The autumn breeze carried a hint of sweetness as it wove through the land, rustling the bright leaves off the peach trees.

Time’s march had brought slivers of winter's chill back to this small island, but the weather still seemed impeccable. Although waves from afar appeared large and looming, they dispersed into something tame as they drew closer to the banks, and lapped at the shores with docility. Despite the cooling temperatures, there were people still in the waters, chatting with each other as they swam. Further up, above cliff-faces and on greener grass, several people were weaving around the trees in a grove, harvesting autumn fruits. Off to a corner, though, a young man was kneeling beside a sitting old lady, one hand on her wrist while the other one poured water from a pail.

“This much water, Grandma?” Shu Cailing stopped scooping as he looked up, waiting for a reply. The old lady, eyes closed, was silent for a moment before giving him a kind, crinkly smile.

“That’s perfect, thank you sweetie.”

Shu Cailing rose to his feet, laughing off the buzzing sensation as blood flow restored to his legs after squatting for too long. “Next time, take care and let us know about this before it gets bad, okay? We were really worried when you just collapsed like that.”

They had all been gathering round to harvest fruits this morning, and after the noon sun passed overhead, the old lady suddenly collapsed while everyone was laughing and tossing things at each other. It wasn’t too shocking, given her advanced age, but it had startled everyone, and Shu Cailing had run up to the spiritual spring to get her some water.

At least she was fine now. She reached a hand out to him, and Shu Cailing leaned down, expecting a pat on his head, but she laughed instead. “Grandma has sweets for you, open your hand ah.”

He lit up. “Ah! Thanks, Grandma!”

Taking the small paper package of dried persimmons, he put it away with a grin. This one, he probably wouldn’t be trading away later— he rather liked her dried fruits, which were a bit on the sour and tangy side. And with his shifu away, Shu Cailing didn’t have to share it with anyone; on this island, though Bai Mingyuan was the master and owner of the land, he was the only one who wasn’t included in this intricate network of trades among all inhabitants. It wouldn’t be fair, he had said. As a result, though, he often mooched off Shu Cailing’s sweets when he had a craving and the fruit wasn’t in season.

Will he be back for winter, though? he mused. As he picked up the pail of spiritual water, he made his way through the grove. Some of the persimmon tree spirits waved goodbye at him, one of whom threw a fresh fruit down from her place on the branches. With a grin, he caught and shouted back his thanks before biting into it, humming to himself. It’d be a shame if he missed out on New Year’s…

A shimmer of gold in the dimming blue sky broke the trail of his thoughts as Shu Cailing startled. The flaps of wings grew louder as a golden bird flew down to where he was, before with a flurry of lustrous dust she transformed into her human form, landing without a sound. As her wings retreated and disappeared, her white, black and gold dress fluttered with the gusts they had created. “Ling’er! There you are.”

“Huihua-jiejie?”

 “What are you carrying? Oh, just leave that pail behind, let someone else take it back.” Gesturing him to quickly come over, she continued dryly as she turned, “Your shige is in one of his moods again. I don’t know what possessed him, but he went to the master’s room, and has been truly a sour peach to everybody. Come help, won’t you?”

Trailing behind her, Shu Cailing’s expressions turned a bit helpless. “Huihua-jiejie, I hate to say this, but didn’t you say that’s just his personality? But what happened? Why did he go to Shifu’s room? Also, how did you know he went there?”

“I don’t know either! I didn’t see it myself, Old Qize told me after the fact. Don’t ask me the details. Quick, quick.”

Huihua was a female luan, and had the grace of movement of a divine bird— her footsteps were as nimble as her flight, and she made it seem so effortless as to appear weightless. But this island was rather mountainous, and returning to the residence meant climbing hundreds of steps, and Shu Cailing was grabbing at her sleeves before she could go too far. “Jiejie! Have mercy on me, please! Walk slowly.”

