Hahaha, Escaped

The black cat's front paws had healed, but one of its hind legs was still dragging.

Tao Ji could actually set bones. Not only did he set the cat's leg bone, but he also splinted it with a small wooden twig.

So, the happiest creature on this journey was the black cat. It was either carried by Tao Ji or Pan Yun. It ate its fill, slept, and then slept some more while watching the scenery. Being held in someone's arms was not only effortless but also comfortably warm. Pan Yun was so envious she wished she could pretend to have broken a leg and be carried too.

The black cat was very clingy to Pan Yun. If it couldn't see her for a moment, it would cry. When Xuan Miao and Pan Yun went to relieve themselves or change clothes, it would also meow incessantly. Tao Ji watched with longing, feeling a bit jealous, as he had been treating the cat better all along.

"I never asked you, what's its name?"

Pan Yun looked down at it and then said, "Little Black, its name is Pan Little Black."

The black cat angrily refused, meowing, "My name is Spirit Realm, Spirit Realm!"

Stop calling it that, Pan Yun replied in its mind. They can't understand you, and Spirit Realm isn't your name. It's the name of an object. If you can be called Spirit Realm, then in the future, when someone crafts something with the same function, they can also call it Spirit Realm. It's like the swords they carry; they're all called swords, but to be different, they need to be given names.

The black cat was stunned. After thinking for a moment, it accepted and called out, "I don't want to be called Little Black. Give me a nicer name."

Pan Yun, however, smiled slightly, held it in her arms, and looked up at Tao Ji, smiling. "Look, it's completely black. Isn't it as black as a Dragon Crystal?"

Tao Ji looked at the black cat and nodded. "It is very black."

"So, its name is Little Black, and it takes my surname, Pan Little Black."

Tao Ji: "...Why not Dragon Crystal? Dragon Crystal sounds so much better."

The black cat nodded repeatedly, glaring at Pan Yun with its glass-like eyes.

"Because I just like calling it Little Black," Pan Yun said softly, stroking its fur. "Even the most beautiful name can't buy my affection, right, Little Black? You won't object to me, will you?"

The black cat's body stiffened for a moment, then it leaned into her embrace as if resigned, falling silent.

Pan Yun nodded with satisfaction and said to Tao Ji, "See? It likes it."

Tao Ji: "..."

Xuan Miao put down her chopsticks, counted out some copper coins, and placed them on the table. She stood up and said, "Let's go."

Tao Ji quickly put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and pulled Pan Yun along to follow.

Pan Yun stumbled a couple of times before steadying herself.

Passing by a clothing shop, Xuan Miao looked up at the storefront, then turned to Tao Ji and said, "Wait here."

As Xuan Miao looked at her, Pan Yun quickly said, "I don't need to buy anything. He and I will wait outside."

Xuan Miao frowned. Thinking about Pan Yun's current condition and her dislike of being known, even by Pan Yun, who was also a girl.

She looked at Tao Ji and instructed, "Keep an eye on her."

Tao Ji assured her, "Junior Sister, don't worry. The moment you go in, I'll acupoint her, making her unable to move. I'll seal her meridians and acupoint her; no matter how clever she is, she won't escape."

Pan Yun huffed indignantly, "Are you underestimating me that much? I've already agreed to go with you. Have I tried to run away on this journey?"

Xuan Miao directly agreed with Tao Ji's plan and turned to enter the clothing shop.

As soon as she left, Tao Ji approached, holding up two fingers.

Pan Yun snorted at him, not resisting, but turning her head to the side.

Her compliance made Tao Ji's guard drop significantly. Just as he was about to acupoint her, Pan Yun's eyes suddenly lit up, and she called out, "Wait a moment."

Tao Ji stopped his action. "What is it?"

Pan Yun pointed at the candied hawthorns not far away. "I want to eat those. You can acupoint my legs, but leave my hands free so I can eat one candied hawthorn, okay?"

Tao Ji: "You just ate noodles, and now you're hungry? What kind of stomach is that..."

Pan Yun's mood instantly plummeted, and she said sadly, "I've been weak since I was little. I've barely left the house since I was born. I've only ever heard of candied hawthorns and never eaten them. My second brother promised me that once I got better and could go out, he'd buy me candied hawthorns. But before he could buy them for me, he followed my father to Datong. I've lived this long and never eaten candied hawthorns..."

Before she finished speaking, Pan Yun's eyes had already turned red. Without waiting for Tao Ji's reaction, big tears began to fall. Pan Yun instantly burst into uncontrollable sobs.

At first, she just intended to pretend, but as she spoke, she thought of her second brother, who was only fourteen and still a mischievous boy. He was dragged away, and they said he was being exiled to Datong to serve as a border soldier, the lowest form of existence among soldiers.

Pan Yun wailed loudly.

Passersby couldn't help but stop and look.

Tao Ji flailed, "You, you, you, don't cry. It's just candied hawthorns, I'll buy them for you."

With that, he took out money and went to buy them.

The candied hawthorn vendor also craned his neck to look over. Seeing Tao Ji paying, he immediately smiled and walked over, pulling out the biggest and reddest one from a haystack. "Daoist priest, this one is sweet, it has the most sugar."

Tao Ji looked at it and was satisfied. After a moment's thought, he pointed to a skewer at the top. "And another one."

His junior sister seemed to like sweets too. It was perfect, one for each of them.

