Chapter 2
"Outrospection"
Shhhhck!
The door of the bookstore slid open, and in peeked a head. The face of that head was flushed red, and judging from the rapid rise and fall of his shoulders, he was winded. But that didn't quell his enthusiasm; it stuck firmly, like sap on a tree.
He looked around the shop with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. The bookstore truly was a place lost in time, and it never changed, remaining the same for decades past, and surely decades to come.
At every wall of the room towered shelves, heads taller than the average man. Each layer was an utter mess of books, scrolls, and scattered papers. Sure, this space had seen better days, what with the dingy smell and cobwebs, but that didn't change the fact that there was a subtle charm to it. A rustic one.
To his left, beyond the empty tables, sat an old man behind a rickety desk. He was flipping the same page back and forth, clearly bored. When he heard the tapping of light steps, he glanced up and a smile crossed his face. It wasn't the kind of smile that was warm, nor was it inviting.
This one was knowing.
That's because the one approaching the shelves furthest from the door was none other than his meal ticket, Tao Hua. So, he couldn't afford anything other than courtesy.
As soon as Tao Hua addressed him with a small smile, the shopkeeper returned to his activity of "to and fro". His job was done, and so was Tao Hua's; thus, he'd move towards his favourite part of the room.
At the opposite end of the shop, nook'ed near the corner, was a small section. The section was dimly lit, shadowed from the sun peeking through the grid-like windows above, and solely supported by an old oil lamp. It was also piled high with books. On the floor lay a quilt that had clearly seen better days, frayed and torn at the seams.
Tao Hua gasped deeply. He didn't care about the inhaled glimmers of dust; he merely held it, and then when he couldn't handle it anymore, he exhaled the excitement with one heavy breath.
Finally!
After much difficulty, he made it to the place he'd been anticipating since the night before. A dusty corner! Where one wrong step could result in a foot falling straight into the decaying wood. It was magnificent. This allergy-ridden space was Tao Hua's sanctuary, and the one place he loved as much as the book in his hand.
It was, as he called it, the very "Land Lost in Time". Bookworms rejoice.
Standing next to the corner, Tao Hua set his book on one of the piles, and reached a hand up high. With a few gentle swipes, he freed the books from their neglect. He had to stand on the tips of his toes just to read each title. Of course, they were all books he had read many times over. What was once more? With a side-step, he repeated this action until finding something of interest. A scroll, and it was one he had read only a handful of times!
Now, that was a win.
He pulled out that scroll, but just as he was about to open it, he nearly fell onto his tush. Luckily, his "quick wits" came into clutch. He gripped the shelf so tightly that even someone it nearly snapped. Considering Tao Hua's thin frame, that was pretty shocking.
What had shocked both Tao Hua, and the shopkeeper was the sound of a sliding object. The door, and for the second time this afternoon, it slid open. To say they were astonished, that was putting it lightly. Never once had this happened, not in, well, a few years! Maybe.
Tao Hua's daily routine was rhythmic, so much so that he could easily be studied and used for the definition of "repetitive". Which also meant he was hyper-aware of any force that changed the known.
As if trying to mimic an owl, Tao Hua tried to turn his head. He wanted to see who had entered the shop, but alas, he couldn't. So he did the second-best option, and contrary to popular belief, it wasn't to turn around and just look.
Instead, Tao Hua dipped his head back. The long black strands of his hair nearly fell to the floor, but that was fine. What Tao Hua was more worried about wasn't the grimy ground; he wanted to see which anomaly had walked through the door.
Steadying his sight, a figure slowly came into focus, and when it did, Tao Hua's eyes widened.
Market! Street! Man! The market street man! The handsome man! He paused just as the anomaly's eyes fell on him. Uh oh…the handsome man…
But as quick as the man's entrance was, he was quicker to turn away. His eyes didn't stick around; instead, they moved toward the man at the desk. Snapping his head back into place, he shook it with a few heavy blinks until he could finally see again.
I wonder why he's here… Each time Tao Hua tried to answer his question, he'd end up at the same place, over and over. The place that had no proper relation to a genuine reason. What did I even say back there?
Tao Hua tried to recall their collision on the street. The problem was he couldn't remember! He recognized his face, his height, even the colour of his robe. But for the life of him, Tao Hua couldn't seem to recall the words they exchanged.
Did they even exchange any words?
Alas, he still couldn't figure it out. Hanging his head, he sought to resign than dwell on it any longer. Maybe most of the people in the village were right when saying he had a problem with listening, or that he was typically off in another world.
But if that world was filled with people like him and that man, then maybe it wasn't so bad afterall. Beats being stuck in this town.
With another look at the man, Tao Hua couldn't help but feed into the curiosity that had him hungry. He had to know what they were saying—the murmuring was far too muffled. So, it was time to enact the third-best option!
This option worked in four steps. It went, as followed:
First, he slowly turned until he was facing the direction of the desk. This was better than cranking his neck back, or trying to turn his head to an inhuman degree. Second, he held the scroll neatly in his hands. This was a tactical move on his part; how could anyone accuse him of being nosy if he didn't look like someone trying to rummage through another's trash.
So, he did the second step with ease, glancing from the scroll to the man, and then back at the scroll again.
That's where step two bled into step three. Through each action of rinse and repeat, Tao Hua hid his face behind the scroll, and with the tiniest steps possible, he inched closer to the desk. But not too close! This took care of the range problem.
Strategically, of course.
