Chapter Two

Great General Han stopped and stood where he was while his eyes softened upon seeing the sight of his beloved granddaughter reading a book. Never did she ask about her parents growing up but he knew she would come to talk with him about it one day.

Despite his pampering and caring, there was always a thin line which separated him from understanding her well. Before the accident, he could make out her moods and expression but after Xinyi woke up, the girl rarely showed expression and was hard to understand her even more. 

General Han raised his hand and waved where Yilin bowed her head slowly and walked away, gently closing the door on her way. As the door closed, it made a tiny thud sound which made Xinyi look up. 

"Grandfather." She hastily stood up and bowed her head. Xinyi learned this basic courtesy from memory and with the help of old Mama who came to her courtyard to teach her again every day. 

"Yiyi, what have you been doing so far?" He took a seat in front of her and pointed her to take a seat. 

"If the weather was good, Xinyi would go on a walk with maids. If the weather is bad, Xinyi would read the musical books she found." The great general took the book and flipped through the pages. He nodded and placed it in front of her again. 

He knows that bringing Xinyi along with him to the North would affect her future life prospects but he can't leave her in the imperial city with the Han family who wouldn't look after her properly. 

The moment he leaves her alone, the wolves in the imperial city won't wait for a second to claw her. So it was a good and bad decision to bring her along with him. 

Xinyi always walked on edge with him and was timid to ask him anything growing up. 

Until now she didn't show much interest in anything but if she did it because he forced her to do it. But if she wanted to accomplish something in any field, he would get her any resources he could find to fulfill her dream. 

The great general leaned back on the chair and waited for his granddaughter to open up and for once ask him. This time he knew her temptation and this might be a chance to make their bond stronger. 

Xinyi wasn't an idiot not to notice him looking

at her with a gaze that he knew what she wanted but he wanted her to give in and talk with him about it.

From her memories regarding that old owner, there wasn't anywhere she had acted like a spoiled miss requesting ridiculous things despite knowing that the great general would pamper her endlessly. Last time, he brought her the two rare black pearls worth hundreds of thousands of gold given by the neighbouring emperor to her to play with when she was six years old. 

But she couldn't understand why the previous owner was cautious about her grandfather. She tried hard to dig a memory about it but couldn't find any. 

Staring at the chrysanthemum floating in the cup, she was in deep thought about whether to act out of the previous owner's behaviour. 

Moreover, Xinyi was tempted to ask him if he could hire a tutor to teach her how to play classical music but she remembered in her previous life due to her greed to learn how to play a violin made her trapped with sadness and ridiculous expectations.

She didn't want to go on the same path as before. Her nails pierced through her palm under the table while she calmly looked up at her grandfather. 

He looked at her with amusement upon seeing her struggle and he could hear her foot tapping on the floor softly. After a while, Xinyi took a deep breath and looked at him determined. 

"Grandfather, I want to learn how to play erhu."  

The great general slowly smiled and his heartfelt satisfaction upon hearing her request for the first time. 

——

Xinyi woke up early in the morning with a rare smile. Yilin was surprised to see her Miss smiling for the first time after two weeks. Putting the warm basin of water near the bed, Xinyi grabbed the warm cloth and proceeded to wash her face. 

After cleaning herself, she went to the vanity table to make herself presentable. Grabbing the brush, she proceeded to draw her brow just like old Mama had taught her while Yilin went to get the dress for the day. 

It was a cold day as usual in the North and most of the wardrobe was filled with cloaks made from thick furs to protect from harsh cold weather. Yilin knew that today was a special day for her Miss therefore she picked up the most beautiful dress for today. 

It was unfortunate to see so many dresses untouched as her Miss is rarely invited by other Misses in the north. She was happy to see her miss getting ready other than dressing up for the regular days.  

She stood beside the vanity table while holding the dress and watched. Despite her Miss being only sixteen years old, it is a fact that she will topple the cities and even kingdoms with her beauty. Yilin was always scared knowing the pain came after having a heavenly face.

That's why the general never lets her go unattended with dozens of guards and a veil protecting her face from unwanted eyes. 

