Xueming found out the little friend device Lanzhi brought with him to the hospital was not the only thing he could not recognize after twenty-five years of imprisonment.

The country had been in economic turmoil since the White Sheet Protests, but it was still like walking through a renovated house to Xueming—very much the same, but also very different.

The towns in between the country’s major cities were quite underdeveloped, containing several li of only farmland and little shoddy cottages. Xueming was quite comfortable seeing this, and even felt a little nostalgia. He silently sat in the carriage and watched the entire country pass by through the window.

Lanzhi was sitting across from him, his body scrunched up, his position looking uncomfortable.

Every so often, Lanzhi would ask, “Are you comfortable?”

Xueming only smiled and nodded in response, knowing he should be the one asking that.

Xueming could hardly believe his eyes the entire journey to Yanbei Province. Even escaping that darkness seemed surreal, let alone being able to travel half the country with his brother. He would often pinch himself to ensure he was really awake.

It would truly be horrifying to wake up from this splendid dream and find himself in that cell once more.

He wore pristine white and blue robes his brother had bought for him, while Lanzhi was clothed in all navy blue. Xueming was afraid he was going to dirty them, and even more afraid about how much Lanzhi had spent on them.

“How are… mother and father?” Xueming seemed absentminded while asking, still staring out the little window on the side of the carriage, but really, he had spent a long while working up the courage to ask.

Lanzhi smiled, delighted to be asked.

“They are healthy. Good. They were just too old to make the journey with me.” He paused abruptly, seeming to hold something back. The air felt heavy and something was left unsaid.

“What is it?” Xueming wondered, but when he looked over, Lanzhi still seemed reluctant. “Brother?” he pressed.

Lanzhi sighed, his voice so quiet, Xueming could hardly hear him.

“They are too old, but not really to travel.” He stopped again, then after Xueming grabbed his arm, admitted, “They could not handle the disappointment if we did not find you.”

Xueming’s lips parted, and he carefully returned his hand to his side.

Swallowing hard, he felt his throat tighten. He had avoided thinking of his parents since… well, since many years ago. They were just another pressure point the guards would use to taunt him. But now, knowing he was returning home to them, he allowed himself to think of them.

“I was afraid for them, as well,” Lanzhi admitted. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I was afraid we would not even find your body.”

Xueming looked down, his eyes welling with tears again.

He was so sick of crying, but it was like the dam had broken since he had been taken out of that cell. He had severed ties with his heart so long ago, but the emotions were not gone—they had just been suppressed. Now, he could hardly keep them down.

“You disappeared so long ago…” Lanzhi broke out in a sob, covering his face with his hands. “And you were demonized so badly by the king. First, it was like there was no mention of you. Then, they used you as an example.”

Xueming began to tremble and he gripped his white robes, then decided they were too expensive, and grabbed the hard cushion beneath him.

“They said you were seduced by the fox spirits and weren’t in your right mind. That they tried to rehabilitate you…” Lanzhi peeked at his brother through his fingers, shaking his head. “It was all the old stereotypes. It was everything they used to oppress the Fox Spirit Clan to begin with.”

Fox Spirit Clan?

Xueming had heard of them being mentioned by the news reporters he and his brother listened to everyday. They were supposedly the reason for the protests to begin with.

From what Xueming understood, the king had weaponized the common people's stereotypes regarding fox spirits and targeted them through social means. Then, realizing the people were still unconvinced, they started blaming the fox spirits for just about everything and mobilized the law against them. By then, the fox spirits were being treated so poorly, all they experienced was abuse, violence, and suffering.

But what confused Xueming was why he had felt so passionate about the problem to begin with.

His brother had avoided talking about Xueming’s actions right before the White Sheet Protests, saying it did not matter, that it was too painful to talk about, that it was over now and better forgotten. But Xueming could not stand his insatiable curiosity: he had been deprived of information for twenty-five years—he would not allow this period of ignorance to go on any longer.

While he waited for his brother to enter a shop during one of their stops, he leafed through all of the newspapers at a stand until he found a headline that seemed to be what he was looking for. He hadn’t read in so long, but he could still recognize some characters. They were large and bold at the top of the paper, as if the ink had leaked through.

Man Named Peerless is Freed From Mo Fan XX After Twenty-Five Years

His eyes scanned the paper hazardously, trying to find what he was looking for.

…Peerless first stood in front of the king’s XX twenty-five years ago, which XX the White Sheet XX that lasted for several months. Peerless is well-known to have held a sign with only two characters: “XX”. It is XX amongst the people what this means. Whether Peerless was XX to give credit to the XXX or this was a specific name, this remains a XX.

Xueming could read enough to understand the basic premise of the article, and found exactly what he wanted to. Except, he could not recognize these two characters he had written.

Knowing this brother would return soon, he hurried to approach a random passerby looking at some of the clothing displayed at the front of the store. It was a woman, and a very beautiful one. She was so beautiful, Xueming was nearly speechless when he saw her face.

