Three days slipped quietly by.

On the day Sui Rui departed, Shen Zhuxi and all three Li brothers came to see her off. The procession was substantial, yet its sole decision-maker was Sui Rui herself.

Li Wu and Li Que stood talking beside the carriage. Li Kun, still unaware that this parting from Sui Rui might mean not knowing when they would meet again, was contentedly gnawing on the taro cake Shen Zhuxi had bought him.

Inside the carriage, Shen Zhuxi held Sui Rui’s hands in hers, the tears she had been suppressing for a long while shimmering ceaselessly in her eyes.

“All right! If you carry on like this, I will start crying too!” Sui Rui put on an air of impatience and pressed the tears from Shen Zhuxi’s eyes with her handkerchief.

“Once you have settled in, ask someone to write a letter and have it brought to me — I will write to you as well,” Shen Zhuxi said, her voice catching.

“I will,” Sui Rui agreed without hesitation. “After I am gone, take good care of yourself. If anything happens, go find Jiu Niang — she looks cold but has a warm heart. Even now, she claims the shop is too busy for her to get away, but I can tell that is just an excuse. She is afraid she would cry herself into a sorry state if she came, so she is making up reasons to stay away.”

Shen Zhuxi acknowledged this with reddened eyes. She held Sui Rui’s hands tightly, not daring to loosen her grip for a moment — as if the moment she let go, this friend who had come into her life against all odds would set off into the distance and be gone.

“Stop crying now — if you keep it up, that dreadful Li Wu will not let me hear the end of it,” Sui Rui said, patting the back of Shen Zhuxi’s hand in comfort.

Shen Zhuxi reined in her tears and said quietly, “…Did he come to find you afterward?”

Whom she meant, they both understood without saying.

Sui Rui immediately let out a cold laugh. “How could he not? He came the very next morning.”

“What did he say?” Shen Zhuxi asked urgently.

“That I was to marry him, or he would tell everyone what happened.” Though Sui Rui kept her composure, a fury she could not entirely conceal flared up in her eyes. “Become the live-in husband of the Sui Family? In his dreams! I put him off, then immediately persuaded my father to leave ahead of schedule.”

She went on: “My father set off with half our household and staff yesterday after midday. Without my father here, let that worthless cur try threatening whoever he likes.”

Worthless cur — Shen Zhuxi had not heard that expression before and hastily committed it to memory, adding it to what had become a rather sparse repertoire of colorful language since her arrival among common folk.

“You have no intention of negotiating with him?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“A man like that — give him one concession and he will demand a second. Besides, I refuse to swallow this insult!” Fury swept across Sui Rui’s face; she clenched her fists and said in a sharp, fierce voice, “In any case, I am an heiress — my reputation is already beyond caring about! And if men look at my family’s money alone, there is no shortage of men willing to move into my household. Who does he think he is, fancying himself fit to become my family’s live-in husband?!”

Shen Zhuxi took her hands and silently soothed her agitation.

After a long while, Sui Rui calmed down, and she looked earnestly at Shen Zhuxi. “I am about to leave for Xiangyang, and I will be all right — it is you I am worried about. Zhou Zhuang is the kind of man who will do anything for money to gamble with. You must be extremely careful around him!”

Not wanting Sui Rui to spend the hour of her departure still worrying about her, Shen Zhuxi said with a show of lightness, “Li Wu is here — do not worry.” She produced the sheet of flower-patterned stationery she had spent several days carefully drawing, and placed it in Sui Rui’s hands. “This is a parting gift I prepared for you. Wait until you have set off before you open it…”

“Why so mysterious? Do not tell me you have written me a lengthy letter — I cannot read!” Sui Rui laughed helplessly.

“Do not worry — you will be able to understand it,” Shen Zhuxi said vaguely. “Something to keep you company on the road.”

The two of them talked a while longer, until the head of the escort company hired to see Sui Rui off came to remind them it was time to depart.

“I will not hold you back any longer. Set off while it is early, before it grows dark and the road becomes dangerous,” Shen Zhuxi said, wiping her tears as she stepped down from the carriage.

