A place to stay

After leaving the Dao Academy registration office, Chu Bai did not rush to find somewhere to stay.

He stood at a bustling crossroads, taking in the surging voices around him and the warmth of everyday life washing over him.

At that moment, he felt a strange sense of detachment—not long ago, he had still been an ordinary mortal among the teeming masses, running himself ragged for a few scraps of silver and worrying over his next full meal. Now, the energy flowing quietly through his sea of consciousness reminded him that he had stepped onto an entirely different path toward immortality.

I'll go to Second Uncle's house first, Chu Bai thought.

Back then, even after scraping together everything they could, his family had barely managed to produce six taels. To pay his tuition, they had truly needed to borrow.

Those four taels of silver had been crucial to him at the time, and Chu Bai had never forgotten that kindness.

He turned and headed into the East Market, the most prosperous trading district in Anping County.

Shops lined both sides of the street, their hawkers' cries rising one after another.

He lingered outside several long-established pastry shops, breathing in the delicate sweetness of osmanthus, before finally choosing two boxes of osmanthus cakes from the Imperial Fragrance Studio in the finest packaging. Then he went to a silk shop and selected a bolt of thick fabric in a tasteful, understated color.

Although his Second Aunt, Liu Shi, was a spiteful woman who had even publicly humiliated his family during the New Year celebrations, Chu Bai's heart was already at peace.

Observing every courtesy was not about pleasing her, but about keeping his own conscience whole.

Today, he would not merely repay the favor of those four taels. He would settle it cleanly and completely.

Carrying the weighty gifts, Chu Bai passed through winding bluestone alleys and arrived in the western part of town.

The buildings here were noticeably more orderly than those in the East Market. Neatly laid stone slabs paved the streets, and most of the residences on either side had blue-brick walls and black-tiled roofs.

Chu Bai stopped before a vermilion gate.

The pair of beast-headed brass rings on the gate were somewhat tarnished, but the stone steps outside had been swept spotless.

His Second Uncle, Chu Huaiyuan, ran a small cloth-wholesaling business. Though hardly wealthy, his family was considered respectable and of some standing in Anping County.

He stepped forward and knocked with the door ring, neither too hard nor too softly.

"Who is it? It's the middle of the day! Can't a person take a nap in peace?"

A shrill, impatient woman's voice came from inside, accompanied by the shuffling clatter of wooden clogs across brick paving.

The side door creaked open a crack, revealing a rather plump face. Two gleaming gold hair ornaments quivered wildly with her movements. It was his Second Aunt, Liu Shi.

Liu Shi held a handful of five-spice melon seeds, and a fragment of shell clung to the corner of her mouth. First, she rolled her eyes out of habit. When she recognized Chu Bai standing outside, her languor instantly turned to irritation, and her brows knotted together.

"Well, well, I was wondering who it could be. Isn't this the 'great scholar' from our Chu Family Village?"

Rather than opening the door to welcome him, Liu Shi leaned against the frame, deftly cracking melon seeds between her teeth as she looked Chu Bai up and down as though inspecting a beggar.

Seeing that his clothes were clean but still made of coarse hemp cloth, she sneered. "What is it? I hear you couldn't get by at that wretched little private school anymore?

"And now you've come to town because there's no rice left for the pot, hoping to borrow a little more from your Second Uncle? Let me tell you, Chu Bai, your Second Uncle went out to collect payments a few days ago. There isn't a single spare copper in this house!"

She bit down especially hard on the word "borrow," filling it with mockery.

Chu Bai's expression remained calm. Not even his gaze flickered.

He cupped his hands slightly, his tone as even as if he were speaking to a passerby. "You've misunderstood, Second Aunt. I haven't come to borrow money today. I've come specifically to repay a debt."

"Repay a debt?"

Liu Shi froze in the middle of cracking a melon seed, as though she had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. She spat out the fragments in her mouth and scoffed. "With what? Those tattered books you've read to pieces? Or wild greens from your fields out in the countryside? Chu Bai, a person needs a face just as a tree needs its bark.

"I've kept those four taels on your Second Uncle's account all this time. If you can't produce real silver, don't stand here making a fool of me!"

Chu Bai said nothing. He simply reached into his robe and took out something tightly wrapped in dark blue cloth.