Xinyi placed the brush down and moved her face from right to left to check if she had done a decent job with her eyebrow. Even in her previous life, she would always make sure her eyebrows were done perfectly every time she went out or performed shows. 

Nodding at herself with approval, she turned to Yilin to pass her the dress but the girl looked dazed and unfocused. Gently knocking on the table, it got Yilin snap out of her dream and became nervous seeing Miss looking at her questioningly. 

Seeing the extended hand, she passed the dress. Xinyi took the dress in her hand and walked behind the bamboo screen guard. 

There is a sound of the rustling of the fabrics behind the screen and it is gloomy inside the room with my candles being lit to brighten it up. After a minute, Xinyi talked. 

"Did you sleep well last night?" Shedding the dress slowly, Xinyi raised her concern. 

"Huh?" Yilin was confused about whether Xinyi was talking to her to not. Dumb girl. Obviously. Yes, there is no one except for two of us here.

Internally scolding herself, she quickly answered without wanting her Miss to wait and later question about her work ethic early in the morning. 

"Yes, Miss. I slept well last night with the sound of the rain. This servant always adored the sound of the rain so that helped me to sleep better than ever." 

She heard the hum from the other side of the screen guard. Thinking that her Miss wouldn't converse further, she went to clean up the room. 

"I also adore the sound of the rain but I prefer the sound of the thunder the most." Yilin stopped what she was doing and looked up to see her Miss in front of the vanity table while picking out the jewelry to match her dark maroon dress. 

Thunder? But wasn't her Miss scared of the loud sound of the thunder that she would even ask Yilin to sleep in her room and to light up the entire room with the candles. 

"But miss, you were always scared of thunder since childhood." 

Xinyi's hand froze in mid-air upon hearing Yilin's words and then continued what she was doing. 

"Hmmm…I used to hate it but as time passed by, I found a beauty behind it. The loud sounds soothe me sometimes." Growing up learning how to play a soothing music as her adoptive mother loved, she wanted to run away from it that she would even attend the rockstar concert for the loud music which made her feel different and better and during the rainy season, she always waited for the sound of the thunder. 

Xinyi looked at the maid and saw her frowned face. She didn't mind as Yilin will live with her from now on and given the fact that people will change, she will adapt. 

"Let's go. It would be rude of me to show up late to receive my Shifu." Wrapping the red cloak made with red fox, Xinyi walked without waiting for her maids. 

She heard the rushed footsteps behind her and knew that along with Yilin who is her personal maid and three other maids were also walking behind her. Just like her previous life whereby she had four bodyguards everywhere she went after she got famous. 

Walking towards the courtyard where her grandfather lived, she felt nervous unknowingly. Xinyi didn't knew why she was acting so nervous as she was used to meeting new people everyday in her life so far. 

It was a ten minutes walk between her courtyard and her grandfather. So along the way, she try to mentally prepare herself to not to make fun of herself. 

"Miss—" Xinyi suddenly stopped in mid and snapped out of her daze when Yilin had rushed in front of her quickly. "Yilin is sorry if she made Miss scared. But it would be great if Miss will wear her hood." 

Xinyi looked at the Yilin and then towards the courtyard of her grandfather lived whereby she was surprised to see many male guards standing in front of it. From her memories, her grandfather never let her show her face and always ask her to hide it under a veil.

Nodding, she pulled the hood and hid her face until there was only her chin visible to outside eyes. Her maid nods in satisfaction and stepped aside so she can continue her walk.

Is her Shifu powerful that he or she need to get dozen of guards dressed in black and gold amour?

"Eldest miss Han." The head guard of Han manor saw her and bowed towards her which made the other outsider guards curious as who didn't heard about the infamous granddaughter of Great general Han who always hide her face? 

It is known that no one except the people working in this manor had seen her and even willing paying a large sum to the servants of Han manor to open up about their miss looks, none had taken the money or even opened their mouth when forced to. 

They were also curious like all to see how she looked. Some even try to bend their head to see underneath the hood but the Eldest Miss stepped a back and they missed their chance. 

