When the day began, Qiu Gaokang left the main manor and stood at the east path, watching the entrance to a certain courtyard. From the direction of the compound, Chu Su walked up to the side of Gaokang in a slouch and followed his gaze towards the entrance.
“It is today. Are they even stressed at all?” Gaokang said.
“How can that be possible?”
The gate opened and three youths walked out.
Xiyun walked in the lead and appeared more relaxed than usual. Yeon skipped. Danlu walked in wide strides while carrying a travel case on his back. None were stressed, they were excited.
“If it was me, I would choose the south side, preferably a place near the river,” Yeon said.
“Houses near the river are expensive,” Danlu said. “It’ll be more convenient to be near one of the market avenues instead.”
Xiyun stopped in front of Gaokang. “Where is the ancestral hall?”
…
At the eastern side of the compound, the ancestral hall was enclosed in a large walled yard. The entrance into the yard was a waiting room in which everyone besides Xiyun had to stop at. Steward Qiu was already there, directing the boy to follow him.
Yeon frowned, however she knew the importance of ancestral halls.
“I can go alone.” Xiyun continued forward and stepped into the wide yard.
At the far end were three interconnected ancestral shrines with their doors closed.
Scattered in front of the building around the yard were eleven people. They stood in opposition like the stars of a constellation. The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth masters were all present. The First Madam was also present. Lastly, five unfamiliar faces were present.
“First Madam, are you representing the First Master?” Steward Qiu said.
“I am,” she replied.
“Third Mister, are you representing the Second Master?”
The Third Mister, a tall well-groomed young man with a fixated smile, nodded. “Father is busy, so he has allowed me to represent him.” His eyes glanced over Xiyun. “Isn’t this event quite interesting?”
Steward Qiu turned towards the four representatives of the Branch Heads and nodded. “Thank you for coming in at such a timely notice. It will not take long.”
All the representatives, Xiao Family branch members, placed their hands together and profusely agreed. Some of their eyes met the Fourth Master, who smiled.
Steward Qiu continued. “We are here today to witness Xiao Xiyun light incense for his ancestors and be welcomed into the family.”
The Fourth Master, Xiao Tailuo, clicked his tongue. “You’re forgetting something, Steward Qiu.”
“Am I? I am getting quite old. What am I possibly forgetting?” Steward Qiu said.
The Fourth Master ignored him and faced Xiyun. “Have you made any contribution to the family in the last twelve years? Even in the last ten days.”
Xiyun wanted everything to end already so he could leave. “I haven’t.”
“Have your parents made any contribution to the family?”
Xiyun did not answer.
“Do you have proof you are of Xiao blood?”
Xiyun shook his head.
Xiao Tailuo waved his hand outwards to his side. “Under Clan Law, we will now determine whether to expel this boy from the family. All the masters and heads present shall vote. As the Clan Law’s ruling is in opposition to the boy, if at least half of the family agrees, the boy will be expelled from the Xiao Family. Steward Qiu, can you please begin the process?”
Steward Qiu sighed. “We will do this correctly and start at the beginning. First Madam?”
The First Madam, who’s arm remained crossed and eyes half open, spoke. “My husband agrees with the ruling.”
Everyone turned expectantly at the Third Mister. It seemed like the First Master did not have a relationship with the boy, then what about the Second Master? “My father, the Second Master, agrees with the ruling.”
The Fourth Master smiled. “I obviously agree with the ruling.”
Silence followed after.
“Fifth Lady?” Steward Qiu said. “Your stance?”
“Steward Qiu, you take care of the Back Manor. Do you know something we don’t or have something to pass onto to us?” The Fifth Lady said.
Steward Qiu shook his head. “There really is nothing that I have to say.”
The Fifth Lady changed into a clear smile. “In that case, I will not make a comment on this matter.”
It meant she didn’t agree. It was three to one against the boy.
“I agree with the ruling,” the Sixth Master monotonously said.
All the gazes landed onto the Seventh Master.
The man crouched while resting his elbows on his laps. “The more the merrier. I have nothing against the boy,” he said.
The Eighth Lady hummed. “I’ll agree with the ruling.”
It was five against two. People’s heads turned again. Once the representative of the First Branch Head spoke, none of the remaining votes mattered anymore. A majority would be reached.
The man swept a glance at Xiyun. As he opened his mouth, everyone watched expectedly. Even Xiyun straightened his posture. It was finally over, he thought.
Slam!
The middle door of the ancestral shrine violently opened, attracting everyone’s attention.
