Chenglei followed Xiulan again.
It was becoming a pattern. First, he would walk behind him by twelve steps. Then eight. Then three. Today, he was trailing at an ambitious one-and-a-half-step distance—until Duoduo the parrot squawked, "Stalking! Caaaaute stalking!"
Xiulan sighed. Loudly. "I can hear your feet trying to be quiet."
"I wasn't hiding," Chenglei defended, eyes darting between the oversized gourd on Xiulan's back and the wildflower tucked behind his ear. "I was escorting."
"You were hovering like a mosquito over soup."
Chenglei opened his mouth to object. Then closed it again. Mosquito metaphors were not in any sword training manuals.
They passed a grove of tea trees — well, tea-ish. Xiulan had drawn new runes on their roots three days ago, and now they shimmered faintly with a silvery hue. The leaves tasted of sunlight and faint peaches, according to Baby Po. Uncle Hei said they tasted like "civilized disappointment." Xiulan liked them.
He plucked a few glowing leaves and turned toward Chenglei.
"You're the first person I've let watch tea harvest," Xiulan said solemnly.
Chenglei blinked. "...Is that an honor?"
"No. But it could be. If you help."
By "help," Xiulan meant: carry six baskets of leaves, identify which ones looked the most poetic, and hold the squirrel ladder while Bo tried to bite a bee. It was not heroic. But Chenglei did it, even when Duoduo flew by again shouting, "Domestication! Domesticatioooon~"
"Why does your parrot sound like he reads romantic story scrolls?" Chenglei muttered, shaking a leaf out of his hair.
"Because he steals them," Xiulan answered.
"From where?" Chenglei felt the tea leaf was wiggling and put it aside for more thorough investigation.
"From cultivators like you." Xiulan pulled off another leaf from Duoduo's feather tail.
They sat under the whispering tree, whose branches curled in strange, knowing ways. The tree did not speak today—possibly asleep or offended someone had mistaken it for an ordinary maple last week. Its ego had been bruised.
Xiulan laid the leaves out in neat spirals, then suddenly turned to Chenglei.
"Do you want to see something cool?"
Chenglei straightened like he had been offered a heavenly treasure. "Yes."
Xiulan pulled out a carrot.
Chenglei stared.
"This one gives you baby hair," Xiulan explained. "On your knees."
Chenglei stared harder.
"It is not permanent. Probably."
Before Chenglei could accept or decline, Duoduo landed between them with a dramatic flourish.
"Letter from Fox Brother! Golden taels have arrived~!"
A scroll tied in red silk dropped into Xiulan's hands. It was glittery. Suspiciously glittery.
Xiulan read it aloud:
"Dearest, Most Adorable, Supreme Money-Magnet Xiulan,
Your vegetables sold for a small mountain's worth of coin lint. Please grow more tail-turnip or dye-beets soon. The cultivators are already lining up for more soup carrots.
Also, someone swallowed your soup and now thinks they are a goose. Will keep you posted."
"I love your new innovations, go ahead with your thinking. I am waiting."
— Your Brother (in Legal Sense and more), Young Master Jin"
Chenglei opened his mouth. Closed it. "Who is that?"
"Brother," Xiulan said proudly.
"...Are you sure?"
"Not sure. But he says it a lot."
They sat quietly after that. The sun filtered down in warm spots, lighting up Xiulan's green hair. It had started to shift again — a soft mint tint today, probably from the leaf dye soup he had taste-tested earlier.
"You're really… different," Chenglei said finally.
Xiulan tilted his head. "From what?"
"From… the world."
A pause.
Xiulan tilted his head. "From what?"
"From… the world, I guess."
Xiulan blinked slowly, like a sleepy owl. "Oh. Maybe the world's just being weird. I'm normal."
Chenglei opened his mouth, then closed it. "You talk to squirrels."
"Squirrels are very polite."
"You said the pine tree called me noisy."
"It did," Xiulan said, swinging his legs. "It doesn't like stompy people."
"I don't stomp!"
"You do," Xiulan said very kindly. "But it's okay. The moss said you smell like a warm teapot."
Chenglei looked very betrayed and sniffed his sleeve. "I smell like fire! I'm a sword cultivator!"
Xiulan just giggled and curled his toes in the grass.
Then he looked up at Chenglei, very seriously. "Your heart is loud, though."
"My… what?"
"Your heart." Xiulan pointed at Chenglei's chest like it was obvious. "It wants things. Like hugs. And someone to say 'good job' when you do sword swings."
Chenglei's face turned red. "That is not true! I am—! I am brave and cool!"
"You are," Xiulan said with a gentle nod. "But even cool people want cuddles."
Chenglei groaned and covered his face. "Why are you like this?"
Xiulan thought about it, then shrugged. "I dunno. I was raised by squirrels and a bear who brews tea."
Chenglei blinked. "...That explains nothing."
"I have a leaf diary," Xiulan offered. "Wanna see?"
"You have a diary made of leaves?"
"I have eight!" Xiulan said proudly. "One for plant feelings, one for sky moods, and one for secret gossip and many more."
Chenglei stared. "I think I like you, but also I think you're dangerous."
Xiulan beamed. "I am not dangerous. Unless you steal my soup."
"I would never steal soup!"
"Good," Xiulan said. "I put runes on carrots."
They sat quietly again.
Xiulan picked up a fallen leaf and folded it into something that looked like a very wrinkly fox. He gave it to Chenglei. "You can keep it. It is bad luck to throw away forest gifts."
Chenglei held it like it might explode.
Then, Xiulan whispered, "You are a fire. I think you burn things on accident, but you mean well."
Chenglei did not know what to say.
So, he just whispered back, "You're a weird tree. But a nice one."
Xiulan smiled.
That night, Baby Po busied around him as Uncle Hei who just returned hugged him and sniff-kissed his hair. He probably wanted to say something emotional.
Xiulan took out his brush and began writing on a new leaf.
Leaf Diary Entry
Sword boy followed me again. I did not bite him.
He helped with tea today. Called me different. I think he meant strange. I told him mosquitoes were strange too.
He did not leave. That was new.
I wonder if sword boys grow roots like tea trees when they sit too long?
Fox Brother sent gold again. Uncle Hei fainted. Again.
Duoduo is banned from shouting "flirting" for a week.
Today, I feel like drawing the rune for "warm."
Maybe I will paint it on his sword.
— Xiulan