During the grouping, Qiguan Yuan, who had been bringing up the rear and surveying the Village Above the Clouds with keen interest, suddenly leaned toward Pei Yubai's ear and asked softly, "Who do you want to team up with?"
Pei Yubai's heart began pounding the instant he drew near. He answered, "Anyone's fine. Whoever I draw."
Qiguan Yuan nodded, then lowered his eyes slightly, the corners of his mouth dipping a little. "Only the day before yesterday, I told you to preserve your chastity for me, and today, just anyone will do. How heartless you are, my dear Pei."
That single remark made Pei Yubai's entire mind momentarily crash. He explained in a fluster, "I..."
In his desperation, he called out, "Yuanyuan..."
Then he caught himself and corrected it. "Qiguan Yuan, that's not-I didn't."
Qiguan Yuan had clearly heard the "Yuanyuan" he had blurted out.
He reached out and poked his red ear. "In that case, tell me. Do you want to team up with Yuanyuan?"
Pei Yubai nodded honestly. Only then did Qiguan Yuan withdraw his hand in satisfaction and stop teasing him.
Then he stepped forward and politely asked the other guests, "May I draw first?"
Seeing that none of the other guests objected, Meng Xu nodded. "Go ahead."
Qiguan Yuan walked over, reached into the box, took a slip of paper at random, and unfolded it for a look.
A number was written on it: 3.
The others took turns drawing lots as well.
Ji Shiyu reached into the box, felt around, and drew out a slip. He unfolded it. It read 2.
Jiang Wantang went up after him. Her movements were slow, and she paused as she reached into the box, as though hesitating. Then she drew a slip and opened it. 2.
They both looked up at the same time, their gazes meeting. Ji Shiyu's fingers gripped the slip, his knuckles turning slightly white. Jiang Wantang lowered her eyes, folded her slip, and tucked it into her sleeve without looking at him.
Pei Yubai was the last to take a slip. He reached into the box, felt around, and took one out. He opened it. 3.
His expression barely changed when he saw the number, but his steps were a little quicker than usual.
He walked over to Qiguan Yuan, stopped beside him, and held the slip out for him to see. "I did preserve my chastity."
Qiguan Yuan glanced at the number on the slip, then at Pei Yubai's face. His lips curved slightly. "Well done."
Pei Yubai's ears turned red again. He tucked the slip into his pocket and stood beside Qiguan Yuan without another word.
Qiguan Yuan stood beside him, his gaze resting thoughtfully on Ji Shiyu and Jiang Wantang.
Meng Xu clapped his hands. "The teams are settled. The village elder is waiting for you at the drum tower. Let's go."
The drum tower of the Village Above the Clouds stood at the very center of the village and was its tallest building.
Built entirely of wood, it had seven stories, each with eaves that swept high like birds' wings.
An open space paved with bluestone slabs lay in front of the drum tower, where many staff members were already waiting.
The village elder sat in a bamboo chair at the drum tower's entrance.
He was dressed the same as before, in a black front-opening jacket and a black headwrap, with a bamboo staff in his hand.
A row of children sat beside him, some older and some younger. The oldest were around ten, and the youngest were three or four. They sat properly, hands on their knees.
At the sight of the approaching guests, all the children turned their eyes toward them. Then they spotted Qiguan Yuan.
The child with the little topknot recognized him first, sprang up from the bench, pointed a tiny finger at Qiguan Yuan, and shouted, "Pretty big brother!"
The other children joined in.
"Pretty big brother!"
Qiguan Yuan smiled at them, and the children grew even louder.
The village elder tapped his bamboo staff against the ground. It was not a heavy tap, but the sound was sharp.
The children immediately fell silent, sat back on the bench, and returned their hands to their knees.
The village elder rose and walked over to the guests with his bamboo staff.
His gaze swept over each face before settling on Qiguan Yuan for two extra seconds. Then he looked away and launched straight into the lesson. "The Miao language is different from what you normally speak."
His Mandarin was heavily accented, but every word was understandable. "The Miao language I'm teaching you today has eight tones. What you normally speak has only four. So the tones will be the hardest part for you to learn."
With that, he turned and wrote a word on the drum tower's wooden board: Mongb.
He pointed at it. "This means 'you.' It's pronounced mongb. The tone needs to drop." Then he demonstrated the pronunciation for the guests.
Shen Yuzhou opened his mouth. "Mongb."
The village elder shook his head. "Wrong tone. Drop down, don't float up."
Shen Yuzhou tried again. The elder still shook his head. On Shen Yuzhou's third attempt, the elder finally nodded.
The elder wrote a second word.
Bib.
"This means 'we.' It's pronounced bib. Close your lips and teeth, and let the air come out through your nose."
Cheng Yanqiu repeated it. The elder nodded.
The elder taught them one by one.
They were all the most basic words: you, I, he, we, you, they.
Then came simple everyday sentences: hello, thank you, sorry, it's all right.
The children sat nearby, reciting along with the elder, their voices so perfectly in unison that they sounded like a single person.
The guests stumbled over their words, their tones either too high or too low, their pronunciation either too heavy or too light.
