For a while Shi Qingxuan just lay in the water and enjoyed feeling warm and comfortable and clean. Then they closed their eyes and recited a familiar incantation, wincing as the spell pulled and twisted on their scalp. But it was worth it to be able to run their fingers through their hair and feel only smooth untangled locks.

They recited Xie Lian's hilarious password and said, "Your Highness, have I mentioned lately what a fantastic friend you are?"

"I'm just sorry I can't do more to help," replied Xie Lian. "It's a good thing you're doing."

"No, no, I already feel bad! You've done so much as it is. I wasn't this generous when you were poor."

"You gave me everything I ever asked of you," said Xie Lian. Then he switched to what Shi Qingxuan had started thinking of as his Guoshi Voice, and added, "Pointless sacrifice and humility is as dangerous and egotistical as arrogance and greed. If anything, the flaw was in me, for asking for so little." He laughed. "And you'll be talking to politicians tomorrow, that's a self sacrifice if ever there was one."

It was good to hear Xie Lian laugh again. He'd tried so hard to stay strong, for that long year without the man he loved. But he was so much happier now. Seeing the two of them together at Xie Lian's shrine, surrounded by friends and food and joy, there'd been no way to miss what they meant to each other. What it meant to Xie Lian to have him home. A tiny part of Shi Qingxuan had been jealous, and not just of the nice house and unending piles of food. They'd had their share of lovers in their time, but never felt anything like the love they saw in their friend's eyes. And it had been a long time now since they'd bothered trying for love at all. But it had taken Xie Lian 800 years to find the happiness he had now with Hua Cheng. Shi Qingxuan didn't have that kind of time, and would just have to make do with what they had.

"Pfft, as if this ancestor will have any trouble with those bureaucratic whipper snappers." Technically, Shi Qingxuan wasn't anyone's ancestor, as far as they knew. But they were a good century or two older than most other mortals, which had to count for something.

"I'm sure you'll do very well."

"Of course I will! I can handle anything!" After everything they'd been through, nothing seemed scary any more.

Well...almost nothing.

Shi Qingxuan pulled their thin robes around themself a little tighter, while Hua Cheng smiled at them with quiet menace.

"When I heard gege was spending the evening with an old friend," he said, casually putting his arm around Xie Lian's shoulder, "I thought I should drop by and say hello."

"I hope you don't mind," said Xie Lian.

"Hahaha why would I mind," said Shi Qingxuan. "It's good to see you so well, Crimson Rain Sought Flower! For a ghost, I mean..."

"Thank you," said Hua Cheng. "You look well, for a mortal. Gege has been taking good care of you, I see. Is that the robe he bought for you on the dresser?"

Oh no. Why did you open the door in your underwear, Shi Qingxuan, do you want him to kill you?

"Um, yes, it...hahaha...you're not jealous are you?" Shut up shut up shut up.

Hua Cheng's smile got thinner. Shi Qingxuan had always gotten the impression that while Hua Cheng didn't hate them the way he did most of the other gods, he didn't like them that much either, and mainly tolerated their existence out of respect for Xie Lian. Right now, his smile said my tolerance only goes so far.

Turn the conversation around, Shi Qingxuan. "His Highness is just helping me prepare for a meeting with the city management tomorrow," they explained, keeping their voice mostly steady. "I could hardly go looking like a beggar...even though I am a beggar, and that's why I'm going...but you know these uptight bureaucrats! Appearance is everything! It's-"

"I'm not jealous," said Hua Cheng. "I know gege would never so much as look at someone like you."

"Hey!" said Shi Qingxuan, wounded vanity overcoming fear. "What do you mean someone like me?!"

Hua Cheng's smile grew wider. "Someone who isn't me."

"San Lang..." said Xie Lian, in a tone that was one quarter chiding and three quarters charmed.

Hua Cheng leaned closer and lowered his voice to a trembling whisper. "It's true, isn't it?"

"Yes," said Xie Lian, blushing. "But you didn't have to put it like that."

Hua Cheng brushed a loose hair away from Xie Lian's face. "How should I have put it?" Any closer and they'd be making out.

Shi Qingxuan stood up. "SO I'LL JUST GO PUT ON MORE CLOTHING."

"Hmm?" said Hua Cheng, with a triumphant gleam in his eye. It's a good thing you make Xie Lian happy, thought Shi Qingxuan, Or I wouldn't let you get away with being such a jerk.

