A small grove beside the official road.
“Here, fifty taels.” A heavy piece of silver was passed over, and Mo Zi clasped her hands in salute. “Brother Zan, many thanks.”
Zan Jin wasn’t in a hurry to collect the silver. He helped Cen Er lift Yuan Cheng, who had been hidden in the large flatbed cart, and upon touching his hanging arms, frowned and said, “This is a dislocation. If we don’t quickly set it back, even if it’s set properly later, this hand will be useless.”
Mo Zi, thinking that Zan Jin was a martial artist, asked him, “Brother Zan, can you set bones? We’re in a hurry to travel and can’t get a physician for the moment.”
“This isn’t difficult.” He spoke quickly and acted quickly too. With one hand supporting Yuan Cheng’s shoulder and one hand gripping his arm, he moved it a few times, then suddenly pushed upward—there was a crack.
Mo Zi was dumbfounded on the spot. She had just asked casually, but this wasn’t her own hand. Besides, with the number one corrupt official in this state, forcibly setting the bone back—wouldn’t he die from the pain?
However, she only heard a muffled groan.
Seeing Zan Jin lift the other arm, she kindly spoke to stop him. “Brother Zan, wait a moment—” Let him catch his breath.
“It’s… it’s fine.” Three words squeezed out from between his teeth, a hissing sound. His shoulders rose and fell, his knees tightly curved. “Please… have him continue.” Several crystal-clear beads of sweat dripped onto the ash-gray hemp pants, mixing into the bloodstains and deepening several circles.
“You—” Mo Zi couldn’t bear to watch. What suffering was this person enduring? But thinking again, she couldn’t persuade him to stop. If their positions were reversed, she wouldn’t want her hand to be crippled.
Zan Jin was waiting for Mo Zi to speak. “Brother Mo, I’ll follow your instructions.”
“Long pain is worse than short pain. Brother Zan, go ahead and set it.” After Mo Zi finished speaking, she turned her head slightly aside. She was a soldier and didn’t lack willpower, but the scene before her was truly somewhat cruel. Yuan Cheng’s entire body had no intact places, he was already breathing out more than breathing in, yet he still had to endure the pain of bone-setting and restoration.
Another muffled groan, with a drawn-out tail, became a moan. Halfway through the moan, it suddenly went silent, and his head tilted to the side.
Mo Zi jumped over, urgently asking Cen Er who was supporting Yuan Cheng, “Is he dead?”
Cen Er panicked, raising one hand to feel his breath. He fumbled around, but was always blocked by the messy hair and couldn’t find the nose.
It was still Zan Jin who reached out and pressed on Yuan Cheng’s pulse, saying with complete certainty, “Not dead. Fainted from the pain.”
“Brother Mo, I see that even if he doesn’t die now, he probably won’t live much longer.” Cen Er clicked his tongue. “They say dead people can’t board ships, and people can’t die on ships. Should we take him or not?”
“Take him! As long as he has a breath left, I can’t go back on my word.” Never mind the pearls—she was a person of her word. It was also this trustworthiness that kept her at Qiu Sanniang’s place as a maid. Whether she was dutiful or not was another matter. Others might think her foolish, but she insisted on her principles.
Zan Jin suddenly scrutinized Mo Zi carefully for two glances, lowered his head, and his mouth moved, though no one could hear his muttering clearly.
After the two of them got the unconscious Yuan Cheng into the horse carriage, Mo Zi once again gave Zan Jin the silver and also handed him an oiled paper package.
Zan Jin took it and opened it to see—inside were two large buns, still warm. “These I cannot—” He wanted to say he couldn’t take them for free.
“Brother Zan, if you say you can’t accept ten, surely two is acceptable? That this person could leave the city is thanks to you and your father. Without you two, the three of us would have had trouble. These buns are compensation from us for disturbing your father’s peace.” Mo Zi guessed that the attraction of two buns might be somewhat greater than fifty taels of silver, as far as Zan Jin was concerned.
Zan Jin couldn’t out-talk Mo Zi. He tucked the oiled paper package and silver into his bosom and thanked her repeatedly.
Mo Zi got on the carriage and heard Cen Er cry out in surprise, saw him blinking his eyes looking behind her. She turned around—Zan Jin had dropped to his knees and was performing a great salute to her.
She jumped down from the carriage to help Zan Jin up. “Brother Zan, what are you doing? I gave you silver and you exerted effort—it’s a transaction where payment and goods are exchanged. You need not perform such a great salute.”
“I, Zan Jin, wish to follow by Brother Mo’s side. Please grant me this, Brother Mo.” Zan Jin knelt and refused to rise. No matter how Mo Zi pulled, his body was like a rock, utterly immobile.
“My father said I have good martial arts and am quite clever—” Zan Jin lowered his head and began prattling on, “it’s just that I lack the mental flexibility to think around corners and don’t know how to be adaptable. Because I’ve been in the mountains for so long without finding anyone to talk to, I can only think of one thing and do one thing. My father’s dying words were that I should find a good person smarter than me and follow him, then I wouldn’t have to go hungry. Father knew I couldn’t read, so he even helped me write the sign for selling myself to bury my father. He had the neighbor relay the message to me to go to the market and exchange myself for some silver to buy a coffin. After refusing for several days, the person who finally bought me would definitely be a good person. Though you didn’t buy me, you still gave me silver and added big buns. That person is almost dead, yet you still treat him well. Moreover, the idea to leave the city was also yours. So you are the good person smarter than me that my father spoke of. I’ve decided to sell myself to you.”
Ha, he’d decided—she hadn’t decided yet.
