Early the next morning, Chu Wanning climbed out of bed, his
eyes ringed with dark circles. Because he'd slept poorly, he seemed
especially glum. His face, usually impassive to begin with, had iced over,
devoid any sign of vitality.
He pushed open the cottage door to find Mo Ran washing clothes
outside. But…why was he doing laundry first thing in the morning? Didn't
he just wash his clothes yesterday?
Mo Ran seemed somewhat abashed when he spied Chu Wanning
emerging from the cottage. Traces of suds on his cheek, he turned in
greeting. "Shizun."
"Mn."
"Third Lady Sun is as good as her word. Now that she's got her
money, she's sent breakfast over to every house. I put ours on the little
stone table in the yard—Shizun, you should go eat."
"What about you?"
"I already did." The contours of Mo Ran's hands were crisp and
strong under the rippling water. "When you're done with breakfast, let's go
sell butterflies and flowers."
The breakfast sent over by Third Lady Sun was simple but ample in
quantity—three whole mantou. Chu Wanning sat in the courtyard and
nibbled at the buns. The morning sunlight streamed through the grapevines
winding around the trellis above, scattering flecks of brilliance across the
table's surface.
He glanced over his shoulder. His eyes lingered on Mo Ran's tall
figure, and a vague sense of warmth surged in his chest. Chu Wanning
quickly turned away, chomping viciously into the helpless bun.
The golden haitang blossoms and red spiritual butterflies caused a
huge and immediate stir at Flying Flower Isle's humble village market. All
the fishermen rushed over at once, and even those who hadn't planned any
purchases that day were enticed by the spectacle.
"Flowers!"
"What's so exciting about flowers? Surely you've seen flowers
before?"
"Golden haitang blossoms! Made of spiritual energy! In bloom all
year round! And they can transmit messages!"
"Wow! Where? Where are they?"
A throng of people scurried over.
"Butterflies!"
"What's so great about butterflies? The place is lousy with them in
the spring."
"Red ones! Made of spiritual energy, and they can repel little ghouls!
Plus they're so pretty and docile—they flutter around next to you and don't
fly away!"
"Ahh! Really? Where? Where are they?"
Another horde followed in their wake.
Word of the commotion eventually reached Third Lady Sun, who was
at leisure in her manor. She couldn't resist decamping to the marketplace
with several attendants in tow. Before she reached its entrance, she saw
distant glimmers of gold and scarlet flashing among the dense crowd and
heard the onlookers gasping in awe. Heart crawling with want, she flung
aside the crowd of commoners and strode over to take a look.
She spied the two cultivators who had arrived the day before. One
wore a brilliant smile and was conjuring flashy tricks to attract the crowd's
attention. The other had his face turned indifferently aside and was standing
under a tree, arms crossed in wordless silence.
"Butterflies for sale, butterflies for sale!" The gallant young man
looked back at the expressionless one. "Shizun, why don't you hawk too?"
Hawk? Chu Wanning snorted to himself. He didn't even know how
this word was written. Could he really be expected to shamelessly conduct
himself like the uncouth Mo Weiyu and holler to the thronging crowd,
"Flowers for sale, haitang flowers for sale!" Perish the thought.
The onlookers hesitated for some time, imagining that these
cultivational wares must be staggeringly expensive. At last, one of the
bolder islanders stepped forward. "How much for the butterflies?"
"Ten gold apiece," said Mo Ran.
Chu Wanning cleared his throat.
"…Three coppers apiece," he amended.
"That's it?"
The crowd was visibly shocked. Customers began to press forward
one after another. Mo Ran handed out butterflies to his left and flowers to
his right.
As he worked, he caught sight of a small girl standing off in the
distance. She was dressed shabbily in rags and chewed on her fingertips,
gazing longingly at this bustling scene. With a wordless grin, Mo Ran
swiftly drew his fingers together to produce a stunning swallowtail
butterfly. He blew on it softly, sending it floating over the sea of people to
alight just above the girl's ear.
