At the Sanyue River Pavilion.
Cui Tai had been standing in the courtyard since dawn, waiting for news. He had heard about the attack on the granary — and he had held himself back. He had not mobilized anyone to go and help.
The weight of that restraint and that waiting can be imagined for a man like him, and yet he held. The feigned attack on the outside was meant to tie down Xiahou Zuo’s forces and buy them more opportunity elsewhere. If he revealed his hand too early, the whole endeavor could collapse at the final moment.
He stood there from morning to nightfall. The granary side had sent no one to request aid throughout. The man he’d sent to watch reported back that Cui Qing had been seen standing on the granary wall holding a saber — and the moment Cui Tai heard this, he understood.
His family was choosing to fight to the death to pin down the enemy, to buy him time and opportunity.
In the cause of making the Cui name into an imperial name — how many of the family would give their lives for this day?
Cui Tai stood there from dawn to darkness.
Everything that needed arranging had been arranged. Reports flowed in from every direction to the Sanyue River Pavilion without interruption. He had nothing left to arrange. He was only waiting for the right moment.
“Master.”
Qin Zhuo came hurrying in from outside and bowed. “Our people just sent word: all four city wall sections have sequentially locked down their barracks, sealed their corridors, and barred anyone from approaching.”
At this, Cui Tai’s eyes lit up sharply.
“Has something succeeded?”
“No definite word yet. All four sections are sealed — our people can’t get out, outsiders can’t get in. But it’s certain that something has happened at all four sections, or they wouldn’t have locked down so tightly.”
Cui Tai exhaled slowly. He looked up at the night sky and was silent for a moment. “Even if today’s matter succeeds, Cui Qing and the others may not be coming back.”
Qin Zhuo said, “I’m willing to take men in to attempt a rescue. We should be able to bring out at least some of them.”
“There’s no need.”
Cui Tai said, “Less than half an hour remains before the army is due to begin its assault. Right now the four sections are sealed, and a report just arrived saying that the men besieging the granary have begun their assault in earnest — they’re probably trying to take it under cover of darkness.”
He turned to Qin Zhuo. “Everyone on standby. Prepare to receive the army as they enter the city. The moment the army sends a signal, you and Wei Xianzhen take your men straight for the north gate. Signal back in reply — strike from inside and outside simultaneously, and take the gate. Li Chi’s people are busy besieging the granary; they think that’s where our plan is focused. But they have no idea how we intend to take the gate.”
Cui Tai said, “Go.”
Qin Zhuo asked, “But Master — you’re leaving yourself with no one at your side?”
“Perhaps before long, Li Chi will come to pay a call. If he comes, my presence here holds him in place. Cui Qing has already prepared to give his life for the family. I’ve long been prepared to do the same. And besides — there is one important matter I need to address face to face with Li Chi.”
Cui Tai said to Qin Zhuo, “Whether the north gate falls depends above all on you and Wei Xianzhen. So let nothing else distract you. The Military Governor entrusted you both to assist me — and now you are going to open the gate and receive him. That is a complete circle. A very fitting one.”
Cui Tai waved a hand. “Go.”
Qin Zhuo was silent for a moment, then dropped to both knees and knocked his head to the floor several times. He rose, turned, and left.
Not long after he left the Sanyue River Pavilion, a carriage stopped at the front entrance. Li Chi stepped out alone and walked up to the door. He looked at the two attendants standing there — and before they could raise a hand to stop him, he spoke first.
“Your master must have instructed you that if I came, you should let me pass directly.”
“Young Master Li?”
One of the attendants asked.
Li Chi nodded. “That’s me.”
The attendant said, “Our master did indeed leave instructions. All other guests are to be turned away — the Sanyue River Pavilion is not receiving visitors today — but if Young Master Li arrives, he is to be shown in at once.”
“My thanks.”
Li Chi inclined his head.
The attendant led Li Chi inside. The Sanyue River Pavilion was an enormous property — its street-facing frontage was a three-story timber building, and beyond that lay a front courtyard arranged like a small classical garden, intricate and refined. Through the garden lay the main hall, a five-story timber structure that very nearly pushed the limits of what could be built in wood. Behind the main hall was the rear courtyard, itself quite large, with several separate smaller garden courts set within.
