A bird chirped on the window pane. A second one flew next to it, holding a length of worm in its mouth. It started to squeak with muffled breath, gaining the attention of the other bird. The two animals set their gazes on each other, wings flapping rapidly with excitement. They slowly began to take flight and the bird that held the worm moved closer to the other’s beak. Receiving its kind gesture to share a meal together, they both pulled on either side of the worm, swallowing the part closest to them. As they made their way closer to the center of the bloodied worm, the birds touched beaks. It split the worm into two and each beak consumed one half of the whole. With their eyes still locked on each other, they both sang their emotions out. One had a raspy but non-aggressive tone while the other had the sweetest voice which was backed with lots of vigor. It continued on for some time before the two left the area, heading for a new tree to settle in.
What remained on the windowpane was the groaning of a young boy. As he rubbed his eyes, he reluctantly raised his body out of the bed, moving the thick bed sheets out of the way resulting in their fall onto the warm wooden floor. Scratching the back of his head, the boy yawned as he scanned the area. Out of all of his ordinary surroundings, he saw one outlier.
“ReZhui…ReZhui…It’s starting to feel airy here. Ahhhhehm…”
He had a face full of shock. A close friend of his was sleeping alongside him on his very own bed. Her hair was messy and all over the place. It appeared glossy under the sunlight reaching in from the window and the scent of perfume was dispersed evenly throughout the entire room. He had no idea what he was feeling right now but his heart was pumping at an increasing rate. His cheeks gave off an intense redness and the thought of ShiYan spending the night with him terrified his perception of what she saw in him. He didn’t even get a chance to serve some tea upon her entry into the household.
‘Damn it! Where are my manners?’ He scolded himself.
ReZhui spent the next few minutes getting dressed and tidying his hair, performing a series of twirls and folds by his fingers as his hair got fastened with a simple yellow chord. Wearing a light brown sleeveless shirt, he left his room to see his mother in the kitchen, setting up the fire beneath the stove. Above her were already seasoned woks and metal ladles.
“Making fried rice,Ma?”
With eyes still fixed on the fire, she nodded.
“Just wait for a while, dear Re. Why don’t you wake up your friend? It’s already noon. Father will be coming home soon as well as your brothers”
‘So today, I was marked absent. ShiYan as well.’
ReZhui looked to a corner of the main living room. Right next to the family altar, the cradle of the youngest brother could be seen and an outline of the baby showed his calm face as he slept soundly near the scented wooden sticks of the altar.
“Understood Ma! Give me some time to wake her up.”
As he headed back into his room, MeiYue sneered at the scenario his son was in.
‘I wonder what development these two would have.’
Picking up the fallen blankets, he folded the fabrics and placed it squarely on the edge of his bed. Glancing at the sleeping ShiYan, ReZhui wondered how much she had exerted upon herself as she helped to carry the wine bottle. Constantly reminding himself that she is still a girl, one with a petite body like her would surely sleep the entire day to rest their body. However, that was enough with the self deprecating thoughts.
Grabbing onto her shoulder blade, he gently rocked her body back and forth until she gave a response.
“Come ShiYan. It’s nearly afternoon. You must be starving, aren’t you? I just recalled that we skipped dinner yesterday and went straight to bed. Wake up now!”
“Eughh…Hold on, hold on…I will…”
As she held her hand up, ReZhui instinctively grabbed it. A pause delayed a reaction from ReZhui as he pulled her out of bed. The lazy ShiYan lifted her bangs from her eyes and proceeded to rub themdining clean.
“Hey ShiYan, you should probably get cleaned up and dressed properly as soon as possible. I repeat, it’s noon now!”
“Alriiiiight! ReZhui, you sound like my mother right now, don’t you know?”
“Really, I mean I don’t want to force you but the situati-Ah!”
A hard pillow hit the side of ReZhui’s head, making him take several steps back.
“Oi, what’s the big idea here…ShiYan?”
