Disaster Strikes

Lin Shouyi had been gone for four days since he last spoke, with no word from him in the meantime.

For the first two days, Wang managed to keep calm, telling herself that work at the mine was probably keeping him busy. By the third day, she could no longer sit still. She spent the whole day leaning by the door, watching for him, her needle and thread motionless in her hands.

Li Tui carried on as usual.

He cultivated in the morning and studied in the afternoon, keeping to a routine so regular it seemed almost cold. He saw Wang's anxiety, but never offered her a word of comfort.

At noon on the fourth day, the sun beat down fiercely.

Suddenly, a clatter of hooves came from the village entrance, mixed with rough shouts that sent the nearby chickens into a frenzy.

The sewing basket in Wang's hands hit the ground with a smack. She scrambled to her feet, but before she could reach the courtyard gate, someone kicked the wooden door open with a crash!

Several servants in dark blue tunics, their faces covered in brutish flesh, barged inside, swords hanging at their waists. Close behind them came a Zhou Family steward in a silk robe and square headscarf, along with a Loose Cultivator Bureau clerk whose eyes darted about.

"You..." Wang's face went deathly pale.

"Get out of the way!" one of the servants shoved her aside.

The steward snapped open a document and spoke in a shrill voice:

"Wang, wife of Lin Shouyi, listen well! Your husband stole from the mine while entrusted with its care and has now fled in fear of punishment! His family shares his guilt! Bind her! Search the place!"

Wang was struck as if by lightning, then lunged forward. "This is a wrongful accusation! My husband..."

"Hmph!"

Two servants stepped forward and bound her with hemp rope. Wang struggled, but one struck her across the face with the back of his hand. Her lip split, and blood and tears streamed down together as she collapsed to the ground, able only to sob.

The other servants began turning the place upside down. They kicked over chests, ripped up the bedding, smashed clay jars, and spilled the rice jars. Spirit rice and ordinary rice mingled with dirt, trampled under filthy shoes.

The neighbors peered from behind their doors, but no one dared step forward.

Li Tui came out when the main-room door was kicked open.

He said nothing, standing quietly in the shadows by the inner room as he watched it all. His frame was slight, but his back was straight.

The Loose Cultivator Bureau clerk's gaze swept over the wreckage before settling on Li Tui. He felt some measure of pity after all, so he went up to the Zhou Family steward and murmured, "Steward Zhou, the boy is still young, and he's Lin Shouyi's only son. Do you think perhaps..."

But after the steward had sized Li Tui up,

he cut the clerk off. "Young?" He snorted. "A son repaying his father's debt is only right and proper! Drag him to the mine to atone. Besides, look at him. Who's to say he isn't deep-minded and already in league with his father?"

He pointed sharply at Li Tui. "Bind him too! If he dares resist, treat him as an accomplice and kill him on the spot!"

Steel swords slid from their scabbards, their cold gleam pressing in.

Wang struggled to lift her head and cried out hoarsely, "No! You can't take my Qingzi! He's only ten! Take me instead! Take me!"

Her cries were useless.

As the blade drew near, Li Tui lowered his eyelids slightly.

He avoided the dazzling swordlight and concealed the calm buried deep in his eyes. To those around him, he was simply a half-grown child scared senseless.

When a servant reached for his arm, Li Tui let the pull bring him back to his senses.

He neither struggled nor spoke. He simply lowered his head and followed them outside. His steps were steady; he didn't even spare a glance at his mother struggling on the ground.

The next moment, he kept walking.

As he was shoved into the carriage, Li Tui looked back one last time.

The courtyard gate hung crooked, and the wreckage inside showed through the doorway. Wang was being dragged away, her hair disheveled and her face smeared with blood, still crying out hoarsely.

Through the cracks in the neighbors' doors, countless eyes watched, then quickly darted away.

Li Tui looked away.

The carriage curtain fell, and darkness closed around him. The wheels turned, grinding over the dirt road.

Inside the carriage, the servants' heavy breathing mingled with the smell of sweat. A steel sword lay across one man's knees, its blade reflecting the thin light filtering through a gap in the curtain.

Li Tui sat in a corner, lowering his eyes.

Inside his sleeve, his hand slowly clenched.

His fingertips dug into his palm, the pain sharp and clear. But the pain only made his thoughts colder.

His father had disappeared, his home had been ransacked, his mother had been bound, and he himself had been imprisoned.

This was no accident.

It was a trap.

The Zhou Family had laid it, the Loose Cultivator Bureau had gone through the motions, and their Lin Family had been livestock waiting to be slaughtered from the very beginning.

Li Tui closed his eyes.

Without power, he was nothing but a fish on the chopping block.

So at that moment, all he could do was sit in this jolting carriage, being taken to an unknown cage.

Li Tui slowly opened his eyes.

In the dark carriage, a cold glimmer lay dormant in the depths of his eyes, like a spark beneath the ashes.

No rush.

He still had time.

And he still had his life.

The pain in his palm continued. Li Tui slowly relaxed his fingers, their tips faintly stained with blood. In the darkness inside his sleeve, no one saw.