les jours tristes

There is one universal truth Nie Huaisang learned from Wei Wuxian and confirmed for himself many times since: if you want to find information, start by finding the nearest wine shop.

The Before Dawn Bloom was apparently something of a local celebrity, a point of pride for a village that would otherwise have long since fallen off the map. A few questions were enough to get not only the waiter, but the other patrons going as well, all except the only other traveller, a Cang Qiong Mountain disciple dressed in the sober but elegant manner of Qiong Ding Peak and who was gazing off into the distance, politely keeping up the pretence of not eavesdropping on a stranger's conversation, though there was no escaping it in such a small space. In no time at all Nie Huaisang had all the information he could want and more: yes, such a flower could be found right here, on top of this very mountain; only you had to look for it at night, for as soon as the light of the sun touched it it would burrow deep underground, where it would slumber until the next sunset...