The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the bluestone paths in the Southern District a warm yellow.
As Ye Qingxuan turned the corner, he spotted the half-broken gate to his own courtyard from far away. The door panel leaned crookedly against the wall like a toothless old man, silently sighing in the dusk.
He paused, then quickened his steps.
Before he had even drawn near, the inner-room door creaked open, and a small figure poked her head out from behind it. It was Ye Caiwei.
She held a coarse porcelain bowl in her hands. The instant she saw Ye Qingxuan, her large eyes lit up, and she ran over to greet him.
"Big Brother, you're back."
She held out the bowl. Inside was well water that had cooled to a pleasantly warm temperature.
Ye Qingxuan took the bowl and drained it in one gulp. The cool water slid down his throat, washing away the day's weariness and the dust of the streets.
He handed the empty bowl back to his sister and reached out to stroke the top of her head. The little girl's hair was somewhat yellow, but it had been washed clean.
"Is dinner ready?"
"Mm! I was just waiting for you to come back and eat." Ye Caiwei took the bowl and followed behind him like a little tail.
The two of them entered the house. In the kitchen, a pot sat warming atop a small clay stove, steam rising through the gap beneath its lid.
Ye Qingxuan lifted the lid. Inside was last night's beef stewed with radishes, reheated once already. He poked around in the pot with his chopsticks. Almost all the beef was gone, leaving only a few radishes that had soaked up the broth.
He turned to look at his sister.
Ye Caiwei was standing on tiptoe, struggling to put the coarse porcelain bowl back in the cupboard overhead. When she saw him looking, she smiled at him.
"Nannan, what did you eat today?"
"I ate." Ye Caiwei hopped down from in front of the cupboard and clapped her hands. "I ate lots of radishes, and steamed egg custard too."
Ye Qingxuan said nothing. He merely walked over to the rice jar and lifted the lid. The small bowl containing the eggs was still full. Ten eggs, not one missing.
He turned around and looked at his sister.
The smile vanished from Ye Caiwei's face. She lowered her head, twisting her little hands together and picking at the hem of her clothes.
"Big Brother... I... I had coarse-rice porridge for lunch. I was very full." Her voice grew softer.
"What about the beef?"
"The beef... The beef had to be saved for you. You practice martial arts, so you need to replenish your qi and blood." She raised her head, her eyes already glistening with tears. "The butcher's beef is so expensive. We can't eat it all at once."
Ye Qingxuan stared at her. His throat moved, but though he wanted to say something, not a single word came out.
In silence, he took the pot of food down from the stove, ladled out two bowls of coarse-rice porridge, and placed them on the small table.
"Sit down. Eat."
Ye Caiwei obediently sat by the table, but she did not dare lift her chopsticks.
Ye Qingxuan picked all the remaining pieces of beef from the pot and put them into his sister's bowl, piling them into a little mountain.
"Eat." His tone was not harsh, but it carried an undeniable force.
Ye Caiwei looked at the meat in her bowl and pursed her lips. At last, her tears fell, one drop after another, striking the tabletop.
"Big Brother, we're out of money." Her voice was choked with tears. "Some of the copper coins in the rice jar were spent buying rice and vegetables today. And... and we still owe Fierce Tiger Hall fourteen taels of silver... What are we going to do?"
Over the past few days, she had pretended to be carefree while managing the household, but this burden had ultimately become too heavy for a nine-year-old child to bear.
Ye Qingxuan reached out and wiped the tears from her face with his fingertip.
"Nannan, you can't make do when it comes to food. Your body is your capital. If you starve yourself sick, how will you help Big Brother in the future?"
He placed the chopsticks in her hand. "You need to eat your fill before you'll have the strength to think of a solution. As for the fourteen taels of silver, you don't need to worry about it. I wasn't joking with you yesterday. I really have a way now."
Ye Caiwei looked at him doubtfully, but in the end, she picked up her chopsticks and began eating in small bites.
Ye Qingxuan, meanwhile, lifted his own bowl and shoveled down mouthful after mouthful of rice with the broth.
He knew all too well that his sister's worries were completely justified. As an unregistered temporary constable earning a monthly salary of five hundred copper coins, he could barely support himself, let alone sustain his bottomless martial cultivation.
It felt as though a wad of cotton had lodged in his chest, heavy and stifling.
In this turbid world, having no money was the original sin.
The meal ended in silence. Ye Caiwei must truly have been hungry, for she cleaned every last bit of meat and rice from her bowl.
After clearing away the dishes, Ye Caiwei reached beneath her pillow and pulled out a crookedly stitched cloth pouch. She carried it before Ye Qingxuan with both hands as though it were a treasure.
"Big Brother, look."
The cloth pouch was small, made from scraps left over from tailoring clothes. A pair of mandarin ducks had been embroidered on it with red thread, though the needlework was truly hard to praise. They looked more like two little chicks.
Ye Qingxuan took it and opened it. Inside were several copper coins and a small piece of broken silver. Added together, they probably amounted to less than a hundred copper coins.
"What's this?"
"I saved it." Ye Caiwei presented it like a treasure, a hint of pride on her little face. "I did the math. When Big Brother gets married, the betrothal gifts, the wedding feast, new clothes—everything costs money. I asked Aunt Zhang next door, and she said that here in our Southern District, marrying a girl from a good family would cost at least twenty taels of silver."
Twenty taels...
Ye Qingxuan gripped the little cloth pouch, his hand trembling slightly.
He looked at his sister's solemn little face and, for a moment, had no idea whether he should laugh or cry.
"Big Brother is already nineteen," Ye Caiwei said, counting earnestly on her fingers. "Next year, you'll reach the age of majority. Brother Li from South Street got married at twenty, and his child is almost old enough to run. We have to start preparing early."
Ye Qingxuan could hold back no longer and burst out laughing. He pulled his sister into his arms and rubbed her little head.
"You little girl. You're so young, yet you're already worrying so far ahead. Big Brother's marriage isn't something you need to worry about."
"How can that be!" Ye Caiwei struggled in his arms and said anxiously, "Big Brother's lifelong happiness is Nannan's top priority!"
Holding her, Ye Qingxuan laughed even harder. The gloom weighing on his heart these past few days seemed to scatter under his sister's "lofty ambition."
He stuffed the cloth pouch back into his sister's hands.
"Keep it safe. This is what Nannan saved for Big Brother—not a single coin can be lost. But from now on, you don't need to save this money anymore."
He stood up, walked into the courtyard, and brought in the thick wooden pole that had propped up the gate during the day.
"Big Brother, what are you doing?" Ye Caiwei followed after him curiously.
"I'm repairing the gate."
Ye Qingxuan drew the short knife from his waist and began shaving the wooden pole by the dim, yellow oil lamp. He intended to make a sturdy bolt for the broken gate.
Wherever the blade passed, wood shavings flew.
His movements were not quick, but they were steady. The short knife seemed almost alive in his hand, every ounce of force applied with perfect precision.
After two nights of arduous cultivation, his control over his own body had far surpassed what it once was.
Ye Caiwei moved over a small stool, sat beside him, and quietly watched with her chin propped in her hands.
Under the lamplight, the brother and sister worked together—one focused on shaving the wood, the other quietly keeping him company.
Outside the courtyard was the noisy night of the Southern District.
Inside, there was a sense of security they had never known before.
The knife in Ye Qingxuan's hand came to a stop. A wooden bolt of even thickness and suitable length had begun to take shape.
He lifted his head and looked at his sister, who was already growing drowsy beside him.
Yes, life would always get better, with more and more to look forward to.
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