Eventually, the trio reached the end of the cement road and the very bottom of the Bai mountains. Unchanged from before, further down the path, there was a wide junction with one of the routes leading them into the entrance of DongBu.
Passing under a tall, shimmering white and grey archway, reminiscent of the entry point to the venue of the Spring Festival, featuring one main entryway for vehicles with two smaller secondary paths for solely pedestrians and a large sign board that had ‘Eastern Gate’ written all over it in bright golden font, the trio finally completed their first length of the journey.
While ReZhui showed no signs of fatigue with minimal sweat around only his neck, it was unfortunately not the same for WeiQi and HuaYan. ReZhui turned back to see the lethargic states their bodies were in. HuaYan had not gained as much stamina as ReZhui, who’s current physique could allow him to run up and down the mountain three more times before he showed the exact amount of fatigue as his senior did.
For WeiQi, it was far worse. After that pathetic squabble with her companion, it took considerable amounts of her energy too. Despite that, she pushed through until the very gates and she made it.
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Assisting WeiQi with his body, ReZhui partially carried her to a nearby tavern for a much needed quick refreshment with HuaYan barely catching up behind him.
Over there, ReZhui carefully placed her on the stoll and with that, they were set to order. Shortly afterwards, a scrawny waiter in a brown tunic approached them with a damp towel resting atop his left shoulder.
“Afternoon, Sirs and Madam, what is your order?” His loud, energetic voice sounded.
With the both of them still recovering their breath, ReZhui took the forefront and placed a short order that confused the waiter given it was past teatime.
“Three bowls of nuts please.”
“...”
“Is something wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, Sir. Your order will come up soon.” The waiter then left their table. “THREE BAGS OF NUTS, COOK!”
His voice dominated the already crowding tavern of chattering guests, as he left the scene. Back towards the recovering duo, ReZhui poured both of them a cup of water from the nearby vase, and slid each one close.
HuaYan gulped the entire vessel in one go while WeiQi sipped in smaller mouthfuls. Quickly quenching his thirst, HuaYan whined back to ReZhui. Annoyance filled his voice.
“ReZhui, on what herbs are you consuming, man?!”
Unfazed, ReZhui simply replied.
“I suppose your hometowns never had any intensive landscapes that would maintain your stamina and strength from years ago. Because, I never recalled either one of you turning up this tired, especially from a downhill trek.”
Hearing that, HuaYan slammed his palm to the wooden table.
“NO! Don’t continue any further!”
“...?”
“I AM NOT THAT OLD YET!”
“... I never implied that, ever.”
“Yes you did, ReZhui! Just to let you know, I’m still at the ripe age of 23. Don’t reason to me that I am already an uncle!”
“I never said that though…Ha, never mind.”
“Curse you, damn body…”
HuaYan appeared on the verge of tears while WeiQi was unfortunately too exhausted to silence his foolish antics once more. Sighing deeply, ReZhui stood up and poured their cups again, hoping to cheer up their spirits.
“Seniors, the day’s not done just yet. We still have a feast to attend to.”
His solemn voice informed the reluctant duo.
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Unlike the road or Bai village itself, DongBu village had always remained like what it was half a decade back. After all, this society has already developed to its maximum and some may even relabel this village as a town with its population and economic activity.
Aside from that refurbished gateway to Bai village from earlier, the streets barely changed from what ReZhui recalled to memory. The rows and columns of two or three storied buildings and dwellings, constructed strongly out of cement or concrete. The towering alleyways and the darkness that they brought with it. The tiled floors and blooming vendors of different shapes and sizes from wooden carts to laid, dusty carpets. All of which were preparing for the upcoming night market. Horse-drawn carriages, rickshaws and never-ending crowds of people filled the wide streets with endless bustle of leisure and trade. A moving sea of individuals covered a village concourse, to the inconvenience of the trio who struggled to squeeze through them.
In spite of all this, ReZhui now only regarded these characteristics of DongBu as not the monstrosity that frightened him to the core the first time ShiYan brought him here; rather, it was easy to say that the once isolated mountain boy has now deemed this occurrence a fundamental part of why he loves this community very dearly.
It was a second home to him now.
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Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
After a couple more turns and strides across winding pavements and under stone overpasses, the trio soon reached a particular street that was totally different to the rest of the DongBu.
ReZhui entered an arched gateway that smelt of flowers, covered in red banners. He then proceeded through the narrow corridor between two three-story brick buildings before turning around the bend. That led him into a wide area that extended far into the distance with majestic welcome. Despite its size, the number of people present were ants compared to the districts before then. From the hexagonal stone tiles laid skillfully on the walkway, the crystal jaded blue river that calmly rested beside the street on the left and on the opposing river bank, a similar scene was built up, to the line of wide bark trees with dripping foliage with three beautifully constructed stone bridges with lion motifs located further down the path, it was a tranquil start for a dinner spot unlike the chaos that they had previously passed by.
“ReZhui!”
A manly shout rang out from behind him.
Catching up towards him, ReZhui turned to see HuaYan and WeiQi. They quickly readjusted themselves proper before formally entering the premises before them. Once they finished, ReZhui signaled to them.
“Are you guys set to go?”
“All ready!”
“Yes, we are.”
They said respectively.
Nodding back, ReZhui led at the front to where ShiYan told him she would supposedly be at.
