In the days that followed, Shen Zhuxi reduced Li Juan’s feeding frequency. Li Juan grew visibly restless, mewling in a hoarse, pitiful voice throughout the day.

Li Wu watched with cool eyes as his dolt of a wife reasoned with the tiger cub daily, until at last, the tiger cub gnawed the pale jade-green peony that had been left sunning in the courtyard to shreds, and was promptly thrown into solitary confinement by a furious Shen Zhuxi — at which point Li Wu knew his opportunity had come.

Li Que unlatched the bolt on the quiet room door. Li Kun held his breath and eased the door open. Li Wu stepped squarely in front of the tiger cub as it tried to scramble over the threshold, seized it by the scruff of its neck, and hoisted it up.

“What has Shen Zhuxi been feeding this thing… it weighs an absolute ton!”

Cursing under his breath, Li Wu shoved the tiger cub into a burlap sack. Inside the sack, there was also a live chicken — for at least an hour, the tiger cub shouldn’t be causing any trouble.

“Big Brother, let me come with you.” Li Que said.

“I’ll come too…” Li Kun said.

“You two stay here and cover for me.” Li Wu said. “I’ll toss it up the mountain and be back in no time. If your sister-in-law asks where I am, tell her I went to Lord Fan’s residence.”

With that settled, Li Wu picked up the sack and slipped out of the courtyard like a thief, furtive and skulking.

On the other side of town, Shen Zhuxi was at the Sui Chicken Shop, reading with Sui Rui a letter that had just arrived from Jiu Niang over in Yutou Town.

Jiu Niang was illiterate and had enlisted Scholar Zhu to write on her behalf, but the letter radiated her voice through every line. Half coy and half aggrieved, half sincere and half teasing, she chided the two of them for abandoning her and going off on their own, leaving her all alone in Yutou County with nothing but loneliness for company.

Along with the letter came two small wine flasks carved from dried gourds, each containing half a jin of Jiu Niang’s newly developed Dream Immortal Wine. Afraid the fragrance would escape, Shen Zhuxi didn’t dare lift the stopper — just leaning close to the cap was enough to catch the deep, mellow scent of the wine.

Li Wu will certainly love this.

Without a second thought, Shen Zhuxi decided to give the flask of wine to Li Wu.

But wine alone wasn’t enough. She decided on her way home to pick up a braised pig’s trotter as well — when Li Wu got back and saw both together, he would surely be thrilled.

She just hoped that in his excitement, he wouldn’t deliver another recitation of his Ode to the Trotter.

Receiving Jiu Niang’s letter made both Shen Zhuxi and Sui Rui happy, though their happiness was tinged with a thread of melancholy: the soaring grain prices weren’t a problem unique to Xiangyang City alone — even Yutou County in Jinzhou was seeing grain prices shoot upward.

The food shortage seemed to be spreading further.

“Before spring arrives, you must all be careful with your provisions. Buy from outside whenever you can, and don’t draw on your stored grain…” Sui Rui, who had more experience managing a household, kept repeating her warnings as she walked Shen Zhuxi to the door.

Shen Zhuxi gave her assurances on all counts, then asked whether she had enough grain to get through the winter.

“We’re in the food business — how could we not have some provisions set aside?” Sui Rui said generously. “If you run out of things to eat, come to my place — but don’t tell Li Wu. That sly fox might deliberately leave you with nothing to eat just so you’d come here and freeload off me day after day.”

Shen Zhuxi couldn’t decide whether to laugh or sigh: “He wouldn’t.”

“…Love is blind.” Sui Rui muttered under her breath, not quite satisfied with that answer.

Shen Zhuxi said her goodbyes to Sui Rui and stopped at a braised food stall she passed on the way. She looked at the empty bamboo trays on the counter and asked the listless shopkeeper: “Shopkeeper, are there any braised pig’s trotters left?”

The shopkeeper raised his eyes, glancing toward the purse at her waist. “Braised trotter, five taels of silver per piece.”

