The two of them went outside.
The flagstone path was a little wet; the dew was still heavy at this hour.
Their footsteps on the flagstones made faint watery sounds.
Qiguan Yuan took a few steps, stopped, and looked up at the sky.
It was not fully light yet. Beyond the mountains to the east lay a thin wash of orange-red light, as though someone had brushed on paint diluted with water.
"You don't need to wait for me," Qiguan Yuan told Pei Yubai. "I'm just going to wander around. If you want to go for your morning run, go ahead."
Pei Yubai glanced at him.
Qiguan Yuan stood on the flagstone path, his long silver hair falling over his black shirt, a few strands lifting in the morning breeze.
He paused. In fact, he had already decided to skip his run today and wander around the Village Above the Clouds with Qiguan Yuan.
But since Qiguan Yuan had said that, he most likely wanted to wander around alone.
So Pei Yubai nodded, turned, and started running along the village paths.
He did not run fast, but his strides were longer than usual.
The morning air was cool, and breathing it in made his entire lungs feel clean.
Terraced fields spread out in layers to his left, their water reflecting the gray-blue light of the sky like so many unpolished mirrors.
His soles struck the flagstones with a rhythmic sound.
He ran faster than usual today. Qiguan Yuan was on his mind, after all.
He kept thinking that if he finished his run sooner, he could go find Qiguan Yuan.
But even with the slight increase in speed, the Village Above the Clouds was not small, and he could not complete a circuit. After running for about forty minutes, he turned back to look for Qiguan Yuan.
He picked up his pace a little more, his breathing heavier than usual. As he ran, he looked at the homes along the path.
Cooking smoke was rising now, a few slender wisps drifting up from the black roof tiles and dispersing in the morning breeze.
There were already plenty of people about in the village.
Some were feeding chickens in their courtyards, some were brushing their teeth at their doors, and children squatted on steps, rubbing their eyes.
But he did not see Qiguan Yuan.
He ran a little farther and still did not see Qiguan Yuan.
He slowed to a walk, looking around as he went.
When he reached the clearing in the middle of the village, he heard laughter-not adults laughing, but children, their chatter mingling like a flock of birds fresh from the nest.
He rounded a bend and saw Qiguan Yuan.
The clearing was not large. An old tree stood in its center, its spreading canopy shading more than half the space.
Qiguan Yuan was crouching beneath the tree, surrounded by children.
Some of the children stood and others crouched, all gathered around Qiguan Yuan, looking at him.
The youngest was probably only three or four. Standing at the very edge of the group on tiptoe, the child held something up but could not reach the top of Qiguan Yuan's head, his face turning red with frustration.
Qiguan Yuan was covered in silver jewelry.
On his head sat a silver crown-not the large kind worn by the girls in Miao villages, but a small child's crown, decorated with a few silver flowers and leaves, perched crookedly on his head.
Around his neck hung a silver neck ring with several little bells dangling from it, ringing whenever he moved.
Several silver rings encircled his fingers, and a few silver chains wound around his wrist. The chains were too long and dangled down, swaying beyond his cuff.
He also cradled a silver bangle against his chest. It was large, the kind adults wore, and he held it in his hand, with no telling which child had stuffed it there.
He simply crouched there, weighed down by all that silver jewelry, silver-white light covering his hair, neck, and hands.
With one hand, Qiguan Yuan pinched a child's cheeks. The child was about five or six, with two little topknots, and though his face was squashed out of shape, he grinned, showing the gaps where two front teeth were missing.
His other hand stroked another child's head. The child's hair was stiff and prickled his palm, and he narrowed his eyes as though petting a little animal.
So many human cubs. Adorable~
Qiguan Yuan was in a cheerful mood.
The children surrounded him, chattering nonstop.
"Big brother, why is your hair white?"
"Big brother, you're so pretty!"
"Big brother, did you come out of the TV?"
"Big brother, wear this!"
"Big brother, wear mine!"
Qiguan Yuan answered them one by one, speaking slowly and quietly, but enunciating every word clearly.
After pinching the cheeks of the child with little topknots, he reached over to touch another child's ear. His fingers were long, his nails neatly trimmed, his fingertips tinged a faint pink.
The child whose ear he touched went completely stiff, eyes wide and mouth open, his ears turning red from lobe to tip even faster than Pei Yubai's had.
Seeing his reaction, Qiguan Yuan could not help laughing.
"So soft." As he spoke, he touched it again.
Pei Yubai stood some distance away, his steps coming to a halt.
He did not approach, simply standing at the edge of the clearing, watching Qiguan Yuan crouch among the children with a crooked silver crown on his head, a jingling neck ring around his neck, silver chains wound around his wrist, and a silver bangle cradled against his chest.
He was wrapped in those silver-white things, his hair silver-white and the jewelry silver-white too, his entire figure looking as though it had been set in silver.
He glanced to the side.
Several young people stood outside the ring of children. They were men, dressed in the dark blue, front-opening shirts of the Miao village, with black headcloths wrapped around their heads. None looked very old, probably in their early twenties.
Their faces all bore suspicious flushes as they looked at Qiguan Yuan, wanting to look yet feeling too shy, stealing a glance, looking away, then stealing another a little later.
Two of them kept rummaging in their pockets, pulling out silver jewelry.
One produced a pair of silver earrings, the other a silver chain, and handed them to the children in front of them.
The children took them and immediately turned to put them on Qiguan Yuan. Qiguan Yuan lowered his head so a child could hang the earrings on his ears.
The earrings had clips rather than hooks. The child tried several times without managing to fasten one, so Qiguan Yuan reached up to hold its clip steady,
and with a gentle press, it fastened.
The silver earring dangled from Qiguan Yuan's earlobe, swaying in the morning light.
When the two young men who had produced the jewelry saw the earring go on, their faces flushed even more. They exchanged a look and laughed at the same time, bumping shoulders as they did.
Pei Yubai stood where he was, watching the two young men smile.
He did not know what was wrong with him, but he wanted to go over and take Qiguan Yuan away from those people.
Before he could react, Qiguan Yuan looked up just then and saw him.
Qiguan Yuan's eyes curved, and he beckoned to him. Silver chains wound around his wrist, and several silver rings adorned his fingers; the jewelry clattered as he waved.
"Pei Yubai," he called. His voice was quiet, but Pei Yubai still heard it clearly amid the children's chatter.
Pei Yubai walked over.
When he reached the children, he paused.
The children looked at him, their eyes full of curiosity.