Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 69
>Chapter Title: Dinner
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Sheets of yellow paper gradually turned into black ashes amid the burning flames, rising straight up on the currents of hot air.
Li Huowang watched everything before him with a complex expression.
“Li Zhi, oh Li Zhi, I’ve burned the paper money you wanted. I hope you receive it.”
Just as he finished speaking, Li Huowang saw the black ashes swirl in front of him, as if in response to his words.
At that moment, Li Huowang suddenly understood the mindset of those superstitious folks.
Compared to the utterly cruel and hopeless reality where everything vanished without a trace after death, the notion of turning into a ghost and continuing the cycle of reincarnation afterward was truly a beautiful fairy tale.
He tossed the final stack of yellow paper in his hands into the fire and stood up, patting the ash off his clothes.
“Let’s go. We’ll find an inn in town to rest up. Everyone’s soaked to the bone.”
Just as he started to leave, Bai Lingmiao’s words from nearby made him turn around.
“Senior Brother Li, Sister Xiaoman’s gone.”
After scanning the crowd for a moment, Li Huowang confirmed that the woman with hypertrichosis was indeed nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, right, I remember now. She mentioned earlier that her home is somewhere around here.”
No one responded. After everything that had happened, they all knew what Xiaoman planned to do once she got home. The already oppressive atmosphere grew even heavier.
“Uh, Senior Brother Li, maybe we should go look for her? We might be able to stop her.”
Gouwa said this with an awkward smile, reaching under his bamboo hat to scratch at his greasy hair.
Li Huowang glanced at him and headed off toward an inn sign hanging in the distance.
“Let’s find an inn to settle in first. This is Xiaoman’s hometown—she knows the area. She’ll come find us once she’s finished her business.”
This silenced Bai Lingmiao, who had been on the verge of speaking. She clutched the hem of her clothes with both hands and followed silently behind.
The gray sky drizzled lightly. With no cloth strip over her eyes, her pink pupils brimmed with sorrow.
Dry, comfortable rooms were soon prepared. Some washed their hair, others bathed. Once everything was ready, they gathered in the hall for dinner.
With little traveling money left, the dishes on the table were nothing special—mostly vegetables. The only meat was stir-fried bitter melon with egg and pork cracklings with chili.
Yet everyone ate with relish. The generous amount of lard in the dishes made them smell heavenly and filled bellies well.
It was Qingming Festival, so the inn was quiet with few guests staying or dining. Nearby, the waiter chatted idly with the accountant.
“Hey, scholar, you hear? Word is, the border’s about to see war again.”
“Don’t spout nonsense. What do you know? A lowly waiter like you has no business yapping about state affairs.”
“I don’t like hearing that. Sure, I’m just a humble waiter, not much good at anything else, but I get the freshest news. I heard this time, us folks in Siqi are pushing east.”
“East?”
Li Huowang, eating normally, perked up his ears. East was the territory inside the pass.
He had few acquaintances there. The only ones he worried for were the Lv Family Troupe.
But thinking of the exceedingly slick Lv Zhuangyuan put his mind at ease. That old fox was slippery as could be—he’d be fine.
The waiter’s voice dropped.
“Scholar, get this: lately, all the merchants trading over there have been hightailing it back. They must’ve caught wind of something.”
Li Huowang shook his head as he ate. This godforsaken place was already a mess of cults and bandits, yet the powers-that-be weren’t tending to the people—they had time for war. Truly hopeless rulers.
The eager waiter was just about to say more when his eyes lit up. He rushed to greet someone at the inn door.
“Yo! Miss! Please, come on in. Staying the night or just a quick meal?”
Hearing the commotion, Li Huowang and the others turned to see a woman enter, short sword at her side and a black-gauze bamboo hat on her head.
Not many in town dressed that way. Spotting the black fur on the back of her hand, Li Huowang instantly knew who it was.
“Boy, bring an extra set of chopsticks and bowl. Tell the chef to whip up two hearty dishes.”
“Right away!”
Li Huowang elbowed the Fool beside him. The big fool got the hint, shoveled a few mouthfuls of food into his bowl, and squatted down off the table to eat.
Xiaoman walked over to Li Huowang’s side and sat.
She removed her black-gauze hat, revealing the black fur on her face, dampened by tears.
Li Huowang drew a breath and shoveled down several mouthfuls of rice. He caught a faint whiff of blood from her.
“Chopsticks and bowl~~ Oh my god!!”
He waved off the startled waiter and set the bowl and chopsticks before Xiaoman.
“Eat.”
Xiaoman stared at the empty bowl before her, her face twisted in pain, as if lost in memory.
“He sold my little sister too. She went to a man over fifty, and she died in childbirth just this year.”
The only sounds on the table were chopsticks clacking against bowls, chewing, and swallowing. No one spoke.
“He’s scum! I hate him! I want to eat his flesh and drink his blood!”
Xiaoman forced the words out through clenched teeth.
Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao leaned over from her seat, face full of heartache, and gently wrapped her fair, jade-like arms around her.
“Mom tried to talk me out of it. She said no matter what, he’s still my dad—that killing your own father brings divine retribution. But I’d take the retribution. I had to kill him!”
Li Huowang ladled a few spoonfuls of vegetable-tofu soup into his empty bowl, lifted it to his lips, and said casually, like he was just chatting:
“The heavens around here don’t see straight.”
The table fell quiet. The others sat motionless, silently watching Xiaoman.
Anger and sorrow flickered in their eyes. They were all medicine primers—they knew her plight all too well.
Until they’d gone home themselves, none of them could be sure their own families hadn’t sold them.
As the fury faded from Xiaoman’s eyes, leaving only deep bewilderment:
“My home’s gone. I tore it down myself. I don’t know where to go next.”
“Stir-fried donkey meat, braised river fish~! Enjoy, folks!”
The waiter set down the two dishes and bolted like he was fleeing for his life.
Li Huowang took Xiaoman’s empty bowl, heaped it full of rice till it brimmed, and slid it toward her.
“Eat.”
With that, he picked a fishbone from the braised fish with his chopsticks to use as a toothpick, picking his teeth as he headed up to the second-floor room.
The others took the cue and drifted off in small groups. Soon, the hall held only Bai Lingmiao, keeping Xiaoman company.
Tears slid down the fur on Xiaoman’s face, dripping steadily onto the rice.
Trembling, she took up her chopsticks, lifted the bowl, and shoveled in big mouthfuls of rice mingled with her tears.
The more she ate, the harder she cried. Finally, bowl in hand, she broke into full-throated wails.