So You Came Back with Them Too

At first light, Xiao Yan left Hai Bodong's meditation chamber and followed the corridor to the medicine room.

The matter of the Purple Spirit Recovery Pill was finally settled. It was time to return the medicine cases he had borrowed.

Before he reached the door, he heard Xiao Yi Xian's voice inside.

"The ones on the left have been dried. The ones on the right haven't. Don't mix them up."

"Yes, I'll remember."

The reply was soft, as though she feared disturbing someone.

Xiao Yan stepped over the threshold just as a figure in pale green turned toward him, carrying a bamboo tray. It was wider than her shoulders, its rim hiding almost half her face.

They nearly collided.

The little girl startled and drew her arms inward, sending the herbs sliding toward the edge.

Xiao Yan caught the bottom of the tray with one hand and caught two falling stalks with the other.

"Easy there. These two cost more than my breakfast today."

The little girl stared blankly at him, but her face had already gone pale.

"I'm sorry, Young Master Xiao Yan..."

"They didn't hit the floor. No deductions from your meal money."

Smiling, Xiao Yan set the bamboo tray on the table.

Xiao Yi Xian poked her head out from behind the medicine cabinet. Seeing who it was, she couldn't help saying, "Scaring people the moment you walk in?"

"I was reassuring her."

"Didn't sound like it."

She walked over and straightened the little girl's crooked collar.

"This is Qing Lin. She came back with your eldest brother and the others. She's been helping in the outer courtyard these past few days. She only came here yesterday."

Qing Lin.

Xiao Yan's gaze shifted slightly.

Back in Stone Desert City, he had seen this little girl at Mo Tie's headquarters, but he had been coming and going in such a hurry that they had barely exchanged a few words.

Only now, up close, did he get a clear look at the small face hidden beneath her fringe.

"So you came back with them too."

Qing Lin clasped her now-empty hands and nodded gently.

"Commander Xiao Ding said anyone who wanted to come could leave with the caravan. So I... came along."

On the day the caravan entered the clan grounds, she had sat in a covered wagon at the rear, helping watch the luggage. While the mercenaries caught up with old friends in the front courtyard, she and the other accompanying people had been settled in the outer courtyard, learning their way around the rooms and sorting trunks.

Qing Lin had looked after Xiao Yi Xian on the journey. A few days ago, short of help sorting herbs, Xiao Yi Xian had asked whether she wanted to come.

She had agreed at once. Even last night, she had recited the names of several newly learned herbs over and over by lamplight.

"She's picking things up quickly." Xiao Yi Xian picked up a herb from the table. "There were two withered vines mixed into this pile this morning. She was the one who picked them out."

Qing Lin hurriedly said, "They were just a different color..."

"Being able to spot that is a skill."

Xiao Yan put the medicine cases away and casually picked up another bamboo tray.

"Where should I put this one to dry?"

"Under the window."

The moment Xiao Yi Xian spoke, Qing Lin hurriedly reached out to take it.

"Young Master, let me."

Xiao Yan raised the tray a little higher.

"If you really want to help, tell me how to distinguish these two things that look exactly alike first."

Caught off guard by the question, Qing Lin lowered her head and studied them for a moment before saying softly, "The one with white hairs on the underside of its leaves is dew-gathering grass. The other one doesn't have any. They also smell different when you rub them apart."

At first, her words came in halting fragments, but once her fingertips touched the familiar herbs, her voice grew steadier.

Xiao Yan didn't rush her. He waited until she finished before placing the two plants separately in the tray.

"Got it. Next time I pick the wrong one, I won't be able to blame the medicine room for not sorting them properly."

Xiao Yi Xian watched him with her arms folded.

"So you were planning to blame the medicine room before?"

"Nothing of the sort."

Qing Lin kept her head lowered, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help curving upward.

Xiao Yan noticed a sheet of paper weighed down at the corner of the table. Beneath the herb names were crooked drawings of leaves.

"Did you draw these?"

Qing Lin looked a little embarrassed.

"I can't remember some of the characters very well. If I draw them, I'll recognize them when I see them again."

He picked it up and examined it. The serrated edges and relative lengths of the leaves were all marked clearly.

"That's a good method. Mind letting me copy it?"

"You want it too?"

"Why wouldn't I? My teacher punishes me for mistaking herbs too."

Pressing her lips together, she moved aside the little stone weighing down the paper and carefully smoothed out the whole sheet.