“…Can I get half a piece?”

Without a word, the shopkeeper rose and disappeared into the back of the shop. A moment later he came out with a pig’s trotter wrapped in lotus leaves. He stood behind the counter in silence, then brought down a sharp cleaver with a single heavy thunk — and the trotter on the cutting board split cleanly in two.

“Shopkeeper, why have you stopped displaying your braised goods on the counter?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

The shopkeeper answered simply: “Afraid of theft.”

“In broad daylight, people dare to steal?” Shen Zhuxi asked, astonished.

The shopkeeper glanced up at her: “When a person is nearly starving to death, what won’t they do?”

So the situation in Xiangyang had already deteriorated to this extent…

“Does the authorities have any measures to address it?” Shen Zhuxi couldn’t help asking.

“What measures could they have?” the shopkeeper replied with a scornful laugh. “If you can hold on, you hold on. If you can’t, you die. Officials in their fine hats and robes — when would they spare a thought for the lives of common folk like us?”

He wrapped up the half trotter, tied it with a thin length of hemp twine, and handed it to Shen Zhuxi.

“No need to come back in a couple of days — I won’t be selling braised trotters anymore.”

Shen Zhuxi was startled: “Why not?”

“No decent pigs left.” The shopkeeper shook his head and sighed. “Go have a look at the butcher’s shop — the pigs and sheep are just like the people. Nothing left but skin and bones.”

Shen Zhuxi left the braised food stall with a heavy heart. All along the way, the passersby she saw were, for the most part, gaunt and hollow-eyed. An old woman in patched clothing leaned in the doorway of a low house, her clouded gaze drifting to follow the lotus leaf bundle in Shen Zhuxi’s hand. A few bony, scraggly children chased each other across the street; the one being chased clutched half a grimy sweet potato in his fist.

She felt the half pig’s trotter in her hand grow heavier and heavier.

When she turned into the alley leading to the courtyard, Shen Zhuxi happened to encounter a group of constables in official uniforms. The one at the head of the group bowed to her the moment he spotted her.

“Madam Li, what good timing. Our Lord Fan has convened a meeting at his residence, and we ask Madam to pass the message along — please have Master Li go to Lord Fan’s residence as soon as possible.”

“Is it regarding the famine?” Shen Zhuxi blurted out.

The lead constable looked at her with a hint of surprise: “That shouldn’t be the case.”

Was there truly anything more pressing right now than the famine?

Shen Zhuxi swallowed her irritation and bid the group of constables farewell with all due courtesy.

She returned home and handed the braised trotter and the wine flask to the maidservant who came to meet her, saying: “When the Master returns, heat the wine and slice up the trotter to serve.”

Shen Zhuxi walked into the back courtyard, intending to let Li Juan out of solitary confinement. She had just reached the door of the quiet room when Li Que and Li Kun came out from the other end of the corridor.

“Sister-in-law.” Li Que said. “When did you get back?”

Shen Zhuxi’s hand slipped from the door bolt.

“Just now.” she said. “Where’s Li Wu?”

“Big Brother was called to Lord Fan’s residence. There’s only the two of us for the midday meal.”

“He went to Lord Fan’s residence?” Shen Zhuxi said with surprise. “When did he leave?”

Li Que seemed to read the suspicion in her mind. He paused, then said vaguely: “…I don’t remember exactly. He’s been gone a while. Does Sister-in-law need to find Big Brother for something?”

Li Que said Li Wu had gone to Lord Fan’s residence — yet she had only just run into the prefect’s men at the door.

He hadn’t gone to Lord Fan’s at all. So where had he gone?

An uneasy feeling rose in Shen Zhuxi’s heart. She suddenly yanked the bolt free and threw open the door of the quiet room.

“Sister-in-law —” The rest of Li Que’s sentence died in his throat when he saw the empty quiet room.

