The few of them had come by a batch of military equipment for nothing — pure sponging off the wealthy — and clearly had no wish to linger. They returned to their seats, each drank a cup and ate a few bites, then bowed repeated thanks to Preceptor Xu.
After a moment, Liu A-Cheng was first to slip out on a call of nature. Back in the market, he quite naturally called the people waiting outside in to carry the equipment out. Then the three Lius rose together, bowed their thanks once more, and, seizing the chance, took up the pieces each had set his eye on and headed straight out the door.
Preceptor Xu watched the whole proceeding with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, yet made no extra trouble.
Naturally, neither Preceptor Xu nor the several Lu clan youths showed any intention of rising to see them off.
But just as they had finally gotten the equipment carried out and lashed securely to the mules and horses, and were on the point of leaving, Lu Gu and Lu Song came out of the hall with several Lu clan youths to take their leave as well. Preceptor Xu personally saw them out, and several great carts of goods were brought out too, all drawn by sturdy oxen. Seeing this, the three Lius had no choice but to go over and give thanks once more.
After all this fuss, it was Lu Gu who rode off first with the Lu clan youths and the several great carts of goods, while that outer-branch clansman Lu Song fell behind — for whatever reason, not traveling with them.
But that seemed to be no business of the three Lius. Once they were clear of the Way of the Celestial Masters' private market precinct, even Liu Jili and Liu A-Cheng looked inexplicably exhilarated — never mind Liu Huzi, whose heart was set on the tiger hunt... Yet after the three had gone a few hundred paces in talk and laughter, Liu A-Cheng suddenly noticed something, and surprise followed.
"Did something happen to you all back at the private market?" Liu A-Cheng fixed his gaze on the able-bodied laborers trailing behind — men who ordinarily ran with Liu Huzi, of whom only two or three looked at all familiar. "Why aren't you laughing?"
"Why would they laugh?" Liu Huzi was baffled. "They didn't get any of the meal — all they did was walk and work."
"You laughed; if nothing were wrong, they should be laughing along," said Liu Jili, who had caught on too. He then studied the plainly nervous able-bodied laborers — but it was his first day here, he knew nothing of them, and he could hardly press the question outright.
"Is someone missing?" Just before any of them could speak, Liu Huzi abruptly realized. "Where's Shui Nu?"
The able-bodied laborers glanced at one another, and for a moment not one dared explain.
"Was he dragged off by the Way of the Celestial Masters' people to hear the preaching?" Liu A-Cheng worked it out as well.
"He went to ask about it himself, and just then A Cheng came out and called us," one of them hastened to explain. "And then you came out too, young master..."
Liu A-Hu's face went ugly in an instant. Clearly, for a great-clan son of the lowest rank like him — one who went about with a bow at his hip and a horse beneath him — this business of a trusted companion jumping to a higher branch cost terrible face, and substance besides; fallen as far as this, a scrap of face was about the only thing left that was worth anything.
These men clearly understood the principle too, which was why they had been tense and uneasy the whole way.
"Shall we wait for him?" Liu Jili's expression was a little odd. "Entering the Way of the Celestial Masters takes an offering of five pecks of rice — no rice, then millet; no millet, then cloth. Without an offering they don't take people in easily..."
Liu A-Hu's face grew uglier still.
"That's not necessarily so." Liu Cheng shook his head. "The place where we've settled is too close to them, and there are so many of us — the Celestial Masters' people are bound to have some design... Otherwise why would they have handed us weapons so freely today?"
"Then what do we do?" At the word "weapons," Liu Huzi glanced at the arms lashed to the mules and horses, plainly rather helpless. "We just took all this equipment from them — it wouldn't do to turn around and demand the man."
"I'll go and see." Liu Cheng thought a moment, then answered in earnest. "Whether we get the man back hardly matters — what matters is learning what they really intend beneath all this face-giving: friend or foe, urgent or unhurried... You take the equipment back first, and once you're there, send someone back to meet me. On no account is the equipment to be carried back again."
"Good." Liu Jili answered at once. "I know the road. In a while, once I've walked them to the path into the woods, I'll come back for you."
Liu A-Cheng nodded, and turned back carrying only the crossbow set he'd had on him.
Once he was gone, Liu Huzi, with nothing to say, grew plainly restless — almost every hundred paces or so he would turn to look back, then face forward again to sulk.
Beside him, Liu Jili could only offer what comfort he could: "This is a job only A Cheng can do. Your standing is what it is, and your temper is quick. If a few words set you off, it would likely ruin everything."
Liu A-Hu nodded, but after a few more steps the fretfulness returned: "My only fear is that A Cheng on his own won't be equal to it."
"Him being alone is precisely what makes it manageable," Liu Jili said, shaking his head. "I sensed it back in the hall... When it comes to handling an occasion like that, the two of us put together are simply not his match."
