Author's Notes: I'm not sure if how they teach kids here at the Cloud Recesses would be no different then how they teach junior and senior disciples, but this is my own interpretation so please take it with a grain of salt.
The next day I find myself in front of an aged wooden building with a huge plaque in front of it. A layer of brittle frost has now covered our surroundings, bathing everything in an ethereal and sparkling white sheen. My breath comes out in little puffs of white smoke as the cold makes me shiver and want to pull my cloak closer to my body. I watch as boys and girls of every age and size begin filing into the building one by one. Some of the younger ones are being hugged and kissed goodbye by people I presume to be their parents. Though the Lan Clan were notoriously known for being strict and formal, I could still feel a sort of bond between the children and the people I could only assume to be their respective guardians radiating from them.
Such simple displays of affection made my chest tighten when I thought about my childhood from my first life. It had been so long since I attended school that to come back here in these circumstances was like rubbing salt into a wound that I had thought had since scabbed over. It was simultaneously my sanctuary away from the chaos of home, and the one place I dreaded leaving. I often felt so isolated and lonely at school. But it was probably for the best as my house wasn't the ideal place to be bringing people back to.
My parents were well meaning but clueless people when it came to raising kids in a way that didn't end with them hating your guts in the end. They were delusional, young and naive people that didn't understand how the world worked when they had my sister and me. At first they had wanted us to go to some prestigious university to make sure we didn't wind up becoming dropouts like they did. But overtime, it became less about our futures they were worrying about, and more like them trying to live out their dreams through us. I was deemed a failure by them due to having what I later realized was a learning disorder that they both refused to acknowledge existed. I'd spent so long trying to get them to praise me on doing other non-school related things, but none of that mattered to them. I was just that defective child that couldn't be molded into what they wanted me to be. This was ancient China, where things like special education didn't exist. Would I simply breeze by here? Or would Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji also regard me as a defective child meant to be thrown away?
Wei Wuxian had his hand on my shoulder as he walked me to the entrance of the building, the gravel walkway crunching beneath our boots. My injuries were beginning to heal little by little thanks to those exercises and the acupuncture sessions I've been attending, though it will still be a while before I could participate in combat training and music lessons. There was a young woman standing by the steps of the school waving the kids in and greeting them. I recognized her as the teacher who was close to yelling at her class that day I was given a tour of the cloud recesses. If Wei Wuxian wasn't there with me that day, all those kids would have gotten yelled at for something they didn't do. I noticed that they had built a ramp a few feet away from the staircase. Though there weren't that many steps for me to climb up, I would have still had trouble keeping my balance if I tried walking up them. I guess someone had heard about my mobility issues.
"And this is where I'll be dropping you off today Lihua," Says Wei Wuxian as he stops and gets on his knees to look at me. "I know it's scary to be in a new place filled with people you don't know, but the people here are nice. I'll come by later in the afternoon to pick you up after classes have ended."
"Wei-shifu… will the other kids like me?" I ask nervously.
"Why wouldn't they?" he asks. "You're the cutest little radish out there!"
Most of the children have already filed into the classroom. There are still a few stragglers coming along trying to make it on time. Some of the parents/guardians are trying not to gawk at me, but I know that they're probably looking at my short hair and whispering about it amongst themselves.
"Listen, you don't need to force yourself to talk to people if it makes you uncomfortable on the first day. If you want to make friends with the other kids, you do it on your own terms at your own pace."
He then gives me his usual bright and lopsided grin as he affectionately pats my head.
"Do your best today in class, and be a good girl for me and Lan Zhan okay?"
"En! I will!"
Wei Wuxian waves goodbye to me as I hobble up the ramp and make my way into the classroom. The teacher notices me having trouble with my cloak and helps me with getting it off and hung on a rack by the doorway. The classroom is fairly large, with low standing desks arranged in rows of 4. Something weird I notice is the seating arrangement. The boys are all sitting on one side of the room while the girls are on the other side, leaving a narrow column of space in the middle for someone to walk up and down on.
Meng Yao, why is the classroom split up like this?" I ask him "Can't you sit wherever you want?"
