The eastern sky paled as dawn broke. One by one, the villagers rose from bed, bloody tears streaming down their faces.
They folded their quilts, swept their homes and yards, pasted up Fortune Characters, shut their doors and windows, and brought their families to kneel outside Fifth Lady Temple.
The morning light did not reach them.
Fangyuan Village was deathly quiet.
Wang Laoshi knocked open the door to the public house, and the Night Guards filed out.
The seven Night Guards looked at the villagers kneeling before Fifth Lady Temple, and the farther they walked, the more their hearts chilled.
The villagers' bloody tears flowed across the ground, intertwining.
The ground before Fifth Lady Temple was a sea of blood.
As Wang Laoshi walked, he said, "This morning, we'll first take the little master to plant a tree. It's an old village custom: plant a great tree, settle the name, and finally perform the choosing ritual. A tree is like each person's roots. Once it is planted, the roots are there, and the person can stand firm. A name is like a tree's shadow. Without the tree, where would the shadow come from? Don't you agree?"
Wang Laoshi smiled as amiably as ever, as though he had not noticed the dark red bloody tears slowly flowing from his eyes.
The Night Guards looked at one another and said nothing.
Good Fortune Born guiltily touched the Life-Replacement Wooden Child in his robes. He obediently followed beside the Commandant, his waist and back bent far lower than usual.
When the group arrived outside the Black House in the West Courtyard, they immediately saw Sunshine Boy, his face full of helplessness.
He looked about eleven or twelve at the moment, yet he was still held aloft by two Giant White Hands, gently swaying.