Hahaha, She Escaped

The black cat's two front paws had already healed, but one of its hind legs still hung limp.

Tao Ji actually knew how to set a cat's bones. Not only had he straightened its leg bone, he had also bound the leg with little wooden splints.

So the happiest one along the way was the black cat. Either Tao Ji carried it, or Pan Yun did. It ate until it was full, slept until it had slept enough, then watched the scenery. Nestled in someone's arms, it saved effort and was neither too cold nor too hot, all soft and cozy. Pan Yun was so envious she could scarcely bear it, practically wishing she could pretend to break a leg too so someone would carry her.

The black cat was very clingy with Pan Yun. If it could not see her for even a moment, it would start crying out. When Xuan Miao and Pan Yun went to relieve themselves or change clothes together, it would meow and meow as well. Tao Ji's eyes burned with envy. Clearly, he had treated it better all along.

"I've never asked—what's its name?"

Pan Yun lowered her head to glance at it, 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 out,] Pan Yun replied in her mind. [They can't understand you. And Spirit Realm isn't your name; it's the name of an object. You can be called Spirit Realm, but if someone forges something with the same function in the future, that can be called Spirit Realm too.

It's like the swords in their hands. They are all called swords, but to distinguish them, they have to be given names.]

The black cat froze, thought it over, and accepted it. "I don't want to be called Little Black. Give me a nicer name."

Pan Yun merely smiled faintly. Holding it in her arms, she looked up at Tao Ji with a smile. "Look at how black it is all over. Isn't it as black as Dragon Crystal?"

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

"So it's called Little Black. It takes my surname, so it's Pan Little Black."

Tao Ji said, "...Why not call it Dragon Crystal? Dragon Crystal sounds so much nicer."

The black cat nodded again and again, its glassy eyes glaring furiously at Pan Yun.

"Because I like calling it Little Black," Pan Yun said softly as she stroked its fur. "No beautiful name can buy my happiness. Right, Little Black? You wouldn't object, would you?"

The black cat's body stiffened for a moment. Then, as though resigned to its fate, it leaned into her arms and fell silent.

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

Tao Ji: ...

Xuan Miao set down her chopsticks, counted out some copper coins onto the table, and rose. "Let's go."

Tao Ji hurriedly put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, grabbed Pan Yun, and followed after her.

Pan Yun staggered twice before steadying herself.

As they passed a ready-made clothing shop, Xuan Miao looked up at the storefront, then turned to Tao Ji. "Wait here."

When Pan Yun saw her look over, she quickly said, "I don't have anything to buy. I'll wait outside with him."

Xuan Miao frowned. Remembering that Pan Yun was currently inconvenienced and truly did not like others knowing about it, even if Pan Yun was also a girl, she relented.

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

Tao Ji promised, "Don't worry, Junior Sister. The moment you go in, I'll seal her acupoints so she can't move. I'll seal her meridians and strike her pressure points. No matter how clever she is, she won't escape."

Pan Yun said indignantly, "You're looking down on me too much. I already agreed to go with you. Have I ever run away along the way?"

Xuan Miao directly approved Tao Ji's plan, then turned and entered the clothing shop.

The moment she left, Tao Ji raised two fingers and approached.

Pan Yun snorted at him. She did not resist, merely turning her head aside.

Her obedience made Tao Ji lower his guard considerably. Just as he was about to strike her acupoints, Pan Yun's eyes suddenly lit up, and she cried, "Wait!"

Tao Ji stopped. "What?"

Pan Yun pointed at the candied hawthorn skewers not far away. "I want to eat that. When you seal my acupoints, seal my legs, but leave my hands free. Let me eat a candied hawthorn skewer, all right?"

Tao Ji said, "You're hungry again right after eating noodles? What kind of stomach is that...?"

Pan Yun's spirits instantly fell. Looking somewhat heartbroken, she said, "I've been weak since childhood. Ever since I was born, I hardly ever left the house. I'd only ever heard of candied hawthorn skewers; I've never eaten one. My second brother promised me that once I got better, as long as I could go outside, he would buy me one. But before he could buy me any candied hawthorn, he followed my father to Datong. I've grown this old and never eaten candied hawthorn..."

Before she could finish speaking, Pan Yun's eyes had reddened. Before Tao Ji could react, huge tears rolled down her cheeks, and Pan Yun instantly burst into uncontrollable sobs.

At first, she had merely intended to put on an act. But as she spoke, she thought of her second brother, only fourteen years old. He was still just a mischievous boy himself, yet he had been shackled and dragged away. She had heard that those exiled to Datong were sent into Military Exile to guard the border, the lowest of the low among soldiers.

Pan Yun wailed loudly.

Passersby could not help stopping to look over.

Tao Ji flailed in panic. "Y-you-you, don't cry! It's just candied hawthorn, isn't it? I'll buy it for you."

With that, he pulled out some money and went to buy it.

The uncle selling candied hawthorn craned his neck to look over as well. Seeing Tao Ji take out money, he immediately greeted him with a smile and plucked the largest, reddest skewer from the straw bundle. "Daoist priest, this one's sweet. It has the most sugar."

Tao Ji looked it over, satisfied. After thinking for a moment, he pointed at a skewer on top. "Another one."

Junior Sister seemed to like sweets too. Perfect—one skewer for each of them.