He paused his words at the sight he just witnessed. ShiYan was slouching, sitting cross-legged on his bed. Her clothes were loose and without her red sash, the dress draped freely over her shoulders, making quite a revealing scene. Her black hair was spread out in all directions with several strands sticking to her lower lips, dripped with saliva. ShiYan herself was blushing at the embarrassment that she was, acting this lethargic to ReZhui. This reached the point where she spontaneously threw a pillow at him for no reason other than for him to leave and wait for her outside.
Surprisingly, ReZhui seemed to have understood what she was feeling based on her actions and left the room quietly.
---
“Lunch’s ready!” exclaimed MeiYue as she plated the food and distributed the rice portions accordingly. The first to come to the table were ReZhui and ShiYan. The two sat by each other and ReZhui even offered to pour the tea for her.
Halfway through their meal, both CaoFan and the twins arrived at the doorstep.
“We met up at the junction. I even brought a dead wild rabbit that got into one of our farm traps.” informed CaoFan.
MeiYue got up from her seat and ordered the three of them to quickly wash their hands. On their way to the outside well, ReZhui received two glaring side glances from the twins and a proud smirk from his father. After all that chaos was managed, the family finally gotbicker together at the dining table, accompanied by a special guest in tow. That day, MeiYue cooked fried rice with pork belly. As the rest of the family began their lunch, ShiYan started to open with a question.
“Sir, I am sorry for interrupting your meal but I would like to know more in detail about what happened last night after the both of us fell down exhausted.”
“...It’s not a big deal, little Shi. After you fainted, I carried the both of you to bed, placed the covers on top and left to carry on with the feast.”
“Oh…alright. Thank goodness.”
“What’s with that attitude though, little Shi?”
“Ah, I am sor-”
“There’s no need to be. This is all part of the process of growing up. Not that I can confirm what I said is true but I can tell the path you two are heading is the right path. I still and will love my wife and family after all.”
“Cao dear, that was pretty embarrassing to say. What a romantic person you still are.” retorted MeiYue as she covered her face with a tablecloth.
“Hah! Anyways, after that, the feast went on until the early morning. Most of the farmers, including me, were still pumped from the alcohol so we headed off to the fields right after. Some of the children returned home to sleep in for the morning while I still forced the twins to attend school. That’s the reason they are so gloomy now.”
‘Well, that’s not the only reason.’ ReZhui thought to himself as he sensed a comically large dark aura swarming the twins as they constantly glared at him.
“Later on, I will be sleeping in early for the night. And, ReZhui?”
“Yes Pa?”
“Immediately after you finish your meal, I want you to walk the young lady home. Her father must be worried sick right now.”
“Yes Pa! That’s what I intend to do after this.”
“That’s my son.”
“But…may I ask another question as well, Pa?”
“Fire away.”
“If it was only exhaustion and hunger, I think I should be strong enough to last until midnight. Yet, I still fainted. Why’s that?”
“Hmmm, a hard guess is that the thick alcohol content of the wine was too strong for children like the both of you. Especially when you both were right in front of it.”
“Where is that bottle anyway?”
“It’s in the altar cabinet. The farmers and I took several sips and decided it was too rich for us to drink with peace. Haha!”
The family went onn with more useless bickering and discussion. When ReZhui was finished with lunch, the sundial read 14:00. It was time to send ShiYan back home.
---
Armed with a bag of rice cakes, the young duo made their way through the passage route that led to the village ShiYan lived in. It was the same journey from Bai Village to school but after that was cleared, they had to take a right turn to a nearby water stream. Following the running flow of water, they carefully watched their steps on the slippery rocks and held hands to keep each other’s balance since it rained heavily in the area on the night before. After that obstacle, they trekked several lengths of forests before seeing a clearing in the distance. They started sprinting forward towards the bright shining light, left by the large gap in the thick foliage.
