The sky was turning a pale fish-belly white when they entered Linchun Town.

The main street, paved with bluestone slabs, was chaotically filled with sleeping refugees on both sides. Some had tattered straw mats beneath them, others slept fully clothed directly on the stone, and some didn’t even have proper clothes, wearing only trousers with bare chests. All had disheveled hair and grimy faces, exposing blackened hands and feet. Hearing movement, some raised their heads to look before turning over to continue sleeping, while others sat up and stared blankly as the group passed by. Nearby, a child was startled awake and began wailing loudly, the sound particularly resonant in the quiet summer morning. The mother immediately picked up the child, hushing softly, but the crying only grew louder. She loosened her clothes to breastfeed the child. The baby sucked desperately at the shriveled breast but quickly abandoned the nipple and resumed crying loudly. The man beside them jumped up furiously: “Cry, cry, cry! You keep crying, and I’ll trade you for meat!” The mother’s face instantly turned ashen white. She pressed the child’s head tightly against her chest, as if that might somehow quiet the crying. Then, trembling, she stood up and moved to a less crowded corner of the street, forcefully trying to push her nipple into the baby’s mouth while muttering repeatedly, “Don’t cry, don’t cry, or your father will trade you for meat!”

Fu Tingyun lowered her head in distress.

A-Sen comforted her: “If he truly intended to practice cannibalism, he would have done so already, not waited until they were just two days’ journey from Xi’an Prefecture.”

Walking beside them was one of Mo Yi’s subordinates, introduced as “Little Five,” supposedly a junior clerk from a trading company.

Hearing A-Sen’s words, he seemed to want to speak but held back.

A-Sen looked at him with a cold smile and challenged: “Perhaps I’m wrong?”

Last night—or rather, early this morning around the hour of Yin—when A-Sen was returning, he had detected a faint smell of blood from afar. Thinking of the unconscious Master Zhao Jiu and the defenseless Fu Tingyun, he had grown anxious and hurried toward the City God Temple. The closer he got to the temple, the stronger the smell of blood became. When he entered the main hall and saw corpses everywhere, he had been scared witless… If Fu Tingyun hadn’t called out to him in time, he would have been digging through the pile of bodies searching for them.

Learning that Mo Yi was one of Master Zhao Jiu’s saviors, he had knelt and kowtowed nine times, then hugged Master Zhao Jiu’s legs and wept: “It’s all my fault… if only I had returned earlier!”

Master Zhao Jiu had smiled and patted his head: “What would you have done if you’d returned earlier? Become a target?” His tone was gentle.

This made A-Sen feel even more guilty. He lowered his head and muttered: “As soon as I left the temple, I felt like someone was following me, so I circled the area several times. Just when I thought I’d lost them, they seemed to pick up my trail again as I headed back to town. I was so angry that I set a trap in the willow grove outside town and toyed with them for a while…” A-Sen looked up at Master Zhao Jiu with an earnest expression, “Nine, I promise I won’t do such things again!”

“The important thing is that you’re back!” Master Zhao Jiu smiled casually, appearing unconcerned about the matter. Then he said to Mo Yi, “We’ll trouble Steward Mo then. Let’s head to Linchun now!”

Though Mo Yi’s fierce appearance made his expression seem somewhat stiff, no one took offense. After gathering their belongings, Mo Yi helped Master Zhao Jiu onto the small pushcart. As they left the City God Temple, Fu Tingyun and the others discovered that Mo Yi had two more “junior clerks” with him. Both were ordinary-looking, the type who would be difficult to spot in a crowd. One was in his early twenties, named Chen Six, and the other was fifteen or sixteen, called Little Five. Both wore short hempen jackets, though Chen Six’s was clean while Little Five’s was dusty and carried an unpleasant odor of excrement. When A-Sen saw Little Five, his eyes widened, but before he could say anything, Master Zhao Jiu instructed him: “Dawn is breaking. If we encounter officials, we won’t be able to clear our names even if we jump into the Yellow River. We’d better get to Linchun Town quickly!”

Mo Yi agreed with this.

The group hurried along.

On the way, A-Sen whispered to Fu Tingyun: “The person who was following me fell into the pit I dug—I had defecated in that pit.”

Fu Tingyun was speechless: “You, you…”

A-Sen seemed somewhat proud: “That’s what they get for following me. I treated them to a special meal!”

Fu Tingyun barely managed to suppress her laughter, but she also became somewhat suspicious.

Still, she trusted Master Zhao Jiu the most.

Since Master Zhao Jiu wasn’t questioning such an obvious matter, there must be a reason for his silence.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Fu Tingyun whispered to A-Sen. “Mo Yi and his people are present!”

A-Sen nodded but continued to look displeased with Little Five. From the City God Temple to Linchun Town, he kept finding fault with him. Little Five maintained a magnanimous attitude, appearing to be above A-Sen’s pettiness, which only irritated A-Sen more.

Now he was nitpicking again, making things difficult for Little Five.

This time, Little Five didn’t dismiss it with a smile as he had previously, but neither did he engage in verbal sparring. Instead, he addressed Fu Tingyun seriously: “Everyone thinks reaching Xi’an Prefecture will improve things, but in reality, Xi’an is worse than Linchun Town. At least Linchun Town still has places to sleep. Xi’an closed its gates half a month ago, allowing people to leave but not enter. Officials patrol daily, and no one is permitted to rest within fifty zhang of the city walls—violators are beaten to death. Countless have died from starvation or beatings. The Jiuli Ravine south of the city has nearly become a mass burial ground.”

