The Faith and Salt

Xiao Yan stood across the street, watching the heavy wooden doors. The grand mansion sat in total silence. He did not cross the road immediately.

His thumb rubbed the iron talisman at his waist. His eyes scanned the empty corners of the street.

No one was watching.

Memories of last night disturbed his mind. Xiao Yan checked his sleeves and adjusted his collar. He finally walked up the stone steps and knocked on the door.

A guard opened it slightly and looked at him.

"I am Xiao Yan," he said. "I am an old classmate of your master."

The guard looked at his official clothes. He nodded and opened the door wider. "The master is not home, but the madam is. Please come in," the guard said.

A servant led him inside.

They walked down a long stone path that cut right through a quiet courtyard.

Green bamboo grew neatly next to a small water pond. Passing a row of tall wooden pillars, they finally stepped into the main guest hall.

The room was bright and simple, arranged with heavy wooden chairs and small tea tables.

A woman walked in shortly after. Xiao Yan recognized her immediately.

She had a very beautiful face with large, bright eyes.

When she greeted him, her words flowed naturally, showing a quiet, easy grace without any forced effort. She looked proper and clean, with a simple jade bracelet on her right wrist.

She sat down in the main chair. A maid poured two cups of tea and placed a teapot on the table.

"Xiao Yan. It has been a long time," she smiled.

"Yes, madam," he replied. While sitting straight in his wooden chair.

“Since when did you start to call me madam instead of Yu'er?”

“Since you became someone's wife.”

“Other people!?” She pretended to be angry, “How dare you?”

“You see, that’s why I should always watch my mouth.”

“Yes, and you should always call him by his courtesy name.”

After saying this, they looked at each other and laughed.

"I have no idea where he has been all week," she said. "Look at the kind of life I live. I would be better off just like you." She took a small sip of her tea.

"No, I'm glad you have left the Lieren's life behind, don't miss it, never." Xiao Yan asked, "How's your child? Are they healthy?"

"Yes, thank the heavens," she complained. "Very troublesome, but kids are just being kids."

"I'm happy to hear that."

"So why didn't you write me!?" Yu'er hit his shoulder really hard.

"Hey!" Xiao Yan moaned, "I wanted to, it's work. How could I dare to forget you? We are the famous 'two monsters'."

"Slander!" she said. "Careful, or I will pull your tongue out."

"How are the days of being normal?"

"You know how it is. The official life. We are bored to death." She carefully glanced at Xiao Yan, noticing his clothes were quite clean and he had no new scars. "What about you?"

"You know, same old shit."

After he spoke, they both fell silent and drank their tea.

They kept chatting like this for a while, jumping from one random thing to another, asking about her mutated body, then talking about how her husband accepted this.

The conversation went back and forth naturally, and time passed very quickly.

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A maid had already changed the teapot three times. The madam finally stood up on her own.

"I still need to check on the children's homework. So...?"

"That is fine. I will sit right here."

"Alright then. Please excuse my bad manners."

After a while, cooking noises came from the kitchen. Someone purposely left the door open so the sounds could drift out.

A metal spatula clinked loudly against the wok, and a nice smell of hot food floated into the hall.

The servant walked in, looking very embarrassed.

She bowed to Xiao Yan and said, "The madam says she did not expect your visit today. The kitchen only prepared our normal family meal. I am afraid there is not enough food for guests..."

"That is fine. A few simple bites will do for me," Xiao Yan replied.

The servant froze for a second after hearing this. He then bowed again and quickly left.

A short time later, someone pulled the kitchen door shut.

Yu'er walked back into the room. "I am truly sorry for my poor hospitality."

"It is nothing."

“It’s not that I don’t miss you, Yan.” She said, “I do, I really do. We can meet some other time, privately...”

“What happened?”

She paused.

“Things are changing.”

Xiao Yan waited for her to continue.

"Again," she said. “Here is not the place to talk about this.”

"But I’m going to stay."

She looked surprised by this answer, but her voice was also hardened: "Don’t make it hard."

Xiao Yan took a slow sip of his tea and looked straight into her eyes. "I am going to stay."

Yu'er's smile grew stiff. Looking at her face, Xiao Yan could not help but feel a bit sad.

Meanwhile, he had prepared for the worst.

