Somehow, when Guo Qiuyue, Luo Yanmei, Si Ma Zhilian and Lei Chonglin had found out she was going to miss lessons and head to Changhou instead, without even asking for the reason, they’d decided to come with her. And now she was walking down the mountain to investigate for two deadly missions with four other people, one of them being the target of another deadly mission.

 

She had to admit that there were a few benefits, but the drawbacks far outweighed them. With four more disciples, especially two clad in different colours, her words would hold more weight. Depending on how she played it, investigation could be either easier or harder. She doubted any of them would allow the slaughter of apparent innocents, at least not when they had to keep up appearances. At least being with them all reduced the chances of danger. Would they allow her revenge if she just explained a slightly modified reasoning? They’d probably convince her to hand whoever she found, if any, to the authorities. The authorities were under the impression they’d already caught the traffickers, but they didn’t know that.

 

Luo Yanmei hopped down a ledge. “Haven’t been to Changhou in a while. Hey, Guo She, remember that time you got drunk?”

 

“No,” Guo Qiuyue groused, obviously lying.

 

“What was the incident?” Si Ma Zhilian asked blankly.

 

Luo Yanmei quirked an amused eyebrow. “Didn’t think you’d be the one to ask. Well! Guo She here got drunk too much Dragon’s Laughter and ended up stripping to his first layer and singing on the roof of a building. Might’ve been a brothel?”

 

It could’ve been the Layflower. Right. There was another problem Ai Mingxia would have. With the other four, whom she doubted would go in disguise, they’d be especially conspicuous, making it more likely she might bump into the brothel ladies. It wouldn’t be too strange, but it’d be … inconvinient.

 

“I lost much face,” Guo Qiuyue sighed. “I’m surprised nobody has brought it up to me nor behind my back. As far as I’m aware, at least.”

 

“I mean, that’s kind of what behind your back means, no?” Luo Yanmei laughed. “Seriously though, I don’t think anybody aside from me and ah, Wu Jianzhu, actually saw. Wait, do you think the dirtbag’ll spill now?”

 

“Even if he did, only few would believe him,” Si Ma Zhilian assured. “It will seem very at odds with the sort of reputation I expect Guo Qiuyue has curated.”

 

Luo Yanmei laughed loudly, and Lei Chonglin smiled slightly, despite a few crinkles creasing his eyes. “Ah, what are we going to do in Changhou?”

 

“What were you planning to do, actually, Liu Xiuying?” Guo Qiuyue asked cordially as if this question shouldn’t have been asked thirty minutes ago.

 

“I was going to go shopping for a replacement spear amongst other things, as well as possibly catch up with a few old friends of mine,” Ai Mingxia replied. She’d relinquished the sabre after its owner, Liao Xiaodan, had bashfully come up to her and asked to have it back, since it wasn’t as if it was doing much good for her anyways. She’d figured her knives would be enough to last the brief period of time where she would have neither spear nor sabre. “Say, have any of you heard of Liang Xiaojian?” “Ah, the businessman?”

 

“Yes,” Ai Mingxia nodded. “I’d like to seek him out.”

 

“To do business?” Luo Yanmei questioned. “Like, I get it, but aren’t we cultivational disciples now…?”

 

“More disciples than you’d think actually end up going back to the ordinary world,” Si Ma Zhilian informed her. “Usually not the ones that were born in the cultivation world from the beginning, but the disciples that aren’t often go back.”

 

“Ah! We’re, uh, all from the cultivation world, right…?” Ai Mingxia shook her head. “I’m not. I come from a merchant family in Changhou.”

 

“Oh, so were you, ah, going to visit your family before we came along? Ah, sorry…” Lei Chonglin bashfully fidgeted with his fingers, looking away.

 

“No. They’re dead,” Ai Mingxia told him bluntly, stepping over a tall root. It didn’t really feel right to fake any emotion, because it wasn’t her mourning to tell. Obviously, her parents were dead too, but she’d welcomed her father’s and gotten over her mother’s already. Mostly.

 

She could feel the other five’s gazes boring into her skin.

 

“Oh. Ah. Oh. I’m, uh, sorry,” Lei Chonglin apologised after an awkward few seconds before tripping over the root and flailing in the air to regain his balance.

 

“My sincere condolences,” Si Ma Zhilian added, blank gaze flickering slightly.

 

“Mine too,” Luo Yanmei said indelicately. “So if you ever wanna talk about it, come to Guo She and I, yeah?” She slung an arm over the boy next to her and they both smiled at Ai Mingxia reassuringly, perfectly in sync. Ai Mingxia blinked, stuck in place.

