30 The City of Qianhe (1/2)

XieRong only wished to take Li Jia and FeiHong along with her despite her first aunt's wishes to bring some more maids.

She wore a simple plain light blue dress with long sleeves so that she would not attract too much attention. The only thing she wore which was remotely expensive were hef mother's keepsake. FeiHong was dressed the same way in a light pink dress. They had fake reputations to build.

They were about to leave, when XieRong heard someone call her.

”Wait!”

RuiLing walked over to them. XieRong noticed that she was very a simple olive dress very much unlike her usual bright and vibrant dresses.

”This lady knows that you both are new to Qianhe, so this lady will be generous and spare some of her time to show you both around.”

”This little sister will not trouble elder sister. Li Jia can show us around,” XieRong replied curtly.

She was amused as well as exasperated at her elder sister. She was too much like grandfather, who felt that admitting to one's fault was shameful and a sign of weakness.

RuiLing felt a little dejected, but she knew it was her fault. She had not said the right words. She had caught hold of XieRong by her sleeve and after a while she lowered her head.

”I-I am sorry,” she squeaked.

”I will try and change, I want to start over and learn from you. I realise that even though I may be older, I am not very experienced.”

RuiLing had talked to her mother and had realised how true XieRong's words had been. She had indeed acted like Fa MeiLien, arrogant, cruel, and ignorant. She had been unkind to her servants and to the people she had deemed beneath her, never knowing how much they helped look after her. She thought that it had been their role in life to be loyal to her, when in fact it was not. She had cried when she learned that one of her servants had died ingesting poison that had been meant for her when she was only a little older Mu Lan. A noble lady had tried to poison her in order to get rid of future competition for her own daughter at a banquet.

XieRong and FeiHong looked at each other.

-What do you think, FeiHong? I'm okay with it but since you were the one she bullied, I'll let you decide.-

”It's okay, eldest sister, I forgive you,” FeiHong said when she saw the desire to try to change in RuiLing's eyes.

FeiHong knew it hadn't been easy for this proud cousin of hers to apologise to them, and how could she remain angry at someone who didn't know any better and had behaved like she had in her past life.

”But elder sister must remember that to act like elder sister is pitying us and it will be better if elder sister dresses in her usual fancy clothes.”

Qianhe city was not as bustling as the Capital, with small shops and vendors scattered amongst the many residential homes, however it still had a lot to offer in terms of clothing and other accessories.

A Shi Chen had passed when the three girls started to grow hungry.

”Elder sister, isn't there a restaurant we can go to?”

”Actually, I was just taking you there. Do you see that tall building?”

XieRong did see it. It was the tallest building there was.

”That's Weimin restaurant, where all the nobles in the city and cultivators who want to go to JingShen forest, eat.”

”Why would cultivators want to go to JingShen forest?”

”Because apart from the Northern Mountains, it is one of the places that holds rich Spiritual energy and is accessible. There are other places, but they are either too dangerous, or no one knows about them.”

”Then why doesn't elder sister cultivate in the JingShen forest? Doesn't the Guo Estate own a part of it?”

”We do own some of it, but that's not where the spiritual energy is concentrated. It's towards the heart of the forest, where I am not allowed to go until I am twelve. Father says I'm not strong enough yet, even though I'm already at the mid soul gathering realm.”

The restaurant was huge, busy with more people she had seen throughout the city.

”First young miss Guo, should I show first young miss and these young misses to your usual table,” a waiter asked as soon as he saw RuiLing.

RuiLing nodded her head and all of them followed the waiter.