The man at the newspaper stand was yelling after him to come back, but he ignored him and only continued looking at the woman in awe.

Her hair was a dark red and wrapped in a black cloth, starkly contrasting the paleness of her skin. Her eyes were wide and fox-like, her nose tiny and round, and her lips plump and red. She wore long red and golden robes and her hands peeked out of draping sleeves. They were adorned with shiny rings and bright red nails that were so sharp, Xueming wondered if her husband was afraid when she was angry.

“Excuse me, miss,” Xueming hurriedly spat out, afraid his brother would come back before he could get any answers. “I cannot read these… two characters. Do you mind… showing me how to… pronounce them?”

The woman’s smile deepened and she nodded, taking the fresh newspaper into her hands.

“Ah,” she said softly. “This is about Peerless.”

Xueming could only nod and peek around her, praying his brother would not come out. His heart was racing uncomfortably and he felt anxious to get answers.

“These two?” A long red fingernail landed beneath those two characters he could not read. “You mean, what Peerless wrote on that paper?” Xueming nodded vigorously. “Ah, that is easy. Doesn’t everyone know this story?” Her strange orange eyes peered over at Xueming suspiciously. Finally, deciding there was no harm in saying it, she said, “Qingling.”

Qingling?

Xueming felt his entire body go cold, like someone had blown out all the candles in a room.

He mulled over the two characters, analyzing their radicals, ensuring he had the tones correct. The characters meant something like “pure” when combined together, but as the article had said, the reason behind him writing this was unclear.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Far too optimistically, he had thought that if he learned this, he could just remember it all.

The sound of the characters did not unlock some hidden expanse of knowledge he had lost in that cell.

The curve of the characters did not remind him of anything he had once known.

Plainly put, the word meant absolutely nothing to him. He had put too much hope in his own failed memory.

Feeling utter despair, he nodded and began to politely excuse himself, feeling cold sweat on his hands as he took the paper back.

“You seem new around here,” the woman called out as he left. “And I suspected you at first but you are genuine, I can tell.”

Xueming turned back, a little pang of hope ringing like a bell in his heart.

“Maybe you have not been here for a while, so you do not understand what is going on. I am a fox spirit going by the name of Hu Yu.” Xueming nodded, knowing all fox spirits assumed the last name Hu, since they did not have the custom of using last names and needed them when they were officially brought in under the same government as the common folk. “There is a rumor that has been passed around since the White Sheet Protests amongst the foxfolk. Would you like to know?”

Xueming nodded eagerly, approaching the woman again.

“Remember, it is only a rumor, but we all remain in close contact. This town is close to Yanbei Province, where the protests started. So, I take this information as quite reliable.” The woman said in a low voice. “We all heard of a female fox spirit taken by the government after some trouble in Yanbei. Of course, there were many occurrences of this at the time—this was nothing new. Us foxfolk were keeping a close eye on the situation, so this part must be true. She disappeared from the city of Chongqing.” The woman paused for effect. “The same city that Peerless faced the royal guard in.”

Xueming waited with baited breath, but the woman did not continue.

“Is there anything… else?” he asked nervously.

The woman shrugged, suddenly nonchalant, despite her dramatic flare while storytelling.

“Not really.” Seeing his disappointed face, she hurriedly said, “But that seems too big of a coincidence, no?”

Xueming sighed.

“But didn’t you just… say that was… nothing new?”

The woman pursed her lips then broke out into a high-pitched cackle.

“Ah!” she cackled, spit flying out of her mouth and landing on Xueming’s face. “I forgot the most important part!”

Xueming furrowed his brows, quite puzzled by the woman’s pointless story and theatrical behavior.

“Her name was—”

“Xueming!” Lanzhi burst out of the shop, his eyes wild as he spotted Xueming with the woman. His eyes landed on the woman’s surprised face, then on the paper in Xueming’s hands. He ripped the paper from Xueming’s hands and threw it back at the stand, then steered his brother away from the shop.

His breath came fast as they walked to the carriage.

He held a bag of clothes in one hand and his brother’s arm in the other.

“If you have any questions next time, just ask me,” Lanzhi said roughly into Xueming’s ear.

Xueming internally sighed, glancing over at his brother’s furious expression.

But you do not answer.

Xueming and Lanzhi arrived in Yanbei Province within the next month, and by then, Xueming was looking and sounding a lot healthier. He had wrapped his head around much of what happened and had even become accustomed to the new conveniences of this unfamiliar nation.

He could walk short distances on his own and wasn’t pausing as frequently in his speech. He had gotten used to the sight of women, and even women from the Fox Spirit Clan, who were overly-sensual and exaggerated in appearance. After noticing nearly all of them had those fox-like eyes, red hair, long nails, and plump lips, he realized they were not trying to appear vulgar—it was just how they looked.

The farther north they travelled, the more and more foxfolk they came across. It seemed that Yanbei Province, and especially Chongqing city—where their family home was—was about half commonfolk and half fox spirits.

