The morning after the rain was cool and pleasant. On the small paths of Dingweng Village, Dou Wuniang was holding up her skirts, cursing as she hopped between mud puddles.
The already muddy path was now trampled into a slurry, as if someone’s cattle or sheep had escaped during the night and waded through the muck repeatedly.
With a slip of her foot, Dou Wuniang’s newly changed shoes were instantly caked in mud. Standing at the crossroads, she was about to launch into a loud tirade when she broke into a fit of coughing. It took her a long while to catch her breath and straighten her back.
She looked around in all directions, seemingly checking if any early-rising village women were hiding in the shadows to mock her. Seeing no one, she tiptoed toward the familiar brushwood gate.
"Manager Qin? Qin..."
Dou Wuniang’s voice cut off abruptly. She seemed to have spotted something extraordinary through the gate, and her expression shifted instantly, her voice softening considerably.
"Is that not young Master Li? Ah, it’s good to be young; rising so early and looking so spirited."
Inside the half-open gate, the youth who was splitting wood paused. He leaned on his axe and looked toward her, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"So it is Dou Wuniang. Did you rest well last night, Wuniang?"
"Well, very well," Dou Wuniang replied, her smile so wide her eyes nearly disappeared. She nodded, searching for conversation. "I see there is already a pile by the gate. Why are you splitting more?"
The youth efficiently stacked the freshly cut wood, answering obediently.
"The rain was heavy last night and the wood got damp. It’s fine for the stove, but it creates too much smoke when brewing medicine."
Looking at that clean, fair face flecked with bits of grass, Dou Wuniang felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of envy.
"Manager Qin is truly blessed. I don’t know where she found a treasure like you; you’re far better than that boy Jinbao. But why hasn't she given you new clothes? Look at these large tears across your chest and back..."
If one were chased through the streets by a dozen experts trying to hack them to pieces, anyone would end up with a few large tears in their clothes.
Li Qiao said nothing, merely smiling as he lowered his head to tidy the kindling. When he lifted the axe with one hand, he did so as easily as if he were picking up a chicken.
Dou Wuniang watched for a moment before finally remembering her actual business. She peered toward the inner rooms.
"Where is Manager Qin? Why is there no sign of her? Since I’ve known her, Guoran Ju has never stayed closed for two days straight. The sun must truly be rising from the west."
The busy figure in the yard paused. It was a long moment before the youth turned around.
"Sister caught a bit of a chill and isn't feeling well. Please come back another day, Wuniang."
Having spoken, the youth gave a polite bow. Ignoring her inquisitive gaze, he stepped forward and gently pulled the gate shut.
Outside the gap in the door, Dou Wuniang’s puzzled muttering could be heard faintly. Her shadow lingered for a while before finally departing.
The youth stared at the wooden planks, his grip on the axe slowly loosening. He turned, gathered the fresh wood he had just split, and walked toward the west room.
There was a sound coming from inside the half-open door of the west room. He stood at the entrance for a moment, adjusted his expression, and then lowered his head as he walked in.
The woman was squatting by the stove with her back to him, her head buried in whatever she was doing.
He was about to speak, but when she turned slightly, the words caught in his throat.
Qin Jiuye was holding the pastry box used for her savings with both hands. She was picking out bits of broken silver and putting them back in, then picking them out again. The silver she had brought back from the Su residence yesterday was lined up in a row; she was currently trying to fit them all into the box, but it seemed too small. No matter how she adjusted them, they wouldn't fit.
She was still wearing the clothes that had been soaked through the night before. The bandage on her neck had been replaced, though it was still wrapped rather haphazardly.
Her entire focus was on the box. Her expression was so intense that she didn't seem to notice him standing at the door at all.
Li Qiao fell silent.
After experiencing what happened last night, an ordinary person would have fainted from the shock. Upon waking, they would likely be consumed by lingering fear and eventually find someone to weep to. Yet she had managed to sleep. He had thought her first act upon waking would be to question him or at least show some change in attitude toward him.