Tao Ji turned around with a candied hawthorn skewer in each hand, his face full of smiles. But the spot where Pan Yun had been standing was already empty.

His smile stiffened slightly. In an instant, his hands and feet went cold. He turned his head, scanning in every direction, but the person who had been wailing only moments ago had vanished without a trace. Ahead and behind, on the long street, there was not a single person who looked like Pan Yun.

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

The candied hawthorn seller swept his gaze around too, and his expression changed drastically. "Oh no! Could she have run into a child snatcher?"

Holding up the candied hawthorn skewers, Tao Ji rushed into the clothing shop. There were only a few scattered customers inside, and Pan Yun was nowhere to be seen. "Shopkeeper, did the young girl who was standing outside with me just now come in?"

The shopkeeper said, "No..."

Before she could finish, Tao Ji rushed back into the street like a gust of wind. He looked left and right, chose a direction, and charged ahead, his eyes sweeping over every person by the roadside. Still, there was no Pan Yun.

His eyes immediately reddened. He stomped his foot viciously, rushed back into the shop, and shouted, "Junior Sister! Junior Sister, come out quickly! I let Pan Yun get away!"

Outside, the candied hawthorn seller had already kindly begun spreading the word for him. "Everyone, hurry and help look! That child snatcher can't have gone far..."

Hearing that, Tao Ji spat fiercely. What child snatcher could possibly snatch her away?

She had run off herself!

Tao Ji looked at the candied hawthorn skewers in his hands. He was so angry he wanted to throw them away, but after raising his hand, he felt that they were truly innocent. He should not vent his anger on them.

Just as he was in agony, Xuan Miao came out carrying 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 keep watch over her. I let her escape."

Xuan Miao's face was cold and stern. She did not blame Tao Ji. Instead, she looked directly at the two candied hawthorn skewers in his hands. After calculating the numbers, she performed the divination in her head. A moment later, she said, "The upper trigram is Kan, the lower trigram is Xun: Water-Wind Well. Since she took the initiative to flee, she cannot truly get away. Near water, southward, to the docks. We're going to Kaifeng."

"Mm-hm!" Tao Ji nodded fiercely and followed Xuan Miao step by step toward the docks.

Hmph. His Junior Sister's Plum Blossom Divination had reached a miraculous level. Trying to run? No door—and no window either!

Tao Ji's eyes blazed as he strode toward the docks with surging momentum.

When they reached the docks, they saw dozens of boats. Those that had already left the docks, as well as those waiting to enter, were even more numerous beyond counting. He froze. "With so many boats, which one is she hiding on?"

Xuan Miao frowned, realizing she could not calculate anything more specific. She was decisive nonetheless. "Search around first. If we can't find her, we'll go straight to Kaifeng Prefecture."

At that moment, Pan Yun was hiding aboard a large ship.

Pan Yun had money, because she was always ill. Not only did her father love using money to coax her, her elder brother and second brother did too. It was just that...

Most of it was copper coins. Her only piece of silver had been given to her by her father because she had been curious about it. It was not large: five taels of official silver.

When Tao Ji walked toward the candied hawthorn seller, she stopped crying. Then, at the very instant everyone's attention turned toward Tao Ji, she slipped into the crowd like a fish.

She ran swiftly toward the docks. While eating noodles, she had heard that the small boats heading to Kaifeng departed once they were full, while the large ships were official vessels. They left on schedule once every two hours, regardless of whether they were full of passengers or cargo.

There was less than a quarter hour until the scheduled departure.

Clutching the cat, she rushed to the shore just as the boatmen were untying the ropes and pushing the ship out with all their strength...

Without a word, Pan Yun charged forward, leaped, and landed steadily on the deck.

"Hey! Are you trying to get yourself killed, child? The ship's about to leave and you're still jumping aboard? Where are your family?"

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

After paying the fare, she went to sit at the very edge. Not long after the ship set off, she saw Xuan Miao and Tao Ji hurrying to the docks.

She immediately leaned back, hiding herself entirely in the shadows as she watched them question the boats one by one.

The black cat meowed. "They're so fast. Can you really escape?"

Pan Yun also felt their speed was outrageously fast. Unless they had found the direction she had gone soon after losing her—but she had already covered her tracks at the time...

Pan Yun said, "Even if they search, they'll search north. They definitely won't expect us to head south to Kaifeng first, then turn north. That will send us down separate paths..."

Pan Yun paused here and frowned. "You're right. They're moving too quickly. It's very possible they can guess that I'm heading for Kaifeng too..."

"Young girl, what are you muttering to yourself about?" An old grandmother who looked very kind watched her worriedly. "You're so young. How could your parents dare let you travel alone?"

Pan Yun glanced at her, her gaze sweeping across the cabin. In a tiny voice, she said, "My mother died. My father... went out to do business. My stepmother runs the household, and she told me to come to Daming Prefecture to ask my uncle for money. My uncle owes our family a great deal of money."

The old grandmother had clearly not expected her to be so honest. After pausing in surprise, she asked, "Then... then did you get the money?"

Pan Yun shook her head, her eyes reddening as she 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 don't dare go home..."

After reading fellow readers' suggestions, starting today, each chapter will be three thousand characters. So today's six-thousand-character update is complete. Good night!