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Even after years of knowing him, Su Xiaoyong still really enjoyed visiting Li Lianhua wherever he was parking his impossible moving house at the moment.
What had once been infatuation on her side had mostly faded into friendship; Guan Hemeng had been telling her for years that it was pointless to keep pursuing the man.
No, it wasn’t because he had once been Li Xiangyi, and as such was miles out of her league. No, it wasn’t because he might still be alive but would never have his full neili back, would always be sick and always need treatment to keep him from getting worse again, the ravages from the verdtea poison permanent, even though the insidious toxin itself was gone.
No, it wasn’t because the man was a notorious liar and quack who time and again got himself arrested for something completely ridiculous.
No, it wasn’t because of the dog.
No, if she couldn’t tell on her own, it was not Guan Hemeng’s job to explain things to her. It was not his story to tell.
No, it was not because the verdtea poison had left him permanently impotent! In fact, Guan Hemeng had no idea about the status of the man’s reproductive organs and would like to keep it that way.
No, really, why did she have to be so terribly direct?
That had been the last iteration of her perennial argument with her sworn brother, so Su Xiaoyong had grabbed her things and gone to find the Lotus Lodge.
It was parked by a beautiful lake, near a little town that had a Buddhist temple and a nice busy market where all passing merchants would stay for a day or two and exchange wares. The road that brought them was also nice and busy, and the little town had quite a number of inns.
Apparently, Li Lianhua meant to stay here for a bit. There were many business opportunities for a quack doctor and herb grower in this town. Eventually, somebody would get angry at him, and then he would have to leave, but for the moment, he quite obviously meant to stay put.
When she arrived, he was planting a garden between the lakeshore and the even ground where he had parked his ridiculous lodge, a garden that he would have to leave behind if he moved, so his intentions towards this town had to be honest for the moment.
Well, actually, he wasn’t planting the garden, his companions were.
This time, they both were present and working at his behest.
Li Lianhua was sitting on the stairs of his ridiculous house, an ewer of water by his side, sipping from a celadon cup as it was a hot day; he had a plan for the garden drawn haphazardly on the back of some wanted poster and gave orders.
Fang Duobing was actually planting the garden; he was partitioning off flower beds and herb patches and transplanting seedlings that came from the raised beds Li Lianhua had around his house. He was nattering on about an automated watering system he was going to build, pumping lake water into bamboo tubes and little metal water wheels.
Di Feisheng was digging the soil, half-bared and sturdy and only occasionally contributing an opinion, which then was scathing.
“You have to dig two feet further to the left,” Li Lianhua was saying, pointing at Di Feisheng. “That is where I want to plant the angelica.”
“You already see the future plants,” Di Feisheng grumbled, “while I'm still present with the worms. High-flying plans as usual. Good afternoon, Miss Su!”
He was always polite to her, but showed next to no personal interest; Fang Duobing showed interest but was occasionally rude, as if she was meaning to take something that was his.
“I brought roast duck and stir-fried lotus roots from the big inn in town,” she told them, waving her hamper, “so if you have rice and maybe some salad and dessert, we are in business.”
“We still have sticky rice balls filled with nuts, dried fruit, and pepper,” Fang Duobing said. “You dip them in sweet fruit sauce; they are actually decent.”
“Sweets with pepper are the newest madness of these two idiots,” Di Feisheng said. “They will dare anybody to try them. I suggest we make a salad of the angelica plants so I can just stop digging at this point.”
There was laundry on lines that were strung between the house and some poles that ran up the soft incline on the side of the house not facing the lake and the garden. The horses were unhitched, tethered to long ropes that kept them just out of reach of the laundry.
Even if Li Lianhua saw a need to run away right now, he would be physically unable to.
“You are not eating my angelica plants at this stage,” Li Lianhua declared, turning his plan around and peering at it. “Do keep digging, A-Fei. I have other greens for a salad. We will dine well tonight, thanks to our guest. Come, Miss Su, have some water; you must be hot!”
She sat beside him to watch his friends labor and sip water from another celadon cup.
“How do you get them to do everything for you?” she wondered, winking at Li Lianhua. “There must be something in this for them, right?”
One the young master of Tianji Hall, the other the leader of Jinyuan Alliance -- both used to servants and riches, silk robes and ample food and drink, digging in the heavy lakeside mud for this preposterous fake doctor?
Li Lianhua probably made them work for some sort of second-hand Buddhist wisdom, or maybe the old secret teachings of Li Xiangyi?
“What can I say?” Li Lianhua said, lightly. “I guess they like me. Helping me make a garden is more fun than trying to keep a hall full of martial artists in line, or to evade a princess at court.”
“We will plant a garden together today, he says in the morning,” Di Feisheng explained, “now, in the afternoon, I am the only one still digging. Li Lianhua has retreated into theory, and Fang Xiaobao is doing details and mechanics. It’s always the same. Just guess who ended up scrubbing all the winter bedding yesterday?”
“At least I am still working,” Fang Duobing said. “And we’ll get everything done today.”