But she did none of that.
After everything, the only thing she cared about was those fifteen taels of silver.
A few bricks in front of the stove had become loose from being moved back and forth. Qin Jiuye tested different angles, carefully scraped off a corner of a stone brick, and managed to force the pastry box inside, though the lid barely closed.
After concealing it for a while longer, she finally felt the box was hidden perfectly. She clapped her hands and stood up. The moment she turned her head, she seemed to realize Li Qiao was standing not far behind her, watching.
Color had returned to the youth's face; he looked no different than before. His light brown pupils, which had been dilated the night before, had returned to normal, carrying a hint of fragility and innocence.
Qin Jiuye glanced at him and quickly looked away.
"You saw? Even if you saw, don't get any crooked ideas. I've marked all this silver. I could track it down even at the ends of the earth."
Li Qiao became even more silent.
He had bitten her last night and nearly killed her, yet now she thought he was after her money.
There was a lingering doubt in his eyes that was hard to dispel, but before he could speak, the woman began issuing orders on her own.
"Have you kept the accounts clear while I was away? When the pharmacy reopens, I expect there will be many people. Jinbao is away for now, so you'll have to handle both sides. Be meticulous; don't let those regulars who always buy on credit take advantage of us."
Li Qiao stood still for a long moment before nodding.
"Alright."
She stopped talking, perhaps too exhausted to continue. She lowered her head to sort through the damp kindling and began cleaning the ash from the furnace.
The youth behind her watched for a while. Instead of leaving, he took a few steps forward.
She finally reacted, spinning around abruptly and thrusting the fire poker she had snatched up between them.
"If you have something to say, say it from there."
As expected, the terror left by being hunted and bitten by a beast would not dissipate easily. The sensation of sharp teeth piercing a blood vessel would be etched deeply into memory, a constant reminder not to repeat the same mistake.
Long ago, when he was fleeing alone through the mountain forests and was attacked by a wolf pack, he had known this feeling all too well.
She might have suffered many hardships, but this was likely her first time being so close to death. She was probably furious, aggrieved, and resentful, regretting that she hadn't been cold-hearted enough and had instead brought a wolf cub into her home.
Li Qiao stopped in his tracks. He reached out a finger and gently tugged at his tattered, dark clothing.
"My clothes are ruined. Can Sister help me mend them?"
The fire poker slowly lowered. Qin Jiuye’s gaze fell upon him.
"Ruined?"
The situation last night had been too chaotic and urgent. She had been desperate to break free from him, and then Qiu Ling had arrived uninvited. She truly hadn't had the time to think about how those bloody handprints had gotten onto the brushwood gate.
He stood there for a moment. Seeing that she said nothing more, he turned to leave.
"It wouldn't be appropriate to wear this while attending the clinic. I'll go change..."
In the next instant, a thin hand grabbed the belt at his waist from behind.
Her strength was weak, but he stopped and turned around nonetheless.
That hand then pulled open his lapel.
The dark outer garment had provided a decent cover; even soaked in blood, it wasn't obvious. But once the outer layer was pulled back, several terrifying blood-clotted holes could be seen on his inner tunic.
After a night, the blood had congealed, sticking the fabric to his flesh. The fabric that had been soaked the night before was now dry, but the innermost layer was still stuck to his body. When peeled back, dried bloodstains were visible on his skin. A wound deep enough to see bone cut through his shoulder blade; the fabric at the site of the injury was almost embedded in the flesh.
Strangely, though the wound had not been treated, the bleeding had already stopped. The torn flesh seemed to have a tendency toward healing, with pale new skin already growing at the edges of the cut.
Was this truly an injury sustained only last night?
She looked intently, her brow furrowed. Before she could ask anything, the youth confessed of his own accord.
"It is no longer an issue."
Qin Jiuye touched her own neck and gave him a fierce glare.
"It's no issue for you, but it's an issue for me."
Thinking of last night, she suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of absurdity.
