That afternoon, Shu Rui delivered the final pre-exam meals to the academy, wishing all scholars success, and brought drinks to those who had pre-ordered meals.
The rain, having paused, returned amid low, rumbling thunder.
Shu Rui and Lu Ling hurried back to the inn, hearing water rushing through gutters along the streets. The city river had swollen noticeably.
Though few trees grew in the city, scattered green leaves and branches littered the streets, evidence of the earlier storm’s force. It was unclear how many trees had fallen in the countryside.
Returning to the inn, the rain fell steadily. Fat, agile water insects swarmed, thick as a haze.
Shu Rui swept the floor, but a few insects still managed to fly back in. It was a shame they hadn’t raised chickens or ducks—otherwise, they could have had a full meal teaching the poultry to peck.
A heavy rain had fallen at noon, and the temperature had clearly dropped.
With no customers in the inn, people finally had some leisure. Shu Rui instructed Lu Ling to stoke the stove, then took the half-old duck left from the meals for the academy, chopped it into pieces, blanched it to remove the gamey taste, tossed it briefly in a little oil, and placed it in a clay pot. He opened a jar and added half a radish and a finger-length section of beans, cutting them to stew together with the duck.
The pickled vegetables made earlier had already matured; taken a couple of days ago, they were crisp and tender, not too salty or sour—just right to accompany porridge and buns. Left to marinate longer, the flavor turned more sour, still crisp, though less suited to eat plain; but they were perfect for stews and stir-fries, where a tangy saltiness didn’t offend.
Thunder rumbled, the sky darkened, and lightning split the clouds so brightly that it was visible to the naked eye. Lu Ling lit the oil lamp and hung a lantern.
Shu Rui ladled a steaming bowl of the sour-scented duck soup, and the two of them slowly ate their fill with rice at the stove-side table. The soup was rich in flavor, the sourness and spiciness blending with the savory aroma of duck—perfect for a rainy day. Shu Rui went back for a second bowl.
“Today, hearing Yu Qiaosheng say the academy exams are next month reminded me,” he said, “I might as well do some small favors this month, maybe hang a sign—students coming to eat could get a small treat.”
Shu Rui thought it wasn’t really about drawing students in to buy drinks; with exams so near, few would have the leisure to dine out. The purpose was more for reputation: guests would see the innkeeper’s generosity and speak well of him, which was true promotion. If a few students did come, he could prepare some auspicious treats, like Ding Sheng cakes. Many students would spend a bit for such lucky foods.
Lu Ling assumed Shu Rui was worried about losing academy business and said, “If the academy trade is slow, why not try the martial arts school? I notice the instructors and students usually eat out or have food delivered.”
Shu Rui leaned forward, curious: “I’ve wondered—your martial arts school isn’t small, and plenty come to train. Why hasn’t anyone built a dining hall or hired cooks?”
Lu Ling replied, “Qiugui Street is an old, crowded street. When the school started, no one expected it to grow this large. They had planned a dining hall, but now the training halls are already tight, and there’s no space. The head wanted to expand, but neighboring houses and shops couldn’t be bought. I hear they’re looking for a larger site in the city, maybe even opening another school, moving some instructors and students there.”
Shu Rui recalled that as a child in Chaoxi Prefecture, Qiugui Street had been one of the city’s busiest streets. Over ten years, the city had grown and prospered, and old streets like this had aged, less ideal for business or living.
Still, if there was business to be had, Shu Rui was happy to take it. Yet he considered, “You haven’t worked at the martial arts school for long, haven’t even earned a full month’s wages. If you start organizing outside business there, people might gossip. Let me bring some hot food and meals to the school when I have time. If the students are willing to order from us, then we can send it regularly.”
Lu Ling felt pleased Shu Rui would help, but worried about overworking him: “Better hire Dan Qing soon. You running around alone will be exhausting. One more person’s wages can come from my monthly salary.”
Shu Rui understood Lu Ling’s concern. Truly, sometimes he was busy, but he said, “If business at the martial arts school works out, I’ll follow your plan.”
