Qingshan

Chapter 80 : Chapter 80

Chapter 80: Learning the Blade

A heavy snowfall had turned Luocheng's staggered grey-tiled buildings into a world of white.

Only Tongji Street was different. The pristine snow on the ground had been trampled into black mud by the endless boots of Secret Spy Division agents. Every household along the street had bolted its doors and shuttered its windows, terrified of being drawn into the affair.

In the bombed-out ruins of the residence, dozens of agents were clearing away brick and rubble, searching for useful leads.

Jinzhu sighed. "Everyone says a timely snow promises a good harvest, but I can't seem to share the joy... How much longer until the debris is cleared?"

"Almost done, my lord. Please eat something first. I sent someone to buy Weng's Big Buns -- they're famous in Luocheng."

"This is hardly the time for buns... They do smell good, though. This filling is from a castrated pig bled just last night -- no gamey stink at all. The seasoning has star anise, scallion, ginger, sesame oil... and what seems to be their own secret blend. Proper craftsmanship."

A small cowhide field tent had been pitched in the courtyard, with a portable stove burning inside and water heating over it.

Jinzhu sat in the tent, gnawing on a steaming Weng's Big Bun.

An agent ducked into the tent and spoke quietly. "My lord, the debris has been fully cleared. Apart from ordinary household items, nothing unusual was found."

Jinzhu chewed and spoke through a mouthful. "How many charges did the killer use?"

"Judging from the bamboo tube fragments in the wreckage, two."

"What does the coroner say?"

The agent reported: "The coroner has examined the body. The deceased sustained forty-two shrapnel wounds from iron fragments, one slashing wound across the throat, and one puncture wound through the thigh. Strangely, his upper body shows nothing worse than superficial scrapes."

Jinzhu paused, half a bun in hand. "I've seen what those charges can do. Two of them collapsed an entire building, and his upper body is fine? He's either a body-hardening fighter from Cangzhou or a bell-ringing monk from the Jing Dynasty's Kujue Temple... The Jing Dynasty? Go -- shave the dead man's head completely. Check for ordination scars on his scalp."

The agent strode out, knelt beside Shopkeeper Yuan's body, and gripped the dead man's hair in one hand and a blade in the other. "My lord -- ordination scars!"

"A Kujue Temple monk after all. Must be a Jing Dynasty spy -- they've stolen cultivation paths from Kujue Temple before." Jinzhu stuffed the remaining half-bun into his mouth and swallowed it whole. "Strange, strange. Why would the killer come all this way to murder him?"

Jinzhu was thoroughly confused. The dead man appeared to be a Jing Dynasty agent. The killer also appeared to be a Jing Dynasty agent. Why were they killing each other?

"What do the Tongji Street residents say? Can anyone identify him?"

The agent shook his head. "No. The neighbors say this house has been empty for over a year. No one's ever seen anyone coming or going. We tracked down a property broker -- the deed is held by a Hui merchant from the south who used to keep a concubine here. He's since gifted the concubine to Prefect Zhang Zhuo and hasn't visited Luocheng in a long time."

Shopkeeper Yuan's clothes had been stripped, his face was unrecognizable, and the house was abandoned. Division Officer Gui had taken the clothes and peeled off the human-skin mask before leaving, cutting off every lead.

Just then, an agent galloped up and dismounted. "My lord! My lord?!"

Jinzhu pushed the tent flap aside. "What's all the shouting? The way you're panicking, you'd think our Secret Spy Division's sky was falling."

The agent's voice was hoarse. "My lord, I negotiated with the Luocheng Garrison Command last night. They agreed to seal every gate. But this morning when I went to check, all four gates were operating normally. No checkpoints. When our people asked what happened, the Garrison Command claimed nobody had informed them. Hundreds of civilians have already passed through, and the snow tracks on the roads outside are destroyed!"

Killing intent rippled through the agents. In the capital or in Jinling, who would dare defy the Secret Spy Division so blatantly?

One agent murmured, "My lord, Liu Zhen of the Garrison Command -- should we drag him to the Inner Prison first and ask questions later?"

Jinzhu was silent for a long time. Then he smiled. "Arresting him won't help. The Liu family is probably waiting for us to do exactly that, with their countermoves already in place... The Liu family really does have this entire province of Yuzhou under its thumb." He paused. "Have you been to the prefectural offices?"

"We have. The prefect and the deputy prefect were both absent. A clerk said the two lords left for the river dykes last night when the snow started, to set up porridge stations and comfort the laborers."

Jinzhu laughed with rage. "Wonderful. Wonderful. This is what our Ning Dynasty's civilian officials are good for. Civilian officials will be the ruin of this country."

A trusted agent leaned in. "My lord, here in Luocheng the civilian officials avoid us like the plague, the Liu family obstructs us at every turn, and our own local agents have been infiltrated by a Jing Dynasty mole..."