She had been bitten once and felt like she had lost half her life, yet this person had sustained such a heavy injury and could stand before her the next morning as if nothing had happened. Was her own constitution simply too pathetic, or had she lived in this rural hovel for so long that she didn't know people in the martial world had cultivated to the point where they could heal without medicine and grow flesh over bone?
The medicine wasn't even brewed yet, and the wound was nearly healed. If everyone in the martial world were like him, what business would Guoran Ju have? What was the point of all the skills she had practiced so diligently over the years?
Wait, that didn't seem right.
Qin Jiuye paused. The scene of her picking him up from Qingping Road flashed through her mind, and she fell back into suspicion and vigilance.
He clearly wasn't like this before, but now he was.
This might not be a good thing. She had seen young people who, in their quest to get ahead, practiced heterodox arts and ended up succumbing to internal qi deviation. One month their power would surge and they would be riding high; the next, they would die violently in the streets, their corpses left in the wilderness. If it were just that, it would be fine, but those who suffered such deviations often dragged others down with them before they died. Whoever was close would suffer; there was simply no escaping it. Even if you dodged the first blow, you wouldn't dodge the second...
The youth had eyes that were very good at reading people. Watching the expression on her face, he slowly lowered his head.
"Is Sister still going to hand me over to the Protector?"
Qin Jiuye instantly composed herself and looked at him expressionlessly.
"If I truly wanted to hand you over to the Protector, I would have let him in to see you last night."
She brought the danger between them out into the open, clearly no longer wishing to maintain a facade of peace.
The air was filled with another suffocating silence.
After a long while, Li Qiao spoke again. His voice was calm, and his entire demeanor seemed to revert to the night she had first told him to leave.
"There are many who want to kill me; a few more won't matter. My life was saved by Sister. Whatever you choose to do, I will not resent you."
Having said this, he closed his eyes, though his hanging hands clenched into fists.
After a long time, he felt her take a deep breath. Then, a pair of hands quickly stripped the outer garment from his body.
Her movements were fast and light, completely different from the curious, probing way she had saved him initially.
"The Protector followed a trail here last night, but he didn't say exactly why. Even if the person he's looking for isn't you, I've covered for you. If he investigates later, it will be hard to explain. I don't understand the affairs of you martial arts people. I'm a business owner; I don't want to get involved with the authorities. Everyone outside knows you belong to my Guoran Ju. Until this matter is settled, you and I are grasshoppers on the same string. We'll have to shoulder whatever fortune or calamity comes together. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Li Qiao blinked, his clenched fists slowly relaxing.
*Grasshoppers on the same string*... he liked that description. He felt he had finally found the right definition for their relationship.
She was clever and alert, and she could serve as his antidote. If she stood on the same side as him, his chances of surviving this ordeal would increase greatly.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look up, leaning toward her as if he had finally found relief.
"Then, regarding last night... does Sister not want to ask me what exactly happened?"
But she stepped back, clutching his ruined garment, seemingly determined to maintain her distance.
"Of course you must tell me everything about last night, but right now there are more urgent matters..."
However, before Qin Jiuye could finish, the sound of rapid hoofbeats echoed outside the courtyard wall.
A moment later, there was a sharp, urgent knocking at the brushwood gate.
The cold sweat that had subsided overnight instantly broke out again. She peered cautiously through the window toward the gate.
Even if the people of Dingweng Village were in a hurry, they wouldn't pound on a door like that. Moreover, the villagers rode donkeys or oxen; no one rode a horse.
Those who came on horseback and knocked with such murderous intent could only be the people from last night.
She took a few steps, leaning on the stove, when she suddenly saw a shadow move past her toward the door. She was quick to grab the youth, who was dressed only in his tattered inner tunic and holding a rusted blade.
"What are you doing?"
Li Qiao looked toward the uninvited guest at the gate, signaling her to remain silent.
Qin Jiuye understood instantly, though for some reason she felt caught between laughter and tears.
He had certainly been quick to grasp and accept the "grasshoppers on the same string" concept.