Li Wu saw her tears. He said nothing, but walked to her side and, without a word, gently patted her on the head.

Tears glimmered in Sui Rui’s eyes as she leaned out the window with a smile and called out in a loud voice, “I am off! I will write when I arrive!”

The procession gradually began to move. Sui Rui waved with all her strength from the carriage window, until the figures of Shen Zhuxi and the others became impossible to make out any longer.

She dried her tears, settled back into the carriage, and after sitting in a daze for a while, opened the flower-patterned stationery Shen Zhuxi had given her.

The pages of that small notebook were not filled with flowers or birds or landscapes or strange rocks — but with images of her, rendered in all manner of expressions and poses. Her as she was: radiant, blazing, gloriously alive.

Warm teardrops fell onto the pages, yet Sui Rui could not keep herself from breaking into a wide, helpless smile.

The midday sun hung high in the clear blue sky. The rumbling of carriage wheels, accompanied by the steady beat of hoofbeats, slowly faded away into the distance. Time passed quietly amid the wordless silence of three figures and the cheerful sounds of one person devouring a taro cake.

Watching Sui Rui’s procession disappear down the dirt road beyond the town gate, Shen Zhuxi felt a wistful ache in her heart.

The next time they would meet — what month, what year might that be?

Shen Zhuxi drew her gaze back from the end of the road, where nothing remained but drifting dust, and unexpectedly caught a glimpse of a figure that flickered and vanished behind a house.

“What is wrong?” Li Wu immediately noticed the change in her expression.

Zhou Zhuang’s face — twisted with vicious fury — was still deeply imprinted on Shen Zhuxi’s mind. She felt a surge of dread, and instinctively shook her head. “Nothing…”

Shen Zhuxi quickly looked away. Li Wu turned his gaze toward the direction she had been staring — along the two sides of the street and between the buildings on either side, there was nothing out of the ordinary to be seen.

That Zhou Zhuang would appear here was both unexpected and, on reflection, entirely within the realm of reason. Her heart was a tangle of unease, and she remained distracted for the entire walk back.

Sui Rui had left. What would Zhou Zhuang do next? Would he go after her to Xiangyang? Or would he set his sights on another victim?

If he turned to another victim, would that not mean yet another woman would come to harm?

That possibility made it impossible for Shen Zhuxi to remain silent any longer.

“Li Wu… I…” She weighed her words carefully.

Li Wu watched her without speaking, neither pressing nor impatient. Li Que had keen enough judgment to see that the two had something to discuss, and tugged Li Kun — who had just finished his taro cake and was licking his fingers — to walk a little way off to the side.

“It is just that… I have a friend…” Shen Zhuxi paused, then quickly added emphasis: “Not Sui Rui!”

“Right. Not Sui Rui,” Li Wu said amenably, giving a nod.

“And not Jiu Niang either — someone you do not know!”

“Right. Someone I do not know.”

Shen Zhuxi took what had happened to Sui Rui and transferred it onto a fictitious friend, then told Li Wu about it in a roundabout, halting way. She spoke in stumbling fragments, yet Li Wu listened through to the end with unfailing patience.

As their group gradually made their way back to the busy main street, the increase of people around them brought Shen Zhuxi some measure of calm, though her gaze still could not help but scan around for Zhou Zhuang’s dangerous, sinister face, terrified that if she were not careful, he would appear somewhere right behind her.

“So what is it you are worried about now?” Li Wu asked.

“I am wor — not me, my friend’s friend,” Shen Zhuxi said. “She is worried that this gambler, having failed to extort money from this person, will find ways to harm other women.”

“What your friend’s friend worries about is not entirely without reason,” Li Wu said. “Tell your friend’s friend not to worry anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because Li Wu knows about it now.”

……

“Ow!” Zhou Zhuang crashed heavily to the ground.

What had been a raucous second floor of the gambling den fell in an instant to the silence where one could hear a pin drop. Those of faint heart took one look and, on the spot, put down their gambling pieces and quietly retreated.

