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It was unethical to follow someone without their knowledge. More importantly, it was unwise for Gongyi Xiao to follow his older, more skilled, far more experienced shijie without her knowledge. The moral concern was in many ways more important to him - he hated skulking around in the shadows like a thief - but his master had ordered it, and so it had to be done.
Su Xiyan is in danger of being bewitched by a demon, the Palace Master had told him. See to it that she’s safe.
Though he hated betraying Su Xiyan’s trust, he hated the idea of his beloved shijie getting into danger even more. So, Gongyi Xiao had swallowed his doubts and followed her here to the Dancing Crane Pavilion on the edge of Huan Hua Palace’s territory, intending to intervene if he spotted the demon who had designs on his shijie.
The only problem was, in the confusion of people flowing through the Pavilion’s doors, he’d completely lost sight of Su Xiyan. Inside, the pressing crowd was no better; everywhere Gongyi Xiao looked, there were people laughing, drinking, and listening to the musicians performing from the stage, but there was no sign of his shijie.
He pushed through the crowd, already sweaty in the crowded room on the hot summer night. Maybe Su Xiyan had taken one of the doors into the private rooms while he hadn’t been watching? Checking to make sure no one noticed, Gongyi Xiao ducked through the first door he came across, hoping it would at least take him somewhere less noisy.
He stepped out into a blessedly cool courtyard. There wasn’t much of a breeze tonight, but even that light touch of cool air on his skin was a relief after the press inside.
Someone strummed the strings of a pipa close at hand. Looking across the courtyard, Gongyi Xiao saw it had a small, round pond in the centre, perfectly ornamented with sculpted trees and two slow-moving koi, one all orange, and one all white. The silver circle of the moon was reflected perfectly in the pool’s calm, still surface.
The pipa player sat on the pool’s opposite side. His fingers picked across the strings once again - a deceptively careless movement, but the pretty fall of notes that resulted gave a hint of his true skill. “You’re not supposed to be here,” he said calmly.
“Forgive me,” Gongyi Xiao said immediately, “But I’m looking for my shijie.”
The man’s eyes turned on him. Even from this distance, Gongyi Xiao could see they were a bright, almost poisonous green. “Huan Hua Palace,” he said, eyeing Gongyi Xiao’s robe.
“Yes.” Frowning, Gongyi Xiao stepped forward. “Have you seen a woman wearing these robes?”
“You’re not supposed to be here,” the man said again.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
The stranger rose in one fluid motion, the fingers of his right hand worrying at the pipa strings. “Whether I’ve seen your shijie or not,” he said, “You shouldn’t just barge into a private courtyard uninvited.” His words were civil, but Gongyi Xiao was a trained swordsman; the way the stranger moved was that of someone who could fight.
Maybe Gongyi Xiao should have apologised and backed away - but something about the flash of recognition in the stranger’s eyes when he spotted the Huan Hua Palace robes made suspicion tingle down Gongyi Xiao’s spine. “My apologies,” he said, “But I must insist. I believe my shijie’s life could be in danger.” So saying, he started moving forward, making to circumnavigate the pool.
Almost instantly, the stranger blocked his path. How quickly did he move? “I can’t allow that.” Despite his determined stance, he sounded genuinely apologetic. “Please understand.”
“I don’t want to make this difficult for either of us,” Gongyi Xiao said, “But if she’s in there, I must speak to her.”
This time, when the stranger blocked him again, Gongyi Xiao reluctantly drew his sword.
The stranger blocked his first blow with the pipa - and shockingly, the instrument didn’t so much as crack when Gongyi Xiao’s weapon hit it. “I have been instructed not to let you pass,” the stranger said, still sounding strangely amiable.
Gongyi Xiao didn’t bother answering; he had already made his case plain. He made a few more blows, all of which the stranger blocked with his pipa. It must be enchanted; that was the only explanation for how it stood up to Gongyi Xiao’s spiritual sword. The stranger didn’t appear to have any weapon of his own, and he didn’t make any move to strike Gongyi Xiao back. “If you leave, there will be no reprisal,” he said.