The girl froze in astonishment. She took a few halting steps forward
before stopping again and shaking her head. She had no money… The girl
didn't have a single copper coin, much less three.
Mo Ran waved at her and mouthed, It's a gift. Batting his eyelashes,
he turned away and busied himself with the crowd.
Third Lady Sun watched slack-jawed as these lovely spiritual charms
left, one after another, in the hands of their new owners. Some of the island
girls who had an eye for baubles had tucked the haitang blossoms into their
hair. The flowers cast a golden glow over their dark locks, making for a
marvelously luxurious sight.
"I'll take every single one of these butterflies and flowers," Third
Lady Sun blurted out.
Mo Ran looked up, his smile never faltering. "And here I was
wondering who had such deep pockets—of course it's you, Third Lady."
"How many are left? Count them, I'll take them all."
"I'm afraid that's not possible," Mo Ran smiled sweetly. "It's all first
come, first-served, you see—since these good people were here before you,
and we still have plenty left, we can't just let you buy all our stock."
Looking out at the crowd of villagers, Third Lady Sun began to
worry that the butterflies and haitang blossoms might sell out before her
turn came. "Then I'll pay more," she replied.
"I'm not the boss here," said Mo Ran. "I'm just helping out. You'll
have to see my shizun if you want to talk money."
Third Lady Sun strode toward the tree to speak to the flower-selling
cultivator Chu Wanning. "Xianjun, why not sell your butterflies and flowers
to me? We're all people of business here—name your price."
"Ten gold apiece," Chu Wanning said coolly.
Hearing this, Mo Ran had to laugh out loud. When he turned to meet
Chu Wanning's night-dark eyes, tenderness bloomed with his amusement.
He grinned and scratched his head, dimples deep and striking.
Third Lady Sun was rolling in money; she didn't bat an eye at such a
measly expenditure. She promptly instructed her servants to gather all those
Nightglow Haitang Blossoms and swallowtail butterflies and cart them
away.
Once back at her manor, the delighted Third Lady Sun pulled her hair
into a high bun and festooned it with fifty or more gleaming golden
blossoms. She directed the butterflies to flutter around her in lazy loops.
With golden light spewing from her head, she resembled nothing so much
as a melting candle. The servants found the sight hilarious, but seeing as she
was the head of their household, they had no choice but to hold back their
laughter until their ribs ached fit to break.
Third Lady Sun's satisfaction was not to last. Soon enough, someone
stopped by the manor to report that the two cultivators were hawking new
wares at the market. The news shook her to her core. Crowned with a
dazzling coiffure and wreathed in a tornado of butterflies, she set out afresh
for the market.
"Butterflies for sale! Butterflies for sale!"
Third Lady Sun squeezed her way through the crowd. Hands planted
on her hips, she snapped furiously, "Didn't I just buy you out? Where'd
these come from?"
Mo Ran blinked innocently. "We made more."
"You can just make more? Why'd you ask for ten gold a pop then?"
Mo Ran smiled. "Think of it like this: let's say you wake up one
morning and head to a stall selling pan-fried soup dumplings. It's a popular
stall, with a long queue of people already waiting, but you insist on cutting
the line. If the stall's owner were to tell you that you can get your food
faster—you'll simply have to pay a premium—wouldn't that make sense?"
"Y-you swindler!" Third Lady Sun sputtered in rage. "You…"
As she cast about for the right words to refute his twisted logic, she
saw that the hitherto-silent cultivator had approached. With a flash of gold
at his fingertips, Chu Wanning produced a pair of twin haitang blossoms
sharing a single stem.
Irate as Third Lady Sun was, the new flowers intrigued her. "What's
this now? Why is it different from the ones before?"
"This type of haitang has a beauty spell cast upon it. If one places it
at their bedside before going to sleep, they will wake the next day with a
radiant complexion. It should last about fifteen days." Chu Wanning
nonchalantly handed the flower to Mo Ran. "Go ahead, sell it—a hundred
gold per blossom."
