Chapter 58

The capital's third month was thick with blossom; going south, the same season showed a different scene.

The starting point of Zhuo Siheng's life was Shuozhou, at the dynasty's far northern edge, so his life was fated to keep going south. In the third month the Tai River's spring water ran brimming, glossy-dark and smoother than silk, bearing him from Taizhou toward Qingzhou; on arrival he'd change to the land road to Jiangnan Prefecture, then by sea route on to Jinzhou.

There lay the ground where his next three years' challenges and chances would both dwell.

Zhuo Siheng had only ever traveled by boat on the canal; a natural river-voyage was his first. But this trip was far more pleasant than before: for one, with the certificate of appointment in hand, wherever he rested he had clean, quiet official post-stations to lodge in free; for two, Huiheng had hired for him and Ciheng a roomy, comfortable flat-bottomed passenger boat all to themselves — only four cabins, but the cargo all stowed in the hold below, the passenger cabins on the upper deck, room to move, the windows propped to let in the spring breeze, so that reading or resting was spared the cramped weariness of travel, with a settled ease all its own.

Though they were traveling far to settle for a long stay, brother and sister traveled light. Jinzhou's four seasons outdid spring; no need for thick winter clothes and bedding, and with the most troublesome luggage saved, the rest of the trunks seemed feather-light. Their only attendant along was Chen Rong; Huiheng had wanted to hire a maid for her sister for tasks on the road, but Ciheng didn't like anyone following her and wouldn't agree by any means, so in the end Zhuo Siheng stepped in, and Ciheng only grudgingly agreed to find a steady maid for inner-household chores once they reached Jinzhou.

Their boat had run south down the Tai River a dozen-odd days, entering Qingzhou territory last night; the fine afternoon sun lit the cabin bright, and Zhuo Siheng recalled the faces of Huiheng and Xiheng the day they left, the parting seeming as if it were only yesterday. But his own brother and sister were tough; they shed no tears, only charging him to look after himself and Ciheng, and telling him not to worry over home, but to seek with all his heart the room to spread himself and make an ambitious record worthy of his abilities.

But that non-blood brother of his came with his own brother-in-law, the two bringing a jug of fine wine to see him off; drinking, perhaps the mood took them, and there was no not-crying — two grown men wept more grievously than Huiheng, and Zhuo Siheng thought: are you seeing me off to a post or to the grave? — yet found it bitter and funny, and, as the two men's elder brother, couldn't help consoling them a good while. Thinking Tong Shipei had no other bosom friend in the capital to speak his true heart to, he could only charge Zhao Lanxuan, come to see him off too, to comfort him much, and told Zhao Ting'an to take more care in his drilling and treat his wounds in good time.

As elders, Zeng Xuandu and Tong Duo couldn't well see him off in person, so both, a day or two early, sent things and held farewell dinners, each with many a charge, wishing they could pour out a whole day and night of their own out-posting experience; the things they sent were all practical goods from that experience.

Luo Yuanzhu too had someone bring a parting gift; her card respectfully thanked Zhuo Siheng for his pointers that day, and she sent him a rare edition of the Book of Jin printed in Taizong's reign, wishing that, having benefited a region, he might come treading the clouds home.

Some ordinary colleagues on fair terms sent parting gifts too, but most of it Zhuo Siheng left with Huiheng, taking only necessaries on the road.

The most unexpected was that Jiang Wenrui too sent many things, among them a chest with much hair-jewelry and several plain, elegant, fashionable dresses, the stitching and embroidery all brand-new — a guess told at once they were made by Third Aunt's own hand. Likely Huiheng had told her Ciheng would go with him to Lingnan, and so Third Aunt had rushed to make light clothes fit for the south, sending them with her brother's gift.

Huiheng hadn't hidden it from Ciheng either, telling her where they came from before packing them into her luggage; to wear them or not was wholly up to her. But Ciheng was neither resistant nor pleased, only accepting them very calmly.

For a moment, Zhuo Siheng felt his third sister had truly grown up.

Calm and self-possessed in the face of things seemed some hidden strand in the Zhuo family's genes; even one as leaping and outward as Ciheng still held this fine quality, a Zhuo child who, with her three siblings, had inherited the house's bearing from the father's generation.

Besides this, many things had happened before leaving home; now, turning them over on the boat, all seemed as far off as the capital now was.

"Sir." Chen Rong's words drew Zhuo Siheng's thoughts from the capital home back to the cabin. "Shall we go on?"

He held the register he'd written himself, face lowered, and asked in a dull voice beyond his years.

Zhuo Siheng nodded; he had real work to do: "Go on; you were just saying that the wind-rain-thunder-god altars everywhere in Jinzhou have flourishing incense, with sacrifices in all four seasons?"

