Chapter 58

The Gift

"What are you smiling about?" You Jiu watched Curly Hair's expression with a faint sense of unease.

"Nothing." She smiled wider. "Maybe I was just born cheerful. Wait here — I'll be down once I've changed."

After she left, You Jiu assessed the surroundings.

From the moment he'd entered the instance yesterday, he'd been placed in the main courtyard where Master Chen himself resided. The kitchen quarters were considerably rougher. So how had a kitchen servant managed to earn the head steward's special regard within a single day?

He traced through everything that had happened since his arrival. His mind settled on a scene from that afternoon — the entrance to the guest building, just before the bodyguard turned him away.

Police officers. Secretary Liu. Mysterious guests. A female servant.

If the servant standing beside those two men had been Wang Xiaozhuan, the steward's shift in attitude made sense.

The Chen family of this instance appeared to carry unusual weight. What class of guest would prompt the arrogant steward to personally elevate Wang Xiaozhuan after she'd spent a mere two or three hours inside the guest building?

Today he'd been close to Master Chen — he'd watched how the arriving guests performed around the old man. They praised his tea. They lost to him deliberately at go. They even found something flattering to say about the old turtle in his pond — spiritual presence, auspicious energy.

He didn't speak the language of mysticism and accumulated merit. But he could read flattery perfectly well.

Those two men he'd glimpsed this afternoon — men the usually imperious steward treated with such visible care — almost certainly outranked the Chen family entirely.

Curly Hair came out in her changed clothes. She looked at You Jiu's face, still arranged in its characteristic practiced smile, decided she had nothing to say to him, and walked directly toward the banquet hall.

"True to form." You Jiu fell in behind her. "One day in this instance and you've already memorized the full layout of the estate."

"Likewise." She didn't look back. "You seemed to know the paths quite well when you were guiding the police this afternoon."

"So it was you in that guest courtyard." His smile held. "I recall you carry a substantial inventory of talisman items. A supernatural instance like this should be relatively easy for you."

"Supernatural?" Curly Hair wasn't going to underestimate You Jiu — he was one of the infinite space's more notorious operators. Her ability ranked first in the Kunlun instance, but in a garden estate like this, she wasn't sure where she stood. "Since we arrived, have you actually seen a single ghost?"

Whether ghosts existed here was no longer the Main God's call. It was this world's own consciousness that decided.

You Jiu glanced at a cassia tree along the path, its trunk wound with a red cord. Then at a mountain spirit stone in the distance that Master Chen had apparently paid a considerable sum to acquire. The elements of a supernatural instance were all present.

He assumed Curly Hair simply didn't want to cooperate — she was being deliberately obtuse. He smiled and let it go.

With rewards this high, which player would want to share?

*

The Chen family's banquet hall was built on an artificial island, surrounded on all sides by water. Lotus blossoms covered the lake, fish moved in the shallows, lanterns hung high above, and musicians played live. The effect was something close to imperial luxury.

The guests, in deference to Master Chen's tastes, had largely come dressed with embroidered details.

Chen Yue, in a fitted embroidered skirt, made her polite rounds before locating Chen Fang in a corner and fanning herself with a sandalwood fan. "Chen You is out there mingling. What are you doing in here?"

"What's it to you?" Chen Fang frowned impatiently. "Get away from me."

"Hmm." She let the fan close, her eyes passing briefly over his slightly swollen left cheek, and dropped the smile. She leaned closer. "You know Grandfather favors Chen You. You should be in there making an impression, not hiding in here giving him another reason to be upset with you."

Chen Fang shifted away from her, turning his back, unwilling to engage.

"I know you're in a bad mood." Chen Yue said. "But there are too many people around. Don't let it show — Grandfather will just be angry with you again."

"Who could ever make the old man happy except the main branch?" Chen Fang's voice carried a layer of old grievance. "There's nothing I can do — I'll never beat Chen You."

