That man turned around and shook his folding fan at me: “Little girl, didn’t your sister tell you not to cause trouble in the streets long ago? If I hadn’t caught you today, I’m afraid I’d have no way to answer her again.”

After speaking, he smiled apologetically at the shop owner: “This is my little sister-in-law. She’s still young and not very bright, please forgive her.”

This man wore jade-colored robes with loose sashes, his hair flowing over his shoulders, with slanted bangs hanging to his shoulders, complementing his bright eyes and sparse brows. Holding a folding fan, he had a somewhat feminine air. However, his bearing was dignified and his manner extraordinary, without revealing the slightest trace of dandy airs.

Looking at his speech and behavior, he was an adult. Adults would let their hair down, and with black hair, he must be a foreign visitor. These days, there were more and more foreign visitors to our great Suozhao, though I wondered whether he was human or a demon.

However, no matter what he was, he intended to save me, so I quickly cooperated: “Brother-in-law? I don’t recognize you!”

Hearing this, the man gave the shop owner a “see?” look, took out a piece of amber from his waist, and handed it to the owner: “This should be enough.”

The shop owner held up the amber and looked at it against the light, seeing it was semi-transparent vermillion red, glowing radiantly like divine beast tears, with mountain and sea patterns and a pearl shell inside.

After repeated inspection, he confirmed it wasn’t a fake, quickly tucked it into his bosom with a look of never returning it even unto death: “Enough, enough, you can go now.”

That man led me away from the shop, then suddenly turned around, cupped his hands toward me, and smiled slightly: “This humble one is Lord Kaixuan, greetings to the Little Princess.”

I smiled too: “You believe I’m the Little Princess?”

“Two hundred years ago, I had the honor of drinking with your esteemed father. The Little Princess bears resemblance to King Yan Hua like a tiger guard to a court gentleman.”

“I see.” Having lived so long, he probably wasn’t human. I blinked and said, “Why can’t I see your demon form?”

Lord Kaixuan smiled: “This humble one is not a demon. Naturally, the Little Princess cannot see a demon form.”

“Then what are you?” This question seemed somewhat impolite, so I added, “With such a long lifespan, you’re naturally not a mortal.”

“This humble one was once mortal, so could be considered half-mortal. Besides, long-lived people do exist. Rather, Little Princess, leaving the palace alone at night, requires caution. Seeing you have no amber on you, please take some with you.” He pulled out several pieces of amber and handed them to me.

“So, amber is money?” I held it up, examining it from all angles for a while.

“In Suozhao, it indeed is money. Look at this one.” Lord Kaixuan took out a blackish amber, oval-shaped, about the size of a fingernail. “See, this is weng amber, with nothing inside, this size is worth one drum.”

This was truly educational. It turned out amber was ranked by value from low to high in four main types: weng amber, blood amber, flower amber, and yi amber. The patterns inside included shells, flowers and grass, stone and wood, mountains, seas, and beast eyes to distinguish denominations. The amber Lord Kaixuan had given the shop owner was blood amber with shells and mountain-sea patterns, worth four hundred drums. Most amber was made by the Treasury Department using magic to condense tree resin, except for yi amber, the “leader of all ambers,” formed from yi bird eyes, which ordinary families had never even seen.

Actually, when Father King discussed politics with officials, I had heard him instruct the Treasury Department about making amber, but at the time I thought amber was like ordinary jade jewelry, never imagining this thing was the legendary money. I studied the amber for a while, originally wanting to ask more questions, when a voice sounded behind me: “Luowei.”

I shrank my neck and timidly turned around: “Brother…”

I expected a torrent of scolding, but unexpectedly Fu Chenzhi let out a great sigh of relief, propping one hand against the wall, breathing slightly heavily: “Finally found you. I thought you’d been taken away by bad people again…”

His reaction reminded me of childhood events. But I firmly refused to apologize, because he hadn’t been gentle at all just now. I said, “Being taken away by bad people would be better than staying to be scolded by you.”

He smiled bitterly: “I know, I won’t scold you anymore. Stay close to me and don’t run around alone.”

Finally defeating my brother once, my heart was indescribably pleased. He reached over to pull me, but touched the fur ball in my arms. The tiger cub stuck out its head and warily pushed away his hand. Fu Chenzhi said, “Where did you get this little tiger?”

“I bought it from the tiger cub shop.” I petted its head. “I’ve decided to take it back to the palace and raise it.”

“This tiger has wings, probably not an ordinary wild beast. I think we should consider this carefully.”

“No, I’ve already decided to take it back. Since I decided to buy it, I must take responsibility. Isn’t that right, Xuanyue?”

“Don’t casually name animals, once named you can’t abandon them…” Fu Chenzhi paused here. “Wait, you didn’t bring money today, how could you buy this tiger cub?”

