It was a cloudy day after a midnight drizzle that they finally caught sight of Lanzhou.

"So it's about the previous dynasty, the Jiang?" Danlu bugged Xiyun about the book he held, again.

"Maybe."

"But the title says ‘Weather’." Danlu nudged his side. He and Yeon had traded spots.

"It’s a compilation of records of the weather in each province during the period the Jiang Dynasty lasted."

"Isn’t reading that boring? Why would anyone want to know about the weather ages ago?"

Xiyun shifted in his seat. "The records are dated by year. I have records about crop yields that are also dated by year."

Danlu thought that was even more boring. Reading about every year of something just to do the same for something else. Wait. Year? "When is it New Years?"

"The new year started three days ago," Xiyun stated in passing.

Danlu's eyes focused. His mouth sputtered and began whispering in shock, increasing in loudness as he went. "We missed New Years. Father. Did you know? Xiyun, you knew all along! Why didn’t you remind us?"

Xiyun turned to Yeon, but she shrugged.

"Shut up! Stop screaming!" Chu Su yelled.

Yeon pointed. "Look!"

The father and son were successfully distracted. It was a single farmer’s cottage, but any residence of Lanzhou still meant they had arrived.

Chu Su tossed a look back. "Young Patrons, is this place it?"

Xiyun stared outside. Hills and fields arranged themselves at the side of the mountain. In the distance was a blue line and black dots against the green, the town center near the river surrounded by houses.

Yeon once again failed to retrieve any information from his expression. Just like back at Jiyang. She attributed this time to the fact that this was his hometown, in the same manner she had attributed the fact that he had lived in Jiyang as the reason he was not interested in it. She was now wrong on both cases.

"Go past the town center to the foot of the opposing mountain," Xiyun said.

...

Trekking closer to the town center, the more attention the carriage received. Soon all the surrounding villages received something new to gossip about.

Lanzhou situated itself off the main highway and Grand Canal, so no travelers heading elsewhere would pass by unless they were horribly lost. A month had yet to pass since the last outsiders came to Lanzhou, and two of their youths had left, yet there were already two horses pulling four people on the main road.

The most common speculation was that the outsiders were sent by some wealthy family seeking a place to build a new manor. When someone joked that Three Manor Village would soon become Four Manor Village, the village head began chasing the man and swinging his walking stick. Eventually, the village head’s son, one of the few bailiff officials in the county, had to stop his father himself.

"What do you think Teacher He? Should we head to the town center?" the village head asked He Bai dryly.

"I can’t possibly advise Village Head. If Village Head would like to know, the kids are telling me that besides the driver, the other three don’t appear to be adults."

"Whatever. No matter how curious everyone is, I’m not walking over there to find out. I’m old. There is only one inn to stay in anyway." The short old man took his walking stick by hand and stomped back inside his house.

Everyone knew that the village head held a walking stick not because he needed one, but because he used it to hit those useless sons in the village.

…

"On second thought, take the side road and avoid the town center," Xiyun suddenly said.

Chu Su and Chu Danlu both shrugged their shoulders but complied. They reached the foot of the mountain.

Yeon and Xiyun exited the carriage. Before Xiyun could say anything, Yeon opened Xiyun’s carrying case and took out the string of coins. She passed it over to Danlu. "Count enough for me."

"Sure," Danlu answered.

On the side, Xiyun peered into the forest on the mountain.

Chu Su walked towards the boy. "Is this far enough?"

Xiyun nodded and began walking up a small path. When he glanced to his right, Yeon was there.

Chu Su and Chu Danlu stood together watching the two figures disappear under the foliage.

Danlu felt a weight in his heart. "Let’s stay the night here."

Chu Su knocked his son on his back. "Of course. We need the rest. Come on, we need to find an inn."

…

Within the mountains was a clearing by a stream.

Xiyun stopped. There was no temple, no building, only a patch of black and brown. He walked up and took a step onto it.

