Chapter Text
Shen Jiu’s stomach squirmed as he crouched there, looking into the surface of the pond. There wasn’t a girl staring back at him; far from it. Despite his narrow waist and thin limbs, his shoulders were doing no favors to the robes.
They’d looked pretty, hanging on the clothesline with the sleeves and hem ruffling in the breeze. Dull blue ramie, edged in a darker shade—Wen Ping in the kitchens wore something similar on festival days, and Shen Jiu had always thought it looked nicer than she deserved. But on him, they soured.
“It looks good,” a voice said from behind him.
Shen Jiu huffed and tugged at the belt. The tighter it was, the more feminine his body looked. “It doesn’t.” He narrowed his eyes at the mirrored surface of the water one last time, considering his face in its ripples. His hair, he had already restyled acceptably; he had more than enough experience thanks to keeping Haitang in order.
As lenient as she was with his mistakes, Shen Jiu disliked fumbling incompetently and so had set himself to practicing on his own hair night after night. On his head now was a perfectly appropriate style for a teenage girl, though it was held in place with the plainest of whittled stick pins rather than the silver and gold versions Haitang liked.
His face, though… “I should get makeup, if we’re really going to try this. Only the poorest girls don’t wear powder now,” he said, turning to look over his companion. “And you don’t look the type to accompany one of them.”
Yue Qi blinked and looked down at himself, frowning a little. “I’m your brother. Isn’t that what we settled on? I wouldn’t mind if my sister didn’t wear powder.”
Shen Jiu picked up the thick brown over-robe on the grass beside him and pulled it on, rolling his eyes as he arranged his sleeves through its arms. “I mean that you look too nice in your sect uniform, Qi-ge,” he informed, envy part of the morass curdling in his stomach. “Even if you have an explanation, people will stop to look and wonder, and that’s what we don’t want. Better that we match and nobody gives us a second look. Otherwise we’ll never get to Cang Qiong.”
Unable to resist, he stopped in front of Yue Qi and tugged at his collar crossly, which had already been in perfect order. “I’m hardly able to pass well, so you’ll have to draw people’s eyes and keep them off me,” he ordered. “You can’t have a creased collar like this!”
“Xiao Jiu would look better than me in this uniform,” Yue Qi said loyally.
“Well, I don’t fit yours, and you’d look much worse in a dress!” Shen Jiu snapped, annoyed that such bright circumstances could have been within reach. “You should have planned for this and brought a smaller set.” But at the same time, it pleased him that Yue Qi would say such a thing, and so he just patted at his collar again and strode off toward the road, picking up the smaller bag of his things as he went.
“Xiao Jiu is right, of course,” Yue Qi agreed, hefting the larger bag over his shoulder as he followed.
The city that they’d fled from in such a hurry, the place that had claimed two horrible years of Shen Jiu’s life, was a province away from the mountain sect that had granted sanctuary to Yue Qi. The harvest had ended for the season, so there was less wagon activity than there might have been and they only managed to hitch a ride on a hay cart once. The rest of the time saw them trudging along the road.
“You can’t fly yet? What’s the point of that sword if you can’t?” Shen Jiu had asked him the night they’d set off.
“I haven’t gotten that far in my studies,” Yue Qi admitted, pulling him by the hand through the bushes alongside another noble’s estate to avoid guards. “This is a practice blade. But if they allow me a spiritual sword in the future, Xiao Jiu will be the first to ride it with me.”
Shen Jiu pulled his bag closer to his chest. “Qi-ge’s almost a man, isn’t he? Do they wait until then?”
Yue Qi looked over his shoulder at him, the sweat on his brow glinting in the moonlight. “No, it’s based on merit. Some never receive one at all.”
“But you will, won’t you?” Qi-ge had never been as good at the secret power as Shen Jiu had, but there was no way he was weak or lacking in merit. He’d always been the best at corralling everyone, and even if he was a terrible beggar-boy, the day laborers who sometimes hired him were always happy with his effort. Qi-ge was the type that Shen Jiu could imagine as an immortal’s steady right hand, a person who was able to master all of the basics of secret magic but would never have ambitions to succeed the teacher.
If Shen Jiu could be an assistant to that right hand, or perhaps even a left hand himself, he thought he could be content. But it would all depend on the demeanor of the master, he supposed. If they were a bastard like Qiu Jianluo, he’d have to suck away all their secrets and then succeed them through poisoning to make sure that Yue Qi stayed safe and sound.
They waited for a few minutes for a torch-lighter to pass and then crossed the street into a dense cluster of houses.
“I don’t know,” Yue Qi finally whispered. “I was…my spiritual sword ceremony was supposed to be next week.”