"I'M NOT SURE HOW THINGS WORK BACK IN YOUR WORLD, BUT HERE IN THE CLOUD RECESSES, DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT IS CONSIDERED SCANDALOUS!" He says. "THEY'RE VERY PARTICULAR ABOUT KEEPING THE MALE AND THE FEMALE DISCIPLES SEPARATE FROM EACH OTHER BECAUSE IT'S CONSIDERED DISTRACTING."
I keep forgetting that this is the ancient world. Although this was minor, I had to remind myself that the education system as well as how men and female disciples were educated was completely different from what I grew up with in Canada. Unlike where I came from, where school was free and classes were mixed, school was expensive back in ancient times, and it was usually only men that could further their studies if they had the money. Depending on where or how you were raised, women from wealthy and middle class families were privately tutored and then they were expected to marry at a young age to an older man and bear children or take care of their ailing parents as they got older. I was just lucky I was taken in by a cultivation sect. At least there, men and women both got equal opportunities to get an education.
I was asked by the teacher to stand off to the side of the room while she got everything ready and everyone got seated. She was a younger woman that looked to be either in her mid-to-late 20s. Despite her age she, like Lan Qiren, radiated an air of authority and power that made you think twice about making an enemy out of her. Though unlike him, she actually smiled and seemed more approachable. A notification window appeared in my periphery with a ping.
"ACCESSING DATABASE. CHARACTER PROFILE FOUND. NAME: LAN QIAO. AGE: 27. OCCUPATION: INSTRUCTOR FOR NOVICE DISCIPLES AT THE CLOUD RECESSES."
"Good morning everyone!" She said in a loud, clear voice.
"Good morning Qiao-laoshi!" Chirped the kids back to her.
"Everyone, I'm sure you're already acquainted with her, but this time let's properly welcome her into the class."
She turns her head and motions for me to come to the front of the classroom.
"Won't you come over here and say hi to everyone? Don't be shy, we won't bite."
My cane clunks along the floor as I make my way to the center of the classroom. Some of the kids are excitedly whispering amongst themselves. A glare from Lan Qiao immediately shuts them up.
"Umm, hello…" I say sheepishly. "My name is Alice, but if it's too hard for you to pronounce then you can call me Lihua if you want."
Another chorus of whispers breaks out amongst them before I continue.
"I-I came to the Cloud Recesses two weeks ago from the countryside, so I've never been to school before. Please take care of me until then!"
I couldn't really do the salute people in this world could do just yet because of my injuries, so I bowed my head as low as I could without tipping over.
"Well, It's very nice to meet you too, Lihua…" Lan Qiao says with a smile. "Why don't you take a seat over there where Meiying is sitting?"
I look over to the girl's side of the room where I see an all too familiar girl with snow white hair waving me over. I politely nod to her and walk over to where she's sitting. She's even prettier than I thought she would be now that I got a closer look at her. I place my cane on one of the desks, making sure no one is going to be tripping over it if they ever walk over to my side and tuck the front of my robes under my body as I sit down on my knees.
"LIHUA, ARE YOU GOING TO BE OKAY?" asks Meng Yao. "I HOPE YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER BREAKDOWN AROUND THAT GIRL LIKE YOU DID LAST TIME."
"Meng Yao, you know I can't keep avoiding her forever right?" I tell him. "She's supposed to be one of my shijies, which means I'm going to have to see her more times than I'd like to admit. Besides, it's probably just a coincidence that she looks so much like Dana, though how many people in China have deep blue eyes?"
"Hi there," She says with a smile. "My name is Meiying. I hope we can be friends today, Lihua."
I smile politely at her and stick my hand out at her, which she looks at with confusion.
"I-It's nice to meet you too. I hope I can be friends with you too. Where I come from, this is called a handshake. We do this when we greet each other."
She sticks her hand out and gives mine a good shake. I can feel how rough and calloused her hand is, reminding me of how far behind I am in combat training and how much I'll need to catch up on once I'm well enough to participate in it.
