Rainy Night

Outside, torrential rain was pouring down, heaven and earth nearly joined into a single line, with flashes of lightning and peals of thunder accompanying it from time to time.

Qi Shan had barely lain down fully clothed before the clamor of knocking woke him. He opened his eyes and rose, straightening his collar. Just as he was about to put on his wooden clogs and answer the door, Shen Tang opened it before him.

The visitor wore a bamboo hat and straw rain cape, his expression anxious—

It was the Village Chief of Qian Family Village.

Shen Tang stepped aside and invited him in.

"The rain is heavy outside. Please come in first, sir, and speak."

The Village Chief waved his hand in refusal. "No, no."

Qi Shan stepped forward. "You look deeply worried, sir. Has something happened?"

"Have you two Young Masters seen A Yan?" Outside, wind and rain raged together. The Village Chief's face was drenched, rainwater dripping steadily down it, but he had no time to wipe it away. His voice trembled slightly. "That child... I only looked away for a moment, and he was gone!"

Shen Tang asked in confusion, "Who is A Yan?"

"The child who was playing around with Young Master earlier."

Once he said that, Shen Tang knew who he meant.

So it was that child who had looked dull and foolish.

His name was "A Yan."

Shen Tang glanced at the conditions outside and shook her head. "We've been inside the whole time and haven't seen him. When did he disappear?"

The Village Chief said, "Just now, no more than a quarter of an hour ago."

At those words, Shen Tang's expression visibly darkened.

A quarter of an hour was fifteen minutes.

The rain outside was so fierce that even straw capes and bamboo hats could not keep it out. Gale-force winds howled, the downpour came crashing down, and faintly, the howls of wild beasts could be heard from the mountains, chilling to hear. A child disappearing in weather like this—could he have been carried off by Wolves and Tigers that had slipped into the village?

That was also what the Village Chief feared most.

He said, "If he merely ran off to play out of mischief, that would be fine. What I fear is that he was carried away by a Great Insect coming down from the mountains..."

These past few years, drought had reduced the harvests, taxes were heavy, and war was everywhere. The villagers' lives had been hard, and the beasts in the mountains had not fared well either. They often came down to forage for food. It would have been one thing if they only carried off livestock raised by the villagers, but the terrifying possibility was that they might carry off children.

Three similar tragedies had occurred over the past two years.

Qi Shan took the bamboo hat hanging on the wall and put it on, tying the cord beneath his chin. "Don't worry yet, sir. I'll help Go Find him too. We'll find the child eventually. Look on the bright side—perhaps the servants from the estate took him back, perhaps..."

The Village Chief sighed.

He too hoped things were as Qi Shan had said—that it was only a false alarm, that the child had neither gone missing nor been carried away by a Great Insect, but had simply been taken back. Yet he knew that possibility was vanishingly small. A Yan was not valued, and his life at the estate was only barely enough to keep him from starving to death.

Half a month ago, he had stayed in the village for four or five days before someone came to take him back—only because villagers from Qian Family Village had happened to encounter one of the Old Women and deliberately reminded her. With weather this terrible tonight, there was even less reason to expect them to come fetch him through the rain.

Shen Tang said, "I'll help look too."

Qi Shan shot her a glance. "Forget it. Take a look at the weather outside. If we fail to find him and lose you instead, that would be even worse."

The Village Chief was grateful that Qi Shan was willing to help, and he too opposed Shen Tang going out—this Young Master still had childishness about her, was only eleven or twelve, and thin besides. She looked only five or six years older than A Yan.

"That concern is unnecessary. How could I get lost? At worst, I'd still be better than having the villagers grope about in the dark searching for someone." Shen Tang borrowed a set of straw rain cape and bamboo hat from the Village Chief. Still worried, he handed her a firewood-chopping knife as well. If she was unlucky enough to encounter a Great Insect, she could at least hold it off for a while.

"A Yan!"

The heavy rain turned the ground to mud.

Though Shen Tang's eyesight was good, she still stepped into puddles from time to time. Muddy water splashed as she walked, leaving the hem of her clothes filthy beyond recognition. In a quarter of an hour, she searched all the fields around Qian Family Village and found no trace of A Yan. The other villagers had likewise gained nothing.

The longer time passed, the less confidence everyone had.

