Night lay deep, and Blackwater Town's bitter wind swept coarse sand through its dilapidated streets.
A Little Shop had closed its doors, another day's business done.
Today's earnings: zero copper coins.
The "penniless" Shopkeeper Yun took this quite well. He even had the leisure to flick his abacus a couple of times, just to hear it rattle.
Clickety-clack.
Good. Today's losses remained steady.
Yun Qing put away the abacus with a perfectly clear conscience and went off to rest.
Ye Hui returned to his "Firewood Shed" too.
It was called a Firewood Shed, but it had long since undergone a complete transformation.
A small bed now stood in the corner once piled with firewood and dry grass, covered with two quilts sun-dried to soft fluffiness.
The hole in the window had been patched as well, and a small pot of wild chrysanthemums sat in its corner.
Its petals were pale yellow, brimming with life, yet brimming with life.
A few days earlier, Yun Qing had taken Ye Hui to dig medicinal herbs in the hills behind Blackwater Town because he had nothing better to do. Ye Hui had spotted it by the roadside.
The little flower grew in a crack between rocks, buffeted this way and that by the wind. Its stem was so thin it looked as though a pinch would snap it, yet it had stubbornly defied the spring chill and bloomed brilliantly.
Ye Hui swore he had only given it one extra glance.
Really, just one.
Then Shopkeeper Yun had crouched down as naturally as could be and, with one thrust of his shovel, turned the wildflower into a houseplant.
"If you like it, keep it."
At the time, Little Snake Ye had stood blankly holding the flower thrust right beneath his nose, secretly protesting:
*I never