The window lattice was half-open. The sun hung in the sky as little more than a pale shadow devoid of warmth, casting down a few faint rays of golden light.

Half of Xie Zheng’s face was bathed in sunlight, while the other half remained hidden in shadow. His eyes were calm and unreadable.

Fan Changyu wanted to deny it, but when their eyes met, she found herself unable to open her mouth. She hugged her knees and sat down on a low stool to one side, her voice somewhat muffled. “The troubles that have befallen my family have dragged you into them twice already. You don’t owe me anything anymore. If you cut ties with my family, you might even be safer.”

Xie Zheng asked, “Do you believe all that ignorant old woman said?”

Fan Changyu pressed her lips together and said nothing.

Naturally, she didn’t believe it. But her parents had died, Fan Da had been killed, and Changning and Yan Zheng had nearly been harmed as well. If the officials hadn’t arrived in time last night, there was no telling whether Auntie Zhao and Carpenter Zhao might have been dragged into it too.

Perhaps… just as Mother Song and Granny Kang had said, she really was fated to be a heavenly calamity unto those around her, a Lone Star of Heavenly Calamity whose loved ones would all meet an ill end.

Seeing her silence, what was there that Xie Zheng could not understand? His handsome brows drew together slightly as he asked, “You think that, for my sake, you should cut ties with me. What about your younger sister? Are you going to cut ties with her too?”

Fan Changyu tightened her clasped hands where they rested before her knees, her thoughts becoming a tangled mess.

That was right. If she could keep her distance from the old Zhao couple and Yan Zheng so as not to drag them into her troubles, then what about Changning?

Changning was only five years old. She had only one family member left in this world: her.

As she remained silent, Xie Zheng slowly said, “There is something in this world more frightening than the talk of ghosts, gods, and fate—the human heart.”

Fan Changyu raised her almond-shaped eyes, looking somewhat puzzled.

The exquisite corners of Xie Zheng’s lips twitched, a hint of mockery entering his voice. “There aren’t that many supernatural occurrences in this world. Even talk of the nation’s fortune is nothing more than a means of fooling the ignorant masses, let alone this talk of fate.”

国运 (guóyùn) — Literally “the fate/fortune of the state.” In traditional thought, a dynasty or kingdom was believed to have its own heavenly mandate and fortune. This idea was closely connected to the Mandate of Heaven (天命, tiānmìng): when a ruler became corrupt or a dynasty suffered severe calamities, disorder, famine, or rebellion, these events could be interpreted as signs that the dynasty had lost Heaven’s favor. The concept could therefore provide a moral and cosmological justification for the overthrow of a ruling dynasty and the establishment of a new one, or when a group of people starting a coup to overthrow a ruling emperor and appoint a new one.

Fan Changyu was still confused. “What do you mean?”

Xie Zheng lifted his eyes. “Some people do evil and like to use ghosts and gods as a cover for themselves. Just like what you told that old woman earlier—that she had stumbled and fallen because she had encountered an evil spirit. The old woman didn’t know the truth, so she was frightened enough to half-believe it. But you and I both know she fell because she was struck by pine-nut candy.”

Fan Changyu lowered her eyes. It was a long while before she said, “Of course I know the Song family only brought up that talk of fate to break off the engagement. But the fact remains that misfortune has kept befalling my family. That’s why I can’t help but feel uneasy.”

Xie Zheng said, “Your parents made enemies years ago. They didn’t offend any ghosts or gods. So what are you uneasy about?”

Fan Changyu stared at him blankly. This man really had a poisonous mouth. Yet the knot of gloom in her chest had, indeed, loosened somewhat.

She sighed and decided to just let the matter lie. “I understand everything you’re saying. I was just upset for a while after hearing those things. Once I get over it, I’ll be fine.”

Xie Zheng showed her not the slightest mercy. “Whoever makes you upset, teach them a lesson. It’s one thing to vent to me, but if you distance yourself from the old man’s family too, then just wait and see whether they’re sad about it or relieved.”

Here, Xie Zheng was using 老丈 (lǎozhàng) to refer to Carpenter Zhao. Lǎozhàng is a word that carries a polite and respectful flavor when said towards an elder man. a respectful term for an older man, especially one that connected ny marriage.

Fan Changyu lowered her head and said in a muffled voice, “I’m sorry. I acted impulsively earlier.”

The lashes at the corners of Xie Zheng’s eyes curved into a pleasing arc, and only then did his expression brighten somewhat. “You’re not the sort to meekly endure whatever comes your way. Yet this morning, someone threw water on you, and instead of teaching them a lesson on the spot, you came back and sulked. Some spirit you have.”

Fan Changyu was silent for a moment before saying, “I’ve heard a saying: ‘The law does not punish the multitude’. It means that when a great many people break the law, the authorities won’t punish every one of them. Right now, everyone in town is afraid of this Lone Star of Heavenly Calamity fate of mine, and the whole town is gossiping about me behind my back. I can teach one person a lesson, but can I really teach the entire town a lesson?”