Turning on her heel, Huihua sighed with emotions. “Right, why are you such a small hatchling for so long? But no, why are you still so slow? Clearly you were born with two legs, yet you move like you were born a tree. Come!”

Shu Cailing could only laugh weakly at this insult that pierced straight through the heart. Every day he would be compared to random things, spirit or yaoguai— it seemed that being none of them meant that he could have been anything, and not a week passed by when he wasn’t being called a sapling, a good cub, or a hatchling. Still, being compared to a tree in terms of speed was a low jab. Sighing in his heart, he took in a deep breath and tried to match her pace, even as his expression worsened and worsened as they wound around hundreds and hundreds of cobblestone steps up the mountains.

This bustling island had no name, but the main residential areas were aflush with peach trees, and thus it was dubbed Peach Blossom Island. Still, many other species of trees occupied large areas of it, including those lining the stone steps. As the two hurried up, several persimmon and sweet osmanthus tree spirits poked their heads and waved at them, but Shu Cailing could barely give them his most perfunctory of waves before he’d climbed another ten steps.

“Jiejie—” he panted, “What’s the rush—”

At that, Huihua suddenly stopped, and Shu Cailing barrelled straight to her. Mouth still open mid-word, his voice still hung in the air: “—anyway?”

Though she was strong, Huihua was still light and small, and her body couldn’t stay upright when the weight of a young man crashed into her. Thankfully, before both their faces made an imprint on the stone steps, they bumped into another person.

Well, Shu Cailing did. Huihua had turned into her original form and flew up, while Shu Cailing smacked right into the sour peach of their conversation, Hongshi.

“Indeed,” Hongshi said dryly. His hand was gripping Shu Cailing’s upper arm tightly, keeping him from falling, and it didn’t falter even as it took the latter a whole minute to find his footing again. Shu Cailing gave him a grateful look, one which was returned with a raised eyebrow. “What’s the rush?”

His face was red with exertion and his breathing was labored, but Shu Cailing still responded with a grin on his face. “Afternoon, Shige! I don’t know either. How are things at the residence? I thought the kitchen caught on fire with how I was dragged.”

Hongshi was a peach tree spirit, and was beautiful in turn, with red-gold eyes like the pistils of a flower. He wore red robes made of jiao-woven silk, but the luster of his clothes were completely dimmed by the cold, indifferent expression that seemed half-permanent on him. The other half of his emotional repertoire, though, was something like what he had now: the face of a stern and aloof teacher disappointed in his students.

At this moment, that gaze was turned to Huihua, who was flying in place above them.

“You do realize it’s dangerous to run up the stairs like that?”

“Apologies, Young Master.” Her tone was half sheepish, half unrepentant. “I would never have let Ling’er get hurt, though!”

“So what’s the matter, then?” he asked, eyebrow raised. “What was the hurry all about?”

“Oh!” Shu Cailing cut in, voice bright. “Right, did you hear back from Shifu, Shige?”

At that, Hongshi’s expression shuttered into something hard, before it settled down to a normal frown. Shu Cailing leaned back, internally reassessing the situation. Ah, he’d need a different approach, then.

“He did not send new letters,” Hongshi said in a clipped tone. He turned around and started walking back up the stairs, and Shu Cailing followed him. With a whispered trill, Huihua gave him a quick goodbye and flew away, her purpose here fulfilled. Shu Cailing gazed at her disappearing form with a bit of helpless amusement, shaking his head. Hongshi waved a hand in dismissal.  “We’ll talk about it back inside. You should wash up, it’s almost time for dinner.”

“All right, sounds good to me,” Shu Cailing answered good-naturedly.

Though Huihua referred to a slow pace as imitating a tree yao, Hongshi, as a peach tree, walked at a normal person’s speed. Along the way, Shu Cailing casually mentioned the day’s events— a group had formed to tackle the persimmon harvest and started work in the morning, so that they could be done as soon as possible and be ready to help out with harvesting rice and planting winter wheat. Hongshi hummed in response, pausing a moment to let Shu Cailing catch up once he reached the last step, and continued walking once he did.

