Night had fallen.
With barking dogs in the distance, the group finally arrived at the entrance to the village.
From afar,
they saw Madam Wang Xiu, Xia Youmi's mother, waiting alone in front of the house.
Da Huang was the first to run over, tail wagging wildly.
"Big Aunt, sorry to keep you waiting!"
"Big Aunt, we're late!"
The two brothers greeted her in unison.
Xia Youmi, on the other hand, couldn't stop in time and threw herself straight into Wang Xiu's arms.
"A-niang!" she whined affectionately.
She even rubbed her cheek against her mother like a spoiled child. Wang Xiu embraced her gently, stroking her hair, heart finally at ease.
She glanced at her two nephews with tenderness in her eyes.
"You're home. That's all that matters."
"Come inside now. Your Uncle sent a letter."
—
Upon hearing this,
Wang Shaoyi and Wang Shaoyan hurried through the door, barely able to hide their urgency.
Although they were just cousins, their families were close and still lived within the same compound.
Inside the main hall, only three people sat in a circle.
The atmosphere was strangely somber.
The flickering candlelight revealed the face of an elderly man—Wang Yuanzhou, the rarely-seen current patriarch of the Wang clan.
The three younger ones instantly sobered up, unease creeping into their hearts.
When the clan patriarch showed up, it was never for something trivial.
And with the air this heavy, it certainly didn't feel like good news.
After a quick bow, there were no pleasantries exchanged.
Everyone gathered near the couch, waiting for the patriarch to speak.
Even the family members who had remained at home didn't know what announcement was coming.
Wang Yuanzhou slowly swept his gaze across everyone present.
There were:
— the two women, Madam Liu and Madam Li
— the two nephews who had just returned
— the married-out Wang Xiu and her daughter Xia Youmi
Everyone who could attend today had come—it was as complete as it could be.
He let out a sigh.
From within his robes, the patriarch pulled out a letter and a cloth bundle, his hands trembling slightly as he carefully unfolded them.
"Mm—!"
Second Aunt Li Shi tried to suppress a gasp, but her body was already shaking uncontrollably.
Xia Youmi turned her head and finally noticed that Madam Li's eyes were bloodshot.
At her side, Wang Shaoyan silently supported her, his expression unreadable, but his fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
The patriarch didn't open the cloth bundle first. Instead, he handed the letter to Wang Shaoyi, signaling him to read it.
At this point, the only person who could shoulder responsibility was this thirteen-year-old boy.
Wang Shaoyi received it with both hands and skimmed through it quickly.
Then, suddenly, he turned his head away, unable to bear it.
His bright eyes were soon clouded with tears, and instinctively, he buried his face in his mother Liu Shi's shoulder to hide them.
The sight was heartbreaking.
In truth, everyone present had likely already guessed the contents.
Xia Youmi tightened her hold on her mother Wang Xiu, offering support.
"It's… it's Second Brother, isn't it…"
Madam Li stared fixedly at that brown cloth bundle, as if trying to burn a hole through it. Her voice was faint, numb.
"This twin-fish embroidery… I sewed it with my own hands…"
Upon hearing this, Wang Shaoyan bowed his head even lower. His fists clenched again, digging into his palms without release.
"Second Aunt."
Wang Shaoyi finally lifted his head. His expression was solemn, and his voice hoarse.
He stepped forward and accepted the cloth bundle from the clan patriarch.
Raising it with both hands, he held it in front of Madam Li and Wang Shaoyan and spoke heavily:
"This was left behind by Second Uncle."
"I return it now to you."
"…"
Madam Li gave no reaction, as if she hadn't heard a word.
Wang Shaoyan could only reach out and slowly take it himself, lifting the bundle above his head and offering it to her—
But still, there was no response.
In the stifling silence, no one dared speak first.
Madam Li's eyes were blurry, like she had lost focus altogether. Her mind buzzed endlessly.
Madam Liu and Wang Xiu hurried to her side to support her.
All eyes remained on the bundle of cloth.
Waiting for judgment.
Madam Li gripped the corner with the twin-fish embroidery and gently unfolded it.
The contents—bold red characters—were exposed to all in the room.
Xia Youmi hadn't even had time to react,
when Madam Li completely lost strength, collapsing in the arms of the others.
Husband—
She couldn't even cry out. Her lips moved, and yet everyone present could sense what she was trying to say.
She was calling out for her husband.
The second Wang son had died in battle. His body was never recovered.
—
No one in the Wang household slept that night.
Madam Li was placed in bed. She was dazed and unresponsive, but clung tightly to one corner of the cloth strip, refusing to let go.
Brother Shaoyan stayed by her bedside, wordless.
He held the other end of the cloth, rubbing his fingers over the red ink again and again—
As if trying to burn a hole through it. Or perhaps, to erase it.
In another room,
Madam Liu was holding the letter written by the eldest uncle, pointing to each word as she had Shaoyi read it aloud to her.
Wang Xiu, one hand wiping away tears, the other pressed to her chest, was still helping take care of Madam Li.
In such chaos and heartbreak,
no one had the clarity to discuss what the letter had instructed them to do.
Xia Youmi had no choice but to step up quietly. She gave a few instructions to her two older cousins,
then went to help the clan patriarch Wang Yuanzhou back to his home.
Under the moonlight, the shadows of an old man and a young girl stretched long into the distance.
They were both part of the story—
and yet also somehow on the outside of it.
A sense of helplessness lingered.
After seeing the patriarch off, she returned to her uncle's house and helped her mother back home.
By then, it was already choushi (1–3 a.m.).
She looked out the window—
the bright moon hung overhead, silver and full.
In just two days, it would be Mid-Autumn Festival, a time of reunion.
Xia Youmi took a long breath, closed her eyes, and spoke silently to the system in her mind:
"Niannian, show me that letter again."
Though she had looked through it earlier with her mother, it felt like none of it had truly sunk in.
She had been swallowed by the despair of the atmosphere—her thoughts jumbled and unclear.
"Okay, Youmi,"
The system projected the letter clearly in her mind.
It wasn't long, and could be summarized simply:
— Second Uncle died in battle
— First Uncle was injured
— He had received a new assignment and would return home soon
— A noble had rewarded them with a shop
— The household should be prepared to move to Chang'an
Xia Youmi yawned, rubbed her brow,
but felt like every sentence of that letter was full of inconsistencies.
Combined with what she'd heard earlier from the young soldier who delivered the letter—
A rough truth was beginning to form.
On the borderlands of Datang,
enemy incursions were frequent, but their intentions often unclear.
When the army went to confront them, the enemies would sometimes just retreat after teasing them.
Then, one day, a young noble officer encountered a strange provocation by the enemy.
He lost his temper and fell into the trap.
He ordered 200 cavalry to pursue what appeared to be a scattered, mocking enemy force, vowing to capture them to save face.
But—
That ambush had been meticulously planned, meant solely to kill him.
Through political and internal infighting, the young officer had been set up.
The "enemy" had only appeared to provoke him—
then gave him a perfect chance to chase after them, making it seem like an easy win.
But once he reached a certain area—
a place often surveyed but lacking defenses—
The real enemy forces swarmed in.
Everyone inside was slaughtered.
No reinforcements came from the main camp—they were delayed or withheld.
Swords clashed. Arms were severed. Blood soaked the earth.
It became a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood—but still, they fought bravely.
All this effort from the enemy—
Just to kill that one officer.
Such determination revealed just how valuable a target he had been.
Fate had been sealed.