Ge Nianlan giggled again and shyly lowered his head. His smile faded and he glanced at the maids cautiously. “Oh, but if I start dressing myself and getting ready by myself, will the big sisters get in trouble?”

The maids shook their heads. The one who had been doing most of the talking spoke up again.

“His Excellency will understand if we explain the situation to him,” the maid said gently. “We’ll be okay, Young Lord.”

Ge Nianlan’s eyes widened in excitement. “Alright! Th-then, from now I want…I want to take care of myself.”

“Of course, Young Lord,” the maids agreed.

“However, Young Lord, we still have to serve you food,” one of the maids anxiously said. “The kitchen is no place for someone of your status.”

Ge Nianlan nodded in understanding. He shifted from foot to foot. “Um, I think something happened to my memory while I was sick, but I…don’t remember any of your names.”

A soft gasp left one of the maids. The three women looked at the lowered head with pity and quickly informed Ge Nianlan of their names.

“My name is Fu Qing (付清)!”

“My name is Wen Liu (文柳).”

“I’m Zhang Yao (张谣).”

Ge Nianlan carefully memorized their names and faces. Fu Qing was the youngest of the three. Wen Liu was quiet, but she was the calmest, while Zhang Yao had been the one who did most of the talking. After he had made sure he memorized their faces, he smiled again and gave them a big thank you.

“Then, Young Lord, we will return momentarily with your breakfast,” Zhang Yao said.

Ge Nianlan nodded enthusiastically. “Oh! Um! After breakfast, can we go to the library?”

Zhang Yao and the two other maids looked at him in surprise.

“The…library?”

“Mn! I wanna read,” Ge Nianlan said with a naïve grin.

“O-oh, okay,” Zhang Yao agreed. She glanced at her two companions.

Despite already being ten, Ge Nianlan had never truly been taught how to read. When he voiced a desire to “read” he often meant looking at collections of paintings that had been transferred into books. He would look at the difficult poems that the artists put in and would often stare at them in awe.

The three maids were already used to this, but hearing Ge Nianlan express his desire in such a clear voice made them feel pity for the young lord. Perhaps, now that he was brighter, His Excellency will finally hire a tutor for him.

After the maids left, Ge Nianlan’s smile fell from his face. He sat down at the tea table and rested his chin against the palm of his hand.

He will slowly reduce his need to have so much staff around him. If he did so, even if Huai Zhen came to Black Mane Palace, it wouldn’t be so easy for him to plant a spy at his side. He would keep only Ling Tong, Luo Qianwu, and those three maids. With only five people, it’d be much easier to see who was betraying him.

Ge Nianlan glanced at himself in the mirror nearby and smiled. He touched his cheeks slightly and gave them a light tug.

Now that he knew his own future, he could see that there was very little resemblance between himself and Ge Jinsheng or his wife, Qiao Lanying. However, the young man he had seen in his visions was nearly the spitting image of both parents. It was a harmonious combination of their futures to create one of the most beautiful people that Ge Nianlan had ever met.

Ge Nianlan lowered his gaze and only returned to his senses when breakfast arrived before him.

He ate rather quickly and insisted on going to the library immediately after.

As the other two maids had other duties to attend to, only Fu Qing was left to take care of Ge Nianlan.

The other maids were most likely in their mid to late twenties, but Fu Qing was clearly still a teenager. She spoke to Ge Nianlan gently and told him stories about her mundane life, outside of the sect, as they made their way to the library. The entire time, Ge Nianlan watched her silently and only responded when appropriate.

He learned that she still had parents, which was rare in the Yinxue Region (she noted) and she had only a little brother and a baby sister, which is also apparently rare, as it was common to abandon most of your children once they reached a certain age. All in all, Ge Nianlan could tell that Fu Qing was raised in what people her would say is an “abnormal” household. However, because it was abnormal, Ge Jinsheng probably felt that this kind of energetic presence would suit Ge Nianlan the most.

“What about Zhang Yao-jiejie and Wen Liu-jiejie?” Ge Nianlan asked curiously.

“Mm Zhang Yao is actually married! She has one daughter. I heard she was raised in an orphanage, sponsored by His Excellency. As for Wen Liu, I hear that she has an older brother who is a guard at the palace,” Fu Qing said.

“There’s a lot of people who don’t have parents or only have one around here, huh?” Ge Nianlan noted.

Fu Qing was surprised by the boy’s observation. When she thought about it, she realized that few people would have talked to him about this sort of thing. The people around him from when he was a child until now were all adults or peers who were four years older, assigned to take care of them. It was probably safe to assume that Ge Nianlan’s view on the world was very narrow. As for what was “normal” and “abnormal”, it would probably be different from anyone’s view—righteous faction or otherwise.

