Later in the afternoon, wind picked up and small snowflakes began to fall sparsely from the sky.

Wen Yu sat at the tea stall with her elbow propped up, waiting for Xiao Huiniang and that scoun—she should call him Xiao Li now.

A tiny snowflake fell into the earthenware tea bowl, creating small ripples.

Her fingertip hooked through the ten copper coins strung together with thin cord, gently swaying them.

Li—in ancient times meant a whetstone, and today meant to forge and sharpen a blade to temper its edge.

Xiao Huiniang seemed to care for him deeply. How could she have given him such a fierce and violent name?

The tile market was approaching closing time, but Xiao Huiniang and her son still hadn’t returned. She couldn’t help but crane her neck to look back, when she heard several merchants passing by after packing up their stalls discussing: “That bootlicker surnamed Liu at the third stall in the eastern section has finally gotten his comeuppance. Usually he’s always rushing to tip off those three ruffians. Relying on his familiarity with those three ruffians, whenever someone’s business is better than his, he goes to those three ruffians to badmouth them. Now it’s good—the stone has fallen on his own foot!”

Someone who didn’t know the inside story couldn’t help but ask: “My stall wasn’t over there today, so I didn’t see. Quick, tell me what happened.”

The speaker laughed: “Today those three ruffians somehow flew into a great rage, went to find that bootlicker and smashed his goods stall to smithereens. They also beat him up, punched and kicked until his face was black and blue. Don’t mention how satisfying it was!”

The person behind also laughed: “That’s not all! You left early so you didn’t see—after those three ruffians finished beating him and left, that bootlicker picked up the goods that were still usable and had just collected them into his basket when another scoundrel came. He looked even more fierce than those three ruffians and kicked over his goods basket with one foot. That bootlicker was so frightened he cried for his parents begging for mercy. Don’t mention how comical it was.”

Hearing this, Wen Yu’s brows lifted slightly. The third stall in the eastern section? Wasn’t that exactly where those three thugs had earlier confessed that peddler set up his stall?

Could it be that those three thugs kicked an iron plate this time and went back to vent their anger on that peddler? As for the second scoundrel who came to cause trouble that the merchants mentioned, it sounded quite like Xiao Li. Since his mother was doing business in this tile market and someone had sabotaged her, he probably went to warn the other party?

As she was pondering, she had already spotted Xiao Huiniang and her son among the crowd. Xiao Huiniang had apparently bought more things—both of them were carrying large and small packages in their hands.

Wen Yu rose to meet them: “Big Sister!”

Upon seeing Wen Yu, Xiao Huiniang immediately fussed: “I heard from Huan’er that someone caused trouble. You weren’t frightened, were you?”

Wen Yu said, “Fortunately Second Master came in time. It was only a close call…”

Because she had earlier called Xiao Li by the wrong name in front of the three thugs, she knew she was embarrassed and didn’t even glance toward the opposite side.

When Xiao Huiniang was saying “that’s good then,” Xiao Li’s gaze lightly swept over Wen Yu. After withdrawing his eyes, he said, “I’ll go flag down an ox cart.”

He put down the things in his hands, and with a stride of his long legs, he was soon far away.

As Wen Yu helped Xiao Huiniang place the things on the table by the tea stall, she couldn’t help but ask, “Big Sister, how did you buy so many more things?”

Xiao Huiniang said with a smile, “My old jacket on you looks so aged. I bought you a new jacket and also bought some cotton and velvet cloth. Later I’ll see about making you a pair of shoes.”

Once again, Wen Yu felt somewhat at a loss due to Xiao Huiniang’s kindness toward her. Her hand pausing slightly as she set things down, she said, “You’ve spent so much.”

Xiao Huiniang gave her a reproachful look: “You child, what are you saying!”

After Xiao Huiniang finished a bowl of tea, the ox cart also arrived. After Xiao Li loaded all the things onto the cart, he had the ox cart owner take Xiao Huiniang and Wen Yu back.

But the space in the back of the ox cart wasn’t large. With all the things Xiao Huiniang had bought, after two people sat down, there was quite a bit that couldn’t fit. Those sitting in the cart needed to hold more things in their laps.

