Chapter 331 (2/2)

Sangsang put the dishcloth into the bucket and washed it forcefully, then wiped her frozen red hands on her ap.r.o.n. She caught a glimpse of the door beside the Old Brush Pen Shop, and made an effort to lift the bucket into the shop.

Back on New Year's Eve last year, Manager Wu and Aunt Wu of the neighboring store had invited Ning Que and her to dinner. Perhaps because of the tumult over the past few days, Aunt Wu wore a dull face when she asked her to dinner this noon, and didn't expect Sangsang to actually come.

Sangsang understood and didn't go to join them.

She walked to the courtyard to pour out the dirty water and gazed into the two urns, one old and one new, placed in the corner. Then she went to the kitchen and cooked a bowl of noodles, but instead of making any fried eggs, she just put in some shallots and took it for granted to be her New Year's meal.

Sangsang didn't care whether or not the neighbor invited her to dinner. She favored eating a simple meal when Ning Que was not home. Finis.h.i.+ng the noodles, she closed the shop door, climbed onto the cool kang, and snuggled into the quilt.

She was born with a physique deficient in cold resistance, so it was very difficult for her to warm the quilt with her body temperature. Luckily for her, she had already become used to falling asleep after a long while. She raised her thin fingers in front of her eyes and watched the burning Haotian Divine Light between her fingers to while away the time. Then she once again counted the notes below the pillow before she finally closed her eyes.

On the last night of the fourteenth year of the Tianqi era, Haotian seemed to endow a firework-like beauty to the stars up above. They melted away the thick snow clouds above the sky of Chang'an and s.h.i.+mmered their starlight upon the quiet and raucous courtyards of the capital.

Starlight was falling upon the two lonely urns in the courtyard and back closure of the Old Brush Pen Shop on the Lin 47th Street. A lone cat seated among the residual snow on the wall was licking a scar left over from s.n.a.t.c.hing the food of another feline. Raising its head to look at the stars, it mewed painfully.

The prosperity of an empire required the unremitting efforts of a lot of people, especially for the bureaucracy that maintained the operation of the empire. On the first day of the new year, while the common folk of Chang'an were still asleep or hungover, even the yamens of the court had already started performing their duties, let alone the office responsible for the safety and security of the capital.

Dozens of runners from the Chang'an local government came to the Lin 47th Street, where there was a thick cover of snow. Unlike the lively and warm atmosphere of its early years, the street had become depressed and solemn.

The local government runners knocked open all the stores on the street and asked the people in there to leave in a polite and undisputed manner, allowing no one, no matter whether they were visiting relatives or just wandering through the street, to stay in the lane.

Mr. Wu, who sold fake antiques, cursed as he got on a horse carriage. Aunt Wu looked back at the closed shop door beside theirs, wondering if anything might happen to Sangsang, as the little girl was still inside the shop.

Sangsang woke up early as usual. After eating the meal left over from yesterday and was.h.i.+ng the desks, chairs, pens, and inkstones, she found nothing to do, so she sat at the desk lost in her thoughts.

Just then, someone knocked on the door of the Old Brush Pen Shop.

She opened the door.

There stood several runners of the Chang'an Local Government. They looked frosty and even ferocious, with the iron chains held in their hand clanking continuously due to the force from the chilling wind.

The leading middle-aged officer was wearing an official blue suit, his eyebrows were slightly white, and his face showed the vicissitudes of life. He was the best head constable of the Chang'an Local Government, Tie Ying.

Tie Ying was stunned to see the thin black girl in front of him, and asked, ”You are Sangsang?”

Sangsang was lost for a second, then she nodded her head.

Staring at her, Tie Ying frowned and asked, ”Was there an old man who once stayed here over a few days?”

Sangsang looked up at him.

Tie Ying took out a portrait and showed it to her.

Sangsang looked at it for a while and knew that they were looking for her master, and told him, ”He is dead.”

”I know,” Tie Ying replied, ”This man is wanted by the court, and since you kept him for so long but never reported it to the local authorities, you have to leave with us to tell us about the details. You are suspected of harboring a fugitive.”

After thinking for a while, Sangsang stared at him and asked seriously, ”For how long will I be leaving?”

Tie Ying and the other runners of the Chang'an local government behind him were shocked.

They came here to catch a criminal under court orders, but never imagined that they were after a young thin and black girl. What was even more confusing for them was that the girl was not the slightest bit frightened.

Sangsang asked the next question, ”Should I take my quilt?”

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