Ai Qing

Ai Qing was an orphaned village girl living out of a simple hut close to the western shore of Treasure Lake.

Appearance
Shoulder-length golden-brown locks, tanned skin, thin frame, and a small beauty mark beneath her right eye.

Personality
Ai Qing was a sheltered, indecisive dreamer. She was also a pious believer of the Mother.

Background
Ai Qing grew up in a small nameless village of about a hundred people with her family of four. Her father was a simple physician who lived quietly in the village, helping anyone who needed it no matter if they could pay. He was good at his work, and although he was no healer, he fixed injuries with nothing more than herbs and tools. When she was ten years old, bandits came for him. They'd heard of his skills and their boss was grievously injured so they took him away. After two weeks, they returned with his head on a stick, waving it about as they raped her mother and tortured her little brother to death in front of the village. Retribution, they called it, for her father's failure. She only escaped because she was out playing with friends, the bandits lacking knowledge of her existence.

After losing her own family, she'd been bounced around the different households before staying with the Bao family for close to a year. She became fast friends with the daughter in the family, holding her hand at night while crying for her family, Bei playing the part of the older sister. Auntie Ting and uncle Wei were so kind to her, treating her like one of their own when all the other adults tried to pretend she didn't exist.

After Uncle Wei injured his back, she left to live with the village chief's family, the only one willing to take her in. She didn't stay long, the village chief's son, Gen, aggressively pursued her, forcing her away, leaving to strike out on her own at the tender age of fifteen.

It hadn't been an easy five years since, living in the outskirts of the village in a small leaking shack. Dreaming of a better life each day while she toiled each day to survive.undefined

Trivia

 * Ai Qing means romantic or loving, or even loving kiss. undefined