The class now begins with Lan Qiao reciting the rules of the Gusu Clan which, as I now found out the hard way, were not only quite tedious to remember, but had this tendency to become rather petty and redundant the further down the list you got. Some of the rules on there were reasonable rules like "No alcohol on the premises" (not that I would be able to partake in since I was too young anyways) or "Do not bully the weak". Others just made me roll my eyes like "Do not eat more than three bowls of rice" or "Do not laugh for any reason." I found myself more than once almost falling asleep in the midst of these explanations, only to pinch myself awake to avoid getting yelled at by the teacher. It's times like these that I wish I had a cup of coffee or a can of Red Bull nearby to keep myself awake.
"Ugh, Meng Yao, why are there so many damn rules?" I groan as I pinch myself awake again. "Did the person who wrote these rules have a stick shoved up their ass? Or is the concept of 'fun' a foreign concept to them?"
"WELL, I CAN'T SAY FOR SURE, LIHUA. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THE LAN SECT DIDN'T NEARLY HAVE AS MUCH RULES AS IT DID WHEN IT WAS FOUNDED THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO," He said, not even being fazed by how boring this lecture was. "THOUGH I SUSPECT THAT OVER THE YEARS, AS THE LAN SECT KEPT GROWING BIGGER, THESE ADDITIONAL RULES WERE ADDED BY CLAN ELDERS OUT OF SHEER PETTINESS AND SPITE."
That's just great. The more people did petty and stupid things, the more people were going to suffer for it when it became an official rule. I couldn't believe I was saying this but, I was actually looking forward to doing spelling and vocabulary lessons more than I did having to listen to this petty nonsense.
"And how many rules are there right now?" I ask.
"LAST TIME I WAS IN THE CLOUD RECESSES, I THINK THEY MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE ADDED 1000 MORE RULES. THEY WENT FROM AROUND 3000 TO OVER 4000."
He says this in a manner like you're just casually telling someone that you just got promoted at work or that you're telling someone how your day went. If I could, I would have gone back in time to find the founder of the Lan sect and slapped multiple times for creating so many goddamned rules for us to remember.
"…And don't forget that you'll be tested on how well you know the sect rules. Make sure you read the handbook or go study the wall of discipline for at least an hour a day! You never know when you'll be quizzed on the rules on a test."
Some of the kids let out collective groans. The thing about a child's attention span was that it was really short, usually lasting around fifteen or twenty minutes before they get bored and wander off to do something else. If the clan elders thought that a room full of 5-9 year kids would have the patience to sit there quietly and memorize what must have been rules in the thousands, I would have walked up to them and told them that they were delusional. Meiying then raised her hand up, hoping to get Qiao-laoshi's attention.
"Yes, Meiying?" She asks, addressing her.
"Qiao-laoshi," She says as she stands up, "You said that you're not supposed to run around the Cloud Recesses or to go leave class in the middle of a lecture right? What if there was an emergency? Would we just walk then?"
"That's a good question, Meiying," She says with a hand to her chin. "You're still not allowed to run, even if it is an emergency. When you run, it causes chaos and confusion. But don't just walk slowly or dawdle either. The best thing you should do in an emergency is find an adult or a clan elder and listen to their instructions very carefully."
The rest of the class begins to murmur amongst themselves again. It's things like this that reminded me of those talks we'd have back in elementary school about fire safety. Sometimes they were tedious and boring but, they often made very good points about making sure you got out in one piece and alive.
"If any of you aren't feeling well during class, make sure you tell me so that we can bring you to the healing pavilion and have your parents or guardians pick you up. Or we can let you stay in the dormitories with a disciple if they're away on a night hunt. We don't want anyone else to get sick either."
I raised my hand as well as I had a question that needed to be asked.
"Yes, Lihua?"
"Qiao-laoshi, is running around the Cloud Recesses for training purposes not allowed either? What if you're being chased by a scary monster?"
"Well Lihua, we did say that running wasn't allowed, but you can run along the trails surrounding the mountains if you want to train. We just don't want you running THROUGH the Cloud Recesses because you could hurt someone if you collide into them."