Tao Ji, holding a skewer of candied hawthorns in each hand, turned around with a smile. The spot where Pan Yun had been standing was now empty.

His smile froze. His hands and feet turned cold. He spun his head around, looking everywhere. The person who had been wailing moments ago was gone. Looking forward and backward, there wasn't a single person on the long street who looked like Pan Yun.

"She, she, she," Tao Ji anxiously turned back to ask the candied hawthorn vendor, "Where is she? Where did she go?"

The candied hawthorn vendor also scanned the area, his face changing drastically. "Oh no, could she have run into child snatchers?"

Tao Ji, holding the candied hawthorns, rushed into the clothing shop. There were only a few people inside; Pan Yun was nowhere to be seen. "Shopkeeper, did the young girl who was standing outside with me come in?"

The shopkeeper said, "No..."

Before she could finish, Tao Ji rushed out onto the street like a gust of wind. He looked left and right, chose a direction, and charged forward, his eyes scanning every person on the roadside, but Pan Yun was still nowhere to be found.

His eyes immediately reddened. He stomped his foot fiercely and rushed back to the shop, shouting, "Junior Sister, Junior Sister, come out quickly! I let Pan Yun run away!"

Outside, the candied haw vendor had already kindly helped him spread the word, "Everyone, please help look! Those child snatchers definitely haven't gone far..."

Tao Ji heard this and spat fiercely, What child snatchers could snatch her?

She ran away herself!

Tao Ji glanced at the candied haw in his hand, so angry he wanted to throw it away. But when he raised his hand, he felt it was too innocent and he shouldn't take his anger out on it.

As he was suffering, Xuan Miao came out with a bundle on her back and a sword in her hand.

Tao Ji looked at her with a wronged expression, "Junior Sister, I, I didn't watch her, she ran away."

Xuan Miao's expression was cold, and she didn't blame Tao Ji. She looked directly at the two candied haws he was holding. After calculating the quantity, she immediately did some mental arithmetic. A moment later, she said, "The upper trigram is Kan, the lower trigram is Xun. Water over Wind, the Well hexagram. Since she ran away actively, she won't be able to escape. Near water, heading south, to the dock. We're going to Kaifeng."

"Okay, okay!" Tao Ji nodded fiercely and followed Xuan Miao closely towards the dock.

Hmph, his Junior Sister's Plum Blossom Divination is superb. Want to run? No way!

Tao Ji's eyes blazed, and he strode towards the dock with great momentum.

When they reached the dock and saw dozens of ships, some of which had already set sail and countless more waiting to enter, he was stunned. "So many ships, which one is she hiding on?"

Xuan Miao frowned, finding that she couldn't calculate more detailed information. She was decisive, "Let's search around first. If we can't find her, we'll head straight to Kaifeng Prefecture."

Pan Yun was currently hiding on a large ship.

Pan Yun was rich, because she was always sick. Not only did her father like to appease her with money, but her elder brothers did too. However...

It was mostly copper coins. The only silver coin she had was because she was curious, so her father gave her one, a five-tael official silver piece.

When Tao Ji walked towards the candied haw vendor, she had already stopped crying. The moment everyone's attention turned to Tao Ji, she slipped into the crowd like a fish.

She ran quickly towards the dock. She had heard it while eating noodles: the small boats went to Kaifeng, leaving when full. The large boats were official ships, running on a schedule, one trip per hour, regardless of whether people or cargo were full.

There was less than a quarter of an hour until departure.

She rushed to the shore with her cat in her arms. Just as the boatman was untying the ropes and pushing the boat outwards with force...

Pan Yun, without a sound, rushed to the front and leaped, landing steadily on the deck.

"Hey, you reckless child! The boat is about to leave and you're still jumping on. Where are your adults?"

Pan Yun panted and grabbed a handful of copper coins from her sleeve. "My family is waiting for me in Kaifeng Prefecture."

She paid the boat fare and sat down at the very edge. Not long after the boat set sail, she saw Xuan Miao and Tao Ji rushing to the dock.

She immediately leaned back, hiding herself in the shadows, and watched them ask from ship to ship.

The black cat meowed, "They're so fast, can you escape?"

Pan Yun also felt they were incredibly fast. Unless they found her direction of departure very quickly after she left them, but she had already covered her tracks at the time...

Pan Yun: "If they search, they'll search north. They'll never guess we'd go south to Kaifeng first, then turn north. That way, we're separated..."

Pan Yun paused here, frowning, "You're right, they're too fast. It's very likely they'll guess I'm going to Kaifeng too..."

"Little girl, what are you muttering to yourself about?" A seemingly kind old grandmother looked at her worriedly. "You're so young, how can your parents dare to let you travel alone?"

Pan Yun glanced at her, swept her gaze around the cabin, and whispered, "My mother is dead. My father... is out on business. My stepmother is in charge at home. She told me to come to Daming Prefecture to get money from my uncle. My uncle owes my family a lot of money."

The old grandmother was clearly surprised by her honesty. She paused for a moment before asking, "Then, did you get the money?"

Pan Yun shook her head, her eyes reddening, and choked out, "No, my uncle only gave me some copper coins and told me to go home. I, I couldn't get the money, so I didn't dare to go home..."

After reading the suggestions from fellow readers, starting today, I will change to three thousand words per chapter. So, today's six thousand word update is complete. Good night!