"You and Chen You are both his grandsons. What makes one superior to the other?" She smiled. "Unlike me — I'd be satisfied if Grandfather simply left a little more to my mother and me."

Chen Fang didn't look better, but he didn't argue.

Master Chen had two sons and a daughter. Chen Yue was the daughter's child.

Chen Fang didn't have much regard for Chen Yue and her mother. His aunt — to curry favor with the old man — had kept the child after having her unmarried, and spent years encouraging Chen Yue to address the cousins as elder brothers and the old man as grandfather.

Just trying to get closer, to claim more later.

"When the second branch inherits the Chen estate, we won't leave you and Auntie with nothing." Chen Fang looked toward the crowd in the distance, where Chen You moved easily among the guests, and set his jaw. "Let him have his moment for now."

"Thank you, Second Brother." Chen Yue said. "Wait here — I'll get something for the swelling."

"Go ahead." Seeing her making herself useful, Chen Fang's expression eased.

Women who could only see this kind of small advantage — the easiest to manage. No real threat.

*

"Miss Chen." An unfamiliar young man stepped into Chen Yue's path as she came back out with the medicine. She looked up with a questioning expression. "I'm sorry — and you are?"

"Miss Chen, my name is Chen Er." Chen Er's smile was ingratiating. "My great-grandfather and your great-grandfather were cousins. Twenty years ago, when your great-grandfather passed, my grandfather paid his respects."

"Ah — family, then." Her smile stayed even. "You're probably looking for my brothers — they're in the front hall with the guests."

Chen Er managed a smile. The two young masters of the Chen family had no idea who he was. His family needed something from them, which was the only reason he was here at all, humbling himself.

"Actually, your timing is good." Chen Yue handed him the packet. "I have to go back to my room — could you take this to Second Brother for me?"

Chen Er brightened. Wasn't this exactly the opening he'd been hoping for?

He accepted it quickly. "Of course, Miss Chen. Right away."

She watched him go, his step lighter now, and slowly worked the fan in her hand. After his introduction, she'd placed him immediately.

A boy expelled from school for bullying. Completely useless.

She stood there for some time before Master Chen appeared in the distance. She folded the fan, arranged her face into an expression of uncomplicated joy, and ran toward him. "Grandfather!"

Master Chen was in conversation with Xu Chenzhu's party. He looked up at the approaching granddaughter, gave Xu Chenzhu an apologetic smile. "The younger generation has no sense of occasion — forgive me."

Xu Chenzhu said nothing. Secretary Liu stepped in. "This isn't lack of occasion — your granddaughter is just happy to see you. My nephew doesn't show this much enthusiasm when I come home."

"Ha ha ha ha." Master Chen laughed. "Secretary Liu, you're young — your nephew must still be small. At that age, all children want to do is play. Give it a few years and he'll be delighted to see you."

"Grandfather." Chen Yue noted the particular warmth in his gaze today. She took his arm and gave Xu Chenzhu's party a friendly smile.

"This is Mr. Xu, the head of Kunlun. And Secretary Liu." Master Chen introduced them. "And this is Mr. Chao, Mr. Xu's able associate. Xiao Yue — Mr. Chao is about your age. Make sure to be a good host."

"Mr. Xu, Secretary Liu." Chen Yue's eyes lingered on Chao Musheng a moment longer. "Mr. Chao."

She felt as though she'd seen this face before.

"Hello." Chao Musheng smiled. "If I'm not mistaken — are you studying philosophy at Changning University?"

"Oh?" Master Chen's smile deepened. "Mr. Chao has met my useless granddaughter before?"

"My father is a philosophy professor there. I've attended his lectures and seen Miss Chen in class." Chao Musheng also remembered her for another reason: a few months ago, delivering materials to his father, he'd seen a student faint from heat, and Chen Yue had swept her up in a clean princess carry and run.

Chen Yue studied him carefully. Her mother had mentioned before they came out tonight: Mr. Chao was from the Song family — like her, he used his mother's surname rather than his father's.

