Chapter 2: The First Order Is the Hardest

The boy stood there in silence for a beat before Su Wan reached into the cupboard. She pulled out two cold steamed buns, wrapped them in oiled paper, and handed them over. He hesitated, then took them, but he didn't move. He just stood there, his eyes drifting back to the half-pot of tea.

Su Wan smiled. "This tea is bitter. Can you even stomach it?"

The boy nodded.

She didn't say anything more. Instead, she poured the entire contents of that half-pot of Medicinal Diet tea into a bamboo tube and stuffed it into his hands. "Take it. This brew nourishes the liver and breaks up stagnation. You're packed with cold and damp energy, so two days of this will do you more good than any alcohol ever could."

The boy clutched the bamboo tube to his chest, suddenly bowed deeply to her, and then spun around, slipping out the door. The rain had started again, and his figure quickly vanished into the night.

Su Wan stared at the now-empty doorway, then something flickered in her mind. She broke into a quick trot toward the stove. The characters that had been written on the stove's ash were long gone, scattered so completely that not even a trace remained.

She reached out and touched the inside of the stove—it was cold. No smoke, no fire.

But she could distinctly remember that the words had been etched into the ashes.

She froze where she stood. After a moment, she let out a soft breath, bolted the door, and blew out the lamp.

In the darkness, her voice was so quiet it was nearly inaudible:

"What on earth has arrived in this town..."

Outside, the rain pattered down, and from somewhere far away came a faint sound—like a bamboo flute, yet like a sob.