Xiao Bangchui watched him quietly. Her heart might not have been as calm as her face suggested, pounding fiercely in her chest.
She had never known what it felt like to have parents. Since childhood, she had followed her Master around, watching other children with their mothers and fathers by their side. Occasionally, she would wonder why she didn’t have any. Now, suddenly learning that she had drifted down from the river’s upper reaches and that her parents might soon be found, she didn’t know what to feel.
Was it intentional abandonment? Or was it unavoidable? She couldn’t guess the answer, and a vague sense of rejection lingered in her heart—she didn’t really want to know the truth.
“My… birth parents might be upstream?” she asked hesitantly.
But her Master shook his head and sighed. “I searched with you for over two years, asking every household along the riverbank, but never found them. I suspect your birth parents were just passing through when they left you…”
At this point, he suddenly felt he had said too much. Being abandoned by one’s birth parents was hardly a pleasant thing for a child. Glancing at Xiao Bangchui, her expression remained unreadable, but her eyes dimmed slightly. She must still care—after all, she was only ten.
Her Master patted her cheerfully. “When you’re older and can stand on your own, you can look for them yourself. There’s plenty of time. Speaking of which, your Master is getting old and can’t help much with finding your parents. Maybe you can ask your eldest senior brother for help later.”
Huh? Since when was there an eldest senior brother?
Xiao Bangchui’s stoic face finally cracked a little. What was going on today? A grand reveal of secrets? Where did this eldest senior brother come from?
“…Eldest senior brother? You’ve taken disciples before?”
Her Master puffed up proudly. “Of course! Your Master is this old and this capable—how could I have only taken you as a disciple? Years before you came, I had a very talented disciple. Your eldest senior brother was much smarter than you, mastering the arcane arts with just one lesson—never needed a second.”
“Where is he now?”
Had he gone off to make his own way after learning everything? She had never met this senior brother, and her Master had never mentioned him before.
“Your eldest senior brother was a prodigy. By the time he was ten, I had nothing left to teach him. He had his own fateful encounter—met a Celestial. He’s probably under another master now.”
A prodigy… under another master… It sounded like something out of a legend, utterly unreal. Xiao Bangchui eyed her Master skeptically. Compared to these revelations, his uncharacteristic talkativeness today was far more suspicious—he never spoke this much.
“All this talking has dried my mouth.” Her Master tapped out his finished tobacco on a rock and stretched as he stood. “Xiao Bangchui, make dinner. Your Master’s hungry.”
No more talking? She nodded and pulled up a few more radishes. With no other vegetables, it would just be radish soup and braised radishes…
“Add more salt to the braised radishes—your Master likes it salty,” he called lazily from behind.
“Mm.”
Xiao Bangchui pushed open the kitchen’s wooden door when suddenly her Master called out again. “Xiao Bangchui.”
“What?” She turned back. Her Master stood by the door, smiling at her. Whether it was her imagination or not, his eyes seemed to flicker with something like reluctance—just for an instant."Oh... it's nothing." The Master smiled. "Be careful while cooking, don't dirty your new clothes."
For this braised radish dish, Xiao Bangchui had added three handfuls of salt—so salty it could practically serve as pickles. She ladled out a bowl and carried it to the Master's room, knocking gently. "Master, it's time to eat."
After calling three times with no response from inside, she wondered—was he asleep? But before, whenever she called him for meals, the Master would always come running out immediately, whether he'd been asleep or not.
An ominous feeling slowly spread through her. She'd had this sense earlier—something was very off about the Master today. Suddenly buying her clothes, suddenly telling her so many things he'd never mentioned before. At first, she hadn't thought much of it, but now...
Xiao Bangchui's heart skipped a beat. She yanked open the wooden door. The room was filled with billowing green smoke that spilled out as the mountain wind rushed in the moment the door opened. Caught off guard, she plunged face-first into the smoke, her eyes stinging painfully as she coughed violently.
It took a long time for the smoke to disperse. Xiao Bangchui stepped slowly into the room. It was empty—just a single bed. The Master, who had been there before the meal, was now gone.
"...Master?" she called softly. No answer.
