Winter solstice brought the return of yang, and spring followed once more. Year after year after year.
Chu Liuxue was seventeen. Chu Suiyan was sixteen. The two scrawny little bean sprouts of years past had transformed beyond recognition.
Chu Suiyan was born handsome-teeth like rows of shells, lips like cinnabar, radiant as a jade tree standing in the wind. Chu Liuxue lacked her younger brother’s ethereal beauty, but her temperament was elegant and refined, like a spring breeze that carried no chill, standing there clean and unadorned.
But in Tao Mian’s eyes, small bean sprouts had simply become big bean sprouts. Same childish natures, no real difference.
Chu Suiyan’s constitution was indeed troublesome. The stubborn headaches had barely been suppressed before a new affliction emerged-excessive drowsiness. He’d always been clingy with Tao Mian, “Master” this and “Master” that from morning to night until it became a verbal tic. Chu Liuxue had scolded him about it twice: stop running to Tao Mian over every little thing. Whether you’re full or hungry, keep it to yourself. The whole mountain is covered in flowers-nobody needs to see the one you picked.
Chu Suiyan felt wronged. He just liked to share. His sister had no appreciation for the finer things, but Master always responded. There were only three of them on the entire mountain-if not Tao Mian, who else was he supposed to talk to?
Tao Mian suggested that if things were really that dire, he could go chat with Senior Brother Gu.
Chu Suiyan shuddered and waved his hands frantically. No, no, absolutely not.
This time, though, being sick gave him a perfectly legitimate excuse to stick close to his master.
Tao Mian never intervened in the siblings’ squabbles, big or small. He kept the water perfectly level, dragged over a stool, and sat on the sidelines to enjoy the show.
Grown up they might be, but their bickering was fiercer than ever. Not a moment’s peace all day.
One day, the two of them started arguing over some trifle again. Halfway through, Chu Suiyan’s fire simply went out-his eyes fell shut and his body tipped backward.
Tao Mian caught him from behind, proficient and natural. Clearly this was far from the first time.
Tao Mian’s brows drew tight. Chu Liuxue went silent too. Without a word, they both looked down at Chu Suiyan’s sleeping face, and a current of unease rippled through the air.
“Meal Ticket…”
Tao Mian pressed the back of his hand to the boy’s forehead. No fever. No sweat. He was simply sleeping, quiet and still. If not for the faint breath at his nose, anyone who saw him would have thought he was no longer among the living.
Hearing Chu Liuxue call his name, Tao Mian looked up and offered a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry. We’ll find a way.”
Lazy as Tao Mian was, he never fumbled the things that mattered. Just as he had many years ago, he sent word through his network in the mortal world, asking them to search for a cure.
This time, the replies came several days late-which gave Tao Mian a bad feeling.
He opened the letters one by one. Three in a row, and every one said essentially the same thing.
-The causes of lethargy are many and varied. The afflicted must seek diagnosis in person… When might the proprietor come by the shop for a visit?
-Lethargy is exceedingly difficult to treat. This humble one is incompetent and has found no suitable remedy… When might the proprietor come by the shop for a visit?
-Lethargy may well be a congenital ailment… When might the proprietor come by the shop for a visit?
Every single one-“come by the shop.” They’d coordinated this, hadn’t they!
He tore open the last letter in irritation. This one was much shorter, and free of pleasantries.
-I have a way. Come see me.
The tone was certain and thoroughly impolite, without a shred of the deference a subordinate ought to show.
Tao Mian didn’t need to check the signature to know who’d written it. He scoffed.
“What level are you, exactly, to be summoning me?”
…
Then he packed his things overnight and prepared to descend the mountain.
Chu Liuxue went to check on her brother once. Chu Suiyan was still deep in slumber. She stood in the doorway watching him for a while, then heard the sound of something hitting the floor in the room next door.
Her gaze shifted. She turned and walked toward the source of the noise.
She found Tao Mian picking up a wine flask.
“…You’re leaving the mountain?”
“Did I wake you?”
Tao Mian set the flask back on the table. Behind him, Chu Liuxue said, “I wasn’t sleepy to begin with.”
“Si Dui’s illness can’t wait. Lately, the hours he spends asleep have been growing longer and longer. I’m afraid that if this goes on, one day he’ll close his eyes and never open them again.”
When his third disciple wasn’t bickering with her brother, she was level-headed enough. There was much Tao Mian didn’t bother hiding from her.
Besides, the mountain needed Chu Liuxue to keep watch over everything.
Chu Liuxue knew her brother’s illness was difficult, but she hadn’t imagined it had reached the point where Tao Mian himself had to leave.
“This journey will be long, and I don’t know when I’ll return. San Tu-you and Si Dui must both take care of yourselves.”
Tao Mian’s tone was earnest.
“Rest easy,” Chu Liuxue nodded. “You needn’t worry about anything on the mountain. I’ll look after Suiyan.”
“You’re still not hearing me.” Tao Mian tucked his belongings into his mustard-seed pouch one item at a time. “Your master is telling you to look after yourself as well.”
“I…” Chu Liuxue hesitated. “What could possibly happen to me? I’ve been perfectly fine on this mountain all these years.”
Tao Mian turned and gave her a long, deep look, but said nothing more.
“Alright. No more unnecessary words, or you’ll call me a nag again. I’m going. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
When Si Dui wakes, tell him his master has gone on a long trip. He’s sensitive-don’t let him read too much into it. His illness… his master will cure it. That’s a promise.”
Chu Liuxue murmured her assent and watched Tao Mian push open the door and step out into the moonlight.
Only after his figure had vanished entirely did she turn and push open the door to the next room, meaning to check on her brother one last time before bed.
“…You’re awake?”
Chu Suiyan lay with both arms resting atop the blanket, his eyes fixed on the crescent moon beyond the window.
“Liuxue. What’s out there, beyond the mountain?”
“What kind of pointless question is that? You spent your whole childhood wandering out there.”
But this time, the boy didn’t rise to the argument. He seemed lost somewhere far away.
“That feels like a lifetime ago. How long have we been on Peach Blossom Mountain? I’ve started to forget what the outside even looks like.”
“…You want to leave the mountain?”
Chu Suiyan didn’t answer directly. Instead, he raised his right hand and spread his fingers wide, as though trying to cup the moon in his palm.
“You and I have been sheltered too well by Master. All those days of cold and hunger and helplessness-it’s as if they’ve been wiped away. All that’s left is this paradise.”
“And? What’s wrong with that?”
“But we’re too powerless, Liuxue. If one day Master falls ill-if someone comes to destroy this place-who protects him? Who guards this paradise?”
“…”
Chu Liuxue had no answer. After a long silence, she spoke with a sigh.
“Sleep, Suiyan. Think about all of this after you’re well. It won’t be too late.”
Chu Suiyan slowly drew his hand back beneath the blanket and turned onto his side, his back to the door.
Chu Liuxue stood in the doorway, watching his silhouette for a time, then quietly pulled the door shut.
Nothing remained but a spill of pale moonlight across the floor.
Tao Mian, already on the road, knew nothing of the siblings’ conversation. He was heading south, bound for the wealthiest capital in the southern reaches.
He’d been beating the retreat drum the entire way-from the overland road all the way to the river. The boatman working the oars took one look at his tortured expression and asked with a grin which sweetheart he was off to see.
Tao Mian let out two hollow laughs, a smile that went no deeper than his skin.
“Not a sweetheart. An enemy.”