“Mm, usually! It’s because of the culture in the Yinxue Region,” Fu Qing said. “I hear that in the Yunheng Region, if you are an orphan, people pity you more or you are treated as a nuisance. And if you have both parents, you are considered the normal one. If you only have one, then…well, people find it odd, but they won’t scorn you.”

Fu Qing frowned. “I hear they don’t even have orphanages there! Kind of ridiculous if you ask me.”

“What’s the Yunheng Region?” Ge Nianlan asked.

Fu Qing was quick to hide her shock this time.

They arrived in front of the library and Fu Qing pushed the door open with a smile. “Let’s find a history book! I can explain it easier if there is a map to point to.”

Noticing Ge Nianlan’s subtle confusion, Fu Qing explained: “A map is a piece of paper that shows you where places are located! They’re created by people called cartographers.”

“Cartographers,” Ge Nianlan echoed.

“Yup!” Fu Qing grinned. She set Ge Nianlan down on a chair. “Stay right here, Young Lord. I will find the book!”

Ge Nianlan nodded and watched Fu Qing skip away.

The library was large, in comparison to Ge Nianlan’s own room and even the dining room. It had five floors, stretching high with bookshelves that nearly scraped the ceiling. All around were windows, reaching from floor to ceiling. At the upper levels, there were even balconies that overlooked the remainder of the sect. Most of the windows were covered with curtains, so as not to bring sun damage to the books.

Fu Qing returned with a bright smile on her face. She sat down with a large, dusty book and carefully placed it down.

“This is it! It is the history between the Yinxue Region and the Yunheng Region. About…five thousand years’ worth of it?” Fu Qing pondered. She flipped to a spot closer to the back and found a recent map of the way the territory was split.

Ge Nianlan watched her in fascination. “Jiejie, can you read?”

“I was taught the basics! I can’t understand anything too poetic, but I can read it,” Fu Qing said. She turned her attention back to the map. “Let’s see…Here!” She placed her finger below each character and slowly skimmed her finger beneath it as she read it out loud, “The Yun…Heng…Region!”

She glanced up at Ge Nianlan, whose full attention was on the book. “This entire mass of land is the Yunheng Region. It stretches from this part,” she tapped a long, thick line that drew the river, “the River of the Forgotten, over to down here,” she tapped the bottom of the page, “Over to the Southern Ocean.”

“The Yunheng Region is where those with spiritual cultivation reside,” Fu Qing said.

“Spiritual cultivation,” Ge Nianlan echoed. He frowned and looked up at Fu Qing. “What’s the difference between spiritual cultivation that they use and the devil cultivation that we use?”

Fu Qing thought about it. “Mm…well, I’m not a cultivator but…hang on, I think I saw a book about this!”

Fu Qing jumped up and ran to the bookshelves again.

She returned not too long with a much thinner, but more worn-out book. She held it up and grinned. “This is a tiny handbook for children!”

She placed the book down in front of Ge Nianlan and opened to the first page. With a flourish of her finger, she pointed.

“According to this manual, this is the difference between spiritual cultivation and devil cultivation!” Fu Qing said. She craned her neck slightly in order to read the description to Ge Nianlan. “‘Spiritual Cultivation follows nature’s laws, always borrowing but never stealing. The way of the Dao is to cleanse one’s mind of impurities, to achieve the ultimate knowledge, and to reach a state of enlightenment. Devil Cultivation leans into one’s desires, drawing power from obsession. Devil Cultivation steals from nature, from Heaven, and from the living surrounding them.”

Fu Qing read it all out, as if it were a matter of fact. Ge Nianlan skimmed the unrecognizable words a few times before he remembered a few from his minimal education in those false memories of his. He thought about it for a moment before turning to Fu Qing again.

“Devil cultivation sounds scary,” Ge Nianlan said.

“Does it?” Fu Qing frowned and turned the book back towards her. “Well, it isn’t…really.”

She glanced at Ge Nianlan, who sat like a patient pupil, waiting for their mentor to enlighten him. She couldn’t help but grin as she leaned against the table and read over the passage again.

“How should I put this?” Fu Qing hummed. She glanced at Ge Nianlan. “Well, I don’t really have a talent for either cultivation, so I didn’t make it too far, but this is just my personal opinion, okay?”

Ge Nianlan nodded in understanding.

“Well…both cultivation methods are scary,” Fu Qing said.