The Acquired Meeting (1/2)

Zi Tao was sixteen when his school announced that they'd be hosting exchange students from Canada.

"Foreigners! I can't wait to meet them. Hey, Tao, do you think they'd be blonde with those scary blue eyes?" Lu Han nudged him.

"Ge, I don't know and I don't really care. We won't be interacting with them either, they are high school seniors, I'm just a stupid freshman anyway."

Luhan laughed obnoxiously, hitting Zi Tao on his shoulders. "Aww, is our Tao baby getting jealous over not being able to meet the exchange students?"

"I'm not!"

I must be in some sort of slump right now. I feel so down I don't even know why!

Tao enjoyed walking home; the serenity of Qingdao was something that had cooled him off every time. The high rise buildings on the other end of the river and the way the boats would dock at the small port... Sometimes, he wondered how it would've been if he had lived in the monarchial period instead. Would he have known Huang Zi Yu?

When he'd turned thirteen, Grandma told him that Huang Zi Yu was actually one of their ancestors. The baby did not die. Instead, he was safely delivered before being sent away to one of the old palace maids, who knew how to hide the biggest secrets. He was raised as a faux eunuch, taught how to read and write by the retired imperial tutors and learnt martial arts. His name was Li Yu.

By her deathbed when he was fourteen, Grandma gave him a piece of jade on a red string which encompassed around the word heng. She told him it was a heirloom, and should never be passed around to outsiders like his stepmother.

Keep it with you all the time. It may or may not come in handy, but it was passed down from her.

Zi Tao's stepmother would ask where he had gotten the jade piece around his neck from, and all he'd say was, "Grandma gave it to me as a present for my birthday."

"But why the word 'everlasting'?"

"Nothing much, to show her everlasting love for me, I guess." Unlike you... was what he would have loved to had said.

"Hmm..." His stepmother would walk away with a raised brow and high-pitched groan.

Not that it had anything to do with her anyways.

Zi Tao had always wondered why he was given such a boring name... Till his Grandma finally gave him an answer. The word 'Tao' was written on a piece of red paper and placed in a pouch together with the piece of jade. The meaning of the heirloom was never understood, but it was kept like the precious jewel it was within the family. Even Zi Tao's father did not know of its existence.

He felt proud to have such a heritage, but was disappointed to know that Huang Zi Yu was murdered by a jealous consort. It felt as though he should've known the ending to the story, all historical dramas shown a jealous consort and a beautiful concubine fighting for the Emperor's affection.

The story of Huang Zi Yu stayed close to his heart, and the wise words of his grandmother stayed even closer. What he still was unable to grasp was what she had said.

"Love, is something that isn't meant to be shared between a specific gender. It doesn't mean because you're a boy, you have to love a girl. Sure, that's what most stories are like, but if you have experienced love, you will understand."

Being a wushu student from young meant that he had no time to learn about love -- sure, he once had a harmless crush on this girl who would plait her hair to the side, her eyes would twinkle whenever Zi Tao gave her candy. That was when he was nine though, he couldn't even remember her name. Maybe when Grandma said that he would understand things when he was older, she meant like eighteen or something.

Another thing Zi Tao could not understand was why wasn't the consort executed to her death? Dramas often showed criminals having their head chopped off from their bodies, so why couldn't the Emperor have sent her to her death instead of banishing her to the Cold Palace? Mean people like her should not have been given the chance to live. Wasn't the Emperor sad? The love of his life was killed!

"Unfortunately, Taotao, I do not know of the reason why she had been banished. Maybe the Emperor looked on the fact that she was still his wife, and the princess of a country. Maybe he couldn't execute her because if he did, the two countries would come to a conflict and start a war. A good ruler of a country will not put his home at war because of his personal life. I'm sure he did that for reasons, Zi Tao."

Before he knew it, Zi Tao was already right in front of his door. He must've spaced out somehow while thinking of the story. It just sort of haunts him, and he doesn't even know why. Everything about the tragic love story of Huang Zi Yu renders him speechless. He would like to believe it was timeless love; even the reincarnation of Huang Zi Yu and Li Jia Heng would meet the other and fall in love. After all, didn't his grandmother say that the red strings of fate would be pulled, and they'd once again meet as strangers? Zi Yu was so kind in her past life, he was almost certain that the high heavens would show mercy and let her bittersweet life come to bear fruit.

He toyed with the pendant on his neck, feeling the smooth texture of the jade rub against his skin. Zi Tao wonders how Zi Yu and Jia Heng would once meet again; bump shoulders against the other and decide to get coffee? Or- or! Maybe they've already met! That would be absolutely awesome!

Yeah, Zi Tao was a little sappy for a sixteen year old boy, but he couldn't help it! His family and friends called him 'Naïve Tao', for he was innocent and kind to everyone he met. One day, you're going to get kidnapped by a guy on the streets. Lu Han had always said.

"But never change for anyone, Taotao. Your kindness is a virtue, and you have to understand that society deems anything out of the group as an abnormality. Listen, you must not ever, change for anyone. Even the people that say they love you. If they do really love you, they would never expect you to change. That is true love. Trust, honesty and understanding."