The autumn rain over Chang'an fell in a fine, persistent drizzle, beading water droplets on the carved window lattices of Banxian Medical Hall. Huwa squatted in front of the medicine cabinet, frowning at a gap chewed by insects, and twirled a carving knife in his palm with a flourish. "Brother Fan! The Notopterygium Root cabinet has a ghost-face hole chewed by a mouse!"
Zhang Yifan came out of the accountant's office, clicking his abacus, the beads dusted with freshly dried tangerine peel fragments. "Little rascal, the mouse even carved a draft for you—" He suddenly leaned closer to the insect hole, his abacus beads clicking between his fingertips. "We'll just carve a 'mouse-swallowing ghost-face' right here, so the mice think a door guardian lives inside."
Huwa instantly perked up, his carving knife chipping a crooked, smiling face into the edge of the insect hole, sticking his tongue out in the shape of an abacus bead.
Chapter 69