The village was indeed very clean.

They found a spacious house to rest in.

The midday summer heat made everyone drowsy.

They latched the door, with Fu Tingyun resting in the back chamber while Master Zhao Jiu and A-Sen stayed in the main hall. Everyone took an afternoon nap. When the sun began to weaken, they each drank some water, ate half a steamed bun, and resumed their journey.

At night, when they didn’t encounter any villages, they camped in the open fields by the roadside.

With the small cart between them, Master Zhao Jiu and A-Sen slept on the left, while Fu Tingyun slept on the right.

After traveling this way for two or three days, Master Zhao Jiu finally noticed that Fu Tingyun only took two sips of water at noon and didn’t touch her steamed bun at all.

Fu Tingyun quickly explained, “The weather is too hot. I really can’t eat.”

“Even if you can’t eat, you must eat!” Master Zhao Jiu stuffed the bun into her hand. “Being on the road is not like being at home. When it’s time to make do, you must make do.”

He made it sound as if she were spoiled and didn’t understand hardship.

Fu Tingyun didn’t want to argue with him, but she just held the bun without eating it.

Master Zhao Jiu frowned deeply.

A-Sen looked confused, glancing at the silent Fu Tingyun, then at Master Zhao Jiu’s displeased expression. After hesitating for a while, he finally said, “Miss Fu said that since she doesn’t have to walk, the buns should be saved for Master.”

Master Zhao Jiu was slightly taken aback.

Fu Tingyun had already coldly snorted and stood up, calling “A-Sen”: “Let’s go to the hillside for a walk—every spring, Grandmother would take us sisters to the villa in Huaxi Town for spring outings and teach us to gather wild vegetables. I see the trees on the eastern slope are still alive, which likely means there’s a spring. Perhaps we can find some wild vegetables! That would spare us from drinking water and eating steamed buns every day.” After speaking, she turned and went out the door.

Her dissatisfaction with Master Zhao Jiu was evident.

Master Zhao Jiu was stunned again.

A-Sen stared wide-eyed, and only after Fu Tingyun’s figure disappeared outside the door did he come to his senses.

One was Miss Fu, whom he liked very much, and the other was Master Jiu, whom he respected the most.

“Master!” A-Sen anxiously looked at Master Zhao Jiu, not knowing what to do.

“Go on!” Master Zhao Jiu smiled bitterly. “Don’t let Miss Fu be alone.”

Although he had specifically chosen remote country roads, even when they encountered villages, if there were corpses of famine victims, he would avoid them. Despite this caution, it was better to be careful. There might be others with the same idea, carrying enough food and water on the road, fearing robbery, who chose the same path as they did.

A-Sen’s eyes grew even wider.

Master… was smiling bitterly!

He couldn’t remember the last time he saw Master Jiu smile bitterly.

Even if the sky were falling, Master Jiu would just nod calmly, pace around the room with his hands behind his back, or sit by the river alone for a while, and then come up with a solution… Miss Fu had merely run out alone. They could just call her back, so why smile bitterly?

A-Sen felt it necessary to remind Master Jiu.

But Master Jiu had already urged him, “Hurry up and go!”

A-Sen had never disobeyed Master Zhao Jiu’s words. Without thinking, he responded with a “Yes,” and by the time he realized he had answered too quickly, Master Zhao Jiu had already lowered his head to arrange the small cart.

Miss Fu had been gone for a while now… if she encountered wild dogs or something, that would be terrible! He could quietly tell Master Jiu later on the road.

A-Sen pondered as he ran out the door, only to see Fu Tingyun standing in the hay storage shed outside the house.

“Miss Fu!” he was very surprised.

Fu Tingyun smiled at him: “The weather is too hot. Let’s go look later.”

Although she was angry at Master Zhao Jiu for being too presumptuous, she wouldn’t stubbornly run to the hill and make them search for her when everyone was already exhausted from traveling.

