Smile a Little

Mornings in Grey Tile Lane were different from everywhere else.

In other streets, sunlight shone straight in. Not in Grey Tile Lane.

It had to wait for the sun to climb over the row of three-story old buildings to the east, filtering through clotheslines and broken awnings before it could cast a few crooked patches of light onto the ground.

Luo Yan sat on the steps outside the inn. He had risen early, holding the two meat buns Boss Liu had stuffed into his hands.

He had already eaten one. The other was still warm.

Yellow Dog lay by his feet, ears drooping as though it had not fully woken up.

People in the lane were already busy.

The vegetable seller rearranged his produce, the cloth merchant hung bolts of fabric from bamboo poles, and a water carrier stepped on the stone pavement, splashing up a patch of water that had not dried since last night.

Then a set of unusually light footsteps came from the mouth of the lane.

Three people.

They swaggered along as if this street owed them money.

At the front was a man with a long, narrow face and triangular eyes, nicknamed Snakehead.

Two lanky men followed behind him. One chewed on a bamboo pick, while the other spun a short club between his fingers.

Boss Liu was lifting the lid from a steamer. When he saw them, his hand trembled for no reason.

"Uncle Liu."

Without looking up, Luo Yan broke off a small piece of bun and held it to Yellow Dog's mouth. "Do they come here often?"

"Every few days."

Boss Liu lowered his voice, as if afraid the wind would carry it away. "They collect a few copper coins. Not much. They're just... troublesome."

"Troublesome?"

Luo Yan smiled. "I don't think it's trouble. I think they've worn you all down until you've got no temper left."

Boss Liu said nothing. He only sighed.

Snakehead had already reached the bun stall and grabbed a bun without asking.

He took a bite, grease running from the corner of his mouth. Then he spat it onto the ground. "Old Liu, why's there less and less meat in these buns lately? Trying to fool ghosts?"

"Brother Snake, it's not like that... You know meat prices have gone up lately. I'm only running a small business..."

"Cut the crap."

Snakehead hurled the remaining half of the bun onto the ground. "This month, you pay twenty more copper coins. A horse passed your door yesterday and scared one of my brothers so badly he fell down. You're paying for that."

Boss Liu's face crumpled. "What, what does that have to do with the horse...?"

"How does it not?"

One of Snakehead's lackeys chimed in, "Didn't that horse pass your door? Didn't you bring it here?"

Boss Liu had no answer.

All the vendors in Grey Tile Lane lowered their heads.

The vegetable seller pretended to count his vegetables, the cloth seller scrubbed her scale hard, and even the water carrier set down his pole and edged closer to the wall.

Luo Yan put the last bit of bun crust into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

"Hey." He spoke.

Snakehead turned and looked him up and down. "Who are you?"

"Just arrived."

Luo Yan stood up and dusted off his pant legs. "I'm staying there, second floor, innermost room, window facing the back alley. Next time you come to collect money, could you keep your voices down? I stay up late, and I'd like to sleep in during the morning."

Snakehead laughed. "Where'd this little brat come from? You've got quite a mouth on you. Do you know who I am?"

"No."

Luo Yan said, "But judging by the way you walk, you probably don't look where you're going much. You crushed three radishes beside that stall just now."

Snakehead looked down. Sure enough, a short piece of radish lay beneath his foot.

His expression darkened. "Little brat, I think you're asking for a beating."

The lackey spinning the short club immediately walked toward Luo Yan and reached for his collar.

Luo Yan did not dodge.

The lackey's hand had only reached halfway when his vision blurred.

Luo Yan vanished.

One moment, he had been standing below the steps. The next, he was right in front of Snakehead.

Not even the air stirred, as if someone had cut this brief instant straight out of the lane.

Snakehead had not yet reacted. His pupils only had time to contract.

Luo Yan's right fist had already struck his stomach.

Bang.

It was neither crisp nor loud, like muffled thunder forced deep into flesh.

Snakehead did not fly away or stumble back.