...ok, yes they would. Hua Cheng was terrifying. But it was nice to imagine properly telling him off.

Instead, Shi Qingxuan bit their tongue, pulled on their outer robes, and sat down again at the little table in the middle of the hotel room. Xie Lian had started peeling some pomelos he'd bought at the market, and popped a piece into his mouth with a happy smile.

"It's funny," said Xie Lian, "You can buy all manner of other strange foods in Ghost City, but I can never find pomelos."

Hua Cheng's face fell. "Gege has been missing pomelos?" He looked genuinely distressed. It was strange seeing him without his trademark smile.

And now Xie Lian looked distressed to have made Hua Cheng distressed. "Not missing, exactly. I just think it's funny-"

"The next time you visit the Ghost City markets, there will be all the pomelos you could wish for," said Hua Cheng. "Is there anything else you can't find?"

"San Lang, that's not necessary!" said Xie Lian. "I can always come to the mortal world when I need to!"

"But you shouldn't have to," said Hua Cheng, gently taking the pomelo from Xie Lian and beginning to peel it himself, then holding up a segment towards Xie Lian's lips. "What's the point of ruling Ghost City if I can't make it perfect for gege."

"Haha..." said Shi Qingxuan. "You two are really..."

Hua Cheng raised an eyebrow.

"Really cute!" They coughed. "Mmm, these pomelos look good, Xie Lian! Thanks for buying them!" Shi Qingxuan stuffed a piece of pomelo in their mouth before they could stick their foot in there further.

Thankfully the conversation shifted after that. Xie Lian updated Hua Cheng and Shi Qingxuan with the latest gossip from the heavens, Shi Qingxuan told some anecdotes about life in the temple, and Hua Cheng added wry commentary and the occasional interesting fact. The mood lightened considerably, and for the first time Shi Qingxuan began to really see why Xie Lian liked Hua Cheng, beyond the evident fact of his total devotion. Total devotion was all well and good, but it couldn't make up for a lack of good conversation.

Hua Cheng even offered Shi Qingxuan the last piece of pomelo, after Xie Lian said he didn't want it. Admittedly, he and Xie Lian didn't need to eat, but it was still nice.

"Actually," said Shi Qingxuan, feeling emboldened. "Crimson Rain Sought Flower, I, uh, have a question."

"Hmm?"

"You knew...B-Black Water Sinking Ships a long time, right?"

Hua Cheng shrugged. "We worked together. I can't say that I ever knew him well."

"Hahaha, yeah." Shi Qingxuan took a breath. "He's, uh...pretty, um pretty confusing." They looked down at their hands, one smooth and one scarred. "Like he's this really great actor, right? He had all these different personas, and this whole...whole plan to get to know me and my weaknesses. But then he was so unfriendly all the time! If he wanted to manipulate me, why did he...why was he so...it was so weird! And did he leave me alive just to punish me? Or was he showing mercy? And why is he...why did he fix my hand? Does he pity me? Does he feel remorse? Or is he just messing with my head, trying to make me afraid? Because I'm...haha. I'm pretty scared."

"That's more than one question," said Hua Cheng, dryly. "And I suspect the only one who can answer them is Black Water himself."

"Haha," said Shi Qingxuan, sadly.

"From what I've seen," said Xie Lian "I'm not sure even he knows the answers." He put his hand on Shi Qingxuan's shoulder. "But I don't think he wants to hurt you. Not any more."

"I hope you're right," said Shi Qingxuan.

"You say he fixed your hand?" said Xie Lian. "You saw him?"

"Yeah. He came to the temple a few months ago. He was pretending to be someone else...a bunch of other people. But I'm pretty sure it was him. And I don't know why."

They'd been meaning to discuss it with Xie Lian for a while. But then Hua Cheng had come back, and Xie Lian was distracted with that, and then the two of them were busy tracking everyone down for the temple opening, and then it had been months and He Xuan hadn't shown up again and Shi Qingxuan had told themself it didn't matter. But it did matter. They wanted to know.

"Did you ask?"

"Hahaha. I would have. But when I found out who he was I, uh. Panicked. And he left before I could get the question out."