“Ah, just now there was someone who helped me…” I pointed behind me, wanting to introduce Lord Kaixuan to Fu Chenzhi, but Lord Kaixuan’s figure was already gone from behind me. Looking toward the dark alleys and crowds, I couldn’t find him either. I murmured, “Strange, he was just here.”

Fu Chenzhi seemed to completely ignore my words: “Tell the truth. Which shop did you steal the tiger from? I’ll go pay for it.”

I twitched the corner of my mouth and clenched my fists: “On your last night in Suozhao, must you fight me to the death to be happy?”

In the end, this matter was left unresolved. After that, we took Xuanyue to a teahouse to rest, writing the repentance letter while eating a late-night snack. Fu Chenzhi had beautiful handwriting, but could also imitate mine perfectly, so this so-called “us copying the repentance letter” was just him writing while I ate and watched.

Two half-grown children and a winged tiger appearing in such a place, the three of us received quite a lot of attention.

I had to admit, when my royal brother was serious, he was truly handsome, especially when he seriously helped me take the blame.

Dishes were served one after another. Seeing him so focused, I picked up some sour plum pastry with chopsticks and brought it to his mouth. He turned his head away and refused to eat. So I ate the sour plum pastry myself. After a while, my favorite Su Lian cake arrived. I picked up a piece for Fu Chenzhi, but he had the same reaction. So Xuanyue and I swept away all the Su Lian cakes.

Next came crystal bamboo shoot dumplings, acacia soup, and Niushou Mountain mandarin duck soup, but he wouldn’t eat any of them.

Indeed, my royal brother was still like a child, having no particular preferences in food. Whenever everyone had hearty appetites enjoying delicacies, he always looked cold and indifferent, eating until seven-tenths full, then putting down his chopsticks, unlike other children who wolfed down food. This made many young ladies’ hearts flutter secretly, and made Father King give him a thumbs up: “This child has few desires and hides his talents; he will surely achieve great things.”

Finally, seeing that we had ordered many dishes, the proprietor gave us a complimentary plate of pulled goat milk sweet dates.

This was what I liked least to eat, because it truly lived up to its name, wrapped in layer upon layer of syrup, goat milk, and sweet dates, with goat milk, syrup, and candy at the center of the sweet dates. It could be called Suozhao’s sweetest pastry. How sweet were these pulled goat milk sweet dates? Ordinary people’s expressions after eating them were often more contorted than after eating lemons. Therefore, they were beloved by two or three-year-old children.

I glanced sideways at Xuanyue, thinking it was also a milk baby, and picked up a piece to stuff in its mouth. Who knew, it opened its small mouth, didn’t even chew once, and pushed it out with its tongue, shaking the fur on its head in disorder, looking very tormented.

Seeing fierce light in its bright, big eyes, I couldn’t help but sigh that my taste was really fine—even Xuanyue despised it. Then an evil thought flashed by. I picked up a piece of pulled goat milk sweet date and brought it to Fu Chenzhi’s mouth.

That sickeningly sweet smell floated in the air, and I could almost see my royal brother pinching his nose in agony. I wanted to laugh out loud. Who knew Fu Chenzhi would tilt his head slightly, eat it, and even savor it with relish. Savoring it was one thing, but that face that never showed emotion revealed a trace of what could be called happiness.

I stared at him, dumbfounded—could this be the truth behind Fu Chenzhi’s lack of appetite?

To confirm what I was seeing, I secretly stuffed another pulled goat milk sweet date to him. He seemed not to notice what he was eating, and while chewing his mouth corners even lifted slightly, writing even more seriously.

Now even Xuanyue raised its little head, staring dumbfounded showing a mouthful of tiger teeth, with an expression of admiration. But he was extremely focused, and only when a whole plate of dates was finished did he realize there was no more food, turning his head to look at me in confusion.

“There’s… there’s no more…” I was so surprised I was somewhat tongue-tied. “If you want more, I can order some for you…”

“What did you give me to eat?”

After I honestly reported the pastry’s name, the air seemed to freeze for a moment. Fu Chenzhi looked embarrassed: “Actually, the taste was ordinary, your brother was just a bit hungry.”

This “your brother” sounded both distant and incredibly intimate. Whenever Fu Chenzhi said the opposite of what he meant, he would call himself “your brother.”

For example, when I called him to secretly sneak out of Suozhao to play as children, he said: “Your brother thinks this idea is good, your brother will come find you later.” Then he brought Mother Queen.

Another time, I painted a picture and Hanmo wrote calligraphy beside it, asking him how the painting and calligraphy were. He said: “The painting is good, this calligraphy, your brother also thinks is quite good.”