Xie Zheng was momentarily taken aback. Something in a hidden corner of his heart was stirred open by her words, awakening memories long buried in dust.

He had lost both parents at a young age and lived under the roof of the Wei family. Naturally, he had not made it to where he was today by traveling an easy road.

He still remembered the feeling of having his ribs broken by that man’s son and being pinned face-down in a pool of blood and mud with a pair of brocade boots pressing into his face.

He had fought on countless battlefields and brushed past death time and again, earning military merits in exchange for the scars of blades and axes that covered his back. Yet simply because his maternal uncle was Wei Yan, he had been secretly cursed for bringing shame upon the Xie family’s name, with people saying that he had become someone’s lapdog. It wasn’t as though he had never heard such things.

He lifted his eyes slightly, and a few words slipped from his thin lips, “Then have you ever heard the saying ‘kill the chicken to frighten the monkeys’?

杀鸡儆猴 (shā jī jǐng hóu) — Literally, “kill the chicken to frighten the monkeys.” The idea is to punish one person harshly as a warning to everyone else.

“Human nature is inherently wicked. If you’re weak and easy to bully, then no matter how kind you are, few people will lend you a hand. But if you rise to prominence, then even if you truly commit some heinous deed, there’ll be a whole crowd scrambling to curry favor with you. Isn’t that exactly what your former fiancé did?”

Fan Changyu fell silent again as she listened, wrapping both arms around her knees and staring wordlessly at the glowing coals burning in the iron brazier.

The knuckles of Xie Zheng’s fingers, which had been lightly tapping the armrest of the bamboo chair, stilled. His eyes narrowed slightly, and there was an edge to his words even he himself failed to notice, “You still haven’t gotten over that former fiancé of yours? Bringing him up has upset you again?”

Fan Changyu looked up and stared at him. She was puzzled for a moment before remembering that, in order to keep him from misunderstanding her and thinking she had improper intentions toward him, she had once blurted out that she still hadn’t gotten over Song Yan.

So this was the price of lying.

She opened her mouth, but in the end could only sigh. “I am a little upset. He passed the imperial examination. And this year, he was the only Juren in the entire Qingping County. Even the county magistrate fawns over him, so I can’t exactly blame others for currying favor with him. He really has risen to prominence. What could I possibly compare with him?”

Xie Zheng gave a soft scoff. “He’s nothing more than a Juren. The Great Yin has one capital and seventeen prefectures—how many Juren are produced every year? What does your former fiancé amount to?”

Fan Changyu couldn’t help glancing at him. “You can say things like that in front of me, but don’t say them in front of outsiders. People will laugh at you.”

Xie Zheng frowned. “Laugh at what?”

Fan Changyu thought this man really had no self-awareness at all. Helplessly, she said, “You don’t even hold the rank of a Xiucai, yet you’re talking like this about someone who passed the provincial examination (and got the rank of a Juren)…”

She paused, then added, “I know you’re only saying all this to cheer me up.”

Fan Changyu felt a little awkward saying such sentimental things. She scratched at her hair and said, “Actually, I only said it offhand. I’m not truly all that upset. At the end of the day, I’m the one who has to live my own life. Him passing the provincial examination and rising to prominence is his business. What does it have to do with me? Those people who curry favor with the powerful and kick me while I’m down can’t actually get anything from the Song family just by saying a few things about me. They’re just loose-tongued, that’s all.”

Xie Zheng’s expression turned strange. “Why would I be trying to cheer you up? A Juren really isn’t anything special.”

Fan Changyu choked. “What, do you think you’re some high-ranking official?”

Xie Zheng shut his mouth and said no more.

Fan Changyu found this amusing. Remembering that he could read and write and even compose model essays, she began making plans for him instead. “I think you’re pretty clever too, and your handwriting is beautiful. With your injuries constantly flaring up, and the doctor saying that if you don’t recover properly, you’ll probably be left with lasting health problems, perhaps you should take up studying and sit for the imperial examinations instead of escorting caravans. It’s dangerous work, after all. Who knows? You might even pass the examination as a Juren and land yourself an official post!”

Xie Zheng: “…My aspirations do not lie in the officialdom.”

Fan Changyu sighed. “What a shame.”

She said half-jokingly, “If you ever get the chance to become an official, and your rank ends up higher than that Song fellow’s, I’ll be counting on you to give that Song fellow a hard time for me!”

The corner of Xie Zheng’s brow lifted almost imperceptibly. “All right.”

With that bit of banter, all the unpleasantness from earlier vanished without a trace.

Fan Changyu suddenly remembered the chicken soup she had left simmering. “I still have chicken soup stewing in the earthenware pot. It should be done by now. I’ll go ladle some out for you.”

