First Encounter
The bells on the Eight Pavilion Road resounded through the treetops, and seventeen caravans from the Wumeng Mountains set off on their journeys, carrying tea on their backs.
Today is the first day of reopening of Yuezhou Border City. According to the officers and soldiers from the patrol office who came to inspect the border a few days ago, the newly appointed prefect will also be present.
Just as dawn was breaking, I remembered that the gate outside the courtyard hadn't been cleaned in a long time, so I quickly called Feng Qiao to go and clean it.
"Clang—" I heard the sound of the basin falling to the ground and quickly ran out to see what was happening. I saw Feng Qiao holding onto the eaves with one arm and supporting the "Qingcheng Inn" signboard with the other, dangling in mid-air.
On this joyous occasion, you dare to ruin my reputation.
"Feng Qiao, are you trying to make things difficult for me?"
"No! Aunt, Uncle Lin, please help me!"
A figure flashed beside me, and I shouted sharply, "Stop! Let him hang there a little longer!"
Lin Zhong slowly poked his head out from the hollyhock bushes, then withdrew it again.
No... the one in the courtyard is Lin Zhong, so who's the one next to him?
I turned around in surprise and saw a young man dressed in foreign clothes standing half a step away, with a sword at his waist and leading a Yunnan horse commonly seen in the area.
"Feng Qiao!" Huai Xu rushed out, "Uncle Lin, come quick!"
Lin Zhong leaped onto the doorway and grabbed the signboard. Feng Qiao let go of the signboard, but Huai Xu caught him around the waist.
I sized up the newcomer: "Sir, are you looking to rest your horse? Please come in and have a seat."
Feng Qiao stepped forward solicitously: "Sir, please give me the horse reins."
I asked Huai Xu to pour a bowl of hot tea for the guest. The man thanked me and sat down, looking around before asking, "Innkeeper, your inn has been here for quite a few years, hasn't it?"
Huai Xu chuckled and said, "The oldest establishment on Bating Road is our Qingcheng Inn. Even the town's prefectural government office hasn't been open as long as we have!"
The guest was drinking water and paused noticeably upon hearing this.
I tapped the table: "Huai Xu, go about your business. Don't listen to her nonsense, sir. Our inn has been open for over thirty years, and the prefectural government office is still there, it's just that the prefectural magistrate isn't often seen. Are you going to the newly opened Yuezhou border market alone, sir?"
"Exactly. May I ask how far it is from the border market?"
“Go west, it’s less than two miles.”
Before long, Feng Qiao entered: "Sir, the horse has drunk water and the horseshoes have been repaired."
"Thank you for your help, sir. How much is it all?"
"No need, sir," Feng Qiao replied with a smile. "It's the rule on the Tea Horse Road that we don't charge for single riders or single horses."
The visitor looked puzzled and then turned to me.
“That’s true.” I smiled as well. “The inns on the Tea Horse Road make money by supplying the caravans, so individual travelers are just doing them a favor.”
The visitor was relieved: "Thank you, then I'll take my leave."
By mid-heaven, several groups of horse caravans had already departed after resting at the inn before setting off again, and everyone was panting heavily from exhaustion.
Feng Qiao slumped to the ground: "Aunt, Uncle Lin and I have repaired more horseshoes in half a day than in the entire previous year."
Huai Xu pounded his back: "Heaven knows how many times I added hay; I leveled a small mountain of hay!"
I couldn't be bothered with them, so I squatted behind the counter and focused on counting my money.
"Qing Niangzi! Something's happened!" someone shouted from outside the courtyard.
I ran out at the sound: "What happened?"
The man who came was a caravan leader who had been selling tea in the Wumeng Mountains for many years. Without saying a word, he lifted me onto his horse: "There's a young man selling a horse who doesn't know the rules and got into a fight with the officials who are buying the horses!"
"These officials are really something, why are they arguing with a kid? If he doesn't know the rules, just tell him."
“That kid is probably Dong Cuanwu. Dong Cuanwu hasn’t crossed the Niu Guang River for many years. Nobody in the market can understand his language.”
They rode swiftly, covering two miles in no time.
"Make way, make way! Lady Qing is here." The market was packed with people and horses, and the head steward led me as I struggled to squeeze through.
Someone shouted, "Don't fire the arrows!"
Upon closer inspection, I saw a young man with a topknot and bare feet, his face still youthful, holding an old official who was about to faint from fright with one hand, while holding a curved knife to his neck with the other.
