I am a tree spirit, born in the snowfall-blanketed twelfth month, atop the peak of Fulong Mountain.

A year ago, in a city called Wang Chuan, I opened a dessert shop with a peculiar name — “Bu Ting.”

As the proprietress, my greatest pleasure was sharing tea with certain special guests. This tea, called Fu Sheng, was Bu Ting’s signature specialty — emerald green and fragrant, bitter at first, then sweet.

In sun-drenched afternoons, or beneath star-strewn evenings, I would sit across from my guests and watch them drink that cup of tea, listening as they slowly told me their stories. The rise and fall of vast seas turned into mulberry fields, love and hatred, passion and enmity — all of it dissolved within the span of a single cup of tea.

Bu Ting Dessert Shop, after one year in business, temporarily closed its doors. Because the proprietress was with child.

The man beside me, cursing and grumbling without pause, goes by the name Ao Chi — a famously hot-tempered figure among the Dragon Clan of the Eastern Sea, the Dragon King’s own beloved grandson.

We are husband and wife, newly wed, currently on our honeymoon.

At this moment, beneath a blazing sun, deep within the endless stretches of the Sahara Desert, this fellow was complaining one moment about sand getting into his shoes, the next about the sun being too fierce, and then muttering that I was far too much trouble. Seeing that I paid him no mind, he turned and started bickering at the dim-witted camel plodding along behind us.

Just a few days prior, we had bid farewell to the Sphinx. Even now, I still found myself faintly missing the fragrant kofta from a small restaurant along the Red Sea coast — but at present, it seemed we had gotten ourselves thoroughly lost.

Of course, we were not human. Had we wished it, we could have been anywhere in the world in an instant. But Ao Chi and I had made a pact: we would travel this world as an ordinary human couple would, and getting lost was of no great consequence — perhaps we would stumble upon scenery all the more beautiful for it.

Beneath the pale, clean blue sky, the dunes rose and fell across our field of vision, the sunlight turning the fine grains of sand into my favorite color — a sweeping, shimmering gold in every direction! Oh, if only they were truly mountains of gold!

Apart from the two of us, not a single soul was to be seen along the way. We had no idea which corner of the Sahara we had wandered into. Crest one dune, and there was only another dune waiting beyond it. Ao Chi had nearly been stung by a scorpion — furious to his core, he had charged off in the direction the creature had fled, vowing that if he didn’t roast that venomous thing and eat it, he could never face heaven and earth with a clear conscience.

This man, forever so hot-headed. I sighed, and ran after him.

When I led the camel up and over the tallest dune, I paused in surprise. Down in the open space below, a great tent had appeared, striking and out of place — white, like a flower blooming straight up out of the sand. Outside the tent, six camels were tethered.

Even Ao Chi had forgotten his mission to hunt down the scorpion. His eyes lit up as he stared at the tent.

Perhaps traveling merchants passing through? I guessed. Regardless, where there were people, there would be food and water. We had been walking an entire day and needed somewhere to rest — this tent had appeared at precisely the right moment.

We made our way toward the tent, and before we had even reached it, a person emerged from inside, clutching a water flask. A deep black headscarf covered most of his face, and his wide black robes swayed in the wind. The moment he caught sight of us, he called out: “Passing through?”

And he spoke in Chinese, no less!

“Yes,” I answered.

“Come in, come in, have a seat!” He suddenly grew tremendously animated, waving us over with great eagerness.

I smiled. “Of course, thank you.”

Just as I stepped forward, Ao Chi seized my arm and shot me a sharp look. “Your nose is blocked, is it?”

That tent — it carried the faint, unmistakable scent of demon energy.

“Is there any demon you can’t handle?” I stuck my tongue out at him.

“That’s true enough.” He raised an eyebrow, rather pleased with the compliment.

Out here in the vast desert, to encounter not a human soul but instead someone of our own kind — that was not too bad either. And besides, I had sensed no hostility whatsoever coming from the tent.

Once we stepped inside, we discovered it was a true little paradise — fresh water and fine food, all in abundance. In the corner, there were even several pots of lucky bamboo growing in cheerful health, lending the space a rare touch of lush green coolness.

Beyond the black-robed figure who had welcomed us, five others sat inside, all dressed identically. Not one of their faces could be clearly seen — each had concealed themselves beneath black headscarves and robes. Some were reading books, some were playing on an iPad, and one held a calculator, tapping away at something unknown.

They showed no particular surprise at our arrival, and every one of them greeted us in a friendly manner.

In my mind, I gave them names: Black Robe Number One through Number Six.

“We come from the East to do business here,” said Black Robe Number One, handing us each a cup of water.

“Business? In a barren place like this?” Ao Chi downed his water in several great gulps. “Don’t tell me you’re here to sell lucky bamboo.”