After the meal, Shu Rui returned to his room.
Night fell, and the thunder grew louder and more violent, each crack a shock. Shu Rui closed the doors and windows, lit the oil lamp, and wasn’t afraid.
After washing up, he donned a simple white undergarment and went to bed barefoot.
Behind the curtain, Lu Ling was counting the money in their box. Recently, the inn’s drink and meal business had brought in small amounts consistently—three to five copper coins at a time—but now they had accumulated a fair sum, totaling twelve guan today. Adding the ten guan already on hand, they now had twenty-three guan.
Shu Rui felt pleased. But saving this much was not just from earnings—it was also because he hadn’t spent recklessly. Now that he and Lu Ling were close, he didn’t touch Lu Ling’s savings. Lu Ling, understanding this, had instructed Shu Rui to use the money he earned himself for daily expenses, not to pay out of pocket—after all, he lived there rent-free and shouldn’t eat for free. Shu Rui thought this reasonable and agreed.
He figured that with money in hand, hiding it in a box would not generate more wealth. He planned to visit a carpenter the next day to repair the inn, replacing boards and fixing furniture. If money remained, he could have two new tables made. Thinking of this, he felt even more satisfied.
After securing the money box, he glanced at the wall, took a few steps, and tapped it lightly with his knuckles. “Going to sleep.”
“Mm. Soon,” came Lu Ling’s voice.
Shu Rui raised an eyebrow. “Why ‘soon’? Can’t sleep because of the thunder?”
Lu Ling, lying on the floor mat, looked at the wall, paused, then said, “Just thinking.”
Shu Rui frowned, wondering why he was still fussing over the day’s matters—weren’t they already settled? He opened his mouth to speak, but Lu Ling continued, “It’s been some time, still no reply to my letter.”
Shu Rui understood.
“Have you checked at the post station? Sometimes letters get delayed or even lost, extending the wait. When someone asks, they say it was misplaced.”
“I went earlier today,” Lu Ling said.
Counting the days, it had been nearly twenty since sending the letter. Normally, a reply should have arrived within fifteen days. Unless something unusual happened, even if his younger brother left early for Jizhou Prefecture to prepare for the exam, his parents wouldn’t accompany him, missing the letters. In past years, correspondence was usually from his brother. Despite some family tension, his parents wouldn’t ignore letters entirely.
Shu Rui realized that Lu Ling must be uneasy with his family, though he didn’t know the cause. Children might not openly show concern, but Lu Ling confiding in him proved he trusted Shu Rui as one of the closest people in his life.
“All right, wait a few more days. I’ll check a few post offices tomorrow. Maybe the letters were misdelivered. If there’s still no news, you can either ask someone to deliver it or go yourself.”
Lu Ling acknowledged, feeling slightly relieved. He intended to discuss family matters, but a sudden shout amid the thunderstorm interrupted him: “Water’s coming in!”
His brows tightened, and he sprang up from the mat.
Shu Rui, with less acute hearing, barely caught the commotion. He asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Seems somewhere is flooding. Don’t worry, I’ll check first,” Lu Ling said, throwing on clothes and opening the door.
Shu Rui initially doubted it, but the door opening and closing confirmed the urgency—no one would joke about this. He quickly grabbed clothes to dress. The clamorous voices outside grew louder:
“Water’s coming in! The oil mill’s flooded!”
“Quick, someone help put it out!”
“Report to the authorities!”
The chaos mixed with thunder, turning a normally quiet night into a scene like daytime market bustle. Shu Rui, hearing the words about the oil mill fire, panicked—fires there were catastrophic!
He dressed and was about to rush out, but then remembered he hadn’t powdered his face. With the street noisy and neighbors likely outside, he hesitated. Thinking better of it, he stepped back in, adjusting himself, and just as he did, a sound came from the main hall:
“Lu Ling, what’s happening outside? Is it burning badly?”
He leaned forward to look, but the courtyard was pitch black, rain pouring hard, and there was no reply.
