The tavern was packed that night.
Some people were even sitting in the corridors and passageways on stools they had brought themselves!
The table and chair Li Xing had used the previous day were still there.
The only difference was that there were now several drinks on the table.
The people gathered in front of the table chatted among themselves, recalling the previous day's story as they waited for the storyteller to arrive.
Outside the tavern.
Yilaikesi and several companions stood nervously at the entrance, looking into the distance from time to time, as though waiting for something.
"Yilaikesi! Why don't we send two people to meet Li Xing? If something happens to that pretty boy, we won't have a story to listen to tonight!"
Yilaikesi glared back at him.
"What do you mean, 'pretty boy'?! Didn't you see that Li Xing didn't like being called that yesterday?
None of you are to call him that again. If he can tell a story like that in such detail, he either lived through it himself or is related to someone in it.
He's humbled himself to tell us these stories. We can't let Hunter Town offend him after he meant well!"
Everyone around Yilaikesi nodded in agreement.
"Then what should we call the little... fellow?!"
Yilaikesi thought for a moment without speaking, as though trying to recall something...
A quarter of an hour later.
"Yilaikesi! Let's just keep calling him Li Xing! You said that's how he introduced himself before. Doesn't that prove it's what he wants to be called?"
"Wouldn't that be wrong? I mean, he's got a pretty impressive background. Is it really appropriate?"
After a moment of silence.
Everyone looked at Yilaikesi, waiting for him to decide.
"Let's call him Li Xing! When I dealt with him alone before, he didn't object to it. We should show him the respect he's due, but we can't lose Hunter Town's pride either. So just call him Li Xing!"
After everyone voiced their agreement, Yilaikesi looked at the moon and said,
"Alex! Take some people over to Li Xing's place and see if something's happened."
"All right!"
With that, Alex took four or five people and headed toward Li Xing's cabin.
But before long!
Alex and his group were seen returning.
Just as Yilaikesi was about to ask, he spotted Li Xing among them.
Yilaikesi immediately told a companion beside him, "Go inside and let Uncle Turner and the others know he's here!"
Then he went forward and urged the newly arrived Li Xing to get ready quickly.
And so, a thoroughly bewildered Li Xing was ushered into the tavern...
Li Xing didn't know what to make of the sight before him.
It wasn't quite a deafening celebration with drums pounding and firecrackers going off! It was just that the applause inside the tavern sounded like a torrential downpour beating against the ground!
There might not have been a sea of people waving red flags, but there were plenty of mountains of people inside the tavern!
"Yilaikesi, you haven't fit the whole town in here, have you?!"
Seeing how shocked Li Xing was by the atmosphere, Yilaikesi smiled and explained.
"Not quite. Just the young and able-bodied from every household came, that's all."
"With so many new listeners, do I need to start from the beginning again?"
"No need for that!" Yilaikesi patted Li Xing on the shoulder. "A few of us young hunters spread the story you'd already told during the day!"
Then Yilaikesi grinned and said to Li Xing, "No need to thank us!"
Li Xing: ...
And so, under everyone's gaze, Li Xing picked up where he had left off the day before and continued the story of the Lonely Mountain Squad!
As he spoke, he watched everyone's expressions change in unison with the twists and turns of the story.
At that moment, Li Xing felt less like a storyteller and more like the conductor of a symphony. His mouth was the baton, and the expressions of the crowd were the various instruments that responded to it.
The interplay between audience and storyteller drew him into the story as well.
When he came to the part where Gandalf used magic to save the dwarves, Li Xing waved his own stick as Gandalf had, and everyone's expressions showed their longing for magic.
When they heard Thorin's assessment of Bilbo, everyone showed a hint of tension. Then, as Bilbo saved Thorin all by himself, they grew anxious once more, eager to see how Thorin would respond.
And when they heard how Gandalf turned the tide while they were surrounded by orc troops, summoning a flock of eagles to save the Lonely Mountain Squad once again, the crowd's longing for magic had begun to stir.
When they heard Thorin apologize for his words and actions, respect for him returned to their eyes!
And so, the tavern's nighttime tale ended just as the company was about to enter Rivendell, the homeland of the elves!
No one blamed Li Xing for stopping there. They simply continued discussing the story so far, absorbed in the tales of that continent!
Everyone wore a happy smile, glad that the Hobbit had been accepted by the company of dwarves, especially when they heard Bilbo speak that classic line:
"I know I have a home, and I belong there. But you don't have one yet, so I want to help you drive out the invaders, even though I'm not a dwarf, or even a burglar!"
At that moment, everyone in the tavern burst into applause together.
Uncle Turner was the first to rise. He raised his cup and called out,
"To Bilbo Baggins!"
Men and women, young and old throughout the tavern responded! They raised their cups and shouted,
"To Bilbo Baggins!" × N
On the way home that night.
Since he was going the same way, the tavern owner had asked him to look after Uncle Turner, who had drunk too much.
Uncle Turner was very excited on the way, telling him from time to time about his heroic exploits when he was young.
But as they neared the smithy, Uncle Turner suddenly fell quiet.
Just as he was about to open the door to the smithy.
Uncle Turner said quietly,
"I think I'm beginning to understand why you're telling the story of this little Hobbit, who isn't particularly strong."
Uncle Turner looked at Li Xing as though he had suddenly sobered up.
"That's a virtue unique to you pandaren, something precious that the humans here lack."
"All we admire is a person's courage and strength, but you pandaren care more about what's inside a person. Even a little, unremarkable Hobbit is worthy of your respect!"
"To be honest, after I finished learning smithing, I looked down on the pandaren for teaching anyone without discrimination. I thought they were so foolish, and I was lucky to have met such foolish outsiders."
Li Xing didn't know how to respond at first and could only look at Uncle Turner awkwardly.
Uncle Turner simply went on speaking to himself.
"Later, as I grew older, I gradually began to change my mind."
Uncle Turner stared at him.
"I don't know why, but I do know that behind those actions lies a great wisdom I don't understand.
You don't need to explain it to me. I know myself too well.
Even if I heard some truth, I'd just laugh at it inwardly.
Then I'd go on living my life, even though I know I shouldn't be like that.
But..."
Uncle Turner merely shook his head.
Then he bid Li Xing farewell and went inside.
Late that night, inside the wooden cabin where Li Xing lived.
Li Xing lay in bed, lost in thought.
"Was he drunk and mistook me for a pandaren? But I'm human..."
And so, with all those thoughts on his mind, Li Xing drifted off to sleep.
The old day passed just like that, and a new one came strolling in while everyone slept.