Chapter 111 - When the Heavenly Eye Sees Mortal Striving, Each Heart Conceals a Worldly Guile - Part 2

The next day

Around midday, Bear arrived outside Gemhill County. He slipped in through the north gate alongside a crowd of refugees, then hurried toward Little Ink Village. By the afternoon, he finally reached his home village.

At first, the villagers didn’t recognize him, but once they did, they gathered around in surprise, bombarding him with questions. After all, many of their men had been conscripted and were now missing, their fates unknown. Seeing Bear return made them hopeful for news.

He had already prepared a lie. He'd been knocked unconscious during a major battle. By the time he woke up, the fighting was over, and he had crawled out of a pile of corpses in some far-off place. He wandered a long time, fell in with a traveling merchant, earned a little money, and only managed to return when the caravan passed nearby. As for everyone else, well...they were likely dead.

Once his story was out, Bear asked about the situation at home.

“Your wife didn’t make it through the winter,” an old villager replied with a sigh. “She fell ill and died. We buried her in a small plot outside the village.”

“That so...?” Bear thought of his sallow-faced wife but felt little sorrow. She was gone, so what? With the Fragrant General’s forces behind him, he figured he’d soon earn fame and fortune, so why worry about a wife?

"What about Feng’er?” he asked, putting on a solemn expression. “I wanted to give them both a good life, but my wife was unlucky and passed on. I can’t lose Feng’er too.”

As soon as he said it, many villagers exchanged awkward glances, especially some of the young men who’d stayed behind. Several of them knew Feng’er quite intimately.

“What...what’s happened to Feng’er?” Bear asked, feigning concern.

An elderly man in the crowd replied, “She’s at her family’s home, but...she’s not right in the head these days. If you want to see her, go on.”

Bear frowned. “That can’t be. She was so close to Yan Yu, and now Yan Yu is Elder Li’s wife...”

The old man fell silent, and someone else started explaining the situation in detail.

Bear listened, dumbfounded, before bracing himself and heading to Feng’er’s home. He knocked on the door, and when it finally opened, a girl appeared—hair messy and unkempt, her face pale yet still vaguely pretty, though her expression was blank.

Bear could still recognize Feng’er; she looked frail and exhausted, but it was clearly her.

Seeing him, Feng’er froze. She still remembered that day when the two of them had been lying on her pallet, only for him to be dragged away.

“Am I dead?” Feng’er asked.

“Feng’er, Feng’er!” Bear’s eyes darted about. He rushed forward, trying to embrace her. She stood there numbly, letting him wrap his arms around her.

“I’m so sorry,” he said in a voice brimming with affection. “From now on, I’ll treat you right. I’ve made some money. Let’s move into town and live well together.”

Feng’er bit her lip for a long while before finally asking, “Why did you even come back?”

“Because I missed you,” Bear replied, sounding more earnest with every word.

He was fresh from a bandit camp where men outnumbered women by a wide margin, so any woman who ended up there was a rare prize. But by the time it was Bear’s turn, they’d usually be half-dead.

Now, seeing Feng’er—messy-haired but still young and soft-bodied—stirred his long-suppressed desire. Amplified by his martial blood and the frustration of his time away, he was eager to have her.

After shutting the door, he peppered her with sweet words and coaxed her out of her clothes. They tumbled onto the pallet, locked in a heated reunion that lasted from midday until dusk.

When they finally settled, Feng’er lay in Bear’s arms, the tangled resentment in her heart momentarily dulled. A faint light returned to her eyes. “You can’t just abandon me again,” she said softly.

“I won’t, I won’t,” Bear promised. “First thing tomorrow, we’ll move to Silver Creek. I’ve already looked into it. If we donate a bit of money and say we’re here to start some kind of business, they’ll let us settle.”

“What business would we start?” Feng’er asked, clearly unsure.

Bear sighed and lowered his voice. “I’ll be honest with you. My employer, that

big merchant

, wants to expand here, so he sent me ahead to scout. As for the business? A tavern. Yes, we’ll open a tavern!”

