Ice cold water surged over Mei Jian’s legs as she waded through the river, sending a chill up her spine that chased away all thoughts of the early spring weather that had previously lay in the clear air. Another step took her to the center of the river, and shallow as it was, the highest of the icy lapping still came to just above her waist. She lifted the wooden box in her hands high, making sure it was well clear of the frigid splashing below.
Her flesh beneath the clothing was numbed within seconds, but each new area it touched brought back the icy bite anew. She’d tied her sword to her back to keep it clear of the waters, but the tip dragged in them now, giving her another task to do later, making sure it remained free of rust. At least the water seemed to be doing something for the bloodstains lingering on her pants, already dried though they might be.
Cold water always worked better for blood, as hot could have the effect of cooking the stains into the clothing. At least, she thought she recalled her mother saying something to that effect. It had been a long time since she had been tasked with the washing, since before she even expressed her desire to enter the sect. Not since he had come, on that day.
Reaching the other side snatched Mei Jian from her daydreaming, the air that should have been warmer only serving to send a chill through her lower body with an errant breeze. A short walk up the stairs of a hill took her to a pagoda, where four outer sect members played mahjong around a table. Judging from the half empty cask of wine and the circles under their eyes, their game had either begun early that morning, or late the previous night.
“That was fast!” One of the girls shot to her feet, arms outstretched to seize the box from Mei Jian. “It’s all still warm to the touch as well!”
One of her companions at the table shot a glance to the trail of water tracked in. “Did you…Did you wade through the river to get it here faster?”
“The bridge was on the far side, and your request as presented to me asked for freshly fried snacks,” she explained. “I merely did what was necessary.”
“Well done, Junior Sister!” He lifted a cup to her in a toast, and the other three followed suit, laughing and nearly falling over one another as they began to eat.
Just in the outer sect, and already this spoiled, this lazy and gluttonous? Her polite bow in response gave her time enough to conceal the look that threatened to cross her face. It wasn’t good to judge her seniors, especially not off a single glance. Plenty of hard-working, diligent individuals could take a single day of rest and still be worthy of respect, even if that one day was a shameful display of indulgence.
Although, it was that level of indulgence that allowed her to take this job, running errands here and there all throughout the sect. At ten contribution points a day, it was just about the most well-paying she could do without leaving the sect or possessing exclusive abilities. It was also the most shameful by far, drawing a line in the sand between the ones who would be willing to accept it, and those who wouldn’t.
No one with a noble background, or even that of a higher-class merchant or warrior, would stoop as low as being sent running to deliver various meaningless comforts for those too lazy to gather them on their own.
It wasn’t as though she could blame them. If not for the pressing matter of the debt, she would never tolerate such a loss of face. She could only be thankful that, in two days of work, nothing had brought her before the most senior members of the sect yet. If the first impression she gave to the masters who controlled everything was poor, it could stem her chances even further than the debt already had.
Next, for the final errand of the day…Mei Jian glanced at the paper in her pocket. Take a set of freshly washed robes from the laundry area near the river, and bring them to the cabin in the northeast section of the forest. The former place was close, likely by design, and then she could follow the long twisting path up to the far end of the sect.
At least the long walk would give her a chance to dry out the clothing on her lower half in full. There, heading towards the same destination from the opposite direction, she spotted a familiar face.
“Benefactor Yi Ping!” They both reached the waiting baskets at the same time. “I haven’t yet had the chance to thank you in full for your help.”
She was met with a look of surprise.
“Ah, forgive me.” She picked up the basket marked with her number. “This one is Mei Jian. She was a beneficiary of your kindness in distributing water during the sect entry trials, a few weeks prior. Without your assistance, I fear I may not have gained my current success.”
“No, no. I could never forget the only person to ever refer to an errand runner as ‘benefactor’.” He smiled ruefully. “It’s just…. Should it be offensive of me, to say that I am not surprised that you ended up here running errands with me?”
“You aided me, did you not?” Mei Jian tilted her head in a questioning manner. “Be honest with me, please. It was your own idea to pass out water, was it not?”
He visibly squirmed while answering. “Technically not. But it’s true that it wasn’t a task assigned by the elders. When I entered the sect, another did so for those of us initiates at the time. I was just passing that kindness along.”
“Regardless of your reasons, you chose freely to aid me. Is benefactor then wrong?”
Yi Ping looked away. “Um, regarding my own question. Unless you do take offense, and this teasing is your retribution?”
“Ah, that I ended up here with you?” They were both walking along the same path now, one that meandered over the river and back up through the side of the sect, never straying too close to any of the main buildings.
He nodded, and Mei Jian paused a moment before giving a response. “I suppose it would depend on your reasons. I would hope that I give off the aura of peasantry to the extent that I would be expected at running errands. But even if that were to be true, I don’t think it would be right of me to consider the naked truth an insult. Even less from you, a respectable senior, the type that I want to be.”
