(xiu)
After Qiguan Yuan was born, the first thing he saw was a tree full of red threads overhead, red and white, new and old, hanging down so thickly that they hid the entire sky.
He did not know how long he had stayed beneath the tree. It might have been hundreds of years, or it might have been thousands.
He only remembered that one day, someone passed beneath the tree and saw him. That person wore white clothes, and his hair was even longer than Qiguan Yuan's, and silver-white as well.
"Did you grow out of this tree?" the person asked.
Qiguan Yuan sat on the ground and looked up at him. "No. From beneath its roots."
The person nodded and sat down beside him. The two sat shoulder to shoulder on the tree roots, watching the red threads flutter in the wind. The person was silent for a long time before he spoke. "These threads are too tangled. Someone ought to manage them."
Qiguan Yuan glanced at him. "Will you?"
The person shook his head. "You will. I was born because of you. You will lead, and I will assist. I will stay with you and help you manage the marriages of this world."
Qiguan Yuan did not refuse.
He stood and reached for the red threads.
He tried to straighten out those threads of fate. When his fingers touched the first red thread, it lit up, then slowly straightened and stopped fluttering wildly.
The thread beside it lit up too. Then another. One after another, the light spread from his hand like ripples across water, until all the red threads on the tree were glowing.
The person sat on the tree roots, looking up at the glowing red threads, and smiled.
Qiguan Yuan asked him his name.
The person said he had no name.
Qiguan Yuan looked at the glowing red threads covering the tree, then at the person, and said, "I think you should be called Xiu Yun Yin."
The person asked why he should have that name.
Qiguan Yuan's ears twitched. "Didn't you say you were born because of me? Why so many questions? You should listen to me."
The person neither agreed nor refused. He simply sat on the tree roots, looking up at the red threads covering the tree.
After a long time, he said, "All right."
Later, Qiguan Yuan inexplicably acquired the title of Yue Lao.
It had come from the people in the lower realm.
One moonlit night, he went to deal with a marriage that was not quite right.
Of the two people involved, one stood on a bridge and the other beneath it. Their red thread was tangled around the bridge railing, and no matter what, it could not bring them together.
Qiguan Yuan crouched on the bridge railing to untangle the red thread. After a long time, he finally freed it.
Unexpectedly, the person probably had something like yin-yang eyes. The person on the bridge looked up and saw him, but only as a blurry shape shrouded in moonlight. All he saw were red clothes and silver hair.
And so he came to be depicted as an old man.
Because it had been a moonlit night.
"Yue Lao," that person said.
Qiguan Yuan did not correct that description, and so the title spread.
Qiguan Yuan could not remember how long he had served as Yue Lao.
The years were too long, and he never paid them any mind.
He only remembered that on the same night every year, he would go beneath that Tree of Fate, where Xiu Yun Yin would be sitting on the roots, waiting for him.
The two would sit shoulder to shoulder without speaking, simply watching the red threads flutter in the wind.
Xiu Yun Yin would point at a new red thread and say, "Someone is about to fall in love." Qiguan Yuan would follow that thread, find its two ends, and record the names in the Marriage Register.
Xiu Yun Yin also acquired a new title.
Moon Official.
Yue Lao brought fated couples together; the Moon Official guarded their bonds.
They went on like this, never feeling that anything was wrong.
Then Xiu Yun Yin vanished.
Qiguan Yuan did not remember what had happened that day. He only remembered that when Xiu Yun Yin left, his white robes were covered in red threads.
Like blood vessels, they grew out of the fabric of his robes, strand by strand, a piercing red.
Xiu Yun Yin looked at him, his lips moving as though he wanted to say something, but no words came out. Then he dissipated.
Qiguan Yuan actually liked beautiful clothes very much.
But from then on, red became the color he usually wore.
After Yun Yin dissipated, he felt lost for the only time in his life. He did not know what he should do next.
So he exchanged his divinity for a chance for Yun Yin to be reborn.