“A tavern...” Feng’er murmured. Even though she hardly stepped outside, she had still heard of the Ginger Tavern, now the biggest tavern in all of Gemhill County. People from her village sometimes went to do odd jobs there, hauling goods or selling wild game. She herself had once stood in line outside Silver Creek to get a bowl of porridge from the Ginger Tavern’s charity stand.

Now, practically every inn or tavern wanting good wine had to source it from Ginger Tavern. It had surpassed the once-famous Cicada’s Cuisine by far.

“Bear,” Feng’er said quietly, “if you want to open a tavern, there’s no way around the Ginger Tavern. They’re the ones with the best wine and the strongest influence. Even if that wealthy merchant of yours is loaded, starting from scratch means he’ll have to buy Ginger Tavern’s liquor, and it’s in high demand. We might not be able to get our hands on any.”

Bear suddenly said, “I heard on my way back that the Ginger Tavern belongs to Li Yuan's second wife.”

Feng’er paused, realizing what he was implying. She turned her head aside. “I can’t face Yan Yu. Even if I tried, she wouldn’t see me.”

Bear leaned in closer and whispered, “But, didn’t Yan Yu give you a purse of money before?”

Feng’er responded with a cold look. “She was just being kind. After giving me that pouch, she washed her hands of me.”

Bear scoffed. “Think about it. If she really wanted nothing to do with you, she could have simply walked away. Why bother giving you anything at all? She must still care about you. She was worried you might not survive.”

Feng’er shook her head. “I won’t go looking for her. I can’t bear to see her face, and she wouldn’t want to see me either.”

Silence settled in the room. Suddenly, Bear started wailing, “How hard I worked to land this opportunity from that big merchant! If I mess it up, I lose everything! And then how will we build our future together, have kids, raise a family? Without money, all three of us—me, you, and our future children—will live in misery. Times are getting worse every year. We might even starve!”

He cried and cried, all through the night.

By morning, Feng’er and Bear had gathered themselves. Feng’er sat before a mirror, combing her hair and dressing up. She pressed a bit of red paper to her lips, carefully applied a thin layer of rouge, and changed into clean clothes. She glanced at her reflection, spun once, and followed Bear out of Little Ink Village.

They arrived outside Silver Creek around midday. The place bustled with activity, and five large porridge stands had long lines of refugees waiting.

By sheer coincidence, Yan Yu herself was behind one of those stands, ladling porridge. As each refugee came forward for a bowl, they offered timid thanks.

“Thank you, Madam Yan!’

“You’re a saintess!”

“You really are a merciful goddess descended on earth!”

“Please don’t call me that,” Yan Yu kept saying, cheeks reddening. She clearly felt she didn’t deserve such praise.

But one of the refugees insisted, “Everyone knows it was you and Madam Xue who convinced Elder Li to persuade the wealthy families to cut back on the grain tax. If that’s not the work of a living saintess, then what is?”

Yan Yu blushed even more at such praise. While ladling out the next bowl, she mumbled, “All right, all right, enough of that.”

Nearby, Bear and Feng’er stood quietly, watching. Bear gave Feng’er’s hand a firm squeeze and spoke in a low voice, “Elder Li governs Silver Creek, so if we want to settle here, it’s ultimately his say. Even a hint of closeness between you and Yan Yu will give us our best shot.”

Feng’er watched Yan Yu’s every movement, mesmerized by how gently she served each person.

In that moment, she felt like she was one of the refugees shuffling forward for a bit of warmth.

She imagined stepping up for a bowl of porridge and hearing Yan Yu’s gentle reassurance, “If it’s not enough, come back for more.”

Feng’er suddenly trembled, as if her spirit had just returned to her body. Her heart felt like it was melting in the warmth radiating from Yan Yu—while she, on the other hand, was steeped in a darkness that reeked of shame and desperation.

