Outside, the air was filled with the sound of weeping. A-Fang, clutching a basket, was jostled by the crowd, sweat beading on his forehead.
“What’s the rush?” he shouted. “The Shopkeeper is still asleep! Keep your voices down!”
The noise subsided slightly, and the crowd began to plead. “When will Shopkeeper Yu wake up?”
“A-Fang, please, go beg him for us! No one else here can save us but him.”
“That’s right! It’s already noon. Just wake him up and tell him it’s time for lunch. He won’t blame you for that.”
A-Fang frowned. “The Shopkeeper will wake up when he’s ready. Just take your medicine first. As long as you don’t die, isn’t that enough?”
“…”
The thick walls acted as a barrier, and the chaotic noise outside struck them like bullets. Inside, the man on the bed scratched his head, rolled over, and went right back to sleep, completely undisturbed.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The urgent pounding on the door crawled into his ears like an annoying insect. Yu Baisui clicked his tongue in frustration and scratched his messy hair, but he still refused to get up.
“Shopkeeper Yu, are you awake?”
Ignoring A-Fang’s attempts to stop her, Xu Songhe stepped forward and knocked on the door several times.
According to A-Fang and the other townspeople, Shopkeeper Yu was a respected man known for his selflessness. So why was he turning a blind eye to their suffering now that everyone was gravely ill?
Standing on the steps gave her a better vantage point. As she turned, she saw the tear-streaked, pitiful faces of the townspeople gathered below.
The wailing outside was so loud; there was no way he couldn’t hear them.
Xu Songhe recognized the man carrying the girl on his back and asked, “Didn’t she improve after taking the medicine this morning? Why is she like this again?”
The man sighed heavily and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “You don’t know, miss. As soon as my daughter got home, she started crying and vomiting, and she threw up the pill… Sigh, I’m truly at my wit’s end. If Shopkeeper Yu would just help, she might still have a chance.”
Xu Songhe paused, her gaze sweeping over the crowd. In the sea of faces, she recognized several more familiar figures.
A woman held an unconscious child in her arms, her brow furrowed deeply. Her throat bobbed as she struggled to swallow, her suppressed sobs lost in the surrounding noise.
The old woman seemed to notice her gaze.
She shot Xu Songhe a swift glance before lowering her head again, using a handkerchief to wipe the fluid trickling from the old man’s mouth as he leaned against her shoulder.
Xu Songhe’s breath quickened, her chest feeling as if a heavy stone were crushing it.
She wasn’t the one who was sick, yet she felt as if countless cotton-wrapped needles were stitching through her heart. They caused no real harm, but each stitch brought a dull, lingering ache.
“Why cry? If he won’t come out, just chop the door down.”
The young man beside her let out a faint scoff. When he looked at her, a hint of confusion flickered in his eyes.
He had never met anyone as strange as her—someone who would be happy he’d found his true height, yet shed tears over other people’s suffering.
None of this has anything to do with her, he thought.
Xu Songhe stepped aside, the tears in her eyes shimmering like diamonds. She tilted her head up to look at him. “Can you do it?”
Qi Wuyang’s voice was flat. “Get back.”
She quickly moved further away as he raised his hand, preparing to strike.
Just as his hand was about to hit the door, a creak echoed through the air. The door opened from the inside, and a withered hand reached out.
Qi Wuyang lowered his hand and stepped aside as if nothing had happened, ignoring the mixture of terror and fury in Yu Baisui’s gaze.
The moment the crowd saw him, they erupted.
“Shopkeeper! You’re finally here! Please, we beg you, save us…”
“Everyone, calm down,” Yu Baisui said, his short, thick eyebrows furrowing. “The previous medicine didn’t work, so I spent the last half the day brewing a new batch.”
With a wave of his hand, he signaled A-Fang to come over and handed him a new basket. This time, the pills inside were brown and slightly larger than the previous ones.
The crowd exchanged glances, their faces clouding with guilt.
“The Shopkeeper wasn’t sleeping at all,” someone murmured. “He’s been working on the herbs for us since dawn, and yet we spoke of him so poorly just now. How heartless of us.”
“No need for guilt,” Yu Baisui said with a wave of his hand.
He looked exhausted, as if he’d been up all night. “You’ll recover within an hour of taking this. If you’re not fully healed, you’re welcome to come back.”
The people thanked him and turned to leave.
“Wait.”
Xu Songhe didn’t know if this new batch of medicine was safe. As she watched them turn away, she opened her mouth to speak, but the young man beside her spoke first.
“Young Master, do you have something else to say?” Yu Baisui asked. His voice was far from friendly, still shaken by how close he’d come to being split in two by that palm strike.
“I’m sick too. Can I take the medicine?” Qi Wuyang chuckled under the man’s suspicious gaze.
He leaned against the doorframe, hands clasped behind his head. “Your medicine can cure a dying man. Surely mine is no problem?”
Yu Baisui’s expression darkened, though it was hard to tell if it was just the shadow cast by the eaves.
Before he could respond, the townspeople—who had been looking at him with such reverence—began to chime in.
“You must be new here, Young Master,” one said. “Shopkeeper Yu’s medicine cures everything. Go ahead and take it!”
Another person stepped forward eagerly, offering him a pill from their own hand.
“Stop!”
Yu Baisui’s hand shot out. A gust of wind followed, knocking the pill from the man’s hand and sending it skittering across the ground.
