Chapter Text
He was planning to approach and just strike a conversation to try and amend what was left of your little trust you had in him. Because the hopeful yet insecure eyes you had at the start of this whole situation both of you got into were almost gone if not gone at all. but before he could do so none other than the person who caused this whole situation just barged in and messed up his whole plan.
My Qing’s loud voice interrupted you mid-sentence, and he saw both of you jerk your heads around. Looking straight at you he saw your expression change from shock to angry face in a split second. Yet your eyes seemed to be filled with a glistening sadness from tears that were probably present in them just seconds ago. It irritated him to no end and he could not explain why it got to him so much.
Feng Xin stood back up, straightening his back with a posture that looked very intimidating, he made a few steps closer to the other man. Mu Qing did the same thing, he folded his hands neatly behind him and closed the distance even further.
“You really have a knack for annoying people don’t you?” The Martial God of the Southeast states.
”Back off, I have no business with you.”
The General of the Southwest responds as he walks past him and continues a few steps further as he stops in front of the young lady he really had business that needed to be dealt with.
“Leave me alone.” Taking a few steps back only to be followed further back. only to notice that you stepped onto the small rocks which were lined up around the pond.
”No, I won't leave you alone, right now you need to do as I tell you and listen to what I have to say.”
“Fuck off! What kind of logic are you even using to think that what you just said to me is all right to just say?” You took a step further back and you felt your feet emerge into the cold water. Ah now you suddenly realised you forgot to put on your shoes when you left his palace.
”Get out of the water!”
”Give me some space!”
You responded just as loud to the one standing in front of you. Not being a person that raises their voice or looks for confrontation you were shocked by the way your responses escaped your mouth. Mu Qing’s could see how uncomfortable you were when he reached out his hand towards you to pull you out of the water only for you to take a step further back.
“ Miss Y/N you really shouldn’t go any further into that pond get out right now” he told you sternly.
“We can talk things through again but for now just listen to me and get out of there.”
“Can’t you just give me even a second! The only thing you keep on going on and on about is telling me what 'you' want "me' to do.” Lowering your head averting your eyes away from him.
“I'm not used to any of this and all I can do is make you angry or disappointed.”
”Miss, you really should get out of the water, it's….”
Feng Xin tried to mingle inbetween your bickering. He was watching from the sidelines, as an unusual strange situation was unfolding in front of him and just couldn’t stand watching any longer. As soon as those words left him you just ended up taking an even smaller step back only to find nothing underneath your left feet. You end up falling over down into the cold water of the pond, body fully emerged. Why was this pond so deep? How is that no matter how hard you tried you could not reach the surface? In fact it seemed that the light only seemed to move further away, or were you sinking lower? The moment you realised that something was wrong with the body of water you were in the surroundings changed.
A bright light, clear blue skies, strong winds and small clouds around you yet, water is pouring down with you as you are falling down. What is going on?
——————————————
“What is going on!” A voice asked in the communication array.
“The mortals are spreading a tale about a downpour on a clear day!” One official stated.
“It caused the rivers near Baotong to flood!” Another official responded.
“Let’s all calm down, shall we.”
It was Ling Wen,trying to calm down the officials who were starting to speculate and gossip about all the different possibilities of how and why. She was starting to get a feeling of what had happened and that got confirmed once two Martial Gods joined the array
“I’ll go and investigate the matter”
Mu Qing stated not responding to any of the questions that were starting to get fired his way. He exited the array and made his way to the mortal realm. How stupid could you be to fall down twice from the heavenly capital in under a century? He couldn’t understand but right now he knew he was partly the blame of your anger which caused you to rebel.
“General Xuan Zhen?” The Civil Goddess entered his private array. “Could you inform me on what happened?”
“Miss Y/N fell into the TianChi pond”
"..."
“That’s quite troublesome, have you seen the aftermath?” She responded back
“I am aware of what has happened, so I’m going right now.” He said back annoyed.
“If you receive any new information or new rumours start to spread between the mortals in those regions then I'd really appreciate it if you could forward those to me.” With that the Martial God closed the call and went on his way in search of you. There was no way for him to contact you as he had not even gotten to the point of explaining and helping you set up a communication array.
—————————————————
The sound of one person whispering was what woke you up.
You were laying on a small patch of hay that was laid out on the floor with a thin cloth covering most of you. Smelling the burning wood mixed in with food that was boiling over the fire brougth you fully back to reality. You slowly tried to sit up trying to open your eyes but a massive headache caused you to sway a little off to the side.
