Fan Changyu followed Chef Li to Yixiang Restaurant. The moment she stepped through the doors, she was greeted by an imposing landscape screen; the floor was laid with fine carved green bricks, the doors and windows were exquisitely carved with all manner of openwork flowers, plants, birds, and beasts.

It was not mealtime yet, so there were few customers in the restaurant. At a glance, Fan Changyu could already see more than a dozen large round tables in the main hall below, each draped in silk brocade and fine cloth. The chairs were just as elaborate. Rather than being bare wooden seats, each came with matching embroidered cushions and backrests. The whole place looked exceedingly grand.

No wonder everyone in town called Yixiang Restaurant the finest restaurant in town.

Chef Li led Fan Changyu upstairs to a private dining room and said, “Dongjia is inside. Just go on in, lass.”

Fan Changyu hesitated for a moment before pushing open the door.

Inside, she found herself staring wide-eyed at a young woman with her sleeves rolled up, happily gnawing away at a braised pork knuckle.

A whole table laden with delicacies from land and sea stood before the woman.

Fan Changyu glanced back at the doorway, then asked uncertainly, “You are the proprietor of Yixiang Restaurant?”

The woman set down the braised pork knuckle and swiftly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the grease from her face. After clearing her throat, she said, “You must be Changyu, right? Sit wherever you like.”

The moment she heard that, Fan Changyu knew this had to be the proprietor of Yixiang Restaurant. She’s not quite what she imagined, Fan Changyu thought, but she certainly seems amiable enough.

Once seated, she asked, “You know me?”

The woman smiled. “Li Shifu mentioned you. Your braised meat is truly something special.”

Perhaps she had also heard about Fan Changyu going to the Wang family shop to demand an explanation. She looked her over and smiled. “Before I met you, I had no idea you were such a pretty, delicate-looking young lady.”

Fan Changyu had no idea how to respond to that, so she merely gave a faint smile.

The woman beamed. “My surname is Yu, and my given name is Qianqian. I’m a few years older than you, so I’ll take the liberty of calling you Changyu Meimei. I assume you already know that Yixiang Restaurant has stopped doing business with Wang Shop over their braised meat. I also had someone buy some of the braised meat from your shop so I could try it myself. It really is better than Wang Shop’s. If you’re willing, I’d like to do business with you and have your braised meat supplied here.”

Such unexpected good fortune would have been something Fan Changyu could only have dreamed of before. But thinking of her family’s situation now, she considered it for a moment before politely declining. “Thanking Yu Zhanggui for thinking so highly of me, but I’m afraid I truly can’t take on this business.”

Yu Qianqian let out an “Ei?” and asked, “Why not?”

Fan Changyu answered honestly, “After the New Year, I’m planning to leave Lin’an Town.”

Yu Qianqian sighed at the thought. “What a pity. Have you decided where you’ll go?”

Fan Changyu truly had not made up her mind yet, so she merely said, “I’m still discussing it with my husband.”

Yu Qianqian lightly tapped her slender fingertips against the tabletop, sounding somewhat wistful. “Now that your family’s braised meats are gone, the town has lost another delicious thing to eat.”

There was a teasing note to her words.

Though this was Fan Changyu’s first time meeting the female shopkeeper, she found Yu Qianqian remarkably warm and approachable. Thinking that if she left her homeland with her younger sister, she had no idea when she might ever return, Fan Changyu said, “If Yu Zhanggui likes the braised meat, I can teach the recipe for the seasoning stock. You can have the people under you make it themselves.”

Though Yu Qianqian was now the shopkeeper of a restaurant, she had once worked in the kitchen herself and knew exactly how valuable a recipe could be. She hurriedly shook her head. “No, no, you can’t do that.”

She gave Fan Changyu a somewhat helpless look. “This lass, you really are too honest. If you truly are going to another part of the country, you’d better learn to keep your wits about you. Don’t go selling everything you have—including yourself—just because someone sweet-talks you for a few minutes.”

Fan Changyu could sense the goodwill behind her words. She smiled and said, “I won’t. I’m willing to give you the recipe because you look like a kind person.”