The construction and furnishings of the Sanyue River Pavilion alone would represent a staggering sum, and Li Chi reflected as he walked that with what he currently had in his pockets, he likely couldn’t build a third of one.
To say nothing of the women who graced the Sanyue River Pavilion — gathered from the finest in all of Great Chu, and some from beyond its borders, with every penny and resource that selection required. The wealth that had gone into acquiring them was beyond calculation.
Because the establishment had been shut to visitors without warning that day, the women had nothing to do, and when they saw a young gentleman enter, they grew curious. Many of them had pressed themselves to their windows, wondering why he was allowed in when no one else was.
To them, the Cui Family in Jizhou was like the sky above — and when the Cui Family said no one enters, in all of Jizhou, truly no one could enter without permission.
They wondered who Li Chi was. Li Chi wondered who Cui Tai was.
Inside the main hall, Li Chi found Cui Tai standing there with a smile. Li Chi made a shallow bow. “Mister Cui.”
Cui Tai returned the courtesy with full formality. “Young Master Li.”
The main hall on the ground floor was a square space with an open center — looking up, one could see the encircling galleries of the upper floors. Curious women had already gathered at those galleries and were leaning over the railings to look down.
Cui Tai smiled. “I thought Young Master Li would certainly come.”
Li Chi smiled as well. “I thought Mister Cui was certainly waiting for me.”
Cui Tai made a welcoming gesture and called for tea — his best preserved lotus-heart.
“This is tea I stored away last year.”
Cui Tai gave a quiet sigh. “As Young Master Li knows, the roads have grown increasingly unsafe. In the past, specialist tea merchants would deliver the finest teas from the south. Starting last year, the trade routes closed. Anyone trying to do business on those roads — seven or eight out of ten don’t arrive. It seems as though overnight, every last person under heaven turned to banditry.”
Li Chi made a sound of acknowledgment but did not respond.
Cui Tai continued, “This lotus-heart comes from the country around Hangcheng — some of the finest tea in the world. A jin of quality lotus-heart ought to contain no fewer than fourteen thousand buds. Have you ever been to Hangcheng, Young Master Li? The finest place in the realm — refined, beautiful, beyond compare.”
Li Chi shook his head. “I’ve never been. I haven’t even traveled beyond Jizhou’s own territory.”
Cui Tai said, “If you have the ability and the opportunity, you really should walk the world. People know the world is large, but they don’t know how large. They know the world is beautiful, but they don’t know where that beauty lies.”
He looked at Li Chi. “You’re still young. See more of it — your perspective will change.”
Li Chi nodded. “I will, someday.”
Cui Tai said, “I was twenty-two years old when I left Jizhou and began walking the world — that was nearly thirty years ago. Even then I knew: Great Chu was already finished. So I thought: if I don’t walk while Great Chu still stands, once the wars come, even walking will be impossible.”
He looked at Li Chi. “I spent fifteen years traveling all thirteen provinces of Great Chu. I have seen this empire more clearly than almost anyone alive. If Great Chu were a sick man, I am someone who can diagnose the disease. Everyone under heaven claims to have medicine for Great Chu — but if they’ve never actually looked at the patient, if they don’t even know where it hurts, how can they treat it?”
He paused, then continued, “So in time I understood: they don’t want to heal this Great Chu. They only want to draw more blood from a sick man.”
Li Chi was sitting very still by now, quietly moved.
Cui Tai continued, “I spent twenty years traveling in all — fifteen walking the empire, five living in Daxing City. I lived in the capital to see whether this most gravely ill place could perhaps be healed.”
He shook his head slowly. “I looked for fifteen years on the road and five years in the capital, and then I understood: it cannot be healed.”
He looked at Li Chi. “And you, Young Master? What do you think?”
Li Chi answered, “It cannot be healed.”
Cui Tai smiled. “Even before our falling-out, the first time I saw you, I knew you were different from other people. The most frightening thing in this world is not a cunning old man — it is a young man of extraordinary ability.”
Li Chi cupped his hands. “Many thanks for the generous praise, Mister Cui.”
Cui Tai said, “Unless I’m mistaken, Young Master Li is a man of the Yanshan Camp — serving under its commander, Yu Chaozong?”
Li Chi answered, “Yes.”
Cui Tai exhaled slowly. “And that is why I did not leave, but remained here to wait for Young Master Li.”
