The Culprit

The party from Willow Creek Village left.

The man walked in front with the baby in his arms, his head bowed. The others followed, their shoulder poles and hoes hanging low, all the bluster they had arrived with gone.

Shen Hui watched them round the mountainside. Only when they had vanished from sight did he look away.

About the time it took an incense stick to burn later, Patriarch Baoxue returned.

She swept down before them, her robes settling softly, and spoke at once:

"Within thirty miles downstream, two other villages stand by the river."

"One is seven or eight miles below Willow Creek Village. It has a dozen or so people. They weren't badly poisoned, and I dissolved pills in water for them to drink. All survived."

"The other is farther from the river and draws its water from a well. They're fine too."

Shen Hui nodded, relieved.

Patriarch Baoxue continued, "Farther downstream, the water grows clear. I saw no dead fish or floating carcasses. The poison seems to have run its course."

"Thank you for the effort, Patriarch."

Shen Hui nodded. "Come on. Let's have a look upstream."

The four followed the stream upstream.

The farther they went, the fewer fields lined its banks. The vegetation thickened, and signs of people dwindled.

At first, they still passed a few abandoned thatched sheds, their ruined fences leaning into the grass. Farther on, even the path disappeared.

The stream wound between scattered rocks, murmuring over a bed visible through the shallow, clear water.

After a while, Hu Cheng stopped and pointed to a patch of grass beside the stream.

"Master, look."

A wild rabbit lay in the grass.

Its fur was gray-brown, and its limbs had long since stiffened.

A few steps farther on, a pheasant floated belly-up in the