The main residential area of the island was a large complex spread out across much of the central mountain, and housed roughly 400 yaoguai. The rooms were scattered across the uneven terrain, but near the top was Bai Mingyuan’s chosen spot, and Shu Cailing and Hongshi both lived with him. Most of the buildings they passed by on the way up were dull white with dark woods, but everything still looked lively with all the interspersed peach trees aflame in reddish gold. A peony yao sweeping the leaves off the main stone path waved at Shu Cailing once they got close, a hint of relief flashing through his eyes.

Hongshi didn’t seem to catch that flitting emotion, but he did notice the wave. Tilting his head a bit in Shu Cailing’s direction, he said, “Go wash up. I’ll meet you back home.”

Few would bother with bringing a bathing tub and water to their own rooms, so most people here would do that at the bathhouse and hot springs within this common facilities complex. Watching Hongshi walk straight back home, the fallen peach leaves parting before him like they did not dare to sully him, Shu Cailing could only sigh helplessly in his heart.

“I wonder when I can be like that,” the peony yao, A-Rong, muttered under his breath, having walked up to stare at Hongshi’s parting back beside him. Shu Cailing laughed.

“Cultivate well, I suppose?” He patted his young friend— young friend who was older than him by a century.

A-Rong sighed. “You say that, but it’ll be at least two centuries before I can do that so effortlessly it’s as natural as breathing. I don’t even know how old the young master is.”

“You’re really not at a disadvantage, you know?” Shu Cailing replied helplessly. “Your shrub is placed in an excellent location and survived a century naturally with no problems, you have a good long life ahead of you. Everything else will come with time.”

A peach tree only lived for two or so decades, a much shorter lifespan than other fruiting trees. A peach tree that passed the century timespan it took for most things to gain spiritual awareness and become a yao, therefore, could only be a very well-cared for one. Although there were over a hundred peach trees in this main complex, less than a dozen yaos came from it, despite the fact that every year they had to replace dead trees and plant new ones. Thousands and thousands of peach trees must have lived out their lifespans on this one spot in the mountains, yet so few lasted.

The one that survived the longest was, of course, exceptional.

“Everything else will come with time… Bah, don’t repeat the master’s teaching to me, you’re literally over a century younger than I am,” A-Rong grumbled. After shaking his head as if to clear it, he elbowed him. “Shoo, go take a bath. You smell like fruit about to rot.”

Shu Cailing shrugged, but grinned nonetheless. “I’m going, I’m going.”

People were still busy with foraging and harvests and would return late today, so the path to the bathhouse was quiet as Shu Cailing made his way there. After washing up quickly, he headed to the kitchens to grab his and Hongshi’s meals, greeting the nine cooks that ran the massive place. As soon as he opened his mouth about the food, one of them already shushed him, gesturing at a tall, lacquered stack of food boxes sitting on one of the long tables. “Ling’er, quickly grab your food and go ba. The young master seemed really upset by something the master did, so I put in some more of his favorite dishes, but as thanks for your dutiful sacrifice once more I made your favorite braised pork belly.”

The kitchen was still busy as several people started the last-minute stir-fries and checked on the steamers, so Shu Cailing didn’t dare get in the way and quickly went for what he came for. When he tried to lift the food boxes, though, he choked a bit as it sagged low to the ground for one startling moment. “This is so heavy?” Are you feeding two people, or a water buffalo tilling the fields?

“So you have plenty of time to talk things through with your shige ah,” the nearest cook explained as she lifted a lid and poked at the freshly cooked rice. “Really, Xiao Ling, he seems really upset this time. I don’t know what the master did, but it seems like one of their worse fights. Go check up on him.”

