7 Siblings

As the restaurant cleared out, Logean Wuji and the others remained at their table. The maids didn't bother telling him to leave, but instead drove everyone else out, politely. When they were done, they told Zhou Mantiao that they were leaving and went home. Before long, it was just the three of them and the Zhou siblings.

Zhou Mantiao was beginning to feel anxious; he could not imagine why Logean Wuji would choose to stay after closing. Zhou Hua was mortified by this, though. After she read through the complete edition of 'Essence of the Culinary Dao,' she came to realize some shocking things.

Firstly, Zao Shen was the one who created the Essence Evolving Trigram, but he had never perfected it to the realm that Logean Wuji had attained. This alone was shocking, but after she gave the entire book an excited, but cursory, read-through, she arrived at the end and saw something horrifying.

Zao Shen, in his book, expressed his thanks for a certain someone shining a light on some particularly elusive areas of the Culinary Dao.

In Zao Shen's words: "These writings entail my comprehensions, but they are but wisps of Truth and Wisdom. I have gleamed these things only because I had the good fortune of meeting a good friend of my wife who goes by the name 'Sir Wuji.' If you are reading this, Sir Wuji, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

What little knowledge of common sense remaining in Zhou Hua's mind was flipped at least a dozen times. Just what kind of existence was Zao Shen? He was an actual god! He was someone from the realm of heaven, who had personally prepared meals for the Jade Emperor and the host of heaven!

Zhou Hua was, currently, fighting the overpowering urge to fall to her knees and beg Logean Wuji to accept her as an apprentice.

Zhou Mantiao did not know what had come over her; he had not seen the note at the end of 'Essence of the Culinary Dao,' so how could he know? To him, it looked like his sister was losing control of her body, on the verge of fainting away.

Though uncharacteristic of her, he assumed that she was a bit overworked and feeling a bit under the weather.

"Forgive us, Sir Wuji, but we really must close the restaurant and go wash up. Do come again." Zhou Mantiao, smiling warmly, made a gesture for the party of three to leave. Logean Wuji said nothing, looked at the siblings for a few seconds then told Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er that he was leaving.

Eventually, he left with those two following close behind.

When they were outside, they saw Ling Jian'er sitting up in the hole and closely studying a script in her hands. Logean Wuji ignored her and she turned her nose up at him and snorted coldly.

Ye Hong and Ling Ji'er glared at her viciously before continuing to ignore her as well. Once they were far enough away, Ling Jian'er went back to studying.

'Divine Elemental's Zephyr Art. The air exists outside of what mortals can see, yet it is felt. It exists beyond what we can control, yet a simple action causes the wind to rush forth.'

As she read more and more, she realized, for one thing, how Logean Wuji had beat her. He had used the air around her, against her.

"Hmph! Just you wait, Longan Wuji! Isn't this a mere wind control skill? I can do this in my sleep! Let's see the mnemonic... Breath of air, wisp of essence. Word of air, command the breeze. Law of air, control the zephyr."

As she repeated the mnemonic in her head, she screamed in frustration and shot up to her feet.

"What the hell does that mean? Breath of air, Word of air? Control the zephyr, law of breeze ..command- GAH!"

She stomped on off and continued muttering in frustration and annoyance. Despite how upset she was, she soon went right back to studying the mnemonic for the Divine Elemental's Zephyr Art.

Meanwhile, inside the restaurant, Zhou Hua was now resisting the urge to bludgeon her brother to death with a rolling pin.

"How could you make him leave? He clearly wanted to speak to us, you dimwitted man!" She waved her rolling pin around threateningly, traces of tears appearing in her eyes.

"You have wronged me, Mantiao! I missed out on such a great opportunity because of you. What if he wanted to ask me to be his student! Ah, Heavens! Why have you given me such a braindead brother! Oh, the humanity!" Before long, she was on the floor sulking.

Zhou Mantiao was still confused, so she handed him the book that was tucked into her inner garment. "Turn to the last page."

Once he did, it only took him a few seconds to read it and understand why his sister was so angry.

"Good heavens, what have I done! Doomed, I'm doomed! I turned away such a person!? It can't be! It cannot be! Hua, please, tell me this is just a dream- just a bad dream!"

"You wish, bitch!" Suddenly, her wooden rolling pin flew through the air with a 'whoosh' and struck him on the back of the head, almost knocking him out.

"Hey!"

After they kept going back and forth a bit, they ended up crying in each other's arms.

"Mantiao, do you think the Young Master will ever bless us with his time again? Do you think he will even spare us a glance after we turned down his good intentions?"

"Hua, please, say no more. I want to forget that I could ever do such an idiotic thing. Just keep crying, come on- Waahhh!"

"Wahhhh!"

Tears flowed and snot flew here and there. After a few minutes, they got up and moved in silence to lock the place up, then leave for their home which was just behind the restaurant. They had a nice courtyard with artificial mountains, a fountain, a pond with fish and quite a few plants and trees, not to mention the sizable house.

Still, for the first time, their home felt small and lacking. Nothing they had could make up for what they lost. Wallowing in regret, Zhou Mantiao went off to clean himself and brood in his bedroom. Sinking in despair and hopelessness, Zhou Hua sank under the water of her bathtub and wished she could just die.

