Xiyun and Yeon stayed inside the carriage service headquarters until the evening. They watched as Chu Su read scrolls and spout out orders. Although he wasn’t sure, Xiyun thought that the display impressed Gaokang.

The building had a kitchen that was able to provide a small meal between their stay. At one point, Xiyun picked up one of the records outlying the timeline of new routes and new branches established by the service. There was nothing better to do than to read it.

Throughout everything, the Fourth Miss, Xuexu, never complained a single word, she simply waited, but, several times she had walked outside to view the color of the sky.

When the sun finally began to set, the party stepped outside to where their carriage waited for them. Chu Su had decided to stay at the carriage service while Danlu followed Xiyun and Yeon.

On the street, the four youths sat inside the carriage driven by Gaokang's subordinate, Wei De, while Gaokang rode on the back of his own horse.

"We are obviously going to see the Lantern Festival tonight," Yeon said to Danlu.

"Oh!"

Yeon nodded with a smile and closed eyes. Finally, someone has the correct reaction.

"Stop," Xiyun called abruptly.

Wei De pulled the reins on the horse. "What’s wrong?"

They were riding through a side street to avoid the congested avenues.

Xiyun starred out the carriage at the signboard of a small shop nearby. 

Yeon leaned over the boy to read it. "Orchid Bookstore?"

Xiyun stepped down from the carriage and walked towards the building. He was set on entering the store, forcing the rest of the party, except Wei De, to follow along.

Inside, densely packed bookshelves lined the walls and a stairway led to a floor upstairs.

Xiyun didn’t speak but he eyed the shelves and the titles meticulously.

"Bookstores are a thing this common?" Yeon muttered.

Danlu was also curious. "I never knew Luoyi had bookstores like this either."

"Nothing new," Xiyun finally said.

"Is that a slight against our collection?" A storekeeper stepped out from under the stairway to greet them. He was a big-bellied man in a blue gown. His expression was smiling amiably. "Oh well if it isn’t the Ninth Master."

Gaokang immediately placed himself in front of the four youths. Although unseen, five True Guards of the family had already surrounded the building. "How do you know that?" he said coldly.

Xiyun glanced at Gaokang’s back. It can’t be possible that everyone in the city cares this much about the Xiao Family, right?

The storekeeper chuckled. "Mister Qiu, we here at the Orchid Bookstore pride ourselves in knowing stories. The Xiao Family’s Ninth Master is quite a popular story right now."

Gaokang realized what this bookstore was. "This an information brokerage."

The storekeeper nodded and the corner of his lips pulled upwards. "I can’t say anymore. We are a store that trades goods after all. The Ninth Master stepping into this shop is considered an interesting story, therefore I revealed what we are, but to reveal more, Dear Customers will need to buy or trade the information."

Xiyun spoke. "I am looking for some books."

"Like I said, stories need to be bought," the storekeeper said.

"No, I mean actually books. This is a bookstore, isn’t it? I want to know if you have the books I want to buy," Xiyun said emotionlessly.

The storekeeper closed his mouth. "What?"

Yeon and Danlu both crackled.

"Classic of the South Sea. Annotations on the Jiang Dynastic Records. Falling Dust Sultra. Horn Tribe Folklore. Memories of a Withering Flower. Do you have these books supplied?"

Understanding finally donned on the storekeeper whose face flushed. He turned left and right to look at the shelves on the walls and took a glance towards the second floor. He shifted uneasily on his spot. "Well, I apologize Customer, but we don’t have those works here."

"Truly a slight against this collection," Xuexu whispered. 

The storekeeper coughed. "Would you like anything else?"

"We can trade information with other information instead of buying it with money, right?" Yeon said. After being replied to with a nod, she continued. "Then my name is Han Yeon, how much is that worth?"

The storekeeper’s eyes closed and opened. "Yes, that name is worth something, and being here right now is also considered a story. What would you like to know in exchange?"

Yeon smiled and nudged Xiyun. She was giving him the question to ask.

"Who am I?"

Qiu Gaokang kept his ears open. Who is the boy? I doubt they know, but more importantly, what information is being leaked to everyone else in Zhao about the boy?

