Several days later.
Bai Yujun was bored out of her mind, swinging a homemade fly swatter in the shop to kill flies. The bamboo strips and leather made a formidable fly-killing weapon. With sharp smacks and pops, she wiped out the pests without using cultivation or a quick blade to behead flies.
Smack! She hit too hard and shook the conical hat hanging on the wall down.
As she bent to pick up the hat, her head knocked the tea tray off the table. The crash of the shattered tray startled the big-faced cat on the roof into leaping sky-high. Its paw kicked loose an old blue roof tile from another neighbor's house, and the tile dropped onto an old man who was huffing and blowing on his hot tea, ready to drink it. Before he could react, hot tea splashed all over his face.
"Ahh..."
Hearing the miserable howl, Bai Yujun smiled awkwardly and carefully set down the fly swatter.
Life was leisurely. No matter whether people outside were beating each other's brains into dog brains, she could happily idle away in this little place. The warm, humid southern climate spared her from hibernation, and there was plenty of rain and prey to eat.
There was no business to speak of, so she turned and went to the small courtyard behind the shop. Sitting beneath a flowering tree, she planned to play her flute and elevate the refined elegance of the place.
Before she could play a note, it suddenly grew lively outside...
The street chief stood there banging a bronze gong with loud clangs.
"Neighbors, come out quickly! There's important business! Men, women, young, old, everyone come!"
The nearby residents were baffled, but they obediently came outside all the same. Families gathered in clusters of three and five