This green smoke was familiar to her—it was the Master's vanishing technique. Summoning thick smoke to obscure vision while the body could travel thousands of miles in an instant. One of the Master's genuine arcane arts, the one he'd used to convince many he was truly an immortal. She never imagined he'd use it at home. Where was he now? Had he vanished thousands of miles away?
Xiao Bangchui's heart sank. For the first time, a panicked helplessness seized her.
She dropped the bowl and ran outside, circling the courtyard in search, even peering into the earthen well—of course no one was there.
Where was the Master? Suddenly gone?
Breathless, she searched the woods again before returning dejectedly to the Master's wooden hut, looking around blankly—the Master's room had nothing but a bed. The coarse bedsheet, which she'd just washed and spread last night, lay perfectly flat with no signs of having been slept on.
At the head of the bed sat a blue cloth bundle—she recognized it as the one the Master often took when traveling. The bundle was plump, seemingly stuffed full.
All surrounding sounds suddenly ceased. Xiao Bangchui felt as if she were dreaming. Slowly, she unwrapped the bundle. Several silver ingots tumbled out, followed by a piece of jade-colored old cloth with unwashed bloodstains beneath them. Under the cloth lay a letter.
Opening it, she saw the flamboyant handwriting—undoubtedly the Master's. The ink was still fresh, bleeding through the paper."Xiao Bangchui, eat the radish yourself, have more, you'll need the strength for the journey. The silver is what your Master has secretly saved over the years—take a few pieces for travel expenses. You're hopelessly clumsy, failing to master what I've taught you, truly worrying. There are matters I must attend to and cannot take you along. Keep this money safe and go find your eldest senior brother. Attached to this letter is his portrait. He should now be studying under the No Moon Court and seems quite capable—he’s the one to rely on. That bloodstained cloth is the swaddling that once wrapped you. The stains could never be washed out, so I leave it with you as a keepsake. Don’t rush to find your parents—there’s plenty of time. Xiao Bangchui, though you’re a girl, your Master believes you can take care of yourself alone. Live as if you were a man, but don’t actually think you are one. Girls should smile more—you never smile. I truly worry whether you even know how."
The handwriting stopped abruptly. Even in a farewell letter, he was so careless, leaving the ending hollow and abrupt.
Xiao Bangchui felt her wrist trembling. Just this morning, she had wondered what she would do if her Master passed away, given how poorly she had learned the arcane arts. She never expected this day to come so swiftly—not his passing, but his sudden departure, abandoning her alone.
She tossed the letter aside and pulled another sheet from the envelope. On it was a crooked, ludicrous portrait of a man with slanted eyes and a twisted mouth, drawn comically. Her Master had even added a note: "Eldest senior brother probably looks like this."
She snorted in exasperation—who said she couldn’t smile? Damn old man.
But after laughing, a sudden clarity struck her, and her eyes stung. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t hold back the tears that fell in large drops, smudging the ink and making the portrait even more absurd.
Why? Even if he had urgent matters, she could have gone with him. Even if she was hopelessly inept at the arcane arts, she could have waited at home. If he had to leave, why couldn’t he just go without a word, as if nothing was wrong? Instead, he left glaring clues—buying her clothes, explaining her origins, mentioning her eldest senior brother—even a pig would notice something was off! Why leave a letter at all? In all these years, he had never given her a single coin—why now? He had kept that swaddling cloth for a decade, never speaking of her parents—why return it to her now?
She thought of the ten years they had spent together—that stingy, eccentric, temperamental, infuriatingly willful old man. Even his departure was willful, utterly despicable.
Xiao Bangchui hurled the blue cloth bundle away, only for the silver to strike her foot. The pain made her gasp, clutching her leg as she struggled to stand. The new silk skirt she wore, freshly bought by her Master, bore embroidered orchids at the hem. Tears welled uncontrollably, soaking the new fabric. Soon, her sobs turned into wails, leaving her breathless.
She didn’t even want to know why she was crying—was it the sharp pain in her foot? Or perhaps the ten long yet fleeting years with her Master, all now pouring out as tears.
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