He took the medicinal decoction he had brewed to the thatched hut where the injured were resting.
His senior brother was dutifully changing their dressings. Seeing him arrive with the medicine, he smiled a little.
"This thunderstorm came out of nowhere. You didn't get drenched bringing the medicine over, did you?"
Shen Leyan took off his bamboo hat. A layer of moisture clung to his clothes, but it hadn't soaked through to his inner garments, so it wasn't a problem.
He smiled back and handed over the medicine.
Most of the injured were young or middle-aged adults, with only one child among them. Some had burns on their limbs and couldn't move; others had large patches of their faces burned away, making them horrifying to look at.
Yet as his senior brother fed them the medicine, not a single person in the hut cried out in pain. Even the child, who looked only five or six, merely glanced at him with watery eyes before quietly drinking his medicine.
"They..."
His senior brother said, "The toxic smoke from the fire damaged their throats. They can't speak for now. I wanted to ask them exactly how yesterday's fire started, too, but they can't talk, and they're illiterate, so they can't write it down either. I had to give up.
"Poor little Goudan. He's only five, and one of his legs is burned so badly. I don't even know whether we can heal it."
Shen Leyan considered this for a moment, then felt around in his pocket and dug out a small packet of candied fruit.
He crouched beside the bed and held the candied fruit out to the child.
His senior brother said approvingly, "You've learned to coax children with sweets when their medicine is bitter. Our little junior brother is growing up..."
Shen Leyan's alluring eyes curved into a smile. His handsome features made it easy for people to warm to him.
"Goudan, would you like some candied fruit?"
The village was poor. When would they ever have snacks to eat?
The boy's eyes went wide, and he nodded repeatedly.
"Then answer a question for me, and this whole packet is yours. It's all right if your throat hurts and you can't talk. You only need to nod or shake your head."
Shen Leyan rubbed Goudan's head.
Lowering his voice, he asked softly, "Is there a cellar in the village where people can shelter from fires?"
He remembered the original novel mentioning that little villages nestled in the mountains often had hidden cellars where people could hide from mountain bandits and the like.
The thunderstorm showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. He couldn't return to the sect, so he at least needed to find somewhere to hide if danger struck.
The boy hesitated for quite a while. His family had probably warned him not to tell outsiders about the cellar.
But in the end, he couldn't resist the candied fruit and soon nodded.
Shen Leyan opened the packet and fed a piece into the boy's mouth.
Then he fished a handful of peanuts out of his pocket and waved them before him.
His smile turned sly. "Goudan, where's that cellar? Point me in the right direction."
The boy raised his hand and pointed at the courtyard outside the hut.
The cellar entrance was in the courtyard.
Shen Leyan gave all the peanuts to Goudan, then stood and looked at his senior brother.
"We've found somewhere to sleep tonight."
His senior brother said, "..."
His senior brother muttered to himself, "Why did I think our little junior brother had grown up? I must be delirious from exhaustion."
With that, he turned away from Shen Leyan, coldly presenting the back of his head.
Night fell.
Because of the heavy rain outside, the outer disciples who had come with them rested wherever they could nearby instead of gathering at the thatched hut.
Perhaps because of the recent fire, not a single candle had been lit in the village. Looking out the window, he could see only a thick darkness blanketing everything. As fierce winds whipped up the torrential rain, that darkness seemed alive, surging all around.
The medicine relieved pain and helped with sleep. The injured were already fast asleep, and the hut was silent.
Seeing his senior brother spread a straw mat and bedding on the floor to get some rest, he pointed toward the courtyard. "Then I'll head down to the cellar?"
His senior brother looked conflicted for a moment. "Isn't it a bit improper to go into someone else's cellar?"
"I'm only going there to sleep."
"...I'd better come with you."
Shen Leyan scooped up his quilt. "You think there's something wrong with the village, too?"
He received a rap on the head and hissed in pain.
"Wrong, my ass! I'm worried you'll mess with the food in their cellar."
"What kind of person do you take me for?!"
His senior brother said flatly, "You were just tricking Goudan with snacks."
Shen Leyan said, "..."
He turned away from his senior brother, coldly presenting the back of his head.
The cellar entrance was beneath a pile of miscellaneous clutter, covered by a fire-resistant Bluestone Slabs.
A short flight of steps led down into an open cellar about the size of a room.
Shen Leyan lit a fire striker and examined the things stored inside. There were several large jars of water and a little rice and flour, along with sickles, hoes, and other farming tools that could be used to hack at people.
Shen Leyan picked up a sickle and tested its weight.
Having a weapon in hand gave him at least some sense of security.
His senior brother laid out the bedding beside him and lay down on the floor. "Aren't you going to sleep?"
He certainly wasn't going to sleep tonight.
The fire striker went out. Shen Leyan sat quietly with the sickle in his hand, listening to his senior brother's rising and falling snores.
A little while later.
"Senior brother, you're not asleep either, are you? Let's chat."
His senior brother said, "...My name isn't Zhang Huaimin."
"So you really aren't asleep."
"Are you afraid of the dark and too embarrassed to admit it?"
"I was thinking that those burned-down houses are very close to this fire shelter."
Even an old man who shuffled along like the village chief hadn't taken long to reach it. A young, able-bodied adult could probably run here in half a minute.
If that was the case, how had so many people been injured or killed in the fire?
Even if the fire had started late at night while everyone was asleep, once someone in one of the houses was burned, they would surely have screamed. It couldn't have been completely silent.
His senior brother's voice was thick with sleep. "Maybe everyone panicked when the fire started and forgot about it. It's not as if they didn't want to escape."
Shen Leyan was about to speak when his senior brother suddenly pressed a hand to his shoulder, his voice turning serious.
"Shen Leyan, do you hear what sounds like people shouting outside the cellar?"
"Huh?"
I always got half the questions wrong on my college English listening tests. I can't hear a thing.
"There really are people shouting." His senior brother sprang to his feet. "We have to go out and take a look."
Shen Leyan tightened his grip on the sickle and handed his senior brother the hoe beside him. "All right...let's take a look first."
As they climbed the steps and approached the bluestone slab over the entrance, Shen Leyan heard it too. People outside were indeed shouting at the top of their lungs, their voices mingling with a child's heart-wrenching sobs.
"Fire! Another fire! Somebody help! Somebody help!"
In a downpour like this, even firewood wouldn't burn. Besides, no one in the hut had lit so much as a candle. How could a fire have started?
From the sounds outside, it seemed to be a sizable blaze, too.
The child's cries sounded utterly pitiful.
His senior brother sounded even more urgent as he reached up to lift the Bluestone Slabs. "That must be Goudan crying, right? There's a fire. We have to help put it out."
"Senior brother! Wait!"
"How can we wait when there's a fire?!"
Shen Leyan grabbed his senior brother's sleeve, steadying the faint chill in his voice.
"Have you forgotten? The toxic smoke ruined their throats. They can't even make a sound. How could they shout? How could they...cry?"
Before you continue