Shaking her head slightly, she threw the bloodstained clothes into the stove and signaled for him to hide in the room and stay quiet. She crossed the yard alone toward the gate.
The knocking continued, sounding like the death drums of the King of Hell.
She crouched down to look through the gap under the gate, seeing only four horse hooves pacing in a puddle.
Only one person had come; surely it wouldn't be worse than last night?
Checking the bandage hidden beneath her collar once more, she took a deep breath and opened the gate.
Outside stood a middle-aged man dressed as an official, wearing brown cloth armor and sitting atop a horse. He didn't look like the murderous young officers from the night before.
Qin Jiuye breathed a small sigh of relief. Before she could speak, the man spoke first.
"Is Manager Qin of Guoran Ju here? Tell him to come out and see me."
"That would be me. May I ask..."
The man on the horse glanced at her, then looked at the empty, dilapidated yard behind her. Once he confirmed there was no one else, he turned his horse around with some impatience, leaving her with a view of the horse's flank as he announced coldly.
"The Prefect has issued an order for you to come for questioning. You will know why once you arrive. Follow me immediately."
Qin Jiuye froze, the unease she had just suppressed surging back up.
It was one thing for the Protector to come last night, but why was someone from the Prefect's manor here this morning? Was her Guoran Ju some kind of blessed temple? People were coming to visit every other day.
Could it be that last night's events had been exposed so quickly? Or was the matter of the Mirage Pavilion not yet over? Or, heaven forbid, had Su Lin regretted giving her the silver and reported her to the authorities?
Qin Jiuye’s mind was in knots.
On any other day, it would have been fine, but after last night, she didn't want to be involved in any more trouble. She immediately looked troubled.
"Has something happened? I have a pharmacy to look after..."
The man was clearly far less patient than the group from the night before. He interrupted her coldly.
"Does Manager Qin remember Mister Kang, who attended the consultation at the Su residence with you?"
Kang Renshou of Huichun Tang? The one who ran a crooked pharmacy and had stolen her gold? What, did the Su family realize he was a quack after giving him the gold and now wanted to come back to her?
Qin Jiuye nodded and gave a couple of fake laughs, trying to keep her expression polite.
"I remember. What happened to Mister Kang?"
The man on the horse finally glanced at her, his expression turning somewhat strange.
"This morning, the people from Huichun Tang reported to the authorities. They say he has disappeared. They suspect he encountered villains around the time of the curfew last night."
Wasn't Kang Renshou treated as an honored guest by the Su family? How could he have disappeared? And was this related to Qiu Ling showing up last night? If not, what was the connection between the two? And what about the person currently hiding in her house...
Her head, filled with nightmares and chaos from the night, was unable to think clearly. She only wanted to distance herself from this bizarre whirlpool and quickly send away this "God of Plague" before her.
"Mister Kang and I are merely acquaintances. This place is quite a distance from the city; surely Mister Kang wouldn't have traveled through the night to seek refuge in my humble shack, right?"
The man clearly had no intention of listening to her excuses, remaining completely unmoved.
"Be that as it may, Lord Fan always investigates cases with great care and caution. Manager Qin is, after all, someone who met with Mister Kang recently. If you don't want to invite trouble, follow me to the yamen immediately to make things clear."
Qin Jiuye sighed. She glanced sideways at the silent courtyard behind her and coughed twice.
"I'll go. I'll go."
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
窦五娘 | Dou Wuniang | A neighbor in Dingweng Village.
丁翁村 | Dingweng Village | The village where Qin Jiuye lives and works.
果然居 | Guoran Ju | Qin Jiuye's pharmacy/residence.
回春堂 | Huichun Tang | A rival pharmacy (Spring Returns Hall).
康仁寿 | Kang Renshou | The head of Huichun Tang.
郡守 | Prefect | A high-ranking local government official (Commandery Governor).
樊大人 | Lord Fan | Refers to the Prefect or a high official in the Prefect's office.
衙门 | Yamen | A government office or administrative headquarters in imperial China.
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