Chapter 56 — Changhe City

Shitou did not notice Zhang Qingyue's expression. His face fell as he said, "I'm a bit better off than you, but only by a few taels." He paused, then whispered, "From the look of this place, it'll cost at least thirty or forty taels..."

Just then Bili had already reached the shopkeeper's counter. The shopkeeper looked up, a smile spreading across his face, and said, "Miss, will you be wanting a room?"

Thud—a small ingot of gold landed before the shopkeeper, worth at least a hundred or eighty taels of silver by the look of it. The shopkeeper's smile immediately grew so wide his eyes went round, and he babbled, "Rest assured, miss, this establishment has stood a hundred years, and we guarantee you'll feel as though you've come home—come with confidence and leave satisfied..."

Bili cut him off. "Give me one of your best rooms. A clean one."

The shopkeeper smiled obsequiously. "Of course, of course."

Bili glanced back. "And find a room for those two standing over there."

The shopkeeper looked at Zhang Qingyue and Shitou, then turned back to Bili with a smile. "So these two gentlemen will also be..."

Bili snorted. "A woodshed will do for them."

The shopkeeper was struck dumb.

Zhang Qingyue and Shitou, standing there, were likewise struck dumb.

In the end, the shopkeeper summoned a servant and ushered Bili inside like a princess. As for Zhang Qingyue and Shitou, the shopkeeper did not dare truly put them in the woodshed, but he gave them only an ordinary room.

Zhang Qingyue and Shitou did not much mind—neither of them was the pampered sort. They only understood Bili's spoiled-young-lady temper a little better.

After the three went in, the inn returned to quiet. Pedestrians hurried to and fro in the street, the clouds shifted in the sky, and dusk gradually fell—and then an old man and a young girl came in. The old man carried a cloth banner reading "Immortal Points the Way," and the young one was a girl of no more than ten, holding a string of candied haws and eating them with relish.

It was none other than Zhou Yixuan and his granddaughter, Xiaowan.

Zhou Yixuan looked around, and Xiaowan was also taking in the surroundings. Seeing the place decorated in such opulent style, she drew a sharp breath and whispered, "Grandpa, did you take a wrong turn?"

Zhou Yixuan looked smug. "Do you think your grandpa has been good for nothing all these years?"

...was doing his accounts behind the counter. He tugged Xiaowan along and walked over.

The shopkeeper sensed someone approaching and looked up, about to greet them, when he suddenly froze, an expression of surprise on his face.

Zhou Yixuan smiled, every inch the crane-boned immortal, as much like a sage who had attained the Way as one could wish. "Manager Wang, do you remember me?"

Manager Wang gave a cry of "Ah!" and actually came running out from behind the counter, his manner utterly respectful, his face alight with delighted astonishment, while Xiaowan beside him was left staring open-mouthed. He was saying, "Oh! It's the old immortal himself! What brings you here? Ah—it must be thirty years since we last met! I think of you often!"

Zhou Yixuan smiled faintly, his air distinguished. He raised a hand to brush the dust of travel from his robes and said with a light smile, "I am no common man. These years I have wandered the world, gone to famous mountains and immortal realms, visited sages and drawn in the spiritual essence of heaven and earth—where would I find the time to come here?"

Xiaowan collapsed on the spot.

But Manager Wang looked utterly convinced, nodding repeatedly. "Yes, yes, of course the old immortal is nothing like us common folk."

With that, he invited Zhou Yixuan and Xiaowan to sit at a clean table and hurriedly called a servant to bring the finest tea.

Zhou Yixuan smiled and looked around. "From the look of things, business has been good these years, I take it?"

Manager Wang said respectfully, "Yes, thanks to your blessing, old sir."

Zhou Yixuan cleared his throat. "I have come here this time because I wish to cross the East Sea and visit a fellow cultivator. I recalled that you and I share a bond from years past, so I thought I would look in on you. Tonight I shall stay here at your establishment."

Manager Wang nodded again and again. "Of course, of course—you must do me this honor. I was thinking of having my wife and family come and pay their respects to you as well!"

Zhou Yixuan chuckled and reached into his robe. "Then how much for a night's lodging..."

Manager Wang shook his head at once. "What are you saying! When you come to my door, it's all I can do to wish you'd come—how could I take your money?"

Zhou Yixuan's hand still in his robe, he shook his head. "Ah, Manager Wang, I know I gave you a few words of guidance back then, but you are running a business—I would not want to break your rules..."

Manager Wang grew a little agitated. "Old immortal, what kind of talk is this? If not for your guidance back then, and your having me—" Here he suddenly glanced around, then lowered his voice. "If not for your having me plant the Tree of Wealth in the East Sea Dragon Den, how could I have... for thirty years? If I took your money for a room, I'd deserve to be struck by lightning!"

Zhou Yixuan smiled and drew his hand out. "In that case, I shall not decline."

Manager Wang nodded without ceasing, and they chatted a while longer. A servant came to say the best room was ready, and Manager Wang rose and personally escorted Zhou Yixuan and his granddaughter there. Along the way to the rear hall, they saw the building was oddly constructed—three stories tall yet hexagonal in shape, with a large courtyard open in the middle, all paved with bluestone.

Perhaps from long years, green grass sprouted everywhere from the cracks between the stones. Only in the very center stood a lone white birch, its branches and leaves withered, gaunt and bony.

Manager Wang brought them to a quiet room on the third floor, sat with them a while, then tactfully took his leave, saying as he went that he would certainly come that evening to invite the old immortal to a great feast, and so on.

The "old immortal" naturally declined in every way, saying he had attained the Way many years ago and had long since touched nothing of the mortal world. But Manager Wang's hospitality was earnest and his sincerity profound, and in the end the old immortal, for the sake of his granddaughter Xiaowan, reluctantly agreed.

After Manager Wang left, Xiaowan shut the door, and only Zhou Yixuan and she remained in the room. Zhou Yixuan chuckled. "Well?"

Xiaowan countered, "Were you really going to pay him just now? What if he had actually taken your money?"

Zhou Yixuan looked stern and righteous. "What of it? I, Zhou Yixuan, am a sage who has attained the Way—why would I care for such trifles of the world?"

Xiaowan snorted. "Cut the act. Think I don't know? You don't have any money in your robe at all!"

Zhou Yixuan started. "What did you say?"

Xiaowan said, "You split your money into three parts—one hidden in your belt, one in your boot, and one in that 'Immortal Points the Way' banner of yours. Think I don't know? There isn't a single copper in your robe."

Zhou Yixuan froze, then flushed. "You little imp—how do you know everything?"

Xiaowan glared at him. "And what did you swindle out of him thirty years ago?"

Zhou Yixuan said angrily, "Nonsense! When did I ever swindle him?"

Xiaowan snorted and said crossly, "Don't give me that. The East Sea Dragon Den is the source of the vast sea, a spiritual realm of heaven and earth—it must lie beneath the misty deep sea. How could it be here in the mortal world? That tale of yours could only fool an honest man like Manager Wang."

Zhou Yixuan gave an awkward laugh, but then he sighed—and there was, surprisingly, a note of world-weary desolation in it.

Xiaowan frowned. "What is it?"