Shen Taotao brought Zhang Xun to inspect the relay station, wrapping new wood around the mouse-gnawed post station pillars and sealing insect holes with rosin.
After all the work, she was frozen to the bone and hurried into her small wooden cabin.
The cold was kept at bay by the wooden walls, while inside, a toasty warmth enveloped her.
Shen Dashan was stacking glossy black coal into the firebox in the main room. Flames crackled as they devoured the black rock, heating the bluestone slab until it glowed red like a branding iron.
“This black lump… it’s truly miraculous!” Shen Xiaochuan stepped barefoot onto the slab, hissing at the heat but refusing to move his feet. “The coal cinders burned through this morning can keep warm until noon.”
Shen Ersao leaned against the dried kang head, her frostbitten fingers repeatedly stroking the scorching kang surface as tears dripped down. “Even the marrow in my bones feels warm…”
The northern door curtain lifted as Xie Yunjing emerged. He spotted Shen Taotao struggling to hang a new straw curtain on the wooden door, tiptoeing unsuccessfully. With a long reach, he helped hang it up.
“Why are you still here?” Shen Taotao turned and tightened the hemp rope fiercely around the doorframe. “Your kang should have been dried by Zhang Xun and the others, right?”
Xie Yunjing remained silent.
This black-hearted girl was ready to discard him the moment he’d served his purpose.
“Hurry back so I can set up the kang in my room!” Shen Taotao didn’t look back, fully focused on the straw curtain in her hands.
Xie Yunjing’s knuckles lightly tapped the door beam. “I said three days means three days. What if I develop chronic cold back from sleeping elsewhere?” He suddenly leaned down, his face close to Shen Taotao’s neck. “Will you take responsibility for me?”
Shen Taotao’s fingers twitched on the hemp rope. She turned her head and caught the mischievous glint in his eyes, illuminated by stray sunlight filtering in.
Shen Taotao humphed twice. Fine, I’ll let you stay two more days for the pheasant’s sake.
In the kitchen shadows, He Shi tightly gripped Shen Fu’s patched coat: “Husband, what exactly is this officer’s background? Before Li Laizi died, he mentioned Jingcheng… and the Imperial Concubine…”
Shen Fu poked the firebox, brightening the flames: “How would a mere Ministry of Works clerk know about matters in the clouds? I only heard he’s someone who can shake the Golden Palace with a stomp in Jingcheng…”
He Shi’s eyes drifted to the silhouettes by the door, her worried wrinkles deepening: “His looks are exceptional… and he spares no expense for Tao’er…” Her voice suddenly choked up. “But our Tao’er should have married a considerate husband in Jingcheng… This Ningguta is bitterly cold…”
Shen Fu’s large hand patted his wife’s chapped hand: “Tao’er has great fortune! Just wait and see…”
Before he finished speaking, a furious roar erupted outside.
“Beast! Give me back my son’s life—!”
When Shen Taotao and Xie Yunjing rushed out, they saw blood already staining the ground before the relay station guard camp.
Crippled Li charged through the guards like a mad bull, his rusty sickle aimed at the corrupt soldier holding the grain storage keys: “You monster withheld my son’s survival rations!”
A teenage boy lay curled among the crowd, his lips blue-gray like a frozen fish.
Lu Taiyi was pressing the boy’s philtrum, a three-inch silver needle inserted into the trembling acupoint on his chest. The needle’s tip vibrated as Lu Taiyi turned and shouted hoarsely: “He’s breathing! The child’s still breathing! Quick, find hot broth to revive him!”
Shen Taotao had already lifted the steamer from the hot stove, revealing a half-pot of chicken soup with congealed oil film.
Holding a bowl, she pried open the boy’s teeth and let the life-saving oily soup slide down his throat.
“Cough… cough!” The boy’s stiff throat bones suddenly moved, his eyelids cracking open a slit in the oily, steaming heat.
“He’s alive! He’s alive!” Excited shouts erupted from the crowd.
Shen Taotao stuffed a wheat pancake into the youth’s hand. “Eat.”
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
Crippled Li, who had just been fighting desperately with the seasoned soldiers, suddenly knelt and knocked his head three times against the ground with such force that blood immediately appeared. He then crawled on his knees to Shen Taotao’s feet. “Shen Girl! No words can express my gratitude. From now on, both our lives are yours!”
Shen Taotao helped Crippled Li up and told him to carry his son home first.
As Crippled Li disappeared into the distance, Lu Furen tightened her cotton-padded jacket and whispered to Shen Taotao, “Brother Li was originally a garrison commander of Jinzhou… He broke his leg defending civilians when the city fell…” The wind and snow whipped through her frayed sleeves. “That youth is called Li Dazhuang—a name Crippled Li gritted his teeth to give… The boy’s mother died right after childbirth. He just hoped his son could grow strong enough to withstand the snow sabers here. When he goes to dig Heiyan, Dazhung stays home alone. The guards deliberately withheld today’s rations…Shen Taotao watched Crippled Li carrying Li Dazhuang on his back, trudging laboriously through the snow in the distance.
She suddenly remembered the shocking scar on Xie Yunjing’s waist—also left from fighting Di Rong without regard for his own life.
Military souls turned into starving ghosts, loyal hearts sinking into snowy abysses—how many backbones had Ningguta’s ice and snow shattered?
Men who defended their homeland shouldn’t be humiliated over a bran pancake.
She turned to Xie Yunjing and said, “Let’s build a canteen. As long as they’re exiled convicts mining Heiyan, their family members can all get a hot meal there.”
The wind fell silent at that moment.
Every exiled convict stared over with burning eyes, as if afraid to miss a single word.
Xie Yunjing’s black cloak brushed against the accumulated snow as he spoke in a deep voice, uttering just one word:
“Alright.”