“Quickly! Don’t let him get away! After him!”

“Stop right there! Young Hero Han! Stop!”

Under the cover of night, a group of people carrying torches and lanterns sprinted in pursuit of a figure ahead. By the dim light, one could make out that the pursuers were all burly men dressed as household guards and estate watchmen, while the figure fleeing ahead was a white-clad young man of about fifteen or sixteen — handsome of features, his expression a mixture of impatience and careless indifference, moving through his lightness skill at rapid speed.

The men behind him were no amateurs in their own right, and though they could not match his skill, they were all trained fighters. They ran fast despite falling further and further behind, and with numbers on their side, they gave chase with considerable force and momentum. In the middle of this running pursuit, a clear, cool female voice suddenly rang out in the dark night.

“Haha… now this is amusing.”

The white-clad young man in front came to an abrupt halt, and his expression shifted to one of startled doubt. He tilted his head to listen, as though trying to determine whether what he had just heard was a hallucination or a real voice.

“A few years and this is all you’ve managed?” The female voice came again, carrying a teasing, smiling lilt. This time the white-clad young man heard it clearly. He froze like a statue, unable to decide whether to feel overjoyed or outraged — he only stood there, his gaze fixed forward.

In the dark, a warm and clear lamplight suddenly bloomed ahead. A large carriage stood several zhang away, its body lacquered black, with two crystal palace lanterns hanging from the front eaves. The light within the lanterns was not candlelight but night-luminescence pearls the size of pigeon eggs, their glow steady and bright, illuminating the surrounding area as though it were broad daylight.

“There he is! We’ve caught him!”

“Young Hero Han! Don’t run anymore!” The estate guards had caught up and, catching sight of the white-clad young man’s silhouette ahead, broke into delighted exclamations. They closed in from all sides, rope in hand, clearly intending to bind him. When they drew closer and caught sight of the unusual black carriage, they hesitated — glancing at each other uncertainly, not quite sure whether to step forward and seize him first.

At just that moment, the carriage door gave a creak and opened. A woman stepped out — her robes white as snow, her hair like black silk, a crescent-moon jade ornament at her brow, reflected in clear, calm eyes like a new moon fallen into still water. Her bearing was peerless, her grace beyond compare. The estate guards were stunned speechless where they stood. The woman’s gaze settled on the white-clad young man, and she looked at him with a gentle smile.

The white-clad young man looked at her — looked, and kept looking — and then burst into loud, wailing tears. The estate guards were thrown into utter bewilderment. They knew how formidable this young man was. Yet here was the person they had considered a peerless martial artist, crying his eyes out for no apparent reason. Not one of them had the faintest idea how to respond.

Han Pu wept without restraint, like a lost child who could not find his way home — his crying both heartbroken and helpless. The woman only watched him in quiet silence. After a long while, Han Pu finally brought himself to stop. He lifted his eyes to look at her, and his gaze held equal measures of resentment and joy, grievance and longing — it was an expression of remarkable and tangled complexity.

“Pu’er, how are you still as fond of crying as you were when you were little?” The woman gave a quiet sigh. At these words, Han Pu could hold himself back no longer. He leaped forward and threw himself at her. “Sister!” The woman reached out and caught him with ease.

“Sister! Why did you go back on your word? Why did it take you so long to come for me?” The young man clung to her and complained. This young man was none other than Han Pu, and the woman was of course Feng Xiyun — long absent from the jianghu.

“Hmm…” Feng Xiyun was somewhat evasive. “Sister had a few things come up — but didn’t I come to find you the moment I got back?”

“Really? You’re not teasing me? You haven’t stopped wanting me?”

“Of course it’s real — how could sister ever stop wanting you?”

“Wuwuwu… you were gone so long without coming to find me, I thought you…”

“There, there, stop crying. Sister has only you as her precious little brother — why would she ever part with you?”

“This time you absolutely cannot abandon me again.”

“I won’t. From now on, wherever sister is, that’s where you’ll be too.”

The two of them — one wheedling endlessly, the other soothing endlessly — left the estate guards around them with twitching expressions on their faces. This was the Young Hero Han whose martial arts were said to be unmatched? Their jaws had practically hit the ground.

Once Han Pu had been properly comforted, Feng Xiyun finally had time to turn to the people in front of them. “Pu’er, what is all this about?”

“Nothing.”

Han Pu was hardly going to tell the truth. The estate guards had by now recovered their senses, and hearing Han Pu’s words, they were hardly about to let it go. The man who appeared to be the head guard stepped forward.

“Young Hero Han, please come back with us.” Feng Xiyun gave the head guard a glance, then turned back to Han Pu. Han Pu set his jaw and said nothing. The head guard was direct enough about it. “Young Hero Han — we cannot delay the auspicious hour for the wedding. If you refuse to come willingly, we will have no choice but to bring you back by force.”

Feng Xiyun’s brows shot up at these words.

“Pu’er — did you get engaged?”

“I absolutely did not!” Han Pu shook his head at once. “They are the ones making unreasonable demands.”

