C1

As dawn broke, the village was shrouded in the rising smoke from morning fires, a dance of light and shadow accompanied by the chorus of crowing chickens and barking dogs. It was the start of a new day.

A young boy, about fifteen or sixteen, burst out of his house in a rush to join his friends. But in his haste, he stumbled over a stone and pitched forward. It seemed inevitable that he would crash into the fence and be hurt. Bracing for impact, he shielded his head with his arms and gritted his teeth, ready for the pain. Yet, in a bizarre twist, his body passed right through the fence, unscathed. Stunned, his mind was suddenly flooded with an overwhelming torrent of information. It was so intense that he felt as if his head might burst. He let out a piercing scream, clutching his head and writhing on the ground until, at last, he passed out.

"Yimo, Yimo, what's wrong?" His parents, hearing their son's agonized cries, dashed out to find him lying there, unresponsive. Panic-stricken, they clumsily lifted him back into the house, calling his name over and over, but he remained still, his eyes shut tight, his face ashen.

"Yimo, please respond, don't frighten your mother," she pleaded, cradling her son and sobbing uncontrollably. The father, composed in crisis, quickly said, "Look after Mo for me; I'm going to fetch the doctor," before rushing off.

His mother continued her vigil, caressing her son with aching tenderness. Discovering that he was still breathing brought her a sliver of relief.

Yimo's mother, though in her thirties and clad in simple attire, could not conceal her innate grace and beauty. In another life, she might have been the belle of a grand household. Now, her hands bore the calluses of hard work, and streaks of gray laced her hair. To her, her son was her entire world.

Before long, the doctor arrived. He examined Yimo's eyelids and checked his pulse. After a brief pause, he offered a reassuring smile. "Brother Feng, there's no need to worry. Yimo has merely fainted. Let him rest, and by tomorrow, he should be back to himself."

His father's heart swelled with joy and relief, thankful his son was alright. Without delay, he handed the doctor a few silver coins and respectfully saw him out.

"Your father, why did Yimo suddenly faint?" his mother asked, still worried as she gently wiped her son's face with a towel.

"My dear, the doctor said it was just a fainting spell, nothing to fret over. After a good night's sleep, he'll be back to his energetic self tomorrow. At fifteen, he's in the prime of his youth!" His father had great faith in Doctor Du's words. Renowned in the neighboring villages, Doctor Du was the finest healer around, with no ailment he couldn't treat.

"You get on with your work. I'll look after Yimo!" Despite her husband's reassurance, his mother's heart ached for her son. She stayed by his bedside, longing to be the first person he saw upon awakening.

Understanding his wife's feelings, her husband picked up his hoe and set out to tend to the fields.

But what neither of them expected was that Feng Yimo would remain bedridden for half a month. He breathed yet did not awaken, and without the ability to eat, he grew frighteningly thin. His weight dropped from over seventy kilograms to just over fifty, his cheeks hollowed, causing his mother's heart to ache as if sliced by a knife, her tears unceasing.

Doctor Du visited several times, but the cause of the illness eluded him. He could only leave, shaking his head in dismay. Desperate to find a cure for Feng Yimo, his father carried his son to every doctor within fifty miles, but to no avail. With heavy hearts, they returned home.

Yimo's mother, filled with hope, was devastated to see her son still unconscious. She had cared for him tirelessly for days on end, and this was the outcome. Overwhelmed by grief, she embraced her son and wept aloud.

Their savings depleted, Yimo's father had borrowed five silver taels from the wealthy Lord Zhou of their village. With the repayment deadline looming, he planned to sell two acres of their finest farmland. This would settle their debt and leave them with five taels to get by, ensuring that, for now, they would not go hungry.

Before the break of dawn, an urgent knocking echoed from outside, followed by a gruff voice bellowing, "Feng Yuliang, it's time to settle the five taels of silver you owe our master. Today's the due date."

Yimo's father recognized the voice as Zhou Huai, the steward of the wealthy Zhou family. Behind closed doors, the villagers dubbed him "Scoundrel Zhou" for his habit of throwing his weight around, bullying the weak, and shirking from the strong, with a reputation for mischief.

