"You little rascal! Stirred up trouble and now you want to grease your heels and run?"
Just as Xing Yan finished saying goodbye to Lingyi and called Xueyi and Qiong Rong over to leave, someone shouted behind him. He turned and saw an old man in brown walking across the misty water beyond the river island.
"Who is that...?"
Looking against the light, Xing Yan could see only the shimmering water and could not make out who it was. As he strained his eyes, the girl before him cried out:
"Grandpa!"
Then she darted toward him like a butterfly flitting through flowers.
Ah! The Four Rivers Dragon Lord is here!
No sooner had the thought arisen than the Four Rivers Dragon Lord, Lord of the Clouds, reached Xing Yan. Arriving on the sandbar, the ruddy, hale old Dragon Lord deliberately ignored his beloved granddaughter, slid past Lingyi, and went straight to Xing Yan. More than two years after their last meeting, the benefactor who had given him a flute and a book still dressed like an ordinary country elder: a short brown hemp tunic and trousers, a Black Sash casually tied around his waist, and trouser legs rolled to his knees. Had he not been leaning on the Ancient Forest Spirit Staff entwined with green vines, anyone seeing him would have thought some old farmer had just returned from working in the paddies.
Deeply moved to see his benefactor again, Xing Yan started to bow. Before he could lower his head, however, the Lord of the Clouds caught him and declared loudly:
"Never mind bowing and scraping and saying pretty things. Let me ask you-"
The old Dragon Lord seemed furious.
"You little scoundrel! Now that you've gained some ability, you dare steal away my precious granddaughter and lose my