"This was the front entrance." Proceeding straight, Xiyun made it into the middle. "This was the hearth. When the canopy is opened, sunlight shone down the temple to this spot. At the east is where the bedding is. To the west was the stairwell. At the back, is an exit leading to the walled-in yard. On the second floor, the front was where the Canon, Scriptures, and Classics, were placed, however, after reading them once, I spent very little time there. I spent most of my time at the back, where the historic accounts were preserved."

Yeon followed and stepped into the debris, imagining what the temple once resembled. The boy was also acting off because this was the first time she had heard him say so many words at his own initiative.

"Was there a third floor?"

"I was never allowed to go up to the third floor, but I know what was there. On the third floor was a stone in the shape of a book."

What nonsense is this? Yeon thought that a book in the shape of stone would make more sense, because at least then you can still read it. "What was written on the stone?"

"Obviously, a story."

The corner of Yeon’s lips twitched. She did not answer but trekked around the area. The building was burnt down, and all that was left was black dust. There were many stones on the ground, but they were ordinary.

"What kind of temple was this?" she asked.

"Master called it an Origin Temple."

"Well, it's gone now. So what am I supposed to do?"

"How does this relate to you?"

"You’re obviously not home yet because the home is now gone, so how can I finish my job?" She looked and saw a rare instance of concentration on the boy’s face. "What’s wrong?" she carefully asked.

"I have a hawk. It belongs to me. Even if Master left, it should have waited for me here."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think someone stole my hawk."

Yeon shook her head in exasperation and pulled the boy over. "We’re going back down the mountain."

…

Along the river bank was a certain scene.

There were five children. Three were distinctly older than the other two. The tallest of the five stood cross-armed. The next two tallest each held down one of the remaining two boys in front of their leader.

"It’s all because you bunch that study all cower down to her that she got away with so much. Don’t you know what happened to Liaofei? Now that the menace is gone, what can you do?" The tall youth kicked the side of one of the younger boys.

The kicked boy grimaced. He slowly peered at his side and met gazes with the other boy being held down. After an exchange of nods hidden from their bullies, he raised his head. The dust from the ground brought two drops of tears to form in his eyes.

"Aiyah! Brother Dai, did you know how much we have suffered! Your parents don’t force you to deal with her every day. You can hide every time she passes by, but we actually need to study with her. Do you know how difficult it has been?"

"Little Hao is right! Brother Dai, you promised to protect us from her, didn’t you? Yet, you abandoned us," the other boy being held down said. He sniffled because he couldn’t cry.

The three older boys looked at each other and all thought that these two were really pitiful. Brother Dai’s crossed arms fell as he went silent.

When Little Hao felt the grasp holding him down loosen, he immediately brightened. The lessons Sister Hei taught really are effective! "Exactly! We should be the ones angry at you! Brother Dai, let Little Cui hold you down and let me kick you instead."

Brother Dai’s face immediately flushed. "What did you say!?" He forgot all his thoughts and sent another kick.

"Little Hao, it was going so well. How could you ruin it?" Little Cui whispered. Secretly, he hoped that Brother Dai would forget to beat him up later after he beat Little Hao. Sister Hei did say stupidity can be just as bad as evil.

Little Hao wanted to cry injustice, but when he opened his eyes he saw a foot slam into Brother Dai’s stomach. It was too sudden. The older boy flew off the ground before hitting the grass. Standing between all of them was a girl they had never seen before.

"Brother Dai!"

"Brother Dai!"

The remaining two youths released Little Hao and Little Cui as they ran to help Brother Dai.

Brother Dai tried to shoot an accusing finger at the girl but only cough in a fit.

"If you want to beat someone, then let’s fight," the girl said.

Brother Dai slowly stood up and remained silent. A violent girl appeared out of nowhere and kicked him! He was getting flashbacks! After seeing the questioning gazes of the other two boys, he pushed their backs forward. The trio nodded and charged at the girl together.

…

Han Yeon’s eyes lit up in anticipation however as three fists were thrown at her, she suddenly creased her brows in confusion.

