bgm: 公子褚嬴

Stonecut Valley Town, 13 Years Ago

“Go away!”

“Yeah, we don’t want you playin’ with us!”

In an alleyway next to the marketplace, three figures leered at a smaller, better-dressed boy as they shoved him backwards.

Seven-year-old Su Shimeng huffed but gamely scrambled back to his feet. “Why not?!”

The leader of the bullies, a proud merchant’s son, placed his hands on his hips. “Cause you got a girl’s name.”

Su Shimeng flushed. “So? I still beat you fair and square!”

They had just finished a game of tag and Su Shimeng had been It, though he still caught the three older, taller boys without a hitch. That had surprised them, but it quickly turned to disdain as soon as Su Shimeng said his name.

“Y-yeah, so what?” the leader huffed. “You just got lucky, that’s all!”

“Then let’s play again!” Su Shimeng huffed. “I’ll be It and tag you all!”

“You wish!”

“You scared?”

“As if!” The leader almost gave in then and there, but then one of his cronies poked out his head and asked, “If you’re surnamed Su, are you Lady Bai’s son?”

Over the past few years, Su Manor had owed no little of its success in the jade trade to Su Shiyu’s wife, Bai Tingyao. By now her name was quite well-known around town.

“That’s my big sis!” Su Shimeng said proudly. “My mommy’s Madam Su! She’s the head of the entire Su Manor!”

“Hah~?! That Madam Su?” the leader gaped. “I heard she’s nothing but an evil dem, dum…”

“An evil demoness!” the friend supplied, eyes as wide as saucers as he stared at Su Shimeng. “Mommy told me all about her. She killed off your daddy and your other mommy. She almost killed your big brother too! She’s bad!”

“Yeah, that’s really bad!”

“You’re probably bad too!”

“T-that’s not true!” Su Shimeng was indignant. “My mommy’s a good person! She, she didn’t kill anyone!”

“Then how come nobody likes her, huh?” this time, it was the third child who spoke up. “My daddy says everyone in town knows Madam Su is cursed! And she even gave you a girl’s name. She’s weird!”

“I was sick,” Su Shimeng protested. “I got this name ‘cause I wasn’t feelin’ well, and—”

“Your mommy probably made you sick,” the leader huffed again. “If we play with you, we’re gonna get sick too!”

“No! I don’t wanna get sick!”

“Ew ew, run away!”

Before Su Shimeng could defend himself, the children ran off, laughing and screaming as they disappeared around the corner. He scowled, his chubby face scrunching into something close to tears. Dumb dumbheads! He would beat them up again once he caught them, just wait!

“Mengmeng!”

Seconds before Su Shimeng bolted after the trio, a voice called him back. Aggrieved, the little boy turned to face his sister-in-law Bai Tingyao. Although he grew healthier after his name change, Madam Su still insisted on keeping him at home for his safety. Today he’d finally begged his sister-in-law to take him to town after promising to be very, very good.

And he was! He was super good until he saw a vendor pushing a cart of sugar candies and then he’d followed him until he got lost in this alleyway. There were other children here—one of the first he’d seen outside of the manor’s guests—so he’d tried playing with them, and that’d gone well until they made fun of him and left…

“Where have you been?!” Bai Tingyao rebuked as she ran over, a servant girl and two retainers hurrying behind her with bags. “You naughty boy! Didn’t I tell you to stay close to me?”

In that instant, Su Shimeng felt like the entire world was against him. His eyes stung as he tried to swallow back a growing lump in his throat, but failed. Overwhelmed by his feelings, he reached out helplessly at the taller woman. “Big sis…”

“Oh, you…” Instantly softening, Bai Tingyao knelt down to pick him up, not minding as the boy instantly buried his teary face into her expensive silks. “Did Mengmeng get lost? Your robes are all dusty, are you hurt anywhere?”

“Sis...big sis…!” Su Shimeng only felt more miserable as Bai Tingyao patted his back. The familiar, comforting scent of peonies and herbs brought a wave of nostalgia surging up in him. He wanted to be back home where she and his mother doted on him. Where he could play with all the toys he wanted. Even big brother’s scary stares weren’t as bad as this. “U-uwaaaahhhh…!”

