After saying goodbye to Xiao Mo, Bai Ruxue hummed a cheerful tune all the way home to her cave.
At the cave mouth, Xiaoqing was flicking her tongue out, glancing left and right.
"Sister..."
The moment Xiaoqing saw her sister come back, her vertical pupils lit up, and she hurried over to her.
"Xiaoqing~"
Bai Ruxue quickened her steps and came up to her.
"Sister, where did you run off to this time..." Xiaoqing sighed.
Xiaoqing had noticed that these past few years, except when it was time to hibernate, her sister loved nothing better than wandering off.
"I went to see Xiao Mo~" Bai Ruxue said happily.
"Eh?" Xiaoqing jumped in fright. "Sister, how could you go see Xiao Mo? You've only just learned to reach human form, and you're not even good at it yet... what if you got exposed?"
"I wouldn't have." Bai Ruxue planted her hands on her hips, immensely proud. "Sister's human-form technique is excellent."
"It's not excellent at all..." Xiaoqing felt exhausted. "Sister, look at your feet."
"Hm?" Bai Ruxue looked down and found that her feet had turned back into a tail.
"It's fine, it's fine." Bai Ruxue patted her tail, and it turned back into human feet. "I must have gotten careless on the way back. He definitely didn't notice."
"Really?" Xiaoqing flicked her forked tongue. "But Sister, you're pretty silly."
Bai Ruxue puffed out her cheeks. "You're the silly one, Xiaoqing! Sister isn't silly at all!"
Xiaoqing: "..."
"Xiaoqing, listen, listen—today I secretly slipped a little silver into his pocket." Bai Ruxue's eyes sparkled as she said smugly, "Once I've picked up some more silver, I'll give it all to him. Those humans all use silver to buy things, so he'll be able to buy lots and lots of things."
"You're going to see him again tomorrow, Sister?" Xiaoqing truly had no idea what to do with her sister.
"Of course I am," Bai Ruxue said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Sister hasn't finished repaying her debt yet. Your sister is a good snake who repays kindness."
"Then Sister, how will you know when the debt is repaid?" Xiaoqing felt a little tired inside.
"Emmm..." Bai Ruxue seemed to think it over very seriously, then said flatly, "I don't know either."
Xiaoqing: "..."
"Xiaoqing, Xiaoqing—in general, when a girl owes someone her life, how does she repay them? Do you know?" Bai Ruxue asked her little sister.
"Sister, I'm a snake... not a human..."
"Oh. All right then... Looks like Sister will just have to read more books."
"Read books?"
"That's right. He was reading today. I couldn't understand it, but it looked very impressive. Maybe the answer is in one of those human books."
"But Sister, can you even read?"
"No, I can't~ But that's fine. Sister has a plan."
And with that, Bai Ruxue happily ran off again.
"Sister, it's so late—where are you going..." Xiaoqing called after her.
"To pick up silver, and gather herbs..." The girl's voice drifted back through the mountain woods.
"Gather herbs?"
The next day.
After sitting in on the village chief's lesson that morning, Xiao Mo took the chance to ask the chief a few questions about the texts, then rode his ox up the mountain again.
He meant to gather more herbs today, trade them for some silver, and then buy brushes, ink, paper, and an inkstone.
When he got back the day before, Xiao Mo had found an extra piece of silver in his pocket.
He knew Little Bai had slipped it in on the sly.
Xiao Mo put the silver away in a small pouch.
That bit of broken silver wasn't much. Xiao Mo did not plan to spend it; he would save it up for her.
Since Little Bai had said she would keep picking up silver for him, Xiao Mo wanted to see just how much she could find.
He had no other reason for doing it. It was just fun.
Once up on Sheshan, Xiao Mo grazed the ox and picked herbs at the same time.
"Xiao Mo..."
Just as Xiao Mo had filled a small basket, a girl's light, cheerful voice came from behind him.
Xiao Mo turned around. Bai Ruxue was looking at him with a big smile.
"Miss Bai." Xiao Mo bowed with his hands folded in salute.
"Xiao Mo, come play with me," Bai Ruxue said innocently, as though this little girl had not a single care in the world.
Xiao Mo shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't have time today. I have to gather some herbs to sell, and I need to buy brushes, ink, paper, and an inkstone."
"You do have time. Come with me..." Bai Ruxue took Xiao Mo's hand and pulled him along.
"Wait, Miss Bai, my ox..."
"Oh, oh, then hurry up."
One stick of incense later, the girl led Xiao Mo to a place packed with exactly the Ziyang Grass and Qinglong Flowers he was looking for.
How can there be so many of the herbs I'm looking for in one place? Xiao Mo thought in surprise.
He crouched down and picked a flower, and found that the soil around the plants was loose, as if they had been buried there.
Xiao Mo turned his head, and his gaze fell on the girl's hands. Her hands were flecked with dirt, and the skin was scraped raw in a few places.
"So that's it."
Xiao Mo understood. She had buried every one of these herbs herself.
So much Ziyang Grass and so many Qinglong Flowers—she must have been searching for them all night.
"Well? Is this enough? Then you have to spend the rest of your time playing with me..." Bai Ruxue lifted her small, fair chin.
"It's enough." Xiao Mo nodded. "Then what does Miss Bai want to play?"
"I want to read books!"
"Read books?"
"Mm-hm, mm-hm, I want you to teach me to read. Is that all right?" Bai Ruxue stepped forward happily and produced a piece of silver from her little dirt-stained hand. "I can pay tuition, you know."
The residence of the Minister of Rites of Zhou.
The maid Xiaochun walked into the young lady's rear courtyard.
Every time Xiaochun stepped into the young lady's rear courtyard, she felt as though she had walked into another world.
In this world there were only two colors: purple and cyan.
The purple was Ziyang Grass.
The blue-green was the Qinglong Flower.
And in the pavilion at the back of the courtyard, the young lady was reading.
Xiaochun had grown up alongside her young lady. From childhood, the young lady had loved books, and she knew a great, great many things.
Before anyone quite noticed, the young lady had grown up into the most talented young woman in all of Zhou.
"Miss..." Xiaochun stepped forward and curtsied to her. "A lady official from the Empress Dowager has arrived. She says she's here to instruct you in the etiquette for entering the palace."
"Mm, I understand." Yan Ruxue kept turning the pages. "I'll come over once I've finished these few pages."
Xiaochun studied her lady's profile, her lips pressed lightly together, and could not help asking, "Miss, are you really going to enter the palace?"
The palace is as deep as the sea. In Xiaochun's view, a woman as beautiful and as talented as her lady had no business being locked away in the depths of the palace.
Yan Ruxue closed the book. Instead of answering her maid, she asked a question of her own: "Xiaochun, if someone saved your life, how would you repay them?"
"How would I repay... how would I repay..."
Just as Xiaochun was mulling it over,
Yan Ruxue stood up and lightly set the book of strange tales she had been holding on top of Xiaochun's head.
"It's written right in the book."
With both hands folded in front of her, the girl walked out of the courtyard with perfect poise, while the spring breeze gently toyed with the flowers and grass.
"The answer is to give yourself to him, of course~"