AEDBE CHAPTER 2

A Eunuch’s Dream of Being Emperor by Li Ximin

CHAPTER 2

A thick fog—a dense fog the likes of which the people of Tang Town had rarely ever witnessed in their memories. As Dongzi walked down the damp, narrow street, he couldn't even make out the faces of people passing merely two paces away. His slender, adolescent frame was swallowed entirely by the mysterious, suffocating pall of white mist. Just how many invisible threats, dangers, and impending disasters were closing in on him through this obscured world? After daybreak, while his sister cooked in the kitchen and his mother hung out laundry in the small back courtyard, Dongzi felt an inexplicable, irresistible urge pull him out of the house. Wandering aimlessly through the mist-choked street for a spell, a sudden, nameless wave of dread seized his heart, driving him scurrying back home. The fog billowed in through the open courtyard skywell and doorways, rendering the interior of the house a hazy, ash-gray void.

Dongzi drifted into the kitchen, where his sister was tending to a pot of boiling rice porridge, her cheeks flushed rosy like overripe mountain berries. Dongzi settled down before the brick stove, mechanically feeding pieces of firewood into the flames. Neither of them spoke a single word. Shortly after, You Sisi entered the kitchen and calmly announced to her children, "Mum is going to step out for a little while. Once your father wakes up, make sure you take good care of his breakfast and don't do anything to provoke his temper. I'm heading out—remember what Mum said!" Li Hongtang nodded quietly. "Come back soon, Mum." Dongzi scrambled to his feet, desperate to say something, anything, but the words caught in his throat, leaving a heavy, suffocating knot of anxiety in his chest.

Wrapping her head and face in a length of coarse blue homespun cloth, You Sisi hurried out the door. Dongzi bolted out right behind her, watching in disbelief as she vanished into the dense white mist in a fleeting, dreamlike flash. He refused to accept that it was real.

It felt as though countless lethal traps were concealed within the blinding fog—deadly traps that his mother might slip right into. Alternatively, the fog resembled a colossal, gaping maw waiting to swallow his mother whole.

Dongzi's mind plunged into absolute chaos; he was powerless to stop his mother's departure, powerless to alter the cruel twists of fate. For the first time in his entire life, he felt utterly and agonizingly helpless.

By midday, the brilliant glare of the sun finally burned away the heavy fog.

Warm, comforting rays beat down upon the rooftops of Tang Town, coaxing faint wisps of steam into the air. Seeing the sunlight lifted a weight from Dongzi's chest. Sunlight was truly a magnificent thing; it possessed the power to banish eerie, unnatural fogs just as easily as it cleared away the gloom inside a person's soul. With the sun fully out, an itch of restlessness stirred within Dongzi. He wanted to go outside; he refused to stay cooped up in the house any longer. Li Hongtang had already gone off to labor in the fields by herself. Their father, Li Cilin, was still dead to the world, snoring heavily in his bedroom. Hearing those oppressive snorts filled Dongzi with suffocating gloom, dragging his thoughts straight back to the horrors of the previous night. A sudden, daring notion sparked in his mind—an impulse that made him all the more desperate to step outside.

Right at that moment, Li Saogu burst through the front entrance in a rushed, frantic stride.

Catching sight of Dongzi, he barked in a rough, grating voice, "Dongzi, where's your old man?"

Dongzi despised this paternal uncle, who constantly teased that Dongzi's delicate, pretty facial features made him look like a girl—an insult and a humiliating affront in the boy's eyes. Dongzi had never given the man a polite expression in his life, and today was no exception; with a sullen scowl, he jerked a thumb toward his father's bedroom. Without wasting a breath, Li Saogu barged straight into the room. Moments later, Li Cilin and Li Saogu emerged together and strode hurriedly out of the house. As he left, Li Saogu reached out and gave Dongzi's head a rough, patronizing pat—a gesture that left Dongzi's skin crawling with intense discomfort.

What on earth are they up to? Dongzi wondered.

Deciding he couldn't stay either, Dongzi slipped out of the house as well.

He hurried over to Abao's front doorstep and called out, "Abao—"

Abao's father, Zhang Faqiang, was a carpenter currently hard at work fashioning wooden buckets in the main hall. Hearing Dongzi's voice, he called out, "Abao, Dongzi's come looking for you to play! Go on, get out there!"

With an enthusiastic shout, Abao came barreling out of his room.

As the boy bolted past, Zhang Faqiang warned from behind, "Don't run off too far, and get back home early!"

Locking arms over each other's shoulders, the two boys trotted down the damp, narrow lane toward the western end of the town. Abao asked, "Where are you even dragging me?" Dongzi had a specific destination in mind, but he kept his cards clutched tightly to his chest, replying evasively, "You'll see once we get there." Whining, Abao protested, "You're always being so shady and sneaky! If you aren't going to tell me, I'm not going!" Turning to his friend, Dongzi pressed, "Abao, aren't you my best friend?" "Of course I am," Abao replied. "Then stop asking so many questions and just come with me, please, I'm begging you." Blinking rapidly, Abao conceded, "Fine, I'll humor you this once."

They walked past the borders of the town settlement and arrived at the banks of Tang Creek.

Due to the previous day's torrential downpour, the waters of Tang Creek surged with muddy, roiling turbulence, emitting a low, menacing roar. A cold jolt shot through Dongzi's heart as the terrifying nightmare from the previous night flashed before his eyes. Noticing his sudden paleness, Abao asked, "Dongzi, what's wrong with you?" Unwilling to speak a word of his horrifying dreamscape, Dongzi brushed it off: "It's nothing. Let's keep moving."

