Dongxun City was enormous. There was no way to see the whole place in a single day on foot.
Qian Xuelang showed no interest in anything. The pair walked from one end of the street to the other, then back again. Had Ren Yijue not complained of being tired and insisted on sitting down, Qian could probably have walked the entire route without changing expression before returning to the City Lord’s Manor.
They found a seat in a restaurant. Wanting peace and quiet, Ren Yijue requested a private room beside the upper-floor railing. Looking down, they could see pedestrians passing to and fro.
A waiter approached, placed two tea bowls on the table, and eagerly poured hot tea while waiting for their orders.
Ren Yijue ordered a pot of wine and several small dishes. While waiting, he drew a pair of chopsticks from their holder and gently tapped the rim of his tea bowl, setting tiny ripples trembling across the surface. He smiled. “This tea is so pale that I wonder how many years it’s been around. I suspect they’ve poured fresh water over the leaves a good eighty or a hundred times.”
Qian Xuelang took a sip without answering, though a thought crossed his mind.
First noodles, now wine. Ren Yijue cares a great deal about the pleasures of eating and drinking. The time he spent on the mountain must have been rather hard on him.
It was mealtime, and the kitchens were busy, so the wine and dishes arrived quickly. There were two tea bowls, and naturally two wine cups as well.
Ren Yijue asked, “Would the Jade Beauty care for a drink?”
Qian Xuelang shook his head, looking outside with his usual cool expression. There was not the slightest change in his face, and Ren could not tell whether he was watching the people or lost in thought.
That answer was no surprise. Ren Yijue poured and drank alone for a while, but when he saw that Qian touched neither the wine nor the dishes, taking at most a couple of sips of the insipid tea, he began to find the outing rather dull.
Ren Yijue felt a little deflated. Is being with me really so boring?
Yesterday, the little story Cui Shensi had told him had struck him as charming, and he’d regretted not witnessing it himself. He also recalled how they’d hurried into the city and had no heart for sightseeing afterward. That was why he’d proposed today’s excursion.
Yet after all that walking, Qian Xuelang seemed to feel nothing. There was no sign of delight, or even the slightest curiosity.
Playing with his wine cup and resting his cheek on his hand, Ren Yijue watched Qian Xuelang’s impassive face and abruptly asked, “Why did the Jade Beauty agree to come out with me today?”
Qian Xuelang had always spoken without much consideration for other people’s reactions. Still, as the saying went, he was emotionless, not ignorant.
If he admitted that Ren’s past kindness had softened his heart and that he hadn’t wanted to disappoint him, a man with Ren Yijue’s temperament would undoubtedly seize the opening and press his advantage, inviting yet more trouble and verbal sparring.
So Qian Xuelang merely said, “What difference does it make whether I agree or refuse?”
Ren Yijue replied without hesitation, “If you don’t want to go out, naturally it’s better to refuse. If you do want to go out… wouldn’t it be best to enjoy yourself? But the Jade Beauty seems to have no reaction at all. Might you not have been happier resting in the manor?”
“Have I looked unhappy?”
“Well… no.”
“Have I looked angry or indignant?”
Imagining that expression, Ren Yijue couldn’t suppress a laugh. “Well… if you did, that might be even better. Ren would truly like to see what an indignant Jade Beauty looks like.”
Exactly. Qian Xuelang felt still more certain of his conclusion. Ren Yijue could find amusement in absolutely anything; if he caught hold of the wrong phrase, who knew what trouble he’d make?
“Must I be happy?” Qian Xuelang asked. “Walking through the streets with you, I feel neither especially delighted nor unhappy. It’s no different from remaining in the City Lord’s Manor. I’m simply going outside. Why insist on giving it some extra significance? And why conclude that staying in the manor would be better?”
He broke off abruptly.
“Or perhaps,” Qian Xuelang asked, “it should feel different simply because you are here?”
That was a piercing question.
Ren Yijue pondered a moment, then smiled. “Perhaps because everyone is so busy. Those with short lives struggle just to survive, while those with long lives refuse to linger. The poor worry about food and clothing, and the rich are stingier still. If a companion offers no benefit, why have one at all?”
Two laughing youths came down the street, their swords hanging at their waists like freshly picked flowers as they jostled and teased one another. From the other end came a family of three: a child with a red hair ribbon rode on his father’s shoulders while his smiling mother walked beside them, looking after them fondly.
Many other people had passed earlier too, some annoyed, afraid, sorrowful, anxious, delighted, or angry.
Some walked together; others traveled alone.
Every face was unfamiliar, and none of those people’s pasts or futures had anything to do with him.
Although he did not quite understand Ren Yijue’s meaning, Qian Xuelang still answered slowly, “I don’t know what benefit your company brings, but I wouldn’t have agreed to anyone else’s invitation.”
If there was supposed to be something different about their companionship, surely that counted as a difference.
“Goodness, what an astonishingly touching thing to say.” Ren Yijue pretended to clutch his chest. “If Ren weren’t sharp of eye and ear, I might almost have been taken in.”
Qian Xuelang always said whatever came into his mind. “Have I deceived you?”
“Whether you meant to or not, it still counts.” Ren Yijue smiled. “The difference I meant was whether being with me makes the Jade Beauty happy, not merely the distinction you’ve mentioned. Still, the fact that you’ve learned to coax me is progress.”
