“I’m off — come see me again next time!”

Carrying two parcels of spiced and braised side dishes, Shen Zhuxi stepped out of Chen Ji Wine House.

The flamboyantly dressed Jiu Niang sauntered to the doorway, leaned against the frame, and said in a languid drawl: “Don’t leave it too long. If you leave it too long, I’ll forget you. It’s not as if I’m short of people to talk to…”

Shen Zhuxi could tell from Jiu Niang’s tone that she was still a little aggrieved about the half-month’s gap before this visit. She smiled and said:

“Three days at most — I have to come back to town to deliver flower-patterned stationery. When that time comes, I’ll definitely come see you.”

Jiu Niang wrapped her arms around herself, presenting a fine view of snowy scenery over the low-cut neckline of her crimson jacket. She gave a light little hum.

“Your husband isn’t even home — what are you going back for? Stay here and keep me company. We can talk and keep each other from feeling lonely…” Jiu Niang said wistfully. “Since Sui Rui left, I’ve been lonelier and lonelier. If you don’t come to see me, I’ll truly wither away from solitude.”

Every time Shen Zhuxi came to visit, Jiu Niang would bring out fine wine and good food to entertain her. Although she didn’t drink the wine herself, she had eaten her fair share of spiced soy beans and braised trotters, and had listened to more than a few dazzling pieces of neighborhood gossip with considerable pleasure.

As the saying goes: take someone’s gifts and feel reluctant to refuse them. Shen Zhuxi smiled and promised several times that she would come again in a few days, and only then did Jiu Niang relent and go back inside.

Shen Zhuxi carried her two small dishes, and also stopped at Ding’s Pastry Shop to buy a parcel of taro cakes and a parcel of red bean buns, loading both hands to capacity before setting off for home.

Everything was as ordinary as ever, until Shen Zhuxi was passing through a sparsely trafficked street. Footsteps suddenly rang out behind her. Before she had time to react, five imposing men had already surrounded her on all sides.

She looked at these unfamiliar faces in bewilderment, and a thread of unease rose in her heart.

A man of coarse and rugged appearance stepped forward, dressed in silk robes. His left hand was at his chest, his right behind his back, a solid gold ring on his thumb — the sort worn by a man imitating elegance and achieving only the appearance of a fool. He looked Shen Zhuxi up and down with a pair of ill-intentioned triangular eyes, the corners of his mouth curved in a lewd smile.

“No need to panic, little lady — Huang here is about to introduce himself.”

“…I have no interest in hearing it.”

Shen Zhuxi avoided his unsettling gaze and tried to step around them and leave, but two powerfully built men stepped out and blocked her path completely.

The man who had called himself Huang something paid no notice and smiled on: “I’m called Huang Jinguang, from Xiangyang. Even your Yutou County’s magistrate would call me Huang-ye if he saw me.”

Shen Zhuxi said urgently: “I don’t know you at all!”

“That’s all right — it’s enough that Huang knows you.” Huang Jinguang continued calmly. “Huang serves under the Xiangyang prefect — I have a modest hundred acres of farmland and ten-odd houses to my name. If little lady were to come with me, Huang guarantees you would eat and drink only the finest…”

His gaze fell on the red bean buns and taro cakes in Shen Zhuxi’s hands, and he said with pointed meaning:

“And never have to eat common people’s food like this again.”

“I am already married!”

“What of it?” Huang Jinguang smiled. “Huang already has wife and concubines at home, and you have already wed — would that not make us well matched?”

“You—”

Shen Zhuxi’s face went crimson with rage, her hands trembling so much that the taro cakes and red bean buns hung on their hemp string were swinging in circles through the air.

“I…”

No sooner had Huang Jinguang gotten out one self-satisfied “I” than something struck him from behind. His expression changed drastically. He lurched forward and fell headlong into a standard tumbling nosedive.

The encirclement was torn open in an instant. Li Kun let out a thundering roar, seized one of the men by the cloth of his waist and physically hoisted him off the ground, then hurled him away with full force.

A scream tore through the air, and the man — all seven feet of him — went flying, then landed with a crash in a paddy field.

Li Que stepped in front of Shen Zhuxi, shielding her behind him. He smiled pleasantly. “This gentleman looks unfamiliar — not from town, are you?”

