Stone Jade

After putting away the three taels of snowflake silver, Shen Xiuhan looked up at the sky.

There was still plenty of daylight left, so he hurried north toward Little Path Bay without stopping, intending to retrieve the things the Golden-Tailed Rat had stored away.

The woods lay near the foot of the Great Li Mountain Range.

Great Mount Li stretched for hundreds of miles, its peaks rising one behind another. Deep within the range, wild beasts roamed in packs; tigers, leopards, jackals, and wolves came and went without warning. Every year, hunters lost their lives inside.

Over time, no one dared venture too deeply anymore. They only hunted rabbits and pheasants along the outskirts, barely scraping together a living.

Yet according to tales passed down by the older generation, beyond those mountains lay a country called the Yue Kingdom.

Following the pale golden specks of light, Shen Xiuhan went deeper into the forest and soon arrived beside a dead old tree that required three people to encircle it.

Its trunk was cracked and weathered, covered in the scars of passing years.

After circling the trunk once, he found a tree hollow halfway up, tightly concealed beneath a layer of withered yellow thatch.

He set his fishing rod beneath the tree, then climbed the old trunk hand over hand and lifted away the dry grass.

Shen Xiuhan's eyes immediately lit up.

"Whoa!"

The hollow was packed with a dazzling array of supplies.

All kinds of dried mushrooms, pine nuts, and plenty of dried wild fruit had been neatly stacked deep inside the hollow.

At a glance, Shen Xiuhan recognized mountain raspberries, ground loquats, August melons, raspberries, wild apricots, wild grapes...

Altogether, there were at least three or four jin of them.

So much wild produce would fetch at least a hundred copper coins in the inner city!

But he had no intention of selling it.

Dried mushrooms and pine nuts were excellent seasonings for cooking.

These dried fruits were also a rare source of sugar.

Now that he was no longer short of money, they would naturally be used to nourish his body.

So, without the slightest politeness, he prepared to sweep everything into his fish basket in one go.

"Hm, what's this?"

As he gathered up the dried wild apricots, his fingertips suddenly paused.

Beneath the dried fruit, he felt out a piece of stone jade no larger than a fingernail.

It was called stone jade.

Its color was dark brown, and it felt warm and smooth in his hand—neither quite stone nor quite jade.

He shook it beside his ear and vaguely sensed a faint, almost imperceptible ripple of warmth.

Shen Xiuhan weighed it in his hand for a long while, but truly could not make heads or tails of it, so he tucked it away close to his body.

He would deal with it later, once he had gained more knowledge.

With three or four jin of dried goods in hand, he leapt down from the old tree and headed toward Little Mirror Bay.

On the way back, he passed through Xuanhua Ward.

Like Little Mirror Bay, Xuanhua Ward was also a slum in Longcloud County's outer city.

Low, dilapidated mud-and-thatch shacks were crammed together in dense clusters, eaves pressed against eaves.

The narrow dirt alleys reeked year-round of fermented swill and human waste, choking people until they had to cover their noses.

The sky gradually darkened.

The cold wind whistled wildly through the alleys.

Pedestrians hurried along with their necks tucked in, walking swiftly as though fleeing something.

All of a sudden!

"Hack him to death!"

"Get him!"

"You dare provoke the Black Wolf Gang? Today, you'll die right here!"

Chaotic footsteps, curses, and howls abruptly erupted, tearing apart the long street's silence!

Shen Xiuhan's gaze sharpened.

The next moment, more than ten men burst from the alleyway around the corner, each armed with blades and daggers, murder radiating from them!

Their blades flashed like snow, glinting with icy light beneath the dusk.

The pedestrians on the street, along with the residents in the shacks lining both sides, instantly came to their senses.

Crash!

Bang!

Doors and window lattices along both sides of the ward slammed shut almost at once. The residents moved with such practiced ease as they braced their doors with wooden poles that it seemed carved into their bones!

"This is bad!"

Shen Xiuhan's heart tightened.

