"I - guess that helped? ...I need to get better at thinking when I'm scared. I thought I was okay at it but it was - a different kind of scared - than being chased by a mal." 

"Everyone was very confusing."

"I thought maybe they were casting a spell to kill me? It - sounded sort of like a spell. But I guess it wasn't." 

"Mn."

"- I'm sorry it was confusing and hard for you." 

"People are confusing."

"They are! Especially here. I - guess people I knew in Malawi weren't as confusing. But I keep breaking the rules by accident and I need to figure out how to stop doing that." 

"The Lan family has three thousand rules."

"And all of them are stupid! Walk with your hand behind your back, don't talk during meals, be a prig who hates fun..."

"I don't offend people."

"That's because you don't talk! I bet I wouldn't offend people if I couldn't talk."

"I'm with Wei Ying, we need to teach him social rules that don't make him totally lame."

"I don't think I could remember three thousand rules anyway!" 

"They copy them out for mana."

"Remember the time Lan Qiren got pissed at me and I had to copy them all out?"

"The time, singular, he says."

"I can still recite them! 'Talking behind other people's backs is prohibited, running is prohibited except in situations of danger, sitting improperly is prohibited, eating more than three bowls is prohibited, don't be picky with food, do not disturb women, don't mix public and private interests, be loyal and filial, train your body and mind, be strict with yourself, be easy on others'-- Lan Qiren apparently hasn't heard of that rule--"

"Mn."

"- I guess if I copied them out in Mandarin that would be good language practice too?" Masozi offers. 

"They padded them out. There's both 'don't be of two minds' and 'be of one mind.' And a bunch of them are like 'Diligence is the root, morality is the priority, harmony is the value, stop bad habits, shoulder the weight of morality, uphold the value of justice,' like, thank you, Lan ancestors, I never would have realized diligence and morality are good things unless you told me that fourteen times."

"You definitely don't know that diligence is a good thing."

"I know it! I just don't put it into practice! Totally different things."

Masozi giggles despite himself. "Maybe you should only tell me the important ones, then. ...I don't think I really understand what 'be filial' means." 

"It means respecting and obeying your parents, elders, and ancestors."

"You're supposed to take care of them, obey them, behave well so that people will speak well of them, be courteous to them, give them grandchildren, and bury them and make sacrifices after they die."