It was in that bathtub, under the water, that Zhou Hua recalled something. Tiny bubbles were rising from her mouth, but then a large blob of air rushed out and she resurfaced in shock.

"That's right! The talent show! I can impress him at the talent show!" With that, she washed herself quickly and then hurried to get dressed before finally rushing to her brother's room. Without even knocking or announcing herself, she ran in and shouted, "Mantiao, there's still a chance for us!"

Zhou Mantiao had covered himself in two layers like a cocoon and was laying on his bed in silence. When he heard what Zhou Hua said, he struggled a bit to free his head from the blankets and looked at her with a hopeful expression.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I forgot about the talent show! When he gave me the Essence of the Culinary Dao, he said that he was hoping I could impress him with one of my dishes at the talent show!"

Zhou Mantiao suddenly leapt off the bed, hopping over to her in his cocoon.

"Were those his exact words?"

Zhou Hua nodded, her bobbing head looking much like a chick pecking rice.

"Hua, were those his EXACT words!?"

"Yes, those were his exact words!"

Suddenly, a wave of excitement, pride and joy overcame Zhou Mantiao and he burst out of his cocoon with a hearty laugh. Not even thinking too much about it, he wrapped his arms around his sisters and sniffled.

"Then there's still a chance for my Zhou family! Ahahaha!"

"Mm! We still have a chance to pursue the peak of the Culinary Dao!"

Suddenly, he broke away from their hug and eyed her seriously. "Hua, I heard that Sir Wuji thought your soup was lacking. You need to study the Essence of the Culinary Dao and step up your game, okay? Brother believes in you!"

"Yes, thank you! There are a lot of techniques in the book that I need to study and learn, so I'll definitely not waste time. I'll practice like a madwoman, I swear!"

Zhou Mantiao was laughing giddily, then he suddenly puffed up his chest and proudly said, "Don't worry Hua, big brother will not hesitate to spend all of his money to support you, alright?"

Zhou Hua was about to smile and express her thanks to him, but she frowned and her eyes narrowed. "What 'big' brother? I'm older than you and, last I checked, that money was made thanks to my cooking!"

Zhou Mantiao smiled nervously, realizing he had gotten carried away. "Ah, Hua, brother is sorry, okay? Just a slip of the tongue, just a slip of the tongue, heh heh... Come on, laugh with brother. Let's be happy again, okay?"

While they began their preparations, something else was happening not too far away. The Logean Mountain Region was actually a lot bigger than one would think. Even though it was just a meager peninsula beneath the Proud Heaven Empire, it was home to a number of rogue cultivators, banished clan members, down-on-their-luck branch families, neutral parties, detached daoists and even renegade cultivators.

Apart from the mountain village and environs, there was a large grove, home to a number of people who dwelt among the trees. One such group had pitched tents and were preparing themselves for the nighttime. Despite how the grove appeared, it was relatively safe at night.

"Little Rabbit, Little Leaf, come on to bed now." [1]

Standing in the entrance of a large tent with a lantern, an aged woman called for two children who were making shadows at the campfire. When they heard her, they raced to see who could get to her first, pulling each other and doing whatever else they could to slow each other down.

On the left, a little girl with a mole under her left eye arrived just before a little boy with a mole under his right eye arrived. They were twins, but not identical, and the woman was their aunt.

"Auntie, did you see? I got here first, so I should get to choose the bedtime story, right?" The little girl excitedly ran to her aunt's arms and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"No fair! You got to pick the story last night and the night before that too! Auntie, tell Tianshan that I get to pick the story tonight please!"

The children ran into the tent, still bickering as their aunt shook her head and silently chuckled.

"You know what, tonight I pick the story." Hearing their aunt say that, the siblings ceased their arguing and went over onto the bed. They laid on their bellies and looked at their aunt expectantly, legs swinging behind them. When the brother saw what his sister was doing, he said, "Auntie, tell Tianshan to stop copying me!"

"Eh? You stop copying me!"

"Alright, alright. Settle down or there won't be a story tonight."

Hearing that, they fell silent again and got ready to listen, legs still swinging in unison.

"Long ago, in this very realm, there lived a terrible beast. The beast was larger than most mountains, stronger than ten immortals and yet faster than light itself. It is said that, those who saw the beast and lived to tell the tale, could never forget the sight of its horrible purple eyes."

With wide eyes and gaping mouths, the children fell into something of a trance as their aunt told them the story. As she went on, they slowly went from excited and engaged to drowsy and unresponsive. Before long, they fall asleep under her doting gaze.

Once she was sure they were sound asleep, she took the lantern and went out into the night. Looking around for a bit, she soon spotted someone sitting at the fire who wasn't there before. She took a deep breath, calmed herself and her emotions, then walked over to that person.

As she got closer, she could see the light of fire reflected by that person's almost golden skin.

"O Great Guan Yin, your humble servant prostrates herself." The woman dropped the lantern and knelt at the side of that person, who was wearing a simple robe and barefooted. As they turned their head, the clang of their ear ornaments were like calming percussions.

"Raise your head, Xun Gu. How are Ji Tianshan and Ji Haogui?" This person, a woman, turned around to face the children's aunt, Xun Gu, and looked down on her.

"Also, please, call me Mother Guan from now on."

_________________

[1] - These are meant to be nicknames, and will be used interchangeably with their actual names throughout.