“You will,” Li Lianhua said. “You’re both quite good at this. I think I will now prepare dinner together with Miss Su; if we start right away, the food will be ready when you are done. It’s still spring, but quite warm already; do make sure you both drink enough water. A-Fei, make sure Xiaobao doesn’t forget; he can retreat into his head when he’s building something. You know what he’s like.”
Di Feisheng grumbled, and Li Lianhua stood. “Let’s get inside and cook. Through the kitchen window, I can keep an eye on these ruffians.”
***
After dinner, Fang Duobing brought out the good baijiu. Li Lianhua had protested a little, but the young man knew exactly under which floor board the delicate white jars from Caiyi were hidden, and he warmed them gently and expertly in a bowl of hot water.
Once the sun was gone, the air was still nippy, and a bit of soft fog came crawling up from the lake.
Li Lianhua was sitting with his back towards the railing, his dog dozing at his feet, and telling them some tall tale that he seemed to have lost the plot of himself. At the moment, he was digressing on the topic why it was still so very useful to know more than a little of seal script.
Di Feisheng was washing the dishes.
This was the Demon Lord of the Jinyuan Alliance, wearing silk and armor, doing the dishes for a fraudulent quack doctor who may have once been the legendary Li Xiangyi, but certainly no longer was.
This was a definition of ‘mortal enemy’ she had not hitherto thought possible.
This wasn’t the first time by far she had observed Li Lianhua and his friends together, but it never failed to amaze her.
Fang Duobing brought out the wine and small, delicate cups to drink from; Di Feisheng brought in the dishes in a wide basket, then wiped his hands on a rag.
“We still have stuffed dates from the west, and spicy lotus seeds, to go with the wine,” Fang Duobing said. “And peanuts, but the damn lotus here is allergic to them.”
“Well,” Li Lianhua said, “you insisted on getting that verdtea poison out of me, so of course my allergies came back. You are not allowed to make fun of me over that; it's your own fault.”
Fang Duobing put the wine and the snacks on the table, and dramatically pointed at Li Lianhua.
“Allergies,” he said. “It’s allergies now, several of them. You never know what he might be allergic to next.”
“Flowering willows,” Di Feisheng said. “That was the latest thing. He sneezed for three days, snot running all over his face, but protested he was otherwise fine. Tickle him once with a willow catkin, and he will be honking like an elephant for hours. It is ridiculous.”
He sat at the table, and poured the wine for all of them.
She tried to imagine Di Feisheng, of all people, tickling Li Lianhua. With a bough of willow catkins.
She completely failed; the idea was too bizarre.
“If that is the price of him still being here with us, then we will deal with these allergies as they happen, bring him handkerchiefs and make him tea,” Fang Duobing said, a bit more subdued. “Just let’s make sure he doesn’t reach into the peanut bowl while distracted by his own talking.”
“I am not as stupid as to…” Li Lianhua started protesting, but Di Feisheng interrupted him gruffly, thumping his shoulder.
“You are, Xiangyi!”
In fact, during the evening’s drinking and talking, both of them had to slap Li Lianhua’s fingers away several times when they absent-mindedly stray towards the peanut bowl.
As always, the man seemed to have an entire library inside his head which he would take out and air at the slightest provocation; but you could never tell at what point he would leave the realm of certain knowledge and start bullshitting his way over some mental bridge to the next island of actual information.
“I don’t believe you,” Su Xiaoyong said at one point, “you can’t just build the load-bearing pillars outside the temple they are meant to keep up. Either that merchant told you a load of crap, or you are making this nonsense up on the spot.”
“I can show you,” Li Lianhua said. “Xiaobao, when you get the next jar of wine, could you bring the sketchbook underneath the teal enamel teapot…”
Fang Duobing stood, wobbled, and hurriedly sat again. While Li Lianhua had been talking, Fang Duobing had been drinking, and Di Feisheng had been listening, and slapping Li Lianhua’s fingers.
Now, he stood and unceremoniously pulled up Fang Duobing, slinging him over his shoulder like a sack of rice and starting up the stairs on the side of the ridiculous Lotus Lodge.
“Stop, A-Fei!” Li Lianhua said. “We’re all staying downstairs tonight. I’m not sending Miss Su off to the inn in town with that much of the good stuff inside.”
“But he will snore,” Di Feisheng complained. “And maybe even puke.”
“We have a bucket,” Li Lianhua said. “Make sure you put him on his side and put the bucket right beside the bed. And then please go and make sure there are no dirty socks lying around upstairs.”
“No dirty socks,” Fang Duobing drawled from where he was hanging upside-down over Di Feisheng’s back. “HuaHua, your house is the wrong side up! What happened?”
“You are drunk,” Li Lianhua said. “That is what happens if you drink enough alcohol.”
He stood.
“Excuse me, Miss Su; I will go upstairs myself and make sure the guest room is presentable,” he declared. “Sometimes, these guys make me feel like I'm living with two very messy schoolboys.”
