Little Purple

"They are alone..." Hu Zi, who couldn't sense the tension and sparks in the air anymore, realized that the Qing twins didn't have a single maid nor servant following them, which was quite rare for high-ranking noble children.

The Hu siblings always had someone following them closely. After the day they lost Hu Zi in last year's winter festival, the tall and bulky with strong presence guards were shifted and changed to those who had ninja-like abilities. The Great General instructed them to watch the kids closely in the dark. Except for the times when Hu Zi went to the mountain or was practicing with Master Shou and couldn't be disturbed, her family guard would always be with her. With Hu Zi's ability, she could tell her guards' positions if she concentrated. But she can't feel anyone watching the twins attentively like her guards at all.

After he heard what Hu Zi said, Hu Ye thought about Qing Guang and Qing Li. He found the contrast between the two daughters of the Qing family to be rather unsettling, no matter if it were their dress or the number of people who guarded their back. "Hmm… but I do think it is a win-win deal..." Hu Ye felt guilty for making use of Qing Guang's weakness.

"What are you thinking about, Fourth Brother?" Hu Bai asked before one of Qing Li's maid 'accidentally' bumped against her, making her stagger. "Oh!" Just as she was about to tip and fall over, Zhi Yu caught her waist with his left arm, his right arm still securely holding onto Hu Zi.

"Eldest Young Miss, are you okay?" He asked, steadying her.

"Ah, umm, yeah... thank, thank you…" Hu Bai replied.

Zhi Yu had an elegant smile as he took her hand so she would not fall again. When she felt his hand firmly holding hers, Hu Bai felt like her heart was jumping up and down in her chest. Her face was burning, making it visibly red. It was so red that Hu Cheng Se decided to give her an ice sweet cake to cool the heat.

"It is fall, but someone is in spring." Hu Zi grinned.

Hu Ye who is young but always cautious and attentive about his sisters naturally knows what Hu Zi meant, he breathes a helpless sigh.

"What do you mean, Third Sister?" Hu Cheng Se said with a questioning look.

"Nothing." Hu Zi chuckled.

-----

Unlike her sister Hu Bai who learned embroidery, Hu Zi decided to do small things like sewing and making accessories from marbles and thread.

She unexpectedly made a good one that even Hu Cheng Se who usually was not into this stuff, stared at it blankly. Hu Zi decided to give it to Hu Ye, who gave it to Qing Guang because she lacked accessories. He didn't realize that Qing Guang always remembered it as a debt and always told herself that she'll have to pay it back.

-----

One day inside the practice hall.

"Xiao Zi!" Shou appeared out of the blue, kicking the practice hall door. "Look at... I mean, feel this!"

"Huh?"

"Come here!" He dragged her outside, into the courtyard next to the practice hall. It was a simple and plain courtyard, he dragged her hand. Saying "Xiao Zi, get in!" The courtyard seemed to have something different planted in its garden. She could smell small chrysanthemum flowers. It seemed like these were planted a bit early in the spring. "Can you feel it?"

"Yeah..."

"I asked the general if I could plant some of my favorite flowers here. You love gardening, do you? Help me grow these flowers, okay?"

The flowers were the four seasoned flowers; orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, and plum tree. It made the solemn courtyard lively. Shou had been planting these flower since early this spring, the flowers were still small, so they needed a lot of care.

"They have nice smells."

"You should come here often and smell four different seasoned flowers every day."

"Four different seasons' smell!" Hu Zi's eyelids were wide open revealing her twinkling purple eyes.

Seemed like his plan worked, Shou showed a victorious smirk.

"I will sleep here for the night." Said Shou after planting fall mulch on the chrysanthemum's grounds. "You can sleep with me if you want. If you do that in the morning I will tell you a better and faster solution for your training."

Hu Zi was grabbing her practice fan. She was determined to finish the feeling and sensing so she could be independent and chase her dream of traveling around the world.

"Alright!" Said Hu Zi with determination. Shou grinned at her response.

Now, I should sit back and relax while she do all the job.

-----

Hu Zi helped Shou take care of the flowers while practicing hard every day.

Years later, when Qing Guang was twelve, Qing Guang found an injured baby bird below a tree next to the archery training hall. She couldn't freely raise the bird at the mansion so she told Hu Ye to help her kept it. In return, when the bird grew up, they would roast it together.

"..." Hu Ye was speechless for a long time when he first heard her idea. Then , he raised an eyebrow and asked. "Umm… Let me hear it once again, you want to eat the poor bird?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Meat."

"..."

"Tasty."

"..."

"I need to go, make sure you feed it often and make it fat. Skinny bird does not have enough meat for two people." Qing Guang said as she turned her back and walked away.

"..." Hu Ye looked at the poor baby bird and sighed heavily. He decided to bring it home and raised it in his spacious courtyard.

-----

After Hu Zi stopped going to school to focus more on her training with Shou, Hu Ye skipped grades. As the only son and heir of the great general household, he planned to be in the same grade at his oldest sister Hu Bai. But, he ended up in the same grade as Hu Cheng Se instead.

The reason he couldn't advance and skip the grade was because of the Qing twins. Because of their perfect scores, the average score for the grade was very high. Making the grade impossible to skip.

"What are they brain made of, exactly?" Said Hu Cheng Se to Hu Ye who sat next to her.

Hu Ye frowned. "Those two sure are something, huh?"

"Yeah…" Hu Cheng Se stared at the twins that were sitting on the front line. "They sure are."

-----

Hu Bai grew up more beautiful with every single passing night. Her beauty was not the only thing that advanced, her needlework ability increased greatly too. She sewed many of her sibling's clothes. She also sew some clothes for her parents, which the general liked so much he almost wore every day. With Lady Hua and Hu Zi's help, Hu Bai made accessories for the servants. Everyone, even the small worker in the household, got some of her exquisite, beautiful, and dainty needlework.

Except for one person, Head Housekeeper Zhi Yu.

He doesn't seem to mind much about it.

But the truth is, his chest felt a bit cold when Falcon showed off to him.

"I wonder if Eldest Miss hates me." As the oldest of the Hu siblings, Hu Bai naturally became the mistress he looked after the longest. He could still recall her chubby face when she ate the dessert he made for her when she was three years old.

Hu Zi who came back with Shou from the training hall, laughed at Zhi Yu's worries so much she got a stomach ache. She told Zhi Yu that was not the case.