Jinzhu felt the situation growing thornier by the hour. Worst of all, he had no idea who the mole was. Any lead he uncovered from now on could be leaked back to the Jing Dynasty.

He spoke quietly. "Starting today, you take our own people and investigate last night's firearms incident. Keep the local agents out of it entirely."

The agent looked troubled. "But we only brought twelve agents from the capital. None of us know Luocheng. We need someone local and trustworthy to guide us..."

Jinzhu's eyes lit up. "I just thought of someone. Get my horse ready. I'll go find him myself. The rest of you stay."

...

...

Anxi Street was draped in silver, alive with festive energy. Children raced up and down the road, snowballs flying in every direction.

Neighbors swept the snow from their doorsteps, cheerfully greeting one another.

Princess Baili returned through the snow with Liang Mao'er, each carrying two baskets of groceries into the Taiping Clinic.

Liang Mao'er's baskets held pork and mutton. Baili's held scallions and vegetables. The snow had made travel difficult, and today's prices were steep.

Baili didn't care.

In the clinic's main hall, Old Man Yao was clicking away at his abacus.

He glanced up as Baili walked in. "What did the Princess buy so early in the morning?"

Baili smiled brightly. "It's snowing hard today, so I'm making everyone pork-and-scallion dumplings and lamb-and-celery dumplings for lunch!"

Old Man Yao looked up and stroked his beard. For once he didn't have anything cutting to say. Instead, he studied Baili carefully. "The Princess has the heart of a bodhisattva. Give me your hand -- let me read your palm."

Baili set the baskets on the counter and held out her hand with a grin. "You know palm-reading too?"

Old Man Yao held her slender, fair-skinned hand and studied it for a long while. "You won't die young. Off you go."

Baili blinked. "That's it? Tell me something else!"

Old Man Yao raised an eyebrow. "What else do you want to know?"

Baili thought. "Will I face any great disasters?"

Old Man Yao shook his head. "The Princess is deeply blessed. Even in danger, someone will come to your aid. Every peril will turn to fortune."

Baili's eyes sparkled at the memory of the previous night. "That's amazingly accurate! You're a living immortal! Read me more -- my marriage prospects, or anything I should watch out for?"

"Those I can't read. Go make your dumplings." Old Man Yao waved her away.

Once Baili had gone to the back courtyard, he drew six copper coins from his sleeve and cast them on the counter. His brow furrowed sharply, then slowly relaxed.

In the back courtyard.

She Dakang, Liu Quxing, and the Heir were holding horse stances under Liang Gou'er's instruction. Chen Ji sat in the bamboo lounge chair watching, a cotton quilt draped over him by some considerate soul.

The medicine he'd just applied was already working -- the pain in his leg and chest had dulled considerably, and the wounds were visibly scabbing over, healing before his eyes.

The physicians of Laojun Mountain's Medicine Official Path were even more miraculous than he'd imagined. Liang Gou'er must have gone through enormous trouble to obtain this.

The three students wobbled in their stances, sweating profusely despite the winter cold, steam rising visibly from their heads.

She Dakang groaned. "How much longer?"

Liang Gou'er whipped a bamboo switch across his thigh. "Can't even hold this long? When I was training the saber, the hardships I endured would fill more bowls than all the salt you've ever eaten."

Liu Quxing considered this. "That's not very much..."

Thwack. The switch landed on Liu Quxing's backside, and he yelped.

Only the Heir made no complaint. He genuinely wanted to learn the saber. The helplessness of being abandoned by those jianghu swordsmen, the despair of facing the agents -- it all reminded him that the only person he could truly rely on was himself.

The Heir truly wanted to become an enforcer.

While the three held their stances, Liang Gou'er sat on a small bamboo stool beneath the eaves. Beside him, Liang Mao'er sat sorting vegetables.

Suddenly, Liang Mao'er spoke, his head bowed, his voice low. "Brother, that vial of Soft Jade Salve was on you the whole time. Why did you lie and say you went to Laojun Mountain to get it?"

Liang Gou'er shot his brother an annoyed look. "If I didn't say that, would they appreciate it? Only things that come hard are remembered and treasured."

"You still shouldn't lie. I know you want the Heir to keep buying you drinks, but even if you just gave Chen Ji the medicine honestly, they'd still be grateful."

Liang Gou'er scoffed. "The medicine works, doesn't it? It was made by a Laojun Mountain Medicine Official -- that's true too. As long as it helps Chen Ji recover faster, what's a little white lie?"

Liang Mao'er's voice dropped lower still. "Brother, the Liang family saber doesn't start with horse stances. Father always said our saber art begins with breathing heaven and earth. There's no need for body-hardening drills like other martial artists."