“Who do you think you are, sticking your nose in?” Huang Jinguang narrowed his eyes dangerously, looking the two arrivals over. “Do you know who I am?”

His four attendants gathered close around him. The one who had been thrown came limping back, blood running down from a gash on his forehead.

“We do — we just found out.” Li Que smiled. “A fool from out of town with a death wish.”

One of the men at Huang Jinguang’s side was provoked to move forward, but Huang Jinguang stretched out a hand and stopped him.

Huang Jinguang looked at the two men standing before Shen Zhuxi, and suddenly said: “You are Li Wu’s two sworn brothers?” His gaze settled mainly on Li Kun, who was glaring at him with seething fury. “So you’re the strong but dim-witted one?”

“You’re the dim-witted one!”

Shen Zhuxi and Li Kun, burning with the same indignation, spoke in perfect unison.

“Whatever Li Wu has given you — I’ll give you double, no, triple. Come and work for me instead.” Huang Jinguang said, looking at Li Kun.

“I won’t!” Li Kun said furiously.

“…Hm, some fire in you. Huang likes people with fire—” Huang Jinguang laughed coldly, his icy gaze sliding across Shen Zhuxi’s face. “People like that — when they get on their knees and beg Huang for mercy, Huang enjoys it most.”

“Huang-ye…” the man at his side said quietly.

Huang Jinguang raised his hand and stopped whatever he was about to say.

“…Let’s go.” Huang Jinguang turned and left without a backward glance.

His five attendants looked at one another, then quickly fell into step behind Huang Jinguang.

This group had arrived with overwhelming menace and then retreated with unexpected ease. Shen Zhuxi was still standing rooted to the spot, when Li Que had already taken her taro cakes and red bean buns from her. “Sister-in-law, let’s head home.”

Only then did Shen Zhuxi think to ask about their sudden appearance. She had barely shown a puzzled expression when Li Que volunteered an explanation: “Actually, every time sister-in-law goes out, Second Brother and I follow behind.”

“Why…” Shen Zhuxi said, astonished.

“Big Brother worried that you might run into danger going out alone, but he didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable, so he only asked us to protect you in secret. I thought Big Brother was being overly cautious, but as it turns out, someone really was looking for trouble here in Yutou Town.”

Li Kun’s thick brows furrowed with anger. “Not from Yutou Town!”

“Of course not from Yutou Town — otherwise, who would dare touch Big Brother’s woman?”

“That last thing he said — it doesn’t sound like he’ll let this go.” Shen Zhuxi said, worried.

“Sister-in-law need not worry — for the next few days, Second Brother and I will protect sister-in-law every step of the way.” Li Que reassured her.

Li Kun also patted his chest and said: “Protect! I can! If—” he patted his chest twice, then stopped, his eyes drifting to the taro cakes in Li Que’s hand. “If you give me taro cakes to eat…”

“When Big Brother gets back, I’ll tell him exactly what you said,” Li Que said. “That you’d only agree to protect sister-in-law in exchange for taro cakes.”

“You—” Li Kun’s brows shot up in agitation. “Tattletale!”

The three returned to the Li household. Shen Zhuxi was full of worry, but Li Que and Li Kun seemed entirely unaffected.

Never mind Li Kun — even Li Que appeared not to have taken the matter to heart at all.

Shen Zhuxi kept coming out from the inner room from time to time, standing under the eaves and craning to look and listen toward the bamboo fence outside. Li Que, seeing this, smiled: “Sister-in-law, go to sleep. Second Brother and I are keeping watch outside.”

“Older Sister can’t sleep.” A girl of six or seven came out rubbing her eyes.

She was the smallest daughter of the family who had recently moved in next door — her name was Four Sprout. Li Que had “borrowed” her for two catties of spiced beef. While he and Li Kun slept on spread-out bedding in the courtyard, Four Sprout was inside the room keeping Shen Zhuxi company.

“I’ll come to bed in a moment — you go ahead and sleep, don’t wait for me.” Shen Zhuxi patted Four Sprout’s shoulder in comfort and gently nudged her back into the room.

She walked into the courtyard and said to Li Que: “I have a very uneasy feeling — as if something is about to happen.”

