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Join the ServerShe looked at the person mentioned in the travel permit.
“Are you looking for this man, Immortal?” the Prefect asked cautiously, afraid that using the wrong words would offend the young girl.
The girl shook her head, then nodded.
To save time, the Prefect took her to the document storage area of the government office and had several Yamen Runners help search through the household registration files.
While waiting, the Prefect tried to chat with the girl about the travel permit. Since she refused to speak, he could only ask by guessing.
It took a long time before he learned where the permit came from and that the man was already dead.
A sigh.
Knowing that a commoner from his jurisdiction had died thousands of miles away in Liaodong, he felt regret.
Times were hard. Traveling for trade was no easy task.
Just then, a Yamen Runner found the person mentioned on the permit. The household registry was clear, recording the man’s family and address.
The girl got up and left.
The Prefect, afraid she might go to the wrong place or cause trouble, ordered the Runner to follow and guide her.
After leaving the government office, they walked a short distance and arrived at a mill.
A woman about thirty was turning a small millstone, grinding beans.
She worked the stone while a child poured water into it.
Milky white liquid flowed from the millstone into a basin. A large basin was already full.
Seeing the Yamen Runner, the woman grew nervous. She stopped her work, stood up, and stared at him.
Then she noticed a white circle behind him. It was strange.
When the young girl stepped out from behind the Runner, the woman realized it was a person.
Wait, was this really a person? How could it be so unusual?
The woman had never dealt with important figures in her life and dared not guess the girl’s identity.
The child at home was scared and hid behind her. She soothed him by stroking his head.
The Yamen Runner sighed, finding it hard to speak.
What words could he use that the woman would understand?
At that moment, the girl moved first. She reached out with an empty hand, and the travel permit appeared in her palm. She held it out.
The child gasped, not in fear, but in excitement.
He tried to run over to the girl, but the woman held him back.
Unlike the child’s excitement, the woman was terrified. She grew even more curious about the visitor and her purpose.
The Runner quickly spoke up, calming them down and indicating they meant no harm.
No harm? He couldn’t tell if what they were doing here was a bad thing.
He pointed at the permit in the girl’s hand. The woman took it nervously, looked it over, then glanced at the Runner.
The Runner realized she couldn’t read.
He quickly summarized part of the permit’s contents. This time she understood. Her hands began to tremble, as if she sensed something.
By her reckoning, her husband should have returned by now, but he was long overdue.
Sometimes he had been late before. She just never thought he wouldn’t come back at all.
The girl also produced a bloodstained piece of clothing.
Seeing this, the Runner acted fast. He took the child outside, gave him a few copper coins, and told him to buy something and run an errand.
Back inside, he found the woman crying. She must have accepted that her husband was dead.
The Runner didn’t know how to explain it to the girl. Bringing out a memento was something you had to ease into. Showing it suddenly could be hard to take.
The woman had already seen the travel permit and the bloodstained clothes in quick succession. She knew what had happened.
She pressed the clothes to her face and sobbed quietly.
Then the girl took out a money pouch and opened it.
The gold inside flashed, blinding the Runner. He looked down and had to marvel at how rich she was. The pouch was full of glittering gold.
The girl seemed to be thinking.
How much silver was it? She forgot.
She started calculating. One, two, three. Three people’s silver in total. She needed to take out over thirty percent.
The gold was earned by herself, so she didn’t need to count it. Only the silver.
Right. Over thirty percent.
She took out a little more than thirty percent of the silver from the pouch and placed it on a chair.
Seeing the silver, the woman grew angry. She kicked the chair, scattering the coins.
The Runner turned pale with fright. He quickly picked up the silver and tried to smooth things over.
Connecting the travel permit, the bloodstained clothes, and the fact that the man of the house was a merchant traveling for trade, the Runner guessed where the silver came from. He explained to the woman that this was her husband’s belonging.
The girl nodded.
The Runner put the silver back on the chair.
Still, the woman refused to take it. She sank weakly into another chair, her legs giving out.
“I… can’t accept it. It would feel like… this money was used to buy his life.” The woman had calmed a little and kept wiping tears from her face.
The girl didn’t understand her meaning.
The Runner understood well enough. He asked the girl to step outside, take care of the child, and let him handle things.
The girl waited outside.
The Runner crouched down to the woman’s level and said, “Either way, life goes on, doesn’t it? Whether you accept it or not…”
The man’s death had collapsed this household. The woman would have to hold it up alone.
The silver on the chair could let her live well for at least two years. If she was frugal, even longer. With the mill business, life shouldn’t be too hard.
Maybe because she still had the mill to rely on, the woman wasn’t too eager for the money.
The Runner continued to persuade her.
He hoped she would take the silver. Finally, the woman’s emotions settled. She made a calm decision. She took only one piece of the silver as a keepsake and gave the rest to the Immortal as a reward for delivering the belongings.
The Runner tried a few more times but couldn’t convince her. Seeing her mind was made up, he stopped.
Outside, he found the girl playing some kind of game with the child.
The boy had used the copper coins to buy dried flatbreads. He had one, and he gave one to the girl.
The two were biting the bread into strange shapes, comparing them.
The Runner couldn’t help but smile.
After the girl finished playing with the child, the Runner told her what had happened inside and returned the remaining silver to her.
The girl thought for a moment and accepted.
The woman came out of the house, her eyes red. She bowed to the girl and apologized for what had happened earlier.
The girl nodded, not holding a grudge.
The woman then asked about her husband. How did he die? Was it an animal? Or did he freeze to death?
The girl shook her head at each question.
The Runner suddenly blurted out, “Was it demons and monsters?”
The girl nodded.
This answer startled both the woman and the Runner.
The woman seemed to be struggling with a difficult decision. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Finally, she forced a smile and thanked the girl.
With that matter settled, the girl bid them farewell and left.
The Baoding business was done. She still needed to go to the next village.
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