“Coax you?”
“Saying I’m different from ordinary people, isn’t that coaxing me?” Perhaps the warm wine had stirred Ren Yijue’s spirits, or perhaps it had emboldened him. He asked deliberately, “Since the Jade Beauty insists on getting to the bottom of it, let Ren ask you this: what if Mr. Feng and I both came to invite you out right now?”
Qian Xuelang did not hesitate. “I’d choose you.”
Now Ren Yijue truly was overwhelmed. “Why?”
Qian Xuelang frowned. “Must there be a reason?”
“Of course there must! Some bonds are deeper than others. You’d choose me over a stranger because we’re more familiar with each other.” Ren Yijue stared fixedly at Qian Xuelang. The wine was gradually bringing a flush to his cheeks. “But Mr. Feng has known the Jade Beauty for many years. Surely your friendship with him is far deeper than ours.”
“Oh,” Qian Xuelang said. “Then it’s because that’s what I like.”
Once I have made my choice, that itself creates the difference.
Looking into Qian Xuelang’s untroubled eyes, Ren Yijue recalled what he had said on the mountain and suddenly laughed aloud, shaking his head.
“Jade Beauty, Jade Beauty, you truly do whatever you please! You really were born to cultivate the Emotionless Dao. In all my years, I’ve never met anyone better suited to it.”
He accused someone else of being unrestrained, when he was the truly unrestrained one.
Qian Xuelang said mildly, “Can you hold so little wine? You’re drunk already?”
Ren Yijue released his wine cup, leaned meekly across the table, and looked up at Qian Xuelang with pitiful eyes. “If Ren really were drunk, what would the Jade Beauty do?”
“Carry you back,” Qian Xuelang replied.
Ren Yijue buried his face in his folded arms. His shoulders shook without stopping. The laughter was quiet at first, then grew so loud he nearly choked on it.
“I’m not drunk.” Only after a long while did Ren Yijue raise his head. His eyes were soft, his cheeks flushed. He shook the wine jug, which still sloshed with liquid, and gave a sly smile. “This is what you call using wine as an excuse to act crazy.”
Whether Ren Yijue was pretending or truly drunk, Qian Xuelang did not care, provided he did not cause him any trouble.
They lingered in the restaurant for a while. Once Ren Yijue had finished the jug, the rosy color gradually faded from his face. He tasted a few of the dishes, found none especially pleasing, and set down his chopsticks.
The wine bill was modest. Ren Yijue paid, and the two went out together.
They continued along the main road. The shops were varied, but neither of them had any use for or interest in their wares. Another street proved much the same.
“The Jade Beauty has no interest in food or drink, and no taste for amusements.” Ren Yijue stretched. “Very well. We can’t spend the whole day exercising our legs by walking back and forth. Shall we go back?”
Qian Xuelang nodded. “All right.”
It really makes no difference to him. Ren Yijue sighed quietly to himself.
They did not talk further along the way. Mingling with the crowd, they became part of the vast human world and its innumerable ordinary lives as they returned to the City Lord’s Manor.
The manor looked as it always had. Partway inside, Ren Yijue took leave of Qian Xuelang. “I’ve remembered something I need to attend to, so I won’t escort the Jade Beauty back to your tower. Do you know the way on your own?”
His gaze was exceptionally gentle as he spoke.
“I do,” Qian Xuelang said. “But what business do you have? Is it connected to the Heavenly Demon?”
Ren Yijue gave a startled laugh. “I’m being pursued by the Heavenly Demon, not getting married to him. Am I not allowed any business unrelated to him? Or is the Heavenly Demon the only thing the Jade Beauty can think about, leaving no room for Ren at all?”
“If it isn’t about him, it isn’t about him. Why so many words?” Qian Xuelang said coolly. “Do you need my help?”
“Only a little matter of passing along a message.” Ren Yijue’s heart softened. “The Young City Lord has vanished without explanation. It won’t matter for a little while, but if much time passes, the manor will be in an uproar. Naturally I should first let City Lord Cui and the others know he’s safe.”
Qian Xuelang was puzzled. “Didn’t he quarrel with his family?”
Ren Yijue smiled. “I’m going to tell them he’s safe, not betray the Young City Lord’s hiding place. Given the favor they’re indebted to me for, I imagine City Lord Cui will spare me a little consideration however anxious he is. If he loses his head and hangs Ren from the city wall for public display, then I’ll really have to trouble the Jade Beauty to carry me down.”
Ren Yijue could think so far ahead even over a matter this trivial.
“If he’s truly that rude, throw the water jade in his face,” Qian Xuelang said.
“Hmm?” Ren Yijue had only been bantering for amusement. This unexpected advice left him bemused. “It would feel satisfying, certainly, but wouldn’t that be rather an extravagant sacrifice?”
“If the breaking of the water jade didn’t alert me, I might never know you were hanging on the city wall until you’d dried into jerky.”
Ren Yijue found that absurdly funny, but nodded with exaggerated gravity. “Of course. As ever, the Jade Beauty has thought everything through.”
They fell silent for a moment. Then, with a rare hint of laughter in his voice, Qian Xuelang said, “That’s enough. Stop making things up about Cui Xuanchan. It was one thing before we knew him, but now it’s rather rude.”
Ren Yijue looked thoroughly playful. “Well, what can you expect? Ren is only an uncultured country bumpkin.”