I hoped that it was Abahai and not Chaluai who answered the window's latch. I knocked repeatedly on the window while Xiong supported me as I sat on his shoulders. A sleepy figure opened the window and I nearly fell down once I saw Chaluai.

"X-Xiran?" she spluttered, puzzled. "What the hell?"

"Can you get Abahai?" I asked in English as my legs wobbled on Xiong's shoulders.

"Why? Are you two going to hook up?"

My cheeks went red. "No! Can you wake him up for me?"

Chaluai nodded and went back into the shadows. I sighed as Xiong lowered me back to the ground. I had never snuck out before, I just hoped that Nǜshì Lian was keeping Bàba and Māmā busy.

"I still find it ridiculous that we need to enlist your friend, Abahai. How do we know he's trustworthy with my secret and mission?"

"I need to talk with him." I had the impression that Xiong and Abahai weren't fond of each other. I switched back to Cantonese. "After this, we are going to Ushi's house. They are both trustworthy, don't worry. Who knows, maybe they'll help us with your mission."

Xiong crossed his arms. "You're all I need."

I didn't know how to react to that.

Thankfully, I didn't have to since Abahai stuck his head out of the upper floor window. "Xiran?" Abahai hissed once he saw me and Xiong. "I-I thought you wouldn't want to talk to me after our argument."

I glanced at Xiong. "We need to talk about a lot of stuff. Can you come outside?"

After a few minutes, Abahai came out of the giftshop's backdoor, out of breath. He was just wearing a tank top and stained sweatpants. "Sorry, Chaluai was threatening to tell my māmā. What's up?"

Xiong sighed loudly before reciting everything he said to me. "Now, I need Xiran's help. The plan is to find the original estate of Hou Yi's and Chang'e's home, we'll find the second Elixir of Immortality."

"There's a spare?" Abahai gasped. "That changes the entire history of Chinese mythology!"

"Not entirely," I reminded him, but I was thoroughly surprised that he took the Hēi'àn De Mìmì thing well. I felt guilt stab through my heart as I remembered I was the one who didn't believe him before. "But Xiong is convinced we can help Chang'e reunite with Hou Yi in the Heavens."

Abahai ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay, let me process this."

I cocked my head. "Process?"

"English slang," he supplied, crossing his arms. "Let's go to Ushi's."

I looped an arm through Xiong's and motioned for Abahai to do the same. Xiong closed his eyes and silently chanted a verse. "Ràng wǒ kěyǐ qù rènhé wǒ xiǎng qù dì dìfāng lǚxíng (Allow me to travel wherever I desire)."

My stomach flipped upside down as I felt lightheaded. A blinding flash sliced through the dark night as I felt myself fade. My pulse quickened but relaxed once I was whole again in Ushi's bedroom.

A scream echoed through the bedroom, startling all of us. "Get back! I'll kill all of you!" Ushi's trembling voice hissed. The lights in Ushi's bedroom switched on as Abahai rolled his eyes, his fingers on the light switch. "Xiran? Abahai? Xiong?"

"Ushi!" Ushi's bàba's voice called from downstairs. "What was that?"

"Er...nothing! I just knocked over my lamp!" she shouted back, her wide eyes still fixated on all of us. She was in blue PJs and her space buns were loosely dangling. She lowered her voice. "It's so late! What are you doing here?"

Abahai groaned. "Who's going to tell her?"

"So we are going to rewrite the most well-known Chinese love story there is?" Ushi asked, sprawled on her bed. Not necessarily rewrite, I wanted to say but Xiong merely nodded. "Sounds fun!"

"It's not fun, Ushi," Xiong said, sighing. "I have reason to believe that the old couple's estate is now reformed as a temple for reading. Though, it's more of a grand library now. I have no idea where its location is."

"Did you say temple?" Ushi asked, her eyes wide, turning to me. "Xiran, remember how every day after school, we would go to the river with all those tourists? There's a temple that's a popular tourist place"

I snapped my fingers. "You are right! We'll just go there tomorrow!"

"Good thinking," Xiong commented. "We can go into the temple and find this library for the elixir. Does 10:00 AM sound good?"

I frowned. "Wait, no, we have school."

"We will skip school, Xiran!" Ushi exclaimed, jumping off her bed. She grabbed my hands excitedly, her eyes shining with mischief and happiness. "The next few days might be my last ones Hēi'àn De Mìmì before I have to go to America. I want to spend it with my friends!"

I slowly nodded. "Okay, Ushi."

"Speaking of Hēi'àn De Mìmì," Abahai rubbed the back of his neck. I paused, remembering we didn't tell Ushi about how Hēi'àn De Mìmì wasn't actually a village in Asia. "You might want to sit down."

"I'll explain," Xiong offered as Ushi plopped down on her bed. "Xiran and Abahai, I trust you can get yourself home by yourself safely?"

"Of course," I said, smiling a little bit. "Bye, Ushi. Bye, Xiong."

This night was so chaotic—I met my partner who would be with me for the rest of my life, he was some supernatural son of Zhong Kui, Hēi'àn De Mìmì wasn't even real, and my friends were planning to find an elixir for Hou Yi and Chang'e, two people she didn't even know.

