Pan Yun said nothing. Though she admitted that both Xuan Miao and Tao Ji had things they were better at than her, she did not think either of them could be her Master. It would be quite good for them to spar with one another as fellow disciples and siblings. She knew plenty of things too, things she could teach them.
Heading east from Guangxin Prefecture, they jolted along in the mule cart for two leisurely days before entering Yushan County. From here, they did not need to pass through the county seat to reach Mount Sanqing. They only needed to follow the mountain path for half a day.
There was a village at the foot of Mount Sanqing. Tao Ji introduced it to her. "This is Fenshui Village. The cart can't go up the mountain, so we'll find a villager's home to leave it at."
The village was not small, built against the mountains and beside the water. Pan Yun could see the signs of human life stretching down along the river for several li.
As soon as the cart entered the village, people warmly greeted Tao Ji and Xuan Miao. Tao Ji in particular had even the children circling around him, calling him Daoist Priest Tao, Immortal Master Tao, and Uncle Tao.
Tao Ji pulled a cloth pouch from his robes and grabbed a handful of candies wrapped in translucent glutinous-rice paper, giving them to the children.
The children cried out happily and skipped alongside their cart as they went forward.
Tao Ji scattered candy as he walked. By the time he had handed out an entire pouch, they had only crossed half the village, yet the children had called their friends over and brought even more children.
Tao Ji laughed heartily, unconcerned. He felt around in the cart and produced another cloth pouch of candy, handing it out all the way along.
Pan Yun sat to one side and stared blankly. A smile could not help but appear on Xuan Miao's face as well, softening her features considerably.
When Xuan Miao turned and saw Pan Yun staring dazedly at the pouch in Tao Ji's hand, she held out her hand toward him.
Tao Ji's eyes lit up. He grabbed a large handful and dropped it into his Junior Sister's hand.
Children immediately crowded around Xuan Miao's side.
Xuan Miao selected three candies and handed them to Pan Yun.
Pan Yun lowered her head to look at the candy in her hand. After a pause, she accepted it and watched Xuan Miao distribute the rest to the other children.
There was a bridge ahead that crossed the river. Afraid the children might not pay attention and tumble into the water, Tao Ji waved for them to follow behind.
After crossing the bridge, they reached the foot of the mountain. There were far fewer houses here. A mountain path lay hidden behind the trees, and after following it for a stretch, they saw a little house built half of stone and half of mud.
In the open space beside the house stood a thatched shed. A bamboo pole beside it held up a piece of cloth, bearing a large character for tea. When the wind blew and flipped it over, the other side bore the character for food.
It was as though it knew guests had arrived. A breeze slowly rose through the previously windless mountains, blowing the banner high into the air as it drifted and turned, occasionally knocking the bamboo pole and shifting it.
A door not far away opened, and an old man came out. When he saw the cart, he broke into a wide grin, all the wrinkles on his face bunching together. He called loudly, "Ah! Tao lad and Xuan Miao are back! Wait there, I'll brew you some tea."
With that, he trotted toward the tea shed. Though he was old, he moved quickly and nimbly.
As he added water and fed the firewood, he poked his head out and shouted toward the crowd of children, "Xiaojing, Xiaojing, come tend the fire—"
At the back of the crowd, a tall, sturdy half-grown boy answered and squeezed through the children, running over.
The old man patted his shoulder. "You're already twelve. Why are you still playing around with a bunch of children? You should know to work now."
Wang Xiaojing wiped the sweat from his face and casually answered, "Got it, Great-Grandpa."
Tao Ji parked the cart and came closer just in time to hear that. He laughed. "Elder Wang, Xiaojing is a child. Let him play if he wants to."
He dragged over a long bench and sat by the roadside, waiting for the newly arrived children to come collect their candy.
The children who had already received candy did not leave, nor did they hold out their hands. Instead, they surrounded him and asked where he had gone this time and whether there was anything fun there.
Tao Ji launched into an eloquent account. "This time, I went to Beijing."
"Wow—" The children gasped one after another, repeatedly asking, "Is Beijing big? Is it even bigger than Nanjing?"
The children's enthusiastic support filled Tao Ji with pride. Pulling them close, he began telling them just how enormous and prosperous Beijing was, where to go after entering the city to find cheap and safe inns, which streets sold what goods...
The children made all sorts of sounds—wows and oohs—to cheer Tao Ji on, making him speak with even more excitement and detail.
Elder Wang smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits and turned to look for tea leaves.
Pan Yun sat on the other side of the cart. She lowered her eyes to glance at the candy in her hand, unwrapped it, and put it into her mouth.
It was malt sugar, golden-yellow and sweet, tasting exactly the same as it had in both of her lives.
The sweetness seemed to seep into her heart, and Tao Ji's endless chattering no longer seemed so irritating.
Once the water boiled, Elder Wang first brewed a bowl of tea for Tao Ji before bringing another over to Xuan Miao. Xuan Miao hurriedly climbed down from the cart to receive it.
Pan Yun turned her head to look over. Only then did Elder Wang realize there was another child on the other side of the cart, completely hidden earlier by all the things piled on it.
Elder Wang cried, "Ah!" Seeing that she wore a green Daoist robe similar to Xuan Miao's, he immediately smiled. "There's another Young Daoist here. Wait a moment, I'll make you a bowl of noodles."
Xuan Miao hurriedly declined. "We'll be going up the mountain after drinking tea."
"That's right." Tao Ji stood while holding his bowl of tea and said with a smile, "Elder Wang, we brought back too many things to carry all at once. We'll leave them with you for now and come down to collect them when we have time.