Xie Lian looked up at Hua Cheng. The two of them stared at each other for a while, clearly having some sort of silent conversation in a private array. "Do you want to ask him?" said Xie Lian, at last. "San Lang...he isn't in regular contact with Black Water any more, but he does have ways of contacting him. He can at least pass on a message."

"You'll owe me a favour, though," said Hua Cheng.

Xie Lian smiled indulgently. "He's just teasing." Was he, though...

"It's fine!" said Shi Qingxuan. "Anything I can do! Calligraphy, original poetry, free soup. All the many resources at my command."

The idea of Shi Qingxuan having anything to offer a Supreme Ghost King was absurd, but Hua Cheng smiled, and it almost looked sincere. "What do you want me to say?"

"Ha...now that's a good question..."

"There's no rush," said Xie Lian.

True. It had waited this long. But Shi Qingxuan was sick of not knowing if He Xuan would show up again, and what he might do if he did... "Ask him what he wants from me."

Hua Cheng nodded. He raised his finger to his temple...was he asking now? Shi Qingxuan had to stop themself from reaching out to stop him.

Hua Cheng tilted his head for a moment, as if listening, and then sighed. "He says he doesn't want anything from you, and that you won't see him again."

"What? No!"

"That's not what you want?" Xie Lian sounded like a concerned parent, trying to comfort a child who seemed to cry over everything.

"I...I don't know! I just want...I want to understand."

Hua Cheng laughed. "You want to understand Black Water? I wish you luck."

"Ha..."

Xie Lian sighed. "Maybe I could talk to him..."

"No, I'm sorry," said Shi Qingxuan. "If he doesn't want to talk to me, he doesn't. I'll stop dragging you into my business. Thank you, Crimson Rain Sought Flower."

Not long after that, Hua Cheng took Xie Lian back to a room he'd hired for the two of them, saying Xie Lian couldn't sleep without Hua Cheng at his side. Shi Qingxuan suspected that they wouldn't be doing a lot of sleeping. As much as Shi Qingxuan would have preferred to keep thinking of cute little old Xie Lian as being too innocent for that sort of thing, the way the two of them had been looking at each other hadn't left much room for doubt. Shi Qingxuan didn't mind, though. Hanging out with Xie Lian was great, but after a year living in cramped quarters with a bunch of their fellow unwashed, having a whole room to themself (with a real bed!) was a delightful luxury.

They took advantage of the remaining daylight to go over their notes one more time. Economic theory wasn't exactly Shi Qingxuan's strong point, and they lacked the lifelong experience with poverty of many of the other temple inhabitants. The real force behind the idea was Yu Yanli, who'd had to be stopped from storming the Bureau of Granaries armed with nothing more than hunger and a sense of injustice. Knowing they'd saved the city, and yet received no official thanks, had shifted the mood at the temple from apathetic despair to outrage, and many voices had played their part in deciding what needed to be done. But Shi Qingxuan could act like a nobleman and scrubbed up pretty, so they got to be the public face of the request.

Just as they were thinking about heading off to bed, they heard a deep, cold voice by their ear.

"I hear you want to speak to me."

Shi Qingxuan let out a little scream, and dropped the papers they were holding.

He Xuan sighed. It was a very familiar sigh, deep and rough with exhaustion. "I take it I heard incorrectly."

"No, Mi- He Xuan. Wait." Shi Qingxuan gathered the papers back up as they tried to think of what to say. "Um. Should I call you He Xuan? Would you prefer Black Water Sinking Ships? He Sheng? Y-young Master He?"

"He Sheng is dead." Well that was a fun way to start a conversation. There was a long pause, and then He Xuan said "He Xuan will do. What do you want?"

"I don't know," said Shi Qingxuan, feeling very pathetic. "I just didn't want to leave it like that."

"Then how do you want to leave it?"

"I..." Shi Qingxuan closed their eyes and tried to calm their beating heart.

"I'm not going to apologise." He Xuan's voice was harsh with barely subdued anger, like...like it was on the day when he...

Shi Qingxuan took in a deep breath. "I know."

"Are you?"

"I...I already did, didn't I?" Everything from that day was a blur, but they remembered that, remembered the horror and guilt and how weak an apology seemed in the face of what had been done.

"People will say anything when they're begging for-" He Xuan stopped. "Forget it. I don't expect anything from you. I was just curious."

"He Xuan. Of course I'm sorry. What my brother did to you was...he shouldn't have done it."