Piecing together Li Wu’s suspicious absence, Shen Zhuxi understood at once.

“Where did he take Li Juan?” Shen Zhuxi stepped out of the quiet room, fixing both of them with a furious glare as their gazes skittered away.

“Sister-in-law…”

“Tell me — where did he take Li Juan!”

Li Que looked at Shen Zhuxi’s blazing eyes and was silent for a long moment before he said: “Big Brother sent it back to where it belongs.”

Shen Zhuxi turned and walked away at once!

Li Wu had definitely gone up the mountain!

“Sister-in-law, you don’t know where Big Brother went — don’t act rashly…” Li Que called out after her.

Before he could even finish, he watched Shen Zhuxi stop a little girl playing hobby-horse at the gate and ask her: “Did you see where my husband went?”

The little girl had received more than a few small treats from Shen Zhuxi over time. She grinned at once and pointed without a moment’s hesitation, betraying Li Wu’s whereabouts without a second thought.

Left led to the East Gate, right to the West Gate — only outside these two gates were there forests and hills. If Li Wu was going to release Li Juan somewhere, these were the only two options. Since the little girl had pointed left, he had surely gone to Persimmon Mountain outside the East Gate.

With her direction confirmed, Shen Zhuxi set off toward the East Gate without hesitation.

Li Que and Li Kun followed close behind. Li Que knew there was no talking her out of it and fell in beside her without a word.

Shen Zhuxi hailed a passing ox cart. Li Que and Li Kun jumped on after her; Li Que paid the fare for all three, and the cart headed straight for Persimmon Mountain outside the East Gate.

“Sister-in-law, Big Brother is doing this for your own good too.” Li Que said. “It is a wild beast, after all. To it, we are nothing but walking meat. What’s more, food is scarce right now — feeding ourselves is difficult enough. It eats more every day; we can’t keep it forever.”

Shen Zhuxi was quiet for a long time. Only when the ox cart stopped at the East Gate and the city guards came to check their passage did she say softly:

“…I know.”

She knew that the little kitten she had taken in was, in all likelihood, the tiger cub Li Wu had described.

She knew that she and Li Juan would one day have to part.

She knew — and it was precisely this knowledge that made each inevitable, helpless parting all the more painful. Her Imperial Father, her Imperial Mother — she hadn’t been able to protect them. Bai Tuan and Li Juan the Second — she couldn’t protect them either.

Shen Zhuxi couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of defeat.

Would she and Li Wu and his two brothers one day be parted as well? Would she return to being the Princess of Yue in name only, going through the motions in the cold, vast depths of the palace, talking to herself with only a cat for company?

The moment she entertained that possibility, Shen Zhuxi felt a heaviness pressing down on her chest, as if a cold, merciless hand had reached in and was dragging downward from her throat.

“…I only want to see it one last time.” she murmured.

The ox cart passed through the gate and set them down at the foot of Persimmon Mountain. Shen Zhuxi lifted her skirts and climbed the mountain path she least wanted to climb, her expression resolute. Li Que and Li Kun followed behind her. Li Kun clamored about catching mountain pheasants to roast on the way back; Li Que promptly doused his enthusiasm:

“The mountains have been stripped bare by people foraging. What pheasants do you think are left? Not so much as a tail feather.”

The three of them climbed along the mountain path for a stretch and still saw no sign of Li Wu. Persimmon Mountain was neither large nor small; if Li Wu wanted to release Li Juan somewhere, he would never choose the front slope where herb-gatherers and hunters came and went. Shen Zhuxi focused her search on both sides of the muddy path, and sure enough, found a fresh set of footprints.

Li Que crouched down and studied them for a moment, then nodded: “These are Big Brother’s shoe size.”

The three followed the footprints deeper into the woods.

A dry leaf was quietly crushed underfoot.

In the dense, canopy-shrouded forest, a large tiger with dappled markings lifted its thick paw — as deep as a thumb’s width — and fell silently into step behind them.