Xu Yue and her sister finished packing their old clothes in the room.
Each had a lined jacket that could be stuffed with reed catkins.
The sisters only owned two sets of clothes each—one thin linen outfit for spring and summer, which they were already wearing.
The other was a slightly thicker lined linen jacket for winter, covered in patches and comparable to a beggar’s rags.
But from the faint memories of the young girl, Xu Yue realized that as a child with a complete set of clothes, she was already the envy of the village children.
Many older daughters in the village didn’t even have a set of clothes; they usually stayed hidden under blankets, neither going out nor receiving guests. Only when it was time to marry would they get a set of clothes to wear out.
For a girl, being able to have a new set of clothes for her wedding was the most respectable dowry.
In this backward era where currency circulation was inconvenient, cloth and silk were even more practical than gold and jewels, with silk fabrics being the most popular hard currency among merchants.
Xu Erniang, pinching her nose, pulled out a “modern patchwork-style” bedsheet from a decaying wooden chest that emitted a musty smell. She wrapped the sisters’ clothes into a bundle and placed it at the head of the bed.
Xu Yue looked around inside and outside the house and noticed that her parents and sister hadn’t packed the pots, pans, and bowls. Guessing they might not have realized the value of these items, she quietly gathered the five chipped clay bowls and a clay pot used for cooking rice and vegetables, placing them all in the basket where her parents stored food.
The remaining items were the sleeping straw mats and bedding. Since they still needed to sleep tonight, they could pack those in the morning after waking up.
With everything packed—though there was little to pack in such a poor home—Wang Shi extinguished the torch, bolted the door, and everyone returned to their rooms to rest.
It was a moonless night, and the entire village was pitch black. The wind howled outside as if this family were the only living souls left in the world.
Xu Yue jolted awake from an intense sense of unease, only to see the tree shadows outside the window swaying and clawing like ghosts.
Under the influence of this inexplicable anxiety, Xu Yue, who hadn’t felt fear even when seeing a dead body during the day, suddenly became so scared that she clung to Xu Erniang beside her.
The commotion woke Xu Erniang, who was startled at first, then curled her lips into a smile. Gently patting her younger sister’s back, she softly soothed, “I’m here, I’m here.”
Hearing the gentle reassurance, the intense unease in Xu Yue’s heart slowly eased.
Just then, the wind outside suddenly grew stronger, rattling the door of the neighboring room with a creaking sound. For some reason, Xu Yue thought of the old man next door.
The suppressed unease surged back fiercely!
“Sister, I want to go check next door,” Xu Yue whispered pleadingly. “Will you come with me?”
Xu Erniang hummed in agreement. She seemed like someone born to walk in the darkness, with the menacing ghostly tree shadows serving only as a grand backdrop to her radiant presence.
Watching Xu Erniang get up to help her put on shoes, Xu Yue suddenly felt that she wasn’t so unfamiliar after all.
As the sisters opened the door to go out, Xu Da and Wang Shi from the next room, who had actually been awakened by the two earlier, followed them out.
“Dad, Mom?” Xu Yue was surprised that her parents had been disturbed.
“What are you two little girls planning to do in the middle of the night? Don’t you know how dangerous the night is?” Wang Shi frowned and questioned.
Xu Da also looked at the two sisters with displeasure. Children should behave like children and report matters to adults first.
Xu Yue knew they were worried about her safety, so she voiced the strong unease in her heart.
“I just wanted to check on that old man. He’s all alone and seems pitiful,” Xu Yue explained.
But in reality, she already had an ominous premonition.
“Let’s go together. Xu Da, fetch the torch,” Wang Shi quickly decided.
Xu Yue was slightly taken aback. Xu Da had already lit the torch and approached. Seeing her dazed expression, he couldn’t help but feel amused, though he suppressed his laughter as he urged:
“Let’s go.”
Xu Yue nodded. The family of four left the fenced yard and headed toward the neighboring house.
The two houses weren’t far apart, and they soon reached the house Xu Yue had visited during the day.
The main gate was wide open, swaying precariously in the wind. The old man who had been sitting on the threshold earlier was no longer there.
Looking at the pitch-dark courtyard beyond the gate, Xu Da and Wang Shi exchanged glances. They instructed Xu Erniang to hold her younger sister’s hand tightly, then stepped inside first with the torch raised.
The courtyard was empty; anything remotely useful had already been looted. As they reached the main hall, a straw mat came into the couple’s view. On it lay an elderly man, peaceful in appearance.
“He’s already dead,” Xu Da remarked indifferently.
Xu Erniang’s eyes instantly lit up. As the saying goes, an alchemist who doesn’t aspire to be a necromancer isn’t a good light mage! Wasn’t this corpse before her the perfect material for necromancy?
Excitedly, Xu Erniang tried to pull Xu Yue closer for a look, but Xu Yue tugged back firmly. “I don’t want to see it!”
Her wide eyes stared at Xu Erniang in fear. Xu Erniang’s heart softened, and she reluctantly stopped, gently stroking her younger sister’s hair, savoring the feeling of being relied upon.
“My poor little sister, the Goddess of Light will bless you,” she comforted with a smile.
Xu Da frowned slightly, thinking to himself, What kind of slang was this cheap elder daughter spouting? He couldn’t understand a word of it.
Wang Shi sighed and turned to her timid younger daughter. “Let’s bury him.”
Xu Yue nodded. Xu Da’s expression darkened slightly; he didn’t want to get involved in such unnecessary karma.
Xu Erniang shrugged—she didn’t care either.
Wang Shi’s position as head of the household was unshakable for now. If she said to bury him, then they had to bury him. Otherwise, how could they properly inherit the old man’s “legacy”?
Xu Erniang was well-versed in this logic. Holding Xu Yue, who didn’t want to face the dead old man, she searched around the house. Unfortunately, the old man’s home had already been ransacked once before, and after rummaging for a long time, the sisters found nothing useful.
The darkness didn’t seem to affect the vision of Xu Yue’s family members. Leaving the torch with the sisters, Xu Da and Wang Shi wrapped the old man’s body in the straw mat, carried it out, and prepared to bury it on a hillside.
Having found only a leather water pouch in the old man’s house, the two sisters returned home first with the torch.
In ancient times, nights were pitch-black. Even Wang Shi, with her relatively good eyesight, could barely make out outlines. Relying solely on this body’s memory of the village, they managed to reach the small hillside at the village entrance.
The entire village was relatively flat, surrounded by low hills and forests. Only this small hillside was slightly elevated. Standing on it, one could see the official road in the distance leading to Changyi County, the seat of Shanyang Commandery.
Xu Da and Wang Shi hastily dug a shallow pit to bury the old man’s body. As they turned to leave, an unusual commotion reached their ears. When the couple looked back, their faces paled dramatically!
A long, torch-lit dragon materialized along the official road, accompanied by the thunderous hoofbeats of tens of thousands charging toward Changyi. A tattered red banner fluttered wildly in the firelight, revealing the ferocious face of its bearer that sent chills down their spines.
The soldiers wore mismatched uniforms and carried an assortment of weapons, unified only by the black cloth strips tied around their arms.
Memories from his original host surged through Xu Da’s mind, sharpening his voice to a panicked pitch:
“Disaster! It’s the peasant uprising army formed by ruthless bandits and roving rebels—we must flee!”