And finally, over the top of the scroll, he peeked his peach-coloured eyes intently—as if it made hearing any easier. Both watching and listening, he carefully tuned into whatever this mysterious man and the shopkeeper spoke about.
Unfortunately, he'd made it just as the two were in a standoff of stares. The shopkeeper beamed at the man as if speaking to a madman, but when Tao Hua traced back to this so-called "madman", he really couldn't understand the shopkeeper's bewilderment.
He really didn't look like a madman.
Though looks were often deceiving—Tao Hua had read too many stories not to understand the saying. But this one, he didn't look like some evil mother hellbent on ruining her daughter's life, or even a dragon guarding a castle. He just looked like your typical, everyday man, who just happened to have a lot of money. Probably.
Then again, this was Siyue Town. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence would probably be flogged for witchery.
"…"
Did they even know what witchcraft was?
Nevertheless, it didn't matter. Tao Hua inched closer. To his luck, he finally could hear the faint words of their conversation.
"A'whaaa?" The shopkeeper exclaimed. "Speaking nonsense. I've never heard of that word before, Mister Young Master."
A'whaa…? What kind of…what the hell are they talking about?
As soon as his eyes returned to the man, Tao Hua narrowed on his deflating shoulders. His lips parted, and he subconsciously removed one of his hands from the scroll, massaging his own shoulder. This would be a bad decision; however.
A few taps sounded in the bookstore.
The scroll rolled across the floor, revealing every passage on its wayward journey, and it would roll until there really wasn't any scroll left to roll.
"Shit!" he whispered…loudly. Pressing his lips tightly together, Tao Hua hobbled stiffly towards the end of the scroll and tried to catch it. His stance… it was something. He stood over the receding paper with legs awkwardly parted on either side. Of course, due to all that was "inconspicuous", Tao Hua had attracted the attention of both the shopkeeper and the handsomely mysterious, potentially mad, definitely unamused man.
Yes! Snapping back into place, with the scroll in his hand, he trailed the wood floors towards the desk until his eyes met with the ones staring straight at him. He didn't know what to do, nor did he know how to react. Tao Hua just did what he assumed most people would do. His eyes widened, and he just stared back, holding the scroll close to his chest.
But this man's brow only quivered for a moment before he turned back to the already disinterested shopkeeper—who was long already used to this behaviour. It was just another Tuesday in Siyue Town.
This was optimal timing for Tao Hua. He held up the bartered scroll and rolled it up enough to peek over it once more—it was a poor sight for a perfectionist who liked a tidy home, all rolled up like a poorly folded fitted sheet.
The man enunciated each of his syllables slowly, as if trying to lower himself down to the man's level. "A…relic…?"
That's what they meant. Tao Hua cocked his head. He wondered, Why is he asking about the relics?
The investment in this unknown man was almost at the same level as Tao Hua getting lost in his stories. Perhaps it was the unknown that intrigued him most, and everything this man did was like the perfect cliffhanger. Well, at least to Tao Hua. He wasn't sure if this man would make for an exciting character in a book.
With a hand pressed into the desk and knuckles nearly whitening, this cliffhanger of a man tapped his finger. Looking away, only for a second, Tao Hua couldn't help but feel sympathy.
But the shopkeeper just sat there, cleaning the dirt from under his fingernails. Ever-so-plainly, he asked, "Wussat, Mister Young Master, sir?"
It was like a child who couldn't stop asking "why?"
"How…you know what, nevermind. It's an ancient treasure gifted by the gods? The ones 'overflowing' with spiritual energy? You really haven't seen it?"
"Nope. No clue what this remic is."
Tao Hua looked up, catching each and every splintered beam. This man wasn't far off with his description. A relic wasn't necessarily ancient, maybe to the gods who bestowed it, but they really only started appearing in the last two hundred years in the mortal realm.
Even saying that, there was still one thing about the situation Tao Hua still couldn't seem to comprehend. Why the fascination? Was he like his father…? No, his father only wanted the pride of having a relic; he wasn't interested in anything more than what it brought to his name. But Tao Hua really knew little about this man. For all he knew, the two could have been one and the same.
That thought alone was enough to make Tao Hua grimace. Better to leave it a mystery than to tarnish whatever force drew his curiosity towards this man. Back to the snooping!
"…you own a store of books." The mysterious man said. "How..."
But he didn't seem like he wanted to finish that sentence.
"It's nice, isn't it? Family inheritance."
The man was clearly at the end of his rope. He stood there for what felt like an eternity, staring at the shopkeeper, but from their positions, Tao Hua couldn't quite make out his expression. The one thing he could say with certainty, though, was that this man was about ready to leave.
Huh.
Tao Hua didn't seem to like that idea. Perhaps reading the same books, over and over, left him hungry for something new.
As Tao Hua was lost in his own thoughts, he wasn't aware of the eyes that scrutinized him. A pair of white, effortlessly hypnotizing eyes, to be exact—as per Tao Hua's opinion. But he'd soon travel back to his curiosity once more and meet that very look.
"…"
The muffling of the market street voices became exceedingly clear as the two stood in what felt like an awkward form of confrontation. Rather, all the noises in that little bookshop heightened with each passing second.
"…"
Yikes! Tao Hua immediately shielded his face, ducking behind the crumpled scroll once more. In the worst possible way, his actions were exactly like how one would imagine a timid girl yelling "eep"! That simile also belonged to Tao Hua.
Nevertheless, the situation still existed outside the protection of that scroll, because standing in plain sight, within the walls of a place often emptied, stood not one, but two souls.
Face to scroll.
Chapter end.