Every year on the ninth day of September, Silver Needle would be busier than ever. Double Ninth Festival was a…
Every year on the ninth day of September, Silver Needle would be busier than ever. Double Ninth Festival was a day to honor the elders. Brewing chrysanthemum wine, stitching silverberry pouches, offering free medical checkups in the village... So many patients to see, even more chores to do. Whenever the burden of it all seemed too heavy, the younger disciples would turn to a slender figure amidst the flurry. One call of "Senior Sister!" and somehow, everything would fall into place. Soon, the village would echo with cries of "Senior Sister!" one after another.
Listening to those calls, Zhu Yu never grew annoyed. If anything, she felt nostalgic. Memories arose of when her own younger siblings were still alive, calling for her in just the same way. In her memory, the village was always bathed in the light of the Double Ninth. Grandmother was stitching silverberry pouches with nimble fingers, and Grandfather was sipping wine by the fence draped in chrysanthemums. As the sun went down, her little brother and sister would shout to go climbing, rushing toward the hills beyond the village, clutching their spinning pinwheels:
"Big Sister! Let's go climb!"
The dusk sun painted their cheeks red, like two bright silverberries gleaming in the golden light. Zhu Yu had reached out her hand, smiling, taking a step toward them. But the sunlight vanished. Those small, waving hands had long since fallen still, soaked in the cold rain. The golden needle slipped from her hand. The ones she most wanted to save... she could not save after all. Ninth day of September, Double Ninth, her birthday. After that day, no one ever called her "Big Sister" again.
"Senior Sister!" Rubbing her bleary eyes, Zhu Yu realized she had dozed off in the yellow flowers by the fence. A younger disciple, grinning at the sight of her flustered senior, chirped, "Senior Sister, happy birthday!" Year after year, and again it was the Double Ninth.
"Senior Sister, you're so kind! You're just like the big sister I always wanted. Can I call you big sister from now on?"
"That's cheating, Forsythia. Me too!"
"And me! And me!"
Zhu Yu looked at the tiny, jostling figures crowding around her, and smiled.
"...Alright."