Li Kun was already fast asleep on his bedding, snoring like a drumbeat. Li Que kicked him once, and he muttered something in his sleep — the snoring became somewhat quieter.

Li Que continued: “By now, Big Brother must have already reached Xicheng County. If all goes quickly, he’ll be back tomorrow. Once Big Brother is back, everything will sort itself out.”

“…I suppose that’s all there is to it.” Shen Zhuxi said quietly.

The worry in her heart remained, but she also understood that at this moment, besides waiting for Li Wu to return, there was nothing else to be done.

Report it to the authorities?

Never mind that the magistrate had closed the public hall — the magistrate himself was in Xicheng County at this very moment. They truly had no door to knock on.

Ask someone else for help?

The nearest neighbors were the family who had just moved in next door. Aside from an old man, they were all women and children — they couldn’t help, and getting them involved would only draw them into danger.

Shen Zhuxi returned to the inner room and lay down on the bed, sleep refusing to come. Four Sprout had already drifted off to dreamland — not even the thunder-like snoring from outside managed to wake her.

Shen Zhuxi pulled the gold hairpin from her hair and held it in her hand, and it carried her back to the day Li Wu had placed it in her palm.

Thinking of Li Wu, the panic in her heart settled a little. As Li Que had said — she too held an inexplicable kind of trust, the feeling that as long as Li Wu came back, everything would work itself out…

In a daze, Shen Zhuxi was jolted awake by a loud crash. She had not been sleeping soundly, and she was instantly wide awake, springing up and charging outside with the gold hairpin gripped in her hand.

She ran into the main room and stared in shock — the entire bamboo fence gate was blazing with fierce, roaring flames! The acrid smell of vegetable oil overwhelmed the gentle osmanthus scent of the courtyard. Burning chunks of wood kept flying over the fence, landing in the courtyard, on the roof, at Shen Zhuxi’s feet.

“What’s happening?!” Shen Zhuxi cried out, panicking.

“They’re burning the house!” Li Kun stood beside his bedding, fists clenched with fury. “I’m going to thrash them!”

Li Que stamped out a tongue of flame that had fallen beneath the eaves. His expression was grave. “They want to force us out.”

“I refuse to go out!” Li Kun stomped his foot in anger.

“…Once the fence gate burns down completely, you’ll have no choice.” Li Que said.

The red flames flickered without stopping. The shadows hollowing out Li Que’s face deepened, and even his eyes seemed shrouded in thick darkness.

Burning debris kept being hurled in from outside the fence. Some fell to the ground; others landed on the rooftop. Shen Zhuxi looked up anxiously — fortunately, when Li Wu had recently built the washroom extension for her, he had taken the opportunity to replace the main house’s roof with tiles at the same time. The people outside could not get to them that way, at least for now.

But as Li Que had said: once the fence burned down, they would lose their last line of defense, and whether they wanted to go out or not, they would have no choice.

“Older Sister, what’s going on outside?” A half-waking voice drifted from the inner room — Four Sprout, somewhere between sleep and waking.

A presence more vulnerable than herself spurred Shen Zhuxi to pull herself together.

She strode back into the inner room and said to Four Sprout, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, forcing herself to remain calm: “Some troublemakers are making noise outside. When the time comes, stay inside and don’t come out. If you find a chance, slip away home by yourself. Understand?”

Four Sprout nodded in a muddled way. “What about Older Sister?”

Shen Zhuxi buried her fear and panic deep inside and said gently: “…Four Sprout doesn’t need to worry — Older Sister will be fine.”

“Awake in there, are you?”

A cold, unhurried voice rang out from the courtyard.

Huang Jinguang stood with his hands clasped behind his back outside the fence. Beside him were the same five men who had accompanied him that afternoon, and additionally four bodyguards he had recalled from his seventeenth concubine’s family visit after the afternoon setback.

Added to those were twenty-odd hired ruffians from neighboring counties, plus a Zhou Zhuang who paced back and forth along the outside of the fence with a look of vicious excitement — thirty-odd people in total, encircling the Li household so completely that not even water could flow through.

Huang Jinguang stood before the blazing bamboo fence and said with a cold laugh:

“I give you the time it takes for one incense stick to burn to decide—”

“Hand over Shen Zhuxi, and I will spare your lives.”