The sun at the hour of Rooster time was nothing but an afterglow now, like a scattering of fire spilled across the small courtyard.

Li Diao’er sat cross-legged beneath the osmanthus tree, his calloused hands holding an osmanthus leaf, blowing into it over and over without stopping. Li Que’er leaned against the wicker fence, looking thoroughly disgusted, and said: “You can’t get a single sound out of it — all it does is puff puff from your mouth, like passing wind.”

Li Diao’er paid him no mind and kept puffing on his own.

Li Que’er walked to the tree, plucked an osmanthus leaf, placed it in his mouth, and in no time a clear and lively sound was flowing from the leaf.

Li Diao’er had been happily blowing his leaf alone — now that there was something to compare to, the difference was plainly obvious.

He threw down his leaf and stamped on it furiously twice, still not satisfied. He swung his arm round in a wide circle and sent his fist flying toward the osmanthus tree.

“If you damage the tree, Big Brother won’t let you off,” Li Que’er said.

Li Diao’er stopped his fist midway — couldn’t throw it, couldn’t not throw it. His face-full of heavy flesh turned red.

“You — why do you always bully Second Brother?” He glared at Li Que’er.

“If you’ve got nothing to do, go inside and check on her — Shen Zhuxi may have woken up.”

“I won’t go!” Li Diao’er turned away and crouched down sulkily: “Big Brother has favorites and it’s her. He makes pig offal for her right away — but when I want it, he never makes it for me!”

Li Que’er took no notice and started folding the osmanthus leaf in his hand.

“What’s a bit of pig offal? Do you know where Big Brother went?”

Li Diao’er looked up, his face full of curiosity: “Where did he go?”

“Big Brother went to fetch a doctor for her.”

“She vomited, she’s sick — she should see a doctor.”

“When Big Brother gets sick, he just goes up the mountain to pick some medicinal herbs and brews them himself. She does nothing more than run a slight fever, and yet Big Brother goes in person to Suxin Hall to fetch a doctor —” Li Que’er lowered his voice and said in a conspiratorial tone: “Do you know what that means?”

“What does it mean?”

“It means she is very valuable.” Li Que’er said with conviction: “I thought at first she was going to be our future sister-in-law, but Big Brother said she wasn’t. If she’s not a sister-in-law, then she can only be goods. Big Brother never does a losing deal.”

“Is she valuable?” Li Diao’er’s eyes lit up: “How much is she worth?”

“Sold to a pleasure house in the capital — with looks like hers, she’d fetch at least a thousand taels of silver.”

“A thousand taels — enough for me to eat, eat…” Li Diao’er began counting on his fingers again.

“So you’d better take good care of her. If something happens to her, you won’t get any meat,” Li Que’er said: “And don’t let her know about this — if she runs, you won’t get any meat either.”

Li Diao’er grinned blankly: “All right, all right… Second Brother will take good care of her.”

Li Wu and the silhouette of an old man in a long gown had already appeared outside the courtyard. Li Que’er hurried out the door to meet them.

“Big Brother, old friend —”

Inside the main hall, Shen Zhuxi pressed against the mud wall, her whole body cold and without strength.

She had only just woken up and was parched — she wanted a cup of water, that was all — yet she had overheard words as terrifying as these!

In a panic, she hurried back to the bed, nearly tripping and falling. Only with great difficulty did she manage to pull the cotton quilt — which smelled of a strange man — over herself, just before Li Wu walked in.

“This is the one,” Li Wu said. “She fainted right after vomiting.”

Shen Zhuxi kept her eyes firmly shut and worked hard to steady her racing heartbeat.

Someone sat down at the bedside and took hold of her wrist — without even placing a length of silk over it first, just reaching out and touching her wrist directly!

“Pulse hurried, feverish and perspiring.” The person reached out and felt her forehead, then pressed at her eyelids and said: “Frail frame, rapid eye movement, pulse fast and without strength. Looking at these symptoms…”

“Plain words,” Li Wu said.

“This young lady has deficiency fever. I’ll write out a few doses of medicine and she’ll be fine.”

“Fine,” Li Wu said. “If she isn’t cured, I’ll be back to find you.”

“I’ll write out the prescription when I get back to Suxin Hall — come collect it there and pick up the herbs at the same time.”

“I’ll go with you.”

After Li Wu followed the physician out of the main hall, the physician paused in the courtyard.

“This young lady isn’t from this county — what is she to you?”

“An acquaintance. Nothing more.” Li Wu said concisely.

“You’d better not be running the business of abducting women —”

Li Wu was displeased. His two thick brows knotted together: “Is that the kind of person I am?”

“Yes! Yes! Big Brother also fed her lots of pig offal!” Li Diao’er chimed in helpfully: “Even my share got eaten by her!”

“You, keep quiet,” Li Wu shot him a look. Li Diao’er crouched down aggrievedly.

“Things are chaotic everywhere right now. A young woman with her manner is absolutely not from an ordinary family. Don’t blame me for sticking my nose in — old as I am, I’ve watched you grow up, and I only mean this for your good…”

“Yes, yes, I know.” Li Wu said. “Since you claim to have watched me grow up, do you really have the heart to charge me for this house call?”

The physician stroked his white beard and said: “Business is business. Even if we were blood relatives, accounts would still need to be settled clearly.”