The storekeeper answered. "The Ninth Master is a black-haired and black-eyed boy that is twelve years old. He is obviously not Old Master Xiao’s son, but he is not the child of any of the other Masters or Ladies either. Instead, in the past, the Old Master did have an illegitimate child, they were the Ninth Master’s parent. After they died, the Old Master took his orphaned grandson and made him the elder of a new family line, the ninth. That is who we know you as."

Xiyun nodded and turned around. It was a good story. As he left the store, everyone else did as well.

…

"Master Di, should I send out the information to all the other branches?"

"Erase any mention of Han Yeon."

"Huh? Why?"

"Everyone already knows how she disrupted the Liu Family’s banquet along with another boy, and now she’s accompanying the Ninth Master. No reason to let others make a connection so easily."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"So, are we trying to protect the boy?"

"You’re too inexperienced to start fishing for information."

"Sorry Master Di, but it is a habit you taught me to do."

…

When they reached the Luo River, the sun was setting just in time. Lanterns lit both sides of the riverway. People packed both the streets and the bridges. The carriage could no longer move forward and they had to exit it to get closer.

Everyone picked and chose from the food stalls and made Wei De pay for it, but no one knew how to get closer to the river.

In the end, Xuexu, who had remained silent for most of the trip, took the lead on what to do. "You are all too ignorant. Follow this lady." She led everyone to a garden on the shores of the river. Two city guards stood at the garden’s entrance, but they didn’t stop their party.

"You know," Danlu began. "I was always jealous that wealthy families can just watch the river from these gardens and private courtyards.

"Feel excited that you can finally join them?" Yeon asked.

"No, I feel guilty. What if packed on that bridge is a young boy like the past me?"

"So you’re going to stay out here then?"

"Ha! Of course not," Danlu stepped inside. 

They found an empty pavilion to sit under. 

"Any second now," Danlu said.

Then it was time. On the bridge, the hundreds of Luoyi residents dropped their boats onto the river. The hundreds of warm lanterns rode down the black river which reflected the even darker sky like a mirror, and everything in between.

"I want to get closer!" Yeon left the pavilion and went towards the shore.

"So do I!" Danlu decided.

Under the pavilion, only Xiyun, Xuexu, and Gaokang remained. Xiyun and Xuexu sat across one another while Gaokang remained standing.

Xiyun brought a stick of fried flour balls near his lips. He bit into it. Unlike the previous ones filled with bean paste and white sugar, this one was filled with dried fruits. He did not know why but his mind began wandering. It had been too long since he had held a new text, and the emptiness he’s feeling continuously grows. He could never have predicted sitting here watching a festival either. What did he think about his life until now? Could he consider himself a lucky or an unlucky person? His eyes passed the Fourth Miss. "You can go closer too if you want."

Xuexu dropped her stick of fried flour balls. "What do you mean by that?"

Xiyun turned his head to face the river. "Isn’t that why you’re here? Because you wanted to see the lanterns?"

No one spoke until Gaokang, who heard Xiyun and came upon many realizations, did. "Fourth Miss, you will be punished by the First Madam for stealing her token and leaving the estate when you go back, you know?"

Xuexu also turned to face the river. "It won't be any different than usual. At least now I have what I want."

…

In the morning, Chu Danlu stepped outside his room. When he had arrived at the courtyard last night, he took up the middle room on the east side as his own. He noticed the sun barely on the horizon and smirked. He had ruined his own sleeping posture just to wake up early today.

There was a knock on the courtyard gate. Danlu opened it. Chu Su entered carrying two strings of groceries in both hands.

"Go into the compound and find bowls and utensils," Chu Su said.

Danlu didn’t waste time.

Swearing to their ancestors, he and his father were going to cook the best breakfast that has ever appeared below the heavens for their benefactors. That was the scene both Xiyun and Yeon saw when they stepped out of their rooms.

"Goose meat!" Yeon pointed.

Xiyun sat down on the stool next to the table of dishes. The three others joined and took a seat on the other chairs. Just like how it had been up until now, they ate.

As Danlu was cleaning up, Xiyun spoke. "Do you two know about the meeting in nine days?"

Chu Su did. "They say that you’re going to be lighting incense at the ancestral hall, but before that, the other members of the family are going to try to expel you."

"I’m going to let them expel me," Xiyun confirmed.

Neither Cu Shu or Danlu had any reaction.

"Not surprised?" Yeon asked.

"Not at this point."