Liang Gou'er grew irritable. "Every martial artist in the world starts with horse stances. What's wrong with teaching it this way? You don't seriously expect me to hand over the Liang family saber technique? When we meet Father underground, he'd curse us into our next lives."

Plenty of people in the world used sabers, but very few ever found their own path. To find one's path, you needed your own unique method.

This was the Liang family's closely guarded secret.

Liang Mao'er's mood darkened. "But they're all such good people. If you're not going to teach the real thing, just tell them straight. Don't string them along."

Liang Gou'er's face hardened. "Tell them straight, and how do we keep getting free drinks? How do we keep living in this clinic? Tell you what -- you learn the Liang family saber first. Once you've mastered it, pass it to whoever you want. I won't stop you. And when we get to the other side, you can take the blame and let Father and Grandfather scold you instead of me."

Liang Mao'er deflated at once. "I can't learn it."

"Can't learn it? You're going to learn it!" Liang Gou'er's voice was firm. "Breathe with me. Thirteen thousand five hundred breaths, inhaling and exhaling the primordial heaven and earth. It's just breathing -- how can you not even pass the threshold? Keep at it. Once you feel that extra current of qi forming in your chest..."

No one noticed that while Liang Gou'er coached his brother in breathing, Dark Cloud was crouched nearby, watching with what seemed like rapt attention, its body rising and falling gently with each breath.

Some of Liang Gou'er's terminology went over its head. It could only memorize the words and puzzle them out later.

Dark Cloud was thoughtfully adjusting its own breathing rhythm when Liang Gou'er happened to catch its focused expression. He burst out laughing. "Does this little cat want to learn my saber too? If a cat mastered the Liang family saber, I wonder what Father would think down below."

Liang Mao'er muttered while sorting vegetables. "Go ahead and teach it. It'll probably learn faster than me."

Liang Gou'er laughed and shook his head. "What kind of nonsense is that? A cat can't even understand what we're saying. How's it supposed to learn the saber? Now pay attention -- I refuse to believe I can't teach you."

Dark Cloud ignored him. It hopped onto Liang Mao'er's shoulder, pretended to doze, and secretly continued listening as Liang Gou'er passed on the family art...

It simply felt that the Liang family saber held an irresistible pull. Whether it could understand or not, it would listen first.

...

...

Just then, a sharp birdcall sounded from outside the gate.

No one else noticed, but Chen Ji's eyes snapped open. That was a Secret Spy Division copper whistle.

He propped himself up in surprise and peered through the corridor toward the main hall.

Jinzhu, dressed as a commoner with a bamboo hat low over his eyes, had come to the Taiping Clinic posing as a patient. He approached the counter with a smile. "Physician Yao, I'm here to see Chen Ji."

Old Man Yao set down his brush and ledger and gave Jinzhu a sidelong look. "Has the Secret Spy Division run out of people? Why do you keep bothering a badly injured boy?"

Jinzhu grinned sheepishly. "Blame yourself for raising such a talented apprentice."

"Go on, he's in the back."

Jinzhu craned his neck toward the courtyard. "Could you call him out here? Too many ears back there."

Old Man Yao sneered, then called out, "Chen Ji, someone's here for you."

Jinzhu winced. "Keep it down -- I came in secret!"

Chen Ji shuffled out. "Lord Jinzhu, what brings you here?"

Jinzhu pulled him aside and beamed. "First, congratulations. The reward for our work at the Chao Cang Gambling Den has come through. You've been promoted to Pigeon rank. One more step and you'll be a Sea Goshawk overseeing an entire region. Going forward, the court pays you thirty taels a year, and the Secret Spy Division adds another thirty on top."

Chen Ji grunted.

Seeing he wasn't particularly moved, Jinzhu added, "I've also submitted a special request to the capital for you to receive a cultivation path manual. The Inner Minister's reply should arrive in a few days."

Chen Ji's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Would I lie to you?"

Chen Ji smiled. "So what brings you here today, Lord Jinzhu?"

"A chance to earn a great merit!" Jinzhu launched into his pitch. "Cultivation path manuals are a reward reserved for Sea Goshawk-level agents. I've already requested a special exception for you, but whether the Inner Minister approves is still uncertain. If you earn another major merit, the manual becomes a certainty -- and you might even be promoted to Sea Goshawk immediately, with monthly cultivation resources to match... Did you hear any explosions last night?"

"No. What explosions?" Chen Ji feigned ignorance. The clinic was several li from Red Cloth Lane -- far too distant to hear anything.

Jinzhu said, "Last night a Jing Dynasty agent caused havoc in Red Cloth Lane and is now hiding somewhere in the city. I need you to lead the hunt and find him."

Chen Ji thought to himself: Well, isn't this convenient.