Li Diudiu hadn’t found his master. He’d gone to the Wuwei Temple, and the middle-aged Daoist at the gate, upon seeing him dressed in his Four Pages Academy uniform, had been respectful and courteous — flatly denying that he’d ever seen any such scruffy, disheveled Daoist, saying no one of that description had ever come.

He wandered back in a daze. Midway, Li Diudiu also stopped by that pile of firewood to have a look — the place where he and his master had spent the night before he entered the academy. After last night’s rain, how much hardship would his master have endured if he’d slept here?

Shortly after Xiahou Zuo got up and left, Teacher Yan Qingzhi walked over. He took one look at Li Diudiu’s tear-streaked face, was silent for a moment, then said, “Don’t think that cozying up to Xiahou Zuo means I can’t deal with you. One more time you skip class, and I’ll expel you from the academy.”

Li Diudiu snapped his head up. “I don’t want to study anymore. I want to go find my master.”

He stood and bowed to Yan Qingzhi. “I’m sorry, Teacher. I’m leaving.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Yan Qingzhi took a long stride and blocked Li Diudiu’s path, his expression dark as iron. “The academy can expel you, but you cannot walk away on your own.”

“Why?”

Li Diudiu asked, “I’m not even allowed to leave?”

“You are not.”

Yan Qingzhi said coldly, “To leave, you wait until your first month is up. Under my instruction, there are only two ways to leave the academy: first, you break the academy’s rules and I send you away. Second, you fail your end-of-month evaluation and I advise you to withdraw. Outside of those, you have no way out.”

Li Diudiu was silent for a long while, then said, “Teacher — what is the point of studying? If you can’t even take care of your own family, what use is reading books?!”

Yan Qingzhi said, “I don’t care what your reasons are, and you don’t need to tell me anything about you and your master. You can fool Xiahou Zuo, but you can’t fool me — and I have no interest in being moved. Whether you’re pitiable or not is no concern of mine.”

His voice was cold as ice that had been frozen for ten thousand years.

Li Diudiu turned and walked back. Yan Qingzhi snapped, “Where do you think you’re going!”

“To clean the classroom.”

Li Diudiu carried that package of dumplings, head down, and walked away. Yan Qingzhi watched the boy’s back for a long time, then exhaled heavily.

When Li Diudiu returned to the classroom, it was long empty. He saw the door wasn’t locked, went in, grabbed a broom, and began sweeping. Just then he heard footsteps outside the door. Thinking it was Yan Qingzhi following him, he didn’t turn around.

“Hey.”

Li Diudiu heard a light voice call out. He turned to look — it was the pretty girl he’d seen the day he was made to stand in punishment.

“Need something?”

Li Diudiu asked.

Gao Xining stood in the doorway, glaring at him with something close to indignation. “Why didn’t you come to class?”

Li Diudiu answered, “I really didn’t come.”

Gao Xining’s mouth twisted at that answer. As it did, the delicate little bridge of her nose scrunched up slightly — utterly adorable.

“I’m asking you why you didn’t come.”

She said, bristling with something between anger and helplessness. “Don’t you know how hard it was for you to get into this academy? Are you like those other students — thinking you can just not show up whenever you feel like it? What right do you have to just not come when you don’t feel like it?”

Li Diudiu was already in a sour, irritated mood, so he had no desire to engage.

Seeing that Li Diudiu wasn’t speaking, Gao Xining grew irritated too. She walked in with broad strides and planted herself in front of him, snatching the broom out of his hands.

“I’m talking to you!”

Li Diudiu slowly exhaled. “Why have you come to bother me? I’m already feeling very, very agitated. Can you let me have some quiet?”

Gao Xining looked at his expression and sensed that things might be more complicated than she’d assumed. She pressed further. “What happened?”

Li Diudiu held out his hand. “Give me back the broom.”

Gao Xining moved to the back rows of the classroom. “I’ll help you sweep. You tell me what’s going on.”

Li Diudiu walked over and snatched the broom back, then gestured toward the door. “I don’t need your help sweeping. I don’t want to tell you anything. I don’t even know who you are. Please leave.”

“I—!”

Gao Xining’s face went white with anger. She turned and stormed out. “What kind of person is this? No idea what’s good for him.”

Li Diudiu was in the absolute worst of moods — no matter how pretty this girl was, he had no interest in engaging with her. He didn’t want to waste even a single extra word.

“Wait.”

Just as Li Diudiu lowered his head to resume sweeping, something came back to him, and he called toward the door, “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

Gao Xining turned to look at him. “You refused to tell me what I wanted to know, but now you expect me to just listen to what you want to ask?”

Li Diudiu thought about it — she had a point. So he said sorry and went back to sweeping. This, of course, infuriated Gao Xining all over again. She thought this boy named Li Chi was impossibly rigid — not rigid like bamboo, more like an iron rod, incapable of bending even the slightest bit.

“Talking to girls like this — who’s ever going to like you?”

Gao Xining muttered under her breath, then talked herself down: don’t stoop to his level, he’s just a country boy who doesn’t know how to talk, who doesn’t know how to be tactful — what’s the point of getting angry at him? After a few encouraging words to herself, her mood improved. She walked back over to Li Diudiu, lifted her foot, and gave his leg a light kick. “Ask away.”

Li Diudiu’s first instinct was to check whether his trousers were dirty.

Gao Xining looked at that expression of his and barely managed to bite back a choice word.

“I wanted to ask — roughly how much would it cost to buy a house in Jizhou city? Nothing special — an ordinary home would do.”

“I don’t know.”

Gao Xining turned and ran out. “Wait here, I’ll come back and tell you.”

