Mr. Li and Yu Jiuling climbed down from the camel carriage and walked a full circle around the mountain that was not a mountain, utterly unable to understand how this rock could possibly be called a mountain.

Furthermore, this mountain bore the name “Xianming” — “worthy and enlightened” — and names like that usually carried some story behind them, perhaps commemorating a sage or wise man of the past.

As the two of them circled the rock, a young cowherd happened to pass by, eyeing them with curiosity.

The boy was leading a cow, walking along while singing a folk tune neither Yu Jiuling nor Mr. Li had ever heard before.

“Hey, little brother.”

Yu Jiuling went over and fished a lollipop out from his robes, holding it out to the boy. “Can I ask you something?”

The boy looked at what Yu Jiuling was holding and asked, “What’s this?”

Yu Jiuling: “This is something delicious you’ve never had before — it’s a kind of candy…”

He hadn’t even finished speaking when the boy looked at him and said, “Directions — five copper coins. Finding someone — ten copper coins.”

Yu Jiuling: “You’re a kid — how do you only ever think about money?”

The little cowherd said, “And you’re a grown-up — how do you only ever try to trick children with candy?”

Yu Jiuling: “This isn’t just any candy — you couldn’t buy this for ten copper coins.”

The little cowherd said, “So it sounds like you’re looking for someone. I was asking for ten copper coins, not this stick of whatever-candy — which means you’d be getting a deal. Wouldn’t you?”

Mr. Li stood nearby and couldn’t help being amused. This boy looked like a seasoned old hand who’d been rolling around the jianghu for years.

With no other choice, Yu Jiuling produced five copper coins and handed them to the little cowherd. “I have a place to ask about.”

The little cowherd took the coins and examined each one carefully, one by one, as if worried Yu Jiuling had given him fakes.

Yu Jiuling glanced at him sideways. “Would I really give you counterfeit coins? Do I look like a bad person to you?”

The little cowherd said, “Yes.”

Yu Jiuling: “…”

The little cowherd pocketed the coins and said to Yu Jiuling, “Ask away.”

Yu Jiuling asked, “Where is Xianming Mountain?”

He truly refused to believe that the legendary Xianming Mountain was just this chunk of rock standing barely one zhang tall right next to them.

The little cowherd looked at Yu Jiuling with an expression usually reserved for people who aren’t quite all there, then slowly reached back into his pocket and pulled out the five copper coins, holding them back out. “I don’t take money from fools.”

Yu Jiuling: “What the—?!”

He glared at the little cowherd. “Who are you calling a fool?!”

The little cowherd said, “You’re standing right next to Xianming Mountain, and you’re asking me where Xianming Mountain is. If you’re not a fool, are you just burning money?”

Being spoken to this way by a child — if Yu Jiuling didn’t assert himself a little, this kid would be looking down on him entirely.

He gave a scornful sound. “They call a *rock* a mountain?”

The little cowherd pointed at a shop nearby. Yu Jiuling looked over — it was a tavern, called Xianlin Tower.

The little cowherd said, “Does a place called Xianlin Tower mean a celestial being once visited?”

Yu Jiuling: “Hey, stop being so argumentative.”

The little cowherd: “Nobody died. Why would I carry a coffin?”

Yu Jiuling: “What the—?!”

Mr. Li stepped forward and pulled Yu Jiuling aside. He produced two objects, one in each hand, and held them out.

He said to the little cowherd, “In one hand I have one tael of silver. In the other, I have one tael of gold. Which do you choose?”

The little cowherd: “Is this a one-time game, or will you come find me often to play?”

Mr. Li: “What’s the difference?”

The little cowherd: “You answer me first.”

Mr. Li: “We’re only passing through, so it can only be once.”

The little cowherd extended his hand. “The gold.”

Mr. Li: “…”

Yu Jiuling tilted his head back toward the sky, thinking that this place was truly something else — even a small child could be this cunning.

Mr. Li handed the small piece of gold to the little cowherd. “Then answer me honestly: in this Gubang County, aside from this rock, is there any other place also called Xianming Mountain?”

The little cowherd took the gold, immediately bit it, then tucked it away safely. “There’s only one place called Xianming Mountain. But there are plenty of shops with ‘Xianming Mountain’ in the name — Xianming Mountain Tavern, Xianming Mountain Teahouse, and Xianming Mountain… pleasure house.”

Yu Jiuling: “Well, we’ve finally found the right place.”

The little cowherd and Mr. Li both shot him a sideways look at the same time.

Yu Jiuling said, “I reckon it’s the pleasure house. Seven grown men choosing a place to discuss business — a pleasure house has the highest probability.”

The little cowherd: “What seven grown men?”

Yu Jiuling said, “Little kids shouldn’t ask such things. You wouldn’t understand.”

The little cowherd said, “There’s a peach grove in the north part of the county — it’s been there for many, many years. Inside the grove stand seven stone statues of men. Is that what you’re looking for?”

Mr. Li and Yu Jiuling exchanged a glance. Seven stone statues… it was impossible they were there for no reason.

“Could you take us there?”

Mr. Li asked.

The little cowherd shook his head. “I can’t.”

He explained quite seriously: “I have to go graze the cow. If my father catches me not grazing the cow, he’ll beat me.”

Mr. Li made a sound of acknowledgment. “It’s in the north part of the county?”

The little cowherd said, “Go out the north city gate, and you won’t need to walk far before you see it — a big stretch of peach trees.”

Mr. Li asked, “Is it tended by anyone?”

The little cowherd shook his head again. “No. That place is strange and eerie. I won’t even graze the cow there — otherwise I’d take you myself. That place… they say there’s something unclean about it.”