"How are we not his match?" Liu Huzi's attention pivoted at once.
"Preceptor Xu was mocking you and me — did you notice?" Liu Jili shot back.
"Of course I could notice. But he never let it show to our faces — it was only in his manner. And we were accepting his equipment; how could we fall out with him?" Liu Huzi shook his head again and again.
"And that, Brother Hu, is where you fall short of A Cheng." Liu Jili shook his head as he walked. "Some of Preceptor Xu's words were already quite blatant, but you had just finished drawing the bow and truly believed the man was praising you, so your mind was nowhere near his barbs..."
"What do you mean?"
"He said the three of us, born of the Pengcheng Liu clan, were all 'sturdy soldiers'... That was a sneer at the three of us at once — that hunting tigers to court the Grand Commander's favor was a coarse, second-rate move, unbefitting great-clan bearing — and a sneer besides at the Pengcheng Liu clan's decline." Liu Jili said this with a sigh. "Brother Hu, among the great clans, short of the direst extremity, no man personally gallops forth and bends a bow to play the 'sturdy soldier.'"
"I truly didn't notice at the time..." For once, Liu Huzi did not take offense.
"I noticed — and at the time I very nearly failed to hold it in. So I looked at you two: I saw you hadn't caught it, then I looked at A Cheng. A Cheng is always sharp-eyed; there was no way he'd missed it, yet he acted as though he hadn't understood a word — I suppose he was terrified of unsettling you and spoiling the tiger hunt. Once I saw that, I swallowed it too." Liu Jili went on explaining.
"So that's how it was?" Liu Huzi still was not angry — if anything, dejected. "But honestly, I think A Cheng is probably right. We really have lost face, and yet there's nothing to be done about it... Whose fault is it that we've fallen this far? No office to hold, no family property. If we don't become 'sturdy soldiers,' what else can we do? And even being 'sturdy soldiers' — is that something we can be just because we wish it? The only way we can play 'sturdy soldier' is by hunting a tiger and staging the show for the Grand Commander. How then could we begrudge anyone mocking us with that very word?"
At this point Liu Huzi seemed to think of something; he paused, then said: "I knew I had always underrated A Cheng. I just never thought it went this far."
Liu Jili glanced at him, said nothing more, and just lowered his head and pressed on.
Meanwhile, Liu A-Cheng — entirely unaware that he was being discussed behind his back — was quickly back inside the private market. Familiar with the way by now, he sought out the same shop as before, but asked nothing about the missing able-bodied laborer and requested no audience with Preceptor Xu; instead he asked to pay a call on Lu Song, whom he had seen at the banquet.
A little later, the two met outside a bamboo grove off to one side and behind the private market. Liu A-Cheng wasted no words: he told him that a companion of theirs had stayed behind here, and asked for his help looking into it.
Lu Song heard him out with his hands clasped behind his back, his expression unchanged; he only looked the youth before him over once, twice, then asked in all earnestness: "Brother A Cheng — your own companion has gone missing in this private market, and instead of seeking out Preceptor Xu, who administers this place, you come looking for me, a guest who fled from the north just as you did?"
"Why tease a stripling, Brother Lu?" Liu Cheng was briefly at a loss. "It is precisely because you have only just fled south from the north — you'd have no reason to go out of your way to deceive the few of us over this — that I dared conclude you must count as half a master here... Otherwise, how is it that the moment you came south you found this place to lodge? How could you arrange introductions and relief for those clansmen of yours? I noticed at the banquet that Preceptor Xu was clearly closer to you, Brother Lu; and when I saw your clansmen depart while you yourself stayed behind, I had already guessed — in the north you must already have been a man of the Dao, and of no low rank at that."
Lu Song listened intently, gave a dry laugh on the spot, then, hands behind his back, shook his head: "You — not so many years on you, but a sharp eye... It's true. My father and grandfather were always famous Daoists in Qingzhou, and as a child I entered the immortal registers early on. How else would I, the moment I reached Jingkou, have found Master Du's estate to seek relief for my clansmen, or parted from them and taken lodging here? Very well — I'll make inquiries for you..."
With that he beckoned over a big fellow wearing a crimson headscarf and sent him off to ask around.
Once the man had gone, Lu Song studied the youth in front of him, visibly lost in thought, as if about to say something.
Liu Cheng, for his part, hesitated a moment, then bowed with cupped hands of his own accord: "Brother Lu — coming to you time and again like this, I have been very discourteous, especially with Preceptor Xu just having given us so much equipment. But as you have seen, of the three who came today, Liu A-Hu at least is still all right; he has a clan to fall back on. Brother Jili and I, though, are alone and displaced, destitute past the extreme — to the point of not having clothes enough to cover our bodies... So may I make bold with one request: two sets of plain winter clothes for us? If you grant this aid, and if in days to come there is still a road for us to live by, I will repay the kindness of these clothes with everything I have."