“Oh?” Feng Xiyun’s tone rose just slightly at the end.

The head guard had his own version of events. “Young Hero Han, that’s not quite fair. We’re not being unreasonable — you picked up the embroidered ball, and that naturally means you are to marry our young mistress.”

“I didn’t know it was an embroidered ball,” Han Pu argued.

“It was most certainly an embroidered ball. The Liu family of this estate is seeking a son-in-law — everyone within a hundred li knows this!” The head guard had gotten a little heated himself.

“I didn’t know, and I wasn’t aware,” Han Pu dismissed it all in a single sentence.

Seeing that persuasion was getting nowhere, the head guard raised his hand. “Escort Young Hero Han back.” The guards immediately surged forward, preparing to bind him.

“If you keep forcing this — don’t blame me for showing no mercy.” Han Pu’s temper was fraying too, especially with his revered sister right there to witness it. The two sides were on the verge of coming to blows when Feng Xiyun sighed.

“Pu’er — explain yourself clearly.” The moment she said this, Han Pu immediately tucked in his neck — while the estate guards saw an opportunity. Since they were siblings, perhaps if the sister agreed to the match, the younger brother would have no choice but to comply.

The head guard quickly cupped his hands toward Feng Xiyun. “Miss, you are Young Hero Han’s elder sister. As the saying goes, an elder sister is like a mother — this matter is yours to decide. You can’t let Young Hero Han continue being so willful.”

“Oh? Tell me how this came about.” Feng Xiyun glanced at Han Pu first, then turned her attention to the guard. And so the head guard gave a full account of events.

As it turned out, these people were guards from Liu Family Estate in Xie Town — an estate of considerable repute within a hundred li. The proprietor, Master Liu, and his wife were well past fifty, with only one daughter — sixteen years old, possessed of both beauty and talent. The couple adored her like the apple of their eye and could not bear to see her married out, and so they hoped to find a son-in-law who would move into their household. But the young miss had found none of the eligible young men in the vicinity to her liking. Instead, she had an embroidered ball hung on a pillar in front of the estate, declaring that whoever could retrieve it could marry her.

The pillar from which the ball hung had been specially built to her specifications, of smooth stone six zhang high, and no ordinary person could climb it. The ball had hung there for the better part of a year without anyone claiming it — until today, when Han Pu had passed by Liu Family Estate, seen the ball, and with a light leap, retrieved it. Was this not a heaven-sent match?

“Young Hero Han picked up the embroidered ball, so naturally he is to marry our young mistress. This holds wherever you go, miss — would you not agree?”

“I’ve already said — I had absolutely no idea it was an embroidered ball, and even less idea that your Liu family was seeking a son-in-law!” Han Pu had finished shouting at the guards and immediately whipped around to look at Feng Xiyun, his face tense with anxiety. “Sister, I truly didn’t know — I just happened to be passing by, saw something pretty hanging on the pillar that looked like a flower basket, and out of curiosity I took it down. How was I supposed to know it was a recruitment ball?” Honestly, he really was quite wronged in this.

“Hahaha—” Feng Xiyun heard the whole story from beginning to end and burst out laughing. “Pu’er, how did you manage to blunder into something like this? You’re still so young, and already collecting romantic debts.”

“Sister!” Han Pu fumed with indignation.

“Miss…” Hearing the tone in Feng Xiyun’s voice, the guards began to have misgivings. But Feng Xiyun paid them no attention, only looking Han Pu up and down, then giving a nod of gratified approval.

“Ah — Pu’er has grown up. Old enough to take a wife.”

“I absolutely am not taking a wife!” Han Pu shot back at once, then rounded on the guards again. “I will never marry your young mistress. All of you go home immediately. If you continue to pester me, I will actually start hitting people!”

“You made a move and won’t own up to it — what do you think we are, afraid of you?” The guards were losing their tempers too.

Feng Xiyun sighed, turned, and climbed back into the carriage. The messes made by children are for them to sort out themselves. Just as it seemed a single wrong word would set off a brawl, a shout came from the distance.

“Stop arguing! The young mistress is coming!”

Everyone turned at once. Through the dark, more lamplight floated toward them. A moment later, a pretty young woman of sixteen or seventeen, surrounded by a cluster of male and female servants, came into view.

“Young mistress.”

The guards hurried to meet her. This young woman was evidently the Liu miss. She held in her hands a flower ball of considerable elegance and beauty — and seeing it, Feng Xiyun finally understood why Han Pu had called it a flower basket. The ball was woven from fine bamboo in a half-sphere shape, surrounded with bamboo strips painted in seven bright colors. From a distance, it genuinely did look like a flower basket. When she arrived, the young mistress did not look at anyone else. She went straight to Han Pu, held out the flower ball, and said coldly: “Put it back.”

Han Pu, who had braced himself with full alertness, was taken aback by this. The guards looked equally flabbergasted.

“I didn’t ask you to take it down — what business was it of yours to meddle?” Young Mistress Liu’s face was the picture of someone whose good deed had been ruined. Han Pu caught on at once. His brow cleared immediately.

