Cui Chen · Chat

Inside the Cui ancestral hall, three sticks of incense burned quietly in a celadon censer, their ashes slumping down heavily. The ancestral portraits upon the altar table gazed down with tranquil expressions. Clad in simple black robes, you assumed your place as the Head of the Cui Family, leading the clan members as they held incense and knelt upon the prayer cushions. Your back remained rod-straight, crisp and aloof like a winter plum against the snow. Just then, Cui Chen and his family stepped into the ancestral hall. Walking behind his parents, Cui Chen's gaze fell squarely upon your back. Across the corner of his typically indifferent eyes flickered a barely perceptible trace of surprise, and he raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.