It was only a chance. Qiguan Yuan did not know when he would be reborn, so after losing his divinity and stepping down as Yue Lao, he stayed in Cloud-Hidden Town, waiting for him.
From then on, he was no longer Yue Lao. Without his divinity, he lost most of his abilities, retaining only his innate ability to see threads of fate.
And this. He lowered his head to glance at the red thread around his wrist.
The Dust-Settling Red Cord.
It had been around his wrist since his birth, accompanying him for countless years and helping him bring together countless couples.
Even without his divinity, it remained.
After Yun Yin left, it was the only thing that had stayed with him all along.
Qiguan Yuan rested his fingers on the Dust-Settling Red Cord and slowly stroked it.
The red thread rubbed against his fingertips, tickling them.
Qiguan Yuan pulled himself out of his memories, withdrew his fingers, and raised his head.
The village elder walked into the middle of the clearing with his bamboo staff and tapped it against the ground three times. The sound was not loud, but everyone fell silent.
"You've practiced enough," the village elder said. "I'll give a few of you a spot check."
He randomly tested the guests on a few sentences. Once he felt they were doing well enough, he glanced at Qiguan Yuan, then at Pei Yubai. "You two don't need checking."
One already spoke the language, and the other had his guidance, so there probably would not be any problems.
He turned and nodded toward Meng Xu.
Meng Xu emerged from the shadow of the drum tower, once again holding that damned task card.
The moment Shen Yuzhou saw the task card, his nose wrinkled reflexively. When it came to tasks, no variety show guest liked seeing that thing.
Meng Xu opened the task card and read it aloud.
"Lip movements plus physical gestures. You act, I guess. Each group will choose one person to act and another to guess."
"The person acting may speak, but cannot say any character contained in the word. You may use lip movements or gestures."
"After guessing correctly, please repeat the answer in the Miao language. Incorrect Miao answers will not earn points."
"Each group will have ten questions, with a time limit of three minutes. Each correct answer earns one point, which will count toward your individual totals."
Shen Yuzhou raised his hand. "Who does the acting? Can we choose?"
Meng Xu nodded. "Each group can decide for itself."
Shen Yuzhou turned to Cheng Yanqiu and Lin Yanru. "Who's acting?"
Cheng Yanqiu and Lin Yanru exchanged a glance. Cheng Yanqiu took a step back, and Lin Yanru took a step back too.
Shen Yuzhou pointed at himself. "Me?"
Cheng Yanqiu nodded. Lin Yanru nodded too.
Shen Yuzhou took a deep breath. "Fine. I'll act. You two guess."
Shen Yuzhou walked into the middle of the clearing, glanced at the word, and faced the two of them. He spread his arms and swayed from side to side.
He opened his mouth and mouthed something without making a sound.
He mouthed it again, still without a sound. Cheng Yanqiu stared at his mouth for a long time before saying uncertainly, "Swaying?"
Shen Yuzhou shook his head.
He mouthed it again, this time making a sound, but only a breathy one.
"Yu... fish?" Lin Yanru guessed. Shen Yuzhou shook his head. He did it again, making larger movements this time, his body swaying as though blown by the wind.
Cheng Yanqiu suddenly shouted, "Swim!" Shen Yuzhou pointed at her, his eyes lighting up.
"Yes! You! The second character!"
Cheng Yanqiu froze for a moment and looked at Lin Yanru, who was thinking too.
Shen Yuzhou grew anxious. He pressed his hands together and moved them in front of him like a fish, opening and closing his mouth.
Cheng Yanqiu and Lin Yanru shouted at the same time, "Swimming!"
Shen Yuzhou nodded vigorously.
Then Cheng Yanqiu and Lin Yanru quickly said the Miao word for swimming.
Shen Yuzhou quickly began acting out the next question. They stumbled through the next few, getting six right by the end of the three minutes.
Shen Yuzhou's face was red when he came back.