Hidden Splendor

There are three strange things about Lingjian Manor.

The first is Senior Brother's flute.

Senior Brother Mu Yun is fifteen, cold-faced and taciturn, and never goes anywhere without his flute. Nobody in the manor dares touch it, except Junior Sister Duan Qingyue. She steals it as casually as she steals buns. Whenever Senior Brother catches her, he only asks one thing: "Was it cold last night?"

The junior disciples aren't convinced. Why does she get away with it?

Senior Brother: "Because she steals it without a shred of shame."

The second is Second Senior Brother's knees.

Mu Feng is known throughout the martial world as the "incense hall kneeling specialist." He takes the blame for Junior Sister's trouble and serves the punishments she runs away from. The incense hall steward has even saved him a regular spot.

Nobody knows he keeps half of a palace jade pendant tucked in his sleeve, and nobody dares ask. If they do, the answer is always, "I found it."

If he just found the pendant, why does he take it out to look at in the middle of the night?

The third is Third Senior Brother's shadow.

Mu Chao is the mildest-tempered person in the whole manor, almost unbelievably so. He pays his junior sister's debts, takes the blame for her messes, and when she asks, "Do you think I'm a monster?" he smiles and says, "No."

But someone once saw him speaking to the empty pine grove late at night.

His tone was familiar, as if he were talking to an old friend he'd known for years.

Junior Sister Duan Qingyue herself knows nothing about these three strange things.

All she knows is that everyone in the manor spoils her, and Master loves her most, even though he's been saying the same thing for ten years:

"It'll all be better tomorrow."

She counts on her fingers and asks, "Master, what day is this 'tomorrow' you're talking about?"

Master gazes at the distant mountains and says nothing.

Theme: When love finally lets fate come to claim someone, you realize how much everyone still has left to do and how many words they still have left to say.