ReZhui saw a view that was different to anything that he had ever seen before. The boy rarely left the premises of the village and spent most of his days in the upper parts of the mountains. The only time that he went down beyond what he usually stayed in was when he attended school and accompanied his father sometimes to open a one-day street stall on the outskirts of a rural village further into the forests than ShiYan’s village. There was not a lot of traffic flow in that village aside from the village square but that didn’t even come close to the density of people on the walkway leading out of the village and into it as well.
Apparently, what the both of them took as the travel route was a shortcut, explaining its deserted and unmaintained appearance. ShiYan told ReZhui that around the hours of 10:00 to 18:00, the main road that she would normally use to come to school would be crowded with merchants and travelers. However, in the early morning, the road would be empty for the group of students to head to the school. After dismissal, they would be picked up by a carriage hired by the Merchant Guild branch of that respective village. The same practice applies to the other children from other villages with their own Merchant Guilds down the mountain.
“As my father told me, these guild branches are associated with the Legislation Court in Luo ChengShi. The purpose of this Guild is to ensure that the skill of commerce is backed by Imperial law and they are headquarters to monitor all activities related to merchantry.”
“Wow ShiYan! You sure are knowledgeable about this!” complemented ReZhui with sparkling eyes.
“Well…of course I am. Medicine is a form of trade as well. We heal people by selling herbs and antitoxins after all,” she scoffed jokingly.
ReZhui nodded blankly with approval.
“Anyways, I have learnt to understand this to achieve my dream of becoming an Imperial doctor. It is nothing for you to be in such awe towards. Also…I realized that you truly are a country bumpkin, aren’t you?”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Well don’t worry about it! Like you, I will learn as well. About the ins and outs of this busy village that is,” ReZhui declared with determination and a hint of nervousness.
---
The sun started to descend from the peaks of its climb in the sky. The amount of people that walked across the main road started to dwindle and the fire watchers began their routine track around the village. Among the walking crowd that headed into the village gates, a boy and a girl could be seen rushing past the entry point. No guard bothered to stop them as all recognised the face of a young girl who was the daughter of the respected herbalist in the area.
As the two of them ran street after street after street, ReZhui began feeling nauseous. In his eyes, ShiYan was dragging him to any random route after every junction. He had no map to refer to and most of the buildings that he came across were strikingly similar to the next one. Reaching his mental limit, all he thought was that they were running in circles, trapped in a maze that had cement blocks as wall dividers. Speaking of cement, the ones used here were totally different to the homes built in Bai village. ReZhui felt that they were at least twice as strong as the blocks used to make his house. There were barely any trees, yet there was an abundance of twisting vines that seep out of the clay roofs and cracked cement blocks. Moreover, the size of the houses were bigger than anything he had seen before. The double story and triple story homes created a wavy ragged outline on the tall shadows of the setting red sun. They had been running for nearly an hour after all. This created a dark overlay that meant the streets they were heading in had an eerie atmosphere around it. One that could never be compared to a night stroll in the mountainous forests. Was it because he was used to such walks at night? Would anyone that lived here for most of their life be afraid to explore the chilly forests at night? As he contemplated, a hand tugged him on the sleeve.
“ReZhui…ReZhui! Are you alright?”
Bringing back his awareness to the outside world, he realized that he was on his knees. ShiYan was beside him, letting go of his sleeve. A worried expression was shown on her face.
He took a quick look at his surroundings. He fell down right on the pavement and in front of him was a walkway. People walked past them, minding their own business. Children could be seen running back to their homes and the fire watchers went around, lighting up huge lanterns hung onto tall poles. These illuminated the path like fireflies in a garden. This felt different from the moonlight of the forests ReZhui walked. Yet, they both shared the same purpose, providing people the ability to see in the absence of the sun.
‘What a wonderful device!’ ReZhui rejoiced.
Confirming his opinion, he recalled life in his village. Children were supposed to be home by 16:00, the start of the Sun’s descent. They were not allowed to leave their home and explore beyond their families’ respective courtyard. If however, the children headed home later than curfew, they were trained to memorize approximately the direction and length of their walk back to their house. Moonlight normally didn’t reach the village and striked the forests instead. The use of candles and fire torches were used in special situations like night celebrations or when nearby foxes or wolves tried to attack the livestock that were reared on the rocky highlands, spotting thick patches of nutrient-rich bush leaves. Therefore, making lanterns like these would be redundant and a waste of manpower since rarely anyone goes out at night. Even if they did, they knew how to navigate the dark without fire.
