Keeping Score

The white cat slept curled up in the shade, its tail patting the ground again and again, its fur all fluffed up.

Xiaoxiao crept over and scooped it into her arms.

Chen Shu stood beside her and reminded her, "Your sister and I are going to Jade Capital for school. You'll be home alone, so you have to eat on time every day. It's best to eat at a restaurant. If you don't feel like going out, order delivery or eat at the school cafeteria, okay?"

"Okay."

"You can't eat potatoes for every meal."

"Okay."

"Put on more clothes when it gets cold."

"Okay."

The girl nodded repeatedly, struggling to hold the cat so it wouldn't escape. Her face still showed little expression.

But her spirits had already begun to sink.

Chen Shu had always been the one who looked after her: reminding her to dress warmly when it got cold, forbidding her from eating potatoes every day, telling her to eat meat and drink milk, and taking her shopping for clothes. Sometimes Ning Qing would give her little sister extra care at Chen Shu's request, too. Now that they were both going to Jade Capital, Chen Shu was afraid Xiaoxiao wouldn't take good care of herself.

He was afraid she would have a hard time, afraid she wouldn't eat properly, afraid she would be lonely on her own.

"Make a few more friends at school."

"Mm."

"But no dating."

"Mm."

"I'm off, then."

"Mm."

The girl hurried to the door and opened it for Chen Shu. Only after she watched him walk away did she close it.

Back home, Chen Shu picked up a vase and checked the water inside. He added a little more in the kitchen, then arranged the flowers he had cut from Ning Qing's place in it.

The whole living room brightened at once.

The cut flowers would last for days.

Lawyer Wei watched him fuss over them, then looked up and asked, "Are you going to Jade Capital alone?"

"Ning Qing's going too."

"I meant, do you want your dad to take you?"

"Why don't you take me? Why ask Professor Chen?" Chen Shu glanced at Lawyer Wei's slightly rounded figure.

"I don't want to take you either."

Lawyer Wei spread his hands, utterly unburdened by the admission.

"Great."

That was what a harmonious family looked like.

After holding the vase and smelling the flowers for ages, inhaling plenty of pollen in the process, Chen Shu turned to Lawyer Wei. "I'm going out for another ride. I'll return Ning Qing's Mini Motorcycle while I'm at it."

"Make your relationship official soon. Don't go on like this every day, neither one thing nor the other. What kind of behavior is that?" Lawyer Wei's tone was somewhat stern.

"Is it against the law?" Chen Shu asked meekly.

"No, but it's immoral."

"Oh..."

Chen Shu nodded, deciding to tell Qingqing that what they were doing was terribly immoral.

"I'm heading out."

"Come back early. I'll cook for you."

"I'd better cook when I get back."

"Okay."

Chen Shu rode the Mini Motorcycle two kilometers downhill to the Mirror Sea, then followed the lakeside road counterclockwise. Before long, he was out of the city. He was in no hurry to speed up, riding along the lake as though out for a leisurely stroll, enjoying the breeze and the scenery he knew so well.

An hour and a half later, he reached the foot of Beauty Mountain.

The landslide on Beauty Mountain had been cleared. At least the road was open again, and the exposed slope had been treated to prevent further landslides or falling rocks.

The Cube had been shut down and placed under restrictions.

Plenty of out-of-town tourists had rented convertibles to take photos there. Some online influencers were even dancing for the Cube.

The enormous Cube was embedded in the mountainside, its design ancient and imposing. Even from a distance, it made a striking sight, more awe-inspiring than the other Cubes.

Bai City's tourism revenue would probably soar that summer.

Chen Shu parked the Mini Motorcycle by the road, found a hillside, and lay down comfortably. After setting an alarm, he activated the simplified Hypnosis Technique he had devised himself.

Within seconds, he fell asleep.

"Alone in a foreign land, a stranger among strangers?"

"Long time no see."

"Alone in a foreign land, a stranger among strangers?"

"I just wanted to see if I could still activate this mechanism."

"Alone in a foreign land, a stranger among strangers?"

"I hope we'll have another chance to meet."

"..."

"For you, I spent half a year's savings and crossed the ocean to see you..."

His alarm woke him. His head hurt a little, a side effect of the Hypnosis Technique's crude simplicity and its blunt way of working.

In fact, only a few minutes had passed since he closed his eyes.

Having confirmed that he could still activate the mechanism left by the Cube, and that he still had a chance to inherit part of his fellow countryman's legacy, Chen Shu shook his head, carried his helmet down the slope, and got back on the Mini Motorcycle. He continued counterclockwise along the lakeside road, intending to circle the lake.

By evening, it was time to head home.

Chen Shu stepped through the door. The flowers' slowly released fragrance filled the whole house; if he paid attention, he could pick out the different scents. He never tired of the lemon and citrus notes.

He washed his hands and went into the kitchen.

Morning, at the high-speed rail station.

Chen Shu carried a suitcase and wore a backpack stuffed entirely with food. He had shipped the rest of his luggage ahead.

What a rare sight: Director An had actually brought Ning Qing to the station today.

Xiaoxiao sat in the car too, silently watching her sister get out and pull her luggage over to her brother-in-law.

