The old site of Luo River, Biluo Palace.
The magnificent and glorious Biluo Palace had been completed, completely different from the formerly unremarkable small village. With elegant and upright pavilions and towers, it probably wouldn’t pale in comparison to true celestial palaces. Wanyu Yuedan still wore his azure robes, sitting in the Xiayun Pavilion of Biluo Palace on this light-clouded, breezy autumn afternoon, admiring flowers.
Others admired flowers by looking at their colors. Though he couldn’t see the flower colors, he could still appreciate their fragrance. In his heart, fresh flowers were equally beautiful, and he had never forgotten the colors and delicate beauty of blossoms.
“What flowers are these? They’re so fragrant.” The person sitting before Wanyu Yuedan had white clothes and black hair with a baby face. Though he spoke of flowers, what he was smelling was the tea in his hands.
“These are just osmanthus flowers. Uncle Imperial Plum never looks at osmanthus? The eighth month of high autumn—admiring osmanthus, eating crab, drinking chrysanthemum wine—these are elegant pleasures of the mortal world.” Wanyu Yuedan said gently, “Ten years without seeing each other, Uncle Imperial Plum is still the same, hasn’t changed at all.” Though he called him “Uncle,” Fu Zhumei looked at most only two or three years older than him. But hearing Wanyu Yuedan call him “Uncle,” he didn’t find it strange. He had once been equals with Wanyu Yuedan’s father, so by seniority, Wanyu Yuedan should indeed call him uncle.
“You can see what I look like?” Fu Zhumei looked at Wanyu Yuedan in confusion upon hearing this. How could a blind person know he “hasn’t changed at all”? Wanyu Yuedan smiled slightly. “Uncle Imperial Plum’s speaking voice, walking sounds, even the depth of his breathing are exactly the same as in Yuedan’s memory.” Fu Zhumei nodded and took a sip of tea. “But you’ve grown up.” Wanyu Yuedan nodded and also picked up his tea for a small sip. “Uncle Imperial Plum has come from afar, there must be important matters?” Though he had only been eleven when he knew Fu Zhumei, he was very clear about what kind of person this world-renowned Uncle Imperial Plum was.
“I…” Fu Zhumei looked at the cup of tea on the white jade table. The teacup was thin as cicada wings, the tea water clear and azure—both were expensive items. “There’s something I want to ask you.” The wrinkles at the corners of Wanyu Yuedan’s eyes slightly creased as he set down his teacup. “What matter troubles Uncle Imperial Plum?” Fu Zhumei lightly touched the tea water with his fingertip. The warm tea water staining his finger was an unusual sensation. “I… I…” He had many things in his heart he wanted to say, but when it came to actually speaking them aloud, he didn’t know where to begin. His mind was in complete chaos—no matter where he started, it would be a tangled mess. “I don’t know whether I should retreat from the jianghu or stay at Haoyun Mountain.” After hesitating for quite a while, he only murmured this one sentence. Wanyu Yuedan’s curved brow line slightly furrowed. “The Central Plains Sword Assembly? Uncle Imperial Plum came from Haoyun Mountain?” Fu Zhumei nodded, looking blankly at Biluo Palace’s elegant scenery, those cinnabar-colored osmanthus flowers. “I thought that after the sword assembly battle thirty years ago, I had completely withdrawn from the jianghu. Sigh… the jianghu, the jianghu always has many unsatisfactory things. I don’t like it.” Wanyu Yuedan sighed gently and warmly continued for him, “But if people don’t provoke the jianghu, the jianghu provokes people. The Feng Liu Shop incident caused great waves, and Uncle Imperial Plum ultimately finds it difficult to remain uninvolved.”