Lu Song narrowed his eyes at that: "Brother A Cheng — is this you guessing that I mean to draw you into the faith, and moving to block me first with these words? Know this: were you to enter the faith, how could I let you go on wearing nothing but that coarse short tunic and trousers, like some drudge of a bondservant?"
Liu Cheng truly had not guessed the man meant to recruit him — he genuinely wanted a set of winter clothes for the winter. In any case, they were this rich — they had even handed over the weapons the lot of them had sponged for; asking for two sets of winter clothes on top could hardly hurt, could it?
Besides, Garrison Commander Gao had given them a way in, but could the officials' resettlement truly be counted on? The military order the garrison on the Huai River received from the Grand Commander — was it not precisely to aid refugees in crossing? And how had that turned out?
So: lay in what you can, while you can.
Of course, back in the present: since the man had brought up entering the faith himself, Liu A-Cheng's position was clear enough — he simply dared not join. The Way of the Celestial Masters looked fine enough from outside; who knew what it turned into once you were inside?
This was not the sort of thing you joined on a lark.
By comparison, Liu Huzi's line of thinking — clan fallen, no office to be had, so better for all of them to take up soldiering and carve out rank and merit with saber and spear — was the road out that better fit a certain notion of "history's proper course," wasn't it?
"Brother Lu would actually draw me into the faith?" So Liu Cheng's thoughts churned, while his face showed astonishment. "Can such Celestial Official registers simply be handed down? Or do I have a destiny with the Dao, so they may be conferred straightaway? And if the registers are conferred, might you throw in an estate as fine as this one for me as well?"
In your dreams! Did he think the Way of the Celestial Masters' riches had come down from heaven?
If they could so freely bestow even a fully stocked estate like this one, why would entry to the faith cost five pecks of rice? Why would the faithful have to farm, weave, and forge iron to fend for themselves?
Lu Song was speechless within, and could only give a dry laugh: "There is indeed such a thought — but only a thought. After all, for a young man of your promise, Master Du himself would have to confer the registers. Since he is not here, it must be that your immortal destiny has not yet arrived — there's no help for it... Registers may not be given out lightly."
"A real pity, then." Liu Cheng put on an air of regret, then bowed again with lowered head.
Lu Song, having stood there awkwardly a while, found it dull as well, so he beckoned another "crimson-scarved strongman" over and had him bring two sets of winter clothes — while Liu Cheng hurried to add that one set must be long and one short, cut to their builds.
Before long, the two sets of thick winter clothing were brought over... Liu Cheng had lived some thirty years in his past life — where would he find the face to stand on ceremony? He simply saluted his thanks, took the bundles, and opened them up on the spot. Each set held a robe, a jacket, and a pair of trousers, plus a headdress, and with them came two large squares of blue-green cloth for wrapping.
The robes were blue-green; the jackets were of tanned hide, though from what animal he could not tell; the trousers were of undyed coarse hemp in its natural color, a yellowish brown; the headdresses, meanwhile, were unmistakably crimson.
When he had finished looking, Liu A-Cheng was overjoyed, and thanked the man again and again... He truly was grateful. Let the sponging be discreditable, let the giver look down on him even as he handed charity over, let the Way of the Celestial Masters carry whatever risks it carried — none of it mattered, because he was on the very edge of slipping below the death line here in Great Jin. That the man would lift a hand at such a moment and give him these clothes — that was a great kindness to him.
And besides, the set came with a robe. That meant that once winter set in he could shed the utter lack of standing that went with a coarse short tunic and trousers, and find it a little easier to keep up his guise as a great clansman — and it meant that this Lu Song before him truly did regard him as one of the lower rank of the great clans.
How could he not be grateful?
Once the thanks were done, the man sent to make inquiries had still not returned; Lu and Liu were both rather at a loss and could only keep up a desultory chat.
And this Liu A-Cheng, plainly, had no sense of propriety: with clothes in hand he still couldn't sit still, remaining curious as ever. Fingering that crimson headdress, he asked: "I've been wondering for a while — why does your honored faith make crimson its emblem? It seems to me this crimson must be very hard to dye; otherwise why would ordinary robes still run mostly to blue-green, white, earth-brown, and black?"
"When one serves Heaven, what does 'hard' count for? Rather, I fear that if it were not hard, it could not show the sincerity of our faith's people." Lu Song began with some complacency, but on the actual reason he himself was plainly a little unsure, evidently not wholly certain. "As for why crimson was chosen — naturally it is because... because certain rites call for blood sacrifice, and crimson stands in for blood, no different from cinnabar. It stands for sincerity."
"So that's it — I was overthinking." Liu A-Cheng bound the two sets of clothes together, and as he slung them on his back he sighed with feeling.
