From beneath the tangled hair fell a heavy, icy gaze. Xue and Minzhu flinched and even took a step back. During their long search, the girls had often been haunted by the thought that their father had neither died nor gone missing, that he had simply abandoned them, left of his own will, and did not want to see his useless daughters ever again. Along with their other fears, this thought had slowly taken root, its thorny branches tightening around their hearts and leaving wounds behind. Meeting that savage stare, the two little girls stopped breathing altogether, as if time itself had slowed.

  The shaggy man blinked slowly. Then a faint spark of recognition appeared in his eyes; his brows lifted in surprise, and a slight smile touched his lips. He raised a hand a little and gave a small wave. In that very instant, Minzhu shot forward like lightning.

  “Papa! Papa! Papa!” she cried as she ran. “Where have you been? Papa!”

  She leapt straight into his arms and clung to him with both arms and legs as tightly as she could. Burying her face in his filthy clothes, she burst into loud, unrestrained sobs. The world around her ceased to exist. Other people’s opinions no longer mattered, her father was back. All the pain and bitterness poured out with her tears in one great, overwhelming flood.

  Meanwhile, Xue moved slowly through the crowd on trembling legs, unable to believe her eyes until the very last moment. She had never told her sister, but in her heart she had already stopped hoping to find him. And yet there he stood before her, reaching out and crouching slightly, as if to embrace her. Something inside the girl broke. The wall holding back her emotions collapsed, swept away by a massive wave of feeling. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around the shaggy man and cried out loud, just like her sister.

  “Papa… you came back,” Xue whispered. “You really came back…”

  Pressing her face against his broad shoulder, she felt the immense weight that had been crushing her all this time finally crumble and fall apart with her tears. Her fears and worries turned to road dust and drifted away. Like a warm blanket, a sense of safety and protection wrapped around her. It felt as if her soul were floating among clouds, while her body filled with an incredible lightness.

  Both girls clung to their father with all their strength, as if he might disappear the moment they let go. From time to time, between sobs, Minzhu lifted her head and tried to explain how hard things had been, how many bad people had bullied and chased them. But the tide of emotion was too strong, and not a single clear word came out. Fighting the surge, she buried her face in her father’s worn robe again and simply cried.

  “There, there…” was all the stunned Zhang Ming could manage to say, holding a daughter in each arm.

  People began to turn and look. Some stopped to watch. The crowd around Zhang Ming grew thicker. Glancing around, he started searching for a quieter spot in the market where he could escape the attention. Suddenly, one of the vendors caught his eye. The man gestured, inviting the three of them under the awning of his stall. Quickly sizing up the smiling merchant from head to toe, Zhang Min nodded and accepted.

  “Come in, come in,” the stall owner urged, motioning for him to sit on a small couch where he himself had been sitting moments before, in front of a pile of goods that held no real value.

  “I’ll pay,” Zhang Ming clarified at once.

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  “Very well, sir,” the vendor did not refuse. “Would you like some tea? It seems they’ve fallen asleep! You must not have seen each other for a long time. They were waiting for you so dearly. Actually, I remember them well, they were looking for their father.” The merchant flicked a knowing glance at Zhang Min, smiling.

  “Thank you. I’m very grateful,” Zhang Min inclined his head slightly, and with a small movement of his leg rocked the pouch at his belt so that the coins inside clinked.

  “Good. Here is your tea, sir. Wet your throat.”

  After crying themselves out, both girls fell asleep right there in their father’s arms. The powerful emotions had drained all their strength. Even in sleep, however, they continued to clutch his clothes tightly. They breathed softly, and a little droplet of drool even slipped from Minzhu’s lips, so safe and carefree did she feel.

  Steam rose from the teacup as Zhang Ming watched a few tea leaves drift across the surface. His thoughts were still tangled. When he had come to Puyang, he had cherished only a faint hope of finding even a trace of his daughters, since all the clues led here. But to meet the girls like this, in the middle of the market, was something he had never expected.

  “Perhaps providence guided me,” he thought. “If one believes in karma, then maybe I truly did something right and received a reward… or perhaps this is their reward.” Though Zhang Ming tried to hold himself together, his eyes reddened and filled with tears. “How fortunate that they’re safe. They look healthy.”

  By habit, he placed a palm between Minzhu’s shoulder blades and checked the flow of her energy, pleasantly surprised. The two diligent little ones had achieved their breakthrough, entering the Body Tempering Realm and gaining the strength they had longed for. More than that, they had already advanced over halfway to the second stage of body tempering, though he could not determine the exact extent.

  “How wonderful it is to be young,” he thought, recalling the three children beneath the old shed. “The difference between us is immense. Soon, they’ll have to protect their old man.”

  Meanwhile, the merchant sat with a blissful smile, occasionally glancing at the pouch hanging from Zhang Ming’s belt and nodding to himself in satisfaction at his own cleverness. Simply by inviting a vagrant with children to sit for tea, he had earned some coins. How many exactly would be up to the vagrant, but in any case, it was more than he had made in recent days.

  Motionless as a statue, Zhang Min remained inside the stall for a long while. All kinds of people passed by, merchants, gawkers, picky buyers, and among them darted nimble pickpockets. The tea had long gone cold, and the vendor began tapping his foot impatiently. Zhang Ming paid no attention. From time to time, he gently rocked, as if soothing the children, especially when Minzhu stirred.

  Xue was the first to wake, but she did not show it. For the first time in her life, being held in her father’s arms, she did not want it to end. Her keen hearing caught the steady, confident beat of his heart, and all the world’s anxieties retreated. Her father had clearly changed greatly, but Xue did not wish to notice those changes.

  Then Minzhu woke. Startled, she lifted her head sharply, trying to understand what was happening, then, with a blissful smile, buried her face back into the worn, and now damp, robe. She liked being in her father’s arms and wanted to stay there longer, hugging his strong neck, cautiously running her hand through his hair, something she would never have dared to do before. Minzhu was afraid such a chance might never come again.

  “Girls, it’s time for us to go,” Zhang Ming said. “We’ve already caused the merchant too much trouble.”

  “Sorry…” they murmured, reluctantly climbing down from their father’s lap.

  With a careful glance, Zhang Ming assessed the trinkets on the stall, their prices, the worn mat on the couch, the merchant’s patched clothes, and understood how much to pay.

  “I think one silver will be enough,” Zhang Ming said, looking questioningly at the stall owner as he stood.

  “Thank you, sir,” the merchant nodded with a smile, discreetly testing the silver with his teeth. “And the tea?”

  “Right.” Zhang Ming drained the cold tea in one gulp. “Thank you. I won’t forget your kindness. Please forgive the trouble we caused,” he said calmly.

  “Oh, not at all. No trouble whatsoever,” the vendor replied. He had noticed the guest’s muscular, scar-covered arms and the far too confident bearing for a mere vagrant. “Do come again, sir,” he added with a final bow.