“Actually…” Fu Zhumei stared blankly at the osmanthus flowers. “It’s not like that.” Wanyu Yuedan smiled slightly. “Then what exactly happened at Haoyun Mountain to confuse Uncle Imperial Plum so?” Fu Zhumei said, “I’ve seen Tang Lici.” Wanyu Yuedan lightly tapped the thin teacup with his fingertip, producing crisp sounds. “Young Master Tang… Young Master Tang is a brilliant person. With him at Haoyun Mountain’s Central Plains Sword Assembly, it absolutely won’t fall, and with him in the Central Plains martial world, it won’t face eternal damnation either.” Fu Zhumei said, “He’s my good friend.” Wanyu Yuedan was slightly stunned. “This I haven’t heard before.”
“We’ve known each other for many years,” Fu Zhumei said, raising his head to finish that cup of tea. “With him in the Central Plains martial world, it won’t face eternal damnation… Xiao Yue really has such confidence…” Wanyu Yuedan concentrated in thought, listening very seriously. “Could it be Uncle Imperial Plum has no confidence in Young Master Tang?” Fu Zhumei shook his head, set down the empty cup, and said in confusion, “I really have no confidence, because I’ve known A’Li for many years. A’Li has never been someone others can depend on. He really will do many things very well, but after doing them well, he’ll destroy all the results completely in one go… He’s never been anyone’s pillar or a god who can save anyone.”
“Does Uncle Imperial Plum understand Young Master Tang very well?” Wanyu Yuedan smiled gently, not seeming surprised by hearing these words. Fu Zhumei looked toward the distant mountains behind Biluo Palace. “Xiao Yue, do you know? He once spent a month building a very beautiful house using books and wine bottles. After building it, he held a banquet in the house, inviting many people to drink inside, then…” He sighed painfully. “Then he set a fire and burned down that house, nearly burning to death all the people who came to the banquet.” Wanyu Yuedan’s elegant and delicate eyes moved slightly. “Oh?” Fu Zhumei nodded. “But I understand he wasn’t trying to kill people. When he built that house, he just wanted to set it on fire…” Wanyu Yuedan smiled. “But rumors say Young Master Tang is refined and elegant, courteous and polite. The jianghu masses all believe the master of Wan Qiao Zhai is definitely no ordinary person and will surely guide everyone to victory over this jianghu poison plague.” Fu Zhumei looked at the jade-white table in confusion. “I don’t doubt at all that he’s certainly stronger than Liu Yan. But A’Li has a very strange temperament. He’s actually very fragile and easily has mental breakdowns, but because he’s extremely competitive, he won’t let people discover that he often can’t bear things. If someone discovers he’s actually collapsed, even if he doesn’t die of anger, he’ll go mad. Chi Yun is dead. I don’t know whether I should stay at Haoyun Mountain or never appear again…” Wanyu Yuedan let out a long breath and smiled. “I understand.”
Fu Zhumei rubbed his hair. “I… I spoke in a jumbled mess. Xiao Yue, do you really understand?”
“I understand.” Wanyu Yuedan felt around to pour Fu Zhumei a cup of tea. “But I believe in Young Master Tang.” He said slowly, “I believe no one understands their own weaknesses better than themselves. Young Master Tang, as the adopted son of the National Uncle, master of Wan Qiao Zhai, and possessing world-shocking martial arts—even if he really wanted to burn a few people to death, I don’t think anyone could capture him… But he didn’t stay in the capital or at Wan Qiao Zhai to act recklessly… He entered the jianghu to intervene in the Feng Liu Shop matter, which means abandoning his own protection, knowing full well this confrontation must have winners and losers, knowing his weaknesses would be challenged, that he might lose, might die, yet he didn’t regret it. Uncle Imperial Plum, not just anyone can make such a decision. Making decisions requires courage, and courage… must come from beliefs that support one’s progress.”
