Since his good brother had taken the conversation this far, and they were leaving anyway, the chief finally revealed the truth.
"..." Wu Jinliang was stunned on the spot.
When he finally recovered, he realized it made sense. Plenty of people wanted to leave this land of exile. If any old bumpkin could find Wangbo Tower and ask for a ride, why would Wangbo Tower agree? Never mind agreeing-they probably wouldn't even bother acknowledging him.
Once he figured that out, he couldn't help laughing. He had harbored the same worries about Shen Youkun's background, but apparently that rascal Chun had long since prepared a countermeasure. Admittedly, the countermeasure was rather hilarious.
Remembering Chun's pursuit of Miss Miao made it even funnier. Unable to contain his laughter, he said, "Why didn't you say so sooner? I really thought you'd fallen for Miss Miao."
"I really did fall for her. Miss Miao is pretty and kind. Isn't it perfectly normal to like her? The problem is, my liking her means nothing. However nice she is, she has that upbringing you mentioned. She wouldn't fancy bumpkins like us, and she wouldn't get used to our ways even if we were together. Why put such a good person in a difficult position?" Shi Chun muttered with a self-mocking air, then reached out with his dripping hand and patted Wu Jinliang's face. "Our lives are cheap. Staying alive matters most. Don't overthink it."
He closed his eyes again. Though he spoke of Miss Miao, the figure that surfaced in his mind belonged to another woman. That glimpse of her splendor was engraved forever in his memory.
He had encountered her when he was still a boy. When that woman first appeared in the Eastern Nine Plains, he hid in a corner and watched her secretly, as he always did when danger approached. Peeking at her, he thought only that she was young and pretty, with a presence that put him at ease and a charm he couldn't quite describe.
When she took the hand in which he held a twig, half embraced him, and guided him through writing his first character, "Shi," on the ground, he felt her warmth and breathed in her scent. The flutter she stirred in his heart made that instant eternal.
As they sat on a cliff swinging their feet and watching the sunset, he felt melancholy. He had to take part in a deadly fight the next day and feared he would never live to adulthood. Like most of the local natives, he was anxious about an uncertain fate filled with suffering. It was that woman who taught him a truth: I am fate. Fate cannot stand above me.
She looked so lovely in the sunset, her long hair streaming as she smiled faintly. The boy kept stealing glances at her.
When great sandstorms came, everyone else sought shelter, but she would laugh and charge into them like a madwoman, dancing freely in the wind and sand. Even if she was destined to end up a bedraggled mess, she would still let her skirts fly.
Sometimes she was like a wandering knight, tapping stones as she sang. She would also pluck a grass root and tuck it over her ear, then ask everyone with enchanting charm whether she looked pretty.
She loved bathing. When she had him keep watch, she would even call out from inside the cave and ask whether he wanted to peek.
Her cultivation had clearly been crippled, yet she lived with such freedom and charm. That calm, extraordinary bearing, that wisdom unshackled by adversity-he had known even then that she was no ordinary person.
Afterward, he met many women, one after another, of every kind, including the wonderful Miss Miao. Yet he never again met anyone so captivating.
She had bathed in radiance without holding sanctity above all else. She could bend down to the dirt, lie on her side in the sand with her head propped on one hand, and wink mischievously at him.
She had dazzled his boyhood and given him a direction in which to pursue something beautiful.
Then one day, she left without hesitation. No one had the right to ask her to stay. She had arrived quietly and departed with a sweep of her sleeve. Even when she left, none of them knew her true name. Afterward, the boy took "Shi," the character from the word for teacher, as his surname.
From then on, the boy surnamed Shi no longer feared fate. He forged bravely ahead and gradually became chief of the Eastern Nine Plains. But that was not his destination.
He hoped that one day, when he learned who that woman was, he would have both the strength and the standing to face her and tell her openly how deeply that boy had adored her, and how his feelings remained unchanged.
He didn't want to meet her again only to find himself too shabby to dare confess his admiration, making the confession pointless.