"What were you thinking, Brother A Cheng?"
"I had supposed your faith arose in the Later Han. Han reigned by the virtue of fire, so crimson was chosen to match it, and the usage passed down to this day." Liu A-Cheng, clothes on his back, spread his hands. "All the more since the mainstream of the Dao in those days was the rebellious Way of Great Peace. The Way of Great Peace took its name from the yellow turbans, proclaiming 'The Azure Sky is dead; the Yellow Sky shall rise,' while the Way of the Celestial Masters had always gotten along amicably with the authorities, and so had all the more need to mark itself apart — hence crimson... I never dreamed it was actually working like cinnabar, a stand-in for blood sacrifice."
Lu Song started as if stung, and fell deep in thought.
Seeing that Lu Song had gone silent, Liu A-Cheng did not press him; he just swayed this way and that, now eyeing the crossbow at his waist, now tightening the winter-clothes bundle strapped snug behind him, feeling that with gear like this he could survive even three more years as a refugee — today's trip had truly not been in vain; with a start like this... Amid such stray thoughts, someone at last came over bringing the able-bodied laborer who had gone missing earlier, and the man looked thoroughly deflated.
"A Shui." Liu Cheng, who had only just managed to keep the man's name in mind, spoke first. "I haven't come to take you away. It's only that you left without a word, and Brother Hu specifically asked me to come take a look... If you mean to stay, there's no harm in it."
The able-bodied laborer whose childhood name was Shui Nu was utterly downcast: "If A Cheng won't take me back, there's nothing I can do. Entering the faith takes five pecks of rice or other goods, and I begged them a long time, but they wouldn't have me... And yet I'm scared to go back, afraid A Hu will fly into a rage!"
"No need to fear — we'll go back together, and if he flies into a rage I'll talk him round." So Liu Cheng said, but his eyes had gone to Lu Song. "Brother Lu — if he goes back, it will only stir up anger on Liu Ren Gong's side... Why not just keep him here?"
"The rules cannot be broken — otherwise how could we hold the faith of our people?" Lu Song shook his head repeatedly. "Besides, as you yourself just said: were he to enter the Dao, Liu Huzi would surely rage, taking it that we were digging out his foundations while he was down. Fallen though Liu Ren Gong and his sons may be, they are a proper pillar of the Pengcheng Liu clan, with several hundred households of clansmen, Garrison Commander Gao right here locally to lean on, and a call on the Grand Commander coming soon. Why lightly brew up discord?"
Whether the attitude was delivered deliberately or simply fell out naturally, Liu Cheng, having gotten the final answer of this trip, merely nodded and let the matter drop, turning instead to the able-bodied laborer: "A Shui, you heard it too. Go back for now... If it truly won't work, don't follow A Hu on the hunt; gathering firewood or carrying hay will do. Once you're settled and have saved up five pecks of rice, come join the faith then."
Shui Nu had nothing to say, and could only nod.
Liu Cheng thanked Lu Song again and again and turned to go, while Shui Nu, clearly unwilling, was shoved along by the impatient crimson-scarved strongmen and followed them out.
The two took the road; they walked several li without another word, and when they came to the low hill on the road they had come by, though the sky was still bright with day, Liu Cheng suddenly plunked himself down, offering only that there was forest ahead they must pass through, and there might be tigers — they would go on when the men coming to meet them arrived.
The able-bodied laborer whose childhood name was Shui Nu found it absurd: it was still this early in the day, and as far as the eye could see the private market was bustling with comings and goings, with no small number of people busy in the fields round about — what tigers was there to fear?
But say what he might, the youth simply would not move.
Never mind that Shui Nu's own heart was uneasy already: even a man truly clear of conscience would have had to mind the youth's possible great-clan standing — all the more after today's episode, which had made the youth's status all the more solid. So he could only stand there blankly, waiting it out.
After a while, sure enough, someone came to meet them — but only Liu Jili, alone. A Shui grew more speechless than ever: one man more — what would that avail if they truly ran into a tiger?
Liu Jili glimpsed the bundle on the other's back; though he didn't know what it was, he guessed the reason for such caution, and naturally had nothing to say either.
And so the three took the road again, crossed the small track without alarm or mishap, and reached the camp — along the way, never mind a tiger, they hadn't seen so much as a rabbit... Back at camp, Shui Nu went off about his own business; but Liu A-Cheng stopped Liu Jili, who had been about to go find Liu Huzi to talk over the tiger hunt. He undid the bundle on his back, rummaged a moment, found the parcel holding the longer set of winter clothes, and handed it over whole.
Perhaps he had noticed and guessed along the road: just as Liu A-Cheng said nothing more, Liu Jili made no extra move either, only took that set of winter clothes without a word, and nodded once.
Chapter 14