The two walked back to the stilt house. Pei Yubai tipped the mushrooms into the sink and turned on the tap to rinse them.
Qiguan Yuan placed the two mushrooms tied with red thread on the windowsill, arranged them neatly, and propped them against the window frame.
He gave his handiwork a satisfied look.
After washing the mushrooms, Pei Yubai changed his clothes.
He put on a dark gray short-sleeved T-shirt, black athletic shorts, and a pair of sandals.
His hair was uncombed, falling over his forehead, with the breeze lifting it a little.
Qiguan Yuan leaned against the kitchen doorframe and watched him change.
Once Pei Yubai had changed, he turned around and saw Qiguan Yuan watching him.
Qiguan Yuan did not avert his gaze. He simply kept looking.
"Let's go," Pei Yubai said.
Qiguan Yuan straightened away from the doorframe.
The village elder's field was on the eastern side of the village, about a ten-minute walk from the stilt house.
It was a small, rectangular field, roughly two or three tenths of a mu in size.
The village elder stood on the ridge between the fields, leaning on a bamboo staff and talking to a young man.
The young man wore a dark blue, front-fastening tunic with his trouser legs rolled up. His feet were covered in mud, and he held a handful of rice seedlings.
When he saw Qiguan Yuan and Pei Yubai approaching, he stopped talking, his gaze following Qiguan Yuan for a short stretch.
The village elder tapped the ground with his bamboo staff, and the young man withdrew his gaze.
Qiguan Yuan stood on the ridge without going down into the field.
Pei Yubai rolled up his trouser legs, took off his sandals, and stepped barefoot into the paddy. Bending down, he took a handful of seedlings from the village elder and began planting.
Qiguan Yuan stood on the ridge and watched him plant.
Pei Yubai was doing much better today than yesterday, his movements considerably faster.
Bend down, take a seedling, plant it, straighten up, then bend down again-the whole sequence flowed much more smoothly than yesterday.
Seven or eight people were planting rice in the field, most of them men, dressed in dark blue with headcloths wrapped around their heads and conical hats shading their faces.
They worked quickly, their hands rising and falling, leaving the seedlings standing in evenly spaced rows in the paddy, as though measured with a ruler.
The patch Pei Yubai had planted lay beside theirs, making the contrast obvious.
But no one looked at him. Everyone kept their heads down and worked.
Except for that young man.
He stood at the other end of the field, holding seedlings, but his eyes were not on them.
His gaze swept over Qiguan Yuan, then returned and lingered a while longer.
After finishing a row, Pei Yubai straightened up and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. A large patch of his T-shirt was soaked and clung to his body, its neckline falling open to reveal his collarbones.
Qiguan Yuan looked at that stretch of collarbone for a while, then shifted his gaze away.
"Mr. Qiguan."
A voice came from behind him.
Qiguan Yuan turned his head and saw Jiang Wantang standing on the ridge a few steps away.
She wore a pale blue cotton-linen shirt and long trousers rolled up to her calves, with mud-spattered rubber shoes on her feet.
Her hair was tied back with an elastic, and the breeze blew stray strands against the side of her face.
Qiguan Yuan turned to face her.
Jiang Wantang looked somewhat awkward, her fingers gripping the hem of her shirt, releasing it, then gripping it again. "Could I ask you to come with me?"
She said, "There's something I'd like to ask for your help with, Mr. Qiguan."
Her voice was quiet and a little strained, as though she had held those words in her mouth for a long time before saying them.
Then she added, "I won't take up much of your time. Please, you're the only one who can help me with this."
After saying this, her whole body was taut, her shoulders slightly hunched.
Qiguan Yuan looked at her, neither agreeing nor refusing. He tilted his head and asked, "Do I look that frightening?"
Jiang Wantang froze for a moment.
She had not expected Qiguan Yuan to ask that. She shook her head. "No. It's just that you're rather mysterious, Mr. Qiguan. I can't help feeling a sense of distance."
Qiguan Yuan nodded.
He turned to glance at Pei Yubai in the field.