They were now resting in a village at the foot of a hill. Most of the vegetation on the hill had withered, with only a few once-lush towering trees still alive in the northwest corner. Some weeds grew under the trees, but as for wild vegetables and the like, that was certainly impossible. Why did Miss Fu specifically mention searching for wild vegetables?

Seeing that Fu Tingyun had temporarily abandoned her plan to go to the hill, A-Sen was naturally pleased.

At least Miss Fu wouldn’t be embarrassed in front of Master Jiu for failing to find wild vegetables after making such claims.

The two sat in the shed talking.

It was hot, and as they talked, they fell asleep.

By the time Master Zhao Jiu woke them up, the sky was already filled with the evening glow.

A-Sen got up nimbly: “Master…” His face flushed bright red.

They had missed the time to continue their journey.

Fu Tingyun, however, didn’t move a muscle on her face. She stood up unhurriedly, dusted herself off, and asked Master Zhao Jiu calmly, “Can we go now?”

Master Zhao Jiu responded with an “Mm,” turning around and going back inside with his usual demeanor.

A-Sen admired Master Zhao Jiu and always imitated his every move. He was very familiar with him. To Fu Tingyun, Master Zhao Jiu seemed no different than usual, but in A-Sen’s eyes, he felt Master Jiu seemed somewhat resigned.

Resigned?

Because of Miss Fu?

A-Sen stared at Fu Tingyun’s back for a long time, unable to understand why!

…

From that day on, although Master Zhao Jiu still handed Fu Tingyun a steamed bun at noon as before, if she didn’t eat it, he didn’t force her. As for Fu Tingyun, she no longer initiated conversations with Master Zhao Jiu as she had before, though she still chatted and laughed with A-Sen just as before. Sometimes when Master Zhao Jiu spoke to Fu Tingyun, she would answer clearly and concisely, without a single extra word. Sometimes when Fu Tingyun was happily talking with A-Sen, if Master Zhao Jiu walked over, she would immediately stop speaking, only to resume her animated conversation with A-Sen after he left.

Despite his young age, A-Sen could tell that Fu Tingyun was giving Master Zhao Jiu the cold shoulder.

Master Zhao Jiu had always been taciturn; others usually had to initiate conversations with him.

A-Sen felt this was Fu Tingyun’s fault.

While Master Zhao Jiu went ahead to scout the path, he asked Fu Tingyun, “Why don’t you talk to Master Jiu? He’s talking to you!”

“I’m not!” Fu Tingyun wiped the sweat from her forehead. “There’s nothing to say, so naturally there are fewer words!”

A-Sen didn’t believe that at all!

He pursed his lips, about to say something, when suddenly a group of people rushed out from the woods on the hill.

They were all young and middle-aged men, seven or eight of them. Each was as thin as a skeleton, with gaunt, sallow faces and sunken eye sockets that held ferocious gazes. They carried hoes or wooden clubs, looking at them like starving mad dogs spotting food, their eyes gleaming green.

Fu Tingyun’s hair stood on end.

A-Sen quickly pulled out a staff from the small cart, stepped forward, and said, “Who are you?” placing himself in front of Fu Tingyun.

How could she let a child shield her?

“A-Sen…” Fu Tingyun tried to pull A-Sen back, but the group had already swarmed forward.

“Get away quickly!” A-Sen shouted, shaking off Fu Tingyun’s hand and wielding his staff, charging forward and striking the neck of the leader.

The man was caught off guard and collapsed to the ground.

The people behind looked at A-Sen in shock, their steps faltering.

A-Sen, however, paid no attention and swung his staff again, hitting the head of the person closest to him.

That person cried out “Aiya!” and clutched his head, blood flowing between his fingers.

The others snapped out of their daze and charged at A-Sen, howling.

A-Sen met them fearlessly.