A-Sen argued with Little Five: “Xi’an is the capital of Shaanxi. Hasn’t anyone set up porridge kitchens?” He sounded half-doubtful.

Little Five snorted: “Without official sanction, who would dare set up porridge kitchens privately?”

Fu Tingyun frowned: “Isn’t Official Dong doing anything about this?”

“Official Dong?” Little Five said dismissively. “He’s only concerned with currying favor with Palace Eunuch Hong Du, the Supervisor of the Imperial Secretariat, and ensuring the comfort of Prince Jian, who’s taking refuge in Xi’an. He wants someone to speak for him and shift the blame if the Emperor finds fault. How could he care whether the common people of Shaanxi live or die?”

Fu Tingyun and A-Sen fell silent, thinking about all they had seen and heard on their journey.

Suddenly, two boys about ten years old darted out from the side: “Uncle, Sister! We haven’t eaten for three days and nights. Please be kind and spare us some food!” Their eyes were remarkably alert.

Chen Six, who was pushing the cart, glanced hesitantly at Mo Yi walking beside him. Mo Yi shook his head slightly.

With a commotion, seven or eight children seemed to appear from nowhere. All were in tattered clothes and emaciated. They surrounded the group, clamoring, “Uncle, Sister, please help us,” while reaching out for handouts. Some even reached directly into the pushcart.

“Get lost, all of you!” Mo Yi roared like thunder, grabbing one of the children and throwing him onto the bluestone pavement.

The entire street fell silent as everyone looked at Mo Yi with fearful eyes.

“Get the hell out of here!” Mo Yi shouted again. The children, as if jolted awake, scrambled to pick up their fallen companion and ran away.

After this incident, they easily occupied an abandoned shop.

With Mo Yi and Chen Six’s help, Master Zhao Jiu rested in an inner room upstairs, while Fu Tingyun stayed in the adjoining side room.

“I must trouble Steward Mo, Chen Six, and Little Five to stay downstairs,” Master Zhao Jiu said apologetically. “I have female company here…”

Mo Yi responded straightforwardly: “Call me if you need anything!”

“Many thanks!” Master Zhao Jiu clasped his hands in a salute, then instructed Fu Tingyun to clean the room and told A-Sen to escort Mo Yi and the others downstairs.

Once Mo Yi and his companions’ footsteps had faded on the stairs, Master Zhao Jiu said to Fu Tingyun, who was searching for a cleaning cloth: “Take a rest. A-Sen can do these things when he returns!”

Hadn’t he just asked her to clean the room?

Why was he now saying to wait for A-Sen?

Fu Tingyun was confused.

Master Zhao Jiu lay pale-faced on the bed without curtains and smiled at her: “I have something to tell you.”

His manner was unusually gentle.

Do people become particularly vulnerable when they’re ill?

Fu Tingyun wondered as she brought a stool to the bedside: “Are you worried about Mo Yi and his men? Is that why you asked them to stay downstairs?”

There were four or five more rooms upstairs, while the downstairs was for business, with only a shopfront and a small side room for storing goods.

Master Zhao Jiu nodded slightly. A-Sen returned and, seeing Fu Tingyun sitting by the bed, immediately said: “Master, I’ll go fetch some water!”

“That can wait!” Master Zhao Jiu said. “Guard the door and give us a signal if anyone comes.” Then to Fu Tingyun: “Find Lord Sixteen’s name card.”

A-Sen took his position at the door, and Fu Tingyun found the card and handed it to him. Since the room had no bedding, she placed a bundle of clothes behind his back to help him see more clearly, then opened the window.

Outside was a grove of dead trees, with the post road to Lantian County visible in the distance. A warm breeze entered through the window.

Even this made Fu Tingyun sigh with feeling: “It’s been many days since I’ve felt a breeze.” She added, “In a year with good weather, I wonder how beautiful this view would be!”

Master Zhao Jiu smiled without responding, examining the name card carefully.

Fu Tingyun looked at Master Zhao Jiu.

His forehead was broad, his nose straight, giving him an intelligent appearance. His lips were somewhat thin; when pressed together, they conveyed a coldness that kept people at a distance, but when he smiled, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and his expression revealed a forthright and carefree nature… He looked better when smiling.

Perhaps sensing her gaze, or having finished examining the name card, Master Zhao Jiu suddenly looked up, catching Fu Tingyun staring at him.

Master Zhao Jiu was slightly taken aback: “What is it?”

Looking at him this way… without any reservation… they weren’t close enough for this, were they? He suddenly recalled her words, “I had no choice but to say we were engaged,” and felt a bit uncomfortable, coughing lightly.

Fu Tingyun’s ears grew hot.

It was like she’d been possessed—a glance would have been enough, why had she stared at him? And worse, he’d caught her in the act… What if he misunderstood and thought she was improper? Then she thought about how she’d told Lord Sixteen and the others they were engaged… At the time, the situation had been urgent, and no one had questioned it, but now that they could speak privately, she really should find an opportunity to explain.