What Shu Cailing really wanted to say that Hongshi’s bad moods really weren’t that bad, but there was no point in doing so to a group of people currently cooking for hundreds of people, so he just took the heavy food boxes and left. As he headed out the common facilities area and made his way past rows of houses, though, he began to understand what they truly meant.

“Er…”

In front of him was something like a small wall of gold and reddish leaves, a pile that went up to his thigh. They seemed to form something like a circle, but there was a gap: the street was clear, probably because Hongshi had walked through twice by now. As for the source of all these leaves…

Every peach tree from here all the way to the house in the distance had been stripped clean, looking even more bare than they would’ve been in early winter. Shu Cailing had never seen something like this. The biggest peach tree grove in the entire island was here, right near Bai Mingyuan's home. Dozens and dozens of trees were just… trimmed and pruned with what probably was a single furious wave of a hand.

Whenever Hongshi was angry at his dad, he always threatened the normal peach trees planted nearby. Usually, though, he would just kick one or something, and at worst he would cut a dying tree down and turn it into furniture. Shu Cailing couldn't help but feel like perhaps everyone's reaction this time was not unwarranted.

"Shige, I'm back," he called out as he entered. Despite the season, the fragrance of peach blossoms lingered, as if imprinted into the walls and the wooden floors after centuries of exposure. The house still felt quieter without his shifu there, though weeks had passed since his departure. A little dimmer, even. "I'll set out the table, okay?"

"I'll help," Hongshi said as he came out from the small side kitchen. In one arm he carried a jar of wine, clearly recently dug out. As a hobby, he brewed with the blossoms and fruits of the numerous peach trees, but after centuries and centuries of such craft, it was in essence as ingrained as eating. "Tonight, come drink with me. I promise this wine isn't too strong."

Your idea of 'strong wine' can only be matched by Shifu, Shige… For all that you call him an old drunkard, the one who brewed most of the wine he drinks is still you ah.

"All right," was what Shu Cailing said instead.

The two of them sat down and ate, and as the sun set in the distance, Hongshi started pouring the wine. Shu Cailing sniffed it. It seemed like his shige was serious about having company, because it really wasn't strong; unlike some of his jars that he had kept buried for over a decade, this one smelled mild and rather sweet.

So of course, by the time Shu Cailing started sipping his cup, Hongshi already downed two. The two of them watched the moon rise outside, still glowing a brilliant yellow despite only being half full, and drinking in silence.

After finishing his one cup, Shu Cailing put down his glass and turned to Hongshi. He asked gently, “What’s wrong, Shige?”

“...I got Dad’s letter.”

“I thought Shifu didn't send one?”

“He didn’t send one, he left one in his bedroom,” Hongshi muttered. There was a hint of bitterness in his voice that made Shu Cailing pause, but the relationship between his shifu and shige had always been like this. Most days, they got along swimmingly; his shifu was an easygoing person, and he would never argue with his only and beloved son. Sometimes, though, they would have arguments about this that happened centuries and centuries ago, and wage a cold war for weeks on end. But if there was anything Shu Cailing learned about after living with them for almost twenty years, it would be that they fought because they cared so much. “I only found it because I needed to check up on the Hollow Tree. That old man… He probably never intended it to be found.”

Hongshi always refused to go into Bai Mingyuan’s bedroom, and Shu Cailing never had a reason to after he grew up. It wasn’t surprising that the letter took so long to be found, but he somewhat doubted Hongshi’s assessment that it was never meant to be.

“What does it say, though?”

Pulling the paper out from his sleeve, his shige all but spat out his reply. “Read it for yourself, see what kind of shifu you have.”

The piece of paper was heavily crinkled, and Shu Cailing had to smooth it out with his palm a couple of times before he could read the words without eye strain. Written in Bai Mingyuan’s carefree handwriting was a short note, but its contents… he now understood Hongshi’s frustration.