Chen Rong was by now used to Zhuo Siheng's grasping the exact thread of memory even after his thoughts had run off, and went on: "That's so, sir; but Anhua Commandery reveres mountain-god sacrifice more, and besides the four seasonal rites there are two local sacrifices, at Cold Food and the winter solstice."

"Because Anhua Commandery is ringed by mountains on three sides and valleys all around, its life and livelihood bound up with the mountains — is that why?" Zhuo Siheng said, as if reviewing his notes: "From Jiangnan Prefecture to Anhua Commandery, if not by sea but by land, one goes south over five ridges and three rivers: from the north, in order, Daiyun Ridge, Pan Ridge, Xiangjin Mountain, Youxian Ridge and Tong Mountain; threaded among them three rivers: the Long, the Bidi, and the Min. Anhua's commandery seat, Quanzhang City, lies between an offshoot of Pan Ridge and Daiyun Ridge — a town in a mountain valley; there must surely be a mountain-god temple in it?"

Even having heard Zhuo Siheng's photographic-memory feats countless times, Chen Rong still couldn't hold back his astonishment and puzzlement, and only stared and nodded: "Just so."

At this the boat suddenly lurched, then went still; Zhuo Siheng was about to go out and ask, but Ciheng was always the quickest — she'd already pushed in with the news, saying excitedly: "Elder Brother! The copper ships are about to pass! I've never seen such huge ships!"

Ciheng, brooking no refusal, pulled Zhuo Siheng out toward the deck, saying as she went: "The boatman says the copper ships run the Tai River only twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn — we've caught it! Hurry, Brother; huge as they are, they go fast! A moment slow and you'll miss them!"

The moment the two stepped onto the deck, they saw seven or eight passenger, cargo and fishing boats already stopped along the right bank, the experienced boatmen lowering their masts, treading the gangplanks ashore to make the mooring ropes fast — this to keep their boats from being tipped and swamped by the waves the copper ships raised as they passed, drawing deep, and sending anyone aboard tumbling into the water.

Not far off, dozens of copper ships, like tall storeyed pavilions, came slowly toward them.

When copper ships ply the river, a hundred boats halt.

Mishan Commandery, Qingzhou, was famed for copper; the copper smelted on the spot was loaded aboard and carried by the Tai River to the capital. Copper blocks are extremely heavy, and the copper ships were specially designed by the Ministry of Works for hauling copper alone, sitting low in the water without sinking, still able to sail fast under sail; but they could go only with a fair wind in spring and autumn, for the copper was too heavy, the ships drew too deep, and could hardly move by the strength of trackers and oarsmen. Just for that, any ordinary boat that so much as brushed them risked capsizing, so wherever the copper ships passed all boats gave way — a most magnificent sight.

As the huge copper ships passed down mid-river, the water beneath them surged as if treading the sea, the currents churning; even though the boatman of Zhuo Siheng's boat, being experienced, had moored it fast early, the hull still rocked hard several times.

But Zhuo Siheng and Ciheng were both at the rail in the middle of the boat, and steadied themselves and stood firm.

"So much copper — I wonder what it's carried off to make?" Ciheng, conquered by the novelty, her eyes bright, watched the dozen-odd copper ships pass, and said with wonder and a question.

"To mint coin." Zhuo Siheng answered without thinking.

Ciheng hadn't expected the answer to kindle her curiosity instead: "Copper coins?"

Zhuo Siheng nodded.

Ciheng took out a Zhenyuan tongbao; the silver-white coin had only a faint deeper gold-brown at the rim, and she shook her head: "How can that be? Copper's either red or purple; where's this color from?"

"Because lead and tin are mixed in, so the color pales; if cast of pure copper alone, this coin would near catch up to silver in worth." Zhuo Siheng smiled.

Ciheng laughed too: "Brother, how do you know everything?"

"It's that you don't even know this, not that I know a lot." Zhuo Siheng was about to seize the chance to teach his sister to observe and learn the small knowledge of daily life — broadening the view and refining the spirit both — when he heard a familiar voice from a carved-rail boat ahead:

"Cousin, stand farther in!"

Half-angled before the Zhuo family's passenger boat was a tall-masted long craft with two-storey cabins, broad and flat-bottomed — plainly a wealthy house's private boat. At its stern two people had just come; a richly-dressed girl craned to watch the passing copper-ship fleet, and beside her the one who'd just spoken was none other than Jin Jia, who had passed the examinations the same year as Zhuo Siheng.

Now Jin Jia saw Zhuo Siheng too; the two boats being very close, there was no need to speak loud to be heard.

"Yunshan, what luck!"

Since taking office Jin Jia had had some dealings with Zhuo Siheng, and, same-year besides, they'd long used courtesy names.