Shen Jiu nearly tripped out of surprise. “Then what are you doing here? Idiot, you’re going to miss it!”
“I know,” Yue Qi said, “but they say that if the ceremony doesn’t go well, disciples are sometimes expelled from the sect, and I couldn’t come save you if I didn’t have their backing—”
Shen Jiu yanked him around a corner and they ran for an alley, sidling along puddles until they made it further into the shadows. “Qi-ge, if you left without permission, won’t they expel you anyway?!” He didn’t know much about sects, but he had heard they were strict.
“They might,” Yue Qi told him with a frown, ducking under a low beam that hadn’t troubled Shen Jiu. “But I had to find you. And this way, if the Qiu catch up with us, I can tell them that you’re under the protection of the sect. So there won’t be an issue. If Shizun expels me when we get there, then that’s that, but at least we’ll both be free.”
Shen Jiu gripped his hand harder. “You idiot,” he admonished, coming to a stop behind a crate and turning to Yue Qi. If his friend had been certain that the name of Cang Qiong would be enough to save them, he wouldn’t have stolen Shen Jiu away from the mansion in the dark of the night. This was truly relying on dire straits.
He shook his head. Fine. They’d already left the inner ring of the city; it was too late in the evening to get back before dawn, even if he wanted to return. There was just enough time for them to get to the western gates before the morning guard shift, so they could only move onward. Yue Qi had made their beds; from here, they had to do their best not to get caught. If they reached the sect safely, Yue Qi would no doubt have to plead his case before his master. If he failed, they would stay on the run and travel as far as they could from Hua Province.
When they got to the gate, Shen Jiu stepped out into the light, distracting the guard while Yue Qi crept up and knocked him out. That way, only Shen Jiu would be seen, even if it would be apparent he wasn’t working alone.
They left the city and circled around the walls to get to the northern road—their western exit would act as a false lead for the Qiu.
“Xiao Jiu is so smart,” Yue Qi said as they ran along the side of the road. Shen Jiu, puffing with exertion, ignored him and focused on the pounding of his feet.
They’d seen the house with its in-use clothesline most of a day later, the fading twilight disguising their nearness.
They’d already had to hide from people on horseback; none of them had been in Qiu purple, but that didn’t mean it was safe.
It had been Yue Qi who’d suggested stealing the clothes.
“If the family goes to the magistrate to report a theft, that’ll point that bastard in this direction,” Shen Jiu argued. “Anyway, those won’t be any better than what I have on now—it’ll still be a lead for them, and obvious that I was the one who came through.” His clothing was nicer than most house-servants’ garb, since he was expected to be seen at the dining table for meals, but it wasn’t exactly fine. Anything a farming family could give would hardly disguise him further.
Yue Qi was silent for a moment. The long grass in which they hid blew in the wind, swish-swishing in the quiet.
“I meant…I saw girl’s clothing. If Xiao Jiu switched to that…”
Shen Jiu squinted through the grass toward the house. From here, he couldn’t make out the shapes or colors of anything.
“My eyesight is better than it used to be,” Yue Qi explained. “Do you think it’s worth a try?”
Shen Jiu pursed his lips. His gut reaction was to say that it was stupid and he wasn’t a girl, but his discomfort at the prospect was by far eclipsed by the thought of getting caught and returned to his master. He would do a lot more than dress like a girl if he could be assured of a clean escape. “Would anyone think I was a girl, even in those?”
“Yes,” Yue Qi said, too quickly for Shen Jiu’s liking. “Xiao Jiu has always looked very—"
Shen Jiu jabbed a finger into his side, cutting him off. “I fucking know that!” he hissed. “You think I don’t? But I’m older now, even if I’m not as tall as you yet.” He didn’t want people to think he was a girl, not ever, not if it got him more of the looks he already hated. But Yue Qi was probably right; a boy and a girl wasn’t the same as two boys. If people reported them passing, it probably wouldn’t be of interest to anyone tracking them.
“Fine,” he said shortly. “There’s no one outside, is there?”
“No, but I’ll get them,” Yue Qi told him. “I’m quieter now. Stay here.”
Shen Jiu smoldered, but he did want to watch and see if cultivation really had let Yue Qi get better at sneaking. So Yue Qi went and pulled the pieces off the clothesline, and then he spent a moment tugging a few more things down to leave on the grass as if they’d just slipped off in the wind.
Shen Jiu didn’t really think that the family would assume the robes had been blown away, but it was worth the attempt.
The next morning, he was dressed in blue with his hair pinned up, newly cognizant of the way he held his body and trying to remember that he should remain a step behind Yue Qi whenever they stopped.