The Living Yama (Part 1)
I stepped forward to inquire about the cause of the dispute. It turned out that the calculation methods were different, and both sides were stubborn. Over the difference of a few kilograms of loose tea, they had escalated to the point of drawing their swords. I didn't say much, but simply told them to divide the goods in half, calculate the value according to their respective methods, and then add them back together. Both sides were given a way out, each taking a small step back, and the matter was finally resolved.
After the people from Mahu left, Wei Ji spoke with Manager Yang about the relocation of the fine horses. The stubborn old man listened patiently and then bluntly told him that the Tea and Horse Bureau had already issued a document, and that as someone in that position, he should fulfill his duties and that there was no need for the local officials to say anything more.
Guo Cheng, observing the two of them, whispered to me, "What's wrong with Prefect Wei? He came all this way just to run into Yang Malu."
“Yang Malu?” I asked, somewhat puzzled. “Isn’t Manager Yang’s full name Yang Bo? Is ‘Malu’ his pen name or courtesy name?”
Guo Cheng burst out laughing abruptly, drawing a sidelong glance from Steward Yang. He hurriedly jumped off the scale platform and waved to me anxiously. I thought to myself, "How inexplicable," and avoiding Wei Ji's probing gaze, I jumped down as well.
"What the hell?" I complained.
“You don’t even know?” Guo Cheng said, barely suppressing a laugh, “‘Yang Malu’ is a nickname given to Old Yang by those scoundrels at the Tea Horse Road.”
Nickname? I muttered it to myself and couldn't help but chuckle: "You know what, there is something in common."
Guo Cheng and I chatted for a few more minutes. Wei Ji stepped down from the weighing platform, looked us over, and said, "Inspector Guo, what's making you so cheerful?"
Guo Cheng laughed heartily, pointed at me, and said, "Prefect Wei, let Qing Niangzi speak to you. Tomorrow is a festival, and I have border affairs to attend to, so I must take my leave now!" After saying this, he bowed to Wei Ji and me, and led his men to close the market and patrol the border.
As dusk approached, the evening glow on the horizon resembled fire, and a gentle breeze carried the drifting mist across the mountains and fields.
Wei Ji and I each led our horses and slowly began our journey home.
Wei Ji sighed softly, as if mocking himself: "Do Lady Qing and Inspector Guo think that my trip to the border market was completely unnecessary?"
“No, not at all.” I chuckled. “We were just talking about the nickname the people at the Tea Horse Bureau gave to Manager Yang. It was a bit mischievous, but not entirely unremarkable.”
"Oh?" A hint of curiosity flashed in Wei Ji's eyes as he asked with a smile, "Could you tell me about it?"
I covered my mouth with the back of my hand and chuckled in a muffled voice, "'Yang Malu'. I didn't know that at first. When Guo Cheng mentioned it, I thought 'Malu' was the courtesy name of Manager Yang!"
Wei Ji suppressed a laugh, a blush rising on his face: "Master Yang is skilled in his work, but he is a bit stubborn and has always been at odds with his colleagues at the Tea and Horse Bureau. With the reopening of the border market in Yuezhou, everything is in need of rebuilding. I had my own selfish reasons and asked the prefect to transfer him here."
At this point, a hint of melancholy crept into his voice, "Perhaps everyone except himself thinks this arrangement couldn't be better."
"Not necessarily," I said, stopping my laughter. "Over the past six months, I've been dealing with Manager Yang, and I've found that he seems to enjoy his job at the border market."
"Lord Wei might as well take a look at the people around him. At the age of Steward Yang, there are probably not many who are as energetic and energetic as him! Have you noticed that after the rainy season, there are more and more people from Mahu coming to Nanguang to trade tea?"
"Of course, the land route is easier to travel than the waterway, but Manager Yang is fair in his treatment of people and his subordinates never abuse their power to bully others. These are the things that foreign merchants value most."
Wei Ji stopped and took my hand: "We also have a judge like Qing Niangzi who is skilled in calculation and mediation. How fortunate I am that the Yuezhou border market has two capable people like Manager Yang and Qing Niangzi in charge."
I laughed and said, "Lord Wei, you're too kind. If you really want to thank me, just ask the Tea and Horse Bureau for more commission for me."
Wei Ji smiled and said, "That's natural."
The gentleman before me was polite and courteous, but a puzzling thought suddenly flashed through my mind, and I couldn't help but wonder, "Today at Niumendong, Zhebierjia caused trouble time and time again. I wonder what you showed him or said to him before you left, that made him so unusually quiet?"
Wei Ji blinked, took a coin from his sleeve, and held it up in front of me: "Do you recognize this?"
I glanced at him, picked up the coin, and examined it closely in the setting sun. It was a small, slightly worn coin with four stars cast on the reverse. Turning it over, the four characters "应运元宝" (Yingyun Yuanbao) were clearly cast around the square hole in clerical script. My heart pounded. I gripped the coin tightly, looked up at Wei Ji, and exclaimed in disbelief, "This is—a rebel king's coin?!"
Wei Ji nodded silently and extended a hand towards me.
I quickly tossed the coin back to him and thought for a moment before saying, "That's not right. When I was playing the Seven Star