Qingshan Chapter 71 : Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Farewell

The morning sunlight was just right. Chen Ji asked Liang Mao'er and She Dakang to carry him and his bamboo chair into the clinic's main hall.

Old Man Yao examined patients, She Dakang and Liang Mao'er filled prescriptions for the sick, and Chen Ji simply watched from the side, as though trying to etch into mory every ray of sunlight streaming through the doorway and every wisp of bustling warmth on Anxi Street.

If he left for the Jing Dynasty, it would be difficult to return before his sword seed path and Mountain Lord path both crossed into the Path-Seeking Realm.

Liu Quxing returned to the clinic in high spirits, carrying pork, mutton, and fish, along with a basket of vegetables and a jar of osmanthus rice wine from the Xue Family's Old Tavern.

Old Man Yao was sitting behind the counter taking a patient's pulse. Seeing Liu Quxing walk in loaded down with goods, he said in bewildernt, "Did you sell your brain? Since when are you this flush with money?"

"...Master, what are you talking about? Chen Ji gave the money to buy all this. He says he wants to cook everyone a al at noon."

Old Man Yao froze for a mont, then turned to look at Chen Ji with a puzzled expression.

Liu Quxing brought everything over to Chen Ji and rattled off the prices like beans tumbling from a bamboo tube: "Pork was forty-one wen per jin today, mutton thirty-four wen per jin, and fish was fifty-two wen a piece..."

Then he fished a string of copper coins from his sleeve. "Here's your change. I didn't pocket a single wen."

Chen Ji accepted the coins with a smile. "Thanks for doing the shopping, Senior Brother."

Liu Quxing grinned cheerfully. "I'll haul all this to the kitchen and start sorting the vegetables."

She Dakang asked curiously, "Chen Ji, what's with the sudden urge to treat everyone to a al? Sothing good happen?"

"Nothing good," Chen Ji replied with a smile. "It's just that everyone's had a hard ti looking after these past few days since I got hurt. You and Senior Brother Liu Quxing helped change my bandages, Brother Mao'er carried everywhere, and Master diagnosed and prescribed my dicine. Treating everyone to a al is the least I can do."

In truth, if circumstances allowed, Chen Ji would have liked to buy Liu Quxing a cherry-patterned corrugated hat from Li's shop, She Dakang a set of silk clothes, Liang Mao'er a box of pastries from Zhengxin Studio, and Old Man Yao a new bamboo chair.

But he was leaving tomorrow evening for the distant Jing Dynasty. There was no ti.

Chen Ji suddenly spoke up. "By the way, so of the roof tiles on our clinic have been pushed up by grass. Probably bird droppings landing on the roof -- undigested seeds in the droppings sprouted into willow saplings. Those saplings can do real damage to the roof. If they aren't pulled out soon, it'll start leaking when it rains."

"The clinic windows need to be re-papered too, or they'll let in drafts all winter. And both my senior brothers' cotton quilts should be taken out to have the batting re-fluffed, otherwise they won't keep you warm."

Old Man Yao eyed him suspiciously. "Why are you suddenly fussing over all this like a man settling his affairs? Relax -- that little scratch of yours isn't going to kill you."

Chen Ji smiled and said nothing more, afraid that another word would give him away.

Just then, Old Man Yao picked up a prescription. "Which one of you can run over to Guangle Street and deliver these two doses of dicine to Squire Wang?"

She Dakang raised his hand. "Master, I'll go. Guangle Street is a bit far, and I've got good legs."

"Fine, off you go."

Chen Ji braced himself on the armrest of the bamboo chair and slowly rose. He rolled his sleeves up to his forearms and shuffled to the kitchen in the back, where he joined Liu Quxing in sorting vegetables.

Liu Quxing chuckled. "Looking out for each other is what brothers do -- no need to spend like this. By the way, where'd the money co from? Your family?"

"The Princess gave it to ."

Liu Quxing smacked his lips. "The Princess really is kind -- too kind to seem like one of those high-ranking nobles."

"What should high-ranking nobles be like?" Chen Ji asked.

"They should look down on you from on high, like they're looking at an ant," Liu Quxing said with feeling. "Back when my parents and I went to Old Master Liu's birthday banquet, the place was packed with officials and nobles. So had even traveled from the capital, from Jinling, from Shanghai. You should've seen it -- just the carriages lined up outside the Liu Family Compound stretched for several li."

