34 Volume 2: Parallels

"I don't like it."

"Even if you don't like it, we're not taking that lot home with us."

"But they're just children—"

"Black hearted children. You take any one of them home and you'll make us both miserable. Or dead, if they could get away with it."

"You can't mean that! Look, there are some that aren't even older than seven or eight. Is it even possible for a seven year old to be that evil?"

"It doesn't matter their age. Just one glance and I can see they're filled with ill intent." Jin gave a mighty shudder. "If they weren't just passing through, I'd have never let them enter. They're tainting everything with their vileness."

Mei Hua looked at the cluster of dirty children roped and bound together, following an older man. They weren't directly guiding the caravan today. They'd come to see if there was anything interesting to buy.

Many years had passed since Wu TengFei had started his shipping business, and it was now thriving. There was always a steady stream of people passing over. If Mei Hua tried guiding them every time, she'd never sleep!

Her heart squeezed in sorrow. Once, she'd been a little girl who was going to be sold into slavery. Naturally she disliked seeing children in a similar circumstance. The caravans rarely brought slaves over this path, as Wu TengFei had figured out early that she disliked seeing them. The fact that they were doing it now suggested a great pressure had been put on the Merchant to get them into the East quickly.

And Jin was also an excellent judge of character, to a point of eeriness. He had, on past occasions, turned out Merchants and travelers, even when they came through with Wu TengFei. Every single person he'd turned away had ended up being incredibly wicked, with at least one attempting to murder Jin, Mei Hua and Wu TengFei for having been denied entry. He'd never been wrong when he spoke of someone's motives.

Even if she didn't want to believe it, if he said those children were evil, then he was probably right. Still, she struggled to accept what he was saying.

Guessing what she thinking, Jin's two large calloused hands wrapped around her shoulders, giving her a gentle embrace. Whispering in an unintentionally seductive voice, right next to her ear, he said, "Close your eyes Mei, and look with your internal energy."

She raised an eyebrow but did as instructed. Unlike Jin, who was disgustingly good at Qi manipulation, it took her several long minutes before her "inner eye" could "see" her surroundings. Vague glowing shapes that made no sense appeared before her.

"Focus." She heard him say, his breath tickling her ear. She wanted to smack him. How could she focus when he was practically seducing her like that?!

Even while she was thinking that it was impossible to focus, everything around her suddenly became clearer. The glowing shapes sharpened into a kaleidescope of colorful lights, moving about as if by unseen currents. She'd only seen such sights after a full day of serious meditation and so she was caught be surprise, breathless at the beauty.

"Look there." Something gentle seemed to guide her "eye" and she found herself staring at several pitch black… things. They stood out amongst the many dim lights of uncultivated human spirits. Their bodies were warped and ugly, like tiny hazy mutated skeletons. They made her skin crawl. They felt like death.

Suddenly, one of disgusting things turned to look at her with it's dead eyes and her whole body jumped in fear.

"Relax Mei, they can't hurt you." Jin comforted. She felt his hands cover her eyes and when she opened them, blinking, the world was once again normal. The sun shown through large pine trees and birds sang. The contrast disoriented her for a moment.

"W-what—?"

"That is what the inside of those children look like."

Mei Hua jaw tightened.

"Is this how you know when someone is evil?"

"En. And I have seen worse than these."

"…worse…"

"Mountain Flower, the moment a human can chose, it can chose to do evil. Many do, and some start very young."

"But… but children…"

"What about them? They can chose too."

"No, but.. They must be raised that way. Someone raised them to be so wicked."

"Do you think so? Humans are greedy from the beginning. They must be so to survive. And if it were just for survival, it would be no worse than a panther. But humans are also moral beings. When they mix instinct with morality, they taint both. And they became something less than human, corrupting their souls."

Mei Hua was silent for a long moment after listening to his explanation.

"You talk as if you're not human."

"Of course I'm human." Jin nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck from behind, glad she couldn't see his panicked expression. "Don't think too deeply on it, Mei. Just know that those children, whatever their fate, won't be any less than they deserve."

Nearby merchants and servants glanced the other way at such an open act of intimacy. Even if they were all use to it at this point, it was impolite to openly stare.

"Still though… How awful must their parents have been? I'd never let my own children turn into that. If I ever have any."

"Hm? What do you mean if?" He started kissing her neck greedily and mumbled lustily, "Shall we try to make some?"

There was a weighted pause as he expected to get hit for such brazen public flirting. She was generally a tolerant women with his clingy behavior, but he was always pushing her boundaries. He enjoyed teasing her, seeing her flushing with embarrassment, so he took her "punishments" without complaint, always coming back for more.

Yet, much to his surprise, she simply stood their rigidly doing nothing. He loosened his hold on her and tilted her head so he could see her face. She didn't look him in the eye, but instead was slightly flushed, a conflicted look on her face.

"…do you actually want children?" He asked in a rare moment of insight, letting go of her shoulders completely this time.

"Can we?" She looked away, arms crossed over her chest, looking extremely awkward.

"What do you mean?"

"We've been married for so many years but I've not gotten pregnant once…" While still facing away from him, her voice trembled slightly. "I've been thinking… there… there might be something wrong with me."

He touched his forehead, realizing a grave misunderstanding had been taking place between them.

"Have you wanted children all this time?"

Kicking at the ground a bit in embarrassment, she muttered, "Not… not the entire time…"

When he heard that, he slapped his palm on his forehead.

"Why haven't you mentioned it before now?!"