"Hold it." Third Lady Sun couldn't bear the prospect of these two
lecturing her again about cutting in line. Though she was hopping mad, she
commanded, "Stop right there—I'll take this one. How many more do you
have? I'll take them all!"
"I don't like to cast the same spell too many times," said Chu
Wanning. "There are only three."
"Then here's three hundred gold. Take it."
"You may hand it to Mo Ran," Chu Wanning said. He lowered his
head to conjure two more double blossoms. After passing them to Third
Lady Sun, he started to form a fourth flower.
Third Lady Sun was vexed to no end. "Did you not say you were
only making three?"
"This one will have a sound-sweetening spell," Chu Wanning said
mildly. "When a woman wears it upon her person, it will make her voice
more pleasing to the ear."
Third Lady Sun coveted youth even more than money. She watched
greedily as this esteemed cultivator from Sisheng Peak coaxed to life one
wondrous haitang after another. Teeth aching with resentment, she could
only say, "All right, all right, I'll take them. I'll take them all."
When Mo Ran and Chu Wanning returned to the cottage that night
and closed the door behind them, they poured their full purses onto the
table. Their earnings were more than enough to feed and house the refugees
until the fire on the distant shore went out. Chu Wanning pushed half of the
coins to Mo Ran and put away the other. "Any leftover money goes back to
Third Lady Sun when we leave."
"Why?" Mo Ran blurted out, startled.
"Flying Flower Isle is far from Linyi and poor in resources. Food,
clothing, and supplies are difficult to come by. But look at the fishermen on
the island—few lack for food or warm clothing. Don't you find this a bit
strange?"
After a moment's consideration, Mo Ran had to admit that it was
indeed so and assented with an "Mn."
"The reason is apparent if you ask around a little. While you were
manning the stall today, I went to talk with the village elder. It seems this
Third Lady Sun used to be a disciple of Rufeng Sect. But because her talent
was small, her master didn't spend much time on her. After five years of
study, she'd only learned a few superficial sword techniques."
Mo Ran hadn't expected this. "She was a member of Rufeng Sect?
Then, did Shizun know her—"
"No," said Chu Wanning. "According to the village elder, when she
was seventeen, she came to Flying Flower Isle with a group of Rufeng
cultivators to recruit new disciples. Those established cultivators exploited
the island's remoteness and the status of its residents as commoners. Even if
these people were abused, they couldn't possibly make the long trip to
Rufeng Sect to seek redress. Thus, the cultivators committed assorted
crimes against the islanders over their time here—they stole food and
money, and even…"
"Even?"
"Even took advantage of several young men and women."
Mo Ran fell silent.
"Third Lady Sun was furious," Chu Wanning continued. "She
confronted the senior disciples. Though her standing was low, she had a
fiery temper and made enemies of her companions. In the end, they
conspired against her—a shixiong ran her through and pushed her off a cliff
into the sea."
"Seriously?" Mo Ran muttered. "No wonder the village elder made it
a point to say we weren't from Rufeng Sect or whatever when he was
persuading her to let us stay. Who would've thought that… Ugh…"
"Mn. She was fortunate the sword missed her vital organs. After she
fell into the ocean, a fisherman spotted her from his boat. That fisherman
had two daughters who'd both died young. He took the girl he'd saved in as
his foster daughter and taught her how to fish and conduct business. When
her foster father passed, she took up his mantle and eventually established
herself as the richest merchant on Flying Flower Isle."
Chu Wanning paused. "Remember, she did say that Flying Flower
Isle had a poor harvest this year, and that she'd opened her own granaries to
provide relief rations to every household. Third Lady Sun makes an
excellent living, but she only ever cheats cultivators and never takes so
much as an extra copper from the islanders. In fact, she even lends them a
hand in lean times."