Yu Qianqian laughed at that. After thinking for a moment, she said, “How about this? Business at my restaurant is busiest in the days leading up to the New Year. We’re completely booked with banquet orders, and we really do need a large quantity of braised meat. Those old gourmands are terribly picky about what they put in their mouths, and lately they’ve been complaining nonstop that the braised meat here doesn’t taste as good as it used to. Wang Shop isn’t honorable in business. They stabbed me in the back before, and now they’re riding on Yixiang Restaurant’s reputation to do business with other restaurants. I absolutely cannot stomach going back to them again. How about you supply Yixiang Restaurant with our braised meat for the days leading up to the New Year? After the New Year, I’ll find another way to make up for the shortfall.”

Fan Changyu fell silent in thought for a moment. She would have to establish herself in a new place, which meant finding a house and making all sorts of other arrangements, and there would be no shortage of things requiring money. Even if she sold the pigsty and farmland in the countryside, along with the shop in town, there was no guarantee that the money would be enough. Since she had the opportunity to save up a little more now, that was naturally for the best. Thus, she nodded and agreed.

Yu Qianqian was clearly delighted. “You’ve helped me out of an urgent predicament, so I really do owe you one. Yixiang Restaurant used to have a year-long contract with Wang Shop. No matter whether it was the slow season or the busy season, we bought their braised meat at fifty wen per jin. Meat prices are higher these two days around the New Year, so I’ll pay you sixty wen per jin instead. Yixiang Restaurant can sell at least ten braised pig’s heads a day. If the stove and pots at home aren’t convenient for you, you can simply do the braising in the restaurant’s back kitchen. I’ll pay you your wages daily.”

Fan Changyu’s own house had already been sealed by the authorities, so it truly wasn’t convenient. She nodded. “Then I’ll prepare the braised meat in the restaurant’s back kitchen.”

By now, it was nearing afternoon. Fan Changyu went to the meat market and, accompanied by a young attendant from Yixiang Restaurant, bought ten fresh pig’s heads.

Her family had once run a pork shop there, so most of the butchers along that street knew her. Seeing her buying so many pig’s heads, one of them couldn’t help asking, “Is your shop selling braised meat again tomorrow, Changyu?”

The Yixiang Restaurant attendant who had gone with her to buy the meat was an exceedingly quick-witted young man. He immediately said, “Fan Guniang’s braised meat is now sold exclusively at Yixiang Restaurant.”

Yixiang Restaurant was a major name in town. Even Wang Shop’s reputation had taken a considerable hit after word got out that its business partnership with Yixiang Restaurant had fallen through.

Quite a few acquaintances congratulated Fan Changyu.

With her family’s pork shop no longer open, business at the other butchers’ stalls had improved, so when Fan Changyu came to buy pig’s heads from them, they deliberately gave her a cheaper price.

Fresh pig’s heads sold for twenty wen per jin at the market, and each weighed around six or seven jin. Fan Changyu only had to pay eighteen wen per jin.

Since she was using the braising spices and cooking pots in Yixiang Restaurant’s back kitchen, and the large custom-made pots could hold four or five pig’s heads at a time, the two pots were enough to finish all ten. The cost of the braising spices for one full pot came to no more than thirty wen.

Fan Changyu did a rough calculation. Once these two pots of pig’s heads were finished, even on the conservative side, she would clear around two taels and five qian of silver.

1 tael = 10 qian

For a moment, she was almost dumbfounded.

When she had sold the meat at her own shop, she had risen before dawn and worked until nightfall. Even when selling the meat, she had to haggle with the aunties buying their vegetables, wasting plenty of breath just to shave a few wen off a price. After an entire day’s work, once she deducted her costs, she earned only around two taels of silver.

Now, all she had to do was spare an hour or two to pick out the pig’s heads at the market, bring them back to Yixiang Restaurant, and braise them—and she could make that much money. It was countless times easier than before.

Thinking of the sixty-wen-per-jin price that the female shopkeeper had offered her, Fan Changyu suddenly felt a little uneasy about it. She found Chef Li, who was also in the back kitchen making broth, and said, “Li Shifu, when you get the chance, could you tell Dongjia that you can just calculate my braised meat at fifty wen per jin instead?”

Chef Li frowned, his weathered face creasing with confusion. “Why?”

Fan Changyu scratched her head sheepishly. “Dongjia is a good person, but I feel like she’s paying me too much. It doesn’t sit right with me.”