Stepping onto the narrow wooden footbridge, Dongzi led the way across toward the opposite bank, with Abao trailing closely behind. The little bridge swayed and wobbled precariously beneath their feet, forcing both boys to tread with extreme caution. Being somewhat more timid, Abao began inching forward with small steps, eventually reaching out to grab a tight fistful of Dongzi's shirt tail. Truth be told, Dongzi was just as terrified out of his wits, but with a heavy objective driving his thoughts, he forced himself to grit his teeth and brave the crossing. Once they safely reached the other side, Abao looked around with a dazed, uncertain expression and asked, "Dongzi, where on earth are you taking me?" "Just follow behind me, you'll find out when we arrive," Dongzi replied firmly. Scratching his head nervously, Abao fretted, "If my dad finds out I ran this far out, he's going to skin me alive." "I won't tell your dad, and he'll never find out," Dongzi reassured him. Glancing out across the fields where a few scattered peasants labored in the distance, Abao worried aloud, "What if they go back and tell my dad?" Dongzi followed his gaze across the countryside. Bathed in the brilliant sunlight, the fields shimmered in a brilliant sheet of gold—the late autumn rice harvest was fast approaching. He dismissed the concern: "They aren't going to tell your dad. Let's hurry up."

Cutting across a narrow footpath winding through the middle of the farmlands, they headed in the direction of Wugong Ridge. While the surrounding hills of Tang Town were typically blanketed in dense, flourishing forests, Wugong Ridge stood bare and desolate, boasting scarcely a handful of trees while choked entirely by wild, overgrown weeds. It was a chaotic public burial ground—a place so dripping with gloomy, sepulchral ghost-qi that even in broad daylight under a blazing sun, it felt chillingly foreboding.

The moment their shoes touched the soil of Wugong Ridge, a gust of icy, unnatural wind swept across the ridge, sending a violent shudder through Dongzi's frame. Abao's teeth began to chatter uncontrollably: "Dongzi, let's go back. If I had known we were coming to Wugong Ridge, you couldn't have dragged me here if your life depended on it!" Dongzi's own heart was hammering with suffocating panic; had he come here entirely by himself, he wouldn't have possessed an ounce of the courage required. Bringing Abao along was purely a means to borrow some nerve. His trip to Wugong Ridge served a singular purpose: to test and verify a deeply unsettling suspicion gnawing at his mind. "Abao, don't be scared, let's hold hands," Dongzi offered, extending his palm. Abao eagerly reached out his hand, and as their fingers locked together, both boys mutually felt the icy-cold sweat coating each other's palms.

Side by side, they stepped deeper into the overgrown, weed-choked expanse of the Wugong Ridge potter's field.

From somewhere not far off, the eerie, soul-snatching caw of a death-bird echoed through the brush, layering an extra tier of pure terror over the ridge. Picking their way clumsily through the thick brush with heavy, stumbling steps, the unmarked earthen graves looming intermittently out of the weeds served as a silent, grim reminder to the two children of the absolute desolation of death.

Dongzi's gaze scanned back and forth through the wild weeds, yet no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't spot a single fresh burial mound. He and Abao scoured the entirety of Wugong Ridge, but found not a single patch of newly turned earth. Could I have been wrong? he thought. Were those masked men last night really not carrying a dead body? Deep down, Dongzi was convinced it had been a corpse—a mysterious corpse. He kept his nightmare and his suspicions locked away as a secret in the deepest recesses of his mind; he didn't share a single word of it with Abao.

Dongzi's body grew steadily colder; with every single shiver that wracked his frame, goosebumps erupted across his skin.

Abao's face had long since drained of all color, his breathing ragged and labored.

His hand gripped Dongzi's with a death-grip, terrified that a pair of clawing, black ghost-hands might burst out from the tall weeds and drag him down into a yawning grave. Both boys' palms were drenched in cold sweat born of sheer panic. Trembling, Abao pleaded, "Dongzi, let's go back."

Dongzi gave a stiff nod. "Alright, let's head back."

Yet the moment Dongzi made the decision to return, he realized they had lost the path out. No matter how they thrashed and pushed through the tall grass, they couldn't find their way off Wugong Ridge. Instead, they kept circling endlessly within a dense patch of towering reed grass that stood taller than they did. They could no longer see Tang Town, nor the fields and streams resting beneath the ridge. The brilliant, sun-drenched sky suddenly choked up with thick, rolling storm clouds, and an icy wind whipped in from every direction, wrapping around their bodies like a shroud. The howling gale sounded uncannily like sorrowful, wretched wails. Abao burst into tears. Dongzi kept his hand locked tightly around Abao's, wanting to tell him to stop crying, but his own tears spilled over uncontrollably. They wept together, their cries growing louder and blending seamlessly with the howling wind and the wretched wails, echoing through the low airspace above Wugong Ridge.

After an indeterminate stretch of time, they heard someone calling their names through the wind.

"Dongzi, Abao, where are you—"

Jolted out of his weeping, Dongzi pricked up his ears, listened intently, and then cried out in joyous surprise to Abao, who was still bawling his eyes out: "Abao, stop crying! Do you hear that? It's Big Sister calling us!" Abao choked off his sobs and stammered between gasps, "I didn't hear anything... I didn't hear it." Wiping away his tears, Dongzi strained his ears once more and insisted, "Abao, it really is Big Sister! Listen, she's calling for us right now!" A look of sudden hope broke across Abao's face. "Yes! That's your sister's voice, she really is calling us! We're saved, Dongzi, we're saved!"

Dongzi threw his voice out at the top of his lungs: "Big Sister, we're over here—"

Abao shrieked right along with him: "Big Sister, we're over here—"

They screamed until their throats tore and their voices grew hoarse.

As they yelled, the dark clouds overhead slowly began to tear apart and dissipate. The biting, icy wind gradually died down, carrying away the sorrowful wails that had ridden upon its currents.

When the warm sunlight finally broke back through the sky, they spotted Li Hongtang pushing her way through the towering reeds.

While Li Hongtang was laboring out in the fields, a neighbor had hurried over to tell her that Dongzi and Abao had run off toward Wugong Ridge with deeply unsettling, bizarre expressions on their faces. Panic had seized her heart instantly. Even for adults, Wugong Ridge was a place rarely frequented—it was the most ill-omened, cursed spot in all of Tang Town. Anyone who wandered up there for no reason often found themselves stalked by evil spirits, falling gravely ill or dropping dead in strange, violent circumstances. Dropping her tools without a second thought, Li Hongtang had bolted toward Wugong Ridge at a dead sprint. Had she not tracked them down in the nick of time, there was no telling what horrific fate might have befallen them.