“Go on,” Bear nudged Feng’er.

Feng’er lowered her head, breathing heavily. Then she took a few quick steps forward, but not toward Yan Yu.

Bear panicked. The whole reason he’d humbled himself before this woman was to use her connection to Li Yuan and gather information. His entire future depended on it.

He rushed after her, grabbing her hand.

“Let go!” Feng’er shouted.

But Bear held firm, suppressing his rising anger. “We’ve come this far. Just go see her! It’s not like she’s going to eat you!”

With that, he tried dragging Feng’er over to Yan Yu. Feng’er stumbled a couple of steps before yanking her arm away, her voice trembling with rage. “I said, let go of me! Let go!”

The commotion quickly drew attention from the porridge stand. Yan Yu looked over and froze. Even from some distance, she recognized Feng’er, and Feng’er recognized her.

For an instant, time seemed to stand still.

Feng’er immediately lowered her head, about to turn and leave. But Bear tightened his grip again.

“Feng’er?” Yan Yu called softly.

Feng’er took a deep breath, looking up with a dazed, pained expression, full of shame and guilt—unsure how to face this person from her past.

“Are you here for some porridge?” Yan Yu asked gently.

At that moment, tears streaked down Feng’er’s cheeks like broken beads scattering across the floor.

Seizing the opportunity, Bear raised a bowl and said, “Yes. We’re here for porridge.”

He tugged Feng’er forward. Yan Yu gave Bear a quick glance but said nothing, simply filling the bowl to the brim. Then she said, “Feng’er, if there are two of you, you should have two bowls.”

“Yes, two bowls, two bowls,” Bear echoed, hurriedly producing another.

Yan Yu filled the second one as well, offering it with a kind smile. “If it’s not enough, you can always come back.”

Feng’er wept silently, her voice trembling as she murmured, “Yan Yu, I’m sorry.”

Yan Yu just smiled gently and moved on to the next person in line. “Next, please.”

High above them, almost invisible against the snowy sky, a small white finch perched quietly on the township’s sign. Its bright, human-like eyes observed the scene below.

Once Bear and Feng’er finished their porridge and went inside Silver Creek, the little bird took to the air, tailing them silently from above.

Before long, they reached the county government office. Bear intended to make a monetary donation and register under the pretext of opening a tavern for his supposed big merchant backer, thereby securing permission to stay in Silver Creek.

“Yes, yes, we come from Little Ink Village,” Bear told the Blood Blade Sect disciple on duty. “Madam Yan herself called out to my wife by name just now. Lots of people heard it. We used to be well-acquainted, you see. Why, I even went hunting with Elder Li once!”

He rattled on, desperately trying to establish connections. The disciple seemed unimpressed and simply said, “Come back for news later.”

That evening, an anxious Bear returned. This time, the Blood Blade Sect disciple tossed him a wooden token. “All right, you can buy a house in the shantytown.”

Overjoyed, Bear asked, “So, did Elder Li or Madam Yan put in a good word for us?”

The disciple snorted. “Elder Li doesn’t bother with trivialities. Lately, the sect’s been encouraging new businesses, so count yourself lucky.”

With a deep bow, Bear hurried off with Feng’er. That very night, they purchased a small house in the shantytown.

Feng’er was delighted. “We have a home! I want to plant flowers in the backyard.”

She spun around in their cramped dwelling, eyes sparkling with dreams of the future.

Bear barely paid attention. “I’m going out for a bit, to buy some things,” he muttered.

“Be careful,” Feng’er called softly after him.

Bear headed down a dim alley, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. Finding a patch of exposed earth, he used a brick to scratch out a shape, a secret signal for the Fragrant General’s people.

Meet here in two days.

It was a message for someone else who was already in Silver Creek, as the two of them had agreed beforehand.

Task done, Bear left in haste.

High above, the white finch descended on a ruined rooftop and observed the brick in the dirt for several heartbeats. Then it spread its wings and flew away once more.