Li Wu scoffed and pushed open the wooden gate of the wicker fence.

“Besides taking the medicine — is there anything she should be careful about day to day?”

“Her constitution is fundamentally sound. This time it is the shock she received, combined with having had nothing to eat or drink for so long — it is not a serious matter. Plenty of rest will put her right.” The physician said: “You’re so concerned about her — if you didn’t abduct her, then are you hoping to make the young lady your wife?”

“Where does an old fellow like you get so much nonsense to say?”

“What’s the hurry? I’ve been through all of this myself. If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to come ask me…”

Li Que’er stood at the wicker fence gate and waved at the backs of the two departing figures: “Old friend, take care — Big Brother, rest easy! All is well at home!”

Once both figures had vanished from sight, Li Que’er let out a yawn and ambled lazily back into the courtyard.

“I’m going to use the privy. You keep an eye on the main hall.”

“Got it!” Li Diao’er did not even look up, his attention entirely on the two big black ants fighting beneath the osmanthus tree.

Not long after Li Que’er had taken the small path to the back of the earthen dwelling, several coughs came from inside the main hall, followed by a call:

“Li Diao’er…”

Li Diao’er swiveled his round head on his shoulders and looked left and right for a while, until at last he located the voice as coming from inside the dim main hall. He abandoned the two ants engaged in a fierce battle and walked to the main hall doorway, poking his head inside.

Shen Zhuxi was half-lying on the bed, her color pale.

“Li Diao’er… would you help me get some water to drink?”

Li Diao’er said: “Well I’ll be… you’ve got a lot of demands. All right, all right — for the sake of the meat…”

Once Li Diao’er turned and went into the kitchen, Shen Zhuxi — who had been lying on the bed seemingly at death’s door — immediately leapt up. She ran to the doorway, watched until Li Diao’er’s enormous frame had entered the kitchen, and then bolted out of the main hall at once.

She pushed open the wicker fence gate. Li Que’er and Li Diao’er still had not noticed her escape. Shen Zhuxi pulled the jade hairpin from her hair and threw it onto the dust-covered ground of the courtyard, hoping Li Wu and the other two would be satisfied with it and not pursue her.

Shen Zhuxi chose the direction Li Wu had gone, yet fearing she might run into Li Wu, she walked at a brisk pace the whole way, not daring to look back.

The last of the setting sun had already hidden itself away, and the sky was draped in a layer of blue-gray shadow. The darker it grew, the more Shen Zhuxi’s nerves stretched taut. From childhood to now, the farthest place she had ever been was the imperial temple — and even that was within the palace, only requiring a slightly longer ride in a sedan chair. But now — what kind of place was all of this?

The streets were bustling and lively, with people coming and going without end. A man carrying a shoulder pole selling steamed buns called out at the top of his lungs in a voice like a copper gong; a rice-and-oil shop owner had locked his doors, his large belly nearly pressing against the lock; a woman with her hair piled high atop her head was haggling with a fishmonger over the last grass carp in the basket.

An old farmer drove a skin-and-bones old ox slowly along the street. A plump orange cat lay lazily on the blue stone steps, exchanging a stare with her, its furry tail swaying back and forth. Drifting through the air were the smell of steamed buns, the green grassy smell of the earth, the smell of the gathered crowd’s perspiration, and another smell that could not be named.

Shen Zhuxi looked around in bewildered disorientation at this unfamiliar world before her. Without meaning to, she turned her head — and ran directly into a pair of murky, lifeless, copper-bell eyes, staring blankly. Shen Zhuxi was so startled she fell backward to the ground, and a few flies took fright and lifted off from a bristly skull.

The butcher’s wife let out a hearty peal of laughter, and the gazes of everyone around fell on her all at once.

Shen Zhuxi sat blankly staring at the black pig’s head on the wooden board, and felt every drop of blood drain from her body.

“Little miss, first time out on your own?”

The butcher’s wife came around from behind the stall and made to help her up. Shen Zhuxi was on her feet before she could get there and stumbled away, turning and running.

“Oh, that…”

Shen Zhuxi did not look back.

She ran in one go to a place with fewer people and stood there gasping for breath, tears flowing down her face without stopping. Ahead, a scholar was coming her way — she quickly walked a few more steps and positioned herself in front of a shop that had already closed for the evening, pressing hard against the tightly shut shop doors, wiping the tears from her eyes with force.

Those eyes that had lost all light made her think of Shu Fei, who had died without closing hers.

The horrors of the imperial palace came suddenly back to life — the fire spreading across the sky, the palace servants who had died so horribly — they rose before her eyes one after another, and she had no way to stop them, no way to forget them.

The scholar had finally gone. Shen Zhuxi crouched down in front of the shop door, curled herself into a tight ball, breathing deeply again and again, murmuring to herself: Don’t cry.

She did not know how many times she repeated it before the tears finally stopped. Shen Zhuxi looked around again at the place she was in, and suddenly caught a strange smell.

She followed the smell with her eyes until she located it — and fixed her gaze on her own embroidered shoe. She pressed herself against the shop door, lifted one foot, and her courage shattered.

Ox dung — right there, clinging to the sole of her embroidered shoe.

Shen Zhuxi burst into tears all over again.