Early the next morning.
Xiao Mo was reading in the courtyard when he saw Bai Ruxue coming toward the yard, step by step, leading a girl in a long green dress.
Bai Ruxue's fair little face was brimming with delight.
The girl she was leading along, though, had her head lowered, looking a little nervous—and not entirely willing...
At the sight of Xiao Mo, Bai Ruxue quickened her pace and pulled the girl into the courtyard. "Xiao Mo, this is my little sister. Her name is Bai Qingliu. She just came of age this year. I usually call her Xiaoqing, so you can call her Xiaoqing too."
Both sisters were strikingly beautiful, but in completely different styles.
Bai Ruxue had a graceful figure and a charming, alluring face, yet she looked so sweetly dopey that she seemed like the easiest person in the world to fool.
Xiaoqing was slighter and more delicate, her eyes wary and careful—one look told you she was the cleverer of the two.
"Miss Xiaoqing," Xiao Mo said, rising to bow with his hands clasped.
"Hmph!" Xiaoqing lifted her little chin.
So you're the stinky man who stole my sister away.
Thanks to you, I only get to see her once or twice a month, and every single night I have to sleep as one lonely snake!
If I weren't so attached to my sister—and if cultivating all by myself weren't so unbearably boring—I'd never have come down the mountain at all!
Seeing her little sister's pout aimed at the heavens, Bai Ruxue secretly shifted form and flicked the tip of her white tail against her sister's backside.
Xiaoqing felt a small sting, bit her thin lip, and performed the human etiquette her sister had taught her, dipping into a bow. "Xiaoqing... greets the young master... Xiaoqing and my sister will be imposing on you from now on..."
"You're too kind, Miss Xiaoqing—it's your sister who's been looking after me all this time." Xiao Mo smiled. "It's just that I may not have enough rooms, so I'll have to ask you to put up with sharing with your sister."
"No trouble at all, none at all," Little Bai said quickly on her sister's behalf. "The two of us have slept together since we were little. We're used to it."
Xiaoqing nodded too. "I like sleeping with my sister."
"Then that's settled," Xiao Mo said with a smile. "Please treat this as your own home, Miss Xiaoqing. From now on we're all one family."
"Who's one family with you—... hiss..."
Xiaoqing was barely halfway through her muttering when the tip of Bai Ruxue's tail smacked her backside again.
A faint mist of tears welled at the corners of Xiaoqing's eyes.
She was quite sure her backside must have been smacked red by now.
"You go on with your reading, Xiao Mo. I'll show my sister around the room."
With that, Bai Ruxue pulled Xiaoqing quickly into the room and shut the door with a clack.
Looking at the firmly shut door, Xiao Mo couldn't help but smile. "Seems Miss Xiaoqing has some objections to me."
Inside the bedroom, Bai Ruxue planted her hands on her hips and pouted at Xiaoqing. "Xiaoqing, do you remember what you promised your sister?"
"I remember." Xiaoqing rubbed her backside.
"Then tell me what they were."
"First: I'm not allowed to reveal what I really am."
"Mm-hm. And then?"
"Second: I have to treat Xiao Mo the way I treat my sister, and I can't make trouble for Xiao Mo."
Bai Ruxue bent forward. "So you have to be a good girl and do as you're told—not just what your sister says, but what Xiao Mo says too. Understand?"
"I know, Sister..." Xiaoqing said reluctantly.
"Oh, Xiaoqing..." Bai Ruxue patted her head. "Xiao Mo is a really good person."
"But Sister, we're demons and he's human. Who ever heard of a demon living with a human? What if he finds out..."
"Relax," Bai Ruxue said, straightening her slender waist and patting her sister's shoulder. "He's very silly, a regular bookworm. He won't find out. Look at me—all this time, and I still haven't given myself away, have I?"
Xiaoqing looked at her sister's smug, puffed-up expression and wanted to say something, but had no idea where to start.
True.
How has someone as silly as my sister never been found out?
Could Xiao Mo be even sillier?
"Anyway, as long as you don't let your tail show, and you eat your mice on the sly, you won't be found out. Understand?" Bai Ruxue reminded her again.
"I know, Sister."
Xiaoqing sighed inwardly.
Well, things being what they are, I'll do as Sister says for now and live with this human a while...
"Come on, I'll take you to buy groceries, and at noon I'll teach you how to cook and wash clothes. Let me tell you, there's a real art to all of it."
Bai Ruxue led her sister out of the room.
About two quarter-hours later, Bai Ruxue and Xiaoqing arrived at Huang Village with a basket over their arms.
"The villages around here all set up stalls in Huang Village, and I usually buy my vegetables here—but some of the aunties will cheat you, so you have to haggle. Watch closely, little sister."
