The Tale Never Ends

I sank into the sofa in the sitting area of our Center and read Zhang Zhigui’s letter. To my amazement, it was written in calligraphy brushstrokes, although “beautiful” was the last word I would use to describe his penmanship.

Dear brother, I write today to inform you about a mishap which has befallen me and I could find no other way to resolve it other than to request your aid. I humbly beg for your assistance and I shall be awaiting your arrival at the residence of Clan Zhang of Yishui. I shall be at your disposal to provide any more details. The letter went on with more redundancies about the times we had spent together, illustrating his excitement and pleasure of having meeting us, even though we have only met twice.

My hand lowered as I finished and I noticed Lin Feng and Chongxi staring at me with the very same look on their faces. “What shall we do now?” Edelweiss voiced out the very question that everyone was meaning to ask. I looked at everyone and said, “What else? Zhigui has helped us before. It’s only right that we reciprocate the gesture.” But everyone merely maintained their odd stare, neither agreeing nor objecting to what I said. Finally, Lin Feng launched a smoke-ring into the air. “Well, truth be told, Chongxi and I were having the same idea when we first saw this letter. Then Xiao Er mentioned something. Something practical. The letter told us nothing about what happened, saying only that he was in trouble and he needed our help. So we can’t even know for sure if the letter was actually written by Zhigui himself.”

I nodded thoughtfully and a grin broke across my face. It was a possibility I had spotted too. Edelweiss added, “Even if the letter did indeed come from Zhigui and he is really in trouble, there is also another thing wrong here. We know full well how capable Zhigui and his friends are. Honestly, their abilities are no weaker compared to all three of you. So what is this trouble that they can’t handle themselves and they really need your help for?”

Big Sister was lying on another couch. She yawned with her mouth gaping wide. “Well, I don’t know who this is you’re talking about. But I’m on Shiyan’s side on this one. They have helped you before. You should go no matter how great a trouble this is.”

She had just come back with me from the home of our parents and was looking positively groggy and drowsy.

Mother was already at home, waiting for us when Big Sister and I first went home with Na San. She grinned broadly when she saw Big Sister, saying only a simple “Welcome home.” It was like a mother receiving her daughter home from school.

I was no stranger to Mother and Father’s lack of passion and emotions in their interactions with others. But Big Sister was not. She fell to her knees, weeping profusely as she bowed at Mother’s heels, addressing her as godmother. Mother swooped down and lifted Big Sister up. “Times are different now. There’s no need to bow in the 19th century. And dispense with the “Godmother,” call me Mother.” The simple words were enough to reduce Big Sisters into more tears and she began wailing on Mother’s shoulder. Edelweiss was so touched by this that she patted my long-lost sister on her back consolingly, shedding tears of her own.

“What actually happened between you and Big Sister then? Surely you didn’t accept her as a daughter only because you wish to even out the numbers after having me as a son.” “Of course not!” Mother retorted, pouting her lips, “It was right after we’ve found you. We chance upon your Big Sister harming some humans. She was still a common demon then, still using demons’ own kind of evil magic.”

As it turned out, Father and Mother were about to leave the place after they had found me. On their way down the slopes of the hill, they came upon a demon that was about to slaughter some humans for food. Even with his usual indifference and apathy, Father could not allow such a savagery to happen right before his eyes. He stopped her from harming the humans and the demon immediately roared, “Who dares intrude upon me!?”

At that time, Father was nowhere patient and agreeable as he was known; he was once an irascible person with a sharp tongue and blunt manner which never stopped him from spewing expletives. A great bully of the highest order, some might say! When the demon voice thundered, Father nonchalantly shot back with an equally deafening “Your Father!” while slamming a fist into the demon’s face.

The demon, which would later become my Big Sister, was a creature of recluse who had spent almost all of her life in the mountains. Hearing someone addressing himself as her father, especially one who wielded powers beyond her comprehension, she limped back to Father and asked a most ludicrous question, “Are, are you really my father?”

I almost choked when Mother’s recount of what happened reached here. Is she actually a fox or just a dumb rodent?!

Somehow, Father and Mother seemed to find her adorable and silly. Moreover, Big Sister’s true form was the same as Mother’s: a snowy-white Siberian fox. They took her in as a daughter and given us both names. I was named Shiyan after the Shiyan Blade while Big Sister was given the name Qinglan.

In truth, “Murong Qinglan” was at first the name Father had wanted Mother to use when he was going to forge their own identities in order to blend into society. But Mother seemed to prefer “Jinghong”—a phrase many ancient poets used to adopt to describe the gracefulness of a woman—and hence it stuck; Mother took up the name “Murong Jinghong” and “Qinglan” was given to Big Sister instead.

Big Sister was hardly pleased to know that I was named after a sword, feeling that hers was but a simple name given on a whim. Hence she used her magic to forge a sword of ice of her own which she named the Qinglan’s Edge to make herself feel more comfortable.

Big Sister cried for almost an hour during that reunion with Father and Mother until we decide to leave for the Center to deal with some pressing matter. As for Na San, Mother told me that she would need some time to wring some answers from him. So I just left him there with her.

Big Sister’s eyes were so badly swollen from all the crying by the time we were going back. Extremely conscious of the appearance of her human form, Big Sister turned back into her fox form to prevent anyone from noticing it.

Back to the present, Chongxi was hardly impressed with Big Sister’s remark. “Well, you might be right there, Big Sister Lan. But I can’t help but feel something is amiss. Look, the contents of Zhigui’s letter are scrambled and cluttered, although it might have been written in haste. Still, something is wrong. That’s all I can say. I’m most familiar with Zhigui, out of all three of us. He’s a sucker for writing eloquently, no matter how rushed he might be. This is why I am feeling that there’s something wrong with letter.”

I cast a wry look at Chongxi. “Have you eaten?” That made him glowered at me. “You’ve been missing for the past three days. What makes you think we’re sleeping and eating well?” Any other people would surely be left dumbfounded with such a strange question, but not Chongxi, who always seems to be a whole lot smarter whenever his stomach is filled. But he must be still hungry now, since he failed to catch the gist of my question.

Sitting at another corner, Zheng Shuang sniggered at our banter. “Chongxi just never fails to amaze me. Everything he says is just simply unexpected.” I chuckled and went to the refrigerator for a can of Coke. I popped it open, took a swig of it and said to Zheng Shuang, “Well, you’re the cop here. Show us some investigative skills. Tell us what you find from the letter.” He nodded. “At first, we cannot be certain about the provenance of this letter. But we can almost be fully sure that it came from Zhang Zhigui. No one else would call you to Yishui Town. An imposter would never call you to the residence of Clan Zhang there; instead, they’d prefer to divert you away. Based on this point, I’m sure this is written by Zhang Zhigui himself.”

Zheng Shuang paused and looked around as if waiting for the weight of his words to sink in with dramatic effects before he went on. “But, the content of this letter is blurry and imprecise. Let us think. Under what conditions do we write letters to people? And why would we write a letter in such a fuzzy manner?” But he did not wait for any reply, instead, he answered his own question himself, “That’s because he wants to put up a facade! A facade as if he is in danger and haste! He’s lying, and that seems the only possible explanation for me!”

With an approving pat on his shoulders, I smiled. “Very good, Zheng Shuang. Nice work. Zhang Zhigui is trying to lure us to Yishui Town. But do any of you know why?”