No one was seen at the door, and the shadows prevented the inside of the shrine from being visible.
“Pause the process,” an old grating voice spread out.
Someone had been inside the shrine the entire time. Everyone all placed their hands together and bowed.
“Father!” the masters called.
Xiyun remained standing. This is the Old Master?
“I want to speak to the boy. Everyone can wait outside. The voting can resume after.”
Looks were exchanged until they fell on Xiyun.
The boy twisted his lips. “Can I not? Aren’t I already being expelled?”
Steward Qiu coughed. “Didn’t you want to see him?”
He did, but that was before. “Now, I don’t.”
“The process won’t continue until you do.”
Xiyun sighed and began walking. It is just one final trial to pass.
Over the last couple of days, he noticed that the Old Master almost never interacted with the family or its businesses. He wondered how long it had been seen the man had retired to the Back Manor. The family functioned entirely without him.
When he passed the entrance, the wind closed the door. Without the harsh light of the sun, the dark interior of the shrine became visible. The wall hangs various ancestral tablets. In the middle was an altar holding offerings of various flour pasties and cups of wine.
An aged man supported by a cane stood next to the altar. Both his white beard and hair were cut short. Wrinkles defined his face.
Xiyun watched but did not speak, passing the time by studying the details of the shrine.
The old man finally tapped his cane. “It’s been a long time since I have used my name, but it is Xiao Song.”
“Grandfather, my name is Xiyun,” the boy replied.
Xiao Song thinned his lips. “So you recognize me as your Grandfather? By what Qiu Lin has been telling me, I thought you would act more ungrateful,” he said referring to Steward Qiu.
“It is simply a fact of the world.”
“Then I have a few questions. You can leave when I’m done.”
Xiyun nodded.
“Do you agree that the dynasty is Zhao?” Xiao Song asked.
“Yes.”
“The era is Tianyuan?”
“Yes.”
“The lunar month is one?” Xiao Song said quicker.
“Yes,”
“The current week is the fourth?”
“Yes.”
“You want to be the family’s next head?”
“No.”
There was a long silence.
Xiyun’s eyebrow twitched. Was that supposed to be a trick?
The old man’s smile broke. “Do you want the family?”
“I don’t.”
“Do you want all the wealth and authority of the Xiao Family?”
The scene felt odd to the boy. Hasn’t he heard something similar before? “I do not.”
“Maybe you don’t understand. I am not asking about your intentions. If you say yes, I’ll make you the next head. No one will be able to expel you.”
“I understand and I really don’t want it.”
“What do you want then?” the old man spat.
Xiyun closed his eyes. “I want to be left alone. I want to live every day free of having to think about thoughts I don’t want to think about. I want to continue studying history.”
“What is that supposed to look like? Isn’t that an ordinary mundane life?”
“I don’t know what a mundane life looks like.” Xiyun rarely talked much in front of new people, yet today the words left his mouth naturally. “It is fine if there are things I don’t have and can’t do. I have only ever had myself, and I don’t need anything else. There is no difference between experiencing the world through words and the world through sight, but I have chosen one and not the other. I won’t be affected by waves and currents. I won’t change.”
“How is that living? You want to spectate but not participate? Life is short!”
“It is precisely because life is short that I can’t waste it on matters that I don’t care about.”
Xiao Song sighed. His walking stick moved as he began walking around the altar. “That might be what you want, but what about what I want?”
Xiyun frowned. “Why should your desires have to do anything with me?”
“I am your grandfather.”
“Master has more say in my life than you do.”
A nerve was struck as Xiao Song’s head jerked back. “I can’t forget to speak to him as well, wherever he’s hiding! You are going to accept being a member of the family, including having the responsibilities of one!”
“I won’t,” Xiyun stated resolutely. “I already decided to leave. I will try in every way I can.”
“Then I will change your mind.”
“I have already considered everything. There is nothing that can convince me.”
Xiao Song gave a thin smile. “That is a conviving bluff.”
Xiyun’s expression remained static.
“You know,” Song Xiao said.
“What do I know?” Xiyun said somewhat shallowly.
Xiao Song laughed. “If you don’t want to be ‘Xiao’, would you rather be a ‘Li’?”
Xiyun finally froze. A myriad of thoughts crossed his mind as he tried to explain the past, but he couldn’t find an alternative answer. “It would be called treason. Revealing it would bring as much unwanted attention to the Xiao Family as it does me. Neither of us would want such a thing.”
