Chapter Twenty-Three: The Knock at the Door

It was five in the afternoon when we returned to the cabin. The sun had already dipped below the horizon, and with winter approaching, the temperature plummeted rapidly after dusk. I could feel goosebumps rising on my skin.

"Master Chen, the weather is turning cold," I said softly.

Master Chen gave a grunt of acknowledgment. After exhaling a cloud of smoke, he said calmly, "If nothing goes wrong, in about ten days... the heavy snow should arrive."

"So soon?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. What worries me most now isn't the harsh winter, but..." He left the rest of the sentence hanging, but I knew he was worried about the unknown person who had removed the evil god's shrine.

"Forget it! I'm going to check the traps for food again. Sanqi, you head back first!"

With that, Master Chen shouldered his hunting rifle and vanished into the woods again. I walked toward the cabin, deep in thought.

However, just as I reached the door, I stopped in my tracks. Instinctively, I glanced at the ground to the right of the entrance.

Footprints.

There, right at our doorstep, was a wolf's print—and it was noticeably larger than that of an ordinary wolf. It didn't take me long to realize that it must have been that massive wolf, the one the size of a calf, from the other night. It had been lingering right outside our cabin during the day.

I inspected the door and saw no signs of forced entry. The wolf had been here, but it hadn't gone inside.

I slowly opened the door, stepped in, and immediately braced it shut with a wooden pole. I grabbed a ladle, dipped it into the wine vat, and gulped down a large mouthful. "That wolf is becoming a demon, coming to a human dwelling in broad daylight..." I muttered to myself.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

*Knock, knock, knock!*

"Damn it! Sanqi, what are you doing? Why did you lock the door?" Master Chen’s impatient voice drifted in from outside.

I stumbled over and opened the door, only to find Master Chen carrying two pheasants, a hare, and a roe deer. Seeing my drunken state, he frowned. "Sanqi, are you alright? Why are you drinking so much?"

I was naive at the time, thinking that wine would give me courage. I let out a drunken hiccup, pulled Master Chen over, and pointed to the wolf print. "Master Chen, look... that wolf... it came here during the day!"

Master Chen’s initial look of confusion instantly turned to shock.

"Master Chen, what is going on? Back at the hunting grounds, so many hunters told me that, normally, wolves are quite afraid of people!" I slurred.

"Sanqi, do you think this situation is normal?" Master Chen shot me a glare.

He immediately found a thick wooden pole from outside to brace the door from the inside, then began boiling water and dressing the pheasants. Sitting on the bed, watching his fluid, expert movements, I whispered, "Master Chen, now that we’re finally getting some game, does that mean the evil god’s curse has weakened since its shrine was removed?"

"You could say that. But Sanqi, the evil god's curse might just have been meant to make it impossible for us to survive in these old woods, or to drive us toward ferocious beasts. We can avoid those things through our own skills. But you must understand, people are different."

Hearing him start his lectures again, I nodded vigorously. "Master Chen, I know! You’ve said the same thing eight hundred times."

"Hmph! What good is hearing it a thousand times if you don't take it to heart?" he scolded. "Sanqi, you must remember what I tell you! You say you know, but tell me, why did you accept that potion from that woman today?"

I was stunned. "I looked at her, and she didn't seem like a bad person!"

Master Chen sneered. He dropped the prepared pheasant into the pot, along with a handful of herbs, mushrooms, and some ginseng he had gathered. He sat on the bed and looked at me sternly. "You looked at her? Tell me, how exactly did you determine she wasn't a bad person? Did you judge her by her chest, or by how she’d look in bed?"

"Her appearance..."

Before I could finish, Master Chen picked up a walnut and hurled it at my forehead.

*Thud.*

I was already lightheaded from the wine, and the blow made my head spin, sending the world into a blur. But his serious, angry voice rang out clearly.

"Judging whether a creature has malicious intent based on its appearance? Is that what I’ve been teaching you for the past three years? Sanqi, there are plenty of animals that look harmless—honey badgers, platypuses, lorises... which of them look poisonous? But if their toxins ever reached you, you’d be dead before you even knew how it happened!"

It took me a while to recover. I turned my head and saw Dahan, my eagle, flapping its wings at Master Chen and letting out a sharp cry, clearly unhappy with his actions. I, however, felt nothing.

Three years in the hunting grounds had taught me that getting hit with a walnut was the lightest of punishments. I stroked Dahan’s feathers and apologized to Master Chen. "I understand, Master Chen. I was wrong."

"Hmph! Aside from training the eagle well, you’re still like a child! Remember my words: never, ever judge a person or a beast by their appearance, especially as a hunter deep in these mountains. A single moment of carelessness... could cost you your life!"

"I’ve noted it down!"

I didn't argue. I sat on the bed and waited for two hours until the pheasant and wild vegetable soup was ready. The room was filled with a fresh, savory aroma that made me sigh with relief. "It smells so good!"

"Then eat up." Master Chen served me two chicken legs.

I grinned.

"Stop smiling and eat!" he said, then went back to smoking his pipe, staring out at the woods, lost in thought.

Suddenly, just then, there was another knock at the door.

This knock left both of us frozen in place.

Because... the rhythm of the knocking was stiff and eerie—four distinct taps.

*Knock... knock... knock... knock.*

In our trade, there is a strict rule regarding knocking: "Three for the living, four for the dead."