‘Perhaps, the village here didn’t need the necessity to train their children like Pa with us. This village is also way bigger than ours. I also don’t think that I could memorize the route we took to reach ShiYan’s house, especially when my eyes would be blinded by the darkness. So…they need more men to make candles and lanterns. That may explain why there are so many people living here. Merchants buy and sell goods. This is what ShiYan told me. Therefore, that means they may also sell their candles and torches here as well. Since the candles are needed in large numbers, horse carriages are used to carry them here. The merchants would then sell them to…Rahhhh! It’s tough to understand. Maybe I could ask Teacher tomorrow.’
As he concluded that thought, he received a headbutt. Not expecting such force, ReZhui fell backwards, quickly using his hands to support himself. That was not the end though. In front of him, a teary eyed ShiYan could be seen clenching her fist, crumpling the end of the front of her skirt. Her red cheeks pouted out as she hung her head low, giving an incredibly cute impression on the sight of her frustrated demeanour. ReZhui knew that he practically ignored her for several minutes and didn’t bother answering her previous question. Letting out a quick sigh, ReZhui proceeded to apologize and comfort her until the tears stopped running.
---
Shortly after ShiYan accepted ReZhui’s apology, they continued their journey. Approaching what appears to be a market district, ReZhui thoroughly observed his surroundings.
Lines of street vendors resided on the edges of the pavement. Lots and lots of residents could be seen buying numerous items and food from the large variety of street stalls set up. A long line of buyers could be seen extending out of a shop that sold winter clothes. Another line appeared near a pleasant smelling bakery.
ReZhui continued to follow behind ShiYan, getting closer and closer to her household. Unlike before, he gathered up the courage to pass through the thick crowd of people. There were constant bumps and hits onto others unintentionally and both parties would either ignore those collisions or give a whisper of a short apology. They bought nothing out of that night market and turned right to face a relatively large cottage.
It was surrounded by walls that were made out of the same cement that he saw earlier and had an opening at the center. It was the entrance to the central courtyard, and further behind it was the cottage. Scrolls of red paper hung vertically on either side of the entrance opening and had ink writings on them.
The left wrote, “May we wish prosperity for all”.
The right said, “A healthy body leads to a smarter mind”.
A wooden signboard hung from under the support beams of the clay roof of the entrance and gold characters were engraved into it. In a majestic font and size, it said, ‘The Shu Household’.
In the center of the courtyard, a man in his late 30s could be seen sitting on a makeshift bench, holding a porcelain cup of black tea. He wore a traditional brown qipao and red cloth shoes. Despite having a face with quite a few deep wrinkles, ReZhui could see his influence on ShiYan’s looks. He had quite the chiseled jaw and kept his long hair slicked back. Sporting a pair of spectacles, he raised it upwards and secured it on his nose. No one else was around the courtyard. It was just father and daughter with her best friend…
---
“My dear daughter, where have you been all night this time? And who is this young boy that you brought home?”
ShiYan paused for a moment. Not wanting to disappoint, ReZhui acted first. He strided across ShiYan to approach her father. Despite being seated on the bench, ReZhui still had to raise his neck high to make eye contact with the father. While he is confident that his father is taller, he would always crouch to meet ReZhui’s height so ReZhui was not used to this much strain on his neck. Remembering what he practiced in his head, he made his first impression.
“Honourable Father, my name is Hui ReZhui, son of farmer Hui CaoFan, the village head of the Bai village up north in the mountains. I am a fellow classmate of your daughter at Teacher Woo’s school. I come here on behalf of my father to send your daughter safely home. Here is a token of my appreciation for being this tolerant as I speak.”
