Nightfall

The mutton might taste far different from its original flavor, but above all, it had the texture of meat. And since meat could bring people happiness, all the Headmaster could do after expressing his annoyance and anger was to continue eating the meat. Yet he kept sighing while eating. He sighed at the mutton in his hand, at Sangsang, and even to the heaven above.

Sangsang felt confused, so did Ning Que. Ning Que patted on Sangsang’s shoulder and tried to comfort her, and then he slowly moved next to Headmaster and asked in a soft voice, “Are you sighing because it’s troublesome?”

And by “it”, Ning Que meant the whole incident in which the Headmaster fought Haotian to save Sangsang.

The Headmaster looked downcast and answered, “Of course it is.”

Ning Que was nervous when hearing the answer, and his voice shook. “But Sangsang should be just fine, right?” Asked Ning Que.

Hearing Ning Que’s words, the Headmaster turned furious and asked accusingly, “Don’t you care about anyone other than your wife? How about caring a little about me, your teacher? Do you have any idea what filial piety is? Why would she be ‘not fine’ after eating medicine? Are you afraid that she’s going to die or what? She would definitely outlive me if lucky! Now all I care about is meat! I am now not even in the mood to eat meat!”

Ning Que wiped the accusing spittle and grease off his face with one sleeve. He was wondering why the Headmaster turned so grumpy. Was it because of the exhausting fight with the Divine Guard of Light?

And when that idea came to his mind, he was no longer displeased. Sangsang and he had to serve the Headmaster with nice food and wine.

And when Sangsang was filling the bowl with soup, she tried to comfort Ning Que and whispered, “It is said that people behave more like kids as they grow older, and all we need to do is to make them feel happy.”

Ning Que looked back at the Headmaster. The grumpy Headmaster was sitting on the grass, cursing heaven and hell. Ning Que felt worried still and he tried to explain, “I know he has every reason to be grumpy, but I just have the feeling that something’s wrong.”

They could not finish the roasted gigot even though this could be the best gigot Ning Que and Sangsang had ever tasted. And the Headmaster seemed not to care for the gigot at all.

Having been the cook in the Acadamy for a long time, Ning Que and Sangsang knew just how much the Headmaster could eat. Sometimes Ning Que joked that the Academy’s rank had nothing to do with strength, and instead, those names were ranked by their appetites. For example, their Eldest Brother, who was seemingly kind and quiet, had an appetite that their Second Brother couldn’t even imagine.

Sangsang then asked the Headmaster, “How about the leftover gigot? Shall we send it back?”

“Those people have had more than enough nice gigots during their daily life, let alone these leftovers. Sending it back would be no better than a waste.”

The Headmaster signaled for Sangsang to put down the gigot. Then he whistled to the snowy hills in the north. The whistle wasn’t loud, but it had reached far enough to alert all sheep in the meadow.

It didn’t take long before the ground started to shake. The herd in the meadow felt so fearful of what was coming that they escaped in all directions. Some of the sheep even faked their deaths.

The Big Black Horse was feeding off the gigot when it suddenly raised its head and watched toward the north on alert. The hairs on its back danced in the breeze, as if they would stand straight soon.

A giant snowfield direwolf, with another skinny wolf which seemed quite ordinary, was approaching from the meadow in the north. They didn’t care for the sheep pretending to be dead in the meadow at all.

The two wolves were approaching. The Big Black Horse showed its big shiny teeth and neighed sharply. The Horse clearly knew how sanguinary the wolves could be, and the seemingly skinny wolf was the most dangerous.

But the Horse now felt itself unbeatable because the Headmaster had its back.

…

…

The female snowfield direwolf sat down. It was like a snow hill on the meadow.

Sangsang streched her curious hands to feel its fur. It felt so soft.

The female wolf didn’t reject Sangsang. It looked even more gentle and peaceful when it smelled the faint scent Sangsang was wearing. The she-wolf looked as if it was missing something, and the smell comforted it.

The skinny wolf was sitting in front of the Headmaster, both forepaws on its chest, like a saluting student. Ning Que, who was standing behind the Headmaster watched it with interest.

The Headmaster let Ning Que feed the wolf with the leftover gigot.

The skinny wolf didn’t jump over the gigot immediately. Instead, it respectfully saluted the Headmaster and gave its wife a dignified glance.

The giant snowfield direwolf hesitated for a short moment, and then it left Sangsang to approach the Headmaster and give its salute.

The Headmaster was petting the wolf’s messy hair. And judging by the hair, he knew that the wolf and its pack didn’t have it easy since they came to the south. He gently stroked the wolf’s head.

The skinny wolf allowed the Headmaster to pet it. It was slightly shaking in excitement. The Headmaster looked at it and said, “I don’t know if we will have a chance to meet again in the future, so I invited you here.”

Sangsang was passing by and upon hearing the Headmaster’s words, she couldn’t help feeling grieved.

The Headmaster turned to Sangsang and explained, “They’re the parents of Tangtang’s Whitey.”

