The Miao Clothing Shop had a low-hanging signboard, with a string of dried chilies and corn cobs hanging beneath it. When Jiang Shu pushed open the door, a crisp copper bell rang out.
The shop was somewhat dim inside, making the colors of the Miao attire hanging there seem all the more vivid, like patches of sunset frozen in place or miniature forests.
The proprietress was bent over some sewing. At the sound, she immediately lifted her head with a smile.
She looked to be around forty, her hair coiled up and secured with a simple silver hairpin. Tiny silver butterflies dangled from her earlobes, trembling faintly as she rose.
“Here to look at clothes, miss? Take your time. They’re all made with fine fabric and excellent embroidery!” Her voice was clear, with the distinctive rising lilt of a local, warm but not pushy.
Jiang Shu’s gaze wandered over the splendid garments.
One was a deep purple, like the dusk sky, covered in delicate star-and-moon patterns and edged with silver. Another was dark green, like the heart of a rainforest, embroidered with intricate vines and strange birds and beasts so lifelike they seemed ready to move.
Every stitch spoke of painstaking craftsmanship, and the prices were just as striking. The figures on the tags would make an ordinary tourist think twice.
Jiang Shu, however, didn’t hesitate.
She brushed her fingertips over the deep purple garment’s front. The silver ornaments felt cool, and the fine embroidery was distinct beneath her touch. Then she picked up the dark green one and examined the bold design on its skirt.
“These two,” she said, glancing up in an unruffled tone. “How much?”
The proprietress’s eyes lit up, and her smile grew more genuine. “You’ve got a good eye, miss! The purple one’s made from old-style cloth. It was dyed three times to get this color, and the star-and-moon design comes from a pattern passed down by our ancestors. The green one takes even more work. See the bird’s eyes? They’re done with a stitch that’s been lost to time! Each one is thirty-eight hundred. For both… seventy-six hundred!”
She took in Jiang Shu’s calm expression, then cheerfully added, “You’re straightforward, miss, and so am I! Buy both, and I’ll give you a discount and knock off the extra change. Seven thousand, how about it?”
Jiang Shu nodded without another word and paid by scanning the code on her phone.
Her quick, decisive movement made the smile on the proprietress’s face deepen.
“Oh, thank you, miss!” The payment notification chimed. The proprietress swiftly and carefully folded the two outfits and packed them into a sturdy paper bag printed with folk designs. Then she suddenly suggested, “With your air, you’d look wonderful in our clothes! Why not try one on now? Take a stroll around the village wearing it—that’s the real way to enjoy it!”
The suggestion was just what Jiang Shu had been hoping for.
She really did love the beautiful clothes, and she was eager to try them on.
“Sure.” She took the deep purple outfit. “I’ll wear this one, then.”
The proprietress eagerly led her to a makeshift changing room at the back of the shop, partitioned off with a curtain.
The outfit had quite a few layers, and the ties were complicated, but the proprietress patiently talked her through it from outside.
It took Jiang Shu quite a while to get dressed. At last, she lifted the curtain and stepped out, a little awkwardly.
The light inside the shop fell across her. The deep purple fabric made her skin look even paler, while the silver collar, chest ornament, and bracelets rested heavily against her, gleaming with a subdued light.
The wide cuffs and hem were embroidered with elaborate patterns, lending her a graceful air whenever she moved.
She wasn’t used to wearing the outfit yet, though, and her movements were a little stiff with unfamiliarity.
“Oh, my!” The proprietress circled her, eyes shining with admiration. “I told you! It’s as if this outfit was made just for you! Beautiful! You really look like one of our Miao girls!”
She straightened the colorful sash at Jiang Shu’s waist, adjusted the silver chest ornament, and finally clapped her hands in satisfaction.
Jiang Shu looked at the copper mirror hanging on the wall. Her reflection was slender and imbued with an old-world charm, beautiful in a way that felt both unfamiliar and novel. The corners of her lips curved slightly upward.
Holding the paper bag with the clothes, Jiang Shu had just stepped over the shop’s threshold when the crisp mountain air, carrying the scent of sunlight, washed over her—a stark contrast to the strong smell of dye inside.
Her phone buzzed in her palm, chiming softly.
She looked down. Her mother had sent her several WeChat messages in a row:
【Shushu, have you arrived?】
【How’s your accommodation? Are you all settled in?】
【What’s the weather like there? If anything happens, make sure you call me.】
Her mother’s concern was plain in every word.
