Chapter 1: Rebirth After Calamity

  Just past the new moon, a thin crescent moon hung suspended in the dark night sky, with only the faint North Star visible and all other stars invisible.

  The earth was as if dyed with ink, and only at the entrance of the villa, two torches made of reeds and sorghum stalks cast a patch of orange light. Two peasant soldiers could be vaguely seen standing in the shadows beside the gate, occasionally stomping their feet due to the cold, their shadows flickering like ghosts.

  However, just in the darkness, at this moment, a nimble figure was approaching the courtyard wall with an extremely fast speed. The person flashed to the side of the door and slightly poked his head out, glancing at the guarding soldier, and then his upper body appeared for a moment on the outermost edge of the torchlight.

  This is a young man in his early twenties, with a face as white as jade, eyes like bright stars, a straight nose bridge, and slightly thick lips. A faint short mustache has just appeared on his upper lip. He wears a brown scarf on his head, with a small bamboo crown on top of the scarf, wearing a plain black-edged long gown, with the hem tucked into the waist belt, and the originally wide sleeves are rolled up layer by layer, revealing two snow-white small arms, one hand is empty, and the other hand tightly grasps an iron sword over four feet long.

  Far away, the two native soldiers' eyes were dazed, as if they might nod off to sleep at any moment. The young man knew that opportunity was not to be missed, so he drew back his head and made a gentle gesture with an empty hand towards the dark place behind him.

  In the dark of night, all sounds ceased, except for the occasional "crackling" sound from the bonfire. Inside and outside the courtyard, everything was silent. The young man beckoned with his hand, then leaned against the wall, waiting for a while, but didn't see his companion follow. He beckoned again, impatiently, yet... there was still no response.

  The young man had no choice but to bow his head, treading carefully and quietly leaving the courtyard wall, and jumping silently to a large locust tree about three zhangs away. The moonlight flashed for an instant, and then dimmed again. In that brief moment of brightness, two figures, one tall and one short, appeared vaguely behind the tree.

  "I beckoned you, why won't you come over?!" The young man's deliberately lowered voice revealed a thick anger.

  "Little master," said the tall man with a bitter smile, "you're so far away and it's so dark, even if you wave your hand, how can we see?"

  "What about you, Ah Fei? Aren't you known for having eyes like torches, able to see a mountain sparrow's tail feathers clearly from ten zhang away?"

  The short man also immediately shouted: "That's in broad daylight, young master! I eat like a pig every day, so I must have night blindness!"

  "What is night blindness?"

  "He's blind at night, can't see a thing," the tall one helped to explain, then changed his tone, "Young Master, are you really going to sneak out tonight? Ah Fei is blind at night, his archery skills are useless, inside and outside the manor there are no less than 500 county soldiers, just the two of us..."

  "When your parents are in trouble, can you not rescue them?" The young man gritted his teeth and said, "Then come with me, Ah Fei will meet us here."

  Two companions soon disappeared into the darkness, and the one they called "Ah Fei" was also a young man. He was about the same height as the boy who wore a headband earlier, but his face looked much younger, with no mustache, a messy haircut, wearing a coarse hemp short shirt, tattered pants, and a pair of straw sandals. He had a large cloth bag slung over his left shoulder, a quiver of arrows at his waist, holding a bow in his left hand, and supporting himself against the pagoda tree with his right hand, cautiously peeking out from behind the tree - but still couldn't see anything except for the faint light around the entrance of the manor.

  "I'm going to curse their ancestors for eight generations!" Ah Fei silently cursed, "Every day it's just coarse rice and pickled vegetables, not even enough to fill my belly, but you want me to follow you on this wild adventure in the middle of the night... You're courting death, that's your business, why drag me into it?! I'm your sidekick, not your bodyguard!"

  He couldn't help but raise his right hand to touch the bundle on his shoulder, and suddenly a very irresponsible thought flashed through his mind: "Why don't I just slip away... still waiting for this dark and gloomy place, what can I see? This package should have money in it... But what if this family doesn't die out, where can an escaped slave like me run to?"

  In his mind, a fierce battle was raging between heaven and man. Suddenly, the sound of a loud gong echoed through the mansion, followed by an intense brightness that illuminated even Ah Fei's face as he hid behind a tree. He was startled and almost fell to the ground - "I'm done for, I've been discovered!"

  Suddenly another thought flashed through his mind: "No, how did these lights all turn on at the same time? There's an ambush, it must be an ambush!" As soon as he thought of this, he turned around and took off in a frantic sprint.

  But before he could take a step, he suddenly heard the heavy footsteps behind him, and then his arm was tightly grasped by an iron-like big hand. Ah Fei was so scared that his soul flew out of his body, and he blurted out: "Don't catch me, I'm just passing by to make soy sauce..." Before he could finish speaking, he heard the person who caught him drink a "go" word, and at the same time, a strong force came from his arm, pulling himself into the darkness.

  That familiar "go" word was clearly from his companion's mouth, and Ah Fei finally managed to calm down. At this point, he didn't care if it was pitch black in front of him, or if the ground beneath his feet was mud, stones, thorns, or tree roots. Stumbling and staggering, relying on his companion's strength, he opened his legs and sprinted forward with all his might. The sound of gongs and shouts rose up behind him, but soon gradually faded away until it was silent.