ReZhui bowed and handed the bag of rice cakes to ShiYan’s father. Grabbing the bag with his left hand, the father replied crudely.
“I prepared dinner, please come and join us, Hui ReZhui. Dear daughter, it's time for dinner! Now!”
He raised his voice to let his instructions be heard by ShiYan who was slowly backing away near the entrance. ReZhui could see some sense in her actions. She was scared. Normally, her friend’s parents would send her off. Otherwise, it would be the friends in this village whom the father would have recognised. Currently however, it was a boy that was from another village that was known for its independent nature. No sane parent would not be worried about potential problems. To that degree, ReZhui could comprehend the father’s probable thoughts. Nonetheless, the both of them soon followed the father to the dining hall. It was much larger than the average Bai farmer’s main living room. The shock was spread evenly on ReZhui’s face as he tried his best to maintain his table manners, eating the food. Dinner consists of a variety of veggies, chicken broth and Char Siu.
‘Damn these are good! But those eyes…It really makes me feel uncomfortable.’
ShiYan’s father’s eyes were the exact opposite of ReZhui’s father. Both were stern fathers yet his eyes were ones that glared condescendingly like a King Cobra while CaoFan had the hungry concentration of a wolf. Both expressed a manner of discipline using different forms of scolding. Like the comparison of the two villages, in spite of their similar roles as a father, both CaoFan and ShiYan’s father behave differently and express their love differently. Yet, despite that-
“Hui ReZhui?”
The father interrupted his inner thoughts.
“Ye…Yes, Sir?” ReZhui replied hesitantly.
“I will accept your gift. Those rice cakes taste delicious as well.”
“T…Thank you, Sir! I will continue to be best friends with ShiYan. She will always be smiling when I am around.”
ReZhui thanked and promised the father as he rubbed his neck. Currently, he saw the both of them happily munching on those rice cakes. ShiYan, of course, was much happier than her father. Although there were no changes in his facial expression, he eagerly ate the rice cakes like a child does with their candy.
No one spoke after that small exchange…
---
The dinner went very smoothly and quietly. As ShiYan’s father put down his chopsticks, he said his final words to ReZhui.
“You’re welcome to come here anytime. I hope that your friendship with ShiYan will continue to grow even closer as time goes on. ShiYan, please escort our young guest out.
“Yes, Father and thank you,” ShiYan replied with a breath of relief.
“I also prepared a carriage for you to return to Bai village. Even if you don’t want to, I still insist. You are still 9 years old, ReZhui. It’s not safe out there and I am a herbalist. I know more of these mountains than a highland kid like you, especially at your age.”
“Uh…Understood, Mr…?”
“Mr Shu, you may call me that from now on. Speaking of which, I would like to answer a doubt of yours. This house, and most houses in this village use a mixture called concrete. Lecturer Woo may have taught you cement is hard but concrete is even tougher and cracks less. That’s why many houses are 2 to 3 floors high.”
“How did you-”
“Your eyes. They were especially concentrated on those structures among others in my household. Anyhow, I pray you have a safe journey back home and have a good night’s rest. Contact me if you feel sick or in any pain.”
After he said what he needed, Mr Shu returned to his study. Making sure he left, ShiYan soon made a small yelp of cheer. Jumping in the air, she congratulated ReZhui for defeating her father’s ‘impenetrable child protection firewall’. He managed to cross the flames and touched Mr Shu’s heart. The two walked out to the entrance. The night was as deep and dark as an underground cave. Near the entrance, a horse carriage waited.
“Well…I will see you at school then!”
She pushed him forward with a wink before running back to her room.
“Ah sure…See you at school!”
ReZhui made a delayed reply, waving his hand at the increasingly smaller size of ShiYan in the distance.
---
The horse carriage rattled constantly as the wooden wheels rolled across the bumpy dirt road. The streets were now deserted and only ReZhui and the driver were the only ones on the pathway.
Staring out at the window opening of the carriage, he rested his body on the comfy sofa within and drifted his mind away to concentrate on his reflection of his experience today.
