After all the guests had left.
Zheng Qing finally set down the tabby cat in his arms and began strolling around the long-abandoned garden, his hands clasped behind his back. The Colt Python and the Order spellbook hung from opposite sides of his belt, swaying and casting dancing patches of light across the leaf-strewn ground. The Yellow Calico Cat hopped along behind the young dean, stepping on the shadows of those patches of light.
"—This place needs a proper tidying up."
With his tail raised, the Yellow Calico Cat looked around and shook his head repeatedly. "Never mind major renovations. At the very least, the pond needs water, those stone figures buried in the soil need digging out, and the broken sign on the archway needs replacing... And that old scholar tree! It's positively steeped in yin energy. Not at all in keeping with the spirit of our Order! More importantly, it actually dares to stretch its branches beyond the wall? A textbook case of biting the hand that feeds it! Absolutely intolerable! Chop them off! Every last branch sticking outside has to go!"
The old tree in the distance seemed to understand the tabby cat's threat. It trembled in fear, its dense leaves rustling against one another as though a light rain had suddenly begun to fall.
As they spoke, the man and the cat completed a circuit and returned to the entrance of the abandoned garden.
Zheng Qing looked up at the crooked sign on the archway. After staring at it for a moment, he gave a tiny nod and muttered, "—It really does need replacing."
He turned.
And headed back into the depths of the garden.
The tabby cat gave his whiskers a cheerful twitch. Behind him, the rotten gates creaked laboriously shut. Outside, the crooked sign