Lin Mo Chen was feeding seeds to some chickens he had found near the north gate. He held a small clay bowl in his hand and tossed the grains one by one, with the patience of someone who had absolutely nothing better to do.
Although the sun was at its highest point, to his surprise nothing had happened. Or at least, nothing he had heard about.
And even though he knew perfectly well he shouldn't get involved in something like this, he really wanted to see the whole show. Curiosity was eating him from the inside. He wanted a front row seat to watch Yun Qingran break off her engagement with Lin Xuan.
But using all the self control of a veteran novel reader, he managed not to do something stupid like sneaking to the main courtyard to spy. He knew how curious background characters usually ended up.
In his dreary boredom, he crouched down in front of the fattest hen in the group and spoke to her in a low voice, complaining.
"Cultivation is harder than I thought it would be," he told her as he tossed her more seeds. "A whole pill and I didn't even form a complete fragment. At this rate I'm going to have gray hair before my first ring."
The hen tilted her head, gave her comb a shake, and let out a loud cluck as she looked at him.
Lin Mo Chen stared at the bird and thought he must be very bored or definitely crazy to talk to a chicken as if it were his confidant.
Just as he was about to toss another handful, a loud, sharp noise, like heavy wood crashing against stone, echoed from the direction of the north gate and made him jump.
Without thinking, he quickly grabbed the hen with both hands and ran to hide behind a thick tree near the wall, his heart racing again.
Peeking out from behind the tree, with the hen pressed against his chest like an emergency feathered shield, Lin Mo Chen looked toward the north gate.
Two carriages were rolling out at a leisurely pace, escorted by a pair of mounted guards. The wheels creaked on the stone and kicked up a light cloud of dust under the midday sun.
On the first one he could clearly see the Yun Family emblem embroidered in blue silk. But the second carriage bore an emblem Lin Mo Chen didn't recognize. It was a black cauldron surrounded by red and gold flames, carved into dark lacquered wood.
It looked important. To Lin Mo Chen's eyes it seemed elegant and imposing, far more intricate than the Yun family's, with golden details at the corners that glinted with every bump in the road.
Seeing them leave the clan and drive away without anyone chasing them, he slowly emerged from behind his shield, the great tree, and let out a long, disappointed sigh.
The hen was still pressed tight against his chest, legs dangling, watching him with a round, deeply judgmental eye.
"It seems the engagement was broken off in private," he murmured to her. "A shame I didn't get to see it."
The hen tilted her head and answered with a loud cluck, as if in agreement.
It was at that exact moment his brain finally processed the full picture. He was crouching behind a tree, nervous, talking to a chicken.
Offended at himself, he frowned and set her down on the ground with exaggerated delicacy, as if he were placing some kind of spiritual artifact.
"This stays between us," he warned, pointing a finger at her. "You didn't see me talking to myself, and I didn't kidnap you. Got it?"
The hen ignored him completely, shook out her feathers, and went straight to pecking at the seeds that had fallen from the bowl during the escape.
Utterly ignored, Lin Mo Chen stood there for a second, watching his feathered accomplice abandon him for a couple of seeds on the ground.
His dignity wounded, he bent down and retrieved his clay bowl.
The hens erupted in immediate protest. They clucked, pecked at his ankles, and surrounded him in a circle like a mob of furious peasant women.
Lin Mo Chen looked down at them with completely borrowed arrogance and held up the bowl as if it were something important.
"Back off. This bowl is mine," he declared. "Private property of Young Master Lin."
Peering inside, hoping to find at least one seed to save face, he found only the smooth, empty bottom. He frowned and pointed an accusing finger at the feathered squad.
"You ate it all. Thieves. You didn't even leave a single crumb."
A little annoyed, though he would never admit it all came down to being ignored by a hen and missing the drama of the century in the main courtyard, he turned around, tucked the bowl under his arm, and set off back home.
Twenty steps later, a sound caught his attention. Tap. Tap. Tap. A quick, determined trot right behind him on the dry earth.
A little paranoid, Lin Mo Chen whipped his head around.
The fat hen was following him less than two meters behind, head held high. As soon as their eyes met, the cheeky thing froze in place and began pecking at the ground with dramatic, feigned interest, as if she had been there her whole life.
Lin Mo Chen narrowed his eyes: Suspicious.
This time he walked more slowly, pretending to look at the sky. After counting to ten, he glanced over his shoulder.
There she was, walking calmly, swaying from side to side with every step.