A bit of pink crept into his cheeks at that, holding back his next words.
“It’s a bit of a habit of mine. To watch people, and to figure out as much as possible about their character. I’d like to think that I’m pretty good at it. There’s always safe guesses that you can make.”
He grinned, glancing at her before continuing.
“In all honesty, as shameful as such close mindedness may be, I can’t think of a noble, or even one from any higher position giving thanks in detail for such a simple thing as I did, much less to refer to this one as something like ‘benefactor’.” He gave her a look of awkwardness, as though testing for her reaction before he continued. “And the only people who would take this job are those without pride, to be put on display running errands here and there, or those who somehow managed to get themselves deeply in debt already.”
Something dark crossed the boy’s face, lingering but a moment. “I know that you’re too responsible to be the latter, but you and I both fit the first. When you’re already coming from behind like us, you can’t afford to turn your nose up at good work.”
“Benefa—” A small shake of his head. “Senior Bro—” Another shake, slightly lesser. “Yi Ping.”
He turned to look at her without stopping, and Mei Jian was reminded of just how smooth his footwork was, his head always at the same height, back never wobbling or wavering as he effortlessly kept up with her rocky pace. No, as he slowed himself down to her fumbling footsteps, footsteps that had seemed firm to her but a second before.
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“Yi Ping, I fear I have misled you,” she said. “I have in fact indebted myself to the sect…..”
A slight pause in her speech. “To the level of just over a thousand contribution points.”
Now a stumble was introduced into his step, albeit one that he recovered fully from on the next. The previously kind expression he wore, though, made no sign of reappearing.
“Did I mishear you? A thousand points?”
She shook her head. “Yes, you heard correctly. Half are in my name, and half in another’s, but in truth all of them are mine to bear.”
It was strange, how such a soft face could seem so harsh. Anger warred with disappointment, and in the end, both were suppressed down, along with his gaze. “I see.”
Those two words had a much deeper weight than they should have carried. For a moment, they walked in silence, and Mei Jian half-expected him to outpace her and walk ahead at any moment. Instead though, he slowed down even more, the grace leaving his feet as he joined her in plodding across the stones.
“I will assume you had a good reason.” He sucked in a breath between his teeth. “At least, I hope so. One good enough to drag you and another alike into a deficit that most people would never have a chance of even taking out, much less repaying on time.”
She felt the basket creak, reeds bending slightly in her hands as she struggled to fully control her grip. “I had to repay a debt, one worth far more than money or points. For that sake, I did what I had to.”
Another moment of silence, this one longer than the last. A myriad of complexities passed over his face, but all of them faded as he looked at her earnestly, meeting her gaze steadily as he walked.
“Let me give you a hand then. I know something that might help.” He smiled at her.
“This one is grateful for Senior Brother’s guidance!” By instinct, she went to clasp her hands together, stopped as soon as she started by the burden she carried as she sheepishly cut the motion short.
A bright laugh rang out at that. Yi Ping had a beautiful voice when he laughed, she couldn’t help but feel. It could easily rival any of the traveling singers that had come by her village. In fact, she pondered, when combined with his good looks, he may have missed out on his true talent. Mei Jian shook that thought out of her mind as the younger boy finished laughing.
“I feel like a Senior Brother for the first time, letting you in on a secret!” One more giggle slipped out as they started walking down the forested path once more. “Though, this is only a secret amongst initiates.”
He leaned in close, affecting a fake sense of secrecy and glancing around to make sure no one else was near. “At the end of the spring months, in around twelve or so weeks, there’s going to be a big tournament held here at the sect.”
“I may be new to the sect, and from a farming background, but even I know that much. The seasonal tournaments of the sects are famous,” she said. “Even peasants can come watch some of them, for a small fee.”
“That’s only the setup.” Yi Ping hid a smile behind his hand as he giggled again. “Everyone knows about the main contests, the grand martial matches that take up a whole week. I think it goes without saying that you and I can’t hope for a victory in those, not when the oldest of the initiates already have two full years of training in the sect.”
“There are smaller contests, of course. They vary from season to season, do they not?”
“But haven’t you ever wondered why? Why go to the trouble of making whole new contests every season, and then setting them up, knowing that they will be overshadowed by the main ones?”
Her eyes widened. “You mean that…”
“That’s right!” A skip entered into his step. “The elders, of course, are the ones who pick those contests. The same elders who assign special missions for the sect. In other words….”
“It’s a recruiting ploy.” She stopped. “The points and prizes offered don’t really matter. It’s all about finding someone for the missions that they want.”
“Missions that are harder to get than the standard ones on the board, and that pay much better. Not to mention, if one can earn an elder’s favor, they may even have a chance at becoming a direct disciple.”
A fork came up in the path, one side leading to the red oaks and another back towards the main buildings of the sect. Mei Jian turned, starting to go down the former, only for her companion to do the opposite.