Jiang Shu felt a little warmth in her heart and thought a photo might put her mother more at ease.
She stopped and found an angle with tier upon tier of stilt houses and verdant mountains behind her. Raising her phone, she adjusted the frame and prepared to take a selfie.
On the screen, she saw herself in the deep purple Miao attire, the silver collar resting against her collarbones, the intricate embroidery at her neckline and cuffs, and the rustic village in the background setting off the outfit just right.
She was about to press the shutter when, without warning, a figure appeared at the edge of the frame.
It was a young man.
He wore indigo Miao attire, though his outfit was simpler and more streamlined, without much elaborate embroidery. But he wore plenty of silver chains, draped across his chest and swaying lightly as he walked, catching flecks of sunlight.
He was tall and slender, with neat short hair that revealed a sharply defined jawline and the side of a neck that was almost unnaturally pale.
Jiang Shu’s finger froze.
The camera shifted slightly downward, capturing his face. His skin was cool and pale, his features so finely drawn they were almost sharp: deep-set eyes, a high nose, and faintly colored lips. Together, they gave him an almost dazzling beauty, tempered by a cold, distant air that kept him from looking feminine in the slightest.
But his striking looks weren’t what held Jiang Shu’s gaze.
It was the hard-to-describe air about him.
There was something… quiet and mysterious about him, utterly at odds with the relaxed, lively atmosphere of the Outer Village.
Like mist in the mountains at dawn that refused to lift, or water that had lain in a deep pool for a thousand years.
As his gaze swept over his surroundings, it carried a quiet scrutiny and understanding, as if he weren’t part of the scene at all, but a detached observer.
It was a singular presence that could only be nurtured deep in this land, in places governed by ancient rules. Beneath his stillness, perhaps, lay hidden currents.
His gaze passed calmly over her, then he walked straight toward her. His silver ornaments chimed together in a measured rhythm. Unlike the noisy clatter of everyone else’s, their sound was almost like an ancient beat.
The young man stopped in front of her. His gaze felt like a tangible thread of ice. It first settled on her face, making her feel strangely exposed and uncomfortable.
Then his eyes moved down and fixed on the sturdy paper bag in her hand, printed with the Miao Clothing Shop’s logo.
Under his stare, Jiang Shu felt a little uneasy and instinctively shifted the bag behind her.
When he kept staring at it, she assumed he was interested in the clothes. Trying to break the eerie silence, she explained, a trace of wariness in her voice that she didn’t even notice herself. “I bought them at that Miao Clothing Shop.”
She pointed toward the shop as she spoke.
At that, the young man lifted his gaze and met her eyes.
His pupils were pitch-black, reflecting her in her Miao attire.
Jiang Shu was beautiful and radiant, and the ethnic garments and silver ornaments made her even more striking. Her skin was so fair it seemed to glow, standing in sharp contrast to the rustic village.
He suddenly spoke, his voice cool and carrying an unmistakable note of command. “Come here.”
Come here?
Who was he telling to come over?
He seemed to be talking to me!
Jiang Shu froze completely, thinking she must have misheard.
Those two words, so abrupt and senseless, paired with his icy expression, sent a burst of anger flaring in her chest.
What was wrong with him? They didn’t even know each other, and he was being so rude and presumptuous?
She furrowed her brow, about to scold him—
Suddenly!
The paper bag in her hand moved, without warning!
The sensation was unmistakable, not her imagination. It was as if something alive inside had… gently bumped against the side of the bag!
“Ah!” Jiang Shu gave a frightened cry. Her scalp prickled, and, almost on instinct, she flung the bag away with all her strength!
It landed with a smack between them.
At that very moment, the Miao young man crouched down with astonishing speed.
He reached out with his slender, exceptionally pale fingers and opened the paper bag with precision.
Then a chilling “hiss” came from inside.
Jiang Shu’s eyes widened in horror as she watched a small python, green all over, its scales glinting with a cold, eerie light in the sunlight, slowly slither out of the bag!
It wasn’t afraid of people at all. Flicking its bright red tongue, it wound itself around the young man’s outstretched wrist with practiced affection, coiling over his pale forearm before raising its small triangular head.
The young man lowered his lashes and looked at the little snake on his wrist, stroking it a few times. Then he stood and looked at Jiang Shu, whose face had gone pale and who was still shaken.
His voice remained as flat as before.
“I was talking to it.”