Li Xu

"But a year later, Li Shiyi was born."

The shadows swayed, and summer silkworms chirped softly. The Linen-Clad Girl telling the story, however, remained as calm as still water, without the slightest change.

The rain outside the trees grew heavier. Beneath the old tree, a Green-Robed Youth sheltering from the rain turned his head and glanced toward the distant end of the official road.

A swaying caravan of carriages appeared in sight. It looked like a merchant caravan traveling through the rain, and it seemed to be headed for Luoyang as well.

"Maybe we can hitch a ride," Gu Baishui suggested.

Luo Ziwei shook her head. "I don't have any money."

"I don't have any money either." Gu Baishui shrugged. "Second Senior Brother told me that money is the most worthless thing in this world. It's no different from dirt."

"So?"

"So before he came down the mountain, he looted every bit of valuable dirt in my cave abode. He didn't even leave me a single hair."

Luo Ziwei was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Your Second Senior Brother really is a scumbag."

"Yeah." Gu Baishui nodded in agreement. "So later, when I robbed Little Junior Sister, I actually felt a little guilty."

"..."

"Then you're a scumbag too."

"I never said I wasn't."

Gu Baishui shamelessly glanced at the merchant caravan approaching along the official road. "I'll think of a way to sneak you in. You can finish telling me the rest of the story."

The Linen-Clad Girl thought it over, then nodded.

Li Shiyi was born in the year 336 of the New Calendar.

There was also a younger sister in the family, two years younger than him, named Li Xu.

When A-Xu was born, Luoyang City was in the season when willow catkins filled the air, so that was how she got her name.

In the eyes of outsiders, Li Shiyi was a carefree, lazy, rich young master.

A-Xu was a quiet, gloomy, and rather peculiar little girl who didn't talk much.

They really were blood siblings. Li Shiyi had said so himself.

But whether you looked at their appearance or their personalities, there was nothing to suggest the two of them had anything in common.

Li Shiyi had thick skin. He spent all day wandering the streets of Luoyang City, rushing wherever there was a commotion.

A-Xu's personality was the complete opposite of Li Shiyi's. As long as there were more than three people in a room, she would feel very uncomfortable-and one of the other two had to be Li Shiyi.

A-Xu was very pretty, fair-skinned, quiet, and clean-looking, just like their mother.

Li Shiyi, on the other hand, looked more like their father. To be fair, he could only be described as... very healthy-looking.

The Li Residence Estate in Luoyang City was huge-so huge that even after searching the whole estate, no one could find where that little girl A-Xu had hidden herself.

At the same time, the estate was also small-so small that no matter where Li Shiyi hid after causing trouble, their old farmer of a father, who had retired from military service, could always drag him out and give him a thorough beating.

But the strangest thing was that no one in the Mansion could find A-Xu when she hid, while Li Shiyi was very good at finding her.

It was also thought that A-Xu never hid from Li Shiyi.

And so, a vicious cycle formed:

Whenever Li Shiyi caused trouble, he would be hauled out and beaten. Whenever A-Xu caused trouble, they had to find Li Shiyi first, then make him go find her. If Li Shiyi couldn't find her, that meant he was deliberately covering for his sister, and he'd get beaten by their father all the same.

Oh, right. A-Xu did cause trouble.

More precisely, the vast majority of the trouble in the estate was caused by that quiet little girl.

Li Shiyi was responsible for fewer than one in ten of the mishaps. And a considerable number of those were because he took the blame for his unlucky little sister, acting as her scapegoat.

Li Shiyi said,

A-Xu was never a quiet little thing. Her head was full of all sorts of strange ideas, and she always had the courage to put them into practice.

It was just that she always worked on those things behind everyone's back. Only Li Shiyi was lucky enough to watch and offer his opinions. So whenever she caused trouble and it came to light, Li Shiyi was made to take the blame.

"That girl is actually really devious, and she's a chatterbox too. She just puts on a good act in front of other people."

Li Shiyi didn't know whether he owed her something.

Everyone in the Mansion was distant to A-Xu. Even when their parents occasionally scolded her, the girl would only press her lips together and keep quiet.

She was only close to her unreliable older brother.

"Sometimes I feel like A-Xu is a hurdle the heavens set in my life. A few days ago, she blew up our father's fishpond-blew it up in the literal sense. So I got pushed out to take the blame again. Guess what? Heh-our old man's still hale and hearty. He hung me up and beat me for half an hour."

"Of course, I'm used to it by now. I've been beaten since I was little."

"But I just can't figure out what that girl meant when she covered her mouth and snickered while I was hanging there getting beaten. So she actually enjoys watching me get beaten, huh..."

"But I really am curious about what A-Xu calls a toilet, and what a light bulb is."

Li Shiyi, lying facedown on the bed and nursing his injuries, still hadn't forgotten his unlucky little sister's great undertaking. He kept rambling on and on.

"That light bulb thing really can explode. It's way too dangerous. I think we should put it aside for now."

"A-Xu said she's going to make some kind of gunpowder in a few days. I wonder if that stuff is safe. At least it should be more reliable than light bulbs, right?"

Later, Li Shiyi told me that he and A-Xu had a secret base that nobody else knew about.

It was in the back hills of the estate in Luoyang City. There was a small lake in the hills, and a tall, enormous willow tree grew by its shore.

Whenever they had nothing to do, or when things got too out of hand, the two of them would run off and hide in the back hills.

Then, when the time was right, they'd come back out and get beaten.

A-Xu's experiment base was also in the back hills. She conducted all her strange experiments inside a cave.

Sometimes she would hole up in the cave and tinker with things for an entire day by herself. The cave would be filled with multicolored smoke, and even Li Shiyi, who was extremely curious, didn't want to go in and take a look.

Every now and then, the girl's panicked cries for help would come from inside the cave. At those times, Li Shiyi would deftly put on the work clothes A-Xu had prepared for him, put on a mask, and rush in to save her.

During the most thrilling stretch of those days, rumbling explosions constantly came from the back hills of Luoyang City, louder than thunder and frightening the wild beasts in the woods into scattering in all directions.

Li Shiyi was always dashing about in a panic. Sometimes he'd grab a little girl with singed hair by the back of her collar and run for his life, then leap straight into the river.

Back then, A-Xu was researching gunpowder.

Back then, Li Shiyi's ears were always ringing, and he couldn't hear people calling him clearly.

His face was black as soot too, as if he'd stuck his head into a fire pit.

But A-Xu was still fair and clean, because whenever Li Shiyi rushed into the cave, he would shield her in his arms and then run for his life.

Later on, A-Xu gave up developing gunpowder.

She said she had only one older brother, and if he got blown to bits, she'd be all alone and lonely.

Li Shiyi was very pleased. He felt his little sister had finally grown up, and that night he managed to get a good night's sleep for once.

But when he woke up the next day, he found himself face-to-face with a pair of innocent, clear eyes.

"Bro, have you ever heard of... radium?"

"What the hell is that?"