Liu Quxing went on. "My father was just a minor clerk in ngjin County. People respected him well enough there, but at the Liu Family Compound? Nobody spared him a glance. The Liu family seated us at the servants' table. Sitting with the servants was one thing -- but even those servants looked down their noses at us. It's not until you end up in a place like that you realize people truly are divided into ranks."

"Ever thought about sitting for the examinations? You study dicine so diligently -- there's no reason you couldn't master the classics."

Liu Quxing laughed. "The civil examinations? That road's closed to families like mine. Even the tutors in those private academies serve you based on your wallet. If all you pay is tuition, you only get the most basic lessons in class. But if you regularly send gifts of rice, flour, and silver, the tutor will invite you to his ho for private sessions and teach you the real material."

Chen Ji fell silent.

Liu Quxing shook his head with a grin. "Rather than hand those people dozens of taels of silver, I'd rather cling to Master's coattails and worm my way into becoming a court physician. Then, next ti I run into one of those academy tutors, I'll jab a few extra needles in during their acupuncture!"

Chen Ji laughed.

Perhaps it was precisely because of people like Liu Quxing -- a little rough around the edges, a little endearing -- that he had grown reluctant to leave this place.

Chen Ji watched Liu Quxing sorting vegetables with his head bowed and said, "Senior Brother Liu, I know you'll make a fine court physician soday. You'll live a good, prosperous life."

"I'll hold you to that," Liu Quxing said. "...So what are you planning to cook for lunch?"

"Braised pork with glass noodles, stead perch, scallion-braised mutton, red-braised eggplant, and a pot of stead white rice. How does that sound?"

Liu Quxing swallowed a mouthful of drool. "My mouth's watering just hearing it!"

...

...

Just then, She Dakang ca running back into the clinic, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Master! Master, help ! A thief on the street slashed my arm open with a blade!"

Everyone looked over. She Dakang's sleeve had been sliced open with a sharp edge, the cut running all the way from his wrist to his elbow. The fabric hung in tatters, and blood stread freely.

Old Man Yao pulled the torn cloth apart and saw the wound gaping open, flesh split wide. His expression darkened at once. "What kind of thief is this vicious? You want to steal, then steal -- why butcher soone like this?!"

Even as he spoke, a carriage rolled to a stop at the entrance. Shopkeeper Yuan hopped down and strolled into the clinic with two bags of pastries and a smile plastered across his face.

He wore a bright red satin robe and a gold-bead crown, radiating an air of wealth.

He set the pastries on the counter and cupped his hands with a smile. "Physician Yao, I've co to visit Chen Ji again. Is he doing any better today?"

Physician Yao swept him with a cold glance and replied flatly, "Chen Ji's in the courtyard. Go see for yourself."

Shopkeeper Yuan went straight to the back courtyard, lifted the hem of his robe, and sat down on a stool across from Chen Ji.

Chen Ji peeled the outer skin off a scallion and asked calmly, "She Dakang's wound -- that was you?"

Shopkeeper Yuan smiled. "I told you to contact that person in the Prince's manor, but yesterday you didn't so much as step outside, and you didn't pass any ssage either. I said I'd give you one day. Since you chose to test my patience, I had to show you the consequences."

Chen Ji tossed the scallion aside and stared straight into Shopkeeper Yuan's eyes. "And if I still refuse to help you make contact?"

Shopkeeper Yuan picked up the scallion Chen Ji had thrown away. He peeled it layer by layer down to its innermost core, then snapped it gently in two. "Starting today, for every day you don't make contact, one person in this Taiping Clinic dies. And once they're all dead and you still haven't made contact -- then you die too."

Chen Ji had no words.

Liang Gou'er was unwilling to go up against the Secret Spy Division, and though Liang Mao'er possessed inhuman strength, he could not guard against an agent's underhanded strike.

If Shopkeeper Yuan was truly set on forcing his hand, the threat of one death per day at the Taiping Clinic was no empty promise.

And the mont the other side detected any sign of him defecting or tipping off the Secret Spy Division, the three agents watching the Taiping Clinic would silence everyone imdiately.

Chen Ji said, his voice taut, "I told you -- I'm badly injured. I can barely move. How am I supposed to contact the one inside the Prince's manor?"

