The Young Stepmother

The caravan's owner was still in the corner, repeatedly clasping his hands and pleading with the gate captain.

Uncle Rong Kui furrowed his brow and called out to Xu Yuan. "Wait a moment. Let's see what's going on."

The caravan's owner believed in "being kind to others when traveling abroad." He'd taken ten coins from them, and at noon had invited them to eat with the caravan—two flatbreads and a bowl of soup made with dried meat for each person.

Xu Yuan waited with him.

It didn't take long for the owner to be waved away impatiently by the gate captain.

As the owner passed by, Uncle Rong Kui asked, "Couldn't you settle it?"

The owner glanced toward the gate captain, hesitated, then shook his head. "Maybe tomorrow..."

There were several inns outside the city walls that catered to caravans like theirs. They didn't need to worry about having nowhere to spend the night.

Uncle Rong Kui saw what was going on at once and cursed. "Those rotten bastards are breaking the rules again."

The owner sighed. "When you're away from home, you have to put up with what you can..."

Uncle Rong Kui grabbed him. "Come with me!"

"Hey, hey, hey..." The owner didn't really want to go. He could accept earning a little less this trip. He still had to travel this route in the future, and if he truly offended the gate captain, he'd be given a hard time every time he came through.

But Uncle Rong Kui had a powerful grip. He dragged the owner over to the gate captain and tossed out his Waist Token without so much as a courtesy. "Open your dog eyes and take a look! How dare you give my father-in-law a hard time?"

The gate captain caught it and saw that it was a Waist Token from the Monster Extermination Army. He shuddered, his formerly haughty attitude transforming completely. Bowing and scraping, he returned the token with both hands. "Sir, I was blind! Don't worry. From now on, whenever your esteemed father-in-law passes through here, I won't charge him a single coin!"

The rank on the token was General Banner Officer. That meant he wasn't one of the rank-and-file soldiers in the Monster Extermination Battalion.

The Monster Extermination Army was responsible for gathering intelligence and rooting out traitors.

So whoever they said was a traitor became one, didn't they?

You say you're not?

Come, come, come—let us introduce you to the one hundred and eight torture devices of the Monster Extermination Thousand Household Office.

"Hmph!" Uncle Rong Kui snorted. "That's more like it."

The gate captain hurriedly kicked and prodded his men into action. "Get moving! Clear the way for this sir!"

Then he personally ran to the front of the caravan and directed the drivers to enter the city gate.

Everyone in the caravan was dumbfounded. They hadn't imagined that the two men they'd picked up along the road were important figures.

The owner had been in business in the Great Ming for twenty years, and this was the first time he'd entered a city without spending a single coin!

The gate captain and his men stood behind the gate tunnel, bowing and waving again and again as they saw Uncle Rong Kui and the caravan off.

After turning a corner, once the gate captain and his men were out of sight, Uncle Rong Kui waved his hand. "All right, let's part ways here."

Uncle Rong Kui tugged Xu Yuan along, ready to leave, but the owner hurriedly said, "Sir, I really do have a daughter. She's just sixteen..."

Uncle Rong Kui swore at him. "Get lost! I gave you a hand, and now you really think you can be my father-in-law?"

The owner clasped his hands and bowed deeply by the roadside, grateful as he bade the two men farewell.

Uncle Rong Kui was feeling rather pleased with himself as he secretly watched Xu Yuan's reaction.

He hadn't helped just out of kindness. Or, to put it another way, kindness had accounted for at most thirty percent of it.

But Xu Yuan remained calm. He said to Uncle Rong Kui, "Let's part ways here, too. I'm going home. My house is cramped, and I have nowhere to entertain guests, so I won't invite you in."

With that, Xu Yuan clasped his hands and turned to leave.

Uncle Rong Kui hurriedly called after him. "You really won't reconsider?"

Xu Yuan turned around again and said solemnly, "Uncle Rong Kui, the Monster Extermination Army is impressive. I saw that for myself.