The head guard coughed and glared at the annoying royal guards doing shameful things. Xinyi nods at head guard and stepped inside the courtyard. 

Xinyi maids had to stay behind with the guards as they weren't allowed to step inside with her. Xinyi breathed in relief when she knew that she was alone by herself. For once. 

Pulling the cloak back till it rested on hope of her head and enough to reveal her face, she slowly walked. At last she got a time for herself without maids being always one step behind, watching her.

Even she steps turned light and smiled graced upon her always serious face. She saw the head stewards standing upright in front of the closed door of the main hall and upon seeing the lady, the head steward smiled. 

She softly smiled and nodded in courtesy. She waited in front of the door to be open but the steward made no move. Xinyi was confused and looked at him but she almost grumbled in annoyance when he pointed on her hood. 

He wants her to hide her face.  Her smiled turned stiff and vanished completely when her face was fully hidden again. They were acting like she would bring bad luck upon seeing her face. 

"The eldest miss Han is here." After the steward felt content of her face being fully covered, he announced her arrival and then gently opened the door to the hall way whereby two distinguish people were sitting inside along with her grandfather.

"Xinyi, you should greet our guests." 

She couldn't see ahead of her but the voice of her grandfather guided her. She kneeled down and bowed while greeting them. 

"Xinyi welcomes distinguished guest to our humble abode." Xinyi knew that it would be better to coat some sugary word to make her avoid mistake but if she did and get scold by her grandfather, she will blame him as he made her cover her sight. Whether the guest is distinguished or not, Xinyi didn't care except for her excitement to see her Shifu. 

Slowly getting up from the kneel, grandfather voice once again came. Old mama came her rescue and she felt relieved as who knows Xinyi might mistakenly seat on someone's lap. 

Old mama guide her to seat right side of her grandfather. She could see underneath the hood that no one was sitting on right side so the guest must be sitting on the left side. 

There was a silence and old mama was kneeling in front of her, pouring green tea into the cup. 

"Wouldn't it be rude for Eldest Miss Han to hide herself behind the hood in front of the guest?" Xinyi heard a playful voice coming in front of her which hide some curiosity and mischievous behind it. This person was looking for trouble and she knew it as he was trying to provoke her grandfather. 

There was a sound of the cup hitting on the table and then her grandfather voice came after. 

"I would like apologize on behalf of my granddaughter as this was an order from her physician to hide her face to avoid getting her face more rashes due to her allergies. Hope general Su won't take this matter to your heart." 

Xinyi sat in silence and was confused hearing her grandfather shamefully lying without any remorse.

She then heard a soft chuckle and followed by a femine voice. 

"It would be petty for General Su to hold a grudge on sixteen year old girl. General Su won't do that right?" 

Xinyi could sense hostility behind the woman's voice and mocking in it. She heard the snort and the man's silent grumbles. 

"May I know what allergies does miss Han have? As I got my sister with allergies which makes her body filled with rashes after eating mangoes." 

"Why is the General Su worried about my student's allergies given the fact that I have seen youngest Miss Su eating mangoes during the royal banquet?" 

"Does Mrs.Zhong got problem with this general?" 

"I could also ask General Su the same regarding to my student." 

Xinyi knew that both of them are on bad terms with another as they liked to provoke one another and make worst of each other in every words their mouth said. 

Xinyi sat in silence while trying hard to decipher in her mind what made her Shifu seem to hate the General Su. 

"I would like to have an alone time with my student, if you may, great general." The female teacher suddenly announced while cutting the General Su's words in mid and turning to the Great General for the approval. 

"You won't need to ask for my permission like that Mrs. Zhong as you are her teacher. Xinyi show your Shifu around this place." Even grandfather didn't mind when Mrs. Zhong rudely cut in mid of their conversation. 

Xinyi nods behind the hood and without any sense of where her Shifu might be sitting, she just turned ahead of her and talked. 

"Shifu, let this student give you the tour of Han manor." Xinyi slowly got up from her seat and underneath her cloak, she saw a white hem of the dress in front of her. Then she walked alongside the Shifu.