“Ah Miss please be careful! You are injured so please lay back down.”
An old man scooched over, helping you stabilize and then laying you back down carefully. He looked like a normal person, dressed in ordinary robes and hair tied up in a neat bun. The room you thought you were in turned out to be a small wooden shed turned into a living space once you slowly started to get aware of the place you were at. It felt familiar and relaxing, these kinds of places are the places you called your home for decades, a total contrast to the building you had been living in recently. But how did you get here? Were you back on earth?
“Sir what happened? Where am I?” You asked.
“You were really lucky I was close by.”
The old man started.
“ I was fishing at the river just down the valley. It had been such a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and there were barely any clouds, and the temperature was pleasant too, and…”
He dwelled off in his own story, starting to mumble how nice his day had been, starting to twirl his beard around his fingers.
“And suddenly it started pouring down, like ‘Shaaa’ never had i seen water fall down from a clear sky!”
With big gestures he tried to show how the rain fell down. The guy was telling his story with such passion that you were fully emerged.
“And within that downpour a god ascended down! She fell into the river and the water suddenly started to rise so fast going over the river banks flooding the farmlands.”
Suddenly a knot turned in your stomach. Did I do that? Was that my fault? You questioned yourself.
The older man continues.
“I’m telling you! I saw it with my own eyes. Beautifully dressed in robes crafted with the best materials available and eyes that shone brighter than any stars. I could grab her just in time. By her hand I pulled her onto the shore and carried her to my house and here we are.”
Finished with his story he nodded with a proud smirk on his face, eyes closed and arms crossed. You only looked at him in unbelievable awe. This old man, he had to be at least in his late seventies or early eighties, and he was just casually announcing that he rescued a god!?
“Sir, are you talking about me?" You carefully asked.
“Ofcourse I am HAHAHA!” He laughed loudly.
“ I must disappoint you though sir, i am no god.”
“If you aren't a goddess then how do you explain what happened?”
Touché.
Were you allowed to talk about these things with people that weren’t part of the heavenly realm? you weren’t sure it definitely feels like something you shouldn’t be talking about with people from the mortal realm. This old man felt like a nice and reliable person though, and the frustration that was still going wild inside of you was enough to just go on and greatly tell the guy briefly what the situation was.
“I’m really sorry for the inconveniences i have caused everyone around here, i'll go and help repair the damages that have been a result of my actions.”
“Don’t feel guilty kid, in my opinion it’s a good thing that the flooding happened. Even though it's a disaster for a place like this, it still changes the pace of people's lives and it will definitely bring the people living here closer as they are working together to fix everything. That was what this place was losing over the years.” He stirred the stew that was slowly cooking over the fire. How could a disaster be a good thing? You couldn’t understand.
“Also, stop calling me sir, my name is Zhao!” He continues
“ I’m an old geezer! Call me gramps or old man or something!”
You couldn’t help but laugh, the old man really was a character, his actions so animated and the way he converses with you was so familiar, as if you had known each other for a while. Mister Zhao starts laughing with you as he gets up and walks over to a small table at the side and grabs two small bowls .
“Ya hungry?” He asks as he scoops some of the stew into one of the bowls he was holding. He places it next to you as you slowly sit up, this time more stable than an hour or so ago.
Both of you enjoy the food and converse with each other. It seemed that the old man Zhao traveled his fair share, and you could both relate to a lot of stories that you were telling each other. Discuss local dishes and talk about historical moments both of you had lived through. The only difference was that Zhao had aged physically over the years, and you didn’t.
The next morning you wake up at the crack of dawn, the sun was barely starting to rise but you got up feeling well rested and in good shape. Old habits really are hard to break. It was something that you realised over and over again no matter how much your current situation seemed to change. As you stood up you saw ‘Gramps’ laying at the other side of the firepit. Walking over towards him to lay the blanket that covered you over him for some extra warmth. He grunted lowly but soon after his soft snores continued and you made your way out of the small cabin to get some fresh air. It was still dark outside but the temperature had dropped a lot, compared to when you left the earth’s surface with the crown prince towards the heavens. How much time had passed since you went up there. Being aware of the fact that time passed by differently in the heavens you had not expected it to be that far off of the mortal human’s time. In your mind you had only been up there for a week but as you saw small patches of snow laying on the ground. Has the heart of winter already passed? No way did almost 2 months go by, that just seemed to be impossible! You let out a sigh, and leaned against the wooden frame of the structure behind you as you waited for the sun to rise above the crowns of the bare trees.