Seeing that Yan Liangrong was unresponsive, she said again, “Run!”
Yan Liangrong sat down beside the narrow bed and asked, “Has someone hurt you?”
Tao Yang shook her head. She stared fixedly at Yan Liangrong, then struggled to sit up. Lowering her voice, she said urgently and cautiously, “Run. You have to run.”
Yan Liangrong frowned. “Why should I run? Is there a bad person here? Don’t be afraid. I’m an official of the imperial court. I’ll help you.”
Tao Yang seemed unable to hear her. She only stared at Yan Liangrong’s face. “You’re beautiful, so you have to run. Run, run…”
Then she became confused again, and Yan Liangrong could no longer get anything out of her.
For the moment, Yan Liangrong had no choice but to let it go.
After Tao Jiang finished feeding Tao Yang, she saw Yan Liangrong out.
Yan Liangrong placed both hands on Tao Jiang’s shoulders. “Tao Jiang, do you trust me?”
Tao Jiang nodded vigorously.
Yan Liangrong bent down so that their eyes were level. “Tao Jiang, if you trust me, tell me what happened to your sister. I promise you, whoever hurt your sister, if he committed a crime, I won’t let him off. No matter who he is, I will make sure he is arrested and thrown in jail.”
Tao Jiang’s body trembled faintly, as though she were terrified.
Gao Qi, who was holding Pi San down, keenly noticed Tao Jiang’s reaction and hurriedly interjected, “Tao Jiang, our Historian Yan is an official, her younger sister is an official, and her younger brother is an even more senior official. Even if a first-rank prince committed a crime, he’d still be beheaded. But there are exceptions to everything. If you report a crime and render meritorious service, your own offenses might be pardoned. Maybe you wouldn’t even be punished.”
A tiny spark flickered in Tao Jiang’s eyes. She kept picking at her fingernails, still frightened and hesitant.
Yan Liangrong did not force her. She patted Tao Jiang on the head, then turned and left with Gao Qi.
On the way, Yan Liangrong asked Gao Qi in puzzlement, “Why did you say that just now? What if Tao Jiang worries that the person will be rewarded for his service and escape punishment, only to retaliate against her? Wouldn’t that make her even less willing to speak?”
“Oh, Historian Yan, you don’t understand us common folk at the bottom of society.” Gao Qi scratched his head. “We’re naturally afraid of officials and the government. If you say that anyone who’s committed a crime absolutely won’t be spared, we get even more frightened. Think about it—we scrape by in the dirt, unable to eat our fill or dress warmly. Who hasn’t committed a little theft or some other minor offense? People from backgrounds like ours—how could any of us be completely clean?
“Take me, for example. The government never caught me, but I used to make a pretty penny through all sorts of shady dealings. Reselling tickets, moving whitening powder through the black market, that sort of thing. That girl’s older sister has been insane since last year. The two of them have managed to survive for nearly a year. If she hadn’t done a little stealing and such, they really wouldn’t have made it. The younger girl looks innocent and simple, and she doesn’t understand the law, so of course she’s afraid. But…”
Gao Qi’s face filled with confusion. “Still, those flatbreads were good.”
Yan Liangrong looked puzzled. “Good flatbreads?”
“Historian Yan, you come from a wealthy family. Everything you eat and use is of good quality, so you don’t understand how common folk at the bottom live. At most, you can tell the difference between steamed buns made with white flour and those made with wild greens, bran, or bean flour. But you wouldn’t be able to tell whether a flatbread is good.”
That was the difference that came from life experience.
Gao Qi continued seriously, “Those flatbreads were made with high-quality millet and pork lard. I could smell it the moment I got close—they were fragrant. Millet is expensive these days, and lard is even more so. Ordinary families can’t bear to use lard to make flatbreads for themselves. Yet that person went all the way to the neighboring village to deliver them. After delivering them, he didn’t ask for any favor in return. He just left them there and walked away. Strange. Far too strange.”
If it had been him, he would have made sure to advertise the favor loudly, so they would remember the debt and repay it someday.
Yan Liangrong couldn’t tell whether the flatbreads were good, but she also found it troubling that someone had gone all the way to the neighboring village to deliver them.
Especially since she had asked around and learned that the Tao sisters had moved here from elsewhere. Their parents had died long ago, and they had no relatives in the area.
Could it have been a friend?
When they reached the entrance to the village, Yan Liangrong had Gao Qi hand Pi San over to the others to escort to the county yamen. Then she took Gao Qi with her to the neighboring village.
After asking around briefly, Yan Liangrong found out who the girl that had delivered the food was.