Shopkeeper Yuan lowered his voice, his tone deadly serious. "Do you have any idea how many of our Jing Dynasty border troops have died to the Ning Dynasty's firearms? To obtain these blueprints and formulas, how many agents of our Military Intelligence Division threw themselves into the fire, one after another? We're one final step away. How can one person be allowed to hold everything up?"

A sudden clarity struck Chen Ji. That rainy night when Shopkeeper Yuan had co to the clinic -- only to be caught by Jinzhu.

The man could have killed him right then and there. The reason he hadn't was not rcy -- it was fear that Chen Ji's death would delay the second handoff of goods.

The mont all the goods were delivered, Shopkeeper Yuan would kill him without hesitation.

Shopkeeper Yuan stared at Chen Ji and tossed the snapped scallion to the ground. "I've said what needs to be said. The sooner we get this shipnt, the sooner our Jing Dynasty can develop the Ning Dynasty's firearms. Our border troops die heroically on the frontier -- you and I, behind enemy lines, should be no less willing to lay down our lives."

Chen Ji was silent for a mont, then answered: "Understood. I'll contact the figure in the Prince's manor as soon as I can. Before midnight tomorrow, I'll have the ti and location for the second shipnt's handoff."

Shopkeeper Yuan smiled with satisfaction. He stood and patted Chen Ji on the shoulder. "That's more like it. Oh, and I brought you pastries from Zhengxin Studio -- left them on the counter. Don't forget to eat them. Pull this off, and I'll promote you to Pigeon rank. Our dynasty doesn't mistreat those who serve with rit."

With that, he swaggered out of the clinic. Chen Ji sat alone in the courtyard, sinking into endless silence.

It was no longer a question of when or where to hand over the goods. The mont he left, Shopkeeper Yuan would not spare the people around him.

Shopkeeper Yuan would not spare them, and Jinzhu would not spare them either. The intelligence agencies of both dynasties had been slaughtering each other for years beyond counting, their hearts long hardened to iron. They did not care whether commoners lived or died.

In their eyes, human lives were as cheap as wild weeds.

So -- leave, or stay?

If he stayed, everyone died together.

Chen Ji rose to his feet and went about cooking, step by step. When the dishes were brought to the table, everyone showered them with praise. Even She Dakang, freshly wounded and still bandaged, wolfed down three bowls of rice.

Amid the laughter and chatter, only Chen Ji remained quiet.

This al was not supposed to be eaten like this.

Midway through the al, Chen Ji tentatively asked, "Master, She Dakang got slashed by a thief. Are we really just going to let it go?"

Old Man Yao glanced at him. "Those street thieves are organized. You go after one, and a whole gang cos after you. Then what -- you want to die?"

"Oh."

Old Man Yao added, his tone laden with aning: "Go where you need to go, do what you need to do. Don't let other people's troubles hold you back."

Chen Ji froze. Had his master guessed sothing? What did those words an -- was he telling him to leave while he could?

She Dakang said cheerfully, "Chen Ji, stop worrying about it. Don't go hurting yourself over sothing that happened to ."

After the al, Chen Ji lay back down on the bamboo chair. He slowly closed his eyes and returned to that ancient battlefield, taking up the long saber nad 'Whale.'

...

...

Night fell. Chen Ji opened his eyes and made his way to the courtyard.

Liang Gou'er still had not returned. The Heir, the Princess, and the little monk had not climbed over the wall to pass through either. There was not even a proper farewell.

Guided by Uncle Crow, Chen Ji climbed over the wall into the cloth shop's backyard. There he found Wu Hongbiao, who had scrounged up a broom and a wooden bucket from sowhere, scrubbing and sweeping the courtyard.

"You're covered in injuries," Chen Ji said curiously. "Why are you out here sweeping in the middle of the night?"

Wu Hongbiao smiled. "There were so rat bones scattered around the yard, and so bloodstains. If soone ca by to check on the shop and got spooked, it might cause the owner unnecessary trouble."

"You seem to be in a good mood," Chen Ji remarked.

Wu Hongbiao grinned. "Good news -- I t with the Division Officer today. He's not the one who wants us dead. What's more, he's arranged for other people to escort us out. Tomorrow evening, the two of us can go ho to the Jing Dynasty!"

Chen Ji grunted. "Can we trust that? What if it's a trick to lure us out and kill us?"