Qi Shan asked the Village Chief where the estate was. He planned to ask there—although the chances that A Yan had been taken back were slim, what if?

Shen Tang volunteered, "I'll go too."

The Village Chief sighed. "Then I'll trouble you two to make the trip."

The villagers of Qian Family Village, meanwhile, went to search in the direction nearer the deep mountains. The children carried off by Great Insects before had been the same way. They had searched all night without finding them, only to discover intestines dragged out into the open, scraps of flesh, and bones in the grass at the foot of the mountain.

"Word Spirit is so miraculous—why doesn't it have a rain-sheltering function?"

Despite wearing a straw rain cape and bamboo hat, Shen Tang was still soaked like a drowned rat. The ice-cold clothes clinging to her skin made her intensely uncomfortable. Whenever the night wind blew through gaps in the cape, it raised patches of goosebumps over her body.

Qi Shan said, "Perhaps it does."

There were so many Word Spirits, after all.

Besides—

"Even if there is one, not every Word Spirit can be learned. Rather than hoping there is such a Word Spirit in the world, you'd do better to wear more rain gear."

Shen Tang jogged to keep up with him, not caring that her heavy footsteps splashed up dirty water. She was already filthy, so being careful would make no difference. "Then is there some kind of lighting tool that won't get drenched by rain? It would be convenient for marching through heavy rain or traveling at night..."

Qi Shan said, "..."

The estate was not very far from Qian Family Village.

The Two of Them followed the muddy trail, one step deep and one step shallow, and only found it after walking for two quarter-hours. It was a courtyard enclosed by low walls, with dark tiled roofs and white walls faintly visible. The courtyard was pitch-black, without a single light. From afar, it resembled the shadow of a beast curled into a ball.

Shen Tang stepped forward and raised her hand to knock.

Knock, knock, knock—

At that moment, lightning leaped through the clouds, illuminating half the Sky Curtain. Thunder that was deafeningly loud followed close behind.

Worried that those Inside the House could not hear, she changed from knocking with curled fingers to striking the door with a loosely clenched fist, gradually increasing the force—Bang, bang, bang!

Just as she thought there was no one Inside the House, she faintly heard an impatient male voice answer, "Who is it, knocking wildly at the door?"

After a while, the gate opened.

The middle-aged man who opened it wore a somewhat short brown robe and a cloth headwrap. He seemed deeply displeased at having his sweet dreams disturbed in the middle of the night, sweeping an unfriendly gaze over Shen Tang and Qi Shan. Seeing that one was tall and the other short, and both were young, his expression seemed to relax slightly, becoming a little more cordial.

"You two are?"

Shen Tang answered, "We are travelers lodging in Qian Family Village. We heard from the Village Chief that the child named A Yan belongs to your estate. He was playing in the village during the day and did not return. Not long ago, he disappeared. The Village Chief fears he was carried away by a Great Insect and is searching everywhere."

After hearing Shen Tang's words, the middle-aged man's expression eased considerably. "Oh, A Yan has already been taken back. I must trouble you two for your concern."

Taken back already???

Shen Tang frowned slightly.

Using her bamboo hat as cover, she returned her face to normal.

At this moment, Qi Shan clasped his hands in salute to the man and said gently, "Since the Young Master of your household is safe, we too are relieved. But at this moment, the night is dark, the road is narrow, and the wind and rain are fierce. Could we temporarily borrow your residence and allow my brother and me to shelter from the rain here?"

The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment upon hearing this.

But he still stepped aside to let Shen Tang and Qi Shan enter, saying, "You two braved the rain for my young son's sake. If it is merely shelter from the rain, of course you may. It is simply too late now, and the household servants have all gone to sleep. We cannot properly receive you two, so I hope you will forgive us."

Qi Shan said, "Naturally. A roof to shelter from the rain is enough."

The Two of Them followed the middle-aged man into the small courtyard.

Several trees were planted in the courtyard. Hemp ropes used for drying clothes were tied between their trunks, and garments hung from the ropes—seven or eight adult garments, along with a child's outfit washed until it had faded white and mended with patches.

Shen Tang glanced at it from the corner of her eye, then withdrew her Line of Sight without leaving a trace.

Wow, I made it onto the flash-screen recommendations today, and my favorites went up a little.

I wonder whether there are any new readers at this moment. Hehe (#^.^#)