Yueru left, and I suddenly felt empty. Had I really fallen in love with her?
Why else did she make me feel this way? I couldn't put it into words. I only watched her go, dazed, saying nothing and wanting to say everything.
Toward evening, Uncle Qiu returned. He had arranged my university enrollment. When the time came, I could simply report there.
'You're miles away today, boy. And a woman has been here. That fragrance is familiar. Yueru's, I think. Has she been to see you?' He smiled and teased me.
I scratched my head in embarrassment. He usually looked stern and serious, hardly a man given to laughter. Yet now and then he liked to joke with me.
Still embarrassed, I told him everything that had happened that day.
He laughed aloud and clapped me on the shoulder. 'This is a bond ordained by Heaven. Nobody needs to interfere or do anything. The Way of Heaven will bring the two of you together of its own accord. Nobody can change it. Some people may refuse to understand and try to overturn it, but they'll only come to a bad end themselves.'
He said it had all been ordained by Heaven. Nobody had forced the events of that day. They had happened naturally, following their own course.
Yet I had still found a chance to get closer to Yueru. That could only mean there was a destined bond between us.
His words made me happier still.
'An old friend needs me for something,' he said. 'I'll have to go out. It may be two days before I'm back. Look after the shop for me. If a regular comes asking for help, you needn't notify me. If you think you can handle it, go and have a look yourself.'
After so many years running the shop, he had built up a circle of regular customers. They knew he had real ability.
I nodded. Just as he was leaving, he turned back. 'Remember. Until you and Yueru are properly married, you must not sleep together. If you do, the consequences will be beyond recovery. You can't bear them, and everything your grandfather worked for will be wasted.'
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I didn't understand why he kept insisting that I couldn't do that with her before we married.
I wasn't thinking about it at all. And from the way she behaved, even if I wanted to, she might not agree.
But he was utterly serious. This was no joke, no teasing. I nodded and gave him a solemn promise. Only then did he leave, reassured.
Business had been quiet that afternoon. Only a few customers had come in to buy feng shui supplies and goods for weddings and funerals, including burial offerings.
By evening, the street was almost empty. I decided to close the shop.
There was an unwritten rule on the street: every shop closed at seven sharp each evening.
It wasn't some mysterious occult rule. People who wanted these goods generally came during the day, not at night.
For anyone who needed help with some unusual trouble, nearly every shop displayed a phone number on its storefront. You could reach them that way.
I went home and showered. In the early hours, just as I was about to get some rest, the phone rang.
It was Yueru's number. We had exchanged numbers while talking that afternoon.
Why was she calling so late?
'An! Come quickly! Help me!'
Her voice came through the moment I answered, urgent and frightened. Then the line went dead.
I called back. No one answered.
Yueru was in trouble!
My heart lurched. All my composure vanished. I had been through so much already, been to death's door and back more than once.
I had thought nothing could make me truly panic anymore. At the thought of her in danger, I sprang up from the bed.
There was no time to make further preparations. I grabbed the peachwood sword beside me and hurried toward the Lin house.
Now I understood how much a car mattered. I still had to get down to the street and find a taxi.
But it was late, and this wasn't the city center. There were few cars nearby. I could think only of Yueru's safety. I couldn't afford to wait.
I fixed two swift-stride talismans to my feet and ran toward the Lin house, swift as the wind.
The swift-stride talisman was one of the countless Daoist talismans. Once attached, it made a person light as a swallow and swift on their feet.
Most people knew of it through one of the heroes in Water Margin, who practiced this Daoist art.
With swift-stride talismans on your feet, you could cover a thousand li in a day. The speed was terrifying.
I had avoided using them in the streets because running at that speed would attract too much attention and alarm ordinary people.
There was an unwritten rule among practitioners of the occult arts: the wider public must never learn that another layer of this world existed. To reveal it would break certain rules.
Nobody had set it down in writing. Everyone in the occult arts quietly observed it.
Now that Yueru was in danger, I couldn't worry about that. Besides, it was late, and few people were out.
Under the streetlights, my figure flashed past in a blur. I was already faster than many cars.
I was frantic. My heart hammered.
'Yueru, wait for me. I won't let anything happen to you. I'm coming!'
I wanted to be beside her that instant, to keep her from harm.