Wu Hongbiao rested his hands on the broom and thought for a mont. "It should be reliable. When he pulled into that alley today, I was already prepared to die -- but he didn't make a move. If he wanted us dead, he wouldn't need to go through this much trouble."

Chen Ji leaned against the doorfra and slowly sat down on the threshold. "Do you miss your hotown?" he asked softly.

Wu Hongbiao stood in the courtyard leaning on his broom, gazing up at the moon with longing. "Of course I do. I was dragged off to the cold camps for training when I was twelve. Never had a chance to go ho or see my parents again. This ti... this ti I should finally get the chance."

"When I was a kid in the village, co autumn, everyone would pick the pears off the fruit trees. The good ones got sold in the city; the bad ones were kept to make frozen pears. The variety we used for frozen pears was so sour and astringent my grandmother called them 'choke-a-dog' pears -- but leave them outside to freeze and they turned delicious. Strange, isn't it?"

"In winter, the adults would sling hardwood bows over their backs and take four or five hunting dogs up the mountain to hunt black bears. We'd wait at ho, restless with excitent. When they dragged a bear back, my grandmother would strip the fat off its body and fry us lard cracklings. Lots of people said they tasted gay, but I thought they were the best thing in the world."

"Once we're back in the Jing Dynasty, I'll take you to my hotown for sure. I'll treat you to frozen pears and lard cracklings, and we can go up the mountain to hunt bears together."

Chen Ji listened in silence. Perhaps Wu Hongbiao had endured too much hardship lately and had grown sentintal, or perhaps he had spent every day in the Ning Dynasty longing for his holand in the north, and now that he was finally going back, the words ca pouring out.

Chen Ji had recently caught fragnts of conversation from traveling rchants and learned that the Jing Dynasty seed to have ten provinces. Wu Hongbiao's hotown lay in the northeasternmost one -- Shangjing Circuit.

Chen Ji sat on the threshold, gazing at the moon alongside Wu Hongbiao. "Brother Biaozi, you were badly hurt at the ti. Why did you still co to warn ? What if I'd sold you out?"

Wu Hongbiao smiled. "To be honest, I was a little scared on the way over. What if you'd actually gone and sold out? But... if I hadn't co, I was afraid I'd regret it."

"Mm."

After that, one sitting, one standing, they both fell silent.

Their circumstances were different, yet both had spent every waking mont longing to leave this pit of trouble, to stop living each day in fear. But now that the ti to leave had truly co, what they felt was sothing far more complicated.

Chen Ji spoke suddenly. "Brother Biaozi, you go on back. I'm not leaving."

"Huh?" Wu Hongbiao started. "You're not leaving? You'll die if you stay in Luocheng!"

Chen Ji smiled. "Did you forget? My father is the Luocheng Deputy Prefect. I've got plenty of ways to protect myself."

"Then I'm staying too!" Wu Hongbiao declared without hesitation.

Chen Ji looked him in the eye. "What about your sister?"

Wu Hongbiao froze.

Just a mont ago, Chen Ji had truly wanted to keep Wu Hongbiao here -- to help him kill Shopkeeper Yuan. But he couldn't do that.

He smiled. "Go ho without worrying. Tomorrow I'll move back into the Chen Mansion in Luocheng. I don't believe Shopkeeper Yuan would dare sneak into the Deputy Prefect's ho to kill . Do you think he would?"

Wu Hongbiao scratched his head. "That's true. If he really dared to assassinate soone in the Deputy Prefect's house, Luocheng wouldn't be big enough to hold him -- the entire Ning Dynasty wouldn't be big enough... So you're really not coming?"

"No. I'm staying behind to keep serving the Jing Dynasty."

"...Alright."

Chen Ji stood and brushed the dust from his backside. "I probably can't see you off tomorrow. When you get back to the Jing Dynasty this ti, live a good life. Don't co back to the Ning Dynasty."

Wu Hongbiao laughed. "I don't want to co back and live on edge either. I'll be waiting for you in the Jing Dynasty."

As he spoke, he opened his arms wide.

Chen Ji hesitated for a mont, then opened his arms too. The two embraced, and then he climbed over the wall and left the cloth shop.

On the other side, Dark Cloud was crouched atop the neighboring wall. It asked curiously, "We're really not leaving?"

Chen Ji smiled. "No, we're not. I'm afraid I'd regret it. Go give White Prajna a beating -- I have sothing to say to its owner."