A piece of Japanese incense

"Ah He? Ah He?"

Zhi Yihe felt Ting Zhu shaking her body and wanted to respond to her, but with a hint of doubt in her heart, she pretended to faint. Unexpectedly, she really lost her will...

Beneath him… wasn't damp, cold stone. It was dry, sun-baked straw, cushioned by a rough linen mattress. A thin, patched, old quilt covered him. Zhi Yihe took a deep breath, only to be choked by the dust and start coughing violently.

"She's awake! She's awake!" An old voice with a strong rural accent but full of surprise exploded in my ears.

Then came the sound of hurried, small footsteps, accompanied by suppressed, intermittent sobs, rapidly approaching.

Zhi Yihe twisted his stiff neck, his vision blurring for a moment before finally coming into focus. The face of a strange old woman, dark but kind, covered in deep wrinkles, was very close.

"Nier, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, we are at home, everything will be fine..." The old woman's voice was soothing, and her fingers as rough as tree bark brushed across the wound on her forehead.

But her gaze passed over the old woman's shoulder and fell on Tingzhu.

"Ah He..." Ting Zhu cried in a heavy voice and trembled as if she had survived a disaster, "You...you scared me to death..." She leaned on the edge of the kang, making suppressed whimpers like the cries of a small animal.

The old woman wiped her tears aside, "Oh, what a sin... This girl is really risking her life! Yesterday at dawn, she appeared out of nowhere, one of her shoes was missing, her feet were covered in blood, her face was as white as a ghost, and she ran into the village entrance headfirst, crying and shouting at everyone she caught, saying someone was dying and begging for help... Her voice was hoarse, and she knelt on the ground and kowtowed... That look really broke my heart..."

Zhi Yihe looked at Ting Zhu with pity. How could that delicate, naive little princess, the one who had to cover her lips to cough even when the wind was strong and was afraid of stepping on ants when walking, run barefoot on a mountain road covered with gravel and thorns? How could she drag her bleeding ankle and beg from house to house?

"Tingzhu... Yutuan..." Zhi Yihe uttered a few words with difficulty.

Tingzhu raised her head and pointed to the other side while crying.

"That little girl's injuries are even worse. I don't know if she can make it. We don't have a doctor here to see you..."

The old woman continued to ramble on, and Zhi Yihe's eyes were already blurred with tears. He raised his relatively intact arm and tremblingly extended it towards Ting Zhu, who was shaking with tears, and smiled through his tears: "Thank you... for your care."

"Ah He, you are all I have. If you are gone...how can I live..."

Tingzhu's tears dripped onto their tightly clasped hands, and Zhi Yihe finally let go of her last bit of distrust towards Tingzhu.

She had long anticipated that her trip would be dangerous, but she had not expected that on the first day after leaving Sanchuan City, the person who wanted to kill her could not wait to take action.

Now, she dared not trust anyone. Everywhere she looked, she saw someone who might want to kill her. Who had she accidentally offended to make someone so cruel and want to take her life again and again?

Outside the window, the crowing of roosters tore through the morning mist. Ting Zhu twisted a half-worn wooden hairpin with her fingertips and pinned the end of the hairpin into her bun.

"Girl..." Yu Tuan's low and hoarse voice disturbed the morning tranquility.