Pi County

When Bai Lingmiao brought the two bowls of rice over, Li Huowang saw that the two hired harvesters’ hands were shaking with excitement. They kept bowing in thanks to Bai Lingmiao, saying something over and over.

Compared to Li Huowang’s group, who still needed wild vegetable soup to cut through the grease, the two harvesters had no such concerns. With an expression close to reverence, they held the bowls with both hands, eating the preserved-meat rice one bite at a time.

The rice in the bowls was soon finished, but both men picked out the pieces of preserved meat and carefully wrapped them in cloth, apparently planning to save the meat for later.

The old harvester walked over to the stream by the field, washed the two bowls spotless, then revealed a mouth missing several teeth and smiled as he handed the bowls back to Li Huowang.

The old harvester seemed to want to say something, but his mouth was too clumsy to get the words out. Eventually, it was Li Huowang who spoke first.

“Old uncle, the Great Liang has so much land and such good harvests. At your age, you still have to come out and work the fields?”

“Th-that’s all the landlord’s land. No matter how good the harvest is, it’s got nothing to do with us. I can’t eat a single grain of it.”

After the old harvester finished speaking, it was as if he had broken the barrier between them. He smiled at Li Huowang again.

“Daoist master, thank you for the food. It’s really oily. One meal is worth three.”

“Don’t mention it. Just one meal. Old uncle, have you been driving the wheat harvest around here? Have you been to Pi County?” Li Huowang finally revealed his purpose.

“How could I not have been? Plenty of times! Hey—I’ve driven all the grain fields around Pi County over the years!”

Now that he was talking about a familiar topic, the old harvester’s confidence returned in an instant. His two hands, covered in calluses, waved through the air as he spoke.

“I’m telling you, cutting wheat is a real skill. Those young greenhorns don’t know the tricks. They can’t out-cut me! Take how you grip the sickle handle, for example. Too high won’t work, too low won’t work. It has to be—just right.”

Li Huowang looked up and interrupted him. “Old uncle, have you been to Pi County recently?”

“I have! I just came from there. I came back to pick up my nephew. Otherwise, I would have cut all the grain in Pi County by myself! You see, cutting wheat is all about technique—”

“You’ve really been there? Did you notice anything… different about the people there?”

Li Huowang wasn’t worried about whether there was a problem there now. What he feared was that the problem wasn’t big enough.

If the problem wasn’t big enough to attract the Supervisory Heavenly Office, then he would have made this trip for nothing.

And he needed to clarify the timing, too. If the Supervisory Heavenly Office had already come and gone, then he would also have wasted his journey.

When he saw that Li Huowang’s expression had turned serious, the old harvester grew nervous. He scratched the back of his head and spoke hesitantly. “The people there… aren’t any different. They paid on time, and the food wasn’t bad. But… they all like to stay indoors. They don’t come out much. They leave the money and meals outside the door for us to take ourselves.”

Nervous, bad complexion, and liking to stay indoors? Li Huowang silently analyzed these three strange pieces of information.

In any case, it seemed the Supervisory Heavenly Office hadn’t come to solve the problem yet.

Thinking back to everything he had encountered before, Li Huowang added another question. “Anything else? Have their appearances changed compared to ordinary folks?”

“No change. How different can one person be from another? Still, one nose with two nostrils.”

Li Huowang knew, of course, that all people looked the same. But right now, he suspected that the people living in Pi County might not be human.

“No matter what’s going on there,” he thought to himself, “I hope the problem is as big as possible.”

Seeing that he wasn’t responding, the old harvester thought for a moment, then turned and walked toward his nephew.

But just as he was halfway there, he turned back. “Oh, right. There’s one more thing. In Pi County… they beat their kids real hard. Real hard.”

“When I was just getting my pay, I passed by a window, and the child inside was crying so hard—tsk tsk tsk. It was unbearable to listen to.”

Li Huowang rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Is it really just beating a child? Or… are they using children for something else?”

His mind couldn’t help but drift back to the river bandits using virgin boys and girls to summon the Lord of the River. In this utterly insane world, Li Huowang always prepared for the worst.

And after hearing the man’s words, a new layer of worry settled in his chest.

He wanted the problem in Pi County to be big enough to attract the Supervisory Heavenly Office. But at the same time, he didn’t want it to be so big that it put them in danger.

By the time Li Huowang came back to himself, the old harvester had already left. The sky had turned dark.

Li Huowang shook his head, stood up, and walked to the stream by the field to wash up. “The more I think about it, the more confused I get. Forget it. I’ll see the actual situation when I get there and decide then.”

The two harvesters parted ways with them the next day. After all, the wheat in Pi County had already been cut, and it wasn’t on their route. They had to go catch the harvest elsewhere.

As the days passed, they met a few other travelers on the road. Li Huowang would always find a way to probe them for information about Pi County.

Unfortunately, these people either knew nothing or said that Pi County was suffering from a plague and advised Li Huowang not to go. He didn’t get any useful information.

The only consolation on the road was that they hadn’t run into any horse bandits or robbers. He wasn’t sure if it was because the Great Liang had been suppressing bandits so diligently.

Finally, with a somewhat uneasy heart, Li Huowang and his group arrived at Pi County.

“So this is Pi County?” Li Huowang stood on a hillside and used his newly healed eye to look down at the square-shaped county town below.

It was an overcast day, the sky a dreary gray. Against this backdrop, the entire county looked especially grim.

Looking at the shape of the town, Li Huowang finally understood why it was called Pi County.

Because the general outline of the county town was shaped like the character “pi,” so it was called Pi County.

“This place doesn’t look peaceful. Stay sharp.” After saying this to the others, Li Huowang lifted his foot and walked toward the so-called Pi County.

The moment he entered the county, Li Huowang could clearly sense that something was wrong. Compared to the last county town they had passed through, there were far too few people here.

The streets were empty and desolate. Occasionally, someone would pass by, but they were always in a hurry.

Li Huowang felt many pairs of eyes watching him. All of these gazes came from behind windows. He looked around and could already imagine quite a few people, crouching with their butts in the air, sneaking peeks at these outsiders.

Just then, a woman in a hempen skirt with her hair wrapped in a bun, holding a child, walked toward them with a haggard expression.

As soon as she got close, she was clearly startled by Li Huowang’s group. Biting her lower lip and clutching her crying child tightly, she hurried along the eaves of the street to pass by.

When the woman was closest to him, Li Huowang closed his eyes slightly and sniffed the air for no apparent reason.

“Woof…” Mantou, its red tongue hanging out, sat on the ground and pawed at Li Huowang’s hem with its white front paws.

Li Huowang patted the dog’s head.

“You smelled it too, huh? That’s right. She has the smell of blood on her. And the smell of rust.”