The walk back to the village was silent, but it wasn't a peaceful silence. It was the kind of silence that happens right before a storm breaks.
Zhao Chen walked ahead of them, the heavy basket of unsold grain on his back. His pace was slower than usual, his eyes occasionally darting back to look at his wife. He looked at her as if she were a ghost wearing his wife's skin.
Behind him, Madam Zhao practically trembled with nervous energy. She kept clutching her chest, her face stiffened with barely controlled anger.
"You..." Madam Zhao finally burst out, her voice echoing louder as they reached the dirt path leading to the house. "What were you thinking, talking back to that physician! A man who wears silk! You could have had us all thrown in the dungeon!"
Lin Yue didn't stop walking. She felt the weight of this borrowed body—the legs trembling from heat and stress—but her mind remained cool.
"He was wrong, Mother-in-law. Would you rather I stand by and let the magistrate's son die in front of our stall? Think of the consequences then."
Madam Zhao choked on her next insult. She hadn't thought that far. If a noble had died at their stall, the guards would have cleared the market with sticks. Or worse.
"And besides," Lin Yue added, her voice low and steady, "the magistrate gave us his thanks. Is that not a good thing?"
"Thanks don't fill my stomach!" Madam Zhao snapped. But her eyes immediately went to the small jade token Lin Yue had tucked into her sash.
She commanded, "Give me that. A girl like you will only lose it. I'll keep it safe in the family chest."
The old Lin Yue would have handed it over immediately, apologizing for her existence.
But Lin Yue stepped back, her hand covering the jade.
"No."
The word was like a slap.
Madam Zhao froze, her mouth hanging open. "What did you say?"
"I earned this. It was given in appreciation," Lin Yue said, her eyes meeting the older woman's with chilling calmness. "This is my identity now. If the magistrate asks for it back, or if he sends a servant to find the woman who saved his son, I must be the one holding it. Not telling a story of how my mother-in-law took it and probably sold it for her own gain... What do you think he will do?"
Madam Zhao felt her chest tighten.
The thought of a magistrate's guard showing up at her door to demand a "stolen" token was enough to make her knees knock.
"You... you've changed," Madam Zhao hissed, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and hatred. "Ever since you hit your head, you've become a viper. A wicked, disobedient viper!" She raised her voice. "Possessed!"
"Enough!"
The voice came from the front.
Zhao Chen had stopped. He turned around, his face shadowed by the setting sun. He looked at his mother, then at Lin Yue.
"Mother, go inside and start the fire," Zhao Chen said. It was rare for him to speak to his mother with such authority.
Madam Zhao looked like she wanted to scream, but the look on her son's face silenced her. She scurried into the house, muttering about "evil spirits" and "ungrateful children."
Zhao Chen's house was small. His parents lived in the same compound, in a separate dwelling behind the main house.
Now, Lin Yue was alone with her husband.
Zhao Chen stepped closer. He was tall, and the smell of the fields—earth and sun—clung to him. He looked at her hands, then at the calm expression on her face.
"Where did you learn it?" he asked. His voice wasn't cold like it usually was. It was... curious. Almost amazed. "The way you spoke to the magistrate. The way you held that boy's head. You didn't look like a farmer's wife. You looked like... someone from a different world."
Lin Yue felt her heart skip. He was too observant.
"I told you, Zhao Chen. I had a lot of time to think while I was unconscious. I realized... I want to be useful."
Zhao Chen stared at her for a long time.
Then he did something he had never done in the six months of their marriage.
He reached out and adjusted the strap of the heavy basket she was carrying, taking the weight off her shoulders.
"Don't cross Mother too much," he said quietly. "She is loud, but the village elders listen to her. If they think you are possessed, I won't be able to help you."
He took her basket and slung it over his shoulder alongside his own, then turned and walked into the house, leaving her standing in the twilight.
Lin Yue stood there for a moment, watching his silhouette disappear through the doorway.
Her hand touched the jade token at her waist.
The first wall had fallen. But there were many more ahead.
And for the first time, she wasn't walking through them alone.