He could feel the iron talisman growing hot; the old friend before him was far from calm.

She took a deep breath and quickly fixed her expression.

"I see," she said. "Alright then, let us wait for the food to come."

Yu'er turned her head and walked away.

Xiao Yan heard the back door open and close.

Fast, hurried footsteps quickly followed.

Soon after, someone knocked heavily on the front wooden doors.

Instead of food, a servant loudly said, "The master has returned!"

The Huai'an governor gave an annoyed grunt near the entrance.

Xiao Yan stood up, not because he felt excited to see his old classmate, but because he felt highly alert.

He glanced up at the sky.

The sun was still high. It was way too early for government officials to finish their daily work.

At the end of the stone path, a group of men appeared. The governor walked at the front, wearing his dark official robes.

He looked slightly sweaty and out of breath. Several strong guards followed closely behind him.

His expression looked very strange.

He first looked at his wife standing by the inner hall door, and then looked at Xiao Yan.

"Long time no see, Xiao Yan."

"Hard to see you, Master Xu."

"Hey! It is annoying enough when other people call me that. And it sounds worse when you don’t call me Xu Lian."

"I thought you were out of town."

"I just got back. I came straight home as soon as I heard you were here."

A total lie.

Even though the governor acted smoothly and relaxed, he showed no intention of sitting down.

Searching for any strange bulges under the robes or in his movements, Xiao Yan stared closely at the man's loose sleeves and boots.

"I know why you are here. But I didn't expect you to be so stubborn."

"I do have a favor to ask you. Everyone has been hiding from me these past few days. I have no other choice."

Xu Lian's face stayed perfectly calm.

He changed the subject and said, "Must be important. Let me go put my things in the back room first. We can talk more in a minute."

At this moment, Xiao Yan still held onto a little hope.

During his quick visual check just now, he did not spot anything dangerous or strange.

Perhaps his old classmate had not completely rotted away; Perhaps he had not turned into a political animal yet.

When his old classmate came out of the room, his arm movements suddenly became very stiff.

Xiao Yan closed his eyes heavily, as if his body refused to accept the truth right in front of him.

He opened them again to watch closely.

Xu Lian had no real combat training, so his attempt to hide a weapon inside his wide sleeve looked incredibly clumsy.

A faint noise came from the roof tiles above the courtyard. It did not sound like squirrels at all.

Xiao Yan stepped out of the guest hall and looked around the yard, straining his ears to catch every sound.

The soldiers climbing up to hide were moving with great care.

They had wrapped their shoes in thick cloth strips to quiet their steps; they knew who they were dealing with.

An indescribable sense of loss struck Xiao Yan's heart.

It felt very similar to the moment he saw the map of the infected zone at Wei Yuan's house.

These repeated blows made him feel deeply tired.

For the first time in many years, he felt too exhausted to bear.

Xu Lian walked out of the room with his wife following behind.

She's combat-ready.

"Forget about the case," Xu Lian said. "It's why you're here, right?"

"What?"

"It's pointless. Leave the military, find someone, marry her. You are strong and pure; those big families will love you."

"Why?"

"Things are far too sensitive right now. I can't say too much. But I'm really helping you here."

“Why!?”

"Once this period passes, we can talk about anything. I promise."

"Why!!?" Xiao Yan pressed on, stepping right in front of Xu Lian's face.

Crossbows were aimed at him from the eaves.

While the former Lieren stood in front of her husband, blocking Xiao Yan from approaching.

"The whole empire is changing; aren’t you aware of that? " Yu'er hissed. "The emperor has his new toy now. He does not need Lierens anymore!"

Almost immediately, she seemed to realize her words were too sharp.

Xu Lian added. "Your Lord Mujangga is facing heavy attacks in Beijing. And if this political case goes down... please, don't make it hard for us."

"I do not care," Xiao Yan said. "I am investigating a case, and I am going to finish it."

"You do not care, but I do." Xu Lian replied. "You cannot force me to choose a side and risk everything."

"You have already chosen your side," Xiao Yan said.

Leaving those final words behind, he turned and walked out of the heavy gates.

Western missionaries are a bigger enemy than monsters. Mujangga's warning echoed in his ears once more.

David.

Xiao Yan’s expression turned fierce.

He tightened his fists.