Chapter Text

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As they walked through the still busy street, Jiang Cheng with one hand holding his tang-mei, and the other with his tang-di, casually commented. “Ah, that looks nice,” A’min perked up, looking where his tang-ge was staring at. “ – would really look good with – ,” he kept mumbling to himself.

“Gege!” a’min tugged at their joined hands.

Jiang cheng looked down at him, “yes?” a’min pointed at the store.

“A’min wants to go in?” the child nodded, eyes shining. He saw many shiny, soft blankets (fabrics) and wanted to go in and feel them. Jiang Cheng shrugged, he had learned with children, they were always ever curious and he didn’t exactly have any reason to deny him – even if he did, he would have kept quiet and let them be curious, he was always reprimanded as a child for being curious by his parents. 

Why that was, is still up to debate – perhaps he had a habit of wandering by himself? Well, at that time he couldn’t exactly ask someone and receive a solid answer either, the people who held the truth were ashes by then. He closed his eyes, why was he thinking about all this now? He flung the thoughts back to the back of his mind. Now is not the time, now is the time to spend with his relatives, why think of such useless things? “Okay, let’s go then.” 

Upon entering the store, a’min bolted to a soft large sample of velvet fabric. Touching it gently, “soft…” he said, mesmerized, before getting distracted with another one, “oh! Tickly!” he giggled, showing it to Enya, his nanny. 

“Oh my. It really is, isn’t it, xiao gongzi?” she would indulge him.

Jiang Cheng smiled mournfully. If only he got a chance to grow up… A’min was such a bright child, he didn’t deserve such a cruel fate… He sighed, browsing the many colorful fabrics shown in the broad shelves of the shop. “Jiang gongzi, welcome to aunt li’s robes and fabric store. Is there anything we could help gongzi with?”

“Auntie li…” she blinked at him. Ah, i shouldn’t have–

“Gongzi heard of me?” Auntie Li moved from the borders to expand her business. This must be her, more or less, second year here. Before the war, he never thought he would ever pick up embroidery again, but desperate times call desperate measures he supposed. She was the one who helped him rejog his memory, and taught him more complex embroidery techniques with enthusiasm. Honestly, he was thankful of her.

By his memory, he was certain that most of the disciples that participated in the war had at least two robes which he embroidered himself. Maybe, after the war too, he couldn’t remember which were which, his inner circle had joined the embroidery sessions when they caught him red handed one night the day after… the Yiling Laozu's defection – he was too full of anger, grief but mostly perplexed by his already off putting brother to even bother to remember to lock the damn door, and since then they wouldn’t leave him alone to it.

Jiejie’s wedding gown took the most energy, time and effort from them. Auntie Li's business at the time was blooming, causing her schedule to tighten and leave no room for her to help. And he couldn’t exactly spare another coin to pay for her service either, not if he wants the disciples to eat enough, have a roof over their heads and necessary facilities by the end of the season – they were on a tight budget. It all boils down to that, she had a strict schedule to run, and he had a tight budget to follow.

He couldn’t spend his money on frivolous things, except a wedding dress isn’t frivolous – not in this instance, her wedding gown was also a symbol of how well off the sect sending her is. When he couldn’t spend more money on her gown, he spent more time on it, carefully sewing in  intricate designs with the beads and golden threads. He won’t lie, he spent many sleepless nights leading up to the wedding, devoting those nights solely on the gown and he was proud to have her wear it. It was just… he was very exhausted by the end of it.

“Auntie’s shop provides the most complete selection of colors and types of fabrics and yarns. Not to mention exceptional tailors, last i heard. So how could i not?” she smiled, proud that her business was even heard by the prominent major sect heir from nearby.

“Then this one hopes not to disappoint gongzi in acquiring robes, fabrics, etc. Gongzi needs only to name them.”

He snorted, the auntie he knew would already be playfully scolding him the moment he entered, “i’m looking for bamboo yarn.” After things had cooled down, he might have picked up knitting as a pastime again – besides, who could stop him anyway? 

His mother could no longer scold him for wasting time and send him to train from dusk till dawn. His father could no longer shake his head disappointedly when he showed his little projects. His brother could no longer tease him for being ‘wife’ material. And there was no more sister to pinch his cheeks and – “Certainly, they’re over here,” she led him to the side of the shop where they sat on high shelves. 

“I’ll take the forest green, hickory brown, emerald green, jet black bamboo yarns please.” She nodded, holding a basket in one hand, and the other collecting the listed items.

“Anything else?”

“I do need 2 kilos of cotton filings and…” He squinted, scanning the items once more, “are there no white yarns?”

“They're at the back, I’ll go get them,” she whisked away, leaving the basket on a nearby counter.

“Tang-ge, what are you going to make?” a’lei grabbed his shoulders, peeking over them. Hanging on his shoulders, like a monkey; like a child . 

“A frog plushie.”

“....ge can make plushies?” she asked wide-eyed. How adorable… 

He couldn’t help but smirk, “Who do you think made your miss teddy?” he suddenly shuddered remembering the horrid first plushie he created, “I admit she’s not the best of my work, i could make you another one or alter her if you want…?”

“Gege! I’m not a child!” she harrumphed, embarrassed at the mention of her teddy bear. He snorted, opening one arm to her. And despite her earlier protests, she quietly crept into it and leaned on his shoulder. “I like miss teddy very much, i wouldn’t change anything of her,” she admits though her face was red. Probably embarrassed, he guessed.

“Tang-ge, tang-ge!” a’min pattered to him, lightly smacking the older’s knees in his excitement. “Did tang-ge make mister ray too?”

He hummed, “I did. Do you like mister ray, a’min?”

“I love him!” he went on telling him about mister ray soft huggable size, then the color of its eyes, it was adorable. At the end of his little rant, a’min found himself on the older’s lap.

“I’m glad you love him so much, a’min.” he bounced the boy, who shrieked happily. “Let’s take a short break. Then A'min can pick our next activity, how about that?”