This time she turned to face him, her eyes sharp and voice bitter. "It's not like you ever cared about children anyway! Don't think I don't know! If you had me all to yourself for eternity you'd be happy! So if nothing happens, nothing happens. How would talking about it with you help? Are you a god, that I should be praying to you for a child? Since you didn't care, and it wasn't happening, why even——"

Jin, who felt deeply wronged at this point, picked her up and threw her on his shoulder like a sack. She gave a startled yell and the entire Merchant caravan turned to see what the noise was about.

Seeing he'd gotten their attention, Jin raised an eyebrow, "What? Do you lot want children too? Forget it, I've got standards and you're all too ugly!"

The Merchants practically choked on their spit. They hadn't asked and they didn't want to know! Why did his Lordship have to be a flirt and show off?!

Mei Hua's face turned bright red and she started hitting her husband's back in humiliated outrage. Knowing he was pushing his luck, Jin sprinted away, running faster than even the fastest deer, leaving the Merchants far behind.

They were suddenly at their little cave house, Jin practically kicking the door open, he almost threw Mei Hua on the bed.

Hair a mess, face still flushed, she gave him a mighty glare.

"Why you—!"

Even when she was angry, Jin found her adorable. His little human wife, so small and weak, putting on a show of strength. It made him want to hold her tight and never let go!

He leaned down and started kissing her aggressively. His passion stunned Mei Hua for a moment, distracting her.

When he paused to allow her to breath, she shakily tried again, "T-that wasn't appropriate behavior Jin."

Even as she was talking, Jin was taking off her clothes off.

"Hey, listen to m—"

"You should have said something."

"Huh? What should I have—"

"If you'd said something, you could have had twenty children by now."

He'd gotten the outer robs off and was working on the inner ones with deft, experienced hands.

"I don't think that's numerically poss—"

"Didn't I tell you at the beginning?"

"Tell me?"

Now that she was stripped, he was already working on taking his own clothes off.

"If it's within the power of the mountain, ask and I'll give it to you."

At his fiercely glowing blue-gold stare, she gulped. He often said cheesy things along those lines and she didn't take them seriously, but in that moment she really believed him. Skillful hands began caressing her body and she found her mind turn hazy with her own passion.

Oh well. She'd punish him up later for embarrassing her like that. There was no harm in having some fun before then.

——

About two months later, while they were getting ready to sleep, Mei Hua took a deep breath and approached Jin.

"Jin, I… I think I might be pregnant." She was very nervous saying this. Two cycles had been missed and she'd felt tired all the time lately. She'd not felt nauseous or ill, as she had seen with other women, so she was a little unsure. But if she was, then it was only proper to tell him.

Jin glanced at her and nodded.

"En."

Her brow furrowed.

"Is that all?"

"Is that all what?"

"Aren't you… I don't know… surprised? Excited maybe?"

His eyebrows rose. "Why would I be surprised? Of course you're pregnant."

"…what?"

"I said, of course you're—"

"Shut up, ah!" She raised a hand and rubbed her forehead with the other, feeling extremely vexed and frustrated. "Why are you acting like you knew all along?"

Jin lifted his chin, smirking slightly in superiority. "You said you wanted a child, so naturally I gave you one. I did say, if it's within the—"

"—the power of the mountain, you can give it to me. Yes, yes, I remember."

Seeing the deep frown on her face, Jin wondered where he went wrong.

"Aren't you happy?" He asked puzzled.

"Aren't you?!"

"Eh?"

"If you knew, why aren't you happy?! Why aren't you excited?!" Her eyes started to tear up and her hands balled into a fist. "Why didn't you say anything either? I've been wondering this whole time and here you are, acting like everything is perfectly normal!"

Before she could stop herself, huge tears began to roll down her face.

Jin, who'd been taking off his outer garments to get ready to sleep, stopped and began putting them back on. After being married a few years, his husbandly sixth sense was strong and he knew he was about to weather a storm.

In a gentle voice, he tried to appease her, "My Mountain Flower, of course I'm happy and excited that you'll give birth to a child. Of course I am. I wasn't keeping it a secret, I just thought you knew already. You wanted a child, so naturally I'd give you one. I said I would. Don't you trust me to keep my word?"

As he'd spoken, her face had gotten progressively blacker.

"Don't you "Mountain Flower" me! What happiness?! What trust? What "wasn't keeping it a secret"?! If you knew, you should have told me! I've been anxious for a month about this, while you're over here being blissful and full of yourself." She raised her fists and starting hitting him indiscriminately. "You think you can treat me this way?! Always keeping secrets! This isn't the first time! Get out, get out, GET OUT!"

He was chased around until she'd forced him through the door. Even though her hits didn't hurt, the unbridled fury in her eyes was nothing to scoff at.

Ah, she had a temper! And these last few weeks, it'd been even worse. Since he knew it was part of her pregnancy, he didn't dare make a fuss about it. He'd take the beating now, knowing she'd calm down eventually and he'd be back in her good graces again.

As he stood outside some while later, in snow up to his knees, Ye bounced over and landed on his shoulder.

"Is she still angry?" Jin asked, his voice muffled slightly by the winter weather. He wasn't the slightest bit cold, but he missed snuggling with his wife.

"She just fell asleep, but she went to bed mad."

Jin nodded slowly.

"How upset do you think she'd be if she finds out I know she's having a boy?"

"That, ah, you might want to just pretend you don't know for now. Maybe with the second one…"