Renjun and Xuxi reached the Jade Manor just before sunset. The guards quickly recognized their master and let them inside the manor. Si Cheng was the first to get his master and helped him to his room. He quickly ordered the maid to call for the family’s doctor.

Just after the doctor had treated Xuxi and left them with a prescription, Si Cheng paid attention the person that had returned with his master. At the first glance, he thought he was an old man because his short hair was all white, but after a closer look, he knew the man was still very young. He looked shabby and his clothes are inappropriate. He only had two layers of clothes, his outer robe was too short; only hanging a little below the waist and he didn’t even tie them up properly, showing his inner garment which was very shameless, his pants were too tight and it was even torn here and there, and finally, his shoes looked very bulky.  Moreover, he was fidgeting a lot. He stared at everything with curious look and said weird things that left all servants in confusion.  Si Cheng couldn’t help but become suspicious of the man.

“May I know who are you?”

“Renjun.” He simply answered but then added “I found him in the river.” Renjun pointed at Xuxi who was on the bed and smiled innocently.

However, it was considered very rude for common people to address a lord so casually and even pointing at him. Si Cheng was about to get mad at the man, but his master stopped him.

“Leave it, Si Cheng. He indeed had saved me.”

Si Cheng had to obey his master even though he was still unsatisfied with the strange man.

 “Take him to the guest room and let him rest. Attend to his needs with care.” Xuxi added and Si Cheng quickly called the other servants to attend his master’s guest.

“But my friends…” Renjun had a lot of questions but his friends’ well being was on top of his concern right now.

“It’s getting dark now. The search cannot be done at night.” Xuxi explained. But seeing the other person looking disappointed, he gave another order to his servant, “Si Cheng, order our men to conduct a search throughout the Moonless Forest the first thing tomorrow. This person’s friends might still be there.” 

“Yes sir.”

Only then, Renjun’s expression lifted up a little. After Renjun had left to the guest room, Si Cheng felt his robe was tugged. He turned around and saw his master signalled him to come closer. So, he got down on his knees next to his master’s bed and brought his ear closer.

“Keep an eye on him.” His master ordered.

Xuxi was thankful that they arrived at the Jade Manor without any accident. The doctor confirmed that he had undeniably poisoned, but luckily, he had reached the manor before the poison could harm his inner organs. He was still thinking of the assassin attack. He had made sure that Luhan knew nothing of his movement that night. Of course, being the master of Jade House, he had a lot of enemies, but there isn’t many who can hire assassins. From the fighting style, he had never encountered them before, so he really had no clue about the one behind it. It could be anyone.

Hence, when he woke up in the forest and found an unknown man next to him, his first instinct was to kill him. However, he had reconsidered his intention when the other had hugged him in his sleep. The action was too careless to be done by a person with evil intentions. Later, he found out that the man was still very young despite his white hair and introduced himself as Renjun.

Renjun is mysterious. He seemed kind in general, but Xuxi was doubting his sanity. Sometimes, Renjun’s words are normal and rational but at some points, he kept on asking about weird things; phone, filming set, and manager. But then, even his crazy talk was consistent. Renjun was amazed and surprised by every little thing that they saw along the way. It is as if he was from somewhere else; a place that is very far away.

Xuxi had purposely avoided dealing with Renjun’s crazy talk because he wanted to reach the Jade Manor as soon as possible. However, now that they are here, he needed to decide what to do with Renjun. First of all, he needed to know whether he is mentally sane and second, whether his intention is good.

The next morning, Xuxi felt better. The wounds were healing just fine and the poison had been removed from his body. The first thing that he did was writing a letter to the palace to inform the incident. Then, as ordered by his master, Si Cheng came to report about Renjun. Renjun had asked the servants about phone and filming set again last night after his dinner. He went to bed after bath but didn’t fall asleep immediately. This morning, he woke up early and walked around the manor, but the servant had taken him back to his room not long after. He asked for toothbrush and newspaper, which no one knew what. Then, he had asked to see Xuxi.

Xuxi still couldn’t figure out anything about Renjun even after listening to Si Cheng’s report. He had to greet and explain about what happened to his grandfather without delay, so he didn’t have to time to think further about Renjun. But he knew he had the responsibility to attend to his guest. He ordered his maids to prepare his clothes, planning to drop by at the guest room before seeing his grandfather.

When he reached the guest room, he saw that Renjun was having his breakfast at the dining table alone. Xuxi purposely didn’t let the servants announce his arrival as he wanted to see his guest’s real nature.

Renjun was staring at the meals on the table, not touching any of it even though he was holding the chopsticks in his hand. He had changed into the robe that was prepared by the servants but even from afar, Xuxi could see he didn’t wear it properly; there are loose parts here and there. His shoulder slouched in the slightly big robe, making him look small. He didn’t wear the given shoes and his bare feet were peeking from underneath of his robe. His hair looked wet, as if he had just taken a bath but didn’t bother to dry his hair. It made him look so pitiful.

“Did you sleep well?” Xuxi approached Renjun at the dining table.

Renjun was surprised by the other presence and quickly straighten his back and put a weak smile on his face.

“Yes.” He answered short even though the dark bags under his eyes were obvious.

“Is the breakfast not to your taste?”      

“No. They taste… I mean they smell good.” Renjun picked up a piece of chicken into his bowl but still not eating it. “How were your injuries? Don’t you need to go to hospital?” Renjun asked.