After all, it was bound to attract attention when someone carried such fine flatbreads from one village to another.
An older woman pointed Yan Liangrong in the right direction. “Lu Lan? Just follow this road straight ahead. When you reach the end, turn left. That thatched hut up ahead is her home.”
Yan Liangrong nodded.
From the way Gao Qi had praised the flatbreads, Yan Liangrong had assumed Lu Lan’s family must be fairly well-off. But when she arrived, she discovered that Lu Lan’s life was just as impoverished.
The thatched hut was already small and low. Last night’s thunderstorm had washed away half of it, leaving the place in a terrible state.
Lu Lan had taken off her shoes and socks. Standing barefoot on a borrowed ladder, she climbed onto the roof. Her grandmother stood below, handing her bundles of tied straw. Lu Lan took them and spread them across the roof.
Yan Liangrong stood in the distance, careful not to disturb them.
When Lu Lan climbed down, one of her feet slipped. With a loud thud, she fell to the ground.
Then she quickly scrambled back to her feet, patted her backside, and laughed. “I’m fine. I’m sturdy. A fall like that won’t hurt me.”
Won’t hurt her?
Her hand was bleeding, and her arm was bent unnaturally. She had probably injured it in the fall.
How strange.
Yan Liangrong and Gao Qi started back. The older woman they had spoken to earlier was working in the fields. When she saw the two of them returning, she struck up a conversation. “Back so soon? You didn’t stay for a meal?”
Yan Liangrong smiled. “She was busy repairing the house.”
The older woman gave a cry of dismay. “I told that damned girl the house could wait. It only rained yesterday, so the roof’s slippery and she could easily fall. I told her to wait until her uncle came back and let him repair it for her. Why won’t she ever listen?”
Her tone was reproachful, but full of concern.
Yan Liangrong walked closer. “You’re very familiar with Lu Lan?”
“Of course I am.” The older woman smiled. “I’ve watched that damned girl grow up. She’s had a hard life. Her parents died when she was six, and she’s lived with her grandmother ever since. We’re neighbors, after all. We have to lend a hand when we can.
“Who would’ve thought my foolish son and her would fall for each other? His father and I are delighted.”
Yan Liangrong teased her with a smile. “And yet you still call her ‘that damned girl’?”
The older woman laughed awkwardly. “I’m used to calling her that. Lu Lan has always been stubborn. When she was little, no matter what we tried to give her, she refused to take it. So I called her that damned girl. I’ve been saying it for so many years that it just rolls off my tongue. You’re right—I should change.”
Yan Liangrong smiled. “She’s very stubborn? What a coincidence. I have a younger sister who’s stubborn too.”
The older woman pursed her lips. “That girl isn’t merely stubborn. Whenever she’s working in the fields, if there’s something she can do herself, she never asks anyone for help. It breaks your heart to watch. But starting sometime in the second half of last year, her personality began to change.”
Yan Liangrong asked, “How so?”
The older woman shook her head, unable to make sense of it herself. “I can’t quite put it into words. She still seems cheerful and lively, but there’s always something that feels off. She used to be clever and quick, and she never let herself get hurt. But since the second half of last year, she’s changed. It’s as though she’s become clumsy. No matter what she does, she ends up getting hurt. Her uncle and I hate seeing it. We bought her some ointment, but she refused to use it and wouldn’t treat her injuries.”
“Her arms, neck, and legs are covered in injuries. When my boy came home from work and saw how badly she was hurt, he was heartbroken. He dragged her into the city to see a doctor and even tried to find her an easier job, but she refused. She just stayed home, and every few days she’d get hurt again. Sigh… that damned girl, why is she so stubborn? Sometimes she makes me want to give her a good beating.”
The older woman could not understand it. Neither could Yan Liangrong.
Whenever Tao Yang had one of her episodes, she would bang her head against the wall or use shards to cut her arms.
Ding Xin had married the man who beat her. No matter what, she insisted on enduring it, refusing to seek a divorce even when he treated her badly.
Lu Lan was the same. Just now, Yan Liangrong had witnessed Lu Lan climb down the ladder. Her first step had landed firmly, but for some reason, after placing her foot down, she lifted it again and stepped into empty air, causing herself to fall.
At first, Yan Liangrong had thought it was an accident. Looking back now, it seemed more like she had done it on purpose.
Were these three girls deliberately seeking out abuse?
Yan Liangrong turned to Gao Qi. Gao Qi shook his head frantically. “No, no, I have no idea about that. I only know about the affairs of ordinary people like us at the bottom.”
Unable to make sense of it, Yan Liangrong sought out Yan Tongshu that evening and told her everything.