A few steps out, she turned back with a curious look. “Why do you want to buy a house? And where would you get the money to buy a house?”

Li Diudiu looked at her. She looked back at Li Diudiu. The two stared at each other. After a moment, Gao Xining gave a quiet sigh. “Forget I asked.”

Li Diudiu swept the classroom spotlessly clean, wiping down every single desk. Then he sat on the steps outside the classroom door and waited for the girl. She said she’d be back soon — surely it wouldn’t take long.

He waited until the sky went dark. Even as the moon rose over the treetops, she still hadn’t returned. Li Diudiu thought to himself: sure enough, his master had been right. His master always said, don’t take a woman’s words too seriously.

At that very moment, Gao Xining was shut inside her room by her grandfather, Gao Shaowei, who refused to let her out.

From the moment she’d come home and asked her grandfather about house prices, she’d been confined. She’d been pleading for over an hour, but her grandfather wouldn’t budge.

“You’re a girl. How can a girl just casually go and meet with boys, just casually talk to them? You were even going to help him clean the classroom — is that your place? How many times have I told you: men and women should not have improper contact.”

Gao Shaowei had dragged a chair to block the door and sat planted there, refusing to move.

“I’m telling you seriously — stay away from him from now on. And stop going to Yan Qingzhi’s classroom. Have you already forgotten what happened last time? You actually dared throw a clump of dirt at Yan Qingzhi — what kind of girl does that? What kind of manner is that for a young lady from a proper family?!”

Gao Xining leaned against the doorframe, anxiety written all over her face. “He must still be waiting. That guy — the more stubborn he is, the more he’ll refuse to go back and sleep even if I don’t come back.”

“I said you are not to leave, and you are not to leave.”

Gao Shaowei said, “Don’t make me angry again. If you misbehave once more, I’ll confine you at home — you won’t even be allowed past the front gate.”

Gao Xining opened her mouth, knowing there was no point in arguing.

She thought: please don’t let that fellow blame her for it… but then again, it was her fault for breaking her promise. Let him blame her if he wants — just please don’t say anything too harsh.

In the deep of the night, Li Diudiu finally accepted that the girl wasn’t coming back. Night dew had settled on him, his academy uniform slightly damp. He’d been sitting too long, so he stood and stretched for a while, then went back to his room, grabbed the broom, and began to practice in the courtyard. His master had taught him many, many things, and martial techniques were among them.

About thirty or forty paces from the classroom, Teacher Yan Qingzhi stood watching Li Diudiu. That afternoon he had indeed followed Li Diudiu back to the classroom, but when he saw Gao Xining, he’d deliberately stayed back. He’d heard their entire conversation, though. When Gao Xining left, so did he. After dinner he came back, and found Li Diudiu still sitting at the door. He watched the boy as the boy sat — and before he knew it, it was the middle of the night.

Even Yan Qingzhi himself found it somewhat astonishing. What had come over him — watching a child for this long? Especially when Li Diudiu began practicing in the courtyard with the broom, Yan Qingzhi watched with something close to fascination.

After a long while, Yan Qingzhi couldn’t hold back any longer. He walked slowly over.

When Li Diudiu saw Yan Qingzhi, he startled. This late at night, the teacher had suddenly appeared — most likely he’d come to scold him.

“I was wrong, Teacher.”

Li Diudiu’s apology came very quickly.

“Hm?”

Yan Qingzhi was taken aback.

Li Diudiu said, “I’ll put the broom away right now, lock the door, and go back to my room.”

Yan Qingzhi’s heart softened slightly. He walked up and stopped in front of Li Diudiu, deliberated for a moment, then asked, “Did you want to buy a house because you couldn’t find your master?”

“Yes…”

Li Diudiu answered, then snapped his head up. “You heard, Teacher?”

“Mm.”

Yan Qingzhi asked, “Your master is living on the streets?”

Li Diudiu’s expression shifted, then he answered again with a single word: “Yes.”

Yan Qingzhi said, “Houses in Jizhou city are very expensive. You came from outside the city — you know how chaotic things are out there, with bandits everywhere. The city is safe, and as a result, houses are practically unavailable. Even if you could find one to buy, the price of an ordinary home has risen from fifty taels ten years ago to two hundred taels now — and they only accept silver, not copper coins.”

“Two hundred taels!”

Li Diudiu’s eyes went wide.

Two hundred taels… he only had five.

And Xiahou Zuo had said no one was to pay him to watch him eat anymore, so that avenue of income was now cut off — otherwise, the money had been coming in rather quickly.

“You…”

Yan Qingzhi started to say something, then stopped. This child was unlike any other student in the academy. He didn’t want this child to be tainted by the rotting atmosphere of this place — especially he didn’t want to see him grow closer to someone like Xiahou Zuo.

Xiahou Zuo… whoever got entangled with that young man came to grief.

“Go get some sleep.”

Yan Qingzhi said, then turned to leave. Li Diudiu, as if reading his thoughts, called after him, “Teacher — what kind of person is Xiahou Zuo?”

“Him?”

Yan Qingzhi considered for a moment, then answered, “He and you live in two different worlds. There’s no benefit in walking alongside him. Stay away from him.”

With that, he strode off without looking back.

Li Diudiu had more he wanted to ask, but Yan Qingzhi was already gone, so he had to swallow his curiosity.

Yet he was genuinely curious about Xiahou Zuo. He thought to himself: since the teacher won’t say, he’d ask Auntie Wu first thing tomorrow at breakfast. Auntie Wu clearly seemed frightened of Xiahou Zuo — she probably knew the full story.

—