Behind the boy was the tea and horse inspection station, where a fine black horse was tied to a hitching post, its hooves pounding the ground and emitting long neighs. Directly in front of the boy were archers from the patrol office, arranged in a fan shape. Between the archers and the boy, who was facing off with his sword, stood another person, a traveler who had stopped to rest his horse at the inn early that morning.
The old official, barely able to speak, cried out, "Your Excellency, please save me..."
I called out to the boy in the Dongcuanwu dialect, "Young man, don't be anxious. Have you suffered any injustice here?"
The boy pouted, tears welling in his eyes: "They stole my horse!"
I asked again, "You didn't come to the market to sell horses?"
The boy exclaimed excitedly, "I wanted to exchange it for money, but they wouldn't give it to me! I refused to sell it anymore, but they wouldn't let me leave!"
So that's how it is. To prevent the barbarians from casting the copper coins from selling horses into weapons, the tea-horse trade had long since banned copper coin transactions, replacing them with daily necessities like salt, tea, and cloth—bartering goods for goods. This young boy from Dongcuan, oblivious to this, and coupled with the language barrier, nearly caused a major disaster.
"Don't worry, trust your auntie. They just don't understand what you're saying; they don't really want to steal your horse." I looked at the passerby and asked, "And this gentleman is—"
“Wei Ji, the prefect of Yuezhou.”
I nodded: "Lord Wei, this child doesn't want to sell his horse anymore. Just now he mistakenly thought someone was trying to steal his horse."
Wei Ji gestured to the tea and horse bureau staff: "Lead the horse to this lady."
When the boy saw me grip the reins, a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes.
“Madam, please tell this child to release Steward Yang. I guarantee that no one will pursue the matter further.” Wei Ji turned to one of the archer leaders and added, “Inspector Guo, have your men put down their bows and arrows.”
I beckoned to the boy: "Listen to your aunt, let go of that old man, put away the knife, and come here."
The boy released the old official, tucked the curved sword back into his waistband, lowered his head, and walked towards me.
I tossed him the reins and smiled, "Take your horse and come with me. Auntie will take you to a safe place."
The crowd parted to make way for us.
Behind her, the familiar caravan leaders clapped and cheered, "Qing Niangzi! Qing Niangzi! Qing Niangzi!"
The boy's name was A Dao. He came from deep in the Wumeng Mountains. He did not eat millet, beans, or vegetables, nor did he eat cooked meat.
Helpless, I asked Huai Xu to cut a piece of cured pork and serve it with a pot of strong Junlian Huangya tea, which he quite liked.
Ever since Luo's daughter came to cause trouble, it seems that the relationship between Huai Xu and Feng Qiao has become more transparent.
The two of them no longer avoided me and Lin Zhong, and often sat right under my nose chatting with their heads close together and hands clasped together.
With his back to A Dao, Huai Xu lowered his voice and said, "The Dong Cuanwu people are still eating raw meat! Eating too much raw meat will cause them to go crazy. We Nan Guang Liao people stopped eating like that a long time ago."
Before he was fifteen, Feng Qiao had lived in the Central Plains and had never eaten raw meat, let alone heard that eating raw meat would drive a person crazy.
He stared in disbelief: "Really, really can cause madness?"
“That’s absolutely true.” Huai Xu pouted. “You Han people are just making a fuss over nothing. My father’s great-uncle got mad from eating raw meat. Once, while walking on a mountain path, he had a headache and jumped off a cliff to his death.”
Feng Qiao said solemnly, "Huai Xu, could you please stop referring to me as 'you Han people'? We eat together, live together, we're one family. Since we're one family, why distinguish between Han and Liao people?"
Huai Xu shook his arm: "Okay, okay, I won't say it again. Feng Qiao, don't be angry."
Feng Qiao's tone immediately softened: "I'm not angry with you. I just feel like what you said makes it sound like you're distancing yourself from me."
Tsk tsk, it's really making my teeth ache.
I watched them from afar, feeling a little worried. I turned to Lin Zhong beside me and said, "If this continues, I might not be far from the day when I'm enjoying the company of my grandchildren."
Lin Zhong suddenly laughed.
Over the years, I've seen Lin Zhongxiao only a handful of times.
"What are you laughing at?" I stared intently at his profile. "Do you really want to be an uncle?"
Lin Zhong stroked his wine gourd: "It's not impossible."
As dusk approached, the sound of horses' hooves sounded and then stopped outside the courtyard. The hoofbeats were quite heavy, suggesting that the horseshoes were made of wide irons, and that the approaching force must be government troops.