"Your father is Professor Song?" She understood now why the face had seemed familiar. Mr. Chao had attended the professor's lectures, and his looks were distinctive enough that her classmates had noticed him.

"Yes." Chao Musheng nodded. "When school's quiet, I like to go and sit in on his classes."

"So you young people had a connection already." Master Chen's smile had nearly overflowed his face. "Clearly, this is fate working between you."

Fate — what fate?

Secretary Liu's instinct was to look at his employer.

"Professor Song has taught a great many students." Xu Chenzhu looked at Chao Musheng, his tone light with something approaching pride. "With that memory of yours, Zhaozhao — how many of the professor's students can you actually place?"

"Most of the ones who sat near me." Chao Musheng moved slightly closer to Xu Chenzhu. "I heard Changning University is launching a doctoral program in the Book of Changes and predictive studies next semester. A pity I won't have time to audit it."

"Right — sir." Secretary Liu seized the moment. "Next semester Xiao Chao needs to save all that time for working for you."

Boss, did you hear that? Every spare hour, yours.

Satisfied now, I hope.

Xu Chenzhu's expression settled into something relaxed. "That's fine — if there's a course you're particularly interested in, you can request leave. I won't dock your pay."

Chao Musheng smiled with genuine warmth. "Thank you, Mr. Xu."

He would like to formally announce, once again: Mr. Xu was the finest employer in the world.

"Mr. Chao has an interest in the Book of Changes and feng shui?" Master Chen hadn't expected this from someone so young. He looked at him with new attention.

"Not really — I've only heard others discuss these things, a little at the surface level." Chao Musheng shook his head. "The Book of Changes is vast. For someone as unfamiliar with it as I am, truly understanding it would be very difficult."

Master Chen drew back his gaze and laughed warmly. "At your age, having any interest in traditional culture at all is already something."

"Building this estate took considerable thought on my part." He looked around with undisguised satisfaction. "Every tree, every stone — all chosen with care. The feng shui masters I consulted said that in this world, achieving five perfections out of ten would be ancestral blessing enough. This garden, they told me, achieves all ten."

Master Chen very much wanted to go on extolling the estate's virtues, but looking at Xu Chenzhu — who was not here to flatter him like everyone else — he reined it in and led the way forward. "Please, everyone — the island pavilion ahead is where we're holding the banquet this evening."

Evening fell. Pipa music drifted from the banquet hall.

Chao Musheng walked the bridge and watched the lotus blossoms opening across the dark water. Period-style lanterns were mounted along both sides of the railing, and moths circled them in loops.

"Do you like lotus flowers?" Xu Chenzhu slowed his pace to walk alongside him. "My own garden has conjoined lotus blossoms."

These here were merely ordinary.

"I was actually watching the moths." Chao Musheng pointed at several throwing themselves repeatedly against the lantern glass. "Made me think of the expression — moths into flame."

"Pursuing illusions to their own destruction." Xu Chenzhu followed the line of his finger. "Humans are often no different."

"Not the same." Chao Musheng shook his head. "Moths act on instinct. But humans sometimes suppress their own desires in order to protect others."

The surface of the water carried a few moth carcasses. Xu Chenzhu was quiet for a moment. "I understand."

"Understand what?" Chao Musheng turned to look at him, puzzled.

"Your thinking." The faint curve of a smile. "You have a deep affection for humans."

"When you put it that way, I suppose that's not wrong." Chao Musheng felt vaguely that the sentence was odd. What else would he have affection for, if not humans?

"Mr. Chao." A cluster of lotus buds was placed into the space between them. Master Chen offered them with a gentle warmth. "A few stems for your enjoyment."

"Thank you." The flowers had already been cut — refusing would only waste them. Chao Musheng gathered them into his arms, stems pointing outward, the buds occasionally grazing Xu Chenzhu's shoulder as they walked.

