Daoist Jiang braced his hands on his knees and slowly stood, brushed the dust from the hem of his robe, then turned toward the kitchen to light the fire and cook. His back looked far more stooped in the dusk. Huang Xing sidled up to Jin Si.
"They've been fighting outside for days. When will it end? I want to go into the city and buy candy."
Jin Si lowered his head and thought carefully. He raised his little hand with its four fingers and counted for a while, dredging up scattered scraps of memory and sorting through them one by one. But after all that rummaging, he still could not find a definite answer.
"I don't know. If you're craving candy, I'll go into the city and buy you some when I have time."
Huang Xing's eyes lit up, and she bounced on the spot with delight, her hem fluttering upward. She probably had not understood the weight of those words, "I don't know." Turning, she pattered off to the kitchen to help make dinner.
Her slight figure was rather thin, with slender arms and narrow shoulders. Her clothes swayed as she ran.
She was still a child, yet she had already suffered far too much. Her parents had died suddenly, without leaving so much as a word of instruction.
That good-for-nothing brother had abandoned her and run away, casting his little sister aside like a ragged old garment.
Had he not brought her back to the Medicine King Temple that night, this tiny, skinny girl would probably have been chewed up by the world until not even a scrap remained.
He turned and went back to his little room.
Passing the incense burner in the courtyard, he slowed his steps. The incense ash had hardened into a slight