Bai Ruxue turned and called to an older woman. "Grandma Li, how much for this crucian carp?"
"What! Thirty-three coppers?"
"I know it's a nice fat one, about three jin, but that's far too expensive!"
"Twenty-five coppers, and I'll take it off your hands."
"No way—twenty-eight is still too expensive."
"Twenty-five. That's my price."
"Grandma Li, just sell it to me... come on, sell it to me... look at the poor thing, think how much it must be suffering, still not eaten... Grandma Li~~~" Bai Ruxue shook Grandma Li's arm.
"All right then, thank you, Grandma Li!"
Bai Ruxue happily handed over twenty-five copper coins, then lifted the fish and dropped it into the bamboo basket.
"Well? Did you see that? That's how you haggle." Bai Ruxue looked at her sister, her face full of pride.
"..." Xiaoqing was left with complicated feelings.
It's true I haven't had much contact with humans.
But is this really how you haggle?
"Sister, that doesn't seem so hard," Xiaoqing said.
"Who says? It's very hard! Though ever since Xiao Mo passed the juren exam, haggling has gotten a bit easier. Everyone for ten li around looks out for Xiao Mo."
"Then, Sister—when other males sell you things, do you wheedle them like that too?"
"As if." Bai Ruxue rolled her eyes at her sister. "They can sell or not sell, whatever they like. If they won't, I go to another stall. I only ever wheedle one man."
"Who?" Xiaoqing asked curiously.
"You silly thing." Bai Ruxue flicked her sister's forehead lightly. "Xiao Mo, of course~~~"
And with that, Bai Ruxue happily walked on to keep shopping.
And it was exactly as her sister had said—she only ever wheedled the aunties and the older women.
As for the male vendors, she would simply name a price; if the seller agreed, the deal was done, and if not, she turned and walked away.
Once the shopping was done, Xiaoqing went home with her sister to cook.
Xiaoqing knew her sister was quite foolish.
But seeing how deftly her sister managed the stove and the cooking, she knew her sister must have practiced over and over, and suffered plenty doing it.
At lunch, her sister deliberately left all the meat in the dishes for Xiao Mo and didn't touch a single piece herself.
Only after Xiao Mo set down his chopsticks would she eat what meat was left.
But Xiaoqing noticed something else: the human deliberately left a good deal of the food her sister liked best.
In the afternoon, Xiaoqing cleaned the courtyard alongside her sister. From the room to the yard, her sister cleaned without missing a speck.
When the cleaning was done, her sister would take up a book and sit in the courtyard reading alongside Xiao Mo.
But Xiaoqing noticed that although her sister had a book in hand, her attention never left Xiao Mo.
The moment Xiao Mo reached out, her sister poured him a cup of tea.
The moment Xiao Mo rolled his neck, her sister stood up to knead his shoulders.
It was as though every little movement of his told her exactly what he was about to do.
Toward evening, Xiaoqing had to follow her sister to the kitchen to cook again.
After dinner, her sister rolled up her sleeves and heated water for Xiao Mo's bath.
It was all trivial chores, and just watching them made Xiaoqing feel bored and put out.
"Sister, don't you find it dull, doing all this every single day?"
Seven days after coming to Stone Bridge Village, Xiaoqing was bathing with her sister in the wooden tub when she couldn't hold the question back.
"Dull? Why would it be dull?" Bai Ruxue blinked. "I think it's wonderful."
"Why would it be wonderful?" Xiaoqing didn't understand. "Washing clothes, cooking, sweeping the yard, heating his bathwater for him—what's there to be happy about..."
"Well..." Bai Ruxue scrubbed her sister's back while she thought about how to answer. "Your sister doesn't really know either. It's just—as long as I can be near him, as long as I can do things for him, even the smallest, most trivial things, I'm happy."
Xiaoqing didn't understand what her sister meant by all that.
But as the days went by, Xiaoqing found that this man actually seemed pretty decent...
He had a gentle temper, and he always wore a soft smile.
And when she wanted to learn characters, he would teach her patiently.
Another ten days passed, and Xiaoqing realized she had actually gotten used to this kind of life...
But on the seventeenth day after Xiaoqing came to Stone Bridge Village, something happened.
That night, while Bai Ruxue was absorbing the essence of the moon, something went wrong.
When she woke in the morning, her face was ashen and she was so weak and listless she looked like a mortal down with a chill.
"Sister, rest properly today. I'll handle the household chores," Xiaoqing said, her heart aching at the sight of her.
Fortunately, her sister's condition wasn't serious; two days of quiet rest would set her right.
"But Xiaoqing, can you really manage?" Bai Ruxue asked worriedly.