“Shh, shh, it’s alright,” Bai Tingyao thought the boy was frightened and soothed him with her voice. “Big sis found you, we can go home now.”

—

In bits and pieces, she wrangled the story out of Su Shimeng while calming him down. By the end of it she’d even tracked down the candy seller and bought him a sweet, leaving the boy to contentedly suck on sugar as they rode the carriage back to Su Manor.

“Big sis, is my mommy a bad person?” After calming down, Su Shimeng could finally ask the question plaguing his thoughts.

“Does Mengmeng think your mommy is bad?”

“No!” Su Shimeng replied instantly. “But...the other boys said she was...even the whole town! So I don’t know...”

Bai Tingyao reached out to draw the boy close, stroking her fingers through his hair. He instantly quieted down as he waited for her to talk.

“Everyone has to make hard choices in life, Mengmeng,” Bai Tingyao murmured, “But remember this: there is never, ever anything wrong in trying to protect the family you love. That’s what big sister believes.”

Su Shimeng poked his head up curiously. “Then, will big sis protect me and mommy too?”

Bai Tingyao smiled and kissed him lightly on the top of his head. “I always protect my own.”

Su Shimeng’s eyes lit up as he hugged her. “Me too! I’ll protect mommy and big sis and everyone!”

His sister laughed as she rewarded him with more hugs and kisses.

—

At the bottom of the cave-in, Su Shimeng paused as his heel stopped against something unyielding in the dirt. Nan Wuyue was the first to notice with his sharp eyes and looked at him curiously.

“What is it?” he asked.

Instead of answering, Su Shimeng moved his foot and looked down. There seemed to be something lying in the pile of dirt he’d brushed off the wall. He crouched and brushed away the earth before revealing a round object half-buried in the cave ground. With some digging, he got it loose and revealed it to be a silver bracelet. It was a plain band but slim and well-made, obviously designed for a female wrist. He stared at it wordlessly while Mo Yixuan and Nan Wuyue came from a closer look.

“Why would there be a woman’s bracelet here?” Nan Wuyue murmured at the sight. “Did someone drop it?”

“These are workers’ mines, women wouldn’t come here,” Mo Yixuan refuted. He wondered if it was a token from one of their wives, but no. Not only was a bracelet inconvenient to carry around, this one was also too expensive to belong to any of the usual mining men.

Abruptly, Su Shimeng took the fabric of his hat’s veil and began to rub furiously at the inside of the bracelet. Mo Yixuan couldn’t help but feel sorry for the silk—between this and the blackened jade, it’d be a grimy mess by the time they got back. Nan Wuyue was only watching Su Shimeng’s movements with a slight frown. Was it just him, or did the other seem discomfited?

When Su Shimeng finally cleared enough of the silver, he inhaled sharply before flinging the bracelet away. Mo Yixuan moved to pick it up, examining the shiny spot where the other had rubbed away years’ worth of grime. He couldn’t see anything special in the silver except—ah.

Etched in a section on the inner wrist was a single Chinese character for Yan (燕), or swallow.

A curious feeling rose in Mo Yixuan’s chest as he held up the bracelet while meeting Su Shimeng’s veiled face. “Yan for Su Yan’er?” he guessed.

Su Shimeng jerked in alarm.

“Is this your mother’s bracelet?” Mo Yixuan asked next.

This time Su Shimeng shook his head violently before stopping with some doubt. “She…” He swallowed audibly.

Mo Yixuan and Nan Wuyue were patient, so they just waited.

“My mother has a bracelet just like it, but it’s not this one,” Su Shimeng finally admitted. 

“How so?”

“The etched character in the silver,” Su Shimeng explained. “Mother said father hand-carved it into the metal himself, but hers looks different from this one. And it’s too old! Mother wears her bracelet everyday, I saw hers when I came to visit last year.”

By now Nan Wuyue had gone to examine the jewelry as well, but found no unusual sights or scents. “What if they’re both her bracelets?” he asked. “Maybe Old Madam Su lost this one and your father gave her a replacement later.”

Su Shimeng shook his head in denial. “She never mentioned anything about that.”

“She could’ve gotten the second one before you were born,” Nan Wuyue suggested. 

