"All better. It just still hurts a little." The little girl clenched her small fist. "When I grow up and learn spells, if anyone comes to steal things again, I'll send him flying!"
Su Han laughed at her words. "Then you'll have to study hard."
"Uncle Su, do you know spells?"
The question made Su Han hesitate for an instant. He looked at the little girl's clear black-and-white eyes, where his reflection was mirrored cleanly. In the end, he neither nodded nor shook his head, only saying, "A little."
"How much is a little?"
"About... enough to push someone over."
The little girl curled her lip. "That's not strong enough."
"It really isn't." Su Han stood and patted the dirt from his knees. "What's your name?"
"My name is Shitou'er. My dad said girls should be hard like stones, so the wind can't blow them down and the rain can't beat them apart."
"Shitou'er. Good name." Su Han took two steps toward the inn, then looked back and said, "Go tell your father that there probably won't be anyone coming to cause trouble in the valley for the next couple of days."
Shitou'er blinked. "Really? How do you know?"
"Just a guess." Su Han waved to her, turned, and left.
By the time he returned to the inn, it was almost dark. Innkeeper Chen was not at the counter; only the waiter remained, sprawled over a table and dozing. Su Han went upstairs quietly, shut the door properly, set his bundle on the bed, then sat cross-legged on the bed board and regulated his breathing for a quarter of an hour. He tested the flow of spiritual energy inside him. Everything was normal. That power which had once "gathered on its own into his palm and turned into light" on