His entire body simply froze with a crack, his eyes bulging as his mouth opened into a soundless "ah."

Then his knees gave out, followed by his waist.

All strength had been drained from him. Little by little, he slid down from Luo Yan's fist, finally collapsing to his knees on the stone road, clutching his stomach with both hands as breathy "Huh... huh..." sounds leaked from his mouth.

The two lackeys were completely dumbfounded.

The one with the short club still held out his hand, as if someone had pressed pause.

Luo Yan withdrew his fist and shook his wrist.

"I'm not very good at fighting."

He looked down at Snakehead, his tone even. "So I might not have controlled my strength very well."

Not a single person in the lane dared move.

The air, still hot just moments ago, seemed pinned down by an invisible hand.

The vendors stood rooted in place, their expressions seeming to have been pasted over with glue.

Boss Liu stood with his mouth open, still holding the steamer lid in midair, even softening his breathing.

Luo Yan stood very straight—perhaps too straight.

He waited two seconds. Then three.

No one spoke. No one laughed.

The people who had lowered their heads in fear of Snakehead moments earlier now looked at him even more warily than they had looked at Snakehead.

The vegetable seller shrank farther behind his stall, while the cloth-selling woman quietly moved the low stool by the doorframe inward by half an inch.

The water carrier held onto his shoulder pole, terrified that it might fall and make even the slightest sound.

Even Yellow Dog did not bark.

It huddled beside the steps, tail hanging low, something utterly unfamiliar in its eyes as it looked at Luo Yan.

Luo Yan suddenly understood.

When Snakehead came to collect money, they were afraid.

After Luo Yan beat Snakehead, they were even more afraid.

Because Snakehead only wanted money, but Luo Yan had made them realize that there was a "powerful" Soul Master in this lane.

Living in a place like this, they had nowhere left to hide.

"How boring," Luo Yan murmured.

He turned toward the inn, his pace still unhurried.

Behind him, the two lackeys had already hoisted Snakehead up and fled toward the mouth of the lane as if dragging a wet sack.

No one stopped them, and no one watched them.

Everyone continued staring at Luo Yan's back until he turned through the inn's half-open wooden door. Only then did a faint, ragged chorus of exhalations rise outside.

Luo Yan returned to his room and shut the door.

He sat by the bed for a long time.

"With the royal family and sects above them, ordinary people can only live cautiously."

"Perhaps." Luo Yan gently closed the window. "I should go somewhere else and take a look."

He packed away his belongings, stood, and pushed open the door.

This time, he never returned to Grey Tile Lane.

Over the next three months, Luo Yan became like a fish swimming into deep water, quietly changing from place to place among the lowest corners of Heaven Dou City.

He worked as a porter, a receiving clerk, pretended to be someone who wrote letters for others, played a mute, and acted as a gambler who refused to admit he had lost money.

Three months.

He changed faces nearly twenty times.

Every face saw a little of how those at the bottom of Heaven Dou City lived.

Some were still struggling. Others had already accepted their fate.

They were not necessarily kind, nor were they necessarily pitiable.

But they all had one thing in common: they did not dare laugh out loud.

Some feared that laughing would draw attention, some feared it would bring trouble, and some were simply too tired to remember how to laugh.

He stopped deliberately seeking out places where the poor gathered.

Instead, he entered the main streets and stepped into noble circles.

He watched them laugh and chat, watched them raise cups and trade toasts.

People were selfish. Perhaps some would help others after escaping their own suffering, but such people were very few.

Luo Yan watched the bustling traffic on Heaven Dou City's streets from the shadows.

His figure slowly grew taller.

He became a lean young man with deep blue hair.

"I'm not a savior. I'm just someone who enjoys the show. Maybe I'm a madman, too?"

"But none of that matters."

He stepped out of the shadows, two Soul Rings circling him as every eye on the street turned toward him.

"Everyone, smile a little."

Light shone from his eyes, and the corners of his lips curled upward.

"It's free."