The apothecary opened a wooden box on the table and counted out ten coins for the girls, then waved toward the door. Bowing, the older sister took the money and hurried out before the owner changed his mind. The apothecary, yawning, watched them go. As soon as the children left, he jumped up and examined the herbs again, chuckling with delight.

  “Luck! What luck!” he murmured, carefully wrapping each stem into its own little bundle.

  “Who did you trick this time?” came a familiar voice at the door.

  “No one”, the apothecary answered quickly, putting the herbs away. “Don’t you have your own business? What are you doing here? You won’t buy anything anyway!”

  “You know, those girls have a very wicked father”, the visitor said, ignoring the apothecary’s scolding. “Better not cheat them. The last one who did, got a slap right in the street. If you value your face…”

  “Alright, alright, I’ll manage my affairs without you”.

  Meanwhile the sisters ran home as fast as they could, still not believing their luck. The herb sale had brought them a good sum, they didn’t even have to go to the market. The girls thought about making a habit of collecting medicinal herbs to sell. From the pictures in their little book, they remembered ten plants and could make far more than from fish.

  The next morning, they checked their fish traps at the river just in case, but caught only a single crucian. They didn’t understand the sudden drop in their haul, but they changed the bait and reset all three traps. After breakfast Xue and Mingzhu went to the forest again, but this time not for firewood, for herbs.

  The weather was fair; a light breeze tossed their hair and played with the leaves. Midges drifted about, bumblebees flew busily, and birds chattered in the distance. The two sisters walked slowly along the forest edge, where dangerous beasts were rare, searching for the plants they needed. In Xue’s bosom lay the picture book, and she checked it every time she doubted her find.

  They were afraid to go too deep into the woods because of wild animals, and the outskirts were often frequented by townsfolk, so finding anything useful here proved difficult. For a single bundle of kindling, they sometimes spent a whole day, yet the sisters still didn’t risk venturing deeper. If not for hunger they would never have dared approach even the edge, but over time they grew used to it and dared a little more.

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  “There’s nothing”, Mingzhu pouted.

  "Not everyone has a book like ours!" Xue comforted her. "We’ll find more. We found some yesterday".

  “We were just lucky”, the younger sister insisted.

  “Maybe. You know, let’s walk along the road, farther from the town, and search the roadside there, okay?”

  “All right! Sister’s so smart”.

  “Hm”, Xue tossed her head proudly.

  Chattering cheerfully about little things and food, the girls walked through the woods beside the road. It gave them a false sense of safety. They were lucky to find just a couple of useful plants, and there was plenty of kindling here, so they made a mental note for later. Without realizing it, the children wandered farther and farther from the city.

  From a rise they could see the other side of the road through gaps in the trees. Beyond the small wood on the hills stretched fields planted with grain or sweet potatoes. The river glittered in the distance, and clustered nearby were a few village houses. That small settlement near the town most likely belonged to a local nobleman or official.

  Gradually the undergrowth thickened, branches cracked beneath their feet, and the plants from the book appeared more often. The sisters rejoiced and pressed forward, carefully cutting stems close to the root with their small knives. This time they didn’t want to repeat earlier mistakes and treated the plants gently. The basket filled slowly, and the road led them away from the town. On the far side the fields no longer showed, only dense forest.

  Suddenly, in the distance among the trees, the girls saw several figures dressed in black, their faces wrapped in dark cloth. They hid behind wide spruce trunks and bushes, eyes fixed on the road. At first Xue and Mingzhu froze with fear, but their streetwise experience snapped them to action. They turned and ran into the forest. The noise drew the masked men’s attention.

  "What are these little brats? Where did they come from?" one of them glanced around.

  "No one should be here. They probably wandered in by mistake", another responded.

  "Grab them!" the leader barked sharply. "Quickly, we don't have time to chase them".

  "What if they're not alone?"

  "Kill them all! We don't need any witnesses".

  The sound of a bowstring being released echoed, and where the tiny figures had just passed, two arrows struck the tree, splintering the bark. The taut bows creaked again, and slicing through the bushes, snapping branches, several more deadly projectiles cut through the woods.

  "Damn it! Nimble little brats!" the archer cursed.

  For the last two months the girls had run with their father or without him. Thanks to the scroll and their training, they had become more agile, faster, and tougher, and though their tiny hearts were ready to leap out of their chests with fear, they dashed through the woods at top speed. The small basket hung from the elder’s shoulder but she hardly felt its weight. The rustle of leaves and the pounding of feet chased behind them.

  Bushes flashed by, trunks blurred, and a deep ditch fell behind them when the sisters bounded over it in stride, then sped under the trunk of a fallen tree. A low crawlspace, level with their small stature, easily let them pass further. From a ledge they dropped onto a cushion of leaves. Their feet sank to the ankles, throwing up dust and dirt, then they slipped into a ravine barely visible among the lush growth. They didn’t watch their direction, but never lost sight of one another.