Catching Nian

“For the hundredth time,” said Madam Zhang. She swung her knife down, hard, cleaving a piece of meat into two. “I haven’t seen my husband in a week because he’s gone for business. Our shop supplies meat to the nearby towns. Yes, my son usually makes the trips, but he can’t this time because he sprained his ankle.”

Rui Ning knew it was unwise to question a woman holding a meat cleaver, but she asked again, “And you’re sure that if he did come back to ZhuangXi, there’s nowhere else he can stay but here?”

Thud. Another swing of her blade. “Are you implying that my husband has a mistress?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Zhang fu ren.”

If Rui Ning thought it wasn’t possible for Madam Zhang to scowl any harder, she was wrong. “Are you done here?” the woman snapped. “Then take that foreigner with you and get lost.”

The foreigner in question stopped examining the butcher’s shop and left without a word of thanks. Not that she owed it to Madam Zhang.

With a sigh, Rui Ning followed.

“Anything?”

Geriel shook her head. “Any footprints in the back alley not covered by snow were too small to be a man’s. Madam Zhang’s, obviously, since she’s the only one working in the shop today. And the clothes hung up to dry—none of them looked like they belonged to Master Zhang. You said he was a big man?”

“Like a mountain.”

“Then he has definitely not been home for a while.”

“If he went around snatching children,” said Rui Ning, “I don’t think he’d hang his laundry up to dry.”

“True. But—assuming Madam Zhang isn’t lying—we can rule him out for now. All his neighbours confirm they have not seen him, anyway.”

“Well,” said Rui Ning, “onto our next suspect, then.”

The next house they visited was Yuan’s, a wealthy middle-aged tailor who lived alone. Rui Ning had never pinned him as a superstitious man, but apparently Yuan bought into the Nian nonsense. His front door was framed by red banners and lanterns, the altar on his porch cramped with offerings of silk and yuanbao. Rui Ning had no doubt they’d be gone by tomorrow—if not taken by the Nian, then by thieves.

They were greeted by Yuan’s housekeeper. “Are you here to see the master?” she asked, faltering when she saw Geriel. “He’s not at home. Meeting clients, he is.”

“Actually,” Rui Ning said, smiling warmly, “we have a few questions for you, Wang ma. Perhaps we could take a walk in your gardens?”

Madam Wang looked simultaneously flustered and charmed. In the end, her eagerness to show off her garden won over.

As Rui Ning complimented the housekeeper on the impeccably-trimmed bushes, Geriel slipped off, in search of clues that could either confirm or deny their suspicions about Yuan.

“Wang ma, as you know, my brother went missing last night.” Rui Ning watched the housekeeper’s face droop in pity. Good, she thought. Sympathy always loosens the tongue. “So I was wondering if Yuan shifu went out at all last night, because if he did, he might have seen my brother or know something that can help.”

Madam Wang patted Rui Ning’s hand gently. “He did, but he never left the estate, so I’m afraid he can’t help you there. Our house is quite far from the toymaker’s.”

“What was he doing last night?”

“I don’t know. But I saw the master walking out of the house—carried a lantern, that’s how I knew—and went to his storeroom, perhaps.” She pointed at an outhouse not far away. “Sometimes he checks the fabric stock at night, if he can’t sleep.”

“And you’re sure that Yuan shi fu never left the estate?”

“Absolutely. I would’ve heard him open the gate,” said the housekeeper.

Like a ghost, Geriel materialised into the garden, admiring a tree as though she’d always been there. Her ability to move around soundlessly was unnerving. And the more reason why she could’ve kidnapped Ming without anyone seeing, Rui Ning thought.

“Thank you, Wang ma,” said Rui Ning courteously. “You’ve been most helpful.”

Geriel gave the woman her brightest smile—which seemed more like a grimace—and left the Yuan house together with Rui Ning.

“He never left the estate,” said Rui Ning, once they were well past the house. “Or at least, that’s what Wang ma said.”

“I checked their stables,” said Geriel thoughtfully. “One of the horses, a mare, kept eating, and her hair didn’t seem as well brushed as the rest.”

“You think he rode the mare out last night?”

“It is possible, but I doubt it. The streets are made of stone, and if Yuan rode a horse out, someone would have heard it. I would have heard it.”

Rui Ning snorted. “Don’t think too highly of yourself, huntress.”

“I’m not. But I couldn’t sleep at all last night, so I would’ve heard a horse galloping through town.”

Rui Ning pondered this new piece of information. If Geriel didn’t sleep last night, then what was she doing?

“One more house,” said Geriel with a heavy sigh. They both knew why she dreaded this last stop.

Rui Ning smiled. “I’ll get some ice. You’ll need it after they splash hot water on you.”

“How supportive.”

“Or they might set their dogs on you. Are you a fast runner?”

“Please stop.”

“Meet me at the house on the end of JuHua Street once you’re done,” said Rui Ning. “If you get out in one piece.”

“For heaven’s sake,” said Geriel, “they’re just an old couple, not a pack of beasts.”

“Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference.”

Geriel’s lips twitched—a slight gesture, but Rui Ning caught it all the same. Her heart swelled with an odd sense of pride every time she made the Northerner smile, and every time, she crushed that pride ruthlessly. It felt too much like a betrayal to Ming.