Li Chi said, “If that is Mister Cui’s reason for waiting, I’m afraid you’ve waited for the wrong thing.”
Cui Tai asked, “How so?”
Li Chi didn’t answer directly, but turned the question back on him. “Mister Cui knows that Prince Yu has been trying rather hard to recruit Brother Yu Chaozong as well.”
At this, Cui Tai fell into a long silence. Then he smiled, with a note of apology in it. “I truly underestimated Yu Chaozong — and I underestimated Young Master Li. What the Cui Family intends and what Yu Chaozong intends are the same — there is nothing to discuss.”
Li Chi said, “If only what the Cui Family intended were not to be done here in Jizhou.”
Cui Tai smiled. “Young Master Li underestimates the Cui Family. This place, Jizhou — the Cui Family has witnessed its changes for centuries, generation after generation. And just as no one looks at this empire more clearly than a handful of people, no one looks at Jizhou more clearly than the Cui Family.”
Li Chi shook his head. “Too impatient.”
Cui Tai was momentarily taken aback.
Li Chi picked up the tea cup and looked at it, then set it down. He said with genuine admiration, “Such exquisite tea — even the sight of it is beautiful. I’ve never seen anything this fine before…” He set down the cup again and continued. “Mister Cui said that to make something of this world, one must first see this world. That was well said — precise and apt.”
Li Chi set the cup down again and went on. “I have not seen the world. I haven’t even finished seeing Jizhou. By Mister Cui’s standard, there are far too many things I haven’t yet seen clearly. But I have seen through two things about Mister Cui.”
Cui Tai frowned — and then smiled.
He asked, “Would Young Master Li care to tell me what those two things are?”
“Of course.”
Li Chi first said, with a note of apology: “Forgive the rudeness.”
Then he reached into his sleeve and drew out a cloth bundle. He unwrapped the cloth to reveal an oilpaper parcel. He opened the oilpaper — and inside were several buns that still held a trace of warmth. Gao Xining had wrapped them up for him herself.
Li Chi held one out toward Cui Tai. “Will Mister Cui have one?”
Cui Tai shook his head. “If Young Master Li is hungry, let me have something proper prepared.”
Li Chi smiled. “No need. Eating my own provisions — that’s a comfortable thing. I was only being polite just now. And to be honest, even if you had said yes, I’d probably have been reluctant to part with it. Someone at home who matters very much to me made these.”
A little small-minded, one might say.
He bit into a bun and looked quietly pleased.
“I stopped home on the way here and happened to see someone making buns. I was in a hurry to come and see you, so I thought I’d eat on the way — but then I had too much on my mind and forgot.”
When he spoke about eating his own provisions being a comfortable thing, Cui Tai’s expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
Li Chi ate and spoke at the same time. “The first thing — I had people look into the Cui Family’s businesses in the city. The full extent of what the Cui Family operates here is probably something no one outside the family could ever fully map. But by pulling on a single thread, one can still find a pattern. The Cui Family began suddenly entering the medicinal trade about a decade ago. Now, seven or eight out of every ten apothecaries in the city are Cui Family establishments. And even the ones that aren’t must source their medicines through Cui Family channels.”
He glanced at Cui Tai and continued, “So for about a decade now, the Cui Family has had a stranglehold on Jizhou’s medicine supply.”
He finished the first bun and picked up the second, still speaking as he ate. “After monopolizing the medicine trade, the Cui Family turned its attention to infiltrating the granary administration. That took about another decade — long enough to replace its entire staff with Cui Family people.”
“The flour and provisions sent to the four city wall sections today were almost certainly laced with medicinal powder. I haven’t been able to determine whether Mister Cui intended to kill everyone or simply incapacitate them — but since I saw through it, none of that will come to pass.”
He looked at Cui Tai. “But that isn’t quite the totality of the two things I spoke of — it is only one of them. Am I reading things correctly?”
Then Li Chi added, “Mister Cui is waiting for me — and waiting for news. I’ve arrived. The news, presumably, will not be coming.”
He finished the last of the buns, and for some reason he suddenly laughed to himself.
Then, as if thinking aloud: “Lucky you didn’t take one. Her cooking really isn’t very good. In all the world, I might be the only one who genuinely enjoys it.”
—