  It seemed that in the instant when the sound fell silent, the companion who was holding his arm suddenly stumbled, and then rushed forward like a vicious dog, face down to the ground, with a "thud" and never moved again. Ah Fei was also pulled by him into a somersault, rubbing his face and hands full of wounds, even the bow he held in his hand flew out, don't know where it was thrown.

  He rolled around on the ground for a while before finally breaking free from his companion's grasp, panting heavily as he got to his feet. He went to push his companion again, but felt a warm and wet sensation in his hand at the same time, and it seemed like his nose caught a whiff of something fishy - "Damn, this is blood... whose blood is it?"

  He patted his companion several times, with increasing force, until the companion finally let out a soft "hmm". Ah Fei breathed a sigh of relief, his limbs went limp, and he finally sat down on the ground with a thud.

  "Ah, Ah Fei......" His companion's voice was extremely weak, "Are you okay......"

  "Is, is, is, I've fallen into an ambush?" Ah Fei's upper and lower teeth chattered continuously, "I'm fine, a little, a little..."

  "There's an ambush... Young Master, he... has been taken with the master... Alas~~~" The companion let out a long sigh, then suddenly flipped over and grabbed Ah Fei's arm again, "For now, we can only go to Beihai to find Big Brother and avenge Master and his son... Do you know the way? From Suicheng seaside, find a boat to go..."

  The voice grew fainter and fainter, finally falling silent, and the hand that had been gripping A Fei's also slowly relaxed, slowly falling to the ground. A Fei sat on the ground, his eyes in front of him a complete blackness, panting heavily, not daring to move at all. He didn't know how long it took, but he finally plucked up the courage, stretched out both hands, and felt around until he found his companion's face, placing his palm against the other person's nose - there was no breath. Then along the mouth and nose, chin, and neck, he pressed two fingers to check for a while...

  "Is he dead? That son of a bitch is really dead... Now I'm left all alone again, just me..."

  He slowly bent his knees and knelt in front of his companion's corpse, then suddenly leaned forward, hitting the ground with a "thud". He then slowly drew back his arms, hugging the back of his head. Wanting to let out a loud cry, but not daring to, who knows how far away those pursuing soldiers are? He just kept muttering: "Damn heaven, you're still playing tricks on me, what am I supposed to do now... Where can I go... Go to Beihai? Thousands of miles away, and have to cross the sea to get to Beihai? Can anyone survive crossing the sea in this era... But it seems like they came from across the sea back then..."

  "The North Sea!" Suddenly, a bold idea flashed through his mind. He straightened up abruptly, reached out and took off the bundle on his back - "Damn it, give me some light!" While muttering to himself like this, he opened the bundle and rummaged through it with his hands.

  "Hmm, these are the replacement clothes, this is... I wiped it and indeed there's a seal... This hard and cold thing, could it be money? Ah, this must be that letter... Let me see what's written on it."

  In the distance, it seemed that there was another sound of gongs coming, and I didn't know if it was real or my own illusion. Ah Fei dared not stay for long, hurriedly re-tied his bundle, put it on his back, then crawled a few steps on the ground, feeling around to pick up his bow, straightened his waist, and in the dark, opened his eyes wide, slightly recognizing the direction of the North Star, and walked in the opposite direction, with deep and shallow footsteps, stumbling and staggering into the distance.

  He set out at midnight and didn't hear the rushing water sound until dawn. "It must be Lie Shui... also known as Da Tong River, theoretically, the pursuers should not be able to find us." As soon as he relaxed, he felt his bones go soft and his muscles numb, unable to move a single step, and a burning pain on his face and hands.

  He leaned against a big tree and sat down, took off the package on his back, and pulled out that life-and-death letter - two pieces of wood. With the dim morning light, A Fei untied the rope binding the wooden tablets, unfolded them, and carefully read in a low voice:

  "Respectfully to elder brother: Since I followed Wu Fuqian on an eastern tour and bid farewell to our hometown, suddenly seventeen years have passed..."

  The letter was not long, less than two hundred words, and Ah Fei quickly finished reading it. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief: "Good, good, everything that needed to be said has been said, and apart from this letter, there's nothing else." He involuntarily lifted his head, gazing at the bright red sunrise peeking through the gaps in the distant mountains: "You scoundrel Heaven, you've finally given me an opportunity, although the future is uncertain..."

  He didn't know where the strength came from, he suddenly jumped up, shook open his bundle, turned out all the clothes inside, then took off his hemp shirt, put on a silk undershirt, threw away his grass shoes, put on cloud-patterned boots, and finally casually tied up his scattered hair on top of his head, put on a small crown, inserted the hairpin, and clapped his chest with both hands, laughing loudly.

  "Haha, from today on, I'm no longer a barbarian of the Eastern Yi, no longer a household slave of a wealthy family, no longer a mere commoner. He's now a scholar-official, a member of the ruling class! Although it's a relatively lower-ranking one... Ah, cough, cough..."