In the first eight chapters of Help! The Villainess, Shen Tang brings food to someone who remembers an earlier attempt on his life. She knows what went into the pot. He has to decide how much her first sip proves. The order in which two people taste their lunch gives the distrust between them a shape a reader can see.
The opening chapter of Favorite of the Beast-world lets us share the uncertainty of the person receiving help. An Jin can infer a great deal from old trees and crudely cut clothing. Then a silver wolf kills a leopard about to spring on her. She runs for the river, fearing she is the next meal. The human voice that calls after her comes a moment too late to keep her dry. A trained observer has made a plausible mistake, and the timing gives the escape its humour.
A researcher wakes in a forest where a rescue looks like another attack. The publisher offers the first chapter and describes the farming story that follows.