For a while, the livestream viewers were rolling with laughter.
Qiguan Yuan stood at the very back without joining in.
He listened quietly to the elder's pronunciation, the children's pronunciation, and the sounds the guests got wrong.
Pei Yubai stood beside him, repeating after the elder.
His tones were wrong too, and it took three attempts before he barely passed. After finishing, he turned to glance at Qiguan Yuan.
Qiguan Yuan was looking at him.
"Why aren't you repeating it?" Pei Yubai asked.
"Because I already know it," Qiguan Yuan answered.
Someone who interpreted fortune sticks at Yue Lao Temple had spoken this language.
Out of curiosity, he had learned Miao from that person, though he had rarely used it afterward.
He looked for a while at the words and sentences the elder had written on the blackboard, then read them aloud for Pei Yubai. "Mongb. Bib. Koj. Wb."
His pronunciation was almost identical to the elder's. His tones, breath, and the positioning of his lips and teeth were all flawless.
The elder stilled the bamboo staff in his hand and turned to look at Qiguan Yuan, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
The children fell quiet too, staring at him with their mouths open.
Shen Yuzhou's eyes widened. "Brother Yuan, you speak Miao?"
Qiguan Yuan nodded.
Shen Yuzhou opened his mouth, then closed it again. He's using cheats! I'm not playing anymore!
The elder continued teaching. He taught a few new words, then a few short sentences. Afterward, he let everyone practice on their own.
Qiguan Yuan stood in the drum tower's shadow, observing Jiang Wantang and Ji Shiyu.
Pei Yubai stood beside him, studying the Miao vocabulary sheet the elder had handed out.
His brows were slightly furrowed. There was one word whose tone he could not get right even after several attempts.
Qiguan Yuan came back to himself, leaned closer, and glanced at him. "Which sentence?"
Pei Yubai pointed to a line on the vocabulary sheet. Qiguan Yuan glanced at it and read it aloud.
Pei Yubai repeated after him.
Pei Yubai learned quickly.
Qiguan Yuan nodded without praising him or saying anything else.
He stood beside Pei Yubai, looking at the Miao words on the vocabulary sheet for a while. Then he suddenly turned to face Pei Yubai and said with a smile, "Koj yog kuv txoj hmoo sib yuav, yog kuv lub neej no tib tug uas kuv lub siab xaiv." (Approximate pronunciation using Chinese sounds: kao yo gu dou mo xi yue, yo gu lu nei nao di dou a gu lu xi sai.)
His voice was quiet, his pace neither fast nor slow, and every sound was precise.
The final note dipped slightly, carrying a hint of languor, as captivating to the ear as ever.
Pei Yubai raised his head and looked at Qiguan Yuan.
Qiguan Yuan looked back with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
Pei Yubai had not understood what he said. His English and French were both excellent, but he had only begun learning Miao today. He could understand only the most basic words, like "Mongb" and "Bib."
He had not understood a single word of Qiguan Yuan's sentence.
"What does that mean?" Pei Yubai asked.
Qiguan Yuan looked at him, his lips curving as he lied through his teeth. "It means, Pei Yubai, you're very good-looking."
Pei Yubai looked at Qiguan Yuan for two seconds. There was not a single crack in Qiguan Yuan's expression.
Pei Yubai glanced down at the vocabulary sheet, then looked up again.
He did not believe him.
Qiguan Yuan's Miao sentence was clearly longer than any sentence on the vocabulary sheet, and its pronunciation was more complicated than any of them too.
Would telling him he was good-looking require such a complicated sentence?
He turned to glance at the village elder.
The elder stood at the drum tower's entrance with his bamboo staff, watching Shen Yuzhou and the others practice their pronunciation.
On hearing Qiguan Yuan's sentence, the elder's hand paused. He turned to look at Qiguan Yuan, then at Pei Yubai.
His lips moved as he looked at Qiguan Yuan and Pei Yubai, seemingly about to speak, but in the end he said nothing.
The little games these youngsters played. How wonderful to be young.
Pei Yubai saw the elder's reaction. He became even more certain that Qiguan Yuan's Miao sentence absolutely did not mean "you're very good-looking."
"Qiguan Yuan," Pei Yubai called.
Qiguan Yuan looked at him. "Hmm?"
Pei Yubai opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Qiguan Yuan had already guessed what he wanted to say. "Why dwell on it so much? Maybe I'll tell you what it means someday."
Pei Yubai did not know what it meant, but the viewers camping in Qiguan Yuan's livestream did.
There were always a few remarkably resourceful people online. The moment Qiguan Yuan said it, someone translated it on-screen.
[Hahaha, Yuanyuan, bet you didn't see this coming. I speak Miao. Just keep flirting with our crown prince.]
[I'm starting to think Pei Yubai in Yuanyuan's hands really is like an innocent little white flower.]
[Bai, just surrender. You really can't beat him at this.]
[So! What exactly did that sentence mean?! Can someone tell me?!]
[Koj yog kuv txoj hmoo sib yuav, yog kuv lub neej no tib tug uas kuv lub siab xaiv. Meaning: You are my destined marriage partner, the only one my heart has chosen in this lifetime.]