Two children, a seemingly unreliable young man in a blue robe, arrived empty-handed without a single item resembling a medical practitioner’s tools. Standing before the General’s Manor, he claimed he could cure the young master’s illness, guaranteeing a remedy to sickness. Ask yourself, if you were the gatekeeper of the General’s Manor, would you let him in? Clearly, anyone with a brain would not.
Across from the General’s Manor was a tea stall, a place for passersby to rest, drink tea, and gossip about trivial matters. The stall was small, far from matching the scale of proper restaurants and inns on East Street. There were no steamed buns or mantou to stave off hunger, no attendants to serve—patrons had to pour their own tea and water, and when leaving, they were expected to leave a few copper coins. The owner lazily sprawled across one of the wooden tables stained with years of tea residue, dozing and snoring.
“Well, isn’t this the young gentleman who’s been tossed out of the General’s Manor for the third time? Thirsty? Come join us for a cup of tea?” The tea stall owner paid no mind to business or the surroundings, but the idlers and passersby whiling away their time at the stall had witnessed everything happening across the street. The young man’s plain blue robe was covered in dust as he limped toward the tea stall. Driven by gossipy curiosity, an idler beckoned Bi Xiao to sit beside him.
Being grabbed by two burly men and tossed out like a sandbag in broad daylight, with onlookers watching, would put anyone in a foul mood. No wonder Bi Xiao’s face was ashen. Danqing, who had swiftly pulled Ran Gusheng out of harm’s way and witnessed Bi Xiao being thrown out three times in a row, had gained a new level of understanding about this newly arrived senior brother—unreliable, thick-skinned, mentally resilient, and stubbornly persistent even after hitting a wall.
There were few seats left at the tea stall, with only two empty spots beside the idler. Bi Xiao took one, while Danqing and Ran Gusheng sat together. The idler poured a cup of tea for Bi Xiao and pushed it over, eyes gleaming with anticipation as he asked, “So… are you here to seek out relatives?”
“…” Bi Xiao’s lips twitched slightly, but he paid no attention.
“…” Danqing turned away, pretending not to know what “seeking out relatives” meant.
“There’s my cousin inside… no need to seek relatives…” Only Ran Gusheng mumbled softly in a low voice, but aside from Danqing, who could make out his words, no one else paid attention. Their focus was entirely on Bi Xiao, with no interest in an inconspicuous child.
Bi Xiao ignored them. His silence was interpreted by the crowd as tacit agreement, and thus, a story was born in the small tea stall: a down-and-out, shabby young man, accompanied by his younger siblings, had come to seek refuge with distant relatives, only to be scorned by the General’s Manor and thrown onto the streets.
Seeing that the adults weren’t paying attention to them, Danqing pulled Ran Gusheng aside and whispered, “You just said your cousin is inside. Who is your cousin?”
“Yan Lingyu is just Yan Lingyu, what else could he be?” Ran Gusheng blurted out, then added after a moment’s thought, “Well, Liuer and Ying’er call Yan Lingyu ‘young master,’ so he must be a young master.”
“Then, who in your family is in trouble?” Danqing asked curiously. Ran Gusheng widened his eyes, “Shouldn’t you know? You and him…” He pointed back and forth between them.
“Why should I know anything? I was brought here in a daze. I have no relationship with him, and I’m not familiar with him!” Danqing glanced back at Bi Xiao, who was still surrounded by chattering neighbors asking questions, and immediately distanced herself.
“If they won’t let you in, could it be that you’re lying to me?” Ran Gusheng tilted his head in confusion, his gaze clear and innocent. Danqing naturally knew why they weren’t allowed in. If the guards let in strangers like them based on mere words, she must be dreaming.
“They won’t let you in either, so could it be that you’re lying to me too?” She mimicked Ran Gusheng’s head tilt and retorted, “You still haven’t told me your name.”
“My name is Ran Gusheng—’Gu’ as in ‘the lone smoke rises straight over the vast desert,’ and ‘Sheng’ as in ‘life flourishing endlessly.’ What’s your name?” Watching Ran Gusheng earnestly introduce himself in a childish voice, quoting classics like a scholar, Danqing’s first reaction was to laugh, but she held it back. After pondering for a moment, she couldn’t help but frown. Even if it was “the lone smoke rises straight over the vast desert,” that ‘Gu’ still meant loneliness.
“My name is Danqing.”
“Danqing.” As Danqing turned her head, the scenery before her suddenly swayed. It turned out Bi Xiao had grabbed one in each hand and whisked her and Ran Gusheng away in a flash. After turning down several alleys, Bi Xiao looked back to ensure no one was chasing them before setting them down. Catching his breath, he shook his head helplessly. “I always thought storytellers were silver-tongued, but the neighbors’ mouths and their on-the-spot imaginations are truly astonishing. Today, I’ve gained some insight.”
“Good thing you didn’t reveal your sect and home address, or Fu Yun would be utterly humiliated,” Danqing replied coolly.
“Exactly, your senior brother is clever enough,” Bi Xiao nodded with an air of importance, raising a finger. “Look, this is the outer wall of the General’s Manor. Once we climb over it, we’ll be inside. Forget the main gate and the back door—let’s scale the wall, junior sister.”
“Senior brother, have you lost your mind?” Danqing shook her head. “Above the General’s Manor, there’s an invisible Black Mist shrouding it. The mist is faint but only moves within one area of the manor. I think if we disperse the Black Mist, that person will recover… Junior sister, what’s with that look!”
“Senior brother, are you saying you’re not human?”