He didn't say anything for a while. Was he angry? Had the apology not been good enough? What did he want?

"Easy to say that now," said He Xuan, at last. "Would you swap our fates back, if you could? Would you choose to have died two hundred years ago, alone and miserable?"

"Yes," said Shi Qingxuan. They were confused about a lot of things, but not that. "I know it's impossible, that everything you suffered can't be taken back, but if I could..."

"Even though I killed your brother?" His voice was belligerently defensive.

"Yes." It wasn't that they weren't angry, and resentful. They missed their brother every day, and were tormented by memories of how he'd died. Of how He Xuan had chosen to kill him, to make him suffer. But no matter how much Shi Qingxuan loved their brother, they couldn't pretend he was an innocent victim. If there was a victim here, it was He Xuan.

His laugh was achingly familiar, the same laugh Shi Qingxuan had spent a hundred years learning to coax out of Ming Yi. But underneath it was the cold anger they'd only ever heard from He Xuan, though it had apparently been hiding under the surface for all that time. "You're ridiculous."

"Well so are you!" Picking a fight with Black Water Sinking Ships was even more unwise than picking one with Crimson Rain Sought Flower, but seriously. "You spend two hundred years plotting your revenge on my brother and me, you...you torture me with the most painful experiences you can engineer...and then you show up in disguise and help me with chores? I don't understand you!"

"I told Crimson Rain Sought Flower, I won't bother you again. What more do you want from me?"

"I want...I want to understand! You were confusing enough as Ming Yi, but I always figured you out in the end. Or I thought I did. But now...d-do you want to hurt me or not?

"The aim was never to hurt you, Shi Qingxuan."

"You could have fooled me!"

"Well you could have chosen-" He let out a long breath. Did ghosts even need to breathe? "The man I was died at your brother's hand. All that remains is resentment and pain. I wanted you to see that pain, to see... to understand why my actions were necessary. To understand what price was paid for your happiness. That's all."

"I understand...I understand that. But are you...are you done? Is this all some weird lesson, still? If so, what's the the point?! It feels like you wanted me to know it was you, but then why? To make me afraid, knowing I can never escape you? That anyone I meet could be you in disguise, so I can never know peace?" Shi Qingxuan was shouting now, repressed frustration bubbling up and overcoming their fear.

"No."

"Then why?!"

Another pause, and this time He Xuan's reply was almost a whisper. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Shi Qingxuan felt a wave of relief, knowing they weren't about to be subjected to a repeat of last Autumn. And then a wave of annoyance, because why couldn't he have made that clear from the start?! "So let me get this straight. We're both as confused as each other?"

He Xuan didn't reply, but the silence felt less threatening than it had before, and more comfortingly familiar. He Xuan might be a terrifying Supreme Ghost King, and a cold blooded murderer, but he was also still the same emotionally incoherent idiot Shi Qingxuan had been friends with for so long. At least a little bit, deep down.

Shi Qingxuan asked gently, "Are you trying to make amends? Do you miss me?"

Still no reply. Shi Qingxuan started to tidy their notes into a neat little pile for the morning. "I miss you, sometimes." They tried not to admit it to themself, but it was true. "I've made new friends, and they're great, but they're not...it's not the same."

"You don't miss me. You miss Ming Yi."

"I never met Ming Yi." They wondered about him, sometimes, the quiet engineer whose divinity He Xuan had stolen. What had his life been life, for all those years as a prisoner? Had he been treated well? How exactly had he died? "I don't know how much of the f-friend I knew was real, and how much...but if it was an act, why would you act like that?"

"Ming Yi was the most visible role I played in the heavens," said He Xuan, stiffly. "It was important I be able to maintain character. That's also why he looked so much like me." He paused. "And I had no intention of...associating closely with you, under that guise or any other. That was all your doing."

"So it wasn't an act?" Shi Qingxuan felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off their chest. Ming Yi really cared about me. Not everything in their old life had been a lie. "At least...except for the obvious things haha." Like hiding how much he wanted to murder Shi Qingxuan's brother.

"Not entirely," muttered He Xuan. "All the irritation was sincere."

Shi Qingxuan laughed. "He-He Xuan...Thank you."

"For what?"

"For putting my mind at rest."

He was quiet for a long time after that. "Is that it? Are we done?"

