“Didn’t the grown-ups at home tell you how dangerous it is?”
By the shimmering waterside, the woman tied up her small boat and gestured for Nan Yang to look at the river before them.
“See this river? On this side is our Ping An Town, and across the river is the neighboring town.”
“The court recently enfeoffed a Marquis of Huaiyang. His fief was originally far from our town…”
But on his way to the fief, the Marquis of Huaiyang passed by Ping An Town. Bandits had been causing trouble in the nearby mountains and forests, and they targeted the Marquis’s convoy. The Marquis of Huaiyang fought with the bandits!
“The bandits scattered everywhere, and the Marquis of Huaiyang chased them all the way here with many soldiers and horses, now stationed in the neighboring town across the river.”
Nan Yang suddenly understood: “Oh.”
She hadn’t gone to the neighboring town, so of course she hadn’t encountered the newly enfeoffed nobleman, nor had she witnessed the intense scenes of pursuing bandits.
She only came across an unlucky injured man, who had nearly fallen to his death while riding a horse on the mountain. The dead horse was still floating in the water.
“The horse’s head was smashed to pieces. Thinking back, it was quite frightening,” Nan Yang said truthfully.
The boatwoman exclaimed, “You young lady have no experience. What’s so frightening about a dead horse? At your age and with your looks, if you ran into the Marquis of Huaiyang in the neighboring town, that would truly be terrifying!”
Nan Yang didn’t understand. “The Marquis of Huaiyang fighting bandits is a good thing. Why does it sound like you’re saying the Marquis of Huaiyang is even more frightening than the bandits?”
The boatwoman sighed repeatedly, glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, covered her mouth, and whispered:
“Bandits only stop people on the road to rob them; that Marquis of Huaiyang, he eats people!”
Nan Yang was pouring a handful of copper coins from her money pouch, counting out ten to pay the rental fee. Upon hearing the words “he eats people!”, she was so startled that her hand trembled, and two or three coins slipped through her fingers.
The boatwoman sighed as she picked up the copper coins: “Now do you understand? Isn’t it terrifying? A man-eating demon king lives across the river!”
Nan Yang’s head buzzed as she listened to the woman’s muttering: “This Marquis of Huaiyang is no ordinary man. They say he’s the fierce god who suppressed the southern rebellion last year!”
“When the fierce god goes to war, he eats people. He especially likes to eat children’s hearts, and next is the flesh of young ladies like you. He eats one every day or two. They say many children and young ladies have gone missing in the neighboring town, all captured and eaten, with human bones scattered everywhere…”
“I didn’t see anyone being eaten across the river, nor any leftover bones,” Nan Yang said, forgetting even to thank her. She walked away numbly for a few steps before suddenly stopping.
She almost forgot—there was still a man lying half-dead by the waterside across the river, waiting to be saved.
The woman was taken aback and helpfully pointed out the location of the clinic.
“Young lady, you don’t look familiar. You’re not from our Ping An Town, are you? There’s only one clinic in town. The physician’s surname is Huang, and there’s a large yellow gourd-shaped banner hanging outside. Follow the dirt road toward the market—it’s easy to find!”
Nan Yang dragged her heavy burlap sack back, keeping an eye out for gourd-shaped banners along the way and muttering softly.
“Don’t look familiar? I’ve lived in your town for over half a year. I just don’t go out much.”
She pondered the whole way back.
The Marquis of Huaiyang, passing through from elsewhere, was said to be the fierce god who suppressed the southern rebellion last year. He had chased the bandits to the riverside and was now stationed in the neighboring town across the river.
The Marquis of Huaiyang eats people… eats people…
No wonder Ping An Town was almost empty. Farmers dared not go to their fields, and neighbors kept their young sons indoors.
In the scorching summer sun, Nan Yang broke out in goosebumps.
Only after walking two or three li did she finally snap out of her shock.
A gust of hot wind swept through, stirring up dust and wheat stalks along the country dirt road. A large yellow banner embroidered with a gourd fluttered open in the wind ahead.
The town’s only medical clinic had come into view.
Among Nan Yang’s few outings, Doctor Huang’s clinic had left a deep impression on her.
Earlier this spring, not long after she had been sent to Ping An Town, the gatekeepers at the rural estate often slacked off, allowing her occasional chances to venture out and enjoy the spring scenery.
In mid-March, while carrying a bundle of gardenias on her way home, she happened to witness Doctor Huang beating gongs and drums as he sent his daughter off in a carriage, parading proudly around the entire town and causing quite a stir.
