Chapter 37

As they entered Linchun Town, the sky was tinged with the pale gray of dawn.

The main street, paved with blue flagstones, was cluttered with refugees sleeping in disarray. Some lay on tattered straw mats, others slept fully clothed directly on the stones, and a few, lacking even a shirt, sprawled bare-chested in nothing but loincloths. All were disheveled, with grimy hands and feet. At the sound of footsteps, some lifted their heads for a glance before rolling over to sleep again, while others sat up and stared blankly as the group passed by. Nearby, a small child startled awake burst into loud wails, piercing the tranquil midsummer morning with startling clarity. The mother immediately scooped the child up and hushed it softly, but the crying only grew louder. She unbuttoned her blouse to nurse the child, who sucked desperately at her withered breast but soon spat out the nipple and wailed even harder. The man beside her leapt up in fury: "Cry, cry, cry! Cry again, and I'll trade you for meat!" The mother's face went ashen in an instant, and she pressed the child's head tightly against her chest, as if that might muffle the sobs. Then, trembling, she rose and shuffled to a quieter corner of the street, stuffing the nipple into the child's mouth while murmuring over and over: "Don't cry, don't cry, or your father will trade you for meat!"

Fu Tingjun lowered her head in distress.

A Sen tried to comfort her: "If he were going to trade his child for food, he'd have done it long ago. He wouldn't wait until they're only two days from Xi'an Prefecture to get that idea."

Walking beside them was one of Mo Yi's men, whom Mo Yi introduced as "Xiao Wu," a young clerk from the trading house.

He seemed about to speak upon hearing A Sen's words but held back.

A Sen gave a cold smirk and challenged him: "What, am I wrong?"

Last night—or rather, early this morning around the hour of Yin—A Sen had caught a faint scent of blood on the road back. Worried about the unconscious Zhao Jiuye and the defenseless Fu Tingjun, he had hurried straight to the City God Temple. The closer he got, the stronger the stench of blood became. When he entered the main hall and saw the bodies strewn everywhere, he was frozen with shock... Had Fu Tingjun not called out to him in time, he would have flung himself into that pile of corpses to dig for Zhao Jiuye.

Learning that Mo Yi was one of Zhao Jiuye's saviors, he knelt and kowtowed nine times, then clung to Zhao Jiuye's leg, sobbing: "It's all my fault... If only I'd come back sooner!"

Zhao Jiuye smiled and patted his head. "What would you have come back early for? To be a target?" His tone was gentle.

A Sen felt even more guilty, lowering his head and murmuring: "The moment I left the temple, I felt like someone was following me. I circled around here several times, finally shook them off, but on my way back into town, it seemed they were on my trail again. I got so angry that I set a trap in the willow grove outside town and toyed with them for a while..." He looked up at Zhao Jiuye with pleading eyes and earnestly confessed, "Ninth Master, I'll never dare do that again!"

"Good that you're back!" Zhao Jiuye waved it off with a smile, as if the matter were of no consequence, then said to Mo Yi, "Then we'll trouble Manager Mo. Let's head to Linchun now!"

Mo Yi had a fierce appearance, and his expression at that moment seemed somewhat stiff, but no one paid it much mind. They gathered their things, and Mo Yi helped Zhao Jiuye onto the handcart. As they left the temple, Fu Tingjun and the others noticed that Mo Yi had two more "young clerks" with him. Both were plain-featured, the type you'd lose in a crowd. One, in his early twenties, was called Chen Liu; the other, fifteen or sixteen, was Xiao Wu. Both wore short coarse tunics, though Chen Liu was clean while Xiao Wu was covered in dust and reeked of manure—quite unpleasant. The moment A Sen saw Xiao Wu, his eyes went wide, and he was about to say something when Zhao Jiuye instructed him: "Dawn is breaking. If we run into the authorities, we'll never be able to clear our names. Best we get to Linchun Town quickly!"

Mo Yi was of the same mind.

The group hurried along the road.

On the way, A Sen whispered to Fu Tingjun: "The one following me—I tricked him into falling into a pit I dug. I'd left a pile of shit in it."

Fu Tingjun was dumbfounded: "You, you..."

A Sen, however, looked rather pleased with himself: "Serves him right for tailing me. I treated him to a fine meal!"

Fu Tingjun barely stifled her laughter, though doubt began to stir in her mind.

But above all, she trusted Zhao Jiuye.

If something this obvious went unquestioned by him, there must be a reason.

"We'll talk later," Fu Tingjun said quietly to A Sen. "Mo Yi and the others are here."

A Sen nodded, but he still felt somewhat irritated with Xiao Wu. From the City God Temple to Linchun Town, he had been nitpicking at Xiao Wu about one thing or another. Xiao Wu bore it with a magnanimous expression, looking as if he couldn't be bothered to argue with A Sen, which only made A Sen even more furious.

This time, he was again finding fault in a bone and picking on Xiao Wu.

But this time, Xiao Wu didn't just laugh it off as he had before. Neither did he engage A Sen in a war of words. Instead, he said to Fu Tingjun with a serious expression, "Everyone thinks that once we reach Xi'an Prefecture, things will be better. In reality, Xi'an Prefecture is worse off than this Linchun Town! At least in Linchun Town, there's a place to sleep. Xi'an Prefecture sealed its city gates half a month ago—only allowing people to leave, not enter. The officials send patrols out daily, and no one is allowed to rest within fifty zhang of the city walls. Anyone who violates this is beaten to death with clubs. The number of people who have died from starvation or been beaten to death is beyond count. Jiuligou, south of the city, has practically become a mass grave."