On the trudge back home, Abao anxiously begged Li Hongtang, "Big Sister, please, you can't tell my dad that I went to Wugong Ridge. If he finds out, he'll beat me half to death."

Reaching out to stroke his head gently, Li Hongtang reassured him, "Don't you worry, Big Sister won't snitch on you. But you two are forbidden from ever setting foot near that place again."

Abao nodded vigorously. "I'm never going back. No matter what Dongzi says, I'm never following him to Wugong Ridge again."

By the time Li Hongtang and Dongzi arrived back at their house, it was already dead noon.

The home was chillingly desolate; neither their father nor their mother was anywhere to be seen. While Li Cilin's absence was nothing out of the ordinary, the fact that You Sisi was nowhere around was deeply abnormal. Ever since she vanished into the morning fog at dawn, she hadn't returned. A heavy sense of foreboding tightened in Li Hongtang's chest as she asked Dongzi anxiously, "Where on earth could Mum have gone?" A dark, ominous thought flickered across Dongzi's mind, and he whispered, "Do you think Mum went off to... to die?" Li Hongtang stared at him, catching the glint of tears in her eyes. "Why would you say that, Dongzi? Why would you think such a thing? Mum wouldn't die, she wouldn't! She cares about us too much, she'd never abandon us!" Dongzi choked out, "The last time Dad got drunk and beat Mum, I heard her crying that she didn't want to live anymore. She said living was worse than being dead."

Stunned into complete silence by his words, Li Hongtang gazed at her brother blankly, paralyzed by uncertainty.

After a long, suffocating pause, Li Hongtang snapped into motion. "We have to go find Mum right now! You go look for Dad and tell him Mum is missing. I'll search down by the Maiden's Pool."

Before the words had even fully left her lips, she bolted out the door in a frantic rush.

Dongzi's head was spinning with chaos, a tangled web of events refusing to sort themselves out in his mind. The horrifying nightmare from the previous night... the long bundle carried by those masked figures... the man whose build matched his father's... why his father had savagely beaten their mother upon returning home... what might have happened to his mother... As a whirlwind of questions pounded through his brain, Dongzi wandered the narrow lanes of Tang Town. Where is Dad? He remembered that it was that obnoxious Li Saogu who had dragged his father away; surely his father must be with him. Li Saogu's house was located in Rice-Mallet Lane. As Dongzi passed the communal rice-husking shed near the mouth of the alley, he caught sight of Shangguan Wenqing, the town's dwarf, sitting entirely by itself beside the stone mortar, flashing a gentle, smiling gaze toward him.

In Dongzi's mind, Shangguan Wenqing always wore that exact same serene smile. He knew the man was already in his twenties, yet apart from his disproportionately massive head, the rest of his frame remained frozen in the likeness of a three-year-old child—tiny body, tiny arms, tiny legs. Shangguan Wenqing's father, Shangguan Qingqiu, was the town blacksmith, but the townsfolk rarely ever spotted Wenqing hanging around inside the smithy; instead, you could stumble upon him just about anywhere else in town. He felt less like a resident and more like a lingering sprite of Tang Town—a completely insignificant yet omnipresent little phantom.

With a soft smile, Shangguan Wenqing greeted him, "Dongzi, are you heading over to Li Saogu's place to look for your dad?"

Dongzi nodded dumbly. "How did you know?"

Still smiling, Shangguan Wenqing replied, "Of course I know. Dongzi, your dad isn't at Li Saogu's house. They're over at Eunuch Li's grand estate."

Puzzled, Dongzi asked, "What are they doing at Eunuch Li's place?"

Smiling faintly, Shangguan Wenqing hoisted himself up and ambled out of the husking shed, rocking unsteadily from side to side as he walked away. Watching his retreating figure, Dongzi felt a sudden, nervous pang that the man's gargantuan head might snap his tiny neck. Yet Dongzi believed him—the sole dwarf of Tang Town seemed incapable of uttering a lie.

Dongzi stood frozen before the towering, palatial gates of the Li estate. Flanking the massive entryway sat two gigantic, stone guardian lions with bulging, furious eyes and flared claws, casting an oppressive weight upon Dongzi's racing nerves. He didn't dare set a single foot upon the stone steps. The blinding midday sun beat down vertically upon his head, squeezing a fine sheen of sweat from his forehead. A knot of suffocating tension twisted in his chest; toward Eunuch Li—the eunuch who had abruptly returned from the imperial capital to his hometown—Dongzi harbored an unspeakable, deeply ingrained dread. The very first time he had laid eyes on Eunuch Li was out on the streets of Tang Town. He remembered watching the tall figure dressed in pristine white robes stride toward him. Eunuch Li stood toweringly high, yet his waist was hunched ever so slightly while his chin was tilted loftily into the air, as if deliberately demanding that the people of Tang Town take in every detail of his peculiar, unsettling face. His skin was unnaturally pale and flawless, smooth as a child's, yet it emanated an eerie, frigid sheen—resembling white river pebbles gleaming beneath the pale light of a freezing winter moon. His eyes were fathomless depths, dark and shadowy as ancient water wells. A long braid woven from strands of stark white hair hung down across his chest, and his slender fingers continuously toyed with the braid's tip. An invisible, suffocating aura radiated from Eunuch Li, pressing down on Dongzi's chest. He had wanted to spin around and bolt, but it was already too late. Eunuch Li had stepped right up before him, swung his long white braid behind his back, leaned down, and clamped a hand firmly onto Dongzi's shoulder. The eunuch's grip was startlingly soft yet impossibly strong. Speaking in a high, unnervingly feminine lilt, he had purred, "What a delicate, pretty boy!" A bizarre, cloying scent had wafted off the man's body. Jerking himself away with a violent wrench, Dongzi had broken free of the grip and fled headlong down the street, his ears ringing with the eunuch's sickly, mocking drawl echoing from behind: "I'll catch you eventually—"

Dongzi recalled Eunuch Li's eerie, bizarre remark, and a shiver wracked his entire body.