Xu Chenzhu looked down at the flowers. On closer inspection, they weren't entirely without charm.

*

After Chen Er delivered the medicine to Chen Fang, he stayed put, hovering at his elbow. He wasn't the only one angling for the second young master's favor tonight — at least he wasn't conspicuous.

"Chen Er — weren't you locked up for a while recently?" A distant relative asked with pointed interest. "What did you do?"

"I was set up." The reminder soured his expression. The man was clearly dredging this up to humiliate him. "Being set up doesn't make me guilty of anything."

"Your family kept pushing you to study abroad. You insisted on staying in the capital." The relative twisted the knife. "Schools here have so many rules. Not as free as overseas."

"Who had the nerve to set up one of ours?" Chen Fang had been drinking and caught the edge of the conversation. "Tell me."

"There was a classmate I had some friction with. Decent-looking, the teachers liked him. I was having a bit of fun at another student's expense and he reported it as bullying." Chen Er swirled his drink. "Nothing I could do — the type who knows how to play every room and keep everyone happy. I had to swallow it."

"Didn't you tell him you're connected to the Chen family?" Chen Fang frowned.

"Someone like him doesn't deserve to know the Chen name."

When it had all blown up, their branch of the family — distant as they were — hadn't dared invoke the Chen name. Not over something that embarrassing.

"Tell me his name." Chen Fang's tone carried its customary arrogance. "Once he graduates, I'll make sure he can't find a foothold in the capital."

"Chao Musheng."

"What?" Chen Fang sobered up rather quickly. "The chao from dawn-to-dusk-life-endures Chao Musheng?"

Chen Er didn't understand why Chen Fang had felt the need to parse the name quite so poetically, but confirmed: "That's the one."

Chen Fang: "..."

The air around him seemed to fall very quiet.

"Go." He put down his cup and touched the cheek that hadn't fully de-swollen yet. "Find Chen You. He's more capable than me — let him avenge you."

Life was good at the moment. He had no intention of throwing it away.

The people who had been hovering nearby trying to flatter Chen Fang: ?

The second young master famously despised any suggestion that he came up short against the first. So why was he suddenly putting himself down and building Chen You up?

"Second Young Master — are you drunk?" Chen Er felt uneasy.

"I am perfectly sober." Chen Fang stood and walked away.

He needed distance from Chen Er. Whatever trouble that person attracted, he refused to be caught in the radius.

"Second Young Master—" Chen Er started to follow, then stopped.

A commotion at the entrance.

Master Chen arriving?

He looked up — and saw someone who shouldn't have been here at all.

Chao Musheng.

What was he doing here?

He watched Master Chen turn back repeatedly to address Chao Musheng directly, with a warmth the old man had never once shown him.

Was Chao Musheng some kind of incubus? At school, the teachers and classmates all gravitating toward him was one thing. How had he made inroads into the world of old money families too?

Nearly everyone in the room had noticed Chao Musheng.

The young man wore a pale suit — no embroidery, no nod to the host's preferences — and standing beside both Master Chen and Mr. Xu, he was somehow still the most striking figure in the room.

He was cradling a few lotus stems that had obviously come from the outdoor pond. They all knew Master Chen was particular about things like that — he considered picking lotus blossoms bad luck, a diminishing of fortune.

Yet there he was, walking under the old man's nose with flowers in his arms, and no one had said a word about bad luck.

In a corner, You Jiu watched the group enter and let his gaze rest on the lotus stems for several seconds.

Clean cuts on the stems. Made with flower scissors.

No guest arriving for a banquet would carry flower scissors. Someone else had cut them.

In the entire Chen estate, besides Master Chen himself, who had the authority to make that call?

To make Master Chen break his own rules — these guests had an interesting kind of standing.

"Grandfather." Chen You stepped forward first, smoothly displacing Chen Yue from Master Chen's side and taking his arm himself.