Almost on instinct, he slipped into a cramped dead-end corner piled full of clutter, held his breath, and buried himself deep in the shadows.

The outer city was nothing like the inner city.

In the inner city, constables still patrolled at night.

But places like Xuanhua Ward, East Creek Ward, and Little Mirror Bay belonged to gangs from all walks of life.

Robbery and bloodshed were as common as daily meals.

Even if someone died, so long as no report was filed with the authorities, no one would likely come to investigate.

The lowly poor could die, and die they would—no one cared.

What was more...

No one dared report it to the officials.

Shen Xiuhan curled up in the shadows and waited silently.

Only after the shouts of killing had completely faded down the long street and vanished deep into the alleys did he cautiously stick out half his head.

After confirming it was safe, Shen Xiuhan took off at a run, racing madly toward Little Mirror Bay.

Only when the three familiar thatched huts came into view did Shen Xiuhan finally breathe a sigh of relief, gripping the wicker gate as he panted heavily.

"This world..."

"Truly is chaotic as scattered grass."

He sighed, warning himself again and again that before he had achieved anything in martial arts, he must act cautiously and never provoke others!

Staying alive was what mattered most.

He pushed open the wicker gate, and his expression froze slightly.

There was firelight in the kitchen.

He put down his fishing rod and fish basket, then walked over to take a look. Madam Zheng had returned home early and was sitting before the stove in a daze, holding Shen Momo in her arms.

"Mother, why did you come back so early today?"

Madam Zheng usually worked at the Bai Clan Cloth Workshop until the hour of Xu before she got off work.

Yet the sky had only just grown dark; it was merely the first quarter of the hour of You, and she was already home.

"Big brother!"

The little girl broke free from her mother's arms at once, toddling over on her short little legs.

Shen Xiuhan swept her up in his arms and walked into the kitchen.

When Madam Zheng saw that he had returned, she let out a long breath. Then, her face full of worry, she said:

"Eldest son, things haven't been peaceful these past few days."

"Auntie Liu, who does laundry with me at the cloth workshop, said that a four-year-old girl went missing from Shunchang Ward, where she lives, a few days ago."

"At noon, she even warned me to make sure I kept a close eye on Momo..."

She paused, her eyes reddening.

"But when the hour of Wei came, her husband rushed to the cloth workshop looking for her, asking whether their little grandson had come by."

"Auntie Liu fainted on the spot."

"Later, word spread outside that a gang of child abductors had drifted into the county, specializing in snatching little boys and girls!"

Madam Zheng pulled Shen Momo close, her voice trembling.

"Your mother was so frightened at the cloth workshop that her heart pounded in her chest. I truly couldn't bear to leave Momo home alone. I didn't even dare ask for today's wages before hurrying back..."

At this point, Madam Zheng glanced at Shen Xiuhan. Her lips moved hesitantly a few times before she lowered her head again, her tone carrying a trace of consultation.

"Eldest son, your mother was thinking..."

"With things so dangerous outside these days, I won't go work at the cloth workshop for now. I'll stay home and weave fishing nets to sell at the market, to help support the household... What do you think? Would that be all right?"

Hearing Madam Zheng's nearly humble tone, Shen Xiuhan felt his chest tighten unbearably.

Working at the cloth workshop was bitter and exhausting, and her wages were often docked, but at least the income was steady. There was money coming in every day.

But weaving fishing nets?

It took time and effort.

And it was the depths of winter now, the slow season for fishing.

The shallows were devoid of river fish and seafood. Even veteran fishermen who spent all year around Cloudwater Lake often returned empty-handed.

Once the fishing nets were woven, who would buy them?

The reason Madam Zheng spoke so humbly was simply that she feared if she remained home and lost her income, her son would see her as a useless burden eating for free and grow to resent her...

"Mother."

Shen Xiuhan sighed. He took three ingots of snowflake silver from his clothes, seized her frostbitten hands, and stuffed them into them without allowing any argument.

"From now on, we'll never have to worry about our family's debts again!"