He also remembered another incident. It was on a certain dusk after that old house had been devoured by the raging fire; Dongzi had wandered alone to the ruins of the burnt residence when he suddenly heard a woman speaking from behind the crumbling, charred wall. Dongzi's heart leaped into his throat, beads of cold sweat slicking his palms. Who on earth could be talking here, right before they start building the grand Li estate? he wondered. Could it be the lonely ghost of the woman who burned to death in the fire? Ice flooded Dongzi's veins, paralyzing him from thinking any further. He wanted to run away, yet an overwhelming urge to see the truth compelled him forward. Creeping over on silent tiptoes, he peered through a crack in the charred wall and saw Eunuch Li, draped in his white robes with his hair falling loose and wild around his shoulders, gesturing frantically with claw-like hands as he muttered words Dongzi couldn't comprehend. Utterly horrified, Dongzi spun around and bolted. A wave of sinister, unnatural laughter chased him from behind, prompting him to glance back over his shoulder: Eunuch Li was standing there, staring straight at him, wearing a twisted, grotesque grin—resembling a terrifying madman, yet radiating a profound, absolute malice...

He desperately wanted to flee this place, but with his mother's fate hanging in the balance between life and death, he had no choice but to find his father and enlist his help to search for the mother who had vanished into the dense fog.

Driven by a desperate, reckless concern for his mother, Dongzi threw caution to the wind and began screaming outside the gates of the Li estate: "Dad—!"

Dongzi's hoarse, frantic shrieks finally dragged someone out. It was Li Saogu. His eyes rimmed with angry red, Li Saogu stomped over to Dongzi, reeking heavily of stale alcohol. Snarling, Li Saogu snapped, "Dongzi, what the hell are you howling like a ghost for? Get your ass back home!"

Dongzi shouted back at the top of his lungs, "Li Saogu, go get my dad out here right now! My mum is missing!"

Li Saogu's eyes bulged in shock. "What did you say? Your mum is missing?"

"My mum is really gone," Dongzi cried. "Go drag my dad out here right now!"

For a fleeting second, Li Saogu froze, then turned and stumbled hurriedly back inside the estate.

Dongzi waited for what felt like an eternity, but his father, Li Cilin, never showed his face. The person who eventually re-emerged was none other than the obnoxious, reeking specter of booze himself, Li Saogu. Waving a hand dismissively, Li Saogu told him, "Dongzi, just head on home. Your mum isn't going to get lost; she'll turn up eventually. Just wait for her at the house, she's bound to come back. Your old man's tied up with critical business right now and can't be bothered with your mum's nonsense. Clear out of here, move!"

Waves of crushing sorrow and utter despair crashed over Dongzi.

He threw his head back and screamed once more: "Dad—!"

Li Saogu sneered, "You can scream until your throat roars out, it won't do a damn bit of good. Now get lost!"

After crying out a few more times, Dongzi was forced to accept the cruel, freezing reality: his father, Li Cilin, had hardened his heart completely and refused to pay him any mind. Swallowing hard against the hot, scalding tears burning his eyes, he turned away in wretched grief.

Meanwhile, Li Hongtang had arrived down by the banks of Maiden's Pool. Tang Creek took a sharp bend beneath a small hill, carving out a deep, churning pool known locally as Maiden's Pool. Ordinarily, the waters of Maiden's Pool were ink-black and bottomless to the eye. Right now, however, the pool churned with a muddy, roiling yellow turbidity that concealed its depths just as effectively.

The deep pool hadn't always borne the name Maiden's Pool; because desperate young women had repeatedly thrown themselves into its waters over the years, the townsfolk eventually came to call it by that grim moniker.

Standing before the turbid, swirling currents, Li Hongtang was paralyzed, having no earthly idea what to do next. Was her mother buried at the bottom of this deep pool? She had no way of knowing. The muddy banks bore zero signs indicating her mother had ever set foot here—not even a single footprint lingered in the wet clay. Where on earth is Mum? she agonized. A shred of desperate hope still clung to her heart: Mum wouldn't die. She'd never abandon us like this, she could never cruelly cast her own children aside.

The waters of Maiden's Pool spun in sluggish, weeping vortexes, and in their mournful gurgling, Li Hongtang fancied she could hear the faint, muffled sobs of her mother.

Abruptly, Li Hongtang screamed out toward the pool: "Mum—!"

No matter how many times she called out, no voice answered her back.

As she kept screaming, a dark, venomous spike of hatred began to fester deep within her chest—hatred directed straight at her father, Li Cilin. If her father hadn't subjected her mother to such brutal abuse and torment, her mother would never have vanished into thin air. She had scoured every single corner of Tang Town without finding a trace of her, and not a single soul in the entire settlement knew where she had gone.

Suddenly, Li Hongtang thought of her maternal uncle, You Chengtuo.

Could Mum have fled back to her maiden home to seek out Uncle You Chengtuo? Li Hongtang knew full well that her mother and her uncle shared a deep, unbreakable bond; whenever her mother faced any real trouble, she always turned to him for counsel.

The mere thought of her uncle offered a small, stabilizing anchor of comfort inside her chest.

She resolved to make the journey to You Village to find her uncle.

The rest of Tang Town, however, remained utterly immersed in a haze of celebratory glee, entirely untouched by the suffocating dread consuming Dongzi's heart. Word had spread like wildfire: there would be another opera performance tonight. Better yet, Eunuch Li had pledged to treat the entire town to a whole month of grand theatrical productions. Rain or shine, a breathtaking, spectacular show was guaranteed every single night for the next thirty days. For the chronically isolated and starved inhabitants of Tang Town, this was nothing short of a miracle from the heavens. Almost overnight, Eunuch Li had cemented himself deeply in the hearts and good graces of the townsfolk. Yet, while these cut-off villagers lost themselves in delirious excitement over the nightly operas, they remained entirely oblivious to the violent tremors racking the outside world—where the Boxer Uprising was currently raging through the imperial capital in a fever-pitch of chaos.