As a younger sister, I should still give my elder brother some face, so I considerately didn’t expose him.

Before long, Fu Chenzhi finished writing the repentance letter and took us to pay the bill and leave the teahouse. I noticed that when paying, he handed the waiter an amber, but included a feather in it. I said: “Isn’t that yi bird feather? What are you using it for?”

Fu Chenzhi said, “Don’t you know? The number of foreigners in Suozhao increases yearly, and rare beasts are also increasing. Father King promoted the ‘amber and down joint circulation’ system the year before last. Any creature’s fur or feathers can be used to replace amber as currency for transactions. But it’s not yet widespread, and there are no fixed prices in the market. To prevent disputes, I only use feathers for tips.”

“I see. Interesting, interesting.” I gave a thumbs up. “Father King is a wise ruler. When we grow up, we must also assist him.”

“By then it will probably be Second Sister in power, we just need to assist her well.”

I clapped my hands: “That’s a good idea.”

We chatted as we left the teahouse and walked to the edge of the small town. Just as we were about to jump onto the serpent’s back, we suddenly heard Xuanyue roaring at the sky. Fu Chenzhi didn’t pay much attention, just pressed on the serpent’s back, wanting to help me up. Just then, a black thing fell from the sky, landing on the back of his hand. He groaned as if scalded by boiling water and jerked his hand back. Immediately, that thing was also shaken off the ground. Looking closely, we discovered it was a fist-sized spider, furry, with mouth spikes constantly wriggling, crawling around on the ground.

All my goosebumps stood up. I wanted to scream but couldn’t make a sound, could only turn red-faced, pointing at it and casting a pleading look at Fu Chenzhi.

Fu Chenzhi said nothing, stepped forward two paces, and kicked it away.

“How could there be a spider here?” I looked up at the night sky. “And how could it fall from the sky…”

“It is rather strange.” Fu Chenzhi tore a piece of cloth from his clothes, preparing to bandage the back of his hand.

Only then did I notice his hand had been bitten by the spider, leaving two fang marks, with blood mixed with some dark green liquid. I grabbed his wrist: “Oh no, this spider is poisonous. We must quickly force out the poison.”

I raised his hand higher, just wanting to examine it carefully, when he blocked with his other hand: “No, you can’t use your mouth, it might be poisonous to the body too.”

“Who said I planned to use my mouth? Foolish brother, don’t think of me as an idiot.”

I swatted away his other hand, used my fingers to press the skin on both sides of the wound, squeezed out the poisonous liquid inside, used water to rinse the wound, and finally froze it with ice to prevent the poison from flowing into his body. I grabbed the cloth from his hand and wrapped the wound: “I can only treat it like this for now. Let’s hurry back and secretly find an imperial physician.”

“Good.” After getting on the serpent’s back with me and flying for a while, Fu Chenzhi slowly said, “Weiwei, thank you.”

“Thank you for what? I’m your sister.”

On the way back, only Xuanyue kept whimpering uneasily.

After returning, we quickly treated Fu Chenzhi’s wound and each went back to our rooms to rest. However, because I was ultimately worried and concerned about him, I barely slept all night. The next morning, I saw large wing shadows appear on the mica screen. Looking up, sure enough, it was yi birds flying past. It seemed Fu Chenzhi was preparing to depart. I threw on a cloak, jumped down from the orchid boat, and ran to the north gate.

Sure enough, the yi bird was crouching on the ground like a giant colorful leaf, with Fu Chenzhi standing beside it, preparing to mount its back. I originally wanted to run over and bid him farewell again, but instinctively glanced at the back of his hand. Then I was stunned—both backs of his hands were perfectly intact, as if they had never been injured.

How confused I was. The wound from the spider bite the day before was deep, and after thawing the ice, blood immediately gushed like a spring. Even for the Suozhao clan, such an injury would probably take two or three days to heal. He was a mortal—it should take at least ten days to half a month before it wouldn’t hurt when touched. But after just one night, there wasn’t even a scar on the back of his hand. What was going on? Could it be that my brother was a demon wearing human skin?

My god, a demon that even our parents couldn’t detect must be an iron-clad monster—this was too terrifying…

However, while I was still lost in wild thoughts, that yi bird had already cried out to the sky and spread its wings to fly high.

I didn’t have much time to ponder the problem of my brother and the spider. Because today two distinguished guests arrived. How distinguished were they? Even the Xuan Study Hall was given a full day off.

