Half a month later.
Bai Yujun opened her doors for business in the morning as professionally as ever, propped up her paper umbrella, and hung it high from a bamboo stool.
Life was still the same. The only change was that Song Manor across the street had become a blackened field of broken walls and ruins. No one had found Yu Xiao, nor did anyone know whether he was dead or alive. The Song family's corpses had all been burned into unrecognizable charcoal. The authorities had come by, made a perfunctory round, and left. With the realm in chaos, it was hard to say how much force the authorities still had.
The big-faced tabby cat came over for a free meal as usual, then sat on the threshold with Bai Yujun, staring blankly at the street.
After gnawing clean its dried fish, the tabby cat cast a disdainful glance at a certain snake drinking flour paste. In its eyes, flatbread and flour paste were simply too disgusting to endure.
The Colorful oil-paper umbrella hung high overhead, sunlight filtering through it and scattering seven-colored rays.
After breakfast, she continued pretending to be foolish and staring into space.
Suddenly, Bai Yujun heard hoofbeats—more than twenty riders, perhaps. The big-faced tabby cat heard the galloping horses too, instinctively pricking up its ears and widening its eyes.
Pedestrians scattered out of the way as more than twenty riders thundered down the street and stopped before Zhao Manor.
The big-faced tabby cat shot onto the roof in a flash, staying where it considered safe as it watched these humans whose minds were clearly not right. If anything went wrong, it would flee at once. It possessed not the slightest awareness of protecting the one who fed it. It was merely cooperating with humans to get