Chapter 72: Black Cloud
Although Chen Ping'an looked thin and frail, when he hoisted those locust branches onto his shoulders, he walked easily through Mud Vase Alley without any strain, leaving the little girl in the red cotton-padded jacket behind him utterly dumbfounded. If she hadn't insisted earlier, Chen Ping'an would have taken even the locust branch from her slender shoulder as well.
At the entrance of Mud Vase Alley stood a little girl with her hair in two small horn-like buns. The cold winter had probably chapped her cheeks, making two patches of blush very eye-catching. Seeing the girl in the red jacket swaggering along carrying locust branches, she said sulkily, "Li Baoping, didn't we agree that after dropping off the locust branches, you'd come with me to the school? You don't know—today Grandpa Ma is really strange. He's dressed just like Teacher Qi, saying he'll lead us on a study tour to the Cliff Academy. If Grandpa Ma gets mad at us, it'll be your fault."
The girl in the red jacket didn't listen at all. She took a bright green locust leaf from her embroidered pouch, one that Chen Ping'an had given her, and twirled it in front of her companion, smug and triumphant.
Her face said, "You don't have one, but I have plenty."
The little girl with horn-like buns found it baffling. She didn't know what was so great about a torn leaf to show off. But she simply couldn't stand Li Baoping's attitude—it was infuriating. The problem was that among the kids in the school, even Li Huai, a troublemaker, couldn't beat Li Baoping. Li Huai had once been beaten by her until he lay on the ground pretending to be dead. Li Baoping still wasn't satisfied; she pulled down Li Huai's pants and threw them up into a tree, leaving them hanging high. Li Huai, bare-bottomed, wailed all the way home. His mother was no pushover. Without a word, she dragged Li Huai straight to Fortune Street, but before they even reached the Li family's mansion, seeing the imposing stone lions, painted door gods, and tall walls on both sides of the street, the woman got furious and gave Li Huai another beating. She didn't even knock on the Li family's door but dragged her son by the ear back to their rundown house at the western end of the town. That night, though, she killed a chicken and stewed it. Li Huai, still bare-bottomed, stood on a stool, swaying back and forth, eating more happily than anyone else, completely forgetting the embarrassment of being pinned down by Li Baoping and patted on the head.
The little girl with horn-like buns stretched out her hands to gesture a size, saying disdainfully, "They're only locust leaves. What's there to be so proud of? My dad gave me a gold abacus last night—a real gold abacus, this big!"
But the girl in the red jacket was completely absorbed in her own world, not caring one bit about the gold abacus. She continued to gently sway the locust leaf in front of her companion, lifting her little pointed chin and pointing at Chen Ping'an ahead. She said, "He gave it to me. I have more in my pouch."
The little girl with horn-like buns sighed deeply. From the first day she met Li Baoping, this is how she was—annoying. She only said what she wanted to say, listened only to what she wanted to hear, and did only what she wanted to do.
If there weren't so few kids her age around Riding Dragon Alley, the little girl with horn-like buns wouldn't want to play with her at all. Many times, even Teacher Qi was at a loss with Li Baoping, because she always asked strange questions. Yet Teacher Qi would seriously answer each time, though often he couldn't give an answer that convinced Li Baoping. Sometimes Teacher Qi would think of an answer with great enthusiasm and plan to explain it to her the next day, only to find that Li Baoping had already forgotten what she asked. The moment she thought about catching loaches, or crickets, or flying kites, she'd run off, leaving Teacher Qi hanging.
Chen Ping'an, with locust branches on both shoulders, couldn't turn his head easily, so he raised his voice slightly and asked, "How many people are in the school now?"
Li Baoping was struggling to shift the locust branch to her other shoulder. She had already swapped shoulders many times, and they were burning with pain.
The girl with horn-like buns held out one hand and replied, "Only five of us left now: me, Li Baoping, Li Huai, Lin Shouyi, and Dong Shuijing."