Chef Li shot her a sidelong glance. “Dongjia offered you that price because she thinks your braised meat is worth it. What’s there to feel uneasy about? Don’t let her youth fool you—Dongjia has a sharp eye for business. Sure, Wang Shop stabbed her in the back this time, but back when they worked together, she was making a steady profit. So put your mind at ease.”

Fan Changyu asked curiously, “What happened between Wang Shop and Yixiang Restaurant?”

The moment Chef Li brought up Wang Shop, he had nothing good to say about them. “Those shameless old bastards who see nothing but money. Dongjia was planning to open another restaurant in the county seat and expand Yixiang Restaurant. To mark the occasion and bring good luck, she ordered twelve pig’s heads from Wang Shop. They agreed readily enough, but who would’ve thought that on the very day the restaurant opened, Wang Shop just kept dragging its feet and never delivered the pig’s heads?

“Dongjia sent someone over to Wang Shop to demand an explanation, only to find that they hadn’t even bought the pig’s heads yet! The pig’s heads they’d originally promised had been bought up by another restaurant in the county for a higher price. That restaurant had also signed a braised-meat contract with Wang Shop for several years. They missed the auspicious hour for delivering the pig’s heads on opening day—do you have any idea what a taboo that is? Dongjia was absolutely furious. That very day, she cut off all business between Yixiang Restaurant and Wang Shop.”

Fan Changyu had never imagined there was such a reason behind Yixiang Restaurant severing ties with Wang Shop. Remembering the look on Wang Shop’s young master’s face, she couldn’t help saying, “Wang Shop really was rather dishonorable.”

Chef Li gave a cold snort. “A bunch of petty men who forget all sense of loyalty the moment money is involved.”

Then he changed tack. “I heard Wang Shop also hired people to smash up your shop?”

Fan Changyu said, “His son hired them to do it. But I went and got justice for myself.”

Chef Li suddenly looked at her and broke into a grin. “No wonder Dongjia says she likes you, lass. That temper of yours—you really do resemble her in some ways.”

Fan Changyu felt a little embarrassed. “Dongjia is a capable woman. How could I possibly compare with her?”

Chef Li sighed. “Dongjia has had a hard life too. Back then, she came to Lin’an Town heavily pregnant, without a single person to turn to. Her circumstances were even worse than yours.”

Fan Changyu had always heard people talk about how formidable the proprietor of Yixiang Restaurant was. This was the first time she had ever heard anything about the woman’s past. Puzzled, she asked, “What about Dongjia’s husband?”

Chef Li merely shook his head. “I heard he died.”

Fan Changyu could not help feeling sorry for the propietor. Chef Li glanced at her again. “Business has been especially busy these past few days, and Dongjia has more things on her hands than she can count. She doesn’t even have that extra ten wen per jin on her mind. And don’t go bringing this up with her, either. Dongjia is a straightforward sort. If you start fussing over it, you’ll only make things troublesome for her.”

Having heard him put it that way, Fan Changyu naturally abandoned the idea of seeking out Yu Qianqian.

By the time she finished braising the meat and left Yixiang Restaurant, it was already getting late.

Fan Changyu remembered that the packet of malt candy she had bought for her little sister was nearly gone. With the two taels and seven qian of silver she had earned that day in hand, she swaggered into the candy shop like someone with money to burn and bought two packets each of malt candy, pine-nut candy, and candied tangerine peel.

The moment she remembered that Yan Zheng was actually afraid of bitter things, the corners of her lips unconsciously curled upward.

He wasn’t even afraid of pain, yet he was afraid of taking bitter medicine.

By the time she got home, Auntie Zhao had already started cooking dinner.

Changning was like a stone carved in the shape of someone waiting for her sister, standing at the doorway with both hands clutching the doorframe as she craned her neck toward the alley.

The moment she spotted Fan Changyu coming back with bags upon bags in her hands, she immediately waddled over like a little round ball to meet her. “Ah Jie is back!”

She took the paper packets from her sister, discovered several large bags of candy inside, and looked up at her with a pair of bright, sparkling round eyes. “Are they all Ningniang’s?”

Faced with her little sister’s expectant gaze, Fan Changyu inexplicably felt a little guilty. “Your Jiefu is afraid of bitter medicine. How about you give half to your Jiefu?”