It was said that Doctor Huang’s daughter had rescued a nobleman by the Mulberry Grove, taking him back to the clinic for careful treatment. Grateful for her lifesaving act, the nobleman sent a carriage to bring her to the capital to enjoy a life of luxury.
Ping An Town was a small place, and the sudden rise of a humble clinic doctor’s daughter was considered a major event. The news spread like wildfire for over half a month before finally dying down.
This incident left Nan Yang somewhat puzzled.
Because March was the mulberry-picking season.
At the time, she had also been picking mulberries in the grove and had personally seen a finely dressed drunkard lying unconscious by the roadside.
The man was clearly just heavily intoxicated—uninjured and unharmed. A splash of water to wake him would have sufficed… Where did this “lifesaving” act come from?
×
Today, Nan Yang’s timing was unfortunate.
A crowd of onlookers had gathered outside the clinic. Inside the Main Hall, Doctor Huang sat weeping, tears and mucus streaming down his face.
“Go out for a house call? At a time like this, you still expect me to make house calls?!”
Doctor Huang sobbed, wiping his tears. “My poor, unfortunate daughter! I only have this one daughter, raised with such hardship, sent to the capital to enjoy luxury. Who would have thought that the nobleman she rescued by the Mulberry Grove would turn out to be that demon, the Marquis of Huaiyang!”
“My daughter, in the bloom of her youth, with delicate skin and tender flesh—just the kind that looks delicious. Since entering the mansion of that fiendish Huaiyang Marquis, there’s been no news of her. Ah, I fear the worst has likely already happened…”
No one in the room paid any attention to Nan Yang, so she quietly stepped back and moved to the edge of the crowd.
Outside, a group of gossiping women whispered among themselves. Nan Yang stood still, and their words drifted into her ears.
“Wasn’t Doctor Huang’s daughter just taken away by the nobleman’s carriage in March? Was she really sent to the Huaiyang Marquis Mansion? To be… eaten?”
“That can’t be right. They say Doctor Huang’s daughter saved the nobleman’s life, which is why she was taken to the capital for a life of luxury. No matter how vicious the Huaiyang Marquis is, surely he wouldn’t harm his own savior.”
“Speaking of which, the Huaiyang Marquis is in the neighboring town. Is Doctor Huang’s daughter alive or dead?”
“Who knows…”
After waiting a while, with Doctor Huang still sobbing over his daughter, Nan Yang pushed through the crowd and reentered the clinic.
“I’m here to pass on a message. A young lord had some bad luck—he and his horse fell from a high slope. The horse died, but the man is still alive. It’s quite a distance from the clinic, and any delay might cost him his life.”
Doctor Huang wiped his tears and snapped, “Go away, go away! My daughter’s fate is unknown—how can I care about anyone else’s life or death?”
“Oh, I’m just passing on the message.”
Nan Yang turned to leave, dragging her sack, but as she reached the doorway, she suddenly remembered something:
“By the way, that young lord comes from a wealthy family. The gold and silver saddle adorned with jade he was riding—even the fine white jade was shattered in the fall. Doctor Huang, are you sure you won’t help?”
Doctor Huang’s weeping abruptly stopped.
Before Nan Yang’s words had fully left her lips, Doctor Huang had already picked up his medical kit and urged her to lead the way. “Why didn’t you say so earlier! So it’s another noble person! Perhaps they fell from the high ground while fleeing from the Marquis of Huaiyang across the river. Quick, quick, where are they? Take me there at once!”
“……”
Nan Yang had no intention of leading the way. She truly only meant to pass on the message and leave, as she was still dragging a large hemp sack weighing over ten pounds, filled with lotus seedpods and lotus roots.
After clearly stating the rescue location, she watched Doctor Huang and his young apprentice rush anxiously toward the river outside the town to save the person. She then dragged her sack back home.
The trip to Doctor Huang’s clinic wasn’t entirely wasted. Having overheard a torrent of gossip, Nan Yang suddenly realized something.
So the drunkard who had collapsed by the Mulberry Grove three months ago, whose attire was rare and luxurious, and whom she had watched for quite some time—
Was that the Marquis of Huaiyang himself??
The Marquis of Huaiyang, notorious for his appetite for children’s hearts and maiden’s flesh, not only had his troops stationed in the neighboring town across the river but had also personally visited Ping An Town. She had once brushed shoulders with him…
The moment this thought surfaced in her mind, goosebumps rose densely on Nan Yang’s arms.
Even the hemp sack she dragged behind her felt heavier.
Two quarters of an hour later, Nan Yang stopped at her doorstep. The gatekeeper was nowhere to be seen, so she knocked loudly: “Grandma, Grandma. I’m back.”