Before Liu Shi's eyes, he slowly unfolded the bundle.

Sunlight fell on the cloth, and several small lumps of silver reflected a dazzling gleam.

There were exactly four taels of loose silver, with several neatly arranged strings of copper coins beside them.

"These are the four taels Second Uncle lent my family back then," Chu Bai stated calmly.

"The additional five hundred copper coins are interest for the past six months. Though Second Uncle said there was no need to pay interest, courtesy must still be observed. Please give this to him for me, Second Aunt, and tell him Chu Bai thanks him for helping us in our hour of need."

The instant Liu Shi saw the silver, her eyes went perfectly round. She did not even notice the remaining melon seeds spilling from her hand onto the ground.

Her eyes, crowded by the flesh of her plump face, first filled with shock, then with greedy delight.

She snatched the bundle from him with astonishing speed, as though afraid Chu Bai might change his mind.

"Oh, my, you've really made something of yourself!" Liu Shi changed her face faster than someone could turn a page. Her voice was still rather shrill, but now it carried a trace of feigned affection.

"I always said you had the most ambition of anyone in this generation of our Chu Household. As for this money... since you're so sincere, I'll accept it on your Second Uncle's behalf."

Unable to wait, she fished a piece of silver out of the bundle and bit it hard. At the sight of the tooth marks, she smiled so broadly that all the flesh on her face quivered.

"Where did this money come from?" Liu Shi counted it as she probed with a show of casual interest. "You haven't sold your family's land, have you?"

"I earned it myself," Chu Bai replied briefly, offering no explanation of the details.

He handed over the pastries and fabric. "These are some modest gifts for you and Second Uncle."

Liu Shi accepted the pastries and glanced at the words "Imperial Fragrance Studio" on the packaging, growing even more surprised. That was a fine shop in the county town. These two boxes alone had to cost at least a hundred copper coins or so.

The look she gave Chu Bai changed, becoming somewhat complicated—there was pleasure at having gained something for nothing, but also wariness, as though she feared this poor relative might latch onto her.

Chu Bai had intended to use this opportunity to ask about staying the night.

After all, the Dao Academy Selection was tomorrow. A quiet place to stay would naturally have been ideal.

But on second thought, why put himself through that?

The moment he asked for a favor, he would be placing himself at someone else's mercy.

Besides...

His spiritual sense was keen enough to detect the breathing of more than one person in the courtyard. Apart from his Second Aunt, there was another presence he knew very well.

The thought that had begun to rise in Chu Bai's mind instantly went cold.

I'm a Qi Refining cultivator now. The gates of Anping County are always open to me.

Why swallow insults in this cramped little place just to save a few hundred copper coins on a room? Besides, a cultivator's thoughts should flow freely and unhindered. If I begged her today, this humiliation would remain lodged in my heart and become a demonic obstacle to my cultivation instead.

At that thought, Chu Bai gave a self-mocking smile.

With the debt settled and the kindness repaid, there was no need to enter this gate.

"Please give Second Uncle my regards when he returns." Chu Bai cupped his hands again, his gesture even freer and more unburdened this time.

"Oh, won't you come in and sit for a while? Have some tea?" Liu Shi offered insincerely, though she still blocked the side doorway without the slightest intention of moving aside.

"No need. I still have important business to attend to. I'll take my leave."

With that, Chu Bai lingered no longer. He turned and walked away.

Watching his retreating figure, Liu Shi was momentarily taken aback.

She kept feeling that something about Chu Bai was different today, but her head, stuffed full of the stink of money, could not work out exactly what.

"Bah, leave if you want. Why act so high and mighty?" Liu Shi muttered at his retreating back. "He's still just a penniless scholar. A couple of taels of loose silver, and he thinks the heavens have no height and the earth no depth. He must have swindled this money out of someone. I'd better put it away before that damned Chu Huaiyuan finds out..."

Bang!

The vermilion side door slammed shut.

Walking through the empty alley, Chu Bai felt his whole body grow lighter, as though he had cast off a heavy shackle.

He touched the remaining tael or so of loose silver inside his robe, along with the token identifying him as a Dao Academy candidate.

Surely I can find somewhere to stay in this county town of Anping?