A moment later, Hu Yishou emerged from behind a beaded curtain, dressed in gold and silver adornment. He wore a dark expression, a gold smoking pipe in hand, and was surrounded by a cluster of more than a dozen robust young men.

“…Li Wu. What is the meaning of this?”

“It is not convenient to talk here. Master Hu, shall we move somewhere more private?” Li Wu said, paying absolutely no mind to the large number of bodyguards at Hu Yishou’s side — men whose build was not to be taken lightly — and asked with a casually indifferent air.

Hu Yishou’s gaze swept from Li Kun and Li Que standing behind Li Wu, then came to rest on Zhou Zhuang, who lay on the floor in a panic. After a moment, he spoke:

“Come in.”

Li Wu followed Hu Yishou behind the curtain without a moment’s hesitation. Li Que followed close behind. Li Kun grabbed Zhou Zhuang by the hair and dragged the screaming man in behind them.

Hu Yishou instructed his attendants to bring seats and tea for the three Li brothers, then settled himself into a carved rosewood armchair inlaid with mother-of-pearl. He held the smoking pipe to his mouth, narrowed his eyes, drew a slow breath, and exhaled just as slowly.

“Speak then. What brings you here this time?”

“Master Hu, save me—” Zhou Zhuang had barely gotten the words out before Li Que sent a flying kick at his head.

Li Que’s face remained cheerful when he struck. His force had nothing to do with his expression. Zhou Zhuang hit the floor with a thud, face drained, and could not catch his breath for quite some time.

“Master Hu, I am afraid you are going to be disappointed. The debt Zhou Zhuang owes you is going to become a bad one.”

Hu Yishou’s mood was unreadable. The cold pupils beneath his half-lowered lids were like those of a cold-blooded serpent lying in wait.

“Li Wu…” Hu Yishou said at a leisurely drawl, “do not let it come to a death. Every life in this town belongs to the county magistrate. You were the one who told me that.”

“Those words still hold,” said Li Wu.

“Then this is…” Hu Yishou’s gaze moved to Zhou Zhuang.

“He cannot repay the debt,” Li Wu said. “The young lady of the Sui Family will not yield to his threats — he is not getting a single copper coin out of the Sui Family. For the sake of peace and order here in Yutou County, I would have someone keep watch on him before Master Hu’s deadline ran out, to stop him from going out and hurting more people — but why go to that trouble?”

Li Wu’s manner of speaking shifted. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his right leg leisurely over his left knee, and made himself at home as if he were taking tea in his own house.

“Not only would I have to put in my own men and effort, Master Hu would also have to spend two extra days wasting time on him,” Li Wu said. “So I brought him here instead — to see whether we might not save each other the time and manpower in between.”

A slow smile spread across Hu Yishou’s face.

“I understand what you are saying.”

“Master Hu is straightforward.”

“If ever there comes a day when I have need of you, I hope Brother Li will be as straightforward as I am now.”

“That goes without saying,” said Li Wu. He stood and turned to his two brothers behind him. “Let us go.”

Li Wu left without a backward glance. Li Kun and Li Que followed in his wake, leaving behind only Zhou Zhuang, his face ashen with terror.

“You are just going to let him leave like that?” one of Hu Yishou’s men said in a low voice. “How does he manage to push all the dirty work onto Master Hu every time?”

Hu Yishou waved him off, drawing a slow breath from his pipe.

“Let him go. Li Wu’s ambitions lie beyond Yutou County. What is wrong with forging goodwill now, while we can?”

“Then he…” The subordinate glanced toward Zhou Zhuang.

Zhou Zhuang gave a violent shudder and began knocking his head against the ground with frantic urgency — the thudding sounds coming one after another, without cease. He trembled like a sieve, the hand missing two fingers pressed to the floor, leaving a sweat-soaked imprint on the ground.

“Master Hu, spare me, spare me, I will repay the money, I really will! Do not listen to him — Li Wu was talking nonsense! He is trying to harm me, Master Hu!”

Hu Yishou did not look at him, and said with an air of idle indifference:

“Drag him to the back. Hamstring him.”