Mo Zi shook her head, dispersing the prattle circling her head, and said, “Brother Zan, I told you—you help me with something, I give you silver, and we’re even. Besides, I myself am still a servant with a master. How could I take you in? Listen to me—a contract of servitude cannot be established casually. Now you have both freedom and can bury your old father—what a good thing. I see you have strength and martial arts throughout your body. Filling your stomach won’t be difficult. Being a guard or escort is much better than being a government servant whose life is in others’ hands.” What was happening? Her words were also becoming long-winded.
“It doesn’t matter if you have a master. In any case, I’ll just listen to you. I didn’t establish the contract of servitude casually—for three days, I only found you. With my strength and martial arts, whoever dares to want your life, I’ll take his life.” Zan Jin was really quite clever—all his words hit the point.
Mo Zi thought to herself that Zan Jin’s old father hadn’t spoken wrongly. He just lacked that mental flexibility to think around corners. Once he had decided on something, it seemed he couldn’t be pulled back.
“You’ve misjudged. Just providing you room and board—I can’t do that.” She was a second-class maid with no room or kitchen. Of course, if she got the pearls Yuan Cheng promised to give, she’d be rich. But that was still far from certain.
“You can’t let me eat my fill?” Zan Jin hadn’t expected this, but immediately said, “But you can afford fifty taels of silver.”
“That’s not my silver, it’s my master’s.” Mo Zi used Qiu Sanniang as a shield.
“…” Zan Jin seemed to be thinking of a solution.
Mo Zi quickly redirected him. “Even if I could let you follow, you need to handle your father’s funeral, and I must leave here immediately. You also saw that the person in the carriage is severely injured and can’t be delayed.”
This time Zan Jin completely closed his mouth, his head drooping down.
“Brother Zan, how about this? I see you have no relatives or friends. Why don’t you, after you finish the funeral and bury your father, come find us? Brother Mo and I are the managers of Wangqiu Tower in Luo City of Great Zhou. If you’re willing, you can be a guard at the tower—room and board provided, plus a monthly salary.” Cen Er had been listening for a long time and felt the person was quite sincere, and seeing him kneeling was truly pitiful.
“Brother Mo, I will definitely come find you.” Knowing Mo Zi’s whereabouts, Zan Jin couldn’t help but be overjoyed. He got up and pulled the large flatbed cart away.
Mo Zi glared at Cen Er with displeasure. “You recruited him, so you’ll be responsible when the time comes. Also, when did I become a manager? When we get back, I’m going to ask the boss.”
Cen Er quickly bowed, though his expression was relaxed. “I just saw he’d lost his relatives and felt sorry for him. Plus, he’s simple-minded and foolish, which reminds me of my older brother. Isn’t it quite good? The tower lacks guards, and he has strength. By the time he comes looking, you’ll already have gone to the Upper Capital and won’t be bothered.”
Things having come to this, Mo Zi could only let it be.
Entering the carriage compartment again and seeing the person who had been persistently sitting upright to maintain his last breath now collapsed inside, she began to doubt—was this person truly a nation’s number one corrupt official? Why was there not half a trace of insatiable greed revealed in his words and conversation, nor could she feel the treachery and ugliness that corrupt officials should have? Was he too good at adapting to his environment, forgetting past events? Or was her own vision poor, mistaking a wolf for a sheep?
The person before her seemed so fragile. Having lost everything, all alone, wanting to return to an enemy nation—she felt she could understand that feeling, just like Great Qiu.
That’s right, Great Qiu must also be her enemy nation. If she were forced to go to Great Qiu, unwilling and reluctant, she would mostly feel helpless.
Pulling over the new cotton quilt to cover the unconscious Yuan Cheng, Mo Zi closed her eyes to rest. The faint smell of blood, with the jolting of the carriage, repeatedly entered her sense of smell. What kind of face would the number one corrupt official have beneath that messy hair? In her mind she pictured the portrait of Song Dynasty’s Qin Hui—sharp and mean. Then she pictured Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang—slightly plump and fierce. In her eyes, these two were typical examples of treachery and ruthlessness. Which type would Yuan Cheng resemble?
However, she had no thought of parting the clouds to see the sun, because the posture he presented before her—though he said it was fear of death—seemed to her more like lofty arrogance that wouldn’t allow others to trample on it.
“Brother Mo, we’re almost there.” After a long gallop, Cen Er spoke from outside the carriage.
“Got it.” Mo Zi sat up straight, rubbing her drowsy eyes.
“Where have we arrived?” Yuan Cheng’s hands gradually curled into balls, gripping a small piece of the blue cotton quilt cover.
“When did you wake up, sir?” Mo Zi had been dozing and thought Yuan Cheng was still unconscious.
“Not long ago.” Yuan Cheng seemed to have recovered some strength through unconsciousness, and his arms weren’t fractured but dislocated. Now that they were set, this could be considered great fortune in misfortune.
Mo Zi looked outside and could already see the reeds. “We’ve arrived, we should prepare to get off. How are your arms, sir?”
“Much better. I can exert some force.” As for pain, Yuan Cheng didn’t mention a word.
“That’s good.” Mo Zi knew that although dislocation was easier than fracture, a dislocation for a day and night wouldn’t recover easily. But she respected Yuan Cheng’s pride. “This way, if there’s an emergency, even if you jump into the water, there’s still a thread of hope for survival.”
“I’ll take Brother Mo’s auspicious words. Yuan also doesn’t want to die on the ship and add to your bad luck.” Yuan Cheng gritted his teeth to sit up. His elbow had just braced against the wooden board when Mo Zi supported him.
“You should still save your strength, sir. The road is still long.” After Mo Zi helped him up, she stepped back.
“Brother Mo, you’ve finally arrived.” Stinky Fish lifted the curtain and stuck his head in. With a smiling glance he said, “How come there’s one more person?”—
End of Chapter