The carriage gradually left Three Rivers Prefecture behind. Settlements grew sparse, and bleak autumn woods lined both sides of the Official Road. Fallen leaves rustled beneath the wheels.
The setting sun shone through the window, casting mottled light and shadow outside the carriage.
"I wonder how my little brother has fared all these years."
Yun Niang sighed and lightly stroked Sparrow Fairy's wing.
In a few days, she would return to Salt Township and visit her parents' graves. The thought left her lost in reverie, a faint smile on her lips.
A sudden rustling came from a corner of the carriage.
Yun Niang looked toward the sound. Two gray mice had emerged, their black-bead eyes darting about without the slightest fear of strangers.
She did not panic. After all, mouse squeaks were often heard at Fortune-Life Martial Hall.
Stranger still, the mice at the martial hall had become a plague, yet not a single piece of wooden furniture had ever been damaged.
Yun Niang recalled how Ren Qing called them Mouse Children and could not help laughing.
"Did A-Qing send you to recite some calming scripture for me?"
As soon as she spoke, both mice bowed and nodded, their little paws gesturing incessantly before their chests.
Yun Niang's eyesight was already a little blurry, and the carriage was dim. She could not make out their small movements. Then she blinked and noticed something.
The two mice seemed to have taken out a page from a book and were leaning in to examine the writing on it.
Yun Niang thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. Then she heard thin, high-pitched voices murmuring.
"Supreme Star of the Dais, ever responsive without pause; drive out evil, bind demons, preserve life and guard the body; let wisdom shine clear and the mind