Things were going to be fun.

I lowered myself from Ushi's bedroom window and dropped myself, landing on the soft grass. I was grateful that Ushi's room was on the first floor. Abahai merely hopped out of the window without another thought, landing next to me, fearless.

"Sorry if I disturbed your sleep," I said, offering my hand. He grabbed it and we pulled each other up. We started to walk away from the Changs' house and let the silence of the night guide us. "I just needed your opinion."

"No, I'm glad you came to me," Abahai smiled.

"I am sorry," I apologized, hanging my head down low. "I didn't mean to yell at you earlier today. You were actually correct with your theory of Hēi'àn De Mìmì, but I still argued with you. I stormed away without another word, I wasn't a good friend today, I'm too stubborn."

"You are stubborn," Abahai agreed jokingly as I elbowed him. "However, Xiran, I forgive you. It was the day of your matchmaking session and I know you were nervous, I shouldn't have brought it up until after your session."

My lips quivered. "A-Abahai, I'm sorry. Truly."

"Me too," he said, taking slow strides to allow me to catch up with him. "I'm sorry if I haven't been with you or Ushi lately...the gift shop has been busy. Like you, I'm stubborn, Xiran. I wanted to prove something to anyone that I was good enough to be independent.

"My māmā and I had to work twice as hard when my father died...people looked at me with so much pity, it wounded me. To make matters worse, they kept judging me because my skin colour was darker than everyone else's. I felt like a freak in Hēi'àn De Mìmì, Xiran. I wanted to work even harder to prove that I didn't need their help. Look at how that turned out, I'm distancing myself from you and Ushi."

I was surprised, I never knew that Abahai was struggling. "You have your own life," I replied in English, flashing a comforting smile. "Ushi and I aren't entitled to your time, we missed you, that's it. It's refreshing to know you thought of us though."

We arrived at the back door of my house. Through the window, I spotted Nǜshì Lian chatting quickly with my māmā in rapid Chinese. I had the feeling that my parents approved of the lady and Nǜshì Lian would be back for tea and gossip with Māmā.

"Thank you for walking me back," I said softly, turning to Abahai. "I appreciate Abahai a lot, Abahai."

"Xiran, before you go..." he gave me a pained look and I was suddenly concerned. I looked at him square in the eye, sensing some kind of unreadable expression. "I'm happy for you and Xiong, I wish nothing but the best for you both. But heed my warning, Xiran, you should be careful."

Xiran, you should be careful. "I don't understand, Abahai."

He hung his head low. "I don't trust him."

"Xiong? Why don't you trust Xiong?" I felt the strong urge to defend Xiong Lee and I wasn't quite sure why. "He told us decades worth of secrets about Hēi'àn De Mìmì and about my potential heritage. I might be the descendant of Hou Yi, it's crazy, but he told me the truth when my own family did not."

"But that's the thing," Abahai persisted. "He knows so much, but how? Why? Where from? This is fishy, Xiran, admit it."

"Xiong said he's a mortal traveller just like Nǜshì Lian," I said, my eyes welling with tears as I clenched my fists. Don't you dare cry like a helpless baby, my mind threatened. We were doing so well before, why did Abahai have to ruin it?

Did I ruin our moment of re-bonding?

"He has supernatural powers," Abahai repeated. "It's sketchy."

"What?"

"Another English term." Abahai looked as if he was also on the verge of tears as well. I hated the feeling of knowing how something bad went good, only to go back to utterly horrible.

That felt like our rocky friendship.

"I'm sorry, Xiran, but I think I should go."

The tone of my voice was cold. "You should."

"Good night, Xiran—"

"Good night, Abahai." I spun around on my heels and didn't look back, opening the backdoor. My heart faltered when I heard Abahai walk away. Nǜshì Lian and Māmā were surprised once they saw me entering the house.

"I thought you were on the rooftop with Xiong," Nǜshì Lian said, confused.

"We went outside for some fresh air, your backs must have been turned when we came down from the roof," I fibbed, feeling bad for lying straight to her face. "Xiong went home or something, I forgot what he told me."

"And your hair is a mess," Māmā tutted in Cantonese, waddling over to comb through my hair with her fingers. "This late-night wind is making your hair look so poofy, Xiran."

"Sorry," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck, and feeling the clasp of my neck. The jade necklace. I got it from Auntie Ponyo, she said it was a family heirloom. Family heirloom. My hand went to the side of my pocket and I was relieved to find Māmā's side of the family's heirloom—the elegant fan.

Auntie Ponyo came from Bàba's side of the family tree, meaning she and my bàba were both direct descendants of Hou Yi. The jade necklace must be important or special in some way, I thought. "Did Auntie Ponyo leave already?"

"Oh, your auntie is staying in her rental room at the small motel."

Nǜshì Lian gasped. "Is it Lotus Motel? Xiong and I are residing there too!"

Māmā shrugged. "Either way, Auntie Ponyo won't be back for a while."

"Where's Bàba then?"

"He said he was tired and went to bed."

It's time for answers.