As she rose, she noticed that the paper packets of candy beside his bed had already been emptied and gone flat. Her heart ached at the thought of the expense. “I’ll find you some pebbles instead. Next time you want to hit someone, don’t use candy again. This stuff is expensive! What a waste!”

After she went downstairs, Xie Zheng stared at the few paper packets that had held the candy, his brows drawing together.

He had never liked sweets, and in the past, his clothing, food, lodging, and travel had always been handled by his personal guards. He genuinely had no idea whether this sort of thing was expensive or cheap.

She had always been short of money herself. If this candy really was so expensive, had she bought it for him simply because she had mistakenly thought he was afraid of the bitterness of medicine that day?

Xie Zheng closed his eyes, his feelings growing somewhat complicated.

·•—–٠✤٠—–•·

Two days later, Zheng Wenchang returned to the small town Lin’an with a contingent of soldiers.

After receiving word, Fan Changyu went out to the entrance of her home to receive him.

Perched high on horseback, Zheng Wenchang said, “The cause of the several murders in town has been ascertained. They were indeed the work of mountain bandits.”

Fan Changyu’s heart sank at the answer. “But twice now, my home has been broken into—”

Zheng Wenchang cut her off, “The two attacks on your home stemmed from an armed escort job your father took years ago. It was said that what he was transporting was a treasure map belonging to the imperial family of the previous dynasty. More than a decade ago, everyone in the entire escort agency was slaughtered by those seeking the treasure map. Your father narrowly escaped death and returned home, where he lived in peace for all these years. Now, with the war in Chongzhou, word of that treasure map has resurfaced. Some mountain bandits traced your father’s whereabouts and have come to your home time and again searching for the map.”

The explanation did indeed account for all the strange happenings that had occurred in Lin’an Town these past days.

Fan Changyu asked, “Were my parents killed by those mountain bandits too?”

Zheng Wenchang frowned slightly. Avoiding Fan Changyu’s gaze, he said, “Naturally.”

Learning the true cause of her parents’ deaths left Fan Changyu somewhat heavy-hearted. So her father had taught her martial arts back then, yet forbidden her from fighting in front of others, all because he feared it would draw those criminals to them.

She said, “I’ve never heard my parents mention anything about a treasure map. Could there have been some misunderstanding?”

Zheng Wenchang said, “The claim that the treasure map was in your father’s possession was naturally false. Several days ago, the rebels in Chongzhou put out word that they had obtained the treasure map. The mountain bandits won’t be coming to town anymore, so you can rest assured.”

As he spoke, he made a gesture. A foot soldier below brought out a tray bearing silver. Zheng Wenchang looked at Fan Changyu with a faint, almost imperceptible peculiarity in his gaze, “The Governor of Jizhou Prefecture, He Daren, takes pity on the people and has specially ordered Ben Guan to deliver fifty taels in consolation money.”

Fan Changyu sincerely thanked him.

The neighbors all praised him as well. “He Daren truly is an upright governor of Jizhou Prefecture! This time, for those who fell victim to those mountain bandits and lost someone in their family, the government has given them all consolation money!”

Someone asked, “But I heard the other families only received twenty-five taels. Why did Fan Er’s family get fifty?”

Someone immediately replied, “Those families only lost one person. Fan Er and his wife both fell victim to the bandits, so naturally they received more silver.”

With the case now closed, the seal on the Fan family’s front gate was also removed.

Fan Changyu cleaned the house from top to bottom, paying particular attention to the courtyard and several rooms where blood had been spilled. She washed them down with water several times, then boiled water with pomelo leaves and sprinkled that around as well, saying it could drive away evil spirits and ward off misfortune.

Only after everything in the house had been put back in order did Fan Changyu bring Changning and Xie Zheng home from the neighbors’ house.

She lit a stick of incense and placed it before her parents’ spirit tablets, the corners of her eyes stinging faintly. “Father, Mother, you can rest in peace now.”

Only Xie Zheng continued to frown, deep in thought.

He had long since learned that those men were Wei family death warriors. They could not possibly have been the mountain bandits Zheng Wenchang had spoken of, and what they had been looking for certainly wasn’t some damned treasure map.

Yet, the government had gone to considerable trouble to fabricate a plausible story to close the case, and had even sent silver to the families who had been caught up in it. They had certainly put some thought into the matter.

Xie Zheng could not make sense of it.

If He Jingyuan also wanted to help Wei Yan obtain that letter, he should have sent soldiers to seal off the Fan family residence and conduct a thorough search.

Instead, he had returned the house to Fan Changyu and gone to such lengths to settle several murder cases and pacify the town. It almost seemed as though he did not want to disrupt her life as it had been, and wanted her to remain here in town.

What was He Jingyuan after?

Or was he acting this way because the letter the Wei family’s death warriors had been searching for was no longer in the Fan’s household?

Xie Zheng looked toward the two spirit tablets on the altar table. He Jingyuan ought to know the true identities of this husband and wife. Could he perhaps know the secret behind that letter as well?