Venturing deeper into this unique route, ReZhui saw several benches built in the spaces between groups of trees with all of them being placed atop raised wooden platforms bordered by gray bricks, closest to the backs of the misty river.
To his right, there was a mixture of terraced buildings and individual multi-story structures that boldly expressed higher society architecture with refined woodwork and rectangular patterned windows and doors. Their roofs’ ends pointed sharp and tall towards the early setting sky. A blend of red and yellow with a hint of ultramarine were off into the horizon.
Long vines and dense patches of moss covered across their exterior and grey wall partitions. Small shrub gardens further enhance the atmosphere of their entrances while lone weed and grass stalks crept up between the tile gaps, visible for passersby to instantly notice.
ReZhui read the signs and glanced at the interiors from far away, making out that all these buildings were luxurious, high-end restaurants or shops to various degrees.
Not knowing whether it was intentional or accidental, the waft of strong aromas from the accompanying greenery and the delicious foods soon entered his nose, nearly causing him to sneeze. Not only that, in the wake of a passing wooden canoe, the water rippled and algae separated. The natural scent of freshwater also began to rise high into the atmosphere, diffusing and mixing along with the fragrance of the foods and flora. All of this overwhelmed his nostrils and gave off a particular tangy smell that’s unique to anywhere in DongBu village. ReZhui had been here several times on several occasions and that could only be counted on one finger. Thus, this combination of scents would never cease to pull out a weird sensation from within him. But he was not alone; WeiQi and HuaYan had even stronger reactions. Together, they felt an immature merge of raw fish paste and marinated soy chicken bone stock.
A polarising description if they were to complain out loud. In spite of that, they push through.
“...”
Their heads continue to turn in all directions.
From the small number of individuals and cliques that were present there; walking past them; curious gazes across open windows; resting atop benches; or leaning from bridges, ReZhui and the others straight away realised that this place was for the influential, niche and wealthy.
“Let’s keep going. It’s somewhere nearby.”
ReZhui whispered in assurance.
Fortunately for them, their attires were just plentiful enough for those nobles to soon take away their gazes. Their formal, multi-layered garments matched those worn by travelling merchants, who were people that were the definition of money itself. Along with their respective fully educated backgrounds and subsequently, civilised mannerisms, there wasn’t a large majority of alienating glances drawn at them.
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The calm river stretched far throughout this particular high-end street until its very end. Although, there were going to be some tangents made naturally. A certain section further ahead was such a case and the trio eventually stopped at a small intersection.
“ReZhui, are you sure this is close to where ShiYan told you to be?”
WeiQi asked anxiously.
“That’s right, Junior. Don’t tell me we’re lost!”
Looking intensely at the three splitting paths, undecided for which one to take, ReZhui grumbled back in innocence.
“Will you Seniors remain silent for a while? I’m trying to recall…“
“Don’t tell me you are the village doctor’s apprentice for all this time, and he never invited you to a single premium diner?”
HuaYan retorted.
“Haha, my master did, you see. The problem is eating out rich is ShiYan’s specialty and this is the fifth time she’s been so vague from all the places she visited herself.”
Scratching his back, HuaYan simply concluded.
“You should learn more about your girl, ReZhui. This is embarrassing.”
And it was. Initially, he had confidence that the place was somewhere he had been to but that turned out not to be the case, while realizing that too late.
“Hoh…”
ReZhui squatted down in contemplation.
WeiQi, still determined, then suggested, “How about we each split off from here, and return once we found news?”
“I’m following along.” HuaYan declared, eyeing lowly at ReZhui’s crouched back.
“...” Feeling his gaze, ReZhui sighed in defeat.
“Alright.”
“...?”
“I’ll take the lef-”
“RAHHHH!”
“...!” Alerted, ReZhui faced the origin of the sound. Followed shortly by HuaYan and WeiQi, more screams disrupted the permanent repose of this district. And to ReZhui’s horror…
“BASTARD!”
“GET THEM!”
It sounded dangerously thuggish and reckless; growls from the depths of their throats and full of testosterone.
“No…”
Worried for whoever’s on the receiving end, ReZhui dictated that the ruckus came from the middle route, as responsive wails and cries followed shortly. Gritting his teeth, ReZhui’s feet launched himself forward with immense acceleration. His body turned into afterimages.
“ReZhui! W-wait up!”
HuaYan shouted, after ReZhui’s departure. Though with that reaction time, ReZhui was already too far away to even hear him.
Panicked by what’s happening, WeiQi blindly grabbed HuaYan’s hand, dragging him along behind ReZhui’s tracks. Rather than a flight response, WeiQi knew, and soon HuaYan as well with her gesture, that they should at least inspect what was happening, especially when their beloved junior boldly entered the fray with zero hesitation.
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The duo considerably lagged behind ReZhui’s inhuman sprint. Along with them, some others were also approaching the scene, that’s just around the corner, out of curiosity.
Soon enough, their panting selves finally reached a small mumbling crowd formed sparsely across either side of the tiled street. They had made it just in time and easily found a spot at the front.
“...!”
However, their worries immediately turned into bewilderment and shock as they deduced what was happening. Beyond them, closest to the scene, was a relieved teen dressed in white and blue, donning a dark brown sleeveless robe.
ReZhui, unseen with what expression he made, stood frozen. He recognised someone, but not like this.