Tao Mian spent some time trying to figure out whether his filial disciple was after money or his life.
The conclusion was money, but it required Tao Mian to be wrapped in a straw mat while she begged for alms on the street, claiming to bury her father.
Tao Mian was silent for a long while.
"How did you pick me out of the crowd to be your father?"
"You look handsome, and a bit like me."
"I like the first part, but let's forget the second," Tao Mian still saw himself as her Shi Fu. "Little Hua, you can't just do nothing like this. Isn't this deceiving people? Besides, lying in that straw mat is uncomfortable..."
After talking for a while, it turned out he just didn't want to lie in the mat.
"You need to look at it from another angle, for your master... for me."
"Another angle?" Rong Zheng frowned. "Then I lie in the mat, and you beg?"
"......"
"Come on, will you agree or not? If not, I'll find someone else. Finding a son is hard, but finding a father isn't, right? I see that one over there—"
"Fine, fine, it's just playing the father once," Tao Mian gritted his teeth. "Once a father, twice familiar. Next time, you have to fend for yourself."
"Don't worry, don't worry, I beg with skill."
Rong Zheng had him lie down, wrapped him in the straw mat, and carried him away.
Tao Mian, after all, was an adult male, yet was easily carried away by an eight or nine-year-old girl. It seemed this little Rong Zheng truly had some skills.
Half-forced into the straw mat, Tao Mian played dead, cooperating with Rong Zheng's performance.
As it turned out, his disciple wasn't joking when she said she begged with skill.
Once the mat was laid down and tears wiped, Rong Zheng's cries were so heart-wrenching they could move heaven and earth.
She controlled herself between sobbing and weeping sorrowfully, skillfully navigating between the two, appealing to all ages.
Even the pretending-to-be-dead Tao Mian almost wanted to rise from the dead to give her a thumbs up.
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Soon, a crowd gathered around them. Most sighed at the girl's plight, while some made malicious remarks.
People merely used her pain for entertainment, sighed a few times, and considered themselves good people with a clear conscience.
No need for any action, just a few cost-effective sighs.
No one cared where her next meal would come from.
Of course, Rong Zheng didn't see them as her target audience. In the crowd, she immediately locked eyes on a young man in blue.
This young man looked no older than eleven or twelve, yet he was mature beyond his years, every move polite and courteous.
Although he tried to dress modestly, not drawing attention, Rong Zheng, with her fiery eyes honed from begging, saw through him at once—he was definitely rich or noble.
Pretend for a quarter of an hour, and enjoy wealth and prosperity for thirty years.
Rong Zheng pondered how to soften his heart, to take her back to his residence, even if just as a maid.
With her clever and witty mind, Rong Zheng finally came up with a plan: persistent pestering.
Carried back and forth by her four or five times, Tao Mian's stomach churned.
Finally, as he couldn't hold back the urge to vomit, someone stopped Rong Zheng in her tracks.
The boy's voice was clear, but carried a hint of helplessness.
"Stop it. In this short time, you've buried your father in front of me four times."
"......" Rong Zheng was silent for a moment, then said, "Opportunities for burial are always reserved for fathers who are well-prepared."
Inside the straw mat, Tao Mian almost couldn't hold back, choked by his disciple's astonishing words.
In there, only a sliver of sunlight leaked through the straw mat's holes, he couldn't see the boy's expression, nor Rong Zheng's demeanor.
But after a while, he heard the boy laugh, with a hint of amusement.
"You're interesting. Alas, leaving you to wander outside is pitiful. Bringing you into our pavilion is also pitiful. Given the choice, how would you choose?"
Little Rong Zheng, straightforward as ever, didn't understand what he meant by pitiful or not.
"I just want to eat my fill. Without food, I don't know if I'm pitiful, but I know it's definitely terrifying."
The boy sighed softly.
"Fine, fine. Fate is such, it must be followed."
Rong Zheng didn't understand why the boy was so sentimental, she just adhered to a principle.
"My name is Rong Zheng. You saved me today, I will surely repay you in the future."
The boy laughed.
"You can't even take care of yourself, yet you're thinking of repaying others?"
"Of course," the little girl said earnestly, "give and take. I, Rong Zheng, am a person of my word."
She spoke with conviction, even patting her small chest, assuring the boy.
With utmost sincerity.
Tao Mian, almost suffocating, thought, my filial disciple, can you first let your master out?
Tao Mian couldn't remember what happened next, he couldn't even be sure if anything followed.
He only felt a flash of white light before his eyes, and when he opened them again, he saw the familiar interior of his sleeping quarters.
Was he... waking from a dream?
Tao Mian rubbed his temples, sorting through what he dreamed of last night, as he needed to compare notes with Rong Zheng later.
Sounds of putting on boots and dressing came from the next room, it seemed Rong Zheng was awake too.
The awakened Rong Zheng was still a bit dazed. Tao Mian prepared two plates of pastries and knocked on her door.
The wooden door opened from within, revealing Rong Zheng's face, heavy dark circles under her eyes.
It startled Tao Mian.
"Did you have a dream, or were you drained of energy?"
"Little Tao, I don't understand."
Rong Zheng grabbed a piece of pastry, swallowed it whole, and chewed fiercely.
"I'm already so dumb, and my dream still gives me a riddle to solve! Guess, guess, guess what? It's driving me crazy..."
The Fifth Disciple hated riddlers the most in her life.
Tao Mian told her not to get agitated, and the two sat face to face at the square table in the bedroom, with the pastries Tao Mian brought and a pot of steaming tea in front of them.
The master and disciple compared their dreams from the previous night.
"I dreamed of you," Tao Mian got straight to the point, "when you were a child."
"Oh?" Rong Zheng was no longer angry, but interested in Tao Mian's dream, "You saw me? How was it, wasn't I smart and cute when I was little?"
"That's hard to say," Tao Mian said seriously, "because you took me as your father."
"......"
Rong Zheng slammed the table.
How could she go crazy even in dreams!
Tao Mian recounted how she emotionally begged for money, and with sheer persistence, managed to secure herself a job.
"I didn't recognize the boy's face. I've seen Du Hong's appearance, and it doesn't quite match. I think... perhaps that boy was Du Yi."
Tao Mian shared his side of the story, boldly stating his guess, figuring he could verify it with Rong Zheng.
But Rong Zheng showed a troubled expression.
"This time I can't match with you, Little Tao. I dreamed of the loquat tree, and Du Yi under it, this time Du Yi spoke to me.
He said, 'Kite, you've finally returned.'"