At that very moment, You Chengtuo stepped across the borders of Tang Town. The heavy, leaden soles of his straw sandals slammed down hard against the cobblestone street, sending a tangible shockwave that the townsfolk could feel beneath their feet. Both You Chengtuo and Li Cilin were renowned martial artists hailing from the mountain districts spanning dozens of miles around Tang Town, and they had trained under the exact same master as sworn martial brothers. Radiating a palpable, suffocating aura of slaughter, You Chengtuo's arrival instantly punctured the festive gaiety of the locals. As he strode down the narrow street, people shot him deeply unsettled, eccentric side-eyes. In this moment, he stood out as a jarring, foreign anomaly within Tang Town—a place whose residents desired nothing more than the simple, cheap escapism of a theatrical play, utterly repulsed by the heavy stench of impending bloodshed. Sensing that something ominous was about to break, a trailing entourage of curious onlookers slowly gathered in his wake, keeping a cautious, hovering distance.

Li Hongtang trailed nervously behind her uncle, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She lived in terror that her uncle might fly into a rage and slaughter her father; while she held a bitter resentment toward her old man, she didn't actually wish to see him dead. Upon reaching You Village, she found You Chengtuo hard at work chopping firewood in the open dirt clearing right outside his front door. Catching sight of his niece, You Chengtuo dropped his axe and greeted her with a hearty smile: "Hoho, what kind of wind blew our little Hongtang all the way out here today?" You Chengtuo's voice was naturally raspy and gravelly, yet possessed an ironclad, resonant depth—a permanent affliction ever since he had survived a severe, debilitating fever during his childhood. Unlike past visits, however, Li Hongtang failed to greet him with her usual cheerful smile. Wearing a dark, troubled scowl across her delicate features, she blurted out, "Uncle, has Mum been by here?" You Chengtuo shook his head, his smile faltering. "No, she hasn't. What's wrong with your mum?" Confirming that her mother was nowhere to be found at her uncle's house, Li Hongtang felt her heart plummet headfirst into an abyss of absolute darkness. Tears welled up and spilled over her eyelids. Spotting her distress, You Chengtuo felt his heart leap straight into his throat. "Hongtang, stop crying! Tell your uncle right now, what on earth has happened?" Choking through her tears, Li Hongtang poured out the entire sequence of harrowing events from start to finish. As You Chengtuo listened to her sobbing recital, his jaw clenched so tightly his teeth ground together with a sharp crack. "Li Cilin, that dog-fucker! That absolute beast!" Roaring with fury, he turned on his heel and broke into a furious stride toward Tang Town.

You Chengtuo marched straight up to the massive, imposing gates of the Li estate in Xinglong Lane.

The grand front doors of the Li mansion stood wide open.

Hesitating for merely a fraction of a second, You Chengtuo strode straight past the threshold.

Within moments, a crowd of curious onlookers drifted toward the front of the estate, lingering outside to gawk as if waiting for a show to begin.

The interior of the Li estate was eerily vacant. Stomping through several grand halls, You Chengtuo failed to catch a glimpse of a single living soul. How can a massive estate like this be completely devoid of people? he wondered. Dongzi had sworn up and down that Li Cilin was inside this place. Even if Li Cilin wasn't around, surely that ancient eunuch, Eunuch Li, must be lurking somewhere! Planting himself firmly in the center of a spacious hall, You Chengtuo bellowed at the top of his gravelly lungs, "Li Cilin, you bastard, get your cowardly ass out here!"

The echo of his roar had barely faded when a high-pitched, unnervingly effeminate voice drifted from the shadows, dripping with toxic frost: "What kind of reckless lunatic are you, daring to barge into my private residence and kick up such a commotion!"

The voice sounded as though it had floated straight up from the nether-reaches of the underworld, causing the fine hairs all over the battle-hardened mountain warrior's body to stand rigidly on end.

From behind a massive, scarlet-lacquered pillar on the left side of the hall, a pale figure glided into view. squinting his eyes, You Chengtuo took in the sight: it was an elderly man adorned with stark white hair, a long white braid, a face as white as chalk, and pristine white robes. Tilting his chin loftily into the air while continuously twirling the tip of his long white braid between his fingers, the old man advanced toward You Chengtuo, his gaze sharp as steel and radiating an oppressive, freezing aura of death-qi.

A cold jolt spiked through You Chengtuo's chest. Could this be the legendary Eunuch Li? He had never laid eyes on Eunuch Li in person, only catching scattered rumors whispered by the villagers; truth be told, it had been ages since he had last set foot inside Tang Town proper. A peaceful man who preferred to mind his own business and live a quiet life, he would never have broken his self-imposed exile had his younger sister You Sisi's disappearance not pushed him past his breaking point. Clenching his fists into solid blocks of iron, You Chengtuo tuned his senses to absolute alertness, sharpening his ears to catch the faintest whisper of a hidden ambush from any dark corner of the hall.

Eunuch Li's cold voice cut through the silence once more: "Just who on earth do you think you are?"

In a deep, gravelly rumble, You Chengtuo replied, "I stand by my name and my blood—I am You Chengtuo of You Village!"

Narrowing his eyes in clinical appraisal, Eunuch Li let out a dry, mocking chuckle. "Ah, the so-called renowned martial artist You Chengtuo. Tell me, what brings you to my humble doorstep?"

Scanning his surroundings with hawk-like suspicion, You Chengtuo gritted his teeth and barked, "Spare the games. I know that dog Li Cilin is hiding in here!"

Eunuch Li tilted his head. "You must be severely mistaken. Why on earth would Li Cilin be hiding on my property?"

You Chengtuo retorted, "I'm not mistaken in the slightest. Li Cilin is right here in this house, so you might as well call him out—I have business to settle with him!"

Raising his voice a notch, Eunuch Li snapped, "You hold a supposed reputation of respect across these parts, yet you barge in here acting like an unreasoning brute! This is my private home. Are you somehow more qualified to know who is inside my walls than I am? If you refuse to take my word for it, go ahead and search the estate from top to bottom. But let me ask you this: if you turn up empty-handed, what consequence do you face for breaking into a private residence without authorization? You call yourself a dignified martial artist, yet you run out here to throw your weight around in the home of an aging, wind-scoured old man—isn't that the definition of bullying the weak? If word of this gets out, do you really expect your face to shine with pride?"