He believed a woman like her could never be an obscure nobody. He needn't search too deliberately. Once he possessed true strength, he would naturally have a chance to see her.
The vat he was soaking in now was the very one she had once used for her baths.
Some people, even when unseen, were like the wind, capable of stirring the heart at any moment.
Thinking of the figure in his mind, he seemed to be enjoying his bath with his eyes closed. Suddenly, he spoke, whether to himself or to Wu Jinliang was unclear, his tone unusually firm and resolute. "We have to get out!"
"Of course," Wu Jinliang said. "The dazzling world outside is still waiting for us."
Shi Chun suddenly opened his eyes and looked at him. "Say, why do you keep digging through my hair? What are you plotting? Confess!"
Indeed, Wu Jinliang had kept using the excuse of shaving him to feel through his hair. Now that he had been exposed, he stopped pretending and simply asked, "Where exactly did you hide that purple, glittering nebula? It's not on your body, and it's not in your hair. In your backside?"
Shi Chun rolled his eyes at him. "So that's why you were so eager to help me bathe. Tell me honestly: if you knew where it was hidden, and someone captured you one day, would you betray me under interrogation?"
"Heh heh..."
Wu Jinliang chuckled and chuckled some more. Only after a good while did he mumble, "That depends on the circumstances, doesn't it? If keeping quiet really meant losing my life, then saving my own skin would come first."
"Hmph!" Shi Chun sneered. "Then stop asking."
Sighing heavily, Wu Jinliang had no choice but to give up.
But after a while, Shi Chun suddenly raised his left hand and showed him the scar from the whip. "When my hand touched it, it slipped into my body through the wound..."
He recounted what had happened at the end of the mine tunnel and even explained the abnormalities that followed, including the strange things his right eye could see. In particular, he answered the question Wu Jinliang had asked many times-how he had broken the Immobilizing Talisman-describing the process and method in detail.
Finally, he reminded him repeatedly, "We're leaving soon. Remember this, and don't forget it. If you encounter another Immobilizing Talisman, break it the way I told you. It should probably work. Never let this method leak, or we could lose our lives."
Wu Jinliang nodded eagerly again and again. "I know, I know. Exposing their secrets cuts off their income, and they'll definitely kill us for that. Don't worry. This is a matter of life and death. I won't spill it even if they beat me to death."
"Could you stop waving that blade around in front of my eyes?" Shi Chun warned, watching the knife dance as Wu Jinliang gesticulated in delight. "The water's getting a bit hot."
"No problem. I'll remove the firewood, remove the firewood." Beaming, Wu Jinliang went around to the side and bent down to pull the firewood from beneath the stone mortar.
The two spent some time soaking and washing, then changed into clean clothes.
Though freshly washed, they still didn't look as clean as their clothes.
Their faces, and especially the backs of their hands, were darkened by years of inadequate washing under poor conditions, with dry, bloody cracks running across them. Their lips were cracked as well.
Shi Chun's clothing, however, was relatively respectable: a scholar's robe washed somewhat pale, paired with neatly combed hair secured by a hairpin. Whether he had any air of Civilized Conduct was debatable, but he certainly seemed like a different person.
Unfortunately, he had barely taken two steps when a ripping sound came from beneath him. Looking down, he saw his big toe poking through the cloth upper of his left shoe. He wiggled it.
A hole had opened after just two steps, all because the shoes were so old.
What now? They had already given away everything they could to those who had left earlier.
It wasn't much trouble, really. A few stitches would fix it. They had little necessities like needles and thread, but couldn't find any cloth of a suitable color.
In the end, they found a random scrap of cloth and stitched it on with a few quick passes. To make the colors match, they scraped soot from the bottom of the stone mortar used to heat their bathwater, blackened both pairs of shoes, and put them back on.
Shi Chun stamped his feet, feeling refreshed and invigorated. "Perfect."
After packing their things, the two headed down the mountain.