“I know what A’Li’s belief is—he wants to be a good person.” Fu Zhumei suddenly became excited, slapping the table. “Because he’s done too many chaotic things, he wants to change and be a good person, but… but the person who told him to be a good person… went and killed and burned things themselves, ruined their own words. How can beliefs that come this way convince people? How can they make a person truly and unwaveringly do very difficult things? That’s a belief A’Yan forced on A’Li, that… that’s not something A’Li thought of himself!” With a crash, the teacup in front of him overturned, the thin porcelain body shattered, and tea water flowed across the table and floor.
“Young Master Tang may be a fragile man, but he’s definitely not an unsteady man.” Wanyu Yuedan slowly raised his cup and finished his tea. “I respect everything he bears as a man… Uncle Imperial Plum, don’t treat him like a child. Believe he won’t disappoint you.”
Fu Zhumei stared blankly at Wanyu Yuedan, not knowing how to respond. Wanyu Yuedan moved the cup rim from his lips and smiled slightly. “Uncle Imperial Plum really is a very gentle person.” Fu Zhumei nodded, though what he had originally intended to agree with was Wanyu Yuedan’s previous statement “don’t treat him like a child.” After nodding, he rubbed his hair with an embarrassed expression. Wanyu Yuedan was already smiling very contentedly, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes slightly pursed upward. “Eh… Uncle Imperial Plum, I heard there’s a very skilled cook at Luoyang’s Silver Horn Tavern named Fu Zhumei. I wonder if Uncle Imperial Plum knows him?” Fu Zhumei let out an “Ah,” becoming even more embarrassed. “I… I…” Wanyu Yuedan said gently, “I really didn’t know Uncle Imperial Plum’s real name was Zhumei. When I heard the news, I was truly surprised and even specially went to eat the food and wine. Uncle Imperial Plum’s pastries are truly heavenly delicacies, though your fish and meat cooking skills are greatly inferior.” Fu Zhumei widened those clear eyes, looking at Wanyu Yuedan in amazement. “You—you—when did you go eat at Silver Horn? Why did you specially go to eat?” Wanyu Yuedan’s handsome brow line slightly raised. “Because I really wanted to go, so I went.” Fu Zhumei vigorously rubbed his hair. “You… you…” He really didn’t know what to say.
“Uncle Imperial Plum, Biluo Palace has something I hope Uncle can go look at.” After laughing, Wanyu Yuedan stood up. “This way, please follow me.” Fu Zhumei’s mind hadn’t yet returned from the matter of Wanyu Yuedan specially running to Silver Horn Tavern to eat his cooking. He absent-mindedly responded, then suddenly said, “Xiao Yue, don’t call me Uncle Imperial Plum anymore. Call me Xiao Fu.” Wanyu Yuedan’s lips held a slight smile as he walked forward steadily without looking back. “Why?” Fu Zhumei said, “Because… because… when you call ‘Uncle Imperial Plum,’ I don’t know who you’re calling. I have to think before I know you’re calling me.” Wanyu Yuedan said gently, “Alright.”
The two walked around long corridors and arrived at a spacious garden. Fu Zhumei saw soft flowers and grass everywhere—some had already withered, some were still blooming, and most were covered with small, brightly colored fruits, crystal clear and plump, with lovely luster, making the entire garden appear warm and full of life. Decorated with flowers and fruits, with shrubs forming paths, dozens of long steles made of azure jade stood quietly among the flowers and grass, covered with inscriptions writing many names. “This is… a cemetery?” Fu Zhumei exclaimed in a low voice. What did Wanyu Yuedan want him to see in a cemetery? Wanyu Yuedan pointed toward the dozens of tombstones, wanting him to look carefully at one particular stone. “That’s a young lady’s grave. She wasn’t from Biluo Palace, but died within Biluo Palace. Before dying, she said… she very much wanted to see you once.” Fu Zhumei stared blankly at that grave. “Who was she?” Wanyu Yuedan said, “An assassin from Zhulu Tower.” Fu Zhumei looked at that tombstone in confusion, vaguely seeming to remember something, yet vaguely having no memory at all. Who exactly was she? Was she a friend he had once known?