At noon, I ran into Guo Cheng from the patrol office at the border market. I was afraid that he would startle A Dao if he came in, so I had Huai Xu and Feng Qiao take A Dao to the inner room, while Lin Zhong and I went out to greet him.
"Lady Qing! Brother Lin Zhong!" Guo Cheng leaped off his horse and looked at Wei Ji beside him. "I wanted to go and express my gratitude, but Prefect Wei insisted on stopping me."
Guo Cheng is the border inspector of Luzhou and Rongzhou. He usually leads a team to patrol the border and will come to my shop to replenish supplies.
Once, he was apprehending a notorious bandit who had committed crimes in the Central Plains and fled to the southwest. He fought bravely but was no match for the bandit, and was fortunately rescued by Lin Zhong. After that, he often tried to steal my girlfriend, but I always scolded him away.
"Inspector Guo, are you sincerely thanking me, or are you trying to trick my Lin Zhong into working for you in your patrol department?"
“Of course I’m sincere. If you don’t believe me, ask Prefect Wei.” Guo Cheng pulled Wei Ji over, pointed at me, and said, “Come, come, Lord Wei. Let me introduce you. This is the famous Qing Niangzi of Bating Pass—the sworn sister of the chief of the Seventeenth Route Wumeng Mountain Caravan. The hero beside her is named Lin Zhong. His martial arts skills are unfathomable. He is my savior.”
Lin Zhong turned and left before he could finish speaking. He was probably thinking to himself, "How did I end up saving such a thing?"
"This humble woman, Qingcheng, greets Your Excellency, the Prefect."
"No need for such formalities, Madam Qing. We must thank you for helping us out of that predicament at the market today. How is that child now?"
"He's been temporarily housed in the shop. Would the Prefect please go and check on him?"
Wei Ji nodded in agreement, and Guo Cheng said, "Then I won't go to see him, lest I frighten him again. Prefect Wei, Lady Qing, farewell!"
Wei Ji was the first person to stand up for A Dao before I arrived at the border market.
When A-Dao saw him, he knelt on one knee, clenched his right fist, and pressed his thumb to his left chest, saying, "A-Dao's father was killed by his enemy. You saved A-Dao, so you are A-Dao's father!"
I pondered: should I persuade the prefect to acknowledge this son, or should I advise A-Dao not to acknowledge this father?
There was a moment of complete silence.
Huai Xu was the first to lose his composure: "Godmother, what did A Dao say?"
"He said... he said he wanted to follow the adults."
Wei Ji said "Oh" and reached out to lift A Dao up with both hands.
“A Dao’s family died in a tribal feud, and he was the only one who escaped. He followed a passing caravan, traveling north along the Tea Horse Road, and arrived at Yuezhou Border City, where he happened to run into the adults. A Dao said that this must be the arrangement of the mountain god.”
I glanced at Wei Ji and said, “I noticed that you are alone today, without any attendants. Why not leave A Dao with you for company? This afternoon I had Lin Chong try A Dao’s martial arts. He has superhuman strength and would be a good helper.”
Wei Ji nodded: "Then we will do as Lady Qing says."
Ah, the prefect is a straightforward man.
I pulled A-Dao aside and instructed him, "Lord Wei lives in the government office, unlike Aunt Qing's place. At his house, you have to wear shoes and can't go barefoot anymore. You can't eat raw meat either. Whatever the lord eats, you eat too; whatever the lord tells you to do, you do. Can A-Dao do that?"
A-Dao thought for a moment and nodded with difficulty.
"Also, you should call him 'Master' normally. Father can only call him that in your heart, not in person, and even less so when other people are present."
"why is that?"
"Because he is a Han Chinese, Han Chinese have many more rules to follow than barbarians."
"Is Aunt Qing a Yi or a Han Chinese?"
"Aunt Qing's mother was a barbarian, and her father was a Han Chinese."
"That Aunt Qing has to abide by both the rules of the Han people and the rules of the barbarians."
I patted A-Dao's head and laughed, "You're mistaken. Aunt Qing doesn't have to follow either Han Chinese or Yi Chinese rules."
"A-Dao's mother passed away a long time ago. Can Aunt Qing be my mother?"
“That won’t do.” I pointed to Huai Xu. “Aunt Qing is already Huai Xu’s mother. She can’t be someone else’s mother anymore. She’ll be angry.”
“Then A-Dao will call Qing-Yi and A-Ma in his heart.” As he said this, he also knelt down on one knee in a salute to me.
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