"Uh…" The gray-haired Blood Clan man’s gaze skittered like a roach, guilt flickering like a damp lamp.

Tangxue stared, frost in her eyes; truth from him felt like smoke slipping through fingers.

"Qianyue, what do you think?" Tangxue turned, her movement soft as a willow in wind.

"I…" The word trembled like a dew drop on a leaf.

"Forget it, I’ll put it differently." Tangxue sighed, air moving like wind through bamboo.

"Do you… want to save him?" Her words laid down like a strip of silk.

"Yes." Qianyue answered on instinct, the syllable popping like a seed in warm soil.

"I see…" Her tone thinned like clouds at noon.

"I think I know what you were about to say, but I don’t care. My little sister wants to help you, so I won’t sit idle. Tell me, what do you want?" Tangxue’s gaze held steady like a lantern in rain.

"Money? Food? Or… wait, that’s all I’ve got. As for dresses, they won’t fit you anyway." Tangxue’s mouth curled like a silver crescent.

Joke aside, if a sleazy uncle really put on a little girl’s dress before her, she’d gag like a sick cat over a gutter.

The gray-haired man lay face-down, slow to catch up, shock spreading across his face like spilled ink. "Milady, why would you…"

"I said it: my sister wants to save you. That’s all." Tangxue spoke lightly, voice smooth as rain on slate.

When he snapped back, frenzy took him like fire catching dry grass. "I want money!"

"…"

Tangxue handed him ten gold coins, her face blank as a shuttered window; the coins gleamed like small suns in dusty palms.

"This… milady, it’s not enough!" His expression tangled like brambles as he glanced at them.

"Not enough?" Tangxue’s eyes narrowed, annoyance rising like heat from stone. "Are you saying ten gold won’t feed you?"

"As far as I know, ten gold buys an ordinary person a month of meals in the City of Woe." Her words stacked like lanterns in a row.

"I know, but… but…!" His voice stumbled like loose stones on a slope.

"I know what you’re trying to say. I’m saving a life, not making you rich. Why should I give you more?" Tangxue’s gaze cooled like moonlight on water.

His face went stiff like frozen clay. He lowered his head and muttered thanks, the sound brittle as ice: "I understand. Thank you, milady…"

He reached out trembling hands, fingers fluttering like moths, and took the coins.

"Big Sister…" Qianyue’s small hand caught Tangxue’s skirt, her head shaking hard like a rattled gourd.

"Be good, Qianyue—we should go." Tangxue ruffled her white hair, warmth like a hearth in winter. "We still have a road to make; we need to leave here first."

"I hope we never meet again." Before leaving, Tangxue sent him a look, a blade hidden under silk.

He noticed and smiled awkwardly, thin as damp paper.

After they left, he glared at their backs, eyes like hooked claws, then slipped after them like a shadow at dusk.

…

Leaving the little trash yard—dead earth choked with tins and rags—they slid back onto the street, the city flowing like a river. As Qianyue had said, they’d cut across most of the path, like a stitch pulled straight through cloth.

Whoever designed these roads twisted them like a coiled snake. A place you could reach by walking straight, yet they force a detour around half the city.

Their heads must be warped like old boards.

"Qianyue… what were you about to say?" Tangxue asked, her voice drifting like mist to the girl walking ahead.

"Big Sister… weren’t you trying to help him? I think if you’re helping him, you shouldn’t give him coins." Qianyue spoke while walking, head lowered like a bowed flower.

"Why not? I don’t get it either." Tangxue played dumb, tone light as a feather riding air.

"If he has coins for living, he won’t go hungry, right? He can find a place to stay. That’s helping him too." Her words laid out like neat stepping stones.

"But… those coins, he might not get to use them." Qianyue turned suddenly, eyes clear as a brook under stone.

"…"

"Big Sister, there’s a beggar boss in this area." Her certainty burned like a torch. "The man we met is his underling." The claim stood like a post in mud. "I don’t know his name, but I know the coins you gave will end up in that boss’s hands."

"…"

"So that’s what you wanted to tell me?"

"Mm! So, if you want to help that uncle, you should—"

"Hold it. I don’t like trouble, Qianyue." Tangxue’s tone snapped like a fan closing. "I wasn’t trying to really help him. Honestly, I’ve met plenty like that. Their endings… I can guess, like leaves blown to the same ditch."

"Forget it… Say too much and you won’t get it." Tangxue stepped forward, hands on Qianyue’s shoulders like guiding a fledgling, and turned her around.

"Big Sister…" Qianyue resisted for show, a twitch like a leaf in wind, then let it go.

Tangxue studied her, a spark lighting her eyes like sunrise. "Qianyue, you can fly, right? How about…"

"But Big Sister, didn’t you say no—" Her voice wavered like a bird on a wire.

"Oh right, I forgot there’s a no-flying order here." The excuse dropped like a wooden sign.

"That wasn’t the reason you gave earlier…"

"It is the reason! Don’t overthink it, Qianyue. Let’s move. Honestly, I don’t want to see that man again." Disgust flashed in Tangxue’s eyes like a knife’s cold glint, as if a foul memory stirred.

"Oh…" Her voice wilted like a petal in heat.

Seeing Tangxue’s displeasure, Qianyue held her tongue, fear fluttering like sparrows, and hurried on.

The road ahead turned normal, straight as a drawn bow. They followed the City of Woe’s avenue into the next district, the crowd streaming past them like sand in wind. No one blocked them. Qianyue had bathed and changed; she looked like a little princess, bright as fresh snow. She and Tangxue moved like close sisters, so near they walked shoulder to shoulder, and no one linked her to the beggars by the roadside, dull as river stones.

Perhaps the hooded gray coat she used to wear had shielded her for years, bark guarding a sapling, letting her live among beggars unharried.

Three hours slipped by like sand through glass, and they reached the next district of the City of Woe.

Dark Abyss Zone.

Their destination lay not far now, yet the Dark Abyss Zone was a thornier maze than the gate wards, and order here was thin as old cloth.

Qianyue had always disliked this place; people were cruel, dogs off broken chains—beggars and soldiers alike.

She wasn’t familiar with its snarl of alleys, so they chose the main road, drifting through the Dark Abyss Zone like rafts on a black river.

But first, they needed to fill their bellies, hunger nibbling like mice in the walls.

"Qianyue, what do you want to eat?" Tangxue asked, turning to her, voice soft as steam from a pot.

"I’ll eat whatever Big Sister eats." Qianyue answered obediently, words neat as folded paper.

"…"

That kind of vague answer floated like smoke—outrageous in its slipperiness.

Smooth. Way too smooth, like polished jade.

Tangxue was left speechless, her tongue knotting like a ribbon.

Fine, if that’s how you play it, I’ll play along, she thought, her mind turning like a windmill. I wonder if Blood Clan restaurants here dare to serve garlic.