Since she had nothing better to do, she rattled off the situation at the school in one breath: "Teacher Qi had promised to take us on a study tour, and we were supposed to eventually study at the Cliff Academy. At that time, there were fourteen or fifteen of us in the school, and our families all agreed. Then later, most of them—rich kids living on Fortune Street and Peach Leaf Lane—first pretended to be sick and didn't come to school. Then, according to Li Baoping, they just left the town directly, saying they were going to stay with distant relatives. When they first heard about going to the Cliff Academy, that group was the happiest. I don't know what they were so happy about. Having to follow Teacher Qi on such a long journey—wouldn't that be tiring?"
The little girl spoke in a childish voice, but her reasoning was clear. She was somewhat precocious and had a gentle temperament, like a little adult. For no reason, Chen Ping'an thought of Gu Can. But she was still quite different from that snot-nosed kid who was like a hedgehog.
Chen Ping'an smiled and asked, "And what's your name?"
The little girl with two horn-like buns said calmly, "Me? I'm called Shi Chunjia, so you can call me Miss Shi."
Chen Ping'an was speechless.
Li Baoping undercut her, saying, "Just call her Little Stone."
Shi Chunjia was like a cat whose fur had been ruffled. She glared at Li Baoping angrily and said, "Don't call me Little Stone! You can't either, Li Baoping!"
Li Baoping, who liked to daydream, had already shifted her thoughts from her companion's nickname to something else entirely, so she didn't bother responding to Shi Chunjia's objection.
But Shi Chunjia was the kind of person who took things seriously. She tirelessly reasoned with Li Baoping, trying to get rid of the unpleasant nickname "Little Stone." Because Shi Chunjia knew that once they arrived at Teacher Qi's Cliff Academy, if Li Baoping called her "Little Stone" just once, that nickname would probably stick forever.
Listening to the two little girls' back-and-forth, talking past each other, Chen Ping'an, as he approached Fortune Street, asked, "There are many Li family houses on Fortune Street. Where is your house?"
Chen Ping'an thought that as long as it wasn't the main Li family mansion—one of the four great clans—it would be fine.
After all, back then, in order to lure the old ape from Sunlit Mountain out of the mountain, he had used the Descendant Locust tree on Fortune Street to climb over the wall of the Li family mansion. Actually, Chen Ping'an had also used his slingshot to break two bird-feeding pots at the Li residence.
Shi Chunjia said bluntly, "Her house is that one with the locust tree outside the wall. Before, every time her family wouldn't let her go out because they were afraid she'd run wild, she would secretly set up a ladder to climb the wall, then use the locust tree to land on Fortune Street. Once, her parents were so angry that they moved the ladder away and insisted she enter through the main gate. She jumped down anyway. That month she didn't come to school, and for the next two months, she came on crutches."
Li Baoping didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, she said seriously, "I reflected on it afterward. That time my landing posture was wrong—I shouldn't have just stuck my feet straight down. So after my leg healed, I tried again and..."
Shi Chunjia said angrily, "And you ended up taking another half-month leave from school, didn't you?"
Li Baoping pouted, "The third time went just fine."
Shi Chunjia fumed, "That's because a year later you'd grown taller and shot up quickly, so you could handle the impact. It had nothing to do with your landing posture—not even half a copper's worth!"
Chen Ping'an didn't get involved in the two little girls' bickering. First, he was worrying about whether he might be recognized by the Li family and have the dogs set on him. Second, deep down, he envied them. He envied their happiness and stability—having elders at home to discipline them, and being able to study at the school.
Despite his worry, Chen Ping'an still decided to help Li Baoping carry the locust branches to her doorstep.
Maybe this was karma. Just after he told the little girl in red that promises must be kept, he had no choice but to walk into the Li mansion like a lamb to the slaughter.
Perhaps the heavens finally woke from their doze and decided it was Chen Ping'an's turn for some good luck. The gatekeeper didn't recognize him, and Li Baoping didn't ask him to carry the branches into the compound. Relieved, Chen Ping'an was about to turn and leave when Li Baoping handed him the locust branch from her own shoulder, saying this was her thanks.
Chen Ping'an didn't refuse the little girl's goodwill. He casually put it on his shoulder and waved goodbye.