Yes, thrown. Like throwing a rock. Something that couldn’t be controlled after the initial swing.

A simple blunt fist had two extremes, vigor and control. Vigor meant strength and speed, but with just vigor, it would be impossible to connect your fist with your target when they block or dodge. Control meant accuracy and flexibility, but without vigor, no force can be pushed against the target. This did not just apply to a single fist but to martial arts, which valued a balance of vigor and control.

In the forms of the three youths, she only saw vigor and an absence of control.

Han Yeon had never been in a brawl before. She had been in fights with the troublemakers that went near Mulsunhwan, spars with fellow disciples of Master, and matches against challengers of other schools. Most were against youths older than her and adults. More importantly, they have all either trained in martial arts or cultivated great control and vigor.

At this moment, she had grasped the idea that not everyone who started fights knew how to fight.

It was the ugliest and most disappointing thing Han Yeon had seen so far in her fourteen years of living.

...

One after another, they raised their fists and swung, but they all missed. It looked like they weren’t even trying to hit the girl, but swinging their arms randomly instead. The girl had strolled past all of them as if they weren’t there.

The girl crouched down for a moment and then suddenly leapt back towards the confused trio. She passed all three and returned to her original spot using four light jumps.

"She hit all their faces!"

"She kicked all three in the stomach!"

"Little Cui, are you blind? She obviously hit their faces. I saw it. Look! Their faces are all swollen."

"Little Hao, if she hit them on the face, then why are they grasping their stomachs as they squirm on the ground instead of grasping their face?"

Little Hao continued staring in awe before noticing the white-robed boy nearby who was gazing at the river and seemed oblivious to the scene that just occurred. "They’re the new outsiders." He finally realized. It was the whole reason he and Little Cui left the village to come over and look.

"Remember there exist those who act when there is injustice," the girl said towards the trio. The trio could only squirm on the ground to watch the girl frown at first and then nod. She proceeded to smile in a satisfied expression.

Little Hao found it a little weird. "Didn’t Sister Hei say something similar once?"

"No, what Sister Hei said was, ‘know there exist those who act when there is something they don’t like.’ Completely different," Little Cui answered in a scholarly tone.

Little Hao looked at the trio’s faces and thought that Village Head would definitely hit these three with the walking stick for fighting when he sees them.

The girl walked over, as did the white-clothed boy.

"We’re looking for an inn and where our carriage drivers are," she said.

"Sure. We can help," Little Hao said.

"Happy to repay kindness," Little Cui remarked.

…

Xiyun and Yeon reached a restaurant at the town center and spotted Chu Su and Danlu sitting inside.

Danlu cheerily waved his hands as the two went over to sit down. "You guys came back?"

"His home doesn’t exist anymore. It burned down," Yeon said.

Chu Su looked at the boy. "I asked around, and apparently, they discovered the burned down temple at that mountain about two years ago when the rising smoke was seen."

Xiyun nodded. "I am not worried. Master likely did it himself."

None of the three made mention of how unlikely such a thing was.

Yeon nudged his arm. "Where are you going to stay? No one we have passed knows you."

"I don’t know them either."

The three looked at the boy wondering what to do with him. From their perspectives, he was an orphan that also lost the ascetic monk that raised him.

Yeon, in particular, was stumped. He was worse than street urchins because at least urchins had street smarts.

"Since you are well-read, you can only try to find opportunities in a city." Chu Su said sympathetically.

"Actually, with how much wealth you have, you can last a few years before needing to find suitable work," Danlu followed. "Are you sure you have no distant relatives here?"

Xiyun shook his head. "No. The only relatives I have knowledge of are in Luoyi."

One. Two. Three. Time passed as their gazes remained locked on the boy.

"What!"

"What!!"

"What!!!"

Yeon raised her hand up high. "That’s it! It’s decided! We’re going to Luoyi!" She looked at the father and son pair.

Chu Su smiled. "Our headquarters is in Luoyi, so it’s completely fine. In fact, we used to be residents of the city."

Danlu called out to the waiter. "We want to double our order!"