You Chengtuo calculated the situation swiftly in his head; he realized that searching the estate today would likely yield zero trace of Li Cilin under the eunuch's watch. Boiling with suppressed rage, he spat, "Eunuch Li, go ask around town—have I, You Chengtuo, ever bullied a single defenseless soul in my entire life? Fine! Since you claim he's not here, I'll take my leave. But I have a message I want you to relay to that piece of garbage: if he's half the man he thinks he is, he'd better scurry his ass back home, because I'll be waiting for him right there!"

With that parting threat, You Chengtuo spun around and strode out the heavy gates.

From directly behind him, Eunuch Li's chilling drawl drifted through the air: "Do have a safe journey back!"

Accompanied by Li Hongtang and Dongzi, You Chengtuo scoured the entirety of Tang Town once more, thoroughly checking all the usual spots where desperate locals typically went to throw their lives away, yet not a single trace of You Sisi could be found. Where on earth could she have vanished to? The question mocked them with its baffling, impenetrable silence.

By the time evening finally bled across the sky, You Chengtuo had shepherded the children back to their desolate home. Ordering Li Hongtang to head into the kitchen and prep dinner, You Chengtuo sat down in the main hall to cross-examine Dongzi. Hoping to squeeze any overlooked detail from the boy's observations, You Chengtuo knew it was vital for piecing the puzzle together. Having always treated his sister's children with the affection of a biological father, You Chengtuo enjoyed their absolute, unreserved trust; whatever weighed on their minds, they poured out to him without holding back a single secret. Initially, Dongzi had intended to keep the horrifying events of the previous night to himself, but under You Chengtuo's gentle, guiding prompts, the boy surrendered every terrifying detail.

You Chengtuo listened in mounting horror, his blood running cold.

Hoarse with disbelief, he rasped, "Dongzi, are you swearing to me that every word of this is true?"

With absolute earnestness, Dongzi nodded. "Uncle, I swear on my life every single thing I told you happened. If I'm lying about even a fraction of it, you have my permission to beat me to death."

A heavy, sinking dread gripped You Chengtuo's chest. He understood with crystal clarity that a colossal, sinister conspiracy was quietly enshrouding the entirety of Tang Town, and his own brother-in-law and martial brother, Li Cilin, sat squarely at the epicenter of it—though whether Li Cilin operated as a masterminding ringleader or a disposable pawn remained unclear. Reaching out a massive, palm-leaf-sized hand to ruffle Dongzi's hair, You Chengtuo spoke with profound, solemn gravity: "Dongzi, you must lock every single detail of what you saw deep inside your heart. Do you understand me? You are forbidden from breathing a word of this to anyone—not even to your father or your sister!"

Bewildered, Dongzi asked, "Why?"

You Chengtuo silenced him firmly: "Don't ask why. Just obey your uncle's words and keep your mouth shut to a living soul!"

Dongzi gave a stiff, obedient nod. "Alright, Uncle. I promise I won't tell a soul."

You Chengtuo refused to let Dongzi get dragged any deeper into this deadly quagmire; the risks were astronomical. Yet a persistent knot of terror gnawed at his gut—in a world as unpredictable as this, catastrophic perils could strike down any innocent soul without warning, sparing no one. He knew full well that despite his formidable martial prowess, he was no omnipotent god capable of shielding the world; everyone faced moments of agonizing helplessness.

A faint, creeping prickle of danger whispered of his own vulnerability as well.

...

Night descended once more, casting a brilliant, silvery harvest moon high across the unclouded sky.

Long after finishing their evening meal, You Chengtuo and the children still sat waiting in vain for You Sisi's return. She had now been gone from the house for a full twenty-four hours. Every passing fraction of time stretched into an excruciating, torturous trial of endurance. Being a young maiden, Li Hongtang frequently lifted the corner of her sleeve to wipe away fresh tears. Seeing his sister weeping, Dongzi couldn't hold back his own sobbing either. You Chengtuo offered what comfort he could: "Hongtang, Dongzi, stop crying. Don't lose hope—your mum will be fine, she'll come back to us." But words of solace bounced off their grief-stricken hearts like pebbles; the siblings remained locked in profound despair.

Adding to the nightmare, Li Cilin still hadn't returned home either.

You Chengtuo found it incomprehensible how a man could harbor such callous, unforgiving cruelty. Li Cilin hadn't always been this way; in You Chengtuo's memories, the younger Li Cilin had possessed a deeply emotional, fiercely upright character. Had he been anything less, You Chengtuo's late father would never have taken him in as an apprentice. Throughout his entire life, the old master You had accepted merely two disciples: his own son, You Chengtuo, and Li Cilin. Having lost both parents at a tender age, Li Cilin had grown up as an impoverished orphan laboring as a hired hand on the estate of the local landlord, Wang Fuqui. Possessing a heart of gold, Wang Fuqui had treated Li Cilin with immense kindness and generosity, never once making his life difficult. When Li Cilin was nine years old, Wang Fuqui's family suffered a devastating reversal of fortune, plummeting into total destitution overnight; yet even then, the kind landlord refused to cast Li Cilin aside, vowing that as long as he had a single bowl of rice left, he would split half of it with the boy. Shortly afterward, however, Wang Fuqui succumbed to the accumulated ailments of old age and passed away. Li Cilin had thrown himself over the landlord's grave, weeping uncontrollably for three full days and nights—displaying a grief far deeper and more agonizing than that of Wang's own biological son. It was precisely that three-day vigil of raw, devoted mourning that caught the eye of You Chengtuo's father, prompting him to bring the boy into their home under the firm conviction that Li Cilin possessed a deeply loyal and righteous soul. And indeed, the young Li Cilin had lived up to that belief like a true man of honor. Years later, when an outside martial artist bearing a bitter blood-feud against old master You arrived in You Village seeking bloody vengeance, the old master refused to let his son or Li Cilin intervene, stepping up to face the challenger himself. The arrogant challenger quickly overpowered him; just as the flashing blade of the enemy's steel dao was about to plunge straight through the old master's chest, Li Cilin threw his own body across the gap, taking the fatal strike meant for his master. Though old master You ultimately lost the duel and conceded defeat, the victor, deeply moved by honor, recognized Li Cilin's grievous wound and used his own personal golden-tiger balm to save the young man's life. Before departing, the victor had bowed to old master You, declaring: "Your apprentice is a man of true righteousness and honor! A man's martial skills may be peerless, but without honor and humanity, his strength is worth nothing!" Treating the old master like a biological father and You Chengtuo like a real brother, Li Cilin had grown into manhood under the You family's embrace, culminating in the old master arranging for You Sisi to be given to him as a wife... Yet human hearts were vast and fathomless as the sea! Within the span of a few short years—long before old master You's bones had even had time to turn cold—Li Cilin had transformed into a completely unrecognizable monster, drifting further and further away from the You family. Try as he might, You Chengtuo could never wrap his head around how such a descent was possible.