"Not at this point."

Xiyun took out two bamboo scrolls from his robe and placed them on the table. "Therefore, take these."

Danlu opened one and paused mid open. Just from the first line of words, he knew what this was. It was his original work contract.

Chu Su didn’t even need to look at his own to see through all the implications. With the originals, they could change the leaving conditions on it however they like.

Two pairs of knees suddenly dropped onto the ground. Both Chu Su and Danlu bowed their heads towards the ground. If they reached any lower it would become kowtows.

Xiyun blinked. "Can you get up?"

Yet, no one moved.

The boy’s hand shifted closer to his chest. He wondered if this was what Liu Qian felt when he suddenly began thanking him.

After a length of time passed with nothing occurring, Chu Su was forced to speak. "We want you to personally keep them. We’ll serve you wherever you go."

Xiyun sat there staring at the gate past the two. One could wonder whether he even heard Chu Su.

Yeon sighed. "You know he’s not going to move. Just take the contracts already."

Chu Su sat still, with an unmoving frown. He had lived a long life and had since learned how to be stubborn.

Danlu, on the other hand, thought about it and realized that she was absolutely right. He stood up, picked up his contract, and picked up the one for his father.

Chu Su sighed. "When you leave this estate, you can stay in the house I’ll buy in Luoyi. My son is worthless, but he will help you get whatever books and study materials you want."

Xiyun hummed. It wasn’t a bad plan.

Danlu ginned next. "But right now, we’re technically servants assigned to this courtyard. So I can still say `Master is the greatest’."

Yeon tapped her foot.

"And Big Sister is the second greatest!" Danlu quickly added.

"Yeon, stop him," Xiyun said.

"You're right. I don’t like being the second greatest. Why can’t I be called Master?" she said with a tone low.

Danlu smacked his lips closed. "I'll call you Master!" He fiercely nodded his head.

Yeon smirked. "Are you sure?"

A bead of sweat dropped from Danlu’s temples. "Sure."

"Good! I hereby accept you as my disciple. From today forth, you will be the unofficial preliminary third-generation trial disciple of Mulsunwan."

"What?"

"It means I will impart some martial arts onto you so that you can defend yourself from bandits while traveling."

"But the bandit camps have long been destroyed by the military, in fact, any remaining mountain and river bandits are-"

"Like I said. You are my disciple now."

Danlu’s mouth hung open.

On the side, Chu Su walked up to Xiyun. "The Xiao Family is a prominent family, especially in Luoyi. We should still have a plan in the city once we leave."

"It is still just a Luoyi merchant family."

Chu Su shook his head. "Even if it’s not their foundation, they still have influences in the palace. How do you think the First Master can manage the capital’s West Market? In fact, if I can recall, they even briefly had an Empress."

Xiyun paused. An Empress? When he thought back to the first emperor of Zhao, Gaozu, and the second, Taizong, he could not recall a single Empress surnamed Xiao. If he didn’t know the occurrence, then it must be recent. It either concerned the previous third emperor, Zhenzong, or the current one. An unsettling feeling was causing him to hope it was the latter.

He was forgetting something. What am I forgetting? What did I ignore because I didn't care? What am I missing? "Who is the Third Master of the Xiao Family?"

Chu Su answered. "That’s who I’m talking about. The Xiao Family’s Third Lady was Emperor Zhenzong’s Empress for the brief year that he reigned."

Empress Xiao. Third Lady of the Xiao Family. Originally the wife of Zhenzong before he was enthroned. An individual who died along with Zhenzong in the Palace Rebellion twelve years ago.

Xiyun slammed his head down against the stone table. Both Yeon and Danlu spun their heads.

"Why? Why? Why?" The boy muttered. No. Think about the chances. It might not be true. Oh, who am I kidding? Would Yeon say she read about this once? "How is this even possible? What even is the likelihood? What kind of nonsense is this? What is wrong with my life?"

"Is he broken?" Yeon asked.

"I think he is," Danlu reciprocated.

"Are you okay? Are you going to tell us what’s wrong?"

Xiyun breathed. "Nothing is wrong. Everything is o..." his voice trailed.

Yeon’s head tilted. "Yup! Definitely broken."

In his mind, Xiyun thought of only one thing. In the upcoming elder meeting, he must get expelled no matter what.