These two people—one was the Grand Priest of our great Suozhao. Among Suozhao’s officials, the Six Departments ranked after the Three Marquises and One Prime Minister, not the highest position. However, in today’s Suozhao, the contributions made by the Grand Priest were comparable to the Prime Minister. Because, as early as the reign of the founding King Ling Jing, Suozhao was just an isolated Moon City, with only contact with our old neighbor, the Xuanqiu clan, for hundreds of years. The only foreign wine the Suozhao clan could drink was truly just Xuanqiu aged wine. It wasn’t until after the Wild Goose Reforms that we moved the capital and crossed eastward, gradually making contact with demons.

At this moment, we were in the most prosperous era in history. The Grand Priest, following the king’s orders to travel far for scriptures, had opened countless paths to various places and realms. The demon and human clans with whom we had trade relations already exceeded twenty types. According to Mother Queen, many ministers were already secretly discussing naming Father King’s era the “Zhaohua Governance” for the history books.

Therefore, as the Little Princess of Suozhao, as the daughter of history’s first enlightened ruler, I could proudly call my hometown “Great Suozhao.”

This time, the Grand Priest’s journey was the longest. And the convoy he was bringing back carried documents and treasures that no Suozhao clan member a hundred years ago could have imagined.

On the way to Luoshui, just hearing the news Second Sister revealed, Hanmo and I were already jumping with excitement. I guarantee this was major good news that every Suozhao clan member would be as overjoyed as we to hear, and would be the biggest event in Suozhao history to date.

Even though dawn had broken, the Milky Way still glittered brilliantly below. A remnant moon coexisted with the sun, leaving a pale white large circle at the horizon. On Luoshui, where green smoke veiled, immortal cranes drove clouds across the purple clarity, while female officials walked on waves, scattering fragrant dust. Their hands were delicate and slender, silk ribbons fluttering, flower ornaments swaying in mirrors, soft as if boneless, forming a magnificent scene of strength and gentleness combined with the welcoming formation led by the Director of Ceremonies.

Finally, we welcomed the Grand Priest. He looked much the same as before, still with flowing beard like clouds, brocade robes, and gorgeous crown, with the bearing of an immortal sage, only much more haggard than usual, with a pale complexion and tired mount, probably from traveling through the night.

In the sound of drums and music, he dismounted and walked to kneel before Father King, taking out a manuscript from a box carried by two attendants, offering it with both hands: “Three months ago, when this subject obtained this book, I pondered repeatedly that upon returning to Suozhao, the first thing I wanted to present to Your Majesty was this classic. Now, this subject has finally fulfilled this wish.”

On the book cover were seven vigorous characters: Comprehensive Records of Immortals, Volume 38.

The boxes held by those two attendants were also full of “Comprehensive Records of Immortals.”

Yes, this was what Second Sister had just told us: the Grand Priest had reached the immortal realm on this scripture-seeking journey.

In other words, the race we had previously seen in books, heard of in prayers, and fantasized about in legends—immortals—they truly existed. Moreover, the Grand Priest had not only been there and seen hundreds of immortals and retrieved classics, but had also found a direct path to the immortal realm.

“Si Bo, you’re finally back.” Father King personally stepped forward to help the Grand Priest up, his face radiant with joy. “Today is truly double happiness. Quick, follow me into the palace.”

“Yes.” The Grand Priest bowed respectfully and followed Father King into the Xuanniao canopy.

Before the Xuanniao took off, I dragged Hanmo and leaped into the canopy. By the time Father King discovered us, the canopy had already risen into the air. However, Father King was in a good mood today and didn’t scold us, only commanding us to sit properly. Hanmo and I sat on either side of the Grand Priest. I tugged at his wide sleeves and said, “Grandpa Si Bo, did you see immortals?”

The Grand Priest smiled: “Yes, Little Princess. The immortal realm is truly vast, much larger than our Suozhao.”

I said, “What do they look like?”

Hanmo said: “How many arms do they have, how many pairs of eyes?”

The Grand Priest chuckled: “Most of them look little different from humans and demons, all with black hair, two hands and two feet, but their immortal aura is very different. Their bodies are like light wind, ethereal as clouds, most can ride clouds and mist, control dragons and ascend, traveling a thousand li in a day.”

Hanmo and I became even more excited, firing questions like rapid shots, nearly getting into a scuffle. Later, only when Father King gave an order did we obediently shut our mouths. Not until the canopy landed before the Zhaolong Boulevard of Zichao Palace and we got off did we finally find another opportunity to pester the Grand Priest again. But the Grand Priest followed Father King forward, unable to spare energy to deal with us.

Father King said, “Before ascending the throne, I once traveled the Eastern Sea, where I made close friends and drank together under the moon. Si Bo, guess what his background is?”

The Grand Priest said, puzzledly: “This subject is ignorant.”

“I only learned yesterday that he, too, comes from the immortal realm.” Father King laughed heartily, gesturing toward the main gate of Zichao Palace. “He has been waiting for us in the inner hall for quite some time.”