Yan Tongshu frowned thoughtfully. “You’re saying that all three of them may be abusing or harming themselves?”
Yan Liangrong nodded.
Yan Tongshu lowered her eyes and thought carefully.
Self-abuse?
Three girls—one mentally unstable, with no clear understanding of her own personality; one weak and timid; and one cheerful and forthright.
Yet all three had independently chosen different ways to injure their own bodies.
Yan Tongshu said, “Sister, there are generally only a few possible reasons for self-abuse. The first is that they enjoy the pain—that a certain amount of physical harm brings them pleasure. But clearly, none of the three girls you mentioned fits that situation.
“The second is dissociation. After suffering severe psychological trauma, a person becomes emotionally numb and needs pain to remind herself that she is still alive, rather than already being a corpse.
“The third is self-loathing: pathological guilt and a belief that she must be punished before she deserves to go on living in this world…”
“It could be that,” Yan Liangrong said. “When Tao Yang has an episode, she says that she deserves to die and shouldn’t be alive.”
Yan Tongshu immediately asked, “Did these three girls know each other before?”
Yan Liangrong replied, “According to what I’ve learned, Ding Xin and the Tao sisters are from the same village, so they knew each other, though they weren’t close before. Lu Lan is from another village and didn’t know them originally. But since the second half of last year, Lu Lan has often brought things to the Tao sisters. Ding Xin does the same. Even though her husband and in-laws beat her every time she brings something, she still insists on doing it.”
Yan Tongshu shook her head. Based on Yan Liangrong’s account alone, she could not reach a conclusion.
Yan Tongshu asked, “Sister, are you going again tomorrow?”
Yan Liangrong nodded. “I’m taking a female physician to provide free medical care tomorrow. We’ll be passing through Fish Village, so I plan to have the physician examine Tao Yang again.”
“Then we’ll go together.”
“All right.”
The next day, Yan Tongshu changed into ordinary clothes and went with Yan Liangrong and the female physician to the Tao residence.
At the gate, Yan Liangrong once again found food left there by someone else.
This time, it was a bundle of dried noodles.
As usual, Yan Liangrong knocked on the door.
When Tao Jiang heard the sound, she came out clutching a large wooden club. The moment she saw Yan Liangrong, she tossed it aside and ran over excitedly to open the door.
“Milady.”
Yan Liangrong smiled and gently touched her cheek before introducing Yan Tongshu. “This is my younger brother.”
Her younger brother?
Tao Jiang looked at Yan Tongshu. Yan Tongshu gave her a friendly smile.
Tao Jiang immediately cowered behind Yan Liangrong. “Milady, is she the high-ranking official you told me about?”
Yan Liangrong smiled and nodded. “Don’t be afraid. Other than in court, Tongshu doesn’t put on airs.”
After receiving confirmation, Tao Jiang became visibly even more frightened. She clung to Yan Liangrong’s clothes and refused to let go.
Yan Tongshu bent down to look at her and teased, “You’re so afraid of me. Have you done something bad?”
Tao Jiang’s body tensed, and she pressed her lips tightly together.
Yan Tongshu frowned slightly. Had this child really done something bad?
Yan Liangrong smiled. “All right, stop teasing her. Tao Jiang is timid and can’t take a scare. Let’s go inside and have the physician check Tao Yang’s pulse again.”
Yan Liangrong took Tao Jiang’s hand and led her forward, while Yan Tongshu and the female physician followed behind.
Gao Qi and Xu Qiu remained outside the gate.
Yan Tongshu surveyed the surroundings.
The Tao family’s yard was enclosed by a simple fence of bamboo poles. It offered virtually no protection and stood in a remote area far from other people.
Although the Tao family’s house looked very old, it was not dilapidated. On the contrary, it had been carefully maintained and repaired. It was clear that the family had once been fairly well-off.
Many trees and bamboo branches grew around the yard. With so much bamboo, they could at least survive on bamboo shoots in spring.
When Yan Tongshu entered the Tao family’s small house, the female physician was already treating Tao Yang.
The cloth padding beneath Tao Yang’s bound wrists and ankles made it clear that Tao Jiang loved her sister deeply. Even though Tao Yang had to be restrained because of her madness, Tao Jiang still refused to let the bindings injure her.
Yan Tongshu examined the room.
Several tattered pictures and faded red paper blessings were pasted to the walls.
The bowls on the table were chipped, but they were decorated with patterns. These days, ordinary people used the cheapest bowls available, and such bowls never had any decoration.
Yan Tongshu was wondering how the two sisters earned their living when she spotted embroidery cloth, needles, and thread in a corner.
