A Curious Affair

The sun shone brightly that day. Beside the thatched hut at the village threshing ground, several people squatted in the sunshine with bowls in hand, eating and chatting. A man approaching with his own bowl had not even squatted down before he leaned forward, waved his chopsticks, and began talking.

"Hey, have you heard? Old Yi's eldest son is back!"

A man slurping his porridge jerked his head up at the news and stared at the newcomer, eyes wide with disbelief. Tiny flecks of porridge sprayed from his mouth as he spoke.

"What? An honest fellow like Baokang has another, older son out there? Wouldn't that fierce wife of his skin him alive!"

"No, no, that's not what I meant! It's Baokang's elder brother!"

"His elder brother? You don't mean that idiot, do you?" "Tell us more!"

"Come on, have a stool, have a stool."

Someone hurriedly offered the newcomer his stool and moved aside to squat and eat. The man accepted without ceremony, sat down, and began his tale.

"Believe it or not, word's already spread everywhere."

"I saw two people going to Baokang's place to visit family a couple of days ago. Was it them?"

The newcomer jabbed his chopsticks repeatedly at the air.

"Yes, yes, those two! One's the Yi Household's eldest son, and the other's a martial wanderer from the Rivers and Lakes! Ah, it's been so many years, I've forgotten the eldest son's name. Yi Shu-something..."

"Yi Shuyuan?"

Someone supplied the name, and the speaker slapped his thigh, chopsticks still in hand.

"Yes, yes, that's the name, Yi Shuyuan! What was it the old folks used to say? The Yi Household had one boy named 'Shuyuan' and another 'Hanlin'—names too grand for them to bear, names that would cost the children their lives. That's why Uncle Sheng changed Baokang's name before he died."

One man picked a grain of porridge from the corner of his mouth and popped it back in, then asked in surprise.

"You mean that idi-uh, that Yi Shuyuan who ran off isn't dead?"

"Not only is he alive, he's come back! I hear even his madness and idiocy have cleared up!"

As the group talked, another man came trotting over with a bowl in hand. Still a dozen paces away, he began speaking excitedly.

"Hey, hey, hey, I've got news! The Yi Household's eldest son is back!"

"That's just what we're talking about. Got anything new?" "Come over and tell us!"

This newcomer liked talking with his mouth full. He shoveled in some food, chewed a few times, then spoke with an air of mystery.

"I heard he walked back here himself, and he looks younger than Baokang!"

"Just doesn't show his age, eh?"

"It's more than that. Niu San said his beard and hair are pitch-black, and his face looks young too. He stared at him from every angle till his eyes nearly fell out, and said he doesn't even look thirty."

At this, everyone nearby froze with their food halfway to their mouths.

"Huh?" "Is that really true?" "How can that be?"

"Did you hear wrong, or did Niu San get a bad look?"

Hearing his news challenged, the man speaking through his food promptly swallowed and answered the doubts. He craned his neck and jutted his lips toward another part of the village, where another group was clearly chatting.

"There, there! It's not just Niu San saying it. A few others who saw him say the same!"

"Could it be the Yi Household's eldest son's son who's come back?"

Someone raised a reasonable doubt, while others immediately argued back.

"Right, the timing would certainly fit!"

"Would Baokang mistake him?" "Exactly. Besides, what woman would bear an idiot's child?"

"What if there was one? What if he got better out there? What if Baokang's gone senile? They've already had one case of madness in that family..."

"Well, it's not impossible."

"Shall we go look after we finish?" "Yes, let's!" "Right, and we can see what a martial wanderer from the Rivers and Lakes looks like while we're at it!"

They began wolfing down their food as they pondered it. After all, however well someone aged, a man in his fifties could hardly look like a young fellow. At least in a remote place like West River Village, such a thing was beyond belief.

Of course, the martial artist A Fei from the Rivers and Lakes interested the villagers just as much as Yi Shuyuan did.

At the entrance to the main room in the Yi Household courtyard, in a spot warmed by the sun and sheltered from the wind, Yi Shuyuan sat on a little stool with a pottery bowl containing porridge and a little dried radish. As he ate, his gaze drifted across the courtyard and beyond it.

A woman wearing a padded jacket and skirt, her hair coiled in a bun, washed clothes beside the courtyard well. She was his nephew Yi Yong'an's wife.

Yi Shuyuan's gaze passed over her and moved on: a few low rooms, earthen walls, and a thatch-roofed gateway. Patches of snow remained on the roofs and in the courtyard. Farther out, the neighboring houses, near and distant alike, were much the same.