Scrambling to his feet, Yimo's father quickly dressed and opened the courtyard door, only to have Zhou Huai and several burly men barge in. "Feng Yuliang, pay up now!"

Anger welled up in Yimo's father. The due date was only today, so why the rush to collect so early? Yet, not wanting to provoke further trouble, he hastily replied, "Butler Zhou, what brings you here in person? It's a mere five taels of silver. I'll sell a couple of acres of land shortly and deliver the money to your estate."

Zhou Huai's eyes bulged with indignation as he retorted, "Five taels? It's fifty taels! It's all there in black and white. You'd better look closely!" With that, he produced the IOU from his pocket and unfolded it for Yimo's father to see.

Bewildered, Yimo's father knew he had borrowed only five taels, so how had it turned into fifty? Upon inspecting the IOU, his blood boiled; someone had craftily appended a "ten" after the "five," turning five into fifty. The document had been drafted by the Zhou family's accountant, and he had merely signed it without noticing the suspiciously large gap between the characters for "five" and "taels."

"You're a bunch of scoundrels, strong-arming me! I'll take you to court!" Yimo's father fumed, shaking with rage.

Zhou Huai and his cronies burst into laughter. "Come now, Feng Yuliang, don't pretend you don't know the county magistrate is our master's kin. Even if he weren't, no other magistrate would rule in your favor. That's your signature on the IOU, isn't it? Your thumbprint? You could take this to the emperor himself and still lose! So, hand over your family's land deed, I'll give you back this IOU, and we'll call it even."

It was only then that Yimo's father realized the Zhou family had long coveted his prime farmland. Rage boiling within him, he snatched up a pole from beside the stone mill and swung it at Zhou Huai, shouting, "I'll kill you heartless scoundrels!"

Zhou Huai, in a fit of fury, delivered a powerful kick to Yimo's father's abdomen. A tall, muscular man accustomed to martial arts training, Zhou Huai had put all his might into the kick, sending the frail Yimo's father flying into the stone mill behind him. His head struck the hard edge of the millstone, and blood poured from the wound.

Zhou Huai recoiled, then quickly checked for signs of life. Finding none, panic set in. He was about to flee when a burly man grabbed him, whispering urgently, "Butler, if you run now, the body will be discovered, and the trail will lead back to you, and ultimately to our master. It's early morning; no one has witnessed this. Why not erase all traces of the crime?"

Stunned, Zhou Huai saw the logic in the man's words and asked, "How do we erase the evidence?"

"It's spring. Everything's dry and flammable. If their house were to suddenly catch fire, who could say it was connected to us?" the man suggested with a malicious grin.

"Smart thinking, lad. You've got potential!" Zhou Huai, pleased, clapped the man on the shoulder and commanded, "Quick, get the body to the woodpile and set it alight!"

Inside the house, Yimo's mother, who had been caring for her son, had just drifted off at daybreak and missed the commotion outside. She awoke to choking smoke and saw flames engulfing her surroundings. Her home was ablaze—an impossibility, as her husband neither cooked nor lit fires. It had to be arson.

Coughing violently, she tried to pull her son to safety, but the encroaching flames made escape impossible. Weak as she was, she couldn't drag her son, who weighed just over fifty kilograms. Time was running out, and they were facing certain death. With tears streaming down her face, she pulled a jade pendant from around her neck and pressed it into her son's hands. She kissed his forehead, whispering, "Son, if by some miracle you survive and hear your mother's words, make your way to Black Wood City in Chu Country. Seek out the Feng Family. With this pendant, they'll know who you are. My child, I can't be with you any longer. You must fend for yourself." With a final act of desperation, she pressed on the headboard, flipping the bedboard down and dropping her son into the hidden chamber below.

Flames devoured Yimo's mother in an instant, turning the entire room into an inferno. It was early morning, and by the time the neighbors arrived with buckets of water to douse the flames, it was too late. They could do nothing but watch helplessly as the house was reduced to rubble. Amidst the debris, two charred and unrecognizable bodies were found, but a third was nowhere to be seen. Everyone assumed it had been incinerated in the blaze. After all, the young Feng had been in a coma for over half a month, wasting away to almost nothing.