“Not from you,” Gongyi Xiao pointed out. “But from my master?”
“Ah. Then we both serve someone greater than ourselves.” The stranger looked almost sad at that.
He and Gongyi Xiao traded blows back and forth, a wave of movement almost like a choreographed dance. Gongyi Xiao brought out trick after trick, move after move, and yet wherever he went, the damn pipa came to block him, almost like it’s wielder could read his mind. When he stepped back to assess the situation, he realised he hadn’t moved a step further forward than when he started.
The stranger stopped too, twirling his instrument until it was back in his hands. It sang a few notes out into the quiet air, falling softly into the silence like floating haitang petals in a spring breeze. “Will you surrender, then?” the stranger asked calmly.
Before Gongyi Xiao could answer, the double doors behind the stranger were thrown open. “Zhuzhi-lang!” a loud voice called. “Who are you out here flirting with?”
A tall man dressed all in black stepped out of the doors. In the low light, there was no missing the bright red demon mark glowing in the centre of his forehead.
Gongyi Xiao stared at him. The demon stared back. Between them, the stranger - Zhuzhi-lang - gave a long-suffering sigh.
Then, like this couldn’t get any stranger, Su Xiyan stepped out from behind the demon. “A-Xiao?” she asked, her beautiful face falling into a frown. “What are you doing here?”
Her clothes were rumpled, he realised, and ever so slightly out of order - an extreme oddity for someone as put together as Su Xiyan. Next to her, the demon looked even more dishevelled.
Gongyi Xiao flushed as the realisation hit him. His shijie had been bewitched by a demon, then, just as the Palace Master said.
The demon’s face lit up with interest. “Who is this? A little shidi of yours?”
“Call off your servant,” Su Xiyan told him brusquely. “I don’t want him harmed.” Her eyes turned to Gongyi Xiao. “Let’s sit, shidi. We have lot to talk about. Call for tea,” she added as an afterthought to her demon companion.
“Of course, my love.” Smoothly, like he’d done it a hundred times - and he didn’t care if Gongyi Xiao saw it - the demon leant in and pressed a kiss to her cheek, then swept away toward the door. “Come on, Zhuzhi-lang! Help your poor uncle gather a together superior tea spread for our guest.”
Gongyi Xiao didn’t miss the way those green eyes lingered on him, the way Zhuzhi-lang paused to watch him before turning to obey his uncle’s command. His uncle, who was a demon - meaning Zhuzhi-lang must be a demon too, surely?
What did it mean, his emerald-like eyes watching him like that? Was he annoyed at being deprived of a meal? That would be the obvious answer, but something in Gongyi Xiao thought that didn’t quite fit.
The thought of the strange pipa-playing, green-eyed demon stuck with him, even as he sat down across the table and Su Xiyan said, “A-Xiao, I need your help.”
Gongyi Xiao straightened. “With the demon?”
Su Xiyan laughed. “He isn’t the problem. It’s...” Su Xiyan hesitated, and Gongyi Xiao realised with shock that she was nervous. He had never seen her nervous before - not even before the Immortal Alliance Conference, or when the Palace Master was in his most foul of moods.
“It’s our child,” Su Xiyan said, and Gongyi Xiao thought he couldn’t be any more shocked, but- a child?!
“It wasn’t intentional,” Su Xiyan said hurriedly. The look on his face must say enough about his inner turmoil. “I know what they say about demons. But Tianlang-jun... In many ways, he’s as harmless as a boisterous puppy.” She shook her head at his sceptical look. “You wouldn’t understand unless you’d been around him. But I know it’s not him I have to worry about.” Her face was grim, her mouth set in a thin line. “The cultivation world will never let me keep my child.”
Gongyi Xiao swallowed. The thought of making her part with her child - of harming a baby - was abhorrent. Did it matter that the child would be part demon?
No, his mind said, so firmly that he couldn’t even think of questioning it. Reaching across the table to take her hand, he said, “Just tell me how I can help, shijie.”