Song Ciwan silently cast the Strange Technique: Measurement System, taking the measure of both Lady Zhen and the Mouse Demon.

The Mouse Demon had roughly seventy to eighty years of Cultivation, still a ways off from the Spirit Communication Realm. Lady Zhen was an ordinary mortal, but she was in good health and seemed perfectly fine.

She took Lady Zhen’s hand, her own covered by her sleeve, and activated her Escape Technique. Instantly, they darted through the deep shadows of the Xu Mansion and vanished like the wind.

The Mouse Demon trailed behind, able to keep up on its own.

As for the relationship between the Mouse Demon and Lady Zhen, Song Ciwan didn’t know the full story and had no intention of judging. Her only responsibility was to help Aunt Zhou find her daughter. Beyond that, she would respect their choices and wish them well.

The Xu Mansion was unnaturally quiet. As Song Ciwan led Lady Zhen through its perimeter walls, she felt the faint resistance of the House Protection Array.

This time, Song Ciwan didn’t bother with a detour. With a flick of her finger, the Blazing Flame Technique and her Heart Sutra Fire shot out simultaneously. The two flames combined, their power multiplying severalfold. With a soft POP, like a burst of air, the resistance before them weakened for an instant.

Song Ciwan led Lady Zhen out of the Xu Mansion, and they quickly wound through the streets and alleys toward where Aunt Zhou was waiting.

In an empty house on the corner, Aunt Zhou was pacing by the door, her back bowed with worry. As Song Ciwan landed with Lady Zhen, the older woman seemed to sense something and suddenly turned her head.

There, amidst the hazy interplay of light and shadow, two figures gradually took form.

One of them was her daughter, Lady Zhen, whom she had longed for day and night!

Aunt Zhou opened her mouth, wanting to cry out in joy, but the sound caught in her throat.

Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. She was overcome with emotion as two streams of hot tears rolled down her cheeks.

It wasn’t until Lady Zhen called out, apprehensive and faint, "Mother..."

...that Aunt Zhou finally burst into tears. "You—you foolish child! I’ve been through hell and back looking for you!"

After her first sob, she turned to thank Song Ciwan, but the area in front of the house was empty. There was no trace of her. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

In truth, Song Ciwan hadn’t gone far. She was still wearing the face of the Xu Mansion servant, Yu Shu, and didn’t want to reveal her true appearance in front of Aunt Zhou and Lady Zhen. Nor did she feel like explaining her Transformation Technique. So, she had simply used the emotional reunion as a chance to activate her Escape Technique and vanish from their sight.

Song Ciwan came to a stop behind a wall several buildings away.

The Heaven and Earth Scale materialized. The mother-daughter reunion had just provided Song Ciwan with another mass of human desires from Aunt Zhou.

[Human Desires: Love, Worry, Joy. Five catties and three taels. Ready for trade.]

Anything weighing over five catties often yielded a pleasant surprise when traded.

Song Ciwan dismissed the Heaven and Earth Scale. She just had to wait for midnight to strike, and then she could trade all the various items she had collected today.

From behind the wall, she listened for a moment to the mother and daughter’s conversation. First, she heard Aunt Zhou’s voice, laced with melancholy and regret. "Oh, dear, to think Miss Song is already gone! She brought you back but wouldn’t stay even a moment, not even to let me thank her. That’s just..."

’Just what?’

But Aunt Zhou couldn’t find the words. Her vocabulary was limited, and she paused for a long while before finally continuing, "I’ve often heard the storytellers say that there are wandering heroes in this world, who roam the lands doing good deeds without leaving a name. Miss Song must be one of them!"

Lady Zhen asked, "Mother, the person you hired was a woman? Not a young man?"

Aunt Zhou said, "She’s a lady I... met by chance on my journey. A very, very good person..."

She had been about to say that she and Miss Song had gone through hardship together, but she caught herself, not wanting to mention her ordeals and worry her daughter.

So she quickly changed the subject. "Miss Song is a wonderful person. She has been a great benefactor to us. Later, I will set up a longevity tablet in her name. I’ll offer Incense and Candlelight to it every morning and evening, praying that Miss Song succeeds in her Cultivation and enjoys eternal, immortal fortune!"

She clasped her hands and bowed to the empty air before her tone grew serious. "Lady Zhen, tell me everything. What happened after that Flower God from Giant Deer Country took you away? You... sigh!"

She sighed. "You foolish child, do you really think such wonderful things just fall from the sky? A Flower God? A Second Prince? Lady Zhen, those ten carts of betrothal gifts were just scraps of paper enchanted to look real! And you were so willing to marry him, you..."

Having been through so much, Aunt Zhou couldn’t bear to blame her daughter too harshly. Still, the memory of it all filled her with pained regret.

She pressed Lady Zhen about what happened after she left with the Flower God. Lady Zhen said, "The Flower God was indeed a Mouse Demon in disguise, and his intentions were malicious. But then I was saved by Ah Gua... Mother, even though Ah Gua is also a Mouse Demon, he’s not the same as an Evil Demon like the Flower God..."

She briefly explained that she had been in a dark alley when she saw the Flower God Mouse Demon’s true form. Just as she was frightened to death, another Mouse Demon, Ah Gua, appeared at the perfect moment.

Ah Gua and the Flower God Mouse Demon seemed to have some old grudge, and the two began to fight right away. Fortunately, Ah Gua was larger and his Demonic Power was stronger. After a struggle, he drove the Flower God Mouse Demon away, and then Ah Gua took her to the Xu Family’s home.

Aunt Zhou found this strange and couldn’t help asking, "So demons are divided into good and evil ones? And they save people? Why did it save you? And after saving you, why take you to the Xu Family’s home instead of letting you come back here?"

These were the same questions Song Ciwan had, which was precisely why she hadn’t left yet, but was instead hiding behind the wall to eavesdrop.

She heard Lady Zhen stamp her foot and say petulantly, "Mother! Aren’t you happy that I was rescued? If there are good people and bad people, why can’t there be good demons and bad ones? Ah Gua saved me!"

After her outburst, her voice fell. "Mother, it’s been a year since I came of age, but I still haven’t been betrothed. My brother and his wife have long seen me as an eyesore, and things got so bad they forced you to take that awful job at the Washing Room... How could I possibly stay at home any longer?"

"If I were married off, you could finally breathe a sigh of relief. You wouldn’t have this burden anymore, and you wouldn’t have to go to the Washing Room to work every day. I didn’t expect... I didn’t know... that you would come looking for me."

At this point, Lady Zhen’s voice began to choke.

"Mother! I’m sorry!"

She threw herself into Aunt Zhou’s arms, and mother and daughter wept together.

In the distance, the squeaking of Ah Gua the Mouse Demon grew closer.

Behind the wall, Song Ciwan let out a quiet sigh. ’Nothing in this world grinds a person down like poverty.’

’Since Lady Zhen is all right, whatever choices they make from now on are their own.’

’She couldn’t be responsible for another person’s entire life.’

She heard the Mouse Demon knock and Lady Zhen open the door. She heard Lady Zhen happily introduce the Mouse Demon to her mother, and heard Aunt Zhou’s reserved, hesitant voice say, "Thank you... Mr. Ah Gua..."

SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK, the Mouse Demon replied, its voice just as quiet and timid.

Finally, Song Ciwan left a basket of dry flatbreads in the empty house’s kitchen. Beneath the bread, she placed a small packet of broken silver weighing about five taels.

Then she used her Escape Technique again and departed without a sound.

She missed her Big White Goose back home. She also wished for tomorrow to come sooner, so she could happily open her "blind box" and see what the Heaven and Earth Scale would give her in trade.