Chen Shu greeted Director An and waved to the girl in the car, then entered the station with Ning Qing.

Tickets checked, through the gates, onto the train.

Their seats were next to each other.

From Bai City on the southwestern frontier to Jade Capital in the very heart of Yi Nation, the drive was over four thousand kilometers. Even by high-speed rail, the trip took ten hours. Tickets for the morning train were hard to get; Chen Shu had enlisted a lot of classmates to help him snag them.

The train began to move.

Chen Shu's seat was by the window, but he gave it to Ning Qing and took the aisle seat himself.

He took out his earbuds and asked Ning Qing, "Want one?"

"Yes."

"Why do you want everything..."

Chen Shu handed her an earbud.

Gentle music began to play, and silence settled between them. The scenery flew past the window. With Ning Qing's faint fragrance beside him, time passed quickly.

It wasn't until he saw a man across the aisle pick up a cup of instant noodles that Chen Shu realized it was already noon.

"Time to eat."

Chen Shu poked Ning Qing's arm. Her skin was soft and cool. Then he stood and took down his backpack.

Inside were a box of spicy sour chicken, a plate of dumplings, a box of cold spicy rabbit, a box of tiger-skin eggs, and two small containers of sweet fermented rice with milk and egg for dessert.

Chen Shu had made everything the night before except the dumplings and the dessert.

He took them out one by one and arranged them on the tray tables.

Ning Qing handled opening the containers.

Clunk, clunk.

Finally, Chen Shu set two cans of Hama Beer on the table. Made in Ha City, the beer tasted excellent, with a faint note of Sichuan pepper. Besides alcohol, it contained a special spiritual energy that let even martial artists and cultivators with high resistance to toxins feel a little tipsy.

"Have you tried it?"

"No."

"One can each?"

"Is it good?"

"Let's find out!"

"All right."

"Here."

Chen Shu raised his beer and lightly clinked cans with her.

A lavish meal on a train, a little drink, and his childhood sweetheart beside him, sharing a beer—it was wonderfully pleasant.

The scenery outside continued to race backward.

Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, Chen Shu took the plastic containers away to throw them out. His face was already a little red, but when he returned, Ning Qing's expression was unchanged and her skin was still as fair and delicate as snow, as though she had merely had another serving of sweet fermented rice with milk and egg. He couldn't help asking in puzzlement:

"How are you not even a little drunk?"

Ning Qing glanced sideways at him and pursed her lips.

"Put something in it next time."

"Good idea."

Chen Shu sat down and leaned toward her until their shoulders touched. He reached for her hand.

"Can I hold your hand for a bit?"

Ning Qing said nothing and didn't move.

She watched him take her hand, thread his fingers between hers, and hold it firmly. Only then did she say softly, "I remember someone telling me that the odds of marrying your first love are one in ten thousand, and the earlier a couple makes it official, the more likely they are to break up."

"Yeah. So?"

"Someone's getting impatient."

"I am not."

"Then this is..."

Ning Qing looked down at their hands.

Chen Shu explained, "I'm just holding your hand in advance. Think of it as buying on credit. Once we make it official, tell me, and I'll pick a day to hold it a little less."

"Heh..."

"Are you impatient?" Chen Shu paused. "If you are, that makes me look terribly immoral."

"I'm more patient than you."

"Good, good."

Chen Shu was certainly patient.

His experience in his previous life had taught him that empty formalities were no good. The time before a relationship began was the most interesting part; rushing to make it official only hurried the beautiful love story toward its final period. Starting life over, he was like a player replaying a game: patient enough to savor the sweetness of falling in love, and aware of the right way to reach the perfect ending.

Only the heroes and heroines in novels never broke up, or even argued. In this country, the divorce rate was absurdly high.

With lives so long and getting along so difficult, rushing things would make it hard to stay together to the end.

The only difficulty with this approach was whether the woman had enough patience, whether she felt the same way, and whether he was wasting her time.

Luckily, it was Qingqing.

Chen Shu leaned forward to glance out the window. Golden rice fields lay beneath low, dark clouds, yet the sunlight was dazzling. Harvesters were racing to bring in the crop.

Autumn really had arrived.

Chen Shu yawned. "Hope we aren't delayed, or it'll be dark when we reach Jade Capital."

"We won't be delayed."

"How do you know?"

"Just a guess."

"By the way—"

Chen Shu drew his gaze from the window and looked at Ning Qing. "So the legacy you inherited is..."

He silently mouthed the words "Esoteric Sect."

"Yes."

Ning Qing was looking out the window too, but she knew what he meant.

She never hid anything from Chen Shu.

"No wonder."

Thanks to his father's work as a historian, Chen Shu knew a little about the Esoteric Sect. He knew it was an extraordinarily mysterious and powerful system of cultivation. In modern times, the veils had been lifted from many ancient mysteries, but the Esoteric Sect remained shrouded in secrecy.

"Ahh..."

Chen Shu yawned, feeling a little sleepy.

So he tilted his head onto Qingqing's shoulder and closed his eyes. "I'm borrowing your shoulder for a nap. Don't move around."

"Does that go on the tab too?"

"That goes on the tab too."