The atmosphere froze. The crowd stared at him, some with wide eyes, unable to believe their usually gentle shopkeeper could act so violently.
Realizing he’d been too impulsive, Yu Baisui coughed awkwardly. “What I meant was… the Young Master should let me take his pulse first. Taking medicine blindly is a bad habit.”
“Shopkeeper Yu,” Xu Songhe asked, blinking in surprise. “Isn’t your medicine omnipotent? You didn’t ask any of the other townspeople what ailments they had, so why do you need to take Young Master Qi’s pulse?”
Yu Baisui kept a perfectly straight face. “I didn’t ask them because A-Fang had already told me.”
“Shopkeeper, when did I—”
Before A-Fang could finish, a sharp glare cut him off. He froze, quickly shutting his mouth.
“Since there’s nothing else, everyone may go back,” Yu Baisui chuckled, turning to go inside. “Young Master, if you’re ill, please follow me.”
Qi Wuyang remained where he was, his eyes fixed on Yu Baisui’s departing back. He made no move to follow.
“Young Master, let’s go inside. We might learn something,” Xu Songhe whispered, nudging him and winking so only he could hear. “Don’t worry. I’m with you.”
Inside, Yu Baisui had already settled into a lounge chair, using a fan to wipe the sweat from his brow. Despite the snow falling outside, he was fanning himself as if it were the height of summer.
Yu Baisui lowered his fan and gestured for the two at the doorway to come inside, though his words were directed at someone else. “A-Fang, go fetch a chair. I need to examine Young Master Qi.”
“Yes, Shopkeeper,” A-Fang replied, already grabbing a chair to bring over.
“That won’t be necessary,” Qi Wuyang said coolly.
His gaze drifted idly around the room, and when it landed on the dust in every corner, his disdain was plain to see. “If you weren’t sitting here, I would have assumed this place had been abandoned for a decade.”
“Our Shopkeeper is devoted to studying herbs for the good of the townspeople,” A-Fang retorted quickly, his defense of his boss eager. “He has no time to clean. Since you’re so free, why don’t you do it yourself?”
“That’s exactly what we were thinking,” Xu Songhe chimed in with a polite smile. “Shopkeeper Yu, you brought us in from the cold, and I haven’t even had a chance to thank you properly. Why don’t the two of us tidy up your pharmacy while you rest?”
Yu Baisui had almost never allowed outsiders to stay in the pharmacy alone. The wrinkles on his forehead deepened, and he looked rather troubled.
A-Fang saw the Shopkeeper’s hesitation and quickly added, “How can we let outsiders touch things in the Shopkeeper’s pharmacy? What if something gets lost? Could you two even take responsibility for that?”
“Fine, fine,” Yu Baisui waved his hand and stood up from his chair. “Helping people is my duty anyway. But since you two insist on repaying me, then be my guest.”
With that, he walked away, hands clasped behind his back. A-Fang immediately followed, leaving behind only a dusty door that swayed on its hinges.
Once they were gone, Xu Songhe turned to Qi Wuyang and asked in a low voice, “Young Master, the pills he gave those townspeople earlier… they weren’t real medicine, were they?”
“Mhm,” Qi Wuyang hummed noncommittally.
Xu Songhe held a broom, idly sweeping the floor back and forth as her gaze scanned the room from top to bottom. “Do you think the secret room A-Fang mentioned is in here?”
“How should I know?” Qi Wuyang stepped back to a clean spot and looked at her with a faint, teasing smile. “You’re the one who volunteered to work. It has nothing to do with me.”
“…”
She was truly speechless.
So that was why he’d stood so far away—he just didn’t want to sweep the floor.
“How else was I supposed to get us inside to look for the secret room?” Xu Songhe dropped the broom. “You know your own body best. I’ll keep watch at the door. You go ahead and search the rest of the room.”
If there was no secret room, then the whole thing didn’t matter anyway.
She cradled the rabbit and stood by the half-open door, idly stroking its fur as she watched the street.
“Little White, oh Little White, we really are destined to meet. I remember seeing a rabbit just like you when I first arrived—just as white…”
She was talking about the demon’s den, back when she’d first crossed over.
Xu Songhe didn’t want to keep checking on the man behind her, so she spent her time talking to the rabbit out of boredom.
When two familiar figures appeared in her line of sight, she had to stand up straight. She grabbed the broom from the floor and swept a few casual strokes before asking, “Young Master, did you find anything?”
Meeting her expectant gaze, Qi Wuyang smiled without a hint of guilt. “Nothing.”
“Thank you both for your hard work.” Yu Baisui walked into the room and took a deep breath. The dust in the corner was gone, proving that it really had to be swept.
He turned his head, raising his eyebrows a few times. A-Fang’s expression showed a flicker of hesitation before he entered the room and began rummaging through boxes and cabinets, searching for something.
Xu Songhe knew the man was definitely hiding something, but since they still hadn’t found anything, she lowered her head in frustration. “Now that the pharmacy is clean, we’ll be leaving…”
A sudden, shriek-like cry interrupted her. A-Fang rushed out, looking panicked.
He glanced at the group, then at Shopkeeper Yu, and finally said in a trembling voice, “Shopkeeper, this is bad! The rest of the medicine we distributed to the townspeople—it’s all gone!”
He then looked up at them. “Besides you, Shopkeeper… today… today only these two have entered the pharmacy!”