"Mr. Xu — this is my underperforming eldest grandson, Chen You." Master Chen's smile visibly warmed when he spoke of Chen You. "He's currently a project manager. I hope Secretary Liu and Mr. Chao will offer him guidance in the future."

"The eldest young master is clearly exceptional." Secretary Liu shook Chen You's hand. The old man was tactful enough not to ask the boss for guidance.

Chen You greeted Xu Chenzhu and Secretary Liu, then turned to Chao Musheng. "Mr. Chao — I've heard my younger brother caused you offense in the garden today. I apologize on his behalf."

Chen Fang, who had just arrived and caught this, slowed his step. The look he gave Chen You was not warm.

"It was a misunderstanding — no need to raise it again." Chao Musheng shook Chen You's hand. The lotus stems were awkward to hold; he glanced around and found Curly Hair in a corner, and waved her over.

You Jiu looked between Chao Musheng and Curly Hair. The mysterious guest was beckoning to her voluntarily?

"Xiao Chao." Curly Hair appeared at his side. "You called?"

"These are from Master Chen — could you find a vase and arrange them? I'll take them back when the evening's over." He transferred the stems into her arms.

"Mr. Chao is acquainted with one of our — with one of our staff members?" Master Chen glanced at Curly Hair. Small build, reasonably pretty, but not the sort of face that would make a man lose his senses.

"We're friends." Chao Musheng accepted a warm towel from a passing server and cleaned his hands, pausing to quietly thank the server as he returned it. "Her personality is restless — she likes trying all kinds of different work. I only found out she was here when I ran into her in the garden today."

"If she's a friend of Mr. Chao's, no wonder I thought she stood out from the first moment I saw her." The head steward's smile was brilliant. His interior monologue was considerably louder.

Wang Xiaozhuan, have you lost your mind?

If you're friends with Mr. Chao, what kind of decent job couldn't you find? Why come to Chen Garden as a servant?!

And now — if the kickback situation gets back to Mr. Chao and from him to the master, he was finished.

"Curly also mentioned that the steward has been very attentive to her." Chao Musheng directed this at the steward quietly.

The server, startled at being thanked by a guest, hesitated a moment with the tray of towels before turning away.

"Not at all — she's diligent in her work." The steward's inner voice went abruptly silent. He looked at Curly Hair with satisfaction. "Diligent and capable. The senior staff have all taken note."

Whether any of that was observable after a single day of employment was beside the point.

The point was to praise.

Curly Hair stood with her armful of lotus stems, listening to the steward who'd been cutting yesterday invent flattering things to say about her, and felt something difficult to name.

In front of this many important people, Xiao Chao said she was his friend. Would she be making him lose face?

She stepped back with the flowers, and before she'd even had to ask, someone was already bringing vases to her.

She arranged the stems into a celadon vase. Another servant spoke up immediately. "Sister Curly, I'll keep an eye on this for you. Go ahead."

"Thank you." Curly Hair looked at the careful, hoping face in front of her, and didn't turn down the kindness.

"Of course!" The servant's smile lit up.

Wonderful.

Sister Curly is friends with an important person. If she could get in good with Sister Curly, she might be able to stay on at Chen Garden after all.

*

You Jiu was waiting at the door when Curly Hair came out. He fell in beside her, keeping his voice low. "What item did you use on the NPC? I'm letting you know — those temporary mass-favorability items all have side effects. When the NPC's head clears, the user tends to get backlash."

"Is this concern for me, or are you worried my progress is outpacing yours?" Curly Hair wasn't going to take You Jiu's goodwill at face value.

Xiao Chao was not the kind of man who could be moved with a favorability item. You Jiu had no idea.

"I can offer you an item that clears the side effects." He took the exposure without embarrassment. "It's rare to find a player with a working brain in here. Dying in an instance would be a waste."

"Just tell me what you want."

"You used something on that NPC, which means his role in this instance matters." You Jiu had seen that she didn't want preamble, so he cut straight to it. "I want the detailed identities of him and the man beside him."