The door was open; a gust blew out the oil lamp, plunging the room into darkness. Only distant flashes revealed occasional firelight outside—the blaze was intense.
Shu Rui’s heart skipped a beat. “Lu Ling?” he called.
Except for the rain, there was no response. Shu Rui’s brow furrowed, realizing something was off. This normally mischievous young man wouldn’t play tricks at a time like this.
He hesitated, about to step back, when a sudden lightning flash lit the yard, revealing a dark shape sliding from the second floor of the main hall—like a giant black spider.
Before he could get a clear look, darkness fell again as the house plunged into shadow.
Shu Rui’s heart leapt straight up into his throat. Even without getting a clear look, he recognized at once that it was absolutely not Lu Ling.
With a loud bang, he darted back into the room, hurriedly swinging around to slam the door shut.
He had no idea who had slipped into the shop amid the chaos outside. The figure was pitch-black all over, and no matter how one looked at it, they did not resemble any sort of respectable person.
The door bolt was fastened, yet his hands were still trembling.
It was so dark he would not even know where to run. In his panic, the only thing he could do was to separate himself from that person first.
Shu Rui pressed himself tight against the wall. His heart pounded wildly, and he did not even dare to breathe too loudly. He grabbed a jar and held it in his hands, staring fixedly at the doors and windows, waiting for the slightest sound—ready to smash it over if anything stirred.
If the person outside really tried to break in and kill him, this was the only way he could buy himself a bit of time to open the door and escape.
Yet aside from the sound of wind and rain, there was nothing else to be heard. That made things even more unsettling, leaving him with no sense of certainty at all.
What Shu Rui did not know was that the dark shadow outside had already been alerted by him. Hearing Shu Rui shout twice and seeing that no one else emerged, the intruder quickly concluded that there was no one else in the house—Shu Rui had been left alone.
Then Shu Rui rushed back inside and locked the door, which only made it more likely that there were valuables inside.
Greed rose in the intruder’s heart. He wanted to get in and search the place, but he was also afraid of being recognized and, in the end, did not want to cause a death.
His eyes rolled, and he crept toward the room, pinching his throat as he called out, “Throw out anything valuable and I’ll spare your life. If you don’t, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
Shu Rui was startled. This man truly had some nerve, openly extorting him like this.
How could Shu Rui possibly do something so foolish—obediently gather up his belongings, open the window, and hand them over? At that point, losing money would be the least of his worries; he might suffer something far worse.
When the thief saw there was no movement inside, he figured his threat had not worked. He decided to use his own skills, climbing the wall up to the roof to take a look at what the room was really like.
If the neighboring room turned out to be completely empty, without even a bed, then he would have wandered into a poor place and wasted his effort for nothing.
Just as he reached the base of the wall and was about to start climbing—
Suddenly, the back of his head took a heavy blow. It was a flying kick!
In an instant, the world spun. The stars in his vision had not yet faded when his arms were wrenched behind his back, a searing pain shooting straight through him.
A cold voice, ghostlike, sounded by his ear:
“Daring to steal amid the chaos—doing this kind of sneaking, thieving business. If I snap your neck right now and dump your body outside, I doubt anyone would come to claim it.”
The petty thief felt a chill down his neck. As someone who worked nights, his hearing was usually keen, yet he had no idea when another person had entered the place, nor how they had gotten so close without making a sound.
Cold sweat broke out layer after layer. He knew he had run into a hard opponent and immediately begged for mercy. “Grandfather, spare my life, Grandfather, spare my life. I didn’t take a single thing. Everything I got tonight, I’ll offer it all to you. I just beg you to let me keep my worthless life.”
Inside the room, Shu Rui heard the voices and immediately called out, “Lu Ling, Lu Ling! You’re back, aren’t you?!”
“I’m back. I’ve subdued the thief. Are you all right?”
Outside, the fire was raging. Lu Ling had gone to check the oil workshop, intending to come back to fetch buckets and basins to help put out the fire. But as soon as he returned to the shop, he sensed something was off.