Mo Yixuan went for logic. “We can compare this bracelet to the one Old Madam Su’s always wearing later. For now, let’s assume this is her bracelet. How would it have ended up here?”

“It can’t be mother herself,” Su Shimeng insisted. “She’s never stepped foot into the mines in her life. And she...she’s always minded her station. After the rumors broke about her in town, she stayed in the Su Manor for the rest of her life.”

“The only person we can deduce to have visited this area is Su Shiyu, because your jade pendant resonated with the qi-rich jade here,” Mo Yixuan picked up the thread. “Could he have taken your mother’s bracelet for any reason?” For example—spite over those same rumors linking her with the Su family’s deaths?

Su Shimeng looked uncomfortable but didn’t back down. “Even if big bro did, he wouldn’t just leave the bracelet here on the ground,” Su Shimeng rejected. “I don’t see my mother willingly giving him a keepsake of father’s either.”

“We can rule out the workers too,” Nan Wuyue added. “If Old Madam Su stayed in Su Manor, they wouldn’t have gotten in contact with her at all. That leaves Lady Bai—” 

“Never,” Su Shimeng instantly cut him off. “Big sis cares about our family. She even takes care of my mother whenever she gets sick!” Before the other two could interject, he added, “And besides, it’s the same logic as my brother—why would she cast the bracelet off in some unused jade mines? It’d make more sense to throw it away in a river or something!”

By now, Mo Yixuan’s curious feeling had grown into a tentative hypothesis. “The baby,” he began. “The abandoned ghost child—”

“Oh, come on!” Su Shimeng groaned. “You’re not saying a ghost whisked the bracelet out of Su Manor and back into these hills, right?”

“That’s not what shizun means,” Nan Wuyue had caught on as well. “Ghosts haunt the places where they died. If there really was the spirit of an abandoned baby here, then it might have died in this very cave.”

Abruptly, Mo Yixuan looked at his disciple. “Nan Wuyue, the ground…”

“I’ll start digging right away.” Afraid of disturbing anything with their qi again, Nan Wuyue rolled up his sleeves and started hacking at the dirt with a piece of wood that had broken off the faulty barrier blocking the cave-in.

Su Shimeng only looked at them both like they were lunatics. “You—what are you digging for?!”

“Whatever’s left, if anything,” Nan Wuyue said. “Though I’m guessing it’s been years”

“Mm,” Mo Yixuan was looking towards the cave entrance, which was sloped downwards. A bad design: rain would’ve gotten in easily and wet the earth where they were standing. “Old Song said this place was abandoned for decades.”

“The ghost—the baby,” Su Shimeng sputtered. “You think her body’s still buried here?” He leaped back at the thought, eyes swiveling towards Mo Yixuan in shock. “But—no, wait. You think the bracelet came here with that baby when she was still alive?”

“It makes more sense than any of the other options,” Mo Yixuan replied. “It would also explain why the bracelet was left behind—if the baby was abandoned in a rush, no one might have noticed the item in her swaddling clothes.”

“But—but if that was my mother’s bracelet,” Su Shimeng broke off in disbelief. “...I don’t understand.” His father had died when he was only two. Before that, Su Yan’er wasn’t married and she certainly didn’t take on lovers after Su Shimeng was born. Both he and the rest of the Su family were clear on those facts.

“I once read a story,” Mo Yixuan started. Technically, it was a popular drama series from his youth, but it was adapted from a novel. “about a mother who had to send her baby daughter away. In order to find her in the future, she burned a brand on the child’s shoulder with her plum blossom hairpin. Old Madam Su was a servant and has a gentle personality, so she wouldn’t do something so harsh. But she could give the child a token of her own—say, a bracelet etched with her name.”

“Mo Yixuan, what are you implying?” Su Shimeng’s voice had gone ice cold. 

Mo Yixuan was reviewing the facts they’d picked up so far.

There was the Jade Ghost that resembled Old Madam Su in her youth, praying at the ancestral temple and trying to help out the Su Clan any way she could. The way Su Yan’er had tolerated a ghostly playmate for her son and protested against an exorcism when they had the chance, even bearing through years of illness caused by the spirit every July. The mysterious curse of resentful yin energy that had plagued Su Shimeng until he changed to a girl’s name at the age of three. The untouched pink rice cake offerings to the ancestors of the Su Clan. 