“No, no.” Black Robe Number One lowered his voice. “We are here to find the Seven Nights City.”

“Seven Nights City?” I had never heard of such a place.

“To speak plainly — down below,” Black Robe Number One tapped the ground with his foot, “is where the Seven Nights City of ancient Egypt’s Queen Yiluo lies.”

My knowledge of history was not particularly shallow, and yet I had never once heard of an ancient Egyptian queen by the name of Yiluo.

“We have come to do business with the Queen.” Black Robe Number Two, who was reading, spoke without lifting his head, his voice exceedingly hoarse. “This Queen was a woman who loved stories. Anyone who told a story well, she would reward with gold — but anyone who told a poor story, she would kill on the spot. In this desert, she built a magnificent and intricate city of seven nights and stored all her gold within it. After her death, the Seven Nights City vanished as well. But — it is said that for thousands of years, the Queen’s spirit has lingered within the Seven Nights City, waiting for the one who can make her open it once more.”

“Open it once more?” Ao Chi had not a shred of belief in such fantastical legends and smirked. “Don’t tell me you lot are just sitting here waiting for the Queen’s spirit to float up from underground and hand you this so-called Seven Nights City in exchange for your lucky bamboo?”

“Would you stop going on about the lucky bamboo!” Black Robe Number Three put down the iPad, clearly vexed. “We won’t bother hiding it from you — to make the Seven Nights City reappear, one must offer seven stories to the Queen’s spirit in exchange. If those seven stories satisfy her, she will cause the golden city to rise once more above the earth — and at that point, you simply could not fail to become wealthy!”

I was only half-convinced by the Black Robes’ words, yet that final sentence pierced straight through my greatest weakness — gold. An entire city brimming with gold!

“You’re sharing something this important with us — aren’t you afraid we’ll silence you and keep all the gold for ourselves?” I said, half in jest.

“Do you think we wanted to tell you!” Black Robe Number Four said coldly. “We originally had seven people, but the seventh coward got scared and ran off halfway through! According to the legend, each person may only tell one story — and we have been waiting here for three days before the two of you appeared. To be direct: we want to bring you in, to gather enough for seven stories.”

“Why must we wait here specifically?” I smiled. “You could simply make a phone call and summon other allies!”

“By the time those people arrived, it would already be too late!” Black Robe Number Five grew anxious. “There is only one opportunity every seven years to do business with the Queen, and that opportunity falls on today — the night of the full moon! Starting tonight, seven consecutive nights, one story each night. If, when all seven are told, the Queen is satisfied, we will see the Seven Nights City!”

“And if Her Majesty is not satisfied?” I scratched my head.

Black Robe Number Six trembled and said: “Then… all of us, like the Seven Nights City, will vanish from the face of the earth.”

A silence fell over the tent.

After a long moment, I clapped my hands together and burst out laughing. “How exciting!”

Everyone was startled by me. Black Robe Number One asked: “You are not afraid?”

“I love listening to stories most of all, and on occasion I have told stories to others as well. Why don’t we make a wager — let us see whether we can coax Her Royal Highness the Queen into parting with her golden city!” I snapped my fingers. “It is decided!”

Ao Chi pulled me aside and growled in a low voice: “If this legend turns out to be real and that wretched Queen drags you underground to serve as her slave girl, do not expect me to come and rescue you!”

“I rather think the Queen might prefer you — just look at how tall and handsome you are.” I clicked my tongue and grinned mischievously. “Relax. We are lost out here anyway, with no food or water, and a long road ahead — we have all the time in the world. What is the harm in staying seven days? Are you scared?”

“Scared? Of what, exactly! You really are insufferable!” He let go of my arm. “Fine, we stay. I’ll keep you company.”

And so, without quite understanding how we had arrived there, we became members of this peculiar arrangement to do business with the Queen, and resolved to take up residence in the tent.

By the rules, we would each tell one story per night beginning tonight. Ao Chi and I had the later slots, so the story of the seventh night fell to me. What — why not let Ao Chi tell one? Well, let us not place any hopes in him. Every last scrap of his gift for language had long since been buried beneath layers of quarreling and grumbling.

The daylight hours slipped by as swiftly as flowing sand. I stood outside the tent and gazed around in all directions, finding that the desert’s nightfall was in truth more enchanting than many places I had known — everywhere suffused with a depth and mystery wholly unlike the day, rather like a veiled woman who would not reveal her true face, her very concealment making you all the more eager to draw near. The sky above was not a flat expanse of black, but a rich and steady deep blue, scattered with stars of varying density — beautiful enough to make you reach out instinctively, as though the lightest brush of your fingertips from afar might pull you straight into the loveliest of dreams…

Just then, from inside the tent drifted the irresistible aroma of a proper meal, and a voice called out for me to come and eat.

Well, enough preamble — dinner awaits!