"Fine." Curly Hair smiled. "Item first."

Even someone as sharp as You Jiu, she thought, wasn't immune to falling into the common trap — processing everything through the framework of past instances, the usual logic.

If he could step outside that logic and just use his phone search function, with his intelligence and a handful of scattered online mentions, he'd be able to infer plenty.

The moment the item transferred, she delivered:

"Top graduate of Jinghua University. Chief assistant to the president of Kunlun. Technical consultant to Kunlun's research and development division. Emerging talent in the business world—"

"Stop." You Jiu frowned. "I asked for real information. Not to hear you sing this man's praises to the ceiling. Jinghua University — academic credentials matter in a supernatural instance?"

"I feel like the people in this instance do care about that, at least somewhat." Curly Hair offered the gentle hint. "Why don't you search Jinghua University's standing in the academic world of this instance on your phone?"

"Are you serious?" He looked at her. "I tried using the search function the moment I entered this instance. The phone can't access it. You can't possibly—"

—have been searching this whole time. Has running instances finally started affecting your mind?

Can't access it?

Curly Hair was genuinely surprised. Her own search function worked perfectly.

"If you can't search, never mind." She redirected. "The short version: he's a remarkably capable young man. The one beside him with the silver-framed glasses is the head of Kunlun — the kind of figure even Master Chen works to please."

"You've told me a great deal and still haven't told me what tier of boss they are." You Jiu's expression said he found her evasive. "Wang Xiaozhuan — I know what your special ability is."

"I can't read them." She crossed her arms. "My ability returns nothing on either of them. The rest of the guests — apart from those two — are almost all gold or purple tier."

You Jiu almost laughed at her lack of cooperation. "You might as well say this whole estate is a boss den, and there isn't a single NPC below purple."

"That's not quite right." Curly Hair raised her chin toward the corner. "That one is green."

You Jiu followed her gaze to a young man who looked distinctly uncomfortable, edging further into the shadows as if hoping not to be noticed by someone.

"If you think the entire room is gold and purple bosses," he said, "how do you think we're walking out of here alive?"

"Hi there."

Chao Musheng had one hand braced on the back of a carved chair, leaning his upper body forward, directing a smile at the corner where Chen Er was trying to hide. "Chen Er. What a coincidence."

The smile, from Chen Er's perspective, might as well have been a demon descending.

He pressed his back against the wall. "What do you want?"

"What are you afraid of?" Chao Musheng tilted his head. "Or is it a guilty conscience?"

"I already paid Zhou Yi's family a substantial amount. What more do you want?" Chen Er pushed his tone toward aggression to mask the fear beneath. "And I haven't gone near them since. Don't try to use your connections to bully me."

"So you do understand that using connections to bully people is wrong." The easy expression left Chao Musheng's face. "Some damage can't be undone. For the people it was done to, it stays with them for life."

"Mr. Chao." Chen Yue came over, her voice soft. "Chen Er — weren't you just with my brothers? Why are you here alone?"

Chen Er didn't dare not answer her. He stretched out something resembling a smile and kept his eyes on Chao Musheng, terrified of being told to leave.

"Chen Er." A Chen estate servant approached him. "Your clothes have creased. The master asked me to take you somewhere to change."

"Of course — thank you." Chen Er exhaled. How had he forgotten — his great-uncle had sent this invitation personally. Even if Chen Yue wanted to, she couldn't throw him out in front of his great-uncle's face.

Chao Musheng watched Chen Er's relieved departure and turned to Chen Yue. "He's family?"

"Distant family — we rarely had any contact." Chen Yue genuinely didn't know why Grandfather had invited someone like Chen Er to a banquet like this.

Chen Er followed the servant out of the hall, along a path that grew darker, and stopped in front of a small building. He looked at the blackness all around him, unease creeping in. "Is this... the place to change?"

"Of course." The servant smiled.

"I've heard today is Chen Er's birthday. The master has prepared a special gift for you."