Bi Xiao nodded slightly, a folding fan appearing in his hand out of nowhere. Holding it, he felt he was smiling modestly. From Danqing’s perspective, if it were a different time and place—like a spring day with willow catkins drifting over a lakeside—a gentleman as graceful as the breeze would be just like this. It would be even better if Bi Xiao didn’t speak—”Of course, ordinary mortals can’t, but your senior brother is a semi-immortal, so naturally, I can see some supernatural phenomena.”
“…”
Ran Gusheng didn’t quite understand their interaction. He only grasped that the Black Mist above the General’s Manor was affecting that person’s health. Perhaps speaking to himself, his voice was soft: “If we just drive away that mist, Yan Lingyu will be able to sleep peacefully from now on, right?”
Bi Xiao seemed to hear Ran Gusheng’s words and glanced at him but said nothing. Looking up toward the inside of the high wall, he stretched his limbs. “Let’s climb the wall!”
Danqing pulled Ran Gusheng back a few steps, shaking her head firmly. “No climbing. Do you know what’s on the other side of the wall? What if you’re caught as soon as you climb over? What would you say? Besides, bringing two children along—are you planning to drag us down or drag yourself down?”
The conversation ended quickly. Danqing had thought she and Bi Xiao might have a lengthy debate, but Ran Gusheng said that once they entered the General’s Manor, he could lead them in playing hide-and-seek with the maids and servants without being discovered. Danqing rubbed her forehead—how naive was this child? How easily did he give his trust? Didn’t he know that trust should be hard to give and easy to take back?
Danqing was full of silent complaints, but in the end, she couldn’t withstand Bi Xiao’s determination to climb the wall. She was still young, and children always make mistakes—she comforted herself with this thought.
After great effort, the three of them safely landed inside the high walls of the General’s Manor. Behind the wall was a garden. The garden was small, consisting of just a rockery and a resting pavilion, forming a place for leisurely strolls. The warm spring had not yet arrived, and the garden looked bleak and desolate.
Once inside the General’s Manor, Ran Gusheng immediately pulled Danqing to hide behind the rockery. Children’s bodies were soft, their bones not yet fully grown, making it easy for them to squeeze into small crevices and holes in the rockery. From the outside, their hiding spot was in a dimly lit area of the rockery, with vines hanging down, making them even harder to detect.
Bi Xiao flipped like a sparrowhawk and hid on the roof of the pavilion in the courtyard, lying flat there. His green robe was slightly brighter than the color of the emerald-glazed tiles. He kept his eyes and ears open, alert to everything. Fortunately, when Bi Xiao had fled in panic earlier, he had zigzagged through several alleys outside the General’s Manor. Danqing mentally retraced the route Bi Xiao had taken during his escape and realized they hadn’t circled back near the front gate of the manor, so she felt relieved.
“No one lives here, and it’s not far from where I stay. I’ll take you there,” Ran Gusheng said happily, grabbing Danqing’s hand. “I brought you in, so you must make sure Yan Lingyu falls asleep obediently.”
Faced with Ran Gusheng’s lack of caution, Danqing didn’t know what to say. After staring at him for a moment, she could only nod slightly in agreement. No one was passing by, so Danqing picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it forcefully toward the pavilion roof. The stone didn’t land on the roof as intended but hit the vermilion-painted firwood pillar supporting the hexagonal flying eaves and bounced back to the ground. Hearing the sound, Bi Xiao looked down, and Danqing gestured to him before following Ran Gusheng.
“Come in quickly,” Ran Gusheng said with a bright smile, pushing open the door and turning to beckon Danqing and Bi Xiao. But when he turned his head and saw the person sitting inside the room, his smile froze instantly. Danqing stepped over the threshold and only then noticed two other people in the room. A boy around Ran Gusheng’s age was holding a white porcelain cup in one hand, his eyes already sweeping over Danqing and Bi Xiao. The boy before them looked like a candle flickering in the wind, as if illness had worn him down to half his strength, evoking pity in anyone who saw him. The dark circles under his eyes blended his exhaustion and anger into a chilling, unfocused gaze. Kneeling at his feet was a trembling maid, her head bowed.
“Liuer, get up quickly. The floor is cold,” Ran Gusheng said, concerned for his maid, and hurried over to help her up. The boy reached out and slapped Ran Gusheng’s hand away, staring at him as he asked, “Where have you been? And who are these people behind you?”
“I was just taking a walk outside. These two are friends I just met,” Ran Gusheng mumbled. “Please let Liuer get up.”
“You haven’t answered my earlier question.”
“Didn’t I already explain?” Ran Gusheng lowered his head, fingers nervously twisting the hem of his clothes. Just as the two were locked in a stalemate, Bi Xiao kindly interrupted the tense atmosphere. “Ahem, allow me to introduce myself. I am Bi Xiao, and this is my junior fellow disciple Danqing. May I ask how you should be addressed? I noticed your forehead appears rather dark…” Before Bi Xiao could finish, the moment Yan Lingyu heard the words “dark forehead,” he knew Ran Gusheng had secretly brought some wandering charlatans into the estate. “Guards, throw these two suspicious individuals out! Do it quietly, don’t disturb Grandfather and Grandmother.” Just as Yan Lingyu gave the order to have them expelled, Grandfather and Grandmother arrived with their distinguished guest. “Lingyu, Gusheng, come quickly and greet the master of Zhiwei Guan, Fu Yun Zhenren, and Daoist Bi Xiao.” Watching the very people he had just thrown out standing before him with cheeky grins, Yan Lingyu felt a complex mix of emotions.