Before this, whenever she said the words “Jiefu”, she would feel uncomfortable all over. But now, coaxing Changning, the words no longer felt quite so embarrassing to say.

Changning generously gave a little “En.” She drank medicine quite often herself, and, scrunching up her round face, said, “That black yucky is sooo bitter!”

黑糊糊 (Hēihúhú) - a childish expression for something dark, blackish, and thick or murky in appearance.

Black yucky was her special name for medicine.

Auntie Zhao came out to pour some water and overheard the sisters’ conversation. With a broad smile, she teased Fan Changyu, “Look at you, already learned to dote on your husband?”

Even Fan Changyu’s usually thick skin grew a little embarrassed under the teasing.

As luck would have it, the medicine had just finished simmering. When Fan Changyu carried the packets of candy upstairs to the loft, she took the bowl of medicine along with her.

The person inside was not asleep. The moment she entered, he looked over and asked, “Back this late?”

It was an entirely ordinary question, yet for some reason, it felt strangely awkward.

“Did the county yamen find any new clues?” he quickly added to smooth it over.

The strange atmosphere finally eased somewhat.

Fan Changyu handed him the bowl of medicine. “The case has already been closed.”

Xie Zheng’s brows rose in surprise. One look at the expression on her face, and he immediately understood most of what had happened.

Fan Changyu gave him her guess. “There were several major murder cases right around the New Year. The magistrate was probably afraid of losing his official position, so he was eager to pin the murders on mountain bandits and close the case.”

The original phrase was 乌纱不保 which literally means “his Wusha cannot be kept”. Wūshā refers to the black gauze official hat historically worn by Chinese officials. Figuratively, it means losing one’s official position.

Xie Zheng said nothing.

That waist token belonged to the Wei family. If the Wei family wanted to suppress the matter quickly, it would not be surprising if they put pressure on the county magistrate through the prefecture and forced him to close the case.

But regardless, the Wei family had already set its sights on this piece of land in Lin’an Town. It would not be wise to remain here much longer.

He looked at Fan Changyu. “If they’re coming for revenge, I’m afraid they’ll come again. What do you plan to do?”

Fan Changyu had intended to wait until his injuries had improved before telling him about leaving. Since he had brought it up himself, she said, “I’m planning to sell off our property after the New Year and take Ningniang somewhere else to lie low for a while.”

After hearing this, Xie Zheng said, “If you’re going to leave, sooner is better than later.”

He knew that man’s methods all too well. So many Black-rank death warriors had fallen in a small town like Lin’an. There was no way their deaths would fail to attract that man’s attention.

Fan Changyu said, “There are only a few days left until the New Year. I’ve taken on a job at Yixiang Restaurant to prepare their braised meat for the New Year, so I can earn a little money over the next few days. Selling off our property and transferring all the necessary documents will take time too. That works out nicely—we can wait until your injuries have healed a little more before setting out.”

Since they had already come this far in the conversation, she naturally had to ask about his plans as well. “What do you think?”

Xie Zheng assumed she was asking for his opinion. He was just about to advise her that if she intended to leave, she should do so as soon as possible, when he realized that what she was asking about was whether he intended to leave or stay behind.

Leave?

Without having time to weigh the pros and cons, he instinctively hesitated for a moment.

Fan Changyu said, “I figure my parents must have made some enemies while they were away all those years ago. If you leave with me, those enemies might come after you too. I was thinking I could write you a divorce agreement, then leave you some money for your future traveling expenses. Daniang and Dashu are both very good people. I’ll ask them to look after you until your injuries have healed.”

Auntie Zhao and Uncle Zhao had no children. Years ago, they had a son who was conscripted and taken off to war, but he never returned. They had heard that he died somewhere far from home.

Fan Changyu planned to leave some of the farmland in the countryside to them, so they could collect rent from the tenant farmers and have some security in their old age.

As for leaving Yan Zheng here as well, that was purely because she was afraid he would once again be caught up in trouble because of her family.

Listening as she planned out every aspect of his future for him, Xie Zheng felt an inexplicable surge of irritation. Even his voice unconsciously grew colder, “I have my own plans. You needn’t worry about me.”

Fan Changyu had no idea what she had done to upset him. She stared at him in confusion.

