Seeing Through

"What's he doing at Spirit Medicine Peak?"

"Cultivating spirit fields."

"What kind of answer is that?"

Bian Chunchou's voice turned faintly accusing. "He's been at Spirit Medicine Peak for a full two months."

Chen Zui's eyes widened. "How long?"

"You heard me."

Chen Zui had thought he'd made tremendous progress in the secret realm. Now his feet came firmly back to earth. "I'm looking forward to fighting him again."

Bian Chunchou snorted. "Fight, my foot. Come on, you're not busy anyway. Go down the mountain with me."

"What for?" He didn't look keen.

"To make dumplings. Hey, you don't understand! I promised Wen Xu-Xu a surprise. Besides, he invited us to watch the sunrise. Don't you want to fight him again?"

Bian Chunchou always had some strange reason that could persuade Chen Zui. Sure enough, Chen Zui gave in at once.

"What's so great about a sunrise? Why arrange to see one?" Chen Zui didn't understand. He practiced his saber every day before dawn, with the morning dew on his face. He'd seen plenty of sunrises, and there was nothing special about them.

It was just a red egg yolk popping over the horizon. A sunrise on Yonglu Mountain looked no different from one back home. Would watching it together somehow change that?

"Of course it's worth seeing!" Bian Chunchou protested. "Besides, this is the first sunrise of the New Calendar. Have you never watched one with friends before?"

Chen Zui thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. You and Wen Xu are my first friends."

Bian Chunchou: ... Why did that sound familiar?

Seeing Through

Come to think of it, Chen Zui-Zui having no friends before now made perfect sense. The first time they'd met, during the Mountain Examination, he'd opened with, "I'm Chen Zui. Zui as