This was Wen Yu’s first time riding this kind of uncovered and unsealed ox cart. Unlike Xiao Huiniang, who grabbed the low railing as soon as she got on, when the cart driver cracked his whip and the ox cart’s wooden wheels rolled into a depression, Wen Yu only felt her whole body pitch forward, and the new jacket held in her arms fell out.

In her panic, she hurriedly reached out to grab onto something for support, while her other hand reached out to catch that jacket.

A figure seemed to flash before her eyes. The arm she stretched out to grab something for support was firmly grasped by a large hand like an iron clamp. The other party lifted her elbow to give her leverage. The hand reaching for the jacket was also grabbed at the wrist by the other party, who had picked up the fallen jacket bundle, preventing her from falling off the cart.

In a daze, Wen Yu almost thought she had crashed into a wall of bronze and iron, but the faint yet undeniable soapberry scent that rushed into her nose and the particularly obvious firm grip on her hand were unmistakable.

She raised her eyes and met the man’s pair of ink-dark eyes—cold yet restrained, with something in their depths that one couldn’t quite see clearly.

“Be careful,” he said.

Snow particles had fallen on Wen Yu’s long lashes. She uncomfortably fanned her dark lashes, broke free from the hand that heavily supported and gripped her arm, steadied herself by holding the railing at the cart’s edge, and after withdrawing her other hand from the shackles of his five fingers to rest on her knee, she lifted her lashes and said to him, “Thank you.”

Xiao Huiniang was also startled by this sudden accident, but in that instant hadn’t reacted at all. Only now did she fearfully grab one of Wen Yu’s arms and say, “A’Yu, hold tight to the railing, don’t fall!”

The cart driver cracked his whip and found time to explain: “This road is bad with many potholes. Once we reach the main road ahead, it’ll be better.”

Xiao Li looked at Wen Yu, who calmly met his gaze, and raised his hand to pass over the package containing the new clothes. His handsome, spirited brows showed no emotion as he only said, “This time sit steady.”

With his extremely tall stature, when he leaned close, he was quite like a wall pressing near.

After receiving the package, Wen Yu lightly nodded.

The ox cart started moving again. That scoundrel had become a black dot in the distance. Wen Yu held the package, yet still felt as if her arm and wrist were bound by an invisible ring, still retaining the feeling of being tightened.

She lightly furrowed her brow.

Xiao Li stood in place. After watching the ox cart go far away, he glanced at one of his hands and muttered with puzzlement, “Her arm is as thin as a bamboo pole. Did Chen Laizi not feed her before?”

A monkey-like youth appeared from who knows where, with a piece of flatbread in his mouth as he responded, “What didn’t eat? Second Brother, you also haven’t had morning meal yet?”

As he spoke, he pulled another piece of flatbread from his bosom and handed it to Xiao Li: “Then you eat this first. I’ll go buy another one for Third Brother to take back later.”

Xiao Li put away that inexplicable expression on his face, didn’t take the flatbread from the youth’s hand, and said, “Keep it for yourself. Zheng Hu left me just now and went to eat wonton at the street corner.”

The youth then stuffed the flatbread back into his jacket, grumbling with dissatisfaction, “You guys eat good food without taking me!”

Xiao Li was amused by the youth’s words and tossed him a few copper coins, saying, “Buy whatever you want to eat yourself.”

The youth’s eyes immediately lit up. Biting on the flatbread, he caught the copper coins with both hands, wiped them on his sleeve, then treasured them away in his clothes pocket like precious items, fawning as he said, “Thank you, Second Brother! Second Brother truly is our Qiankun Gambling House’s handsome and elegant, jade tree facing the wind, wealthy and moneyed, human-faced beast-hearted…”

Before he finished speaking, he received a knock on his head and couldn’t help but clutch his head with an “ouch”: “Second Brother, you hit me!”

Xiao Li revealed a row of white teeth in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes: “Who are you calling human-faced beast-hearted?”

The youth was very confused: “Huh? Isn’t ‘human-faced beast-hearted’ a complimentary term? You see, though one has a human appearance, one actually has the ambition of a wild beast. Isn’t this the same meaning as phrases like ‘dragon seal and phoenix bearing’ or ‘tiger and wolf momentum’?”

Xiao Li covered his face: “You squat in front of Old Man Ge’s storytelling stall on the street corner every day. After listening to so many storytelling sessions, haven’t you gained any learning?”