At some point, Pei Yubai had stopped. He stood upright, still holding a handful of seedlings, watching him and Jiang Wantang. Their eyes met across the paddy for a second.
Qiguan Yuan spoke first. "I need to leave for a while, Pei Yubai."
Pei Yubai nodded silently, planted the seedlings, bent down, and continued working.
Qiguan Yuan turned back to Jiang Wantang. He raised a hand and pointed in the direction behind her, indicating that she should lead the way.
"Little Jiang, let's go. Lead the way."
Jiang Wantang turned around, took two steps, then stopped and glanced back at Qiguan Yuan's cameraman.
The cameraman was about to follow with the camera on his shoulder when Jiang Wantang shook her head at him.
The cameraman stopped and looked toward Meng Xu, who was sitting in the shade of a distant tree. Meng Xu waved him off.
The cameraman lowered his camera and sat down on the ridge.
Meng Xu was rather curious about Qiguan Yuan, so out of the several groups of guests, he had chosen to follow Qiguan Yuan and Pei Yubai.
Jiang Wantang turned around, nodded to Qiguan Yuan, and then started walking.
Her pace was not fast, but it was more tense than usual.
Qiguan Yuan followed, keeping two steps behind her.
After walking for a while, Jiang Wantang spoke. She hesitated, but said it anyway. "Mr. Qiguan, I'm already twenty-nine. I'm not a child."
Qiguan Yuan's voice came from behind her. "You must have some connection to Cloud-Hidden Town, don't you? You probably know quite a bit about me?"
Jiang Wantang did not deny it. "My grandmother is from Cloud-Hidden Town. She told me a lot about it, including Yue Lao Temple and the Mr. Qiguan who interprets fortune sticks. That Mr. Qiguan would be your predecessor, I presume?"
"Then why couldn't I be older than you?" Qiguan Yuan did not explain whether that Mr. Qiguan was his predecessor.
Jiang Wantang fell silent for a few seconds.
She did not know how old Qiguan Yuan was. He looked to be in his early twenties, with silver hair, white skin, and pale eyes. He did not look like someone very old.
But his tone did not sound as though he was lying. In fact, she, too, felt that Qiguan Yuan really did resemble a wandering immortal.
"No need to dwell on it," Qiguan Yuan's voice came again. "If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll call you Miss Jiang."
Jiang Wantang shook her head. "It doesn't."
They walked along the flagstone path for about ten minutes and arrived at a teahouse.
There was only one teahouse in the Village Above the Clouds, in the center of the village beside the drum tower.
It was a two-story wooden building, with a banner hanging by the entrance bearing the word "Tea."
A young woman in blue cloth clothing approached, carrying a teapot. Jiang Wantang ordered a pot of local handmade tea.
The young woman soon brought the tea, two white porcelain gaiwans, and a pot of boiling water.
Jiang Wantang turned the gaiwans upright, rinsed them with boiling water, poured it out, then added hot water again and put the lids on.
Qiguan Yuan watched without intervening. Jiang Wantang placed the tea before him.
Qiguan Yuan picked up his gaiwan, brushed the froth aside with the lid, and took a sip.
The tea was bitter, its sweet aftertaste slow to emerge. Only after he swallowed did a little sweetness rise at the root of his tongue.
Jiang Wantang did not drink her tea. She reached into her pocket and took out a fortune stick.
It was bamboo, tied with a red cord, with two lines of small characters engraved on it.
She set the stick on the table and pushed it toward Qiguan Yuan.
"I'd like to ask you to interpret this fortune stick for me, Mr. Qiguan."
Qiguan Yuan glanced down at the stick without reaching for it. "You should know that I only interpret three fortune sticks a year."
Jiang Wantang's hand still rested on the stick. She did not draw it back. "I know. But I still want to try."
Her voice grew quieter. "For me, if I don't do anything now, there's a good chance he and I will never cross paths again after this. I can feel it."
She raised her head and looked at Qiguan Yuan. "So, Mr. Qiguan, could you make an exception for me?"