Ten Thousand Books, But Only One You

11 The Alternate Way Home

Chapter 11: The Alternate Way Home

Taking a morning stroll in the Garden had been a pleasant affair for the past couple of weeks that I was here as a guest.

Some days I would walk along the narrow stone path, which led to the Tower, to observe the bright orange koi fish in the pond. With permission from Wu-momo, I would share bits of my steamed buns with them. Now that I had learnt from Ji Kai that this Garden is enchanted, I wondered if the fish had been thanking me the whole time for food that they never needed. They must have gone at least a hundred years without needing to eat anything.

Other days I would take another path decorated with pebble mosaic hibiscus flowers, butterflies and cranes. This path led to another courtyard adjacent to the main residence. This courtyard was another garden, except that it housed all the rare and treasured plants that were too precious and expensive to be displayed in the Garden. Although I had little interest in the different species of plants, I did wonder whether they were brought in from the real world or whether they were smuggled out from the books. Maybe some of those pots contained poisonous plants.

Most of my days, however, were spent in the Tower of Ten Thousand Books. I was prohibited from entering the floors with the rare ancient books but it never piqued my curiosity. If I had damaged any of those books by accident, I would never be able to compensate Ji Kai even if I slaved at work for the rest of my life. Over time, I discovered that the highest floor of the Tower that I was allowed access to was used to store common yet classic books from the late 20th and 21st century. Ji Kai was entrusted with the task of collecting contemporary fiction books which were deserving of recognition by the family that owned one of the largest publishing houses in the country.

But this morning, I was to take a path that I had never ventured on before. Xiao Lan had said that everyone was restricted from exploring what was down this little road. She heard that it led to another courtyard far away but to get to that courtyard, one would have to go through the maze-like Garden and one would inevitably get lost. Only the Young Master knew the way around as he would enter the Garden through this path every time he arrived. And now, I knew that Ji Kai was able to do so with the help of his personal compass.

Standing at the edge of the path to nowhere, I spun around to bid my final farewell to everyone at the Garden. Even though Han Dong's attitude was less than hospitable, he had attended my farewell party last night and recited a poem that he had written for me. Even though it was along the lines of how I would grow wiser each year as I aged, it was still a nice gesture from him.

Han Dong and the other assistant librarians stood some distance away and only Wu-momo and Xiao Lan walked with me to the archway at the boundary of the Garden.

"Xiaoyu, we hope that you will come visit us again if you ever have the chance to," said Wu-momo with a bittersweet smile on her face as she pulled me into a warm hug.

I loosely circled one arm around her and patted her gently on the back. "If Ji Kai ever invites me here to play, I'll definitely come to see all of you."

Hearing someone sniffling behind me, I was about to break away from Wu-momo when I felt someone join in the hug. "Xiaoyu, you must come again soon! If you must, just marry the Young Master—then you'll be able to come as and when you please," Xiao Lan cried tearfully. My face instantly warmed upon hearing her words but I managed to maintain a deadpan expression.

Just as Pan Yi burst into a low but audible laughter, Wu-momo released me and stared at Xiao Lan alarmed. "Xiao Lan, you can't say things like that out loud!"

Turning toward me, she stuttered apologetically, "Don't mind her words. She just can't bear to see you go. It's been a long time since she's had a female companion around."