disciples of smaller sects to show their skills and join ours, but maybe you could try out..."

Fu Shulin's sobs subsided, he turned his big, wet, eyes up at the other boy and asked waveringly: "Really?"

Xin Rufei nodded, not entirely sure himself. "Really, but you need to develop your cultivation bases. Find a smaller sect who will accept you, or a master to teach you. Even if you do have good roots that doesn't mean a thing."

Fu Shulin wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He felt suddenly invigorated.

"I will, thank you, gege."

Xin Rufei patted his head stiffly and got up to his feet. His robes were soaked through on the knees. His shixiong would scold him.

Just at that moment, a dashing young man walked out of a shop with a waxpaper parcel. He looked around, searching for someone. He frowned when his gaze landed on Fu Shulin next to Xin Rufei. He hurried to their side.

"Let's go shidi, we're already late," he said, holding out his free hand to Xin Rufei.

Xin Rufei took the proffered hand a little shyly. He felt like such a grown up just now, comforting someone younger than him. He was too old to hold hands, no one else his age did it, but his shixiong insisted on it.

He didn't want that little kid to think he was someone who needed to be taken care of. "This is my shixiong, Tao Yuanming. He's the most talented disciple in our sect. He always takes good care of me."

Tao Yuanming nodded in passing at Fu Shulin, before tugging Xin Rufei along. "Let's go, it's too cold and your robes are all wet..."

Fu Shulin watched in silence. He didn't like Xin gege's shixiong very much. Gege was rude, and mean, but Tao Yuanming had looked at him as if he wasn't even there.

He was watching them walk down the road when suddenly Xin Rufei looked over his shoulder back at him, half of his face obstructed by the thick fur collar. He raised his free hand in a small wave.

Fu Shulin waved enthusiastically back, all his misgivings forgotten. He told himself that the next time he saw Xin gege he was going to be a young cultivator, just like him.