Sangsang finally understood why the she-wolf would look like it was missing something just now. She felt even more sorrowful because she knew the she-wolf was missing its kid that was far away from here, in the mountain behind the Academy.

Following the two wolves, the black horse carriage also left the ellusive shepherd tribe. The Big Black Horse’s hooves stomped the ground, leaving deep hoofprints with the aroma of sheep grease which attracted many ants.

In the carriage, Sangsang was dutifully massaging the Headmaster’s back. She seemed to have recovered. Sangsang was good at serving people, and the Headmaster liked being served by her. Now the Headmaster’s eyes were closing. He was falling asleep.

Ning Que looked at Sangsang with a smile and gave a silent “thank you” with his mouth. Sangsang nodded and smiled. Surely she felt a little bit tired but the happiness she gained from serving the Headmaster compensated for it.

As vast as the Wilderness might be, there were still barbarians living here. It wasn’t a no-man’s land, even though it was sparsely populated compared to the Central Plains. The carriage had been running for days and they hadn’t run into any village so far, not a single one.

Inside the carriage, the other two were so quiet that Ning Que almost fell asleep. Yet all of a sudden, the silence was broken by the ruckus outside the carriage. It sounded like people peddling, talking, and horses stomping the ground.

Ning Que was wondering why the Wilderness would become so crowded. “Did the horse run into a bustling tribe?”  He pulled the curtain aside and looked outside, to be immediately stunned.

Sangsang came to the window. She looked outside and almost screamed out loud in shock due to what she saw.

The carriage was on an endless and bustling street.

On both sides of the street were dense buildings, many of which were shops. On the streets were people walking, and vendors peddling. Sedan carriers yelled at people on the way when young men riding horses overtook them with pride.

Ning Que had no idea where they were now, but he was sure that they were no longer in the Wilderness.

The Headmaster woke up from his nap. He looked at the couple near the window and asked, “Have we reached our destination?”

Sangsang nodded but she soon felt that something was off. She turned to the Headmaster and answered, “We’ve reached some place, but I’m not sure where it is.”

The Headmaster took a quick glance outside the window and said, “That’s right, this is the capital city of the Kingdom of Song.”

Both Ning Que and Sangsang were shocked. They were wondering what had happened. Not long ago they were chewing gigot in the far northern Wilderness but now they were in the capital city of Song. How did that happen?

The Kingdom of Song was built on the shore of the East Sea, which made it more than 10000 miles away from the Wilderness in the north.

The Big Black Horse was the most shocked of them all. It had been pulling the carriage along the whole way, so it had seen it more clearly than anyone else.

At first, all the horse could see was the meadow. Yet after a short “clip-clop”, when its hoof landed on the ground again, the meadow turned into streets covered with carved stones. The sudden and mysterious change terrified the poor horse so bad its hooves turned into jelly.

The Headmaster might be almighty in the eyes of common people. He could cure Sangsang’s disease. He could heal Ning Que’s deadly wounds. Nothing was impossible if the Headmaster was there.

There were things that Sangsang and Ning Que could not understand. But when it came to the Headmaster, everything unnatural became understandable because the Headmaster was not an ordinary person, or like what Ning Que had in mind: that the Headmaster wasn’t a member of mankind.

The black horse carriage was rolling along one of the bustling streets in the prosperous capital of the Kingdom Song. Around the Taoist temple, people were gathering, praying for the war in the Wilderness. They didn’t know how the war had ended, neither did they know that the most important people in that war had come to Song, and had just passed by them.

When the darkness faded, the light came back. Under the long-gone blue sky and white clouds, Song people were struggling to stand. Everything came back to life at an unbelievable speed. Most people still kept an ear out for what was happening in the Wilderness, but a few turned to care more about their small business or their careers.

The carriage stopped at the gate of a normal restaurant.

The restaurant was crowded with people playing drinking games. The three strode over the steps and entered the restaurant. They passed by the people dining and the drunkards, heading right into the third floor which was relatively quiet.

“Days ago they were on their knees, shaking because of fear, but now they’re all back to having meat and wine. The restaurant is full of people now, because people need food to get over the fear, and of course, because everyone needs food.” Said the Headmaster, staring at the people downstairs.

“Food always comes first for people, because people live off it. And living is more important than the war in the Wilderness. It is more important than the law, morality, or even faith. It is more important than anything in the world.”

“To live is the one and only important thing during one’s entire life. Emotions or knowledge, they are no more than ornaments. You have to bear the priority in mind.”

Ning Que thought about it for a moment and said, “But you have to find something else to do besides living, or life would be meaningless.”

The Headmaster argued, “Of course you should have things to chase after, but you first have to live before you can search for meaning.”

“You mean true egotism? Or are you against sacrificing oneself for other things?”

“By ‘living’ I mean that many people are living not as an absolute individual.”

“Sounds complicated… what does that mean exactly?”

“I am saying that if to live is the most important thing, then eating should be the top priority for all.”

Ning Que put his hand on his belly, wondering what would come after the gigot they had eaten not long ago.

And before Ning Que had figured it out, the Headmaster had picked up the menu and ordered more than 18 dishes.