Listening to the soft, heartbroken weeping of Li Hongtang and her brother, You Chengtuo felt a rising wave of bitter melancholy wash over him; yet the deeper his sorrow sank, the more furiously the fires of rage burned within his chest. If Li Cilin were to walk through that door right now, You Chengtuo would slice him open with his bare hands. Right at that moment, the distant, rhythmic thrum of gongs and drums drifted through the air. Li Hongtang knew instantly that the nightly opera performance outside the Li estate gates was underway once more. Sure enough, the trilling, melodic strains of theatrical singing floated faintly into the room. Yet the sound of the opera held zero allure for Li Hongtang anymore; the stunning performers waving their flowing water-sleeves upon the stage, their delicate, lilting vocals, and the dramatic tales of romance and tragedy contained within the scripts had entirely severed their ties to her world. Within Li Hongtang's heart, there existed room for a single entity alone: her missing mother, You Sisi.

As the opera finally let out, the chaotic clatter of footsteps and noisy chatter surged back up the street as townsfolk ambled homeward. How desperately the children yearned for a sudden knock to rattle their front door, or to hear You Sisi's voice calling for entry. But once the footsteps and voices faded entirely into the distance, Tang Town plunged right back into dead silence, shattering their hopes over and over again.

Dongzi abruptly broke the heavy quiet: "Uncle, you aren't going to leave us tonight, right?"

Sighing deeply, You Chengtuo reassured him, "Dongzi, your uncle isn't going anywhere. Don't be afraid, I'm staying right here to look after you both!"

Noticing the crushing exhaustion weighing down upon Dongzi—whose eyelids drooped as if desperate to glue themselves shut—Li Hongtang gently urged, "Dongzi, go on upstairs and get some sleep. The moment Mum comes back, I'll wake you up, alright?"

Dongzi sat in stubborn silence.

You Chengtuo chimed in, "Go on, Dongzi, rest your mind and get some sleep. Don't worry, your mum is bound to come back. We're all right here waiting for her."

Without uttering another word, Dongzi pushed himself up from his stool and dragged his feet toward the staircase leading to the loft. Crawling onto his bed fully clothed, he instantly sank into a heavy, leaden slumber.

You Chengtuo turned to the girl. "Hongtang, you should get some rest as well."

Shaking her head firmly, Li Hongtang replied, "Uncle, I'll stay down here with you."

Murmuring softly, You Chengtuo lamented, "Such a wonderful, loving family... how on earth did it ever rot into this wretched state?"

Dropping her gaze to the floorboards, Li Hongtang whispered, "Dad hasn't been coming home lately. Whenever he does show up, he starts screaming at Mum and beating her over the slightest excuse. He was never like this before, Uncle... has Dad lost his mind?"

Gritting his teeth until his jaw ached, You Chengtuo snarled, "From where I'm standing, the bastard has completely lost his mind!"

Suddenly, a sharp, authoritative rapping rattled against the front door.

You Chengtuo and Li Hongtang bolted to their feet in perfect unison, locking eyes in a mutual gaze choked with suffocating anxiety, desperate longing, and a lingering streak of shock.

Could it be You Sisi returning home?

They stood frozen like statues, neither daring to breathe a word, suspended between a desperate hope for reality and the creeping suspicion that the knock was nothing more than a phantom hallucination. The rapping rattled out once more, growing significantly sharper and more impatient. Losing all ability to restrain herself, Li Hongtang realized the knocks were entirely real—perhaps her mother had finally returned. Just as she lunged forward to throw open the door, a violent, abrasive roar tore through the wooden panels from outside: "Open the damn door for me right now!"

Li Hongtang froze dead in her tracks, a bucket of freezing ice water seemingly dumped straight over her head. The fragile hope shattered into a million pieces; she had prayed to hear her mother's voice, not the abrasive bark of her father.

Hearing Li Cilin's voice ignited an instantaneous flash of murderous fury in You Chengtuo's eyes.

Catching sight of the blazing inferno burning in her uncle's gaze, Li Hongtang was paralyzed with absolute dread, terrified that the fury in her uncle's eyes might instantly incinerate her father to ash. Dropping to her knees before You Chengtuo, she clutched at his legs and sobbed frantically, "Uncle, I'm begging you—please, you cannot fight with Dad! I'm begging you!"

You Chengtuo hauled her up by the arms in a swift motion. "Hongtang, this isn't about you anymore. This is strictly between your father and me."

Clinging desperately to the fabric of his shirt, Li Hongtang wept aloud: "Uncle, promise me! You have to promise me!"

With a helpless, tortured shudder wracking his frame, You Chengtuo gave a stiff, reluctant nod.

Only then did Li Hongtang stumble forward to unlatch the front door.

Li Cilin stood on the threshold, clutching a heavy ceramic jar of wine in one hand while dangling a cloth sack in the other. He barked in a grating, gravelly tone, "Took you long enough to unlatch the door! For a second there I thought everyone inside had dropped dead!"

Retreating a few steps to the side, Li Hongtang wrinkled her nose in instant disgust at the overpowering reek of stale alcohol radiating off her father's body; their mother had vanished without a trace, yet the man still possessed the leisurely mood to go out drinking. Standing a few paces away, You Chengtuo glared at him with such unadulterated venom it seemed capable of ripping the man's heart straight out of his chest. Trembling violently from head to toe, You Chengtuo fought a superhuman battle to keep his erupting rage clamped beneath a lid. Had he not given his solemn promise to Li Hongtang, he would have lunged across the room to pulverize Li Cilin on the spot.