"Ah, so you want to play," he muttered, quickening his pace, cutting toward the small hill that overlooked the Lin family's central compound and throwing himself behind a thick bush as soon as he arrived.
Carefully parting the leaves, he spied on the path, holding his breath.
A few seconds later she appeared. She stopped right where he had disappeared, turned her head from side to side in confusion, and, not seeing him, let out a low, annoyed cluck and began pecking at the ground as if nothing had happened, the very picture of innocence.
Lin Mo Chen sprang out of the bush like a coiled spring, circled around her, and caught her with both hands before she could protest. He lifted her to eye level, bringing them face to face.
Instead of getting frightened or flapping, the hen simply gave him two soft, curious pecks on the knuckle and then fixed her gaze, steady and greedy, on the empty bowl he was still holding.
Lin Mo Chen let out a short laugh. Suddenly it all made sense.
"I see," he said, rocking her a little. "It wasn't admiration for my heroic bearing that drew you in. You liked the seeds I borrowed from my mother's kitchen with great effort and stealth."
The hen tilted her head, looked at him with that round, bright eye, and answered with a loud, brazen cluck.
A crooked smile escaped Lin Mo Chen, the kind of smug smile only a young master with no achievements and a hen for a follower could manage.
Straightening up, he held her with one arm as if he were a general inspecting his troops, and nodded with feigned solemnity.
"Good. I like your honesty and your complete lack of shame. Since you insist on following this young master, I, in my infinite magnanimity, will allow it."
With a dramatic pause, he lifted her a little higher toward the sun.
"Listen well. From today on you are no longer a simple seed stealing chicken. From this moment, and until my mother finds you and turns you into soup, your name shall be General Fatty."
Satisfied with having gained his first follower and even more satisfied with the great name he had come up with, Lin Mo Chen carefully set General Fatty down on the ground.
"Walk with pride," he ordered her.
Hands behind his back like a wise old man, he began walking down the dirt path, and she immediately followed him with that tap tap tap trot, pecking now and then.
For the first time all day, Lin Mo Chen felt like he was in control of his life. His peaceful day lasted exactly seven more steps.
His tranquility was interrupted by a sound from the top of the hill. He could clearly hear a low, muffled shout, as if someone were clenching their teeth to keep from exploding.
Lin Mo Chen stopped dead, completely stunned, and with the survival instinct of a veteran reader screaming at him not to, he looked up. Something he regretted the instant he lifted his chin.
Through the gap between two trees he could see the scene with perfect clarity.
Lin Xuan was standing on the edge of the hill, his back stiff. He looked very surprised, his eyes wide open, staring at something floating in front of him at chest height.
Lin Mo Chen couldn't make out the details through the leaves and the distance, but he didn't need to. He instantly knew it was the silver ring, suspended in the air and spinning slowly, emitting a faint glow.
But that wasn't what made his blood run cold.
From the ring emerged the illusory silhouette of a woman. She was translucent and tall, with long hair cascading down her back and a robe that seemed to be made of moonlight.
Although she was a bit blurry and the distance was considerable, she undoubtedly looked like someone who had once stood at the pinnacle of this world. At least, from Lin Mo Chen's experience as a seasoned reader of ten thousand novels, that was the classic broken yet invincible ancestral master.
The woman was looking at Lin Xuan and seemed to be speaking to him calmly, her lips moving. And Lin Xuan looked angry. His fists were clenched and he glared at her with fury.
Lin Mo Chen felt the bowl slip from his hands.
No. No, no, no… This was the classic "grandpa in the ring" awakening scene. I shouldn't keep watching. The curious ones die first.
Knowing something bad could happen if he kept being nosy, he was about to look away with all the willpower he had left, to grab his hen and disappear, when something happened.
The hairs all over his body stood on end. A deep, icy chill ran down his spine from the nape of his neck to his heels, as if he'd been plunged into winter water.
By all the novels he had read, he could have sworn that for a moment, for a fraction of a second, that illusory "teacher" turned her head slightly and looked directly at him through the trees.
Unsure if it was imagination, reader's paranoia, or something real, he had no intention of staying to find out.
In one clumsy motion he crouched down, grabbed General Fatty, and clutched her to his chest as if she were a lifeline.
Without looking back, he ran from the place, nearly tripping over his own feet, cursing his luck under his breath.
"Damn it! Damn my curiosity! I knew it! I knew I shouldn't have looked!"