“It looks like this is where we part ways.” Yi Ping spun on his heels as he spoke, facing her again. “Remember, when they announce the lesser contests and tournaments, find a niche that needs filling. That’s the way forwards. Don’t let your ego get ahead of you!”
“I truly do have a reason to call you ‘benefactor’ now,” she said. “I won’t forget what you’ve done for me, Yi Ping.”
He shook his head wildly one more time. “It’s just passing along what I received in turn again!”
She didn’t have a chance to insist on further thanks before he hurried down the fork in the path, leaving her words dying unsaid in her throat. She would have to remember to thank him again the next time they met. Unless, with how much he seemed to insist on declining gratitude, it wasn’t just humility but a genuine desire to avoid it?
She tucked that away in the back of her mind,
Her delivery of garments took Mei Jian close enough to Wei Feng’s cabin that she no longer needed to glance at the directions subtly carved into the trees and stones with enough finesse that a more casual observer may have mistaken them for naturally occurring imperfections.
Over the past few days, she had made a habit of checking on the injured woman within, feeling a sense of responsibility that only seemed to grow the longer she went without waking. Slowly, color had returned to the woman’s skin, and each day when her bandages were changed less blood had left its red stain on each of them. Additionally, her breath had become more normal, and the tossing and turning that had marked the first two day’s had given way to restful sleep.
Still, a blade that may well have nicked the heart and lungs seemed far too severe a wound for even a blood replenishing elixir to wash away overnight, and the woman still remained unresponsive to normal stimuli.
Wei Feng was lounging in the thick branches of an oak when she arrived, though he jumped down upon seeing her.
“Running yourself ragged with errands again?” He strode over to her, eyes glancing over her soiled clothing and general state of disorder. “It suits you.”
“Any work is better than none, is it not?” Her eyes narrowed. “I can’t help but to notice that your method of work seems to consist entirely of naps, from where I am standing. Forget debts, can you even earn the minimum needed to survive the end of the year like that?”
He waved her question away as though shooing an annoying bug from the air. “I have a plan. You should be worried about yourself, farmgirl. How many months will it take you to pay things off, in the best case? Care to remind me?”
“Less than I may have thought. I was fortunate enough to have been blessed with invaluable advice from a senior brother.”
“Oh?” Wei Feng opened the door to the cabin, slipping inside and waiting for her to follow. Once she did, he continued. “You’ve stumbled across some secret method to earn thousands of points overnight?”
He leaned forwards with a smile, looking left and right for people he knew didn’t exist. “If he promised to tell you how in exchange for money, I have bad news. You’ve been scammed.”
A sigh escaped Mei Jian’s lips. “Not for money. It was a true act of kindness. It turns out, at the end of each season there is a chance we were unaware of.”
This earned a true chuckle from him. “The tournament? I have bad news for you, then. I’m pretty sure you were the only one in a thousand miles to not know of it!”
“Wrong.” She ignored his mirth as she matched his lean forward, savoring her next words as she readied them to snap him free of it. “There is something else going on behind. Elders set up the lesser competitions to recruit for quests and roles that they need filled, which normally us initiates could never get our hands on.”
“Was this senior brother of yours also a farmer? Or some other manner of peasant?” His lips became thin, pressed together.
“What does it matter to you? Why should you ask?”
“Because I would be shocked if anyone of higher birth came here not knowing.” Wei Feng shrugged. “I learned of it months before I even decided to join the sect.”
“You weren’t going to tell me?” she said. “When we’re saddled with debt together?”
He stood up, gesturing for her do likewise and then to come closer.
“Your debt, not mine.”
A probing finger hit her side, right where the broken ribs were. She flinched away, and then flinched again at the second spike of pain from her own body’s sudden twist. “You! That’s still a sensitive spot!”
“I have to think that you’re setting yourself up for these innuendos on purpose, farmgirl. I mean, not even someone as uneducated as you can fail to grasp every double meaning, right?” The young master smirked. “Unless, you didn’t mean the injuries at all, but that your body just cannot help but to react when my hand graces your chest?”
Heat filled her cheeks, and she lashed out with a slap as Wei Feng made to poke her again. He slipped it, like a moth dancing in the breeze, and jabbed her chest with another finger anyway. A second strike, this one a backhand delivered with a closed fist, came faster and harder.
This too, failed to connect with the man as he jumped back onto the table. Instead, filled with more power than her stance allowed her to control, Mei Jian’s fist smashed into the side of the cabin with a dull thud, one that she could instantly feel revibrate up her arm, sound echoing as she braced herself for the pain.
She didn’t have a chance to process it, cut off by a voice from behind them. They both found themselves turning, dispute forgotten, as the previously unconscious woman in the bedroll sat up, looking around for but a second with confusion before she shot to her feet.
“I’ll give you to the count of three to explain who you are, and how I ended up here,” she said, drawing a sword and training it on them.
“If you answer well enough, I might let you walk away after.”