"You said that joining my second uncle would mean a bright future and a high salary. I believe you, but I really don't want to join the Monster Extermination Army. Don't waste your effort.

"I'm going home now. Don't follow me—my stepmother has a bad temper. Even I don't dare provoke her, so I'd advise you not to either."

Xu Yuan turned and walked away once more. "I've said all I have to say."

Uncle Rong Kui watched his resolute retreating figure. He opened his mouth, but in the end could only slap his thigh in dejection.

After figuring out which way to go, he headed for a local freight station.

That was also a Monster Extermination Army outpost. Since Xu Yuan was unwilling to join the army, Uncle Rong Kui had already sent word through Widow Yang last night. Now all he could do was wait for further instructions from his old comrade, who was now his superior.

Xu Yuan had seriously considered whether or not to join the Monster Extermination Army.

It looked as though his second uncle had made something of himself. Joining the army and using his second uncle's influence to deal with the "problem" at home seemed like a good choice.

But Uncle Rong Kui had first watched him in secret, then grown conspicuously anxious after realizing Xu Yuan was capable.

That made Xu Yuan unwilling to go.

Ever since he could remember, Xu Yuan had never seen his second uncle.

How much affection could a relative like that possibly feel for him?

Had his second uncle come to find him out of pure kindness, hoping to "bestow an opportunity" on him... or was there some dangerous task that happened to require someone with a "nephew"身份 like him?

Xu Yuan didn't really want to know the answer.

After all, that man was his real second uncle, his father's only biological younger brother.

Without knowing the answer, they could still be family.

Shanhe County wasn't large. Xu Yuan had grown up there and knew every street and alley by heart... along with the low walls and dog holes that could make for shortcuts.

In less than the time it took an incense stick to burn, Xu Yuan stood at the eastern entrance of River Worker Alley.

The alley was roughly shaped like the character "凹," with an exit at either end and seven or eight households living inside.

The two households at the very back belonged to the Xu family and Grandpa Shen, who sold medicinal dog-skin plasters.

Grandpa Shen had always been proud of his plasters' excellent effects. That was why he believed "good wine fears no deep alley."

At the eastern entrance stood Uncle Mao's carpentry shop, while Aunt Wang's leftovers shop was by the western entrance.

The carpentry shop's front door was locked tight. Uncle Mao had probably gone out on a job.

Xu Yuan entered the alley, his steps speeding up without him realizing it.

Soon he reached home. This was a small side door.

The theater's entrance was the main gate, in the middle of the "凹." It only opened when a performance was on.

Xu Yuan pushed the door and walked in.

Creak—

The sound of the wooden door startled a young woman in the courtyard. She was wearing a blue padded jacket and a faded, freshly washed apron. Her sleeves were pushed up, revealing two arms as white and smooth as lotus roots, and she was washing clothes.

Her jet-black hair was swept up into a sloping bun, setting off her fair, delicate face and making it look all the more radiant. She looked barely over twenty. Hearing the noise, she turned her head toward the door. When she saw that it was Xu Yuan, delight surged into her lacquer-black eyes, but she quickly suppressed it.

Xu Yuan saw his stepmother, too.

The lazy afternoon sunlight had just drifted over the western wall, spilling across the well at the eastern end of the courtyard.

A wooden tub sat beneath the well, with a washboard propped inside. When his stepmother turned to look at him, a few strands of hair had fallen across her forehead. Lit by the sunlight, they seemed almost translucent, hazy and delicate.

The instant she saw him, her red lips parted slightly. Surprise, delight, and bewilderment flickered through her bright eyes, finally settling into a trace of confusion. "Did Qiao Zi'ang send you back?"

She sprang to her feet, and it turned out she was about as tall as Xu Yuan.

The scholars of the Great Ming still favored the fashion for frail beauties, and she clearly didn't fit that sickly ideal.

But she was strong and capable, spirited and bold—like the row of green bamboo standing against the wall behind her.

The woman tossed the half-wrung garment back into the wooden tub with a slap, splashing up suds and soapy water.

"I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" She picked up the washboard.