We'll leave the cart and mule with you too. If anyone in the village needs them, let them use them. Just help me feed the mule."
Elder Wang agreed and had his great-grandson come help move the things while he went to make noodles.
Tao Ji hurriedly stopped him. "There's really no need. We ate on the road."
"That's you," Elder Wang said, shaking off his hand. "You adults may not be hungry, but can children not be hungry? There's still a long mountain road ahead. You can endure it, but you can't make children endure it. Go move your things. I'll cook the noodles."
He scooped out flour and began kneading dough.
Pan Yun silently ate her candy and watched from the side.
Elder Wang claimed he was only making noodles for Pan Yun, but he kneaded a huge basin of dough and eventually pulled out three bowls' worth of noodles. Fortunately, the water had been boiling the whole time, so the noodles could be dropped in immediately.
As the children helped Tao Ji and the others move their things, they sniffed at the fragrance and swallowed from time to time.
The children were all curious about Pan Yun and had long wanted to crowd around and play with her. But seeing her sitting beside Xuan Miao, cold and distant just like Xuan Miao, they did not dare.
Now that they saw her moving things alongside them, they jostled and shoved one another until Wang Xiaojing was finally pushed out.
Holding a cloth bag full of medicinal herbs, he grinned foolishly at Pan Yun. "Is Younger Sister going up the mountain to become a Daoist too?"
Pan Yun nodded. "Yes. Are you familiar with the mountain?"
Wang Xiaojing said, "Pretty familiar. I've gone up the mountain a few times with my dad and the others. Your mountain... is quite cool. Oh, right, the apricots at my house are ripe now. I'll pick a basket for you later, and you can help me bring them to Miao He."
Before Pan Yun could ask who Miao He was, he had already stuffed the bundle in his arms into Pan Yun's hands and bounded away. "I'm going to pick them now! You have to wait for me!"
Wang Xiaojing called his friends and raced away with seven or eight older children carrying two bamboo baskets.
Pan Yun: ...
Tao Ji passed by, sniffed, and pulled the cloth bag from her arms. "No wonder I couldn't find it. This is meant to be taken up the mountain."
He borrowed two large carrying baskets and one small carrying basket from Elder Wang, picked out the most urgently needed items and stuffed them into the baskets, then placed everything else in a small room in the Wang family home.
The room seemed to be specifically for storing miscellaneous items. Inside, stones raised wooden boards about a palm's width above the ground. Things placed on top would be protected from dampness and cold and could be kept longer.
Tao Ji sorted the items into categories. Seeing Pan Yun examining the room, he explained, "This is where Elder Wang keeps tea leaves, rice, and flour. Our daoist temple often borrows this room to store things too. If you leave the mountain or return someday and can't carry your belongings, you can leave them here."
Pan Yun committed that to memory.
After everything had been put away, Tao Ji gave her the small carrying basket. "These are the things you need to carry. Put your luggage in here too. Mountain paths are difficult to travel, so carrying a basket will be more convenient."
Elder Wang called them over to eat noodles. It was not until they were nearly ready to leave that Wang Xiaojing and the others came racing over with the bamboo baskets.
When Tao Ji saw so many apricots mixed with fresh leaves, his head began to ache. So many—did he have to carry all of them up the mountain?
He wanted to refuse, but when he thought of Miao He's plump little round face and those sparkling eyes, he could not bear to refuse.
Xuan Miao said, "Put them with mine."
Tao Ji said, "No, I'll carry them."
He forcefully stuffed a roll of cloth into Xuan Miao's carrying basket, then cleared out some space and found a large cloth sack, filling it with the apricots.
Wang Xiaojing did not feel the slightest pity for his family's apricot tree. Who knew how many he had picked? Tao Ji filled one whole cloth sack and still had plenty left. Lifting it to weigh it, he estimated there were at least nearly twenty jin.
Tao Ji resigned himself to placing the cloth sack in his carrying basket.
The basket bulged up in a huge lump. He tied it down with rope in a net pattern so that the things inside would not fall out.
Tao Ji stood up with the carrying basket on his back and waved. "Let's go."
Pan Yun gave him a sympathetic look and put on her own small carrying basket.
The children enthusiastically followed behind and saw them off for a stretch, only being driven back down the mountain by Tao Ji when the path ahead became narrower and narrower.
He promised that after some time, he would bring candy down for them.
The children ran off laughing and chattering.
Wang Xiaojing ran back to his family's tea shed. While helping his great-grandfather clear the bowls, he discovered money beside Pan Yun and Xuan Miao's bowls.
He snatched it up. "Great-Grandpa, look."
Elder Wang cried out, "Why is Daoist Priest Xuan Miao still being so polite?"
"And that little girl put some beside her bowl too."
Elder Wang could not help muttering, "Her temperament really is similar to Daoist Priest Xuan Miao's. Ah, they paid for three bowls of noodles. We're the ones taking advantage. Xiaojing, remember this. When they come down the mountain again, we must make them three bowls of noodles to repay them."
Wang Xiaojing agreed.
Elder Wang still liked Tao Ji best. He never paid when he ate or took things, was close with him, and never treated him like an outsider.
Wang Xiaojing said, "If they won't accept it, I'll give Miao He more noodles. I'll cook two bowls as one."
Elder Wang said, "...Don't keep feeding Miao He so relentlessly. What if you spoil her stomach?"
"That won't happen. Her medical skills are so good. How could she make herself sick from eating?"
Before you continue