Mo Ran said not a word. He thought back to the little girl at the
market who had gazed so longingly at the haitang blossoms. From her
shabby clothes and grubby face, it was obvious that she was an orphan. But
she wasn't skinny—her cheeks were round, her eyes bright. If someone
hadn't been helping her, if she needed to beg for all her food, wouldn't such
a young child be skin and bones?
"Third Lady Sun makes at least twenty trips crossing the sea to the
mainland each year. It's a rough voyage that takes a full week round trip. If
you do the math, she spends half her life at sea. You saw how sumptuous
her manor is, and she must be over fifty by now. Why would she still go out
to brave the wind and waves? Why would she spare no effort in traveling to
Linyi to sell the island's goods and bring back much needed supplies?" said
Chu Wanning. "She clearly isn't hurting for money herself."
When he'd heard the story to the end, Mo Ran felt a dull pain in his
chest. "I understand." He picked up his half of the money and stood at once
to leave.
"Where are you going?" Chu Wanning called after him.
"I'm going to return what we made off her."
"Sit down," Chu Wanning said calmly. "Why are you being so silly?"
"Huh?"
"Consider the kind of person Third Lady Sun is—she's got a strong
personality and a fiercely competitive streak. She despises cultivators more
than anything… If you march over there and return this money to her,
who's to say she won't grab a stick and beat you until you flee her manor?"
Mo Ran's back ached at the very thought. He heaved a helpless sigh.
"Then what should I do?"
"I've already arranged everything with the village elder. We'll leave
the excess with him before we leave, and he'll find a way to hand it over to
Third Lady Sun," Chu Wanning replied. "We'll be far away by then, and the
money will benefit the residents of the isle. She won't refuse it."
Eyes downcast, Mo Ran contemplated this for a moment. He nodded.
"Shizun is right. Let's follow this plan."
Chu Wanning sighed. "Many things in this world can't be evaluated
on appearances alone. Sometimes, even digging one layer down isn't
enough to unearth the truth. I remind myself always to rein in my emotions
before rendering judgment, whether on people or actions—it always pays to
be cautious. But sometimes I can't help myself."
These words were not at all to Mo Ran's liking. Judging if a person
was good or bad or if an action was right or wrong based on appearances—
was this not exactly what he had once done to Chu Wanning?
He wasn't alone in this. Mere mortals often found it exceedingly
difficult to take in and contemplate truths hidden beneath the dust of the
world with clear eyes and calm hearts. Whether it was Mo Ran regarding
Chu Wanning, or Nangong Si regarding his mother, who among them had
never been led astray by their emotions or blinded by appearances,
ultimately committing some irreversible mistake? Perhaps only someone
like Chu Wanning—who was outwardly indifferent and cold, yet always set
room aside in his heart for people to redeem themselves—could look upon
the world without assuming others' malicious intent. The more Mo Ran
came to understand him, the more he realized that this Beidou Immortal,
who appeared the most irascible of all, in truth possessed a rare unjaded,
unsullied heart. His prideful, detached exterior hid a kind and forgiving
soul.
Mo Ran bore an incredible tenderness toward Chu Wanning and this
gentle soul of his. He felt, as well, a powerful urge to protect him. Perhaps
it was because he himself had stumbled out from mountains of corpses and
seas of blood, his hands covered in gore, that he understood there was
nothing in the world more valuable than a sincere heart. Such a heart was
the clear call of a flute through the smoke of war, a blossom unfolding in
the trenches.
Thus Emperor Taxian-jun, once the scourge of the world, thought
silently to himself as he faced this soul: if ever there came a day it was
needed, he would do anything to protect this clean and pure Beidou
Immortal. Whether his body was battered and his blood ran dry, whether his
corpse was mutilated and his ashes scattered, whether he had to offer up his
skull and every one of his blighted souls.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Ah—nothing." Mo Ran smiled. "Nothing important."
"Nothing important?"
Mo Ran pursed his lips. Suddenly, he recalled that Chu Wanning had
mentioned as they walked to the market this morning that he wanted to
learn to ride a sword. "Shizun, come with me," he said.