Xie Zheng also realized that his tone just now had been off. He gently lowered his eyes, and when he opened them again, his expression had already settled back into calm. “If you’re going to leave, it’s best to go within the next day or two. There’s no need to make a special trip to obtain a road pass. Traveling with a merchant caravan is the safest option. When passing through city gates and the like, avoid leaving any household registration information behind if you can.”

Even Fan Changyu, slow as she could be, understood that this was to keep their movements hidden.

She asked him, “Then are you planning to leave with me, or stay here for the time being to recover from your injuries?”

After she asked so bluntly, Xie Zheng was visibly taken aback. In his dark eyes, the reflection of the young woman and the candlelight flickered. Only after a long moment did he avert his gaze and say, “I’ll leave with you for now.”

Lin’an Town was no longer safe for him either. And he was genuinely curious about whatever it was the Wei family’s death warrior had been digging through her home from top to bottom to find.

Those were the only two reasons behind his choice.

The moment Fan Changyu heard the word “for now”, she understood what he meant. Once his injuries healed, he would still leave.

“All right, then. I’ll go to the county yamen again tomorrow and sell the shop and the pig shed in the countryside to the authorities at a reduced price.”

When farmland was sold directly to a buyer, the price would naturally be higher. All that was required was to go to the authorities to transfer the title and pay the fee for drawing up the contract.

Only those in urgent need of money would sell their land and property to the authorities at a reduced price. The authorities, having acquired such property cheaply, would then turn around and sell it at market value to those who needed it.

As for Yixiang Restaurant, she could simply give the shopkeeper the recipe.

Xie Zheng suspected that the thing those death warriors had been searching for probably still had not been found. He asked, “Are there any belongings left by your parents that you need to take with you?”

Fan Changyu answered almost instinctively, “Of course there are!”

A flicker of something imperceptible crossed Xie Zheng’s eyes.

Then he heard her continue, “That set of pig-killing knives has to go with me wherever I go. With those tools, I can keep making a living slaughtering pigs. And if I run into some petty troublemakers on the road, they can protect me too!”

Xie Zheng: “……”

Still, his question had reminded Fan Changyu of something. She said, “The county yamen has already closed the case, but for some reason, no constable has come to remove the official seal from our front door. I’ll climb over the wall later and get the land deeds.”

Xie Zheng’s eyes shifted slightly. “The masked men who attacked your home that day pried up several of the blue bricks inside the house. They seemed to be looking for something.”

Fan Changyu couldn’t think of anything valuable her family might still have. Frowning, she said, “Couldn’t they have been looking for the land deeds too?”

Xie Zheng: “……Probably not.”

Fan Changyu glanced at the sky outside the window. “I’ll climb over the wall and look once it gets dark.”

Climbing over the wall in broad daylight would make it easy for someone to spot her. Her house could now fairly be called a house marked by death, and after it had been sealed, no one except government personnel was permitted to enter. If someone reported her for climbing over the wall, she would only end up getting herself into trouble again.

凶宅 — Literally a house where someone has died violently or under ominous circumstances.

Xie Zheng asked, “Your parents never told you there was anything you absolutely had to take with you, even if you were fleeing for your life?”

“My little sister.”

Xie Zheng: “……”

His long fingers pressed against his brow, and suddenly he no longer felt like speaking.

Seeing that he still had not drunk his medicine, Fan Changyu urged him, “If you don’t drink it now, it’ll get cold.”

The medicine had indeed cooled down by now and was no longer scalding.

Xie Zheng lifted the bowl and drank it all in one go. Almost immediately, a hand appeared before him, offering him a piece of candied tangerine peel, “I’ve tried this one. It’s sweet and sour, and it helps get rid of the bitterness too.”

Her hand was fair and delicate, with long, slender fingers. They were unlike the soft, boneless hands of women raised in pampered households, yet unlike a man’s, whose knuckles stood out distinctly. Like flowers and trees, each with their own particular structure, her hands possessed a beauty somewhere between the two.

The orange-colored candy lay in her palm, dusted with a faint layer of white sugar crystals. Bathed in the warm candlelight, it prompted the thoroughly inappropriate phrase “xiùsè kěcān”—so beautiful she was a feast for the eyes—to spring into Xie Zheng’s mind.