He walked upstairs, and Di Feisheng carried Fang Duobing inside, issuing stern instructions that were answered with slurred assurances.
Su Xiaoyong sat, nibbling dates and patting the dog's warm fur while looking up at the moon.
She herself wouldn’t exactly labor in the garden for Li Lianhua, but his two friends probably enjoyed his company so much, they agreed to play house with him and even dig up the soil of his temporary flower beds.
Probably their idea of fun, free of their normal responsibilities.
“It is ready now,” Li Lianhua said, descending the stairs again, carrying one large single sock by delicately disapproving fingers. “I don’t know whose this is; they both have these enormous feet, like snow cats. Well, maybe Fox Spirit knows!”
He held the sock out to the dog and told her, “Show me whose this is! Seek, Fox Spirit!”, but the dog looked at him oddly, turned her head, and covered her nose with her paw.
Su Xiaoyong laughed so hard, Li Lianhua had to hit her between her shoulder blades several times so she would get her breath back.
***
She slept very well upstairs, in freshly made-up bedding and completely unmolested by anybody else's socks. At one point during the night, there was a commotion downstairs, with slightly raised voices, whining complaints and a few short barks; then, as she peered over the railing, she could see Di Feisheng step outside into the moonlight, wearing only flimsy trousers, barefoot and with naked shoulders, carrying a bucket that he took down to the lake shore to rinse out.
Su Xiaoyong turned over in bed and fell back asleep.
When she woke up again, it was morning; the sun was coming up, and birds were singing.
She got up quietly, made the bed, put on her robes and shoes and belts, and made ready to creep downstairs; the guys would still be sleeping, in the manner of previously drunken guys everywhere, so she’d go into town and find herself some tea and breakfast at the inn.
On the landing at the foot of the stairs, Li Lianhua and Di Feisheng were standing, both still in their under-robes, but at least not naked in any part.
“... you can’t just put it away like you used to,” Di Feisheng was softly scolding; his hand was squarely planted on the nape of Li Lianhua’s neck, and his hair was moving gently in a non-existent wind. “Good thing I have neili to spare; but you should really be more careful with your health.”
“Yes, auntie,” Li Lianhua said; he was holding two tea cups and leaning slightly backwards, into the strength of Di Feisheng’s energy.
Su Xiaoyong stepped back behind a wooden pillar; she didn’t want to disrupt the energy transfer Li Lianhua apparently needed after last night’s excess of wine. He couldn’t just wash it out with his own inner power any more, after all.
“Thanks,” Li Lianhua said after a while, when Di Feisheng took his hand away and reclaimed the tea cup. “I do know what I am keeping you around for.”
“My unwavering support and physical prowess,” Di Feisheng said, with a little chuckle. He took a sip of his tea; then, he put his long arms around Li Lianhua from behind and leaned his chin on the man’s messy topknot.
“Certainly not your courtly charms and witty conversation,” Li Lianhua said, leaning back into the embrace with unrestrained trust, as if the arms of his old enemy were the safest and most familiar place in the world.
Di Feisheng pulled aside Li Lianhua’s hair, bent his head, and kissed the nape of his neck.
“No, for that, we have Fang Xiaobao.”
And like Cao Cao, the young man appeared when mentioned, opening the lotus-painted doors and letting the dog out, then following with an unexpected spring in his step.
“That was good wine,” he said. “I don’t have the slightest hangover! Of course, I am still young and vigorous and can hold my liquor, unlike you.”
“You can hold what?” Di Feisheng laughed. “Last night, I held you upside-down while getting you to bed, and in the small hours, Xiangyi here held your hair while you puked your miserable soul out. If he hadn’t made you drink the whole pitcher of water, you’d still be wilting like one of those dreadful angelica plants.”
“Thank you both,” the young man said meekly; he took the tea cup from Li Lianhua and drank it up, then he stepped around him, his hand on Di Feisheng’s arm, and leaned in as if to kiss Li Lianhua.
“Oh no you don’t!” Li Lianhua said, reclaiming his tea cup. “Not before you’ve cleaned your teeth and thoroughly rinsed your mouth.”
Fang Duobing pouted, grabbed something from the window sill, and ran towards the lake shore to start the ablutions Li Lianhua had demanded.
“Were we ever that young?” Li Lianhua said, craning his neck to look up at Di Feisheng.
“Yes, we were,” Di Feisheng said, bending his neck to kiss Li Lianhua on the lips.
Su Xiaoyong had seen enough; she quietly crept back to her bed, sat on its edge, and hid her face in her hands.
***
After a breakfast that she tried very hard not to make awkward, she left to go straight back to Guan Hemeng, whom she berated for two hours straight for not telling her before.
No, he protested when he finally got a word in edgeways, she had known these men for years, she had observed Li Lianhua with either of them, or both, countless times. Nobody owed her an explanation any more. If despite her familiarity with them, she still thought they were just some guys sharing a place for reasons of convenience and martial arts, and not lovers, that was firmly on her.-