Seeing us asking questions about the rules, the rest of the classroom seemed to erupt into chaos as the rest of the kids began their barrage of questions. Of course, you couldn't spend an entire day doing Q&A, so we had to cut that session short. We spend the rest of the morning learning reading, vocabulary, spelling, and writing. I'd spent those last two weeks slowly but surely learning the basics, but to have more formal lessons like this meant that I could build upon them. I've gotten used to writing smaller letters by then; though sometimes I would accidentally smudge my words if I was being careless.
By lunchtime, I was starving. Even if I thought that the food in the dining hall tasted awful, it would be impossible to concentrate in class on an empty stomach. The taste reminded me too much of the awful hospital food I had to eat back in my first life. The only difference being that there was a very strong medicinal and bitter aftertaste to it. I definitely liked the cooking of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji more; it tasted like love and comfort. I choke down the rest of the food before starting afternoon classes.
I had to sit out doing music classes because you really couldn't play a guqin with just one hand. It was a real shame because I really did want to try despite how challenging it looked. Meng Yao would every now and again critique my classmate's techniques and how off key they were. I had to keep reminding him that these were CHILDREN and not grown adults that have had years of experience to perfect their playing techniques. Of course some of them were going to make mistakes or sound off key. The next class was about the history of this world and how the different sects came to be. Since blackboards didn't exist in this world, I have to pay attention very closely to make sure I didn't miss anything. I find myself scribbling down notes so furiously that half of them were in Chinese and half of them were in English, with half of the page being covered in tiny black handprints. Meiying looks over my shoulder half with fascination and half with curiosity.
"What are those weird characters you're scribbling?" she whispers quietly enough not to alert the teacher to us.
I look down at my notes and realize what I've just done.
"I-It's nothing! Really!" I whisper back. "It's gibberish! Pay attention or else you're going to get in trouble!"
I get back to scribbling more notes down, but Meiying keeps hovering over me, trying to see if I was going to start writing things in English again. I know I shouldn't be getting annoyed as children are always well meaning and curious about what other people are doing, but come on! Let me write in peace for Pete's sake!
"Can you teach me how to write those weird characters?" she asks.
"Some day," I mutter, "But not right now."
"Ehh? But I want to right now~"
I finally give her an annoyed look, my patience reaching its limits.
"If I promise to show you how to write those 'weird characters', will you promise to stop bugging me during lessons?"
"Yes, I promise."
Classes finish without much fanfare as the other disciples begin to file out of the building. Lan Qiao is helping me put my cloak on as the other kids are waving goodbye to her and being picked up by their respective guardians. I poke my head outside the doorway to see two familiar faces standing in the courtyard. I recognize them as Suiyin and Jinghua. Meiying is running towards them at full speed, arms outstretched.
"Mama! A-Niang!" she yells excitedly as she's scooped up by Suiyin and spun around a few times by her.
The three of them are excitedly chattering amongst themselves before they take notice of me.
"Oh, Xiao-Hua!" says Jinghua. "Are you waiting for Wei-Xiong to come pick you up?"
I nod politely to them before I come outside and hobble down the ramp. Suiyin and Jinghua seem to have an appreciative smile on their faces by the time I reach them.
"Well, look at you in those robes!" says Suiyin with a grin. "You look like a proper Lan Sect disciple now! You look very cute in them."
"T-thank you Suiyin-jie…" I say shyly, a blush blooming on my cheeks.
"Of course she looks cute in them!" an all too familiar voice says proudly. "Who wouldn't afterall?"
I peek behind them and see Wei Wuxian standing there with a smile. I hobble over to him as he places a hand on my shoulder. They make small talk with each other before we go our separate ways.
"Did you have a good day at school today, Xiao-Hua?" he asks me.
"En! I learned so much!"
"Is that so?" he chuckles "We have so much more to teach you then my little radish. Come on, let's go pick up Hanguang-jun. I bet he's waiting for us both."
This would be one of the many memories I would cherish in those months since arriving here. Thinking back to those simpler days still made my heart ache and made me realize how much I've grown to love the people of the Cloud Recesses like my family. They welcomed me with open arms, and I spat on their generosity in return. I wish I could take back those horrible lies I had told everyone. Perhaps then people wouldn't have hated me as much as they did afterwards.