Although those men were numerous, adult males, and much larger than A-Sen, they only knew how to crowd together, striking at A-Sen with hoes or wooden clubs. Not only were they uncoordinated, but their movements were also sluggish, as if they were too hungry to have strength. In contrast, A-Sen wielded his staff with chopping, prodding, sweeping, and thrusting movements, full of vitality and at tricky angles. Taking advantage of his small stature to dart about, he forced the group to chase him in circles, unable to get close to him.

A-Sen was truly clever!

Fu Tingyun breathed a sigh of relief.

But no matter what, two fists cannot defeat many hands—A-Sen was, after all, just a child.

She used all her strength to shout “Help!” in the direction Master Zhao Jiu had gone.

Two men who had been circling outside the fighting group exchanged glances, abandoned A-Sen and the others, and ran toward Fu Tingyun.

Fu Tingyun frantically tried to find something in the small cart to defend herself with, but there was nothing in the cart except reed mats, bamboo mats, chopsticks, bowls, steamed buns, and water pouches.

She was so anxious that she was drenched in sweat.

The two men had already reached her.

“What do you want?” she scolded while retreating to the other side of the small cart. “Our master is about to return. Watch out for your lives!”

There was ferocity in both men’s expressions. One of medium height, wearing a parrot-green silk Taoist robe with a dried bloodstain on the sleeve, looked at Fu Tingyun with a flash of amazement in his eyes, followed by delight: “Elder Brother, this woman is very beautiful. She could sell for at least fifty taels of silver…”

Fu Tingyun turned pale with fright and randomly grabbed something to shield her chest.

The other man was short with a horse-like face. When he saw Fu Tingyun’s face, greed flashed in his triangular eyes, but his gaze quickly fell on the small cart. He said, “What time is it now, and you’re still thinking about these messy things? Even if this woman could sell for fifty taels of silver, we would need to be alive to take her to Chunxi House. Survival is the priority! Quickly help me push this cart away.” As he spoke, he ran over and grabbed the handles of the small cart, muttering, “One look at this woman and you know there must be valuable goods on this cart. With luck, there might even be some valuables…”

Fu Tingyun’s mind finally caught up.

Compared to food that could save their lives, she, who could be sold for fifty taels of silver, wasn’t as important.

If they let the men take the cart away, they probably wouldn’t survive either.

Fu Tingyun suddenly thought of the idiom “Three peaches kill three warriors.”

She shouted, “You can’t take our food away! If you take it, what will we eat?”

The group surrounding A-Sen heard this and immediately abandoned him to run in this direction.

Fu Tingyun quickly ran toward where Master Zhao Jiu had gone, shouting “Master Jiu, help!” as she ran.

The woman’s piercing voice echoed in the air.

Master Zhao Jiu’s figure appeared on the barren field ridge.

For some reason, Fu Tingyun’s nose stung, and tears blurred her vision.

She saw Master Zhao Jiu move like lightning, leaping several times to reach her side. Without a word, he swung his fist forward. She heard a “crack” that sounded like breaking bones, then turned to see the horse-faced man lying motionless on the ground.

Fu Tingyun quickly retreated to the side.

Master Zhao Jiu grabbed the fellow in the parrot-green silk Taoist robe and threw him onto the group trying to steal their belongings.

With a loud “thud,” five or six people immediately fell to the ground.

“Master!” A-Sen’s spirits lifted as he abandoned the men harassing him and ran over to give each of the fallen men an extra blow to the head with his staff.

Master Zhao Jiu had already knocked down the men surrounding A-Sen with one punch each.

“Master!” A-Sen ran over, choked with emotion.

“What happened?” Master Zhao Jiu glanced at the men on the ground and asked Fu Tingyun.

Fu Tingyun quickly recounted what had happened.

“We can’t stay here long!” Master Zhao Jiu immediately said. “Let’s go quickly!”

Both Fu Tingyun and A-Sen became nervous after hearing this. They hurriedly packed up the items that had been scattered by the group of men, placed them on the small cart, and followed Master Zhao Jiu with quick steps.