Holding his breath, he slipped inside and, sure enough, found a thief.
Lu Ling thought to himself that it was fortunate he had come back in time. Otherwise, with a fire outside and a thief inside, who knew what kind of disaster might have occurred.
Thinking about how badly Shu Rui must have been frightened, Lu Ling grew angry and stomped the man hard into the ground, making him howl in pain.
“I’m fine.”
Hearing that familiar voice, Shu Rui finally relaxed. Only then did he realize his back was drenched in cold sweat.
He swallowed, undid the door bolt, and stepped outside. The courtyard was still pitch-dark. As soon as he stepped out, he was tripped by the small thief pinned to the ground by Lu Ling.
His legs had already gone weak from fright. Now, caught off guard by the stumble, his body pitched forward.
Luckily, he did not actually fall onto the stone-paved courtyard. A strong arm wrapped around his waist first.
Thunder crashed and lightning flashed, streaks of light cutting across the sky.
Holding the light, soft body in his arms, Lu Ling let out a small breath of relief.
But in the very next instant, his heart tightened again.
His large hand could span nearly half the waist of the person in his arms. There was no need to worry about him falling, yet with the flash of lightning, his grip unconsciously tightened.
Lu Ling could hardly believe it. He wanted to look carefully at the ge’er in his arms again, but the surroundings plunged back into darkness.
The heavens were black, yet in his mind lingered the image of a fair, delicate profile, flawless like a pearl, refusing to fade.
Lu Ling stood frozen, forgetting to move. If he were not so familiar with this build, this voice, this scent, he might have thought he had grabbed the wrong person and flung them away without hesitation.
Shu Rui snapped back to his senses in alarm and realized Lu Ling was holding him a bit too tightly—his waist was starting to ache.
Using Lu Ling’s support, he steadied himself. Seeing that Lu Ling still had no intention of letting go, he gently nudged the warm hand away. “I’m all right now.”
“You…”
The words reached Lu Ling’s lips, turned around several times, and tangled on his tongue until he could not say them clearly at all.
Thinking of the thief still at his feet, he simply swallowed all that jumble of unspeakable thoughts back down.
Focusing his mind, he steadied his tone and spoke as if nothing had happened. “Be careful. Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
“I’m not afraid anymore.”
Shu Rui was not lying. Though he belatedly realized he was still gripping the jar he had used for self-defense, now that Lu Ling was here—even in this pitch-darkness with no lamp lit—his heart felt steady.
“Did you go to the oil workshop? Is the fire serious? Have the constables arrived?”
Lu Ling’s thoughts drifted slightly. His mind flickered with all the ghost stories and strange tales he had heard or read.
When Shu Rui did not hear a reply for a long time, he asked again, “Lu Ling?”
Lu Ling collected himself and said, “I already went to notify the authorities earlier. With this much black smoke rising, they should be able to see it from their side as well.
“There’s a lot of oil in that shop. The fire is fierce and hard to put out quickly. It could spread from house to house. If it really gets out of control, the consequences would be unimaginable.”
Hearing how serious it was, Shu Rui’s heart tightened. “Then you should first take this thief to the constables. I’ll pack up some things here and help carry water to put out the fire.”
Outside was complete chaos. Lu Ling set aside his thoughts for the moment, dragged the man out, and before leaving, thoroughly checked the inn inside and out. Only after confirming there were no accomplices hiding did he feel at ease.
Shu Rui lit a lamp and gathered the important valuables, packing them into boxes and baskets so that if the fire truly spread over, he could quickly grab what mattered most.
After that, he went to fetch buckets and basins and was about to rush out when he suddenly remembered he had forgotten to apply powder.
His brow twitched. Had Lu Ling seen him just now?
But it had been pitch-black, with no lamps lit. There had only been a few flashes of lightning, plus the fire and the thief—surely no one had the presence of mind to notice such things.
After his thoughts spun around in confusion for a while, Shu Rui pushed them aside, quickly tidied his face, and hurried out to help fight the fire.