“It is Princess Jiading that picked you up from Lanzhou. Your existence and lack of existence has nothing to do with the Xiao Family. I can safely say I found out that you were living when she sent that first letter to me. How would it be treason?”
Xiyun continued to search for an answer.
Xiao Song continued. “Think about it logically. Predict what would occur in each case. Between all the possibilities, isn’t remaining in the Xiao Family the best option? Otherwise, if you leave the estate and are revealed later on, it actually would be treason for the Xiao Family. Therefore it is almost impossible for me to keep my mouth shut if you decide to leave.”
Xiyun remained unmoving as lips pressed together.
With his cane, Xiao Song walked past Xiyun and opened the door.
Xiyun felt a hand on his shoulder which turned his orientation and pushed him to stand past the door.
The gathering of masters and representatives whose feet were sore as they waited began paying attention again. They watched the boy silently stand below the shrine eaves.
“Qiu Lin, you may continue,” Xiao Song said from within the shrine.
Although only the voice was heard, Steward Qiu bowed towards the darkness within the shrine.
Xiyun also gazed past everyone once again, particularly the stern expressions of the First Madam, Fourth Master, and Sixth Master. “They are still unconvinced,” he whispered back to the shrine.
“Of course they are. How can they be convinced if you don’t try to convince them? But, you don’t need to convince them,” Xiao Song said within the shade.
Steward Qiu directed his gaze at the representative of the First Branch Head.
The man stood more attentive than before. His frown relaxed into a smile. “I disagree with the ruling.”
There was no pause before the next representative followed. “I also disagree with the ruling.”
Xiao Tailuo’s eyes widened. He took a step forward before he stopped himself.
“The Branch Head disagrees with the ruling.”
“My father also disagrees with the ruling,” the final representative said.
It was five against six, in favor of the boy.
The First Madam closed her eyes.
The Fourth Master starred fixated on the four representatives.
The Seventh Master smiled and raised an eyebrow at the interesting turn of events.
The only other master to disagree with the ruling, the Fifth Lady, also smiled. She was the one to understand her father the best. The Xiao Family belongs to Old Master Xiao. How could anyone ever forget this? The Branch Heads understood. First and Second Brother also understood, but they had family to cover for them. Fourth and Sixth Brother, did you think Steward Qiu was just making trouble. If Father let the boy be here, he will obviously stay.
Steward Qiu breathed in relief. “Then-“
“Wait!” A voice cut through the air. Everyone’s eyes returned back to Xiyun.
“Perhaps it is illogical. Perhaps the future will be more troublesome. I don’t know, I can’t predict the future, but the clearest thing I do know is what I want,” Xiyun said.
The hall’s occupants were confused by what he was saying.
Xiyun continued. “Currently, I am also a master, an elder of a family line, that is present to this vote. Is that not true, Steward Qiu?”
“What are you getting at?”
“I agree with the ruling, so it is six to six. The requirement for half has been achieved,” Xiyun said.
The expression of those present shifted oddly. Does the boy want to be the final vote to kick himself out?
A laugh echoed. “If you want to play, did you forget that I am also present. I don’t agree. The vote is six to seven. Xiao Xiyun continues to be a part of the family,” the Old Master voice reverberated.
Xiyun craned his neck towards the sky. Behind him, the doors opened on their own and the shrine became better lit.
“Xiao Xiyun, bow to them. They are still your real ancestors,” Xiao Song said.
Xiyun did not move. Just as Xiao Song was about to speak again, Xiyun took a slow step back inside to stand in front of the tablet wall. The incense was already burning on the altar.
“Bottom right,” Xiao Song said quietly.
The boy saw the name on the tablet. Xiao Qingyu. Qingyu the ‘clear rain’. He clapped his hands together and bent his waist.
“There is only one thing she has left behind for you. It is your inheritance. Ten revenue shares.”
“Revenue shares?”
“They mean nothing right now since the new year has just passed. Wait until the end of this year when they are distributed. Talk to Qiu Lin or his son for anything related to them.” Xiao Song stepped out of the shrine to where his children and relatives immediately gathered around him.
Xiyun pushed their voices from his attention and became fixated on the tablet again. He shook his head and cleared his mind. He exited the shrine and walked past everyone in the yard.
In the entrance room, Yeon, Chu Danlu, and Chu Su all had expressions with wry smiles.
“You don’t have to say it,” Yeon said.
Xiyun spoke anyway. “I failed.”
“What now?” Danlu asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? We’re having a strategy meeting,” Yeon answered.