秀色可餐 (xiùsè kěcān) — Literally, “beautiful enough to be eaten” / “beauty that can satisfy hunger.” It is an idiomatic expression for something or someone so beautiful that merely looking at them is pleasurable.

That phrase applied to Fan Changyu……

Even he fell silent at the thought.

Not wanting any more strange thoughts to surface in his mind, he picked up the candied tangerine peel and tossed it into his mouth. Keeping his face stiff, he said, “Thank you.”

Fan Changyu assumed he was simply embarrassed about being afraid of bitter medicine. Privately, she thought this awkward little stubborn streak of his was rather amusing.

She rose with the empty bowl in hand. “Then I’ll head downstairs first. I’ll bring your dinner up in a little while.”

The door curtain swayed as she left.

Only after she was gone did Xie Zheng frown and glance at the fingertips that had brushed against the palm of her hand when he took the candied tangerine peel.

They tingled terribly.

And there was a faint numbness to them as well.

When Fan Changyu came downstairs, she saw her little sister feeding something to the gyrfalcon. “Here, eat this……”

The gyrfalcon had already been cornered, its bandaged wing tucked close to its body as it stubbornly refused to open its beak. With a pair of terrified, beady eyes fixed on Changning, it looked rather like a respectable young lady being harassed by a local bully, yet powerless to resist.

Fan Changyu asked, “What is Ningniang feeding it?”

Caught by her sister, Changning guiltily hid her hand behind her back, “N-Nothing?”

Fan Changyu simply looked at her without saying a word. Changning was most afraid when her elder sister did that, so she obediently brought her hand back out and lowered her head, speaking in a small voice. “I gave Sunsun a piece of candy.”

隼隼 (Sǔnsun) is Changning’s childish nickname for the gyrfalcon, formed by repeating 隼 (sǔn), meaning “falcon” from 矛隼 (máosǔn/gyrfalcon). The reduplication makes it sound cute and affectionate, much like a child giving an animal a simple pet name. I’ve kept it as Sunsun rather than translating it, to preserve Changning’s childlike way of speaking.

Candy was a precious thing. Giving it to this enormous bird was surely going to get her scolded.

Seeing the look on her little sister’s face, Fan Changyu couldn’t bring herself to say anything harsh. Half amused and half exasperated, she said, “Gyrfalcons don’t eat candy. They eat meat.”

Changning stared up at her with huge, round grape-like eyes, “They don’t?”

Auntie Zhao had noticed what was going on and laughed. “These things are fierce in the wild. That gyrfalcon that crashed through the east room’s window before was about this size too. That one was terribly vicious. But the one you caught, Changyu, is well-behaved. It doesn’t hurt people, and it even knows to protect its master.”

She paused, then added, “It just eats rather a lot.”

A whole big bowl of meat every day. If she and the old man had to keep feeding this creature, they’d be eating themselves into poverty within a few days.

Fan Changyu found herself growing fonder of the gyrfalcon the more she looked at it, “Maybe Yan Zheng taught it.”

Originally, she had planned to keep the gyrfalcon for the time being and have Yan Zheng train it properly before selling it. But the bird was surprisingly intelligent and had even saved Changning before. Fan Changyu decided that once its injuries had healed, it would be better to set the gyrfalcon free.

That evening, after dinner, Auntie Zhao carried the yawning Changning back to the room she shared with Carpenter Zhao. When she returned and saw Fan Changyu still sitting by the firepit, she could not help asking, “You’re not going upstairs to sleep yet?”

Like Fan Changyu’s house, the Zhao household had three rooms on the ground floor. The main room was where they ate and kept the firepit, while the older couple slept in the south room. The north room had originally had a bed as well, but after a gyrfalcon had smashed through its window some time ago, Carpenter Zhao had moved all the lumber and the cabinets, chairs, and other furniture he was making for others in there for the time being.

At present, the only place still fit for sleeping was the loft.

Fan Changyu was still thinking about climbing over the wall and sneaking back to her own house. “Daniang, you go on to bed first. I’ll sit by the fire a little longer.”

Auntie Zhao had lived most of her life. How could she possibly fail to see that this young couple still had not consummated their marriage?

They had slept in separate rooms even when they were living under the same roof before. Now, this girl was probably planning to make do with a night beside the firepit.

Auntie Zhao pulled a stern face. “It’s the middle of the night. If you’re not going upstairs to sleep, then you’ll just sit by the firepit all night and waste firewood!”