She looked at Tao Jiang. “Your sister knows how to embroider?”
Tao Jiang nodded. “My sister’s hands are very skillful. She knows so many different stitches, and people always fight to buy the cloth she embroiders. It’s all my fault. Back when my sister was well, she tried to teach me, but I didn’t study properly. Now I can’t do anything. I’m completely useless.”
Tao Jiang lowered her head in shame.
Yan Tongshu comforted her. “You’re already doing wonderfully.”
Last year, Tao Jiang had been thirteen. At thirteen, caring for a deranged older sister and surviving as the two of them depended on each other—making it this far was already no small feat.
Yan Tongshu looked at Tao Yang’s hands.
They were covered in wounds, but their long, slender fingers were still visible.
Her hands were also very well cared for. Apart from the injuries, her skin was soft and delicate.
Embroidery was meticulous work. If the skin on one’s hands was even slightly rough, it could snag the thread, so an embroiderer had to keep her hands moist and smooth at all times.
Several wooden slats had been nailed across the windows from the inside. They were presumably meant to prevent outsiders from sneaking in and harming the sisters.
From time to time, the sound of cicadas drifted through the air.
After the female physician finished taking Tao Yang’s pulse, she began writing a prescription. Suddenly, Tao Yang’s body stiffened. She began raving again, repeating, “I deserve to die,” while frantically banging herself against the wall and bed. She even tried to bite through her own tongue.
Yan Liangrong and Yan Tongshu hurriedly restrained her.
Tao Jiang hugged her and cried out desperately, “Sister!”
Yan Tongshu carefully recalled what had happened just before.
The female physician had finished taking Tao Yang’s pulse and stood up. She pushed her chair aside, then went to fetch the medicine.
The chair slid across the floor, making a faint scraping sound.
The chair was made of wood. The floor of the Tao family’s house was a little smoother than the packed-earth floors of ordinary homes, so the scraping of the chair legs against it did not sound dull and heavy. Instead, it had a slightly sharp edge to it.
Was it this sound that had triggered Tao Yang?
As Yan Tongshu was thinking, a very soft whistle came from outside. Tao Yang began struggling violently again. This time, however, she did not lose control. She merely trembled all over, cowering in the corner and pleading desperately, “Let me go. Please, let me go. Please, please…”
Yan Tongshu released her and went outside. Not long after, she saw an older woman poking her finger against her own child’s head.
“You slipped away while I wasn’t looking. Just wait until we get home—your father will tan your hide.”
The little boy was holding a whistle carved from a fruit pit. Since he was well loved, he was not at all afraid of the father mentioned by the older woman. Grinning, he put the whistle to his lips and blew it again and again.
Yan Tongshu hurried over. “Little brother, that whistle of yours is quite unusual. What did you make it from?”
Someone had praised his treasured possession, and the boy immediately brightened. He proudly showed it off. “I carved it out of a peach pit myself. Big brother, look—isn’t it beautiful?”
Excitedly, the boy held up his peach-pit whistle.
He had patiently ground the entire peach pit until it was smooth and rounded, then drilled a hole and carefully hollowed out the inside. After polishing the opening smooth, he had made it capable of producing a sound.
Yan Tongshu crouched down with a smile. “Little brother, your whistle is truly unique. Would you sell it to me?”
The boy hesitated. After all, it was a treasure he had painstakingly made with his own hands.
The older woman asked curiously, “Young sir, what do you want it for? It’s just a child’s toy.”
Yan Tongshu smiled. “I thought the sound was very distinctive, and the shape is so unusual and delicate. It has a real artistic quality to it. At first glance, I knew it was a fine piece, and I couldn’t resist it. But if the little brother doesn’t want to sell it, that’s all right too.”
A kindred spirit!
The little boy abruptly raised his head and held out the whistle to Yan Tongshu. “I’ll sell it.”
“How much?” Yan Tongshu asked.
The boy beamed. “One copper coin.”
Yan Tongshu handed him three copper coins. “You put a great deal of effort into making this whistle. It’s worth it.”
Having his labor acknowledged, the little boy clutched the three copper coins as if they were a mountain of gold, his face filled with satisfaction.
Yan Tongshu put away the peach whistle and turned to the older woman. “Madam, I notice you have an abacus and bells hanging from your waist. Are you a traveling peddler?”
The woman chuckled cheerfully. “That’s right. The child’s father and I both make our living selling goods from village to village.”
“Then do you know Tao Yang?”