Interacting with foxfolk became a common occurrence, and Xueming realized they were an integral part of northern culture.

The foxfolk had many markets selling all sorts of useful goods, and made up the majority of healthcare workers and street laborers. Before the king began to oppress them, Lanzhi said they even made up the majority of scholars and lecturers. The foxfolk were known for their intelligence, beauty, and charisma.

Now, they could be seen on each street preparing for a northern winter with special mechanisms and covers Xueming was certain they had invented.

Slowly, Xueming came to understand how he sympathized with them as an adolescent. He didn’t know what compelled him to perform the suicide mission he had, but at the very least, he appreciated their presence now.

“After you disappeared,” Lanzhi was saying as they rolled into Chongqing city, “We waited a little while, then told our neighbors you had gone off to study abroad and then when a few years passed, that you had remained in Mengjing Province. It was too dangerous for mother and father to reveal Peerless was their son. I hope you understand. Let them decide whether or not they want to reveal this secret now that there is no harm in it.”

Xueming nodded once, relieved his family had not taken responsibility for his actions as well. He was afraid that if it had gotten out that Peerless was from the Jian family, the entire living bloodline would be imprisoned or killed and ten generations of ancestors would be cursed.

He knew this, and still, went out with that piece of paper with Qingling written boldly on it. He was glad his family had somehow escaped punishment as well.

Mengjing Province was a province at the southern tip of the country, and Xueming knew it had been strategically chosen due to this very reason; no one they knew would be able to confirm the story.

“Let us stop in Huo Guang Market for some gloves and hats—winter is coming far too quickly and I am afraid we will freeze in just a day.” Lanzhi said with a frown.

Huo Guang Market… this name rang a bell in Xueming’s head.

He would often come here often in his youth.

The market was full of lights—some stationary and some seeming to float in the air. It seemed like the line of booths run by foxfolk was endless, extending out as far as the eye could see.

Xueming shivered as he stepped out of the carriage, grabbing onto his brother’s hand on his way out. His nose turned pink within the first few minutes of being outside the carriage, and his ears were burning.

The lights danced around in his vision in dots of dark and light orange. He couldn’t help but smile, listening to the hum of several foxfolk huffing as they bargained with customers. Xueming and Lanzhi waddled through the crowd, trying to find a stall with winter gear.

Xueming rubbed his hands together, blowing on them as best he could, as they slowly made their way through the crowd.

“This place had gotten emptier and emptier as the years passed,” Lanzhi murmured, keeping his brother close. “There was even a military presence here in the last few years. The foxfolk were always harassed, with the soldiers constantly asking for several pieces of identification. The number of permits they needed to continue operation put a lot of them out of business.” His brother smiled, his cheeks and nose dotted pink as well. “It is good to see them all returned.”

“Friend! Friend!” One of the fox spirits called out to them, and Lanzhi shrugged at his brother with a grin, then followed the voice. They stopped in front of a stall selling decorative hair combs. “Friend, come buy a hair comb for your special someone!”

“Fox friend,” Lanzhi smiled, shaking his head. “Call out to someone with a special someone and you will have better luck next time.”

Xueming looked down at the combs, feeling a little strange.

Huffing, the fox spirit, who looked like a boy who was too young to be selling anything, tugged down his furry hat and tried calling out to the next closest customer.

Lanzhi laughed and spun them away from the stall, returning to some point in the center of the crowd so they could peer at both sides of the market.

“Oh!” Lanzhi pointed ahead of them. “Over there.”

Xueming followed after his brother with a dumb smile on his face, feeling drunk on the atmosphere. He would have never imagined he would get a chance to experience this again in this lifetime.

Lanzhi selected a white hat and gloves for Xueming, then selected his own in a dark navy. He paid the female fox spirit with a smile, then they continued down the market, wordlessly agreeing they could not yet leave.

Xueming could walk a little more comfortably with his hands and head protected from the cold. His robes were not quite thick enough to feel warm, but the adrenaline in his body warmed him instead. He ignored the shivers passing over him, feeling so overwhelmed by the market, he couldn’t focus on one thing for too long.

“Friend! Friend!” A male fox spirit called out when he noticed Lanzhi peering at his stall. “Express your solidarity with this high-quality paper! Lest we forget the price of freedom.”

Lanzhi looked down and froze, so Xueming did the same out of curiosity.

On the wooden table top were hundreds of thick pieces of paper made of bamboo adorned with beautiful calligraphy. But there were only two characters on each sheet.

Xueming hadn’t remembered them from his previous lifetime, but he sure as hell burned them into his memory since he saw them in that newspaper. After all, how could he possibly learn the reason behind them if he could not even recognize the characters?

In swirling calligraphy that was elegant enough that it was surely done by someone skilled, but was straight and harsh enough to feel the burning passion behind it, Xueming read and reread it until it was almost painful.

Qingling.