He paused, then added in a low voice: “If it were me, I wouldn’t go.”

Yu Jiuling gave a scornful sound. “In broad daylight — what unclean thing could there possibly be? People around here are really too superstitious.”

The little cowherd couldn’t be bothered with him and walked away with his cow.

Mr. Li said to Yu Jiuling, “Seven stone statues, an ancient peach grove… it seems we simply have to go take a look.”

Yu Jiuling said, “But…”

He glanced at the little cowherd, who had turned to look back at them once. “Master — don’t you think this is all a little too convenient?”

Mr. Li smiled. “He did say the grove is unclean.”

Watching Mr. Li and Yu Jiuling head northward, something complex stirred behind the little cowherd’s eyes.

After a long moment, he let out a sigh. *I already tried my best*, he thought.

He was only twelve or thirteen years old, and the line between right and wrong was still unclear to him — yet he did have some capacity to tell them apart.

Someone had given him a bag of silver and told him to point out the way for those two men. He had judged that of the two, at least one did not look like a bad person.

The one who had told him to point out the way had also told him: *Just get those two to go to the peach grove in the north. Otherwise, I’ll kill you.*

If Yu Jiuling hadn’t stopped him to ask for directions, he would have approached them first — asked what they were doing, struck up the conversation himself.

The little cowherd did not go to graze his cow, because he had already come back from grazing. Small as he was, he was no fool. Worried about being followed, he wound through Gubang County in a wide circle before heading home.

After he stepped through his own gate, the little cowherd froze.

In the courtyard, his father and mother were there — but they had been bound, their mouths stuffed shut.

A cultured-looking man sat in the courtyard, playing with his little sister. The girl was only three years old.

Besides this refined-looking man, there were a group of people in black robes. Though their clothes were the same black as the garments worn by the Yan clan, the style was clearly different.

“I’ve already done everything you asked,” the little cowherd said. “Why have you still taken my parents captive?”

The refined-looking man raised his head to look at him. By his appearance he seemed to be around thirty, the kind of man who at first glance seemed very scholarly, and whose disposition surely must be gentle and warm.

He sat there with a handful of colorful candies in his palm, letting the little girl pick from them. The little girl had no understanding of danger yet, and had not even looked at her bound parents — because the man with the candies had told her they were playing a game of hide-and-seek, that her parents were hiding and she had to find them.

The bright, colorful candies in the man’s palm were evidently far more appealing.

The little cowherd looked at this scene, and something resolute entered his eyes.

Someone stepped forward and pulled the courtyard gate shut, then led the little cowherd to stand before the refined-looking middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man pinched a piece of candy and held it out to him. “Would you like one?”

The little cowherd shook his head.

The middle-aged man smiled slightly. “At your age, you’ve already learned what it means to be afraid. If it had been me at your age, facing my parents bound up like this, I would probably have burst into tears and flung myself forward — but you are behaving far too calmly.”

The little cowherd said nothing. He only reached out and pulled his little sister behind him. But she kept peeking past him toward the candies in the man’s hand.

“You said before — as long as I did what you asked, you would not harm me.”

The little cowherd said, “You’re a man. A man should keep his word.”

The refined man smiled faintly. “It was you who broke the rules first. You told them the peach grove was unclean — you were trying to warn them not to go, weren’t you? You’re also a man. A man shouldn’t go back on his word.”

The little cowherd’s expression shifted slightly.

“Children who do wrong can be forgiven, because they are children… but the child’s parents must pay the price, because they failed to raise their child properly.”

The refined man said, “What is your name?”

The little cowherd answered, “My name is Pu Cao.”

The refined man nodded. “The people here — they mostly all have the surname Pu, if I recall. The character for *pu*, as in *pu cao* — common bulrush. What a lowly thing a bulrush is. One torch and it burns away without anyone shedding a tear.”

The little cowherd shook his head. “Bulrush is good. The surname Pu is good too.”

The refined man said, “What if I were to kill your parents — could you guarantee that everything that happened today would never be spoken of? If you can give me that guarantee, I will let you and your little sister go.”

Pu Cao was silent.

Then he answered, “Kill me. Release my parents and my little sister. After all, they know nothing.”

The refined man shook his head. “They are adults. Adults bear grudges. If I killed you, their resentment would drive them to madness — they would find a way to seek revenge.”

Pu Cao shook his head. “My parents are ordinary people with no ability and no standing. They are meek and timid — they would not dare offend anyone, and even when someone came to bully us in our own home, they did not dare resist. I am different. I am only twelve years old. A child who nurses a grudge holds onto it longer than an adult. And at my age, if I begin to hate someone, I will pour everything I have into learning the skills to one day take revenge. So you ought to kill me instead.”

The refined man considered this and found it quite sound.

He rose. “You should not have said all of that. I genuinely had no desire to kill a child — raising my hand against a child always leaves a certain discomfort in the heart…”

He gave all the remaining candy in his hand to the little girl. “Eat up quickly.”

Then he instructed his subordinates, “Wait until she’s finished, then act. Do it cleanly. Don’t make a mess of it — such a lovely little child. Leave her whole.”

Then he looked toward Pu Cao. “If you had not said what you just said, I truly would only have killed your parents and then abandoned the two of you somewhere to fend for yourselves. Because if I killed your parents and killed you too, she is too small — there would be no one to take care of her, and that would be too pitiful. But now I’ve decided I must kill you — which means I have no choice but to kill her as well, because she is too small, and with all of you gone there would be no one to care for her, and that would be too pitiful.”

As he said all of this, he carried himself like a saint.

—