He felt different today. He seemed to have behaved differently compared to when he was in school and at Bai village. His usual happy demeanor was slowly diminishing as he and ShiYan reached further into ShiYan’s village. He remembered his thoughts as he passed through the different streets. The unfamiliar environment, the immense contrast in size, numbers and routine practices between these two villages were like black and white. Yin and Yang as MianJu told him. It changed him. ReZhui became more observant and shyer under the fear of the new and the unknowing. Will this be the same for all the villages surrounding Bai village? How about Luo ChengShi? What worse things could even happen if he went there instead? ReZhui felt as though that even imagining the scale of such a settlement would have overwhelmed his mind at any moment. He sensed vulnerability and anxiety in his heart, his spirit and his passion. How could he help everyone if he is so weak like this? As he contemplated this, he recalled several scenes from last night. Ones where ShiYan did her best to not lag behind as ReZhui pushed forward to return home.
‘She did better. I panicked and tried to escape reality by thinking back to my life in Bai village. I…I’m a coward.’
How am I going to improve myself? Is this even a fair comparison in the first place? Such questions rapidly swarmed into his head, confusing the young boy even more. Besides his reflection, there was one other introspection he delved into.
‘How does merchantry work?’
‘How large can a merchant business be?’
‘Can a role, a duty have only one method to reach its end?’
‘Why does a role have multiple solutions or outcomes?’
All of which he had no answer to.
All he could conclude from his understanding was that the world was a larger place than he had previously imagined. ReZhui always thought that all villages were the same. That Luo ChengShi was only insignificantly larger. But now, he realized that he himself was just a small fish in a large ocean. ReZhui never learned about what the world truly looks like beyond this country nor did he ever try putting the effort in. What’s beyond the Great Eastern Ocean? What is within the infamous Karagan desert? How about the Marshlands of Bharata? Teacher Woo had briefly talked about those names in class and ReZhui used to think that this was all useless. However, he was now more curious than ever.
Just as he returned to the present, the carriage suddenly stopped. The unanticipated halt of the carriage caused ReZhui to fall off the sofa and onto the carpet floor below. He groaned in pain as he held the door handle to assist in getting up.
‘What happened?’ ReZhui questioned as he opened the door to look outside.
Stepping down the short 3-step stairs, he observed the scene.
ReZhui saw a boy that was around his age. Despite this, he was extremely malnourished and looked like a skeleton with his loose and ragged clothing. ReZhui easily saw the side of his protruding rib cage through the massive torn hole of the sleeve. It was a pitiful and uncomfortable sight. The boy seemed to have fallen onto the main road, unaware of the horse carriage as rarely anyone goes out at night. The driver hurriedly got off his seat and approached him but ReZhui reached the boy first.
“Hey! Hey! Are you alright?” ReZhui asked urgently, helping him get up.
The kid looked slowly at ReZhui with a delayed reaction. His eyes were dead and dilated. His grip onto ReZhui’s hand and shoulder was extremely feeble.
‘What in the world did he go through to be like this?’ ReZhui asked within himself. As ReZhui helped the boy to stabilize on his two feet, the driver said his apology. He offered to take the boy back to his place and pay for any injuries he may have. He is, after all, affiliated with Mr Shu.
“No…NO…Go…I go…NOW!”
With these hardly spoken words, the boy pushed himself away from ReZhui before running away from the scene and was out of sight in the foggy, dark night.
“Damn it! What the hell was that all about?” questioned the driver. After a short ramble, the driver continued the ride back to Bai village. On the rest of the journey home, ReZhui continuously replayed the memory of when he looked into the boy’s face.
The boy was very different and unique in appearance to anyone else he had ever seen before. He had a messy clump of dirty brownish-yellow hair that partially covered a pair of dull blue eyes. In contrast to his rags that were his clothes, they do not match each other. ReZhui shook his head hard.
‘It’s so late at night…Perhaps I should be absent from school tomorrow as well. I am exhausted for today.’