“I’m fine.” He assured.

Xuxi had so much to ask Renjun but he didn’t know where to start and he didn’t really have time now. He needed to see his grandfather quickly. There were still some matters that they needed to discuss.  

“About my friends… is there any news?” Renjun brought up the question that he has been wanting to ask since Xuxi arrived.

“My men have gone to the forest, but the earliest the news may come is this evening. I’ll let you know as soon as I receive the news.”

“Did you make a police report?”

Normal people who understand right away when they see the Jade Manor, that people like Xuxi is certainly more resourceful and influential than the local police. Xuxi didn’t understand why this person made it sound as if police is more dependable than the Jade’s soldiers.

“Nevermind” Renjun dismissed his own question when he realized the look in Xuxi’s face. But then, he added, “Do you really have no telephone here? Landline phones or satellite phones maybe?”

There, his crazy talk again, Xuxi thought and he might have sounded a bit annoyed when he said, “No, we don’t have it here.”

“My parents might be worried.” Renjun added, almost pleading.

It somehow tugged at Xuxi’s heartstrings, but he didn’t have the answer than Renjun wanted, so he apologised before excusing himself.

After meeting Grandfather Huang, Xuxi had to attend to the impending reports on his desk. By the time he finished writing an order in reply to the last report, it was already late in the evening. Not much later, one of his men that led the search at the Moonless Forest came to report. After listening to the brief report, Xuxi felt that he somehow had expected it. He cannot wait anymore. He had to set things straight and clear with Renjun.

Xuxi went to find his guest around dinner time. However, he only found a set of dinner on the dining table without anyone in the guest room. The servant told him that Renjun didn’t speak much since Xuxi left him in the morning. He had only eaten a small portion of his lunch but he had been wandering around the manor a lot. Xuxi ordered the servants to look for Renjun but it was unnecessary as he actually found him at the main garden himself. Since the moon was full that night, it wasn’t very dark and Renjun's white hair was clearly noticable even in the dark. Renjun was sitting on a rock near the pond with his two feet dipped in the water. He was in the same robe that Xuxi saw this morning and it was still disordered. He was tossing bits of rice which Xuxi notice, was supposed to be his dinner from the rice bowl next to him, to the fish in the pond.   

It didn’t take long for Renjun to notice the presence of the other man. This time, he didn’t greet him or tried to put on a smile when their eyes met. His eyes looked empty. Xuxi could feel it that something has changed in Renjun compared to when they first met.

“I need to talk to you.” Xuxi approached Renjun. Renjun looked at him, but he didn’t react to his words. He didn’t reply nor move. Xuxi had a bad feeling about it but didn’t let it show. “Come on” he added and offered his hand. Renjun took his hand after a moment of thinking. Xuxi led him back to the main house, where it was bright and there were a lot of people.

He brought Renjun to his study room and asked for a cup of Jasmine tea from his servants. He urged his guest to take the drink first. Renjun took a sip but didn’t finish the cup.

“The search has not finished because of the wide area, but my man had reported the findings for today.” Xuxi started. Renjun’s eyes grew slightly bigger with expectation.

“They didn’t find anyone.”

Renjun looked so defeated with the news.

“Renjun, you have to tell me the truth.”

Renjun looked at Xuxi in surprised, “What do you mean?”

“My man had reported that there was no trace of other men had entered the forest other than us in the last few days. There was no footprints or hooves prints on the trail other than ours.”

Renjun blinked a few times, trying to process what he just heard before replying, “It can’t be true. I remember clearly that we were on our way to the music station.”

“We’ve asked the villagers near the Moonless Forest, they haven’t seen any strangers these past few days. And they didn’t know anyone called Renjun neither.”

Renjun felt his heart beats louder and faster than before at what he just heard. He didn’t understand what he just heard. Why did Xuxi say that? He was very sure that he was with his group members before he woke up in the forest. He realized that not everyone knew him in Korea but if Xuxi had asked the whole village, someone should have heard of his name, right? Is Xuxi lying? But why?

“Who are you, really?” Xuxi pressed on and Renjun felt so stressed with the situation.

“Can you just please get me a phone?” Renjun begged because he couldn’t comprehend the current situation.

“Why are you keep on asking about a phone? What is a phone? No one knows what you are talking about”. Xuxi told the truth. He had enough of avoiding Renjun’s crazy talk.

“Where is this place? What is the date?” Renjun mustered his courage and asked what had been lingering in his head since he arrived at the manor.

“This is the capital city of Huang and it’s 156^th of Huang, second month of summer, day 14”.   

Renjun suddenly felt it was difficult to breathe. “Please stop” Renjun sobbed. “This is not funny. Whatever you are filming, please stop. I want to go home.” Renjun wished it was just a bad joke, maybe a prank camera and they would stop when he cried. But Xuxi was staring at him as if he was crazy.

Xuxi must have been lying to him, Renjun told himself. But deep inside his heart, he had believed him. He had the suspicion since he first met Xuxi in the forest but the idea was too crazy to believe in. Now, he didn’t know who is the crazy one. His breathe ragged and Renjun clutched his chest as he started to feel dizzy.

“Are you alright?”

Renjun didn’t know how, but he was in Xuxi’s lap when he heard the question. Renjun could only asked “to go home” between his sobs in reply. He cried because he didn’t know what else he could do.