Looking into the distance through the gateway, he saw plains blanketed in snow and nearby mountains draped in white, but no tall buildings, scarcely any broad roads, and certainly nothing like utility poles.

Of course, he could hardly overlook the villagers who pretended to be passing by or came expressly to peer through the gate.

With something weighing on his mind, A Fei stood beside Yi Shuyuan holding his pottery bowl, occasionally following Yi Shuyuan's gaze without thinking.

But Yi Shuyuan drew his gaze back as the courtyard gate closed.

Yi Baokang had now shut the main gate. Otherwise, people kept coming, treating his home like a place to gawk at monkeys.

The villagers' murmurs and chatter still carried in from outside. Some bolder souls, having learned that A Fei was easygoing, even called into the courtyard.

"Hey, martial wanderer from the Rivers and Lakes, could you show us some punches and kicks?" "Yes, let us see what you can do!"

"I hear people with good martial skills can jump really high!" "Hahaha..."

Yi Shuyuan and A Fei both pretended not to hear.

"These idle fellows... Elder Brother, Hero Mai, please don't take offense. Once the busy farming season comes around, they shouldn't have so much time on their hands."

Yi Baokang came over to apologize, and A Fei hurriedly replied, his face flushed.

"No, no, Uncle Yi, please don't call me that!"

Despite his words, A Fei felt a little heady inside. Someone had called him a hero! Even as he thought this, though, he stole a cautious glance at Yi Shuyuan.

Yi Shuyuan smiled. He had seen every little movement A Fei made. You think I don't know what's going through your head? But he did not expose him.

Yi Baokang brushed the dust from his clothes and went to the kitchen for porridge. His wife, Madam Zhao, was talking with their son there, seemingly in a minor quarrel, and he unconsciously quickened his steps.

The Yi Household's courtyard walls were fairly high. Once the gate closed, visitors soon dwindled, or at least there was much less noise.

A Fei finished his porridge and stood there a while longer. After wrestling with himself, he finally spoke hesitantly.

"Senior, I'd like to go home."

Yi Shuyuan turned toward him with mild surprise. Over their time together, he had grown somewhat accustomed to having A Fei beside him. But he soon understood all too well, and acceptance settled over his face.

"You should go back. Remember to make peace with your father. From what you've told me, I can tell he still cares deeply about you."

"Mm..."

"When are you leaving?"

A Fei lowered his head slightly.

"Today."

Yi Shuyuan nodded. There was little more he could say, so he merely finished every last bit of porridge in his bowl. No banquet beneath heaven lasted forever; besides, he felt that he and A Fei belonged to two different worlds to begin with.

"Senior!"

A Fei's voice grew more emphatic. Yi Shuyuan looked at him, only to see him set down his bowl and chopsticks, walk into the courtyard, clasp his hands, and kneel before him.

"Senior, you saved my life and taught me an inner cultivation method. You are like a parent who gave me, Mai Lingfei, a second life. I will never forget this immense kindness, and someday I will do everything I can to repay it! If this lifetime isn't enough, then in the next. If the next isn't enough, then the lifetime after that. Senior, please accept my bow!"

Having finished these impassioned words, A Fei bowed low, then struck his forehead against the ground three times with resounding thuds.

This time, Yi Shuyuan merely rose to his feet without going to help A Fei up. He accepted the full weight of this solemn tribute, knowing it would ease A Fei's heart.

Madam Li stopped washing clothes in the courtyard, and the people in the kitchen poked their heads out.

A Fei raised his head, stood, and walked toward the gate. After opening it, he glanced back at Yi Shuyuan in the courtyard, then stepped outside, summoned his Internal Energy, and called out to the village.

"People of West River Village, if you want to see martial arts, then I'll show you!"

He was satisfying their curiosity and briefly indulging himself, but above all, he was showing his senior what he had gained.

The next instant, A Fei sprang lightly into the air. His figure moved like a fluttering butterfly, like a swift swallow, using rooftops and haystacks as footholds as he performed his fist techniques and sailed through the air, making weighty movements look effortless.

"Soaring Leap—Treading the Swallow—Chasing the Moon!"

His punches roared like muffled thunder, his force gusted like a rushing wind, sweeping snow from many a rooftop. Wherever he passed, it was as though a swallow had carried fine snow in its wake, sending it drifting down in a lingering shower.

The villagers of West River Village watched with their eyes wide and their mouths agape!

A Fei's voice echoed back, but he was already far away.

Yi Shuyuan gazed into the distance, gratification mingling with the complicated feelings in his heart. A Fei had grown in far more than martial skill!