Fight at the Teahouse

Yuanzheng glanced about uncertainly. "Are you sure she'll know where to look for us?"

Suzhen took hold of his arm and pulled him over. "Of course, she said so herself. You know Qingqing, she's so impulsive. She said she would come and find us after she's finished, so I said we would wait for her around this area."

She glanced at Xuxian. "Let's have some tea while we wait for her. It's gotten colder, some hot tea would be lovely."

Xiaohu nodded, sticking his fingers into his armpits to keep them warm while he blew a cloud of mist out from his mouth. "I agree with Madame Xu, it seems ages since that baked sweet potato," he complained. "I need something to warm my insides up."

Xuxian took Suzhen's hands in his. "Your hands are icy indeed. Very well, let's stop here for some tea while we wait for Qingqing to catch up with us."

They entered the tea house, Suzhen lingering behind to glance back and see if anyone was following them. The tea house was bustling; on a cold winter's day like this, the idea of a hot cup of tea was appealing.

As they settled themselves down at one of the low tables, Xuxian called the waiter over and ordered a pot of tea. "Five cups. We have a friend coming."

Xiaohu glanced around curiously. "So this is what a teahouse looks like. The last time I had anything to do with one was when I passed by the window of one, and happened to see a bundle someone had left behind on a table."

"What happened?" Yuanzheng raised an eyebrow as he poured the tea.

Xiaohu shrugged. "I stole it, of course. No one noticed. And when I opened it in the alley afterwards, there was a woman's gold pendant, as well as shoes and clothes, inside it. I tell you, I thought I'd met my lucky day, and that I'd never beg on the streets again. But a hooligan of a man happened to see it and took it from me. He gave me such a cuff on the head that I thought I'd get reincarnated into a sole fish." He made a face. "Well, so much for luck there. Never had such a golden chance again."

Yuanzheng nodded sympathetically but Xuxian shook his head. "You should not have stolen it in the first place, though. You can't really complain, since you're not much different from him."

"But to steal it from a child," Yuanzheng protested. "You must admit that's rather low of him."

"And Xiaohu probably stole some poor hard-working woman's savings," retorted Xuxian. "Judge for yourself."

Xiaohu glowered at him. "Thankfully, I wasn't looking to you for comfort." he muttered.

Undisturbed, Xuxian handed Suzhen a cup. "Susu, have some tea while it's hot."

Suzhen's eyes roamed around the teahouse, scanning the faces of the other customers and the waiters. Quickly recalling herself, she took the cup and smiled at him. "It's fragrant."

She was thinking to herself where the terrapin spirit was most likely to appear. If he was patient, he might decide to wait for them outside until they reappeared. Terrapin spirits were usually strong and remarkably persistent and stubborn. Once they had got hold of you it was hard to break free. But they were clumsy at climbing and were not usually agile. In the short span of time since they had last met he could not possibly have made significant progress in his spirit energy cultivation levels, even if he had been cultivating every day. As long as he didn't slip past Qingqing, she should be able to handle him.

Xuxian and Yuanzheng were talking about the snow fall this year, and Xiaohu was still sulking over his cup of tea. She cradled the hot tea cup in her hands, wrapping her fingers around the warm clay.

A young waiter with a pock-marked face gawked at her, and the elderly couple he was serving clicked their tongues impatiently as he spilled some tea. A stern-faced travelling monk with a bundle beside him sat alone at a table, brows furrowed and eyes shut, oblivious of the tea in front of him. Running eagerly around the teahouse, two small children played with each other, clumsy in their thick quilted jackets, while their mother called them, and a scholarly gentleman muttered disapprovingly under his breath about children needing to be trained.

At the table next to them there was a young couple with a chubby baby fussing on his mother's lap. His father took off his pendant and dangled it in front of him coaxingly. The baby stopped crying and made a grab at it with his short fingers. Laughing, his parents teased him and pinched his red cheeks.

"He's got your nose," remarked the mother decisively. Her husband shook his head. "What do you mean? That's clearly your grandfather's nose. No, he's got my charming smile."

Suzhen did not realize she was smiling as she watched the baby, until Xuxian's hand fell on her arm. She started and turned to him. He squeezed her hand under the table and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Why are you smiling so tenderly?"

"The baby is cute," she said apologetically, turning back to her tea.

"I'm sure ours will be cuter," he whispered.

Qingqing pulled her hood further down over her face. She had been following the terrapin spirit at a distance from behind. Slow and methodical, he had tracked them to the tea house, and when they had gone in he had waited before following a crowd of other people in.

"So he's not that stupid after all." she muttered to herself, seating herself at table and impatiently waving away the waiter who came up to her. "If he's been tracking Sister for a while without her realizing then we can't underestimate him."

She watched with narrowed eyes as the terrapin spirit shuffled behind a screen, hidden by the crowd of noisy revellers he had come in with. "Ugly bastard," Qingqing whispered contemptuously. "Who does he think he is, messing with us? He couldn't touch me with his levels of cultivation, let alone Sister Bai. Just let me catch you in the alley. Let's see how well your cunning serves you."

She played with a small wisp of energy under her cloak, shaping it lovingly into a ball, as she watched him peer at Suzhen's table from behind the screen. "Come on," she murmured impatiently. "Give me a chance to get my fingers on you. It's been too long since I last had a good fight. The gods must have sent you to me for practice."

The travelling monk's eyes suddenly opened. His brows remained knitted sternly. He had a striking face--gaunt, yet bearing a sort of ravaged nobility, and a fierce steeliness that gave his composure the impression of the calm before a storm, or the brooding look in the eyes of a hawk just before it swooped down on its prey. There was a scar on his temple which distorted one eyebrow, a hint of violence that clashed strangely with his Buddhist beads. The saffron of his robes had long since faded, and his shoes were travel-stained and worn through, yet he clearly did not care about them, maintaining an air of dignity as if he had been dressed in golden robes and a crown on his shorn head.

Without moving his head, his eyes flickered sideways, scanning the teahouse rapidly.

The amulet lying half hidden in his robes had suddenly become warm, until it threatened to burn his skin. There was a strong aura of spirit energy here, of the animal kind. He fingered it meditatively. More than one. Could it be? He had not come across a single spirit for several months in his travels, and here it seemed there were many, or at least some with high levels of cultivation.

Fahai's eyes darkened. He had been passing through this little town as part of his routine itinery, but he had had no idea that there would be so much trouble brewing in it.