 

“I’m sorry about your loss. I’ll think about it, thank you,” Ai Mingxia replied. She would not. She wasn’t going to ‘talk about things’ to anybody, much less a child of only nineteen or so years. And it wasn’t even Ai Mingxia’s grief that Luo Yanmei was offering to talk about.

 

The rest of the trek was strange, but peaceful. No monsters dared bother them. Still, Lei Chonglin looked to be in deep contemplation the whole way, oftentimes seeming to not register Luo Yanmei and Guo Qiuyue’s questions. Si Ma Zhilian looked similarly blank, but that was how she looked all the time. Ai Mingxia almost sighed.

 

After what seemed like an eternity, they reached Changhou at last. Upon stepping through the large wooden gate, Lei Chonglin snapped out of his contemplation and his eyes widened in wonder. He looked around the city excitedly, head swivelling a thousand miles a second.

 

Luo Yanmei snorted in amusement, “Well, you seem excited. Where we heading first?”

 

Before they could get sidetracked shopping or something, Ai Mingxia spoke up. “I have to find Liang Xiaojian. Better get it over with.”

 

“Do you not know where he is?” Guo Qiuyue questioned, all the while ignoring a haggle of citizens mooning over him from a distance. Luo Yanmei laughed and poked at his cheek teasingly.

 

“No. I don’t, but I intend to find out.”

 

“I suppose we can ask around. It shouldn’t be too hard. Shouldn’t you book an appointment, though?” Guo Qiuyue asked. “With a secretary?”

 

“He is not particularly fond of me, nor was he of my family before they died. I doubt he would agree to arranging a meeting, but I really need to see him.” She made sure to add an undertone of intensity to her voice, though she could tell it came out too strong. Lei Chonglin, Guo Qiuyue, and Si Ma Zhilian were too polite to pry, and if Luo Yanmei, ever blunt, asked, Ai Mingxia would have grounds to not answer.

 

“...Still, maybe we shouldn’t just barge in and uh, disturb him? He might, ah, get mad…” Lei Chonglin asked quietly, smoothing out non-existent wrinkles on his uniform.

 

“He can’t do anything to me,” Ai Mingxia rebutted. “I need to see him. I have unfinished business with him.” She still wasn’t quite sure how she could manage to kill him and his children without getting caught while the other four were here. Luo Yanmei and Guo Qiuyue by extension would sympathise, but they still wouldn’t let her. Perhaps she could discreetly draw an array that would activate on its own in due time? No, that was stupid and too obvious.

 

If she could manage to get the other four out, she could kill him and his children quickly and then claim they’d already been injured when she found them. So long as the other four believed her, she’d get off scot free from the authorities, but it’d be hard to pull that off silently and swiftly, as well as in a way that looked like the wound wasn’t fresh, as well as many other complications…

 

Perhaps she could wait a day. It’d be far easier to just do this tomorrow, without the other four getting in the way. There was a chance the rot would spread erratically again, but it probably wouldn’t swallow her whole in a day, and it’d be far less complicated…

 

She couldn’t stop herself from groaning. She wasn’t even sure she’d finished the task of killing the traffickers, she hadn’t made any progress on killing the Si Ma Clan, and who knew if his children were even still in this city?

 

“... Liu Xiuying, are you alright?” Guo Qiuyue asked, a concerned expression wrinkling his face.

 

“Yes. Perhaps I shouldn’t seek out Liang Xiaojian while you have decided to accompany me. It would be rude.”

 

Luo Yanmei blinked and beamed. “It’s alright, y’know! We don’t mind.”

 

“... No. This is something I need to do alone.”

 

“Okay then,” Luo Yanmei conceded. “Let’s go shopping or something, then?”

 

Si Ma Zhilian, who had been staring back blankly at the citizens gaping at her, spoke at last. “I would not mind.”

 

“Me neither,” Lei Chonglin beamed, still looking as though he’d never stepped foot into a port in his life.

 

The afternoon passed by in a blur, Lei Chonglin over-enthusiastically purchasing everything he could get his hands on, Ai Mingxia picked out a nice spear, Guo Qiuyue critiqued paintings in such a tone nobody dared be offended, Luo Yanmei laughed at them, and Si Ma Zhilian paid for Lei Chonglin’s purchases when he realised he hadn’t bought much money.

 

“Ah, you really didn’t have to — I’ll, uh, pay you back soon as we get back, I promise! With interest!” Lei Chonglin squealed. “Ahhh… I got so carried away…”

 

“It is alright,” Si Ma Zhilian replied, elegantly sitting crosslegged onto a flat rock. Luo Yanmei and Guo Qiuyue sat beside her, jars of wine and food in their arms. Ai Mingxia sat as well, feeling awkward. “But if you must, I will not derail you.”