It took me a full two months back then to learn all these chores properly.
And Xiaoqing had only studied for a little over half a month.
"I'll manage. You just rest, Sister. How could you work like this anyway? And what if your tail slipped out?"
"Then... all right..."
Bai Ruxue had no choice but to agree.
After tucking her sister in, Xiaoqing left the room.
Xiao Mo happened to be up as well.
Xiaoqing told Xiao Mo that her sister was ill, but it wasn't serious—no need to call a doctor, she would be fine in a couple of days.
Xiao Mo went into the room to look in on Bai Ruxue.
Bai Ruxue insisted she was truly fine, that she would recover soon, and that it had happened before.
Xiao Mo guessed it must be some small mishap in her cultivation, and probably nothing to worry about.
Otherwise Xiaoqing would be even more anxious than he was.
After Xiao Mo left, Bai Ruxue sat in the room and watched through the window as Xiaoqing gathered up Xiao Mo's clothes and folded them one by one.
Xiaoqing did it well.
It was just that Bai Ruxue felt odd inside.
These are things I should be doing...
By noon Bai Ruxue felt much better, and she simply couldn't sit still—she wanted to go to the kitchen and cook for Xiao Mo.
But Xiaoqing shooed her sister out. "You rest, Sister. I'll do the cooking."
Before long, Xiaoqing carried the dishes out of the kitchen.
"Brother Xiao, Sister, it may not be very tasty—please don't turn your noses up at it."
"Not at all. It's delicious, Xiaoqing."
"Really? Then eat up, Brother Xiao."
"All right."
"You eat up too, Sister."
"Ah... okay..."
Bai Ruxue picked at her bowl in tiny bites.
The food Xiaoqing made really was good.
And it was a good thing if Xiao Mo enjoyed Xiaoqing's cooking.
And yet.
Bai Ruxue just felt a tightness in her chest, as though something were stuck inside it.
In the afternoon, lying back in bed, Bai Ruxue watched through the window as Xiaoqing poured Xiao Mo water and kneaded his shoulders.
She watched Xiao Mo teach Xiaoqing to read and write.
She heard Xiao Mo praise her now and then: "Miss Xiaoqing really is clever."
And the tightness in Bai Ruxue's chest only grew.
Why?
What's the matter with me?
Could my illness be getting worse?
In the evening, Aunt Chen heard that Ruxue had caught a chill and came specially to Xiao Mo's courtyard to see her.
"You silly girl, weren't you always in good health? How did you manage to catch a chill in the middle of summer? I've brewed you some medicine and poured it into this gourd. Drink a bowl before bed, then warm up another bowl when you wake and drink that, and you'll be right as rain in no time."
Aunt Chen said this to Ruxue in her room.
"Thank you, Aunt Chen." Bai Ruxue took the gourd with a small smile.
But soon the girl lowered her head, as though something was weighing on her.
"Ruxue, what's wrong?" Aunt Chen asked.
"Nothing, Aunt Chen." Bai Ruxue shook her head hastily. "I'm fine."
"Don't give me that." Aunt Chen shot her a look. "You're a simple soul—everything shows on your face. Don't I know when something's bothering you? Out with it. You can't keep worries bottled up while you're sick, or you'll never get well."
Bai Ruxue bit her lip lightly, her eyes hesitant, her fingers twisting and twisting at the quilt.
Aunt Chen wasn't in any hurry, only waited for her to open up.
"Aunt Chen..." After a long while, Bai Ruxue raised her head.
"Mm."
"Today Xiaoqing took my place looking after Xiao Mo. She folded the clothes so neatly, the food she made was delicious, and she swept the courtyard so clean. I ought to be happy. So why—why do I feel so empty inside? And sometimes my chest goes tight, so tight I can hardly breathe."
Bai Ruxue's small hands clutched the quilt.
"Aunt Chen, what kind of illness is this..."
"Eh?"
Aunt Chen blanked for a moment, then seemed to grasp something. The corner of her mouth curved into a smile that was not quite a smile.
"Let Aunt Chen guess. It's when Xiaoqing gets close to Xiao Mo, when the two of them are a bit too familiar—that's when your chest feels all blocked up, isn't it?"
"Mm-hm."
"And when Xiao Mo praises her, you're glad for your little sister—you know that—but there's still a strange sense of loss inside you."
"Yes, yes, exactly."
Aunt Chen pointed at the girl's chest, rising and falling with her breath. "And sometimes right here it goes sour, like you've been drinking vinegar?"
"That's right. It never used to happen to me. Aunt Chen, how do you know?"
"You silly child..."
Aunt Chen sighed and tapped the girl gently on the brow.
"You've fallen for him..."