Disclaimer: Chang Ge Xing belongs to Xia Da.

Truth in Wine

© 2015

Often one finds one's destiny just where one hides to avoid it.

Watching the troubled visage of the Turk, she couldn't help comparing it to the image she had conjured up, surrounded by an army of mischievous children who had discussed their battle plans as inconspicuously as they could to provoke their father into playing with them.

The sight of enthusiastic and vigorous children, running and laughing around Ashina Sun was endearing, she thought, sitting under the shade of a tree. Furthermore, he had begun tackling the unguarded ones, with them shrieking in delight and excitement, hoisting them up to his shoulders one by one. Seeing him manhandle even the most delicate-looking daughters made her laugh.

His impatience and quick temper certainly doesn't change, and his rough and brutish ways had once worried her over the children's wellbeing. He smothered her arguments, pointing out that the Han nobility understood little about childcare, thus weak and unreliable youths. Despite herself, she found that she couldn't argue.

Now unable to support himself upright with the load of two on his shoulders, one dangling on his back, clutching an arbitrary hold on the seam of Sun's shirt, and another on his front swinging precariously on his belt, he could not move as fast. The older children who were left began to taunt him with a familiar smug confidence. Irritated, he braced the little ones onto himself and told them to hold on tight, and charged forward with unexpected speed, immediately throwing the children into a panicked frenzy.

Out of options, the ones uncaught began running to her direction, screaming, "Mama! Mama! Backup!"

Chang Ge rose and let herself be led by her children.