Grandma appeared atop the wall, stepping on a wooden ladder, and asked in surprise, “Second Miss, why do you look so pale? Are you exhausted?”
“…A little.”
Together, they managed to haul the sack into the house. Nan Yang dragged her weary feet inside and muttered to herself:
“I’d better not go out lately.”
Outside Ping An Town, by the river.
The water’s surface steamed under the blazing sun. Boats came and went but found nothing.
“Where is this injured noble person?” Doctor Huang, drenched in sweat, sat awkwardly at the bow of the boat. “Has that wretched girl played a trick on this old man?”
The young apprentice stared blankly at the distant water. A gleaming object floated and sank in the river, nearly blinding him.
The apprentice pointed at the water and shouted, “Master, look! That saddle drifting downstream—isn’t it what the young lady mentioned, something about ‘gold and silver jade’…”
“A gold-and-silver-inlaid jade saddle!” Doctor Huang’s spirits soared. “Look, that saddle has exquisite gold and silver inlay work, and the saddlebow is adorned with precious white jade pieces.”
Doctor Huang grew immensely excited. “So there really is a noble person in distress! Turn the boat around and search carefully along the riverbank. We must rescue the noble person and bring them back to the clinic. A noble person is a ladder to the heavens, and their misfortune is our great opportunity!”
The small boat searched back and forth along the riverbank, rowing through the lotus pond several times.
By the riverbank, in the shadow of a six- or seven-zhang-high hillside.
Several bows were silently drawn, their cold arrowheads aimed at the two men on the boat.
In the shadows behind the hillside lay a makeshift bamboo stretcher. Several tall men in military attire stood guard around it.
A scholarly-looking, fair-skinned man sat cross-legged beside the stretcher, skillfully and swiftly tending to the severely injured patient—stopping the bleeding, setting the bones, applying medicine, and wrapping the forehead wound with layers of gauze.
Among the men in military attire, the leading general, Di Rong, with a scar between his thick eyebrows, walked over gripping his sword and reported:
“My lord, it’s an old man and a young one. Judging by the medical kit they carry, the young lady from earlier must have notified the town’s doctor to come and provide treatment. Shall we spare them?”
The young man addressed as “Master” reclined on the stretcher, the bloodstains on his face already carefully wiped away, revealing thick, dark sword-like eyebrows, a prominent nose, and thin, tightly pressed lips.
He paid no attention to the question of “whether to spare them,” which involved two lives. Instead, he raised his hand, staring at his mangled palm: “I can’t see clearly.”
The scholar shook his head as he bandaged the wound. “Being able to see at all is already fortunate. Falling from such a height with such force, temporary blindness is a possibility.”
Medicated water for wounds was used to clean the palm, picking out gravel and debris from the flesh.
The veins on the back of the injured young master’s distinctly knuckled hand tensed instantly, yet his voice betrayed no sign of the excruciating pain he endured during the cleaning:
“Which town’s doctor recognized it?”
“Recognized it—Ping An Town! It’s Doctor Huang again.” Di Rong spat in disgust. “That old man, greedy for wealth and status! He couldn’t find us, so he turned his small boat around and chased after the saddle in the water. Probably planning to fish it out and sell it for money?”
“Let him fish it out.” The young master’s tone was flatly cold. “If he retrieves it, shoot him on the spot. The saddle can serve as his burial offering.”
No one questioned the order.
The scholar helped the young master lie down. “The rough bandaging is done. Marquis Xiao, you were ambushed this time, suffered multiple injuries, and lost a lot of blood. Don’t speak anymore. Your vision is also impaired from the severe impact. You’ll need proper recuperation when we return.”
Not far away, the small boat on the water chased after the saddle, circling the lotus pond in confusion, but the saddle drifted farther and farther with the current. Doctor Huang returned empty-handed, grumbling about his useless apprentice, and paddled away in disappointment.
Di Rong reported, “The saddle drifted away with the current. Doctor Huang retrieved nothing and has turned his boat back.”
“Hmm.” Xiao Chengyan responded indifferently, showing no concern, as if he had merely let a few ants escape.
Lying on the bamboo-and-wood stretcher, his heavily bandaged hand could still grasp things.
Casually, he picked up a half-eaten fresh lotus root, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he took a crisp bite.
The young woman who saved him by the water was from Ping An Town.
Author’s Note:
Huaiyang Marquis is a title, and Xiao is the surname.
Cannibalism is out of the question—after all, this is Jinjiang.
Minor revisions have been made to a few passages.