Chapter Twenty-Two: Strike Hard at a Targeted Place

Immediately, Zhou Zhi’s mind turned to Chen Wenju. That day, after winning a bet in the fields, he had made Chen Wenju plow and sow wheat for his family, offending the Chen household. He had anticipated retaliation, but never expected it to come so quickly, nor for the Chen family to be so bold as to set fire to his home in broad daylight. Did they truly have no regard for the laws of the land?

Gripping his bundle and papers in one hand and clutching the wooden box in the other, Zhou Zhi dashed into the courtyard, heading straight for the kitchen. The closer he drew, the more puzzled he became—it didn’t seem right. If there were a fire, the house should be in chaos by now. His father was bedridden, but his mother, sister, and younger brother would surely have been fighting the blaze already. Yet the kitchen was calm, not at all like a place consumed by flames.

At the doorway, he heard his sister coughing incessantly.

Through the haze, Zhou Zhi finally saw clearly—there was no fire. His sister was simply crouched before the stove, cooking. The rain had leaked into the woodshed, leaving all the firewood damp, and the resulting smoke was particularly thick. To make matters worse, the low air pressure meant the smoke couldn’t escape through the chimney, but instead poured out of the stove, filling the small kitchen and making it look as if there was a fire.

It was a false alarm.

Zhou Zhi waded through the smoke to his bedroom, carefully setting down his belongings. He then took out two volumes, “The Great Learning” and “The Analects,” and tucked them securely under the kang, before returning to the kitchen.

His sister was still at the stove, fanning the mouth with a palm-leaf fan, hoping to drive the smoke back inside. Yet the more she fanned, the more the smoke billowed out. Their mother was tending to their father in the inner room; likely, it too was filled with smoke. Zhou Tie, their father, was coughing violently and grumbling in a muffled voice, “Stupid girl, can’t you even cook properly? Trying to choke your father to death?”

His sister paid no heed, only fanning more energetically.

Zhou Zhi approached her; her face was blackened by the smoke, and her beautiful eyes streamed with tears, making her look quite wretched. She managed a sheepish smile at Zhou Zhi. “Ah, Xiaozhi, cooking today is really a struggle.”

“Sister, take a rest—let me do it,” Zhou Zhi said, feeling sorry for her. Without waiting for her consent, he gently pulled her aside and crouched before the stove him