A Sen argued with Xiao Wu, "Xi'an Prefecture is the capital of Shaanxi. Surely someone has set up porridge stations?" He was half-convinced, half-doubtful.

Xiao Wu snorted coldly. "If the officials don't take the lead, who would dare to set up porridge stations on their own?"

Fu Tingjun frowned. "Doesn't Lord Dong care about this at all?"

"Lord Dong?" Xiao Wu said dismissively. "All he cares about now is how to curry favor with Hong Du, the eunuch in charge of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and how to properly accommodate Prince Jian, who has taken refuge in Xi'an Prefecture. He wants to have someone to speak up for him when the emperor blames him, so he can shift the responsibility. How could he possibly have any mind left to care about whether the people of Shaanxi live or die!"

Fu Tingjun and A Sen thought of everything they had seen and heard along the way and fell silent.

Two little boys, around ten years old, suddenly darted out from the side: "Kind sir, kind miss! We haven't eaten anything for three days and three nights. Please, have mercy and spare us some food!" Their eyes were remarkably lively.

Chen Liu, who was pushing the cart, hesitated and glanced at Mo Yi walking beside him. Mo Yi gave a slight shake of his head.

With a sudden clamor, seven or eight children came running from who knows where. All were ragged and skin-and-bones, chattering all at once—"Kind sir, kind miss, have mercy"—as they surrounded them, reaching out their hands to beg. Some even went so far as to reach into the cart.

"Get the hell out of here!" Mo Yi bellowed like thunder, grabbing one of the children and flinging him onto the bluestone-paved road.

For a moment, the entire street fell silent. Everyone stared at Mo Yi with fearful eyes.

"Get lost, I said!" Mo Yi roared again. The children, as if jolted awake, scrambled to pick up the child who had been thrown to the ground and fled.

Because of this incident, they had no trouble taking over an abandoned shop.

With the help of Mo Yi and Chen Liu, Zhao Jiuye was settled in the inner room upstairs, while Fu Tingjun stayed in the side room next door.

"I must trouble Steward Mo, Chen Liu, and Xiao Wu to rest downstairs," Zhao Jiuye said with some apology. "There are womenfolk on my side..."

Mo Yi was quite straightforward: "Then just call me if you need anything!"

"Many thanks!" Zhao Jiuye clasped his hands in salute toward Mo Yi, then instructed Fu Tingjun to clean the room and told A Sen to see Mo Yi and the others downstairs.

When the sound of Mo Yi and the others' footsteps disappeared at the bottom of the stairs, Zhao Jiuye said to Fu Tingjun, who was searching the room for a rag, "Rest for a while. You can do these things when A Sen comes back!"

Wasn't she supposed to clean the room?

Why was he now saying to wait until A Sen returned?

Fu Tingjun was rather puzzled.

Zhao Jiuye, pale-faced, lay on the bed without bed curtains and smiled at her. "I have something to tell you."

It was a rare gentleness.

People really do become especially vulnerable when they're sick!

Fu Tingjun thought this as she pulled up a stool and sat by the head of the bed. "Are you worried about Mo Yi and the others? Is that why you had them stay downstairs?"

There were still four or five rooms upstairs. Downstairs was where business was conducted—just the shopfront and a small side room for storing goods.

Zhao Jiuye nodded lightly. A Sen came back and, seeing Fu Tingjun sitting by the head of the bed, immediately said, "Master, I'll go find a bucket of water!"

"That can wait!" Zhao Jiuye said. "Stand guard at the door. Let me know if anyone comes." Then he said to Fu Tingjun, "Find that name card of Sixteenth Master for me."

A Sen acknowledged and took his post at the door. Fu Tingjun found the card and handed it to him. Since there were no bedclothes in the room, she propped up his back with the bundle of clothes to make it easier for him to see, then opened the window.

Outside the window was a grove of dead trees. In the distance, the post road to Lantian County was visible, and a hot wind blew through the window.

Even this moved Fu Tingjun to remark, "It's been many days since we've felt any breeze." She added, "If this were a year of favorable weather, the scenery here would be beautiful!"

Zhao Jiuye smiled without saying anything, carefully examining the name card in his hand.

Fu Tingjun watched him.

His forehead was broad, his nose bridge straight, giving him an intelligent appearance. His lips were slightly thin, and when pressed tightly together, they carried a coldness that kept people at a distance. But when he smiled, the corners of his mouth curved up slightly, and a frank, unrestrained boldness shone through his brows and eyes... He really did look better when smiling.

Perhaps sensing her gaze, or perhaps having finished reading the name card in his hand, Zhao Jiuye suddenly looked up, his eyes meeting Fu Tingjun's staring gaze head-on.

Zhao Jiuye was momentarily taken aback: "What's wrong?"

Looking at him like that... she didn't seem at all reserved... they didn't have that kind of familiarity yet, did they... Suddenly recalling her words, "I had no choice, so I said we were betrothed," he felt somewhat uneasy and gave a light cough.

Fu Tingjun's ears grew hot.

It must have been some kind of devilish impulse—one glance should have been enough, why had she been staring at him? And not only had she been staring, but he had caught her in the act... What if he misunderstood her as being too casual in her conduct... Then she thought of how she had declared in front of Sixteenth Master and the others that they were betrothed... At the time, the situation had been urgent, and no one had been in a position to question it. Now that they could speak privately, she would need to find an opportunity to explain herself properly.