The woman sighed. “How could I not? I used to help sell her embroidery. That girl had such skill with her needlework—the designs she embroidered were always in high demand. What a pity. She went mad last year…”
“You travel from place to place and have seen a lot of the world,” Yan Tongshu said. “You must be familiar with the villages around here.”
The woman caught on to what Yan Tongshu was getting at and asked, “Young sir, if there’s something you want to know, just ask.”
Yan Tongshu lowered her voice. “Since the second half of last year, have any other girls in the surrounding villages suddenly changed in temperament?”
“I never really paid attention before, but now that you mention it, there are quite a few.” The woman searched her memory carefully. “Take Yang Erhua from the neighboring Yang Village. She used to be such a lively girl. I don’t know exactly when she changed, but since the latter half of last year, every time I see her, her face is gloomy. And there’s Lu Lan—she used to be so clever, but now she’s clumsy and constantly getting hurt. There are also quite a few who suddenly abandon everything and move away overnight, never to be seen again. If we don’t limit it to the latter half of last year…”
The woman suddenly widened her eyes, cold sweat breaking out across her forehead.
“How did I never put all these things together before?”
Her expression of dawning horror made Yan Tongshu tense as well. “What is it?”
The woman said doubtfully, “Why do I feel that every year, in the latter half, there are always a few young, beautiful girls with no family or support who start acting strangely? Either they suddenly abandon everything and move away, or their personalities change completely. A cheerful girl becomes gloomy; a timid girl becomes even more fearful and stops leaving the house. And there was one girl who was laughing and happily buying fabric from me to make new clothes the last time I saw her—then she turned around and went mad, throwing herself into the river.”
After hearing this, Yan Tongshu came to a conclusion.
Someone was targeting beautiful young women who had no one to rely on.
But what had these girls gone through?
They were alive and physically healthy. After escaping, they neither reported the matter to the authorities nor told anyone else. They buried the secret in their hearts and continued harming themselves, as if trying to find peace of mind through their suffering.
What could have driven perfectly normal people to become like this?
Holding the peach whistle, Yan Tongshu returned to the vicinity of the Tao family’s home. She stood beneath the window and blew it.
The instant the whistle sounded, Tao Yang began trembling violently and begged for mercy.
As expected, she was sensitive to whistles and anything resembling them. She was terrified of such sounds.
Yan Tongshu looked down at the peach whistle in her hand.
A whistle?
A dog whistle?
But that was only a metaphor.
After leaving the Tao family’s house, Yan Tongshu and Yan Liangrong went to Ding Xin’s marital home.
Along the way, Yan Liangrong carefully explained the situation at Ding Xin’s in-laws’ house.
Ding Xin’s in-laws were surnamed Niu, and her husband was named Niu Baishi. His parents had hoped that he would enjoy a lifetime of ample food and clothing, so they had given him that name.
The Niu family was considered wealthy in the village. They owned four mu of fertile farmland, and after a year’s work, they lived considerably more comfortably than the average farming household. Ding Xin’s mother was ill and needed medicine year-round, which was why Ding Xin had chosen to marry Niu Baishi.
When the marriage was arranged, Ding Xin had only one condition: the Niu family had to cover all of her mother’s medical expenses.
Niu Baishi was short, fat, bad-tempered, and fond of drinking. He spent his days with a group of idle men from the village. He neither worked the family’s fields nor found himself an honest trade. Yet he was extremely particular when it came to choosing a wife. A woman who was too short, too fat, too ugly, flirtatious, or lacking in virtue was unacceptable to him.
Niu Baishi was choosy, while Ding Xin was beautiful and desperately needed a wealthy man to pay for her mother’s treatment. Once the matchmaker brought them together, the two hit it off immediately. They hurriedly married just three days after first meeting.
Everyone joked that a beautiful flower had been planted in a pile of cow dung.
At first, Niu Baishi treated Ding Xin with great affection. But he had a bad temper, and the gossip around them gradually stoked a vicious fire inside him. Before long, he often took out his anger on Ding Xin.
In particular, Niu Baishi’s friends were all good-for-nothing thugs. Envious that the Niu family had money, they were constantly scheming to wheedle it out of him. They were even more jealous when Niu Baishi married such a beautiful wife. Their teeth practically itched with resentment, and every day they whispered poison into his ear, fanning the flames and urging him to beat his wife. They wished they could drive the couple apart and marry Ding Xin themselves.
Yan Tongshu and Yan Liangrong had only just reached the gate of the Niu family’s courtyard when they heard the loud crashing of objects being smashed.
Amid the chaos came the shrill sound of filthy curses, mingled with a woman’s muffled sobs.
Yan Tongshu and Yan Liangrong hurried inside.