The youth was unconvinced: “I have! Look, I can even think of so many words to praise you!”

Xiao Li didn’t want to recall the “complimentary” term “human-faced beast-hearted” again and said, “Fine, stop your glib talk. Have you finished the proper business I assigned you?”

The youth immediately grinned and patted his chest, saying, “Second Brother, the things you assign me, I must handle properly! This tile market street has been occupied by those bastards under Wang Qing for all these years. Now that Big Brother has stepped down, they still want to bring all the streets and alleys of the eastern city into their fold. This time they were so blind as to make things difficult for Aunt and the others. Second Brother, you having the brothers take over the tile market now—even if Wang Qing makes a fuss to the boss, he won’t be in the right!”

Xiao Li casually pulled a dry grass stalk from the roadside to chew on, saying with little concern, “Tell the brothers to keep their hands clean. Don’t learn from that useless bunch under Wang Qing who only know how to trouble small merchants and vendors.”

The youth chuckled and said, “That’s for sure. The brothers won’t be so useless! If we want protection money, we’ll get it from treacherous merchants and arrogant slaves!”

Speaking of this, the youth took a bite of flatbread and suddenly changed the subject: “The one who was troubled by those three wimps under Wang Qing was the maid that Chen Laizi tricked into giving to Aunt, right? I heard from the merchants on sundries street that she’s quite clever. At first she and Aunt were selling handkerchiefs at the sundries stalls, but there were too many vendors there and they couldn’t sell well. So she led Aunt to the cloth merchants to select cloth and successfully sold a whole basket of embroidered handkerchiefs there to the ladies buying cloth. It was precisely because of this that she provoked the envy of the embroidered goods peddler at the third stall in the eastern section.”

Xiao Li walked ahead. After hearing all this, he seemed to have no reaction, only tossing another copper coin to the youth, saying, “In the future when my mother brings her to this tile market again, have the brothers look after them more. Don’t let people cause trouble.”

The youth was overjoyed by this additional copper coin and immediately grinned: “That’s for certain. Second Brother, you can rest assured!”

Wen Yu and Xiao Huiniang returned home and moved the things from the ox cart into the courtyard, sorting them one by one.

From the package of cloth she had gone back to buy later, Xiao Huiniang took out a small box and handed it to Wen Yu, saying, “I saw that although the red bumps on your face are gone, the rash marks fade slowly. I found a familiar physician at the tile market and got you a box of ointment. Apply it once morning and evening, and those rash marks will fade completely before long. They won’t leave scars.”

Although this rash was deliberately caused by Wen Yu herself, Xiao Huiniang being so thoughtful as to even think of this still made Wen Yu’s heart feel as if a warm current had flowed through it. She held that ointment box with its rather exquisite exterior and said, “This must have been very expensive?”

Xiao Huiniang was busy organizing the silk cloth she had bought back and said upon hearing this, “Never mind expensive or not. As long as it can make the rashes on your face heal without leaving scars, that’s enough. Your parents gave you a good appearance. After you suffered so much falling into the hands of the human trafficker, when you find them later and they see your face has become like this, how heartbroken would they be?”

These words made Wen Yu’s heart suddenly tighten. She said sincerely, “Thank you, Big Sister.”

Xiao Huiniang murmured, “You child, you’re always so formal…”

Facing such care without any impurities, Wen Yu, usually so eloquent, suddenly became clumsy with her words, not knowing what to say. She silently stepped forward to help Xiao Huiniang continue organizing. When she discovered several tinderboxes in one package, she spoke with half surprise and half puzzlement: “Big Sister, you even bought so many tinderboxes?”

Xiao Huiniang glanced and said, “It was Huan’er who insisted on buying them. He said these are more convenient to use. Otherwise, it’s inconvenient to light lamps when getting up at night, always fumbling in the dark…”

She explained in a rambling manner, but Wen Yu recalled this morning when she didn’t know how to use flint and had woken him by striking the flint by the fire pit. She inexplicably felt a bit guilty.

Could it be he bought them because he didn’t want to be woken up by her again?

As soon as this thought crossed her mind, a sound came from outside the courtyard gate. That scoundrel had also returned.

Xiao Huiniang turned her head to look and exclaimed “Aiya”: “Did you buy the entire butcher shop back?”