Despite being drenched in alcohol, Li Cilin wasn't actually drunk; his eyes remained sharp, alert, and unnervingly clear. Plumping the wine jar and the cloth sack down onto the dining table, he fixed You Chengtuo with a cold stare and rasped, "Senior Brother, take a seat!" In a gravelly, rasping growl, You Chengtuo spat back, "Who the hell is your senior brother!" Breaking into an ugly, distorted grin that hovered somewhere between amusement and awkward tension, Li Cilin muttered, "Break the bones and the tendons still cling together; whether you acknowledge my junior status or not, you'll always be my senior brother. Sit down. Let's talk things out like civilized men—I knew you'd come looking for me anyway." You Chengtuo shifted his scorching gaze toward the trembling, cowering form of Li Hongtang standing nearby: "Hongtang, head upstairs and go to sleep. Your father and I have things to discuss!" Refusing to budge an inch, Li Hongtang stood frozen, her tear-filled eyes wide with unmitigated panic. Offering a bitter, strained smile, You Chengtuo reassured her, "Go on to bed, Hongtang, don't worry. I gave you my word!"

Only then did a terrified Li Hongtang turn around and sluggishly climb the stairs, casting a fearful, backward glance at the two men with every single step.

How could she possibly find peace of mind to sleep? Settling down on the edge of her mattress upstairs, she pricked up her ears to track every single movement echoing from the ground floor.

The absolute second Li Hongtang cleared the top of the stairwell, You Chengtuo moved with lightning speed; shooting out a hand, his fingers snapped around Li Cilin's throat with the vice-like grip of an eagle's talon. Li Cilin offered zero resistance whatsoever; as the pressure from You Chengtuo's grip intensified, Li Cilin's hands began to spasm violently, his stubble-covered face swelling to the dark, mottled purple of a pig's liver. His already prominent eyeballs bulged threateningly outward, and a dry, choking rattle scraped from his crushed windpipe. Gritting his teeth to the point of fracturing enamel, You Chengtuo knew that a fraction of an ounce more pressure would dispatch Li Cilin straight to the underworld.

Yet, at the final second, You Chengtuo loosened his grip. Sucking in a massive, desperate gasp of air, Li Cilin collapsed weakly onto a wooden stool, coughing raggedly.

An agonizing, grotesque smile—far more hideous than tears—twisted across Li Cilin's face as he wheezed, "I knew... I knew you didn't have the stomach to kill me!"

You Chengtuo growled through clenched teeth, "If You Sisi comes to even the slightest harm, I swear I will never let you draw another breath!"

Regaining a shred of composure, Li Cilin hauled himself to his feet and ambled into the kitchen. Emerging with two massive earthenware bowls, he slammed one down directly in front of You Chengtuo and placed the other before his own seat. Sinking heavily onto a stool, You Chengtuo fixed him with a glacial stare. "I have no interest in drinking with you!" Ignoring the declaration entirely, Li Cilin uncapped the heavy ceramic wine jar, releasing an immediate, bizarre wave of exotic, heady fragrance that saturated the air. Taking a deep, appreciative sniff, Li Cilin poured a generous, overflowing measure of the liquor into You Chengtuo's bowl, then mirrored the action for his own. The strange, otherworldly aroma of the wine drifted up You Chengtuo's nostrils like a hypnotic viper, irresistibly commanding his senses. It was an aroma unlike anything he had encountered across his entire lifetime—a scent so completely intoxicating it bypassed reason entirely. Succumbing like a man caught in a trance, You Chengtuo swallowed a heavy mouthful of saliva, his gaze locking with greedy, hypnotic fixation onto the swirling liquid within the bowl.

Muttering a low, unintelligible syllable under his breath, Li Cilin sounded as though he were chanting a mystic spell.

With a low, feral growl, You Chengtuo abandoned all restraint, snatched up the bowl of wine, lifted it to his lips, and tilted his head back, draining the entire contents down his throat in a single ravenous gulp.

Setting the empty bowl back onto the table, You Chengtuo watched as Li Cilin immediately topped it back up. He hoisted the bowl once more, emptying it down to the last drop. The moment the third bowl was poured, Li Cilin untied the cloth sack, dumping a pile of savory, braised pork trotters onto the table. "Eat up, Senior Brother," Li Cilin coaxed smoothly. "I remembered you always favored braised trotters!" Having just swallowed his third bowl of liquor, You Chengtuo blindly snatched up a trotters from the pile and tore into it with famished, animalistic bites.

A dark, unfathomable smile crept slowly across Li Cilin's face.

...

"Fine wine! Incredible wine!" You Chengtuo rasped, his voice thick and gravelly. "I must be going... yes, I really should be going now!" His gaze drifted with a hazy, kaleidoscopic blur; it seemed he had entirely forgotten the reason for his visit—the disappearance of his sister You Sisi, alongside countless other vital truths he was meant to safeguard. Hearing her uncle announce his departure without any clear understanding of what agreements had been brokered down below, Li Hongtang hurried down the stairs to see him off. By the time she reached the ground floor, however, You Chengtuo had already vanished out the door.

Frowning in confusion, Li Hongtang asked, "Dad, why did Uncle just leave like that?"

Shooting her a sharp, scathing glare, Li Cilin snapped, "What, were you hoping he'd stick around long enough to murder me?"

Shaking her head frantically, Li Hongtang stammered, "No, no—"

Li Cilin spat back coldly, "That's exactly what you were thinking! You ungrateful little mongrels! I must have spent my past life owing a blood debt to the lot of you! Now get your ass back upstairs and go to sleep!"

As Li Hongtang turned to retrace her steps up the stairs, Li Cilin abruptly called out a parting question: "Are you lot truly this clueless about where your mother wandered off to?"

Pausing on the steps, Li Hongtang glanced back over her shoulder. "We honestly have no idea!"

Letting out a long, hollow sigh, Li Cilin waved a dismissive hand. "Get along then. Go to bed!"

Deep within the dead of night, You Chengtuo stumbled heavily out through the front entrance of Li Cilin's house, his footsteps weaving unsteadily as he dissolved into the pale, silvery shroud of the moonlight.

--

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