Wu Jinliang carried two blades, his own over his shoulder and Shi Chun's smaller one on his back. Shi Chun felt that hanging a blade from such refined attire would disgrace his Civilized Conduct.
After climbing a slope, they suddenly turned back together and looked at the cylindrical stone mountain standing in the wilderness, both wearing inexplicably complicated expressions.
"Will we ever come back?" Wu Jinliang asked.
"Coming back is easy. Just commit a crime. I won't be joining you." Shi Chun walked on as he spoke. He had a goal to which he was firmly committed, and his steps were resolute.
Wu Jinliang hurried after him, chattering away. "Are we really leaving? Why does it feel like a dream...?"
Inside a courtyard enclosed by high walls, City Lord Ba Yingshan knocked on his guest's door again.
Qi Yueru, her eyes red from crying, opened the door and invited him in.
Ba Yingshan had come with news and wasted no words. "As expected, those two local-snake brats from the Eastern Nine Plains have entered the city. They're carrying bundles too, so they're probably leaving for good."
Ordinarily, such a minor task as delivering a message would not require him to come in person. Unfortunately, some matters could not bear the light of day and were best not entrusted to others.
Qi Yueru's eyes flickered. "When are they heading out?"
Ba Yingshan said, "There's no telling how long they'll dawdle before leaving. They'll almost certainly visit Wangbo Tower. Someone is watching them. You'll be notified promptly."
Inside Zhixu City, Wu Jinliang strolled along with his great saber over his shoulder, looking as though he were flaunting his might.
Beside him, Shi Chun tried to appear as scholarly as possible, wearing a gentle expression he had practiced countless times and smiling at everyone he met.
After learning to read from that female teacher, he considered himself a man touched by culture, different from the savages of the land of exile.
The two headed straight for Wangbo Tower. Pedestrians passed constantly along the way, and they nodded in greeting whenever they encountered someone familiar.
Passing Wangbo Tower's busy freight yard, they merely glanced inside before stopping in unison. A woman inspecting the yard had caught their attention.
She was full-figured and possessed considerable charm. Dressed in plain clothes, she had large, round, bright eyes that radiated capable vigor as she moved among the piles of goods, pointing and directing.
They knew her. She was Wangbo Tower's proprietress, Miss Miao's mother, named Lan Qiaoyan.
The old man beside her spotted the two outside the yard gate, smiled slightly, and quickly alerted her. She turned to look.
When he saw her look their way, Shi Chun immediately cupped his hands in a refined, impeccably courteous salute.
Wu Jinliang, meanwhile, waved his arm and shouted excitedly, "Mom!"
The cry rang out like a thunderclap, making people inside and outside the freight yard turn to look. Those who knew nothing of the situation were startled. Since when had the proprietress acquired another son?
Lan Qiaoyan's face darkened. She said something to the old man beside her, who waved the two over, signaling for them to come inside.
The guards at the gate immediately let them through.
Shi Chun walked at a measured, scholarly pace, but Wu Jinliang rushed eagerly toward the woman with his belongings as though he had spotted family. Upon reaching her, he called warmly again, "Mom!"
Lan Qiaoyan wore a cold smile that suggested she would gladly castrate him. "Shut up! Big fellow, why have I been hearing lately that you've called more women 'Mom' than I can count on both hands? Do you have some affliction that makes you call every woman you see your mother?"
Wu Jinliang's expression froze. How did she find out? And how am I supposed to explain this?
Shi Chun arrived behind him, perfectly solemn, and raised a hand as though swearing an oath. "Madam, I can vouch for him. He would never use that word indiscriminately. He only calls pretty women 'Mom.'"
Wu Jinliang immediately nodded repeatedly in agreement.
He called every pretty woman he saw "Mom"? The flattery made Lan Qiaoyan roll her eyes. Fixing Wu Jinliang with a stare, she warned, "Get as far away from me as you can. I don't have such a shameless son. If you ever dare call me that again, I'll tear your mouth apart!"