“Put it back and that’s the end of it?” Young Mistress Liu frowned. “If there were anyone who could jump that high, I wouldn’t be bothering with you.” At her words, the guards had their own objections. “Young mistress — the master and his wife will never agree. Young Hero Han picked up the ball — he is naturally to be your husband.”

Young Mistress Liu gave the guards a cold look, then fixed her gaze on Han Pu.

“Pu’er, the young mistress’s ball is waiting for someone. Quickly put it back.” Feng Xiyun’s voice came from inside the carriage.

“Yes!” With his sister’s instruction, Han Pu treated her words as a command from heaven.

“Sister, wait just a moment — I will be back shortly.” He had barely finished speaking before he shot into the air, and in the blink of an eye, vanished into the night. Young Mistress Liu cast a glance at the carriage, said nothing, turned, and went back escorted by her servants. The guards exchanged looks, and then followed after their mistress. After all, if Master Liu and his wife had any reproaches later, it was easy enough to put it on the young mistress. When everything had settled back into quiet, a voice like wind chimes rang out from the carriage, beautiful as jade struck against jade.

“What a farce! Your brother has certainly made progress.”

“Don’t be too quick to laugh — my brother is your brother too.” Feng Xiyun gave a small sound of amusement, opened the carriage door, and jumped down.

Barely two quarter-hours had passed when Han Pu came back. The moment he caught sight of Feng Xiyun standing before the carriage, the brightness returned to his eyes and the anxiety that had shadowed his face dissolved.

“Sister!” Two bounds, and he landed before her, arms reaching out to hold on. He had been terrified during those few minutes that he might return and find her gone again — that no matter where he searched the whole world over, he could not find her. He was afraid of that panic, of feeling abandoned, of being the only person left in all the world.

Feng Xiyun seemed to understand what he felt. She reached out and drew his shoulders into a brief embrace, then released him. “All right. Let’s go home.”

Han Pu stiffened. He raised his face and looked at her with an expression of pure, stunned bewilderment. That look made Feng Xiyun feel a small pang, a small guilt. “Silly Pu’er — aren’t you coming home with sister?”

“I… where am I going?” Han Pu asked, still dazed.

“Home. Sister has come to take you home.” Feng Xiyun looked at him with warmth.

Han Pu’s heart jolted. Then his eyes went hot, and with a great wail, he burst into tears again. He had thought he had no home left, no family left. This past year of searching for her had nearly brought him to despair.

All at once, the sweet and the bitter and the lonely and the sad of it all came bursting out of him in a flood.

But this time, Han Pu had barely cried more than a few notes when a loud, vigorous infant’s wail broke out from inside the carriage, drowning out his crying entirely and startling it to a halt. He forgot to cry. He stared blankly at the carriage.

The door opened. Feng Lanxi stepped out, dressed in ink-dark robes — and though he was holding an infant, not one trace of his dignified and aristocratic manner was diminished for it.

“He’s hungry.” Feng Lanxi held the infant out toward Feng Xiyun.

Han Pu’s eyes went very wide. He looked at Feng Lanxi. He looked at the infant in his arms. Then he turned to look at Feng Xiyun.

Feng Xiyun took the child, coaxed him with a few murmurs until he quieted, then held him up before Han Pu.

“Pu’er — this is your little nephew. He has no name yet. Would you like to give him one?”

“Is it because you went off to have a baby that you didn’t come to find me?” Han Pu asked it like someone talking in their sleep.

Feng Xiyun was momentarily at a loss for words. The truth was that when they had discovered she was with child, they had been on an island in the middle of Biya Sea. The pregnancy had left her severely ill — she could barely eat, could not sleep, and was confined to bed, unable to move. There was certainly no question of getting on a boat and sailing back. They had to wait until the baby was born, and in the meantime the promised date had passed.

Seeing that she had gone silent, Han Pu immediately broke into a wail again. “No wonder you didn’t come for me — you had a baby, so you don’t want me anymore!” He cried, and the infant, catching the mood, cried too, until the combined din was so magnificent that insects and birds scattered in all directions for a considerable distance.

“Pu’er — who said sister doesn’t want you anymore? Didn’t I come to get you the moment I was back?”

“But you have a child now.”

“Having a child doesn’t change the fact that you’re still my brother.”

“And you went and married that wretched fox!”

“Well… Pu’er will marry someone too, one day.”

“I absolutely do not want to get married!”

“Don’t say things you’ll have to take back later. Come on — tell sister, what kind of woman do you like? That Young Mistress Liu just now was actually rather nice.”

“Hmph! I refuse to have those foolish, ugly women!”

“…”

“I want to marry someone like sister!”

“…”

“Sister — divorce that wretched fox and marry me!”

“…”

“Ahh!! What does the wretched fox think he’s doing?! Sister, save me!”

…

The carriage rolled slowly away, scattering into the night a trail of weeping, wailing, shouting, bickering — and the warm, satisfied sound of laughter.