The gatekeeper was used to his young miss's eccentricities. Even if she brought home a bunch of locust branches that would be deemed useless even for firewood, he wasn't particularly surprised. He just felt sorry for her expensive red cotton jacket, which was worth far more than those branches. When his young miss was under five, she had gone to a stream and caught a huge crab herself. When she got home, she cried while holding her little hand up high—with a crab clamped onto it that refused to let go. Her parents and grandparents were heartbroken. To this day, that crab, with its blue-black shell and bright red claws, was still raised in her big fish tank. The young miss really didn't like studying, so she chatted with it whenever she had nothing to do.
Watching Chen Ping'an's retreating figure.
Shi Chunjia glanced at Li Baoping beside her and snickered, "So he's the one who made you chip your front tooth?"
Li Baoping suddenly walked behind Shi Chunjia, grabbed her two horn-like buns, and prepared to lift upward. "Trust me, this time it'll work."
Shi Chunjia was so scared she immediately crouched down, closed her eyes, and flailed her hands above her head to avoid having her braids yanked up like "weeds" by Li Baoping.
Li Baoping crouched beside her, a full head shorter, and said confidently, "Little Stone, it doesn't hurt. You haven't tried it a second time—how do you know it won't work? Right?"
Shi Chunjia burst into frightened sobs.
The gatekeeper couldn't bear to watch. To help the little shopkeeper from the New Year's Press Money Shop on Riding Dragon Alley, he said, "Just now, Teacher Ma from the school sent Li Huai to deliver a message. He said the household should prepare a carriage. You, miss, should pack your luggage and go to school first. Then you'll leave town and travel to the Cliff Academy on a study tour with Miss Shi. Of course, before you go to school, miss can stop by Riding Dragon Alley to load Miss Shi's things into the carriage."
Li Baoping had no choice but to let Shi Chunjia go. With a look of disappointment, she walked into the gate, still feeling sorry for Shi Chunjia.
The little girl with horn-like buns, feeling she had narrowly escaped death, silently resolved to take down her braids today.
"Huh?"
Li Baoping suddenly exclaimed in surprise, looking up.
Shi Chunjia followed her gaze and asked in confusion, "It's not going to rain, is it?"
A large black cloud drifted across the sky above the town.
From north to south.
The straw-sandal boy who had just walked out of Fortune Street also looked up.
At that moment, he was stunned speechless.
It wasn't a black cloud at all. It was a dense mass of flying swords in the sky—countless immortals riding swords through the air.
The boy slowly turned his head, his eyes following that cloud of swords heading south.
Suddenly.
A black dot moved from south to north, going against the flow of those flying sword immortals.
That black dot grew larger and larger.
Finally, the straw-sandal boy, with his sharp eyes, widened his eyes as if seeing ghosts in broad daylight. Above the southern edge of the town, someone rode a flying sword, slanting downward. When they were about a hundred zhang above the ground, they paused briefly. The sword rider looked down at the town, scanned the surroundings, and then dove straight toward Fortune Street.
In the blink of an eye—a sword traveling a thousand miles in a day—accompanied by a roaring, thunderous sound, it landed in front of Chen Ping'an.
The sword hovered half a zhang above the ground. On the sword stood a young girl in a ink-green robe, her feet also hovering above the flying sword's surface.
The travel-worn girl grinned, arms crossed, imposing and spirited. "I thought I should say goodbye to you, so I came."
But before the straw-sandal boy carrying the locust branch could say anything, the sword-riding girl, with a thought, turned the tip of her sword around. It tilted upward and vanished in a flash.
The boy instinctively reached out his hand, but the girl and her flying sword had already disappeared.
Embarrassed, the boy withdrew his hand awkwardly, scratched his head, and walked toward Mud Vase Alley, looking up from time to time.
The straw-sandal boy was a little disappointed at first, but soon he became happy. So Miss Ning was an immortal.
So much so that when Chen Ping'an passed a shop on Riding Dragon Alley, he broke his habit and spent money to buy a stick of candied hawthorns, eating as he walked.
Eating, eating, for some reason, the boy felt a little empty again.
He thought hard. Was it because he felt sorry for the copper coins?