The theft of the travelers’ supplies turns an unsettling night into a new obstacle in Mulan and the Jade Rabbit’s urgent effort to save Xiu. Daji’s foxes have been following them, the Jade Rabbit explains, and the loss strips the pair of medicines they need while revealing that Daji’s pursuit is directed at Mulan.

The Night Before the Theft

After an uneasy dream involving a spider and a river of honey, Mulan wakes with thoughts of Xiu and reaches for her sister’s stuffed toy, which is packed with their belongings. The Jade Rabbit is asleep beside the fire. Mulan carefully unties the red thread he used to fasten the bags together, retrieves the toy, and settles down again. The scene makes an ordinary act of comfort part of the event’s chain of circumstances: by morning, the thread and the bags have become consequential in a way Mulan did not anticipate.

The next morning, the Jade Rabbit’s dismay wakes Mulan. The fire has burned out, and wind moves its ashes; both travelers’ bags are missing. Mulan’s plain cloth bag held food, clothes, and supplies, while the Jade Rabbit’s richer silk bundle held medicines and herbs. The contrast between the two losses matters to the quest: the theft deprives them not only of provisions for the road, but also of what the Jade Rabbit needs to treat Xiu.

The Foxes’ Theft and the Red Thread

Black Wind is missing too, but Mulan’s whistle brings the horse back. The Jade Rabbit observes that Black Wind escaped before the thieves could take him, leaving the loss of the bags as the central damage. When Mulan asks who could have stolen them, the Jade Rabbit identifies Daji’s foxes and says that they have been following the pair, waiting for an opportunity to cause trouble. The theft is therefore not a random setback: it is a deliberate act by pursuers who have been present throughout the journey without Mulan knowing it.

The Jade Rabbit wonders how Daji was finally able to undo the red thread. Mulan then realizes that she herself untied it while retrieving the toy. The exchange links her small nighttime choice to the exposed belongings, although the precise mechanics of how the thread enabled the theft are not explained. The Jade Rabbit does not scold her. Instead, he observes that Daji can do the greatest harm with little effort. Mulan nevertheless feels the weight of having contributed to the danger, recalling her childhood sense of having disappointed her family after accidentally damaging the village’s guardian statue.

Lost Remedy and the New Route

The most serious consequence is the loss of the Jade Rabbit’s medicines. He explains that curing Xiu’s hupo poison requires both Dragon Beard Grass and the Essence of Heavenly Majesty. He had the Dragon Beard Grass in his bundle; after the theft, he says, they have neither ingredient. What could have remained a practical inconvenience thus threatens the purpose and timetable of the journey: without the remedy, they cannot fulfill their plan to heal Xiu.

The Jade Rabbit identifies Green Island as the place where Dragon Beard Grass grows abundantly. Mulan asks whether they can go there, and he says they will have to. The stolen supplies therefore force a change of route, while the deadline remains pressing: Daji is trying to slow them down, and they have only until the New Moon. When Mulan asks why the White Fox is still pursuing the Jade Rabbit, he corrects her understanding: Daji is after Mulan, not him. The theft’s aftermath consequently reveals both the immediate cost of the foxes’ interference and the real target behind it.