Early one morning.
Li Ping'an poked his head out of his warm bedding and, unusually, did not smell rice porridge.
It seemed Kitten really had worn herself out last night.
Li Ping'an put on his shoes, wrapped his clothes around himself, and went outside.
The snow kept falling outside.
Now and then, mice could be seen scurrying along the street, with a cat or two behind them.
Li Ping'an gave them a quick glance and moved on.
When he reached the pancake stall, word of last night's events had long since spread.
For the moment, everyone was discussing how the Maiden in the Maiden Temple had been a rat spirit.
Quite a few people had been there at the time, but once the news spread,
it became an entirely different story.
Some said a Celestial Person had descended from the heavens, while others claimed to have seen an Immortal slaying a monster, recounting it all with convincing detail.
They even had every sort of little detail, as though they had truly seen it themselves.
Li Ping'an ordered a bowl of piping-hot tofu soup and two pancakes.
The pancake stall was nothing more than a propped-up shelter that could not keep out the wind.
He could only cup his hand over the bowl to keep snowflakes from drifting into it.
Li Ping'an sipped a little soup, listening leisurely to the people beside him discuss last night's events.
He selectively skipped over the exaggerated opening of the story.
He focused on what followed: people from the Government Office had arrived afterward and sealed off the Maiden Temple.
They had also arrested quite a few of the Maiden Temple's devout followers.
There were even rumors that a large-scale rat extermination campaign was being prepared.
Three dead rats could be exchanged for one copper