A ghost who co-existed with the Su family. A ghost who considered herself as one of their own. A Su Yan’er who openly accepted such a wraith.

Some factors were still a mystery, such as the presence of demonic qi and the fact that ghosts couldn’t shapeshift or even age—but the rest was damning enough. Mo Yixuan stared straight past Su Shimeng’s veil, searching for the face of the tense youth before him. 

“Su Shimeng, are you sure you’re your mother’s only child?”

—

Su Manor, 13 Years Ago

Dusk had fallen on the Su Manor, giving way to summer fireflies. Su Yan’er sat languidly in her courtyard, fanning herself as she looked out into her private gardens. She had long dismissed the servants for some time alone, reveling in the pale hues of twilight. Not a single lantern was lit in the courtyard, making the brilliance of the fireflies glitter all the brighter in the dark.

“Meng’er, are you having fun?” she whispered softly.

Childish laughter reached her ears as a figure ran around the courtyard, weaving amongst the lights as if swimming amongst stars.

Mama, look! They’re all so shiny!

Su Yan’er did look, straining her eyes to spot the small figure playing joyously all alone.

“Meng’er, don’t go too far,” she warned, “Mother won’t be able to find you in the dark.”

Immediately, the child turned around and ran towards her, still laughing with arms open for a hug.

Mama! Mama, I love you!

Su Yan’er embraced the air before her and fancied she saw for an instant a hint of pink robes and a flash of silver on a small, delicate wrist.

“Mommy, we’re home!” 

Su Yan’er stiffened in her seat. The next second she was leaning back again, lips drawn into a gentle smile as she watched her son come walking into the courtyard.

“Over here,” she beckoned to him sweetly. “Be careful not to trip.”

This time real flesh and bone scrambled into her lap as little Su Shimeng clutched her tightly in a hug. “Mommy, Ah-Meng missed you.”

“Mm, mommy missed Ah-Meng too.”

“Madam Su, you didn’t light the lanterns again?” Bai Tingyao’s concerned voice floated in afterwards. 

That’s right, Su Yan’er thought, Ah-Meng went out with Yaoyao today. It should be his first trip to town.

“No,” she said out loud. “How else could I see the fireflies?”

Bai Tingyao made a soft tutting noise. “Now that Mengmeng’s back, it’s best to light a few before it gets too dark to see. Have you eaten yet? I’ll tell the servants to bring over dinner.”

“I’ll have to trouble Yaoyao,” Su Yan’er said gratefully, then adjusted the boy in her lap to sit on her legs. “Well then, is my Ah-Meng going to tell me about his grand adventures today?”

“Yep!” Su Shimeng brightened and launched into a spiel about all the sights and sounds he’d experienced. Naturally, he was careful to leave out the story about the bullies so his mother wouldn’t feel sad. Su Yan’er smiled and nodded in all the right places, absently patting his head and hands. In the meantime, Bai Tingyao arranged everything with the servants, who ended up lighting the candles inside the house as well as two lanterns over the doorway.

“I’ve had them leave that area dark,” Bai Tingyao walked over when they were done, pointing at a space on the opposite end of the courtyard. “It’ll allow Madam Su to watch your fireflies whenever you please.”

Su Yan’er looked, and saw a generous patch of shadows just big enough for a young child to frolic in. Her gaze softened as she turned towards her daughter-in-law. “My thanks…”

Bai Tingyao smiled back while Su Shimeng nestled contentedly against his mother’s chest.

In her memory, Su Yan’er heard that same childish laughter, echoing girlish and bright.

—

{extra}

The Su Clan has something to say.

Ruyi: Who do you love the most in this world?
Bai Tingyao: My family.
Su Yan’er: My...child.
Su Shimeng (young): Mama and big sis!
Ah-Xiao: Mama and papa!
Su Shiyu: Yaoyao.

Ruyi: How do you feel about the current Su Clan Head?
Bai Tingyao: He’s a liar. (^ - ^)
Su Yan’er: An unconscious woman has no opinions. (>_>)
Su Shimeng (young): Big bro is s-scary! :’(
Ah-Xiao: Papa...bully mama again? Then papa bad! >:(
Su Shiyu: why are you all attacking me? ?? (=_=)

—