Fan Changyu had not expected Auntie Zhao to corner her so thoroughly just to force her upstairs.

She figured she could still climb from the loft onto the roof and make her way back to her own house. Reluctantly, she rose. “Fine. I’ll go upstairs and sleep.”

When she reached the stairs, she asked, “Are there any spare quilts?”

She would still have to sleep on the floor tonight.

Auntie Zhao refused without hesitation. “No!”

Fan Changyu was about to come clean about the fake marriage and say, “Actually, Yan Zheng and I…”

Auntie Zhao would hear none of it. “I don’t care what you think, but that Yan Zheng boy is a fine one, as far as I can tell. Look at what happened to your family this time. He was injured, yet he still dragged himself along while injured just to get Changning to safety. He’s covered in injuries now. Don’t tell me you’re dissatisfied with him?”

Fan Changyu was completely at a loss for words. “I’m not dissatisfied with him…”

Auntie Zhao herded her toward the stairs. “Then why are you still thinking about sleeping on the floor? If I were that Yan Zheng lad, I’d be heartbroken. He was willing to risk his life to protect your little sister, only to find that you don’t appreciate him…”

Fan Changyu felt like a wayward young man being lectured by his own mother and forced upstairs with stern warnings not to mistreat the poor girl he had married.

Only after the door closed did Auntie Zhao’s scolding finally cease.

Fan Changyu drew a deep breath and turned to find Xie Zheng watching her with those calm, impassive eyes. He must have heard every word between her and Auntie Zhao. Her face was already flushed with embarrassment, and now she felt even more awkward.

She walked toward the chair. “I’ll rest my head on the table for a while. Once Dashu and Daniang are asleep, I’ll climb over from the loft roof and go back.”

There was also a bed in the loft of her own house. Once she found whatever the intruders had been looking for, she could make do there for the night and climb back over the wall before daybreak.

Fan Changyu had no intention of letting Uncle and Auntie Zhao know about her plan to climb over the wall. After all, it was a violation of the law. If they knew about it, they could be charged with knowing of an offense and failing to report it.

Xie Zheng said nothing more.

Once the candle was snuffed out, the entire room sank into darkness. Fan Changyu rested her head on the table with her eyes closed, taking a brief nap. Xie Zheng’s breathing from the bed was equally light, and he made not the slightest sound.

But whether the darkness of night had magnified her fear, or she was simply too slow to react, Fan Changyu found herself thinking about how she would have to return to her own house in a little while. So many people had died there in the courtyard, and she herself had killed quite a few that day. Only now did the gruesome state of those people in their final moments slowly begin to surface in her mind.

Outside the window, the north wind howled mournfully, like the wailing of ghosts and the howling of wolves.

Fan Changyu tried several different positions, but none of them were comfortable. In the end, she simply sat up.

Hearing no sound from the bed, she tentatively asked, “Yan Zheng, are you asleep?”

“Not yet. What is it?” His voice sounded especially clear and cool in the darkness.

Fan Changyu pressed her lips together, doing her best to make her voice sound normal. “When you woke up at noon, you were drenched in sweat. Did you have a nightmare after killing someone?”

There was a long silence from the other side before he finally answered with a single word, “En.”

Fan Changyu felt as though she had found an ally. She swallowed and said, “It was my first time killing someone, too.”

After a pause, she asked, “Are you still afraid now?”

No one answered for a long while.

At last, Xie Zheng’s calm, unhurried voice came from the bed, “Come over.”

“Actually, you don’t have to be so afraid. Just imagine you’re slaughtering pigs. Do you know how to slaughter a pig? I’ll teach you someday. That way, if you stop working as an armed escort, you’ll still have a trade to make a living from…”

Even as she said this, she had already felt her way over to the bed. She sat down against the headboard and gave two little coughs, her confidence returning, “You should sleep. The old folks always say that people who slaughter pigs carry such a strong killing aura that even little ghosts won’t dare come near them. I’ll sit here, so you won’t have nightmares.”

煞气(shàqì) — a traditional concept of a fierce, ominous, or murderous aura associated with people who have killed or witnessed death.

小鬼(xiǎoguǐ) — literally “little ghosts,” but it can broadly refer to minor or lesser spirits.