Chapter 5: Mid Autumn Festival (II).
The market was lively with musicians and dancers entertaining and captivating crowds with their instrument playing and traditional dances. As the moon reached its zenith,people gathered for the evening's highlight : an offering to the Moon Goddess.
On one of the open booths ,a table adorned with ripe fruits, moon cakes and incense was placed at the centre. The town mayor invited everyone to express gratitude and make wishes.
In the novel, it was where the Baili Ming joined the real Liu Yihan and stood next to her making wishes silently,their hearts beating faster than before and their wishes were to see each other, secretly acknowledging their love at first sight.
But this time it was Baili Ming and his sect brothers making wishes. Liu Yihan was nowhere to be seen.
As the incense curled upwards , the wish makers bowed in respect,their faces bathed in the moon's light.
The festivities continued with a lively lantern riddle game. Baili Ming and the others joined the game and Baili Ming being one of the most intelligent in the group solved most of the riddles correctly. Girls surrounded him squealing with joy, cheering for him. Everytime he won a lantern he gave it to a girl, hoping his dream girl would show up.
In the novel,Liu Yihan was the one he had given his first lantern to but since there was slight a plot twist with the real Liu Yihan being replaced that didn't happen.
"Thank you young master,"each of the girls who received them,curtseyed throwing a shy smile at him.
"Shi Xiong everywhere you go girls are all crazy over you why don't you leave some of them to me too?"Gong Ke whined.
"Girls are not objects,"Baili Ming scolded him.
"Okay, got it,"Gong Ke pouted .
The night closed with the procession to the Moonlight Bridge,where they were supposed to release lanterns into the sky. Baili Ming was feeling kinda sad having not encountered the pretty girl he had noticed a few hours ago. Maybe he wasn't meant to see her again,maybe fate didn't have plans of bringing them together but right then his doubts were cleared when he saw the girl lighting a lantern along with her two friends from earlier and some other girls in pink dresses. He watched the girl dreamily as she smiled at her friends chatting slightly with them- she had a beautiful seraphic smile,one of a kind,one he had never seen before.
"Shi Xiong,are you going to light a lantern ?" He disrupted his thoughts breaking his little world of fantasy.
"Yes we will,"he replied in a low voice still suffering under the hypnosis the girl's beauty brought to him. It wasn't just about the beauty, something about the girl just triggered a weirdly nice feeling inside him.
After releasing their lanterns each of them made a wish. As much as Liu Yihan enjoyed the new life in an ancient Chinese setting she missed her life in the modern life,most importantly she missed her phone and of course the wi-fi. All she could wish for was to go to back to her world.
Soon people started leaving almost marking the completion of the festival. Liu Yihan was about to leave but suddenly halted after coming face to face with Baili Ming and his friends. The two of them locked eyes lost in each other's gaze as if it was a means of communication for them. Even the other boys gasped at how beautiful Liu Yihan looked and were literally gawking at her.
One thing Liu Yihan came to realize was that she looked exactly the same as the real Liu Yihan but no one in her modern world had acknowledged her beauty that much maybe because of her nerdy like behaviour.
"It's the young man who was standing at the inn house,"Yanliang Yao exclaimed in total delight.
Liu Yihan took slow and steady steps towards the group of boys, lowering her head a bit and curtseyed at the group of boys.
"Greetings Young Master,"she greeted with a shy smile.
"Greetings,miss,"Baili Ming replied in his gentlemanly voice.
There was an awkward silence between them. Liu Yihan was trying hard to keep up the elegant type of girl reputation just like the real Liu Yihan.
"Miss,may I ask what's your name?"
"My name is Liu Yihan,"she said articulating her words in a tender voice.
'Sounds like how the real Liu Yihan would have said,' Liu Yihan smirked subtly at her thoughts.
"Liu Yihan ,the popular fairy from Xiuhua Sect. It's true as they say you're very beautiful. Even the stories don't bring out your beauty well as it's supposed to be,"Gong Ke blurted out.
"I'm flattered,"Liu Yihan gave a shy smile in response.
"Miss Liu , don't mind him he's always like that. Since you've introduced yourself it's fair I introduce myself as well,I am Baili Ming and these are my sect brothers from Jinyan Sect,"Baili Ming said and took a quick glance at his junior brothers.
"Baili Ming! The number one disciple of Jinyan Sect!"It was the girls' turn to express their surprise. They couldn't believe they were facing the most perfect man as depicted in the stories of the martial arts world.
"I've long heard of your excellent martial arts and looks. You really live up to your name,"Liu Yihan complimented.
"How can you know I live up to my martial arts skills? What if it's a rumour?"
"Then we'll find out at the Wuxia Conference."
"I'm looking forward then to have a sparring with the number one disciple of Xiuhua Sect."
The two were literally flirting without giving a care about the others surrounding them.
"If you'll excuse us we would like to go back to the sect."
"It's not safe for girls to walk alone at this time. If you don't mind we would like to escort you back to your sect."
'As expected of the chivalrous Baili Ming,' Liu Yihan smirked subtly.
"Where did Changsun Yue go?"Baili Ming asked turning to address his junior brothers.
"He went out to gamble,"Gong Ke informed him, and Baili Ming's always calm face darkened with the amount of rage building inside him.
Changsun Yue loved to gamble. But when Baili Ming was about to get back at Liu Yihan,the missing boy arrived wearing his favourite black robes. While others appreciated the grey sect's uniform he preferred black claiming it helped him blend anywhere. His right hand was clasping his sheathed sword. Changsun Yue was as tall as Baili Ming with a lean figure. He was even more handsome than Baili Ming but his expressionless face made him look unfriendly and less popular.
But something seemed off or rather different and surprising about this Changsun Yue guy and Liu Yihan froze in her spot- his face looked exactly like Xu Wen's ,her crush in the real world. Throwing her elegance to whatever place it landed,she rushed to his side chanting his name Xu Wen like a madwoman.