They worked until the sun climbed above the windowsill, when Xun'er came in carrying a food box.

"I knew Brother Xiao Yan would be here again."

She set the food box on the table and opened the lid. Steam drifted out, carrying the fragrance of rice.

Xiao Yan's eyes lit up.

"Xun'er knows how to take care of me."

"The kitchen said you hadn't come by this morning. Uncle Xiao thought yesterday's meal must have kept you full until today."

Xiao Yi Xian laughed aloud.

Xiao Yan rubbed his nose, his gaze already fixed on the plate of meat patties at the top.

Qing Lin quickly fetched bowls and chopsticks, then took a cloth to wipe the table. As she moved a medicine jar at the corner, her sleeve caught lightly on a splinter.

Her cuff slid up half an inch.

Tiny green scales were suddenly exposed in the morning light.

Noticing Xiao Yan's gaze, Qing Lin's fingers stiffened.

The medicine jar struck the tabletop with a soft clink.

She hurriedly tugged her sleeve back down. The faint smile from moments before vanished without a trace.

"I didn't... I'll keep them covered."

Her voice grew quieter and quieter.

She retreated half a step, her eyes fixed on her cuff, not daring to look up again.

Xiao Yi Xian gently rested a hand on her shoulder, while Xiao Yan reached out to feel the corner of the table.

The splinter was sharp and hard, sticking up exactly where a sleeve could catch it.

With a flick of his finger, he snapped it off, then smoothed down the rough edge.

"There. It won't snag your clothes next time."

Qing Lin froze.

Xiao Yan moved the medicine jar farther away and beckoned her over as though nothing had happened.

"Sit down. Nobody's going to cook you another bowl if your porridge goes cold."

She didn't move. Only after a moment did she gather the courage to look at him.

"Young Master, don't you... think they're ugly?"

Xiao Yan glanced at the cuff clenched tightly in her hand.

"They're green. Pretty nice-looking. Easier on the eyes than the calluses I got from practicing with a sword."

As he spoke, he even opened his palm to show her.

Xun'er had already pulled out the stool beside her.

"Sit here. There's a draft through the window over there. Your porridge will cool too quickly."

With Xun'er gently drawing her over, Qing Lin finally sat on the edge of the stool.

Xiao Yi Xian ladled out some porridge and handed it to her first, then added a meat patty.

"Eat it while it's hot. It'll get hard once it cools."

Qing Lin took a small bite. After chewing twice, her eyes brightened slightly.

Xun'er asked with a smile, "Do you like it?"

She nodded, then hurriedly added, "I'm happy to eat anything."

"Even so, you must have favorites."

Holding her bowl, Qing Lin looked over the breakfast dishes on the table and said quietly, "Sweet things... I like those too."

Xun'er pushed a plate of osmanthus cake toward her.

Xiao Yan's chopsticks stopped halfway across the table.

"I haven't even tried any yet."

"There's a whole plate of meat patties in front of you, Brother Xiao Yan."

"Meat patties and osmanthus cake aren't the same thing."

Qing Lin hurriedly tried to push the plate back, but Xiao Yan had already picked up a piece from the edge and taken a bite.

"There, I've tried it. The rest is yours."

Looking at the cakes with one piece missing, she finally smiled a little again.

This time, her cuff loosened, and she no longer clutched it so tightly.

After breakfast, Xun'er helped pack away the food box, while Xiao Yi Xian went into the inner room to fetch the account book.

A flurry of faint rattling suddenly rose in the medicine room.

Inside a bamboo cage by the wall, a little gray-backed snake had reared its head, its tail slapping loudly against the bottom.

It was a first-rank snake-type magical beast kept in the medicine room to collect small amounts of snake saliva. Someone moving a sack of herbs had knocked the cloth covering its cage askew, startling it and making it restless.

Qing Lin was closest and instinctively turned her head.

"Stop thrashing around."

Her voice was still very soft.

Strangely, the little snake actually stopped.

Its raised head slowly lowered, and even the flicking of its tongue grew much gentler.

Holding a bowl of medicine, Xiao Yan's fingers suddenly stilled.

Morning light streamed through the window. Deep within the girl's emerald eyes, three tiny points of light flashed and vanished.

Completely unaware, Qing Lin merely bent down and straightened the cloth over the cage.

"Are you hungry?"

The little snake coiled up inside its cage and gazed at her quietly.