Meeting an old friend far from home, Zhuo Siheng greeted him with surprise and gladness too, and at once introduced: "Leshan, this is my third sister, Ciheng."

"My respects, Elder Brother Jin." Ciheng, though no lover of rigid manners, was a daughter Zhuo Yan had raised, her every movement and posture carrying the bearing of a great house, generous and never coy; calling her brother's friend "elder brother" by way of a little closeness was quite unobjectionable.

Jin Jia was about to introduce the girl he'd just called cousin; about Ciheng's age, jade-fair of skin, lovely, her eyes limpid as autumn pools, and, before an outsider, no longer as unguarded as when privately watching the fun — standing now in the standard dignified posture of a great-house maiden, waiting for Jin Jia to introduce her, yet her eyes stayed all the while on Ciheng, watching quietly with a curious, restrained, yet not improper look.

But just then someone came round from behind the boat-tower behind them, cutting off the just-speaking Jin Jia.

And as chance would have it, this person Zhuo Siheng knew too.

The front boat being large, its stern a little higher than the Zhuo family's, when Yu Yong once more looked down at him from on high, Zhuo Siheng's smile too settled gradually into a courteous — and merely courteous — gentleman's calm.

His heart within was not so calm.

Composure, Zhuo Siheng, mind your composure.

In seeing, think of clarity; in hearing, of keenness; in looks, of warmth; in bearing, of respect; in words, of faithfulness; in affairs, of reverence; in doubt, of asking; in anger, of the trouble to come; in gain, of what is right...

All right, once more.

...

In the shortest time, Zhuo Siheng recovered the ease of a moment before, masking his inner fury and turmoil in a bearing mild as jade.

As the two locked eyes, the mood turned from the glad surprise of meeting a friend abroad to the frosty aloofness of running again into one you dislike; Jin Jia, best at reading faces and well aware of the two's poor past, hurried to smooth things: "Yunshan, these are my cousin and his sister; cousin Yu you've met, and my cousin's sister goes by the single name Fu. They're accompanying my mother back to Yuezhou to visit our grandfather."

That Jin Jia and Yu Yong were kin didn't surprise Zhuo Siheng.

Last autumn, Tong Shipei, learning from Zhao Ting'an of Zhuo Siheng's friction with Yu Yong, and never one to fear a bigger scene, had told Zhuo Siheng all the marriage-ties he knew:

Commandery Princess Shanrong was Princess Hanzhao's cousin; her father, the Prince of Wei, having died early, the Empress Dowager in her mercy took the commandery princess into the palace and raised her herself, so she and the princess grew up together — cousins, yet closer than true sisters. Later Princess Hanzhao married the Duke of Ling, and, leaving a young son and daughter, died of sudden illness; so Commandery Princess Shanrong looked after these two cousins-once-removed, Yu Yong and Yu Fu, with special care, and Yu Fu was still raised in Commandery Princess Shanrong's residence, little different from her own daughter. This brother and sister and the princess's only son, Jin Jia, had all but grown up together — only later Jin Jia went with his father to an out-posting in Suzhou, and the capital kin were mostly scattered, seldom met.

Jin Jia had always kept a low profile at court and had not a trace of the great-house-scion's airs, so most didn't know of this tie; and with Yu Yong's ever-terrible court repute, few could connect the two cousins in their minds.

Zhuo Siheng, with Ciheng, greeted the Yu brother and sister. Though still wearing that all-superior look at people, Yu Yong returned the courtesy together with his sister. Out of armor, he seemed more an ordinary wealthy young lord, only his over-straight bearing and a faintly proud, fierce air betraying the marks of a military man.

Yu Fu and Zhuo Ciheng, two girls of an age, were gazing at each other from afar, seeming to wish to get acquainted, when, before either spoke, came a great juddering crash, then bursts of spray and screams and cries.

The five looked together, and saw, in the backwash the copper ships had stirred, a large boat turned half-sideways across the water; whether its mooring hadn't been made fast or for some other cause, it was pitching and rolling in the copper ships' stern-waves, and people kept dropping from it into the water!

"Man overboard!"

"Someone, help!"

Several boatmen from other boats leapt in; seeing people in peril, Zhuo Siheng too dove fish-like into the water. The moment he entered, he heard several splashes to left and right, mixed with far-off cries for help; surfacing and lifting his head, he found the splashes were Yu Yong and Jin Jia, who'd dived in right behind him to save people.

Then, unexpectedly, another splash, and with it Yu Fu's cry of alarm.

Ciheng had actually jumped in after the three!

Though he knew his sister swam very well, Zhuo Siheng still wanted her back on the boat at once; but the cries for help not far off wrung the heart, and there was no minding it now — the four struck out with all their strength toward the dozen-odd violent knots of splashing where the wrecked boat's people had gone into the water.