Were they? What did Shi Qingxuan want, now that they knew they weren't in danger? They thought about never seeing He Xuan again, and felt an unbearable sense of loss. They'd already lost so much.

"I...you can come back to the temple, if you want," they said. That seemed like a good place to start.

"You think you could stop me?"

Shi Qingxuan's heart kicked up to a high beat. Never forget how dangerous this man is. "No."

"Good. But don't hold your breath."

"I won't. But if you come...no more lies. I want to know when I'm talking to you."

"You'll know."

And on that ominous note, Shi Qingxuan was left alone, to try to sleep.

Ming Yi was a beautiful woman. Tall, elegant, his eyes coldly glittering with intelligence, and his fine figure accentuated by the long black lines of his robes.

He was a beautiful man, too, for much the same reasons, but Shi Qingxuan always felt more at ease when they weren't the only man being a woman. And the fact that Ming Yi went along with Shi Qingxuan's whims just added to his charm.

As Shi Qingxuan admired their own pretty figure in the mirror, they pondered: am I a man being a woman? They'd been raised as a girl for much of their life, and were a woman right now for all intents and purposes. Their worshippers were convinced they were a woman, while their brother was insistent they were a man, and both got quite upset when contradicted. It all seemed rather silly to Shi Qingxuan. Why was everyone so uptight about what gender someone was? Shi Qingxuan enjoyed being able to switch between forms at will, but they were always the same Shi Qingxuan either way.

They rested against the comforting solidity of Ming Yi's shoulder and put aside such petty existential questions. What they both were was gorgeous, and that was all that really mattered. Although...had Shi Qingxuan always been so much thinner than Ming Yi? And had Ming Yi always been so pale?

Time for a distraction!

"Ming-Xiong," sighed Shi Qingxuan, "I'm bored. Let's go to the capital. I want to eat at that little place with the roast quail."

"Roast quail is like someone looked at roast duck and thought how can I make this as annoying as possible," said Ming Yi. "It's all tiny bones and no meat."

"Then we could stay in," said Shi Qingxuan, putting their arms around Ming Yi, and whispering up into his pretty pale ear. "I have big bones and lots of meat."

"Ugh," said Ming Yi tilting his head away. "Why are you always so gross."

"Because you make it so much fun," laughed Shi Qingxuan. They had gotten pretty good over the years at telling the difference between things Ming Yi actually hated, and things he made a big deal about hating but secretly enjoyed. And Shi Qingxuan was pretty sure he enjoyed being flirted with, even if he refused to flirt back even a little. But that was fine. Shi Qingxuan would flirt, and Ming Yi would pretend not to be into it, and Shi Qingxuan would pretend it didn't hurt.

Shi Qingxuan would let the topic go, and the two of them would get quail, and then Shi Qingxuan would get very drunk on expensive alcohol. Just a totally normal day with two friends hanging out being girls and having fun.

But when they tried to move away, it was like their arms didn't want to move, and their legs felt weak. "Please stay," they said, closing their eyes and leaning against him, seeking warmth.

His voice was deep and cold. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

Was it? They liked flirting with Ming Yi, and he was certainly very attractive. But there was a reason they hadn't had a lover for so many years. It was always fun at first, but then Shi Qingxuan was not enough of a man, or too much, or something, and it all fell apart. They didn't want things to fall apart with Ming Yi. They wanted to stay best friends for the rest of time.

"I..."

Ming Yi put his hand underneath Shi Qingxuan's chin, tilting up their head to look them in the eye. They felt afraid, and tried to look away, but he wouldn't let them.

"Do you want to understand me?" His hand was cold, and Shi Qingxuan shivered. But they wanted to understand.

Shi Qingxuan stared him in the eyes, unflinching. "Yes."

His face was pale, and strange. He leaned close, and smelled of salt and iron. Shi Qingxuan felt a chill go up their spin, and an ache in their shivering legs.

"Ming-Xiong," they breathed.

He muttered something and pushed them against the wall, hands tight on their wrists. He scraped his teeth against Shi Qingxuan's neck and they gasped. "Ah, Ming-Xiong..."

"That's not my name."

"What?"

He pulled away, but Shi Qingxuan was still shackled to the wall. They felt mud bubbling onto their feet, icy and dark, and tried to move, but they were frozen in place. Desire and comfort turned to fear and pain.

