Chapter 23: Inspection

They walked back to Anping behind Bao in silence, and the only sound was the frost creaking in the ruts. Bao walked in front, fast for a dead man, with his official cap still crooked. He kept his eyes front. Every line of his thin back said that he had seen what he had seen in the garden room of the straw stack and intended to take it with him to whatever came after the Hall of the Dead. Nine walked behind Ming. Not close at her shoulder, where he usually kept himself. Further back than that. She could hear him, but she couldn't feel him there as she usually could, and she kept her eyes on the road. Her lips were cold. She kept thinking about that. The rest of her face was hot and her lips were cold. Halfway home, she said, without turning round, "The tea." "Yes,"…