My dear Hong’er and Ling’er,

I have to go back into the world to handle some matters. There’s a chance I might not return, so take care. Ling’er, make sure Hong’er doesn’t get too sad and grumpy if that happens.

Love,

Bai Mingyuan

Shu Cailing, "...Err…"

He slid the note back across the table. A single glimpse of a single character seemed to be enough to set Hongshi off again, though, because he took a deep, calming breath, then another, then another. After what felt like a small eternity, he finally spoke, tone composed, "We will let him die. It’s only fitting."

Shifu, Shu Cailing wanted to ask, how are you so good at making your son so angry without a single bad word?

But with content like that, it made sense why Hongshi was reacting so badly. There’s a chance I might not return… Written so nonchalantly, addressed to someone who loved you, who wouldn’t be upset?

“If you don’t mind me asking, though, Shige… Shifu’s business, what kind of thing is that?”

Hongshi poured himself another cup of wine, drank it all, and refilled it once more. 

“I don’t know,” he said in the end. “Nothing good. Nothing is ever simple with him.”

Bai Mingyuan had left the island with barely a goodbye some weeks ago, only leaving behind a vague sentence about expected things at last coming back to be settled. Shu Cailing didn’t even expect him to leave, and it dawned on him after four days had passed and his shifu wasn’t drinking under a tree somewhere. And Bai Mingyuan did not often tell Hongshi about what he was doing, preferring to go to his one disciple instead, so Hongshi was none the wiser either.

All this letter told them was that he was likely still out in the world, and whatever business he was taking care of might kill him.

“Do you plan on going after him then?”

This time, Hongshi shot him a sharp look. “For what? And who’ll look after this place?”

Eyebrows raised, Shu Cailing turned his gaze to the window. Under the moonlight, the bared branches of the peach tree grove seemed to take on early snow as it glowed a gentle silver. Night birds had just now started their hunts, too, swooping down to capture pests gnawing the fields as its harvest season started. Now that dinnertime had concluded, some of the yaoguai living in the housing complex had gathered within the leisure halls of the main compound to play music, dance, and drink. The sounds of their delighted laughter and the beat of their drums carried even this far up.

Every day Shu Cailing would make his rounds, and the most shocking event to transpire would be someone breaking a leg from jumping down a tree or some old enemies brawling after one too many drinks. Compared to the books he’d read, Shu Cailing’s life was uninteresting and not exciting, but peaceful was its own blessing. It was better like this.

“With all due respect, Shige, I think the island doesn’t need looking after,” he said.

“You would think that,” Hongshi murmured into his cup. “It wasn’t always so peaceful back then.”

This island lined with peach trees, now red and gold in the late season, was an idyllic paradise in this complicated world. Shu Cailing knew that many of the yaoguai that ended up living here were refugees, with everyone vowing to either stay here forever, or to never disclose its existence to outsiders— human outsiders. He had sat with many of them, listened to their stories. Would their trip into the world threaten this peace?

“If we both leave to look for Shifu, we’d still be able to come back wouldn’t we?” Shu Cailing mused. “Will they really kick us out?”

“Do you want to leave?” Hongshi glanced at him from the corner of his eyes.

“Not really,” Shu Cailing admitted. “I like it here. Everyone who moved here finally found peace in their lives. I know I am living a very safe, happy life, and I am glad for that.”

“Then why are you so persistent?”

“...Shifu, will he really be okay out there?”

Hongshi gripped the cup in his hand tighter, before he put it down with a clack. Though he had drunk most of the jar by himself, he didn’t look inebriated— only a pinkish flush had risen up to his face, and his eyes betrayed more and more of his emotions, like a tree bark being picked off. “Your shifu is strong, but he’s also incredibly stupid. He’s the most knowledgeable creature out there, but he is a fool. If you’re so worried about him, fine, let’s look for him. Heaven knows that man would be drunk off the side of a road, ready to be robbed.”

Shu Cailing picked up his cup, hiding his small smile behind its porcelain sheen.