"That's not my name." He shouted, and his mouth grew huge, and black, until he was nothing but darkness and hunger, a shadow in the world where a man used to be.

"He Xuan!" said Shi Qingxuan. "I'm sorry! I forgot! Please, don't be angry!"

But there's no reasoning with a shadow. Its voice was ice and mist. "WRETCHED BEGINNING WRETCHED END."

Shi Qingxuan shouted until they were hoarse. "He Xuan! Ming-Xiong! I'm sorry!"

"TOO LITTLE TOO LATE," said the Reverend of Empty Words. It swirled, shapeless and terrifying, all of Shi Qingxuan's childhood terror made manifest. And then it disappeared into dust, blown away on the wind.

Tears streaked down Shi Qingxuan's face to join the swirling waters at their feet, which climbed up and up, making their body grow numb.

"Please," they cried. "Don't leave me alone! Ming-Xiong! Ge! I promise, I'll be good. Just don't go!"

But there was no reply but a cold and lonely wind, freezing the tears on Shi Qingxuan's face and making their teeth chatter. And then everything became quiet, and still. The wind used to be their friend, their companion, but now it had abandoned them too.

The waters spread out as far as they could see, a dark mirror vanishing into a white and impenetrable mist.

There was a bubbling noise and a pale shape rose from the watery depths, a white face streaked with red and black.

"Brother!"

He'd come back! But Shi Wudu's eyes were blank, his mouth slack. His head fell backwards, revealing the severed neck beneath.

Shi Qingxuan screamed. The water rose and rose, to their chest to their neck to their face, and their screams were muffled and then silenced and all they could see was a deep dark blue.

Shi Qingxuan woke up. The faintest hints of dawn were barely visible through the shuttered window. Ugh. So much for a good sleep in a nice bed. They wiped their eyes and got out of bed, and started going over their notes again.

The next time He Xuan contacted Shi Qingxuan they managed not to scream.

"Making your way up in the world again I see."

Shi Qingxuan held the robes they were folding to their chest, defensively. They were nicer than what Shi Qingxuan usually wore, but that was hardly difficult. "H-hey! Who said you could watch me? That's creepy!"

"I wasn't watching you. I was watching the government offices."

That's still kind of creepy, He Xuan. "I was promoting the interests of others, not myself," said Shi Qingxuan, "And you don't get to hear about it! Because it's none of your business!"

"Fine."

He wasn't going to even ask? This guy!

"If you must know," said Shi Qingxuan, "I was meeting with a representative of the Bureau of Granaries. I'm going to get them to give us a regular stipend of rice."

"You and your friends?"

"No! Everyone in the capital who needs it!"

He Xuan snorted. "Did they actually agree to that? Or have you just convinced yourself they will, despite all evidence to the contrary?"

"I...The representative read our proposal! And he said he'd think about it! And it's a great proposal, so they'll definitely agree!" Honestly, Shi Qingxuan was just happy they hadn't been kicked out the moment they started to explain. People weren't generally big fans of being asked to give anything out for free, even when it was in their own long term best interests. "The bureau already has a system in place for natural disasters, and with less starving people on the streets there's a decrease in-"

"Save your arguments for the government," said He Xuan. "You're not getting any rice from me."

"Haha, I know," said Shi Qingxuan. "You prefer taking food from the poor instead of giving it."

He Xuan didn't reply. Was that too mean? Was he angry or...hurt? Embarrassed? Shi Qingxuan didn't know how to read him any more.

There was only one way to fix that. Before they could overthink it, Shi Qingxuan said, "It's soup night again tonight actually, if you want...want to come. We'll have real meat this time! Though if you brought some fish we wouldn't say no!"

"What."

Good question. Shi Qingxuan what the hell are you doing? "Well you're a water...um...ghost...and you seemed to have a lot of...fish...though please don't bring any living skeletons haha!" Shi Qingxuan why are you mentioning the fish skeletons, you don't want to think about the fish skeletons "...that would scare the kids...and me...but you're welcome even without any...fish."

"...noted."

Did that mean he was coming? Did Shi Qingxuan actually want that? Well, they'd invited him, so it was a bit late to go back on it now. Once it became clear that He Xuan wasn't going to say anything more, they put away their robes and went to make sure Nie Mo wasn't burning the radishes.