 

Luo Yanmei laughed. “Rich kids, am I right?” She elbowed Ai Mingxia’s arm. “So concerned about face.”

 

“I… sorry,” Lei Chonglin mumbled. “It’s just that, like, well, um —”

 

“There is nothing to apologize about,” Guo Qiuyue interrupted his stammering. “Liu Xiuying, what are you going to name your new spear?”

 

“I’m not sure,” Ai Mingxia replied. She’d thought about naming it Taoyun as well, but that would be strange, and she shouldn’t have named the first spear Taoyun in the first place. It was a moment of weakness, when the fog of the past stuck to her skin again.

 

“Hmm… How about Rihua? Like the Day’s Flower wine?” Luo Yanmei pointed at the label of one of the jars she had just set down. “Bit strange considering it’s a name for wine, but hey, it’s a pretty name, no?”

 

“Why not?” Ai Mingxia rested the spear — Rihua — in her lap. It was a bit longer than Taoyun, but just as well weighted. It was more intricate as well, delicate carvings rippling across the wood. She’d wanted to get a simpler cheaper one, but Luo Yanmei had insisted, even offering that she and Guo Qiuyue pay for it instead. They’d told her to ‘enjoy the prettier things in life’, which was silly, but at that point she might as well buy it.

 

Guo Qiuyue popped one of the jars open, the lid falling to the ground with a light thunk. “I’ve never tried this type of liquor before; we usually get Dragon’s Laughter.”

 

“The jars are pretty, and it was on sale.” Luo Yanmei popped a jar open as well, and poured what must be half its contents down her throat. “Ooh, it’s good.”

 

Si Ma Zhilian sipped at her jar elegantly. “Very fragrant and creamy.”

 

“Quite floral,” Guo Qiuyue agreed. “Different from Dragon’s Laughter, but I quite like it.”

 

Lei Chonglin rested his jar in his lap cautiously. “I’ve never had liquor before.” Ai Mingxia hadn’t in a while either.

 

“How old are you, again?” Luo Yanmei raised a joking eyebrow.

 

“Nineteen…?”

 

“And you haven’t had liquor before? Seriously? What’s your family like, damn?” Luo Yanmei laughed, chugging down more Day’s Flower. “Can both you and your brother not drink, or are your parents just hellbent on preserving your chastity?”

 

Ai Mingxia took an experimental sip of the wine. It would be dangerous if she got drunk, but she shouldn’t be that much of a lightweight. It was good. She let the taste linger on her tounge, savouring it. Almost reminiscent of the Emperor’s Blossom she used to drink back then.

 

“My brother’s allowed,” Lei Chonglin answered. “I’m, ah, not, though.”

 

“Wait, why not?” Luo Yanmei gaped. “And actually, I kind of assumed he was the older one, but are you older actually?”

 

“My parents, uh, said it was a waste,” he replied. “I’m older, actually, but only by, um, a few months.” So Lei Yongrei was like Ai Fengge in more than one way. But Ai Mingxia wasn’t ever as meek towards Ai Fengge and Ai Ruolan as Lei Chonglin was towards Lei Yongrei, and had never been.

 

“Are you from the main branch of the Lei Clan, actually?” Si Ma Zhilian asked politely. Luo Yanmei peered at the bottom of her presumably already-empty jar. Guo Qiuyue handed her another, before reaching into the cup of sunflower seeds they’d purchased earlier.

 

“Lei Guoliang’s my father,” Lei Chonglin answered, face strangely blank and amber eyes downcast. His phrasing was strange, but Ai Mingxia didn’t think much of it. She continued sipping her wine out of habit, revelling in the gentle taste.

 

“Woah, really? Does that mean you’re gonna become leader like Guo She over here?” Luo Yanmei asked gleefully, pulling at Guo Qiuyue’s cheeks. “I’m glad you two are establishing connections now. And with Si Ma Zhilian too! Imagine the future alliances!”

 

Guo Qiuyue laughed, prying Luo Yanmei’s fingers off. “Luo Ning’s already prepared and made for the leader life, I see.” So they were planning on getting married before Guo Qiuyue’s succession then, and ruling together. Really, if they were sure they’d last that long anyways, Ai Mingxia wasn’t sure why they hadn’t gotten married already.

 

“Well, I’m not,” Lei Chonglin groused, taking a few more sips from his jar. “Lei Yongrei’s becoming leader, not me.” That didn’t make sense. Were the Golden Fields just especially unconventional nowadays? They hadn’t been before. In fact, they’d been especially strict and conservative, clinging to old traditions and never allowing exceptions.

 

“Huh? Why?” Luo Yanmei peered at him, all the while Guo Qiuyue handed her yet another jar.

 

“You’re very diplomatic and very easy to feel at ease with, though there are some areas of improvement. But we all do, no? I think you could make a fine leader,” Guo Qiuyue complimented, words slightly slurred despite only having drunken one jar at most. Ai Mingxia agreed with him, though. Lei Chonglin was a bit too much of a pushover, but he had a good foundation.

 

“I won’t ever be, though,” Lei Chonglin sighed, setting his assumedly empty jar down. “I wouldn’t want to anyways, but even if I did, it’s out of reach.” Somehow, his words got clearer when he drank wine.

 

… Was it because Lei Chonglin was presumably poorer at cultivating than Lei Yongrei?

 

No, probably not. Considering Lei Chonglin’s demeanour, Lei Yongrei being the heir had probably been decided from a young age, and at that age it’d be too much of an overreaction to declare the younger a heir just because the first wasn’t as good. Lei Yongrei wasn’t even a prodigy, just the same sort of good most nobles were.

 

Was Lei Chonglin a bastard? It would explain a lot.

 

“...Yes,” Lei Chonglin whispered, voice low.

 

Apparently she was more drunk than she realised.

 

“Indeed you are,” Luo Yanmei said dryly.

 

Why didn’t anybody tell her?

 

“Well, you’re usually not this chatty, and we figured you realised?” Luo Yanmei paused, as if realising what she should probably be focusing on. Ai Mingxia put her drink down and clamped a hand over her mouth sheepishly. Guo Qiuyue sighed. Si Ma Zhilian drank her wine impassively. Ai Mingxia buried her head into her lap. “Oh, nevermind that. Lei Chonglin…?”

 

“It’s alright. Pretty obvious, huh?” Lei Chonglin chuckled darkly, looking into the distance before chugging down his second jar of wine. “There’s no need to tiptoe around the subject. I’m Lei Guoliang’s son, but I’m not Song Meixiang’s.”

 

“... Oh,” Guo Qiuyue placed a reassuring hand on the other boy’s shoulder.

 

“I mean, it ‘explains a lot’, right. Why my bitch brother’s the way he is, why I’m the way I am, everything! It’s just… ugh.” His voice was hushed and high, angry, bitter. “He doesn’t deserve to be like this. I mean, I wouldn’t either, but — you know, Si Ma Zhilian, if it was anybody else but, well, you threatening to make that complaint, it wouldn’t matter! At all!”

 

Ai Mingxia knew spoiled siblings. She knew bitch brothers. She knew stolen opportunities. In what way would Lei Chonglin’s life been different? In what way would hers? Despite herself, she shifted to sit next to Lei Chonglin as well, offering a reassuring hand. Maybe it was the alcohol.

 

“He’ll get his comeuppance,” Luo Yanmei slurred out encouragingly. He would. Eventually.

 

“No, but even if it was Si Ma Zhilian, there actually wouldn’t be that much punishment! It’s just that he’s so used to not getting any at all that just a bit is enough to compel him to behave for once. And it’s just — ugh. He’s my brother and I love him but I really hate him too, you know? He keeps making all these bad decisions and he does all these bad things and I want him to ‘get his comeuppance’ but I also want him to just change and apologize without having to suffer first — !”

 

“And that’s the worst of all,” Si Ma Zhilian sighed under her breath, blue eyes dimmed.

 

Lei Chonglin groaned, and buried his head into his knees. “I just want him to change… I’m sorry for pulling all this onto you.”

 

“Hey, what are friends for?” Luo Yanmei beamed, letting her fourth empty jar roll across the ground. “We’ve always got your back, yeah?” The naivety and earnestness was almost thawing. Ai Mingxia swallowed. “I know we just met, but hey, let’s try and stick together for a long while, yeah? I think we could do it.”

 

“Cheers to that,” Guo Qiuyue said, patting Lei Chonglin’s shoulder.

 

Their words were almost like an echo. Ai Mingxia stared out into the distance: People moving, living their lives, milling about the city, talking, walking, doing all the things people did.

 

“Yeah. Let’s,” Lei Chonglin replied. He raised his head and smiled.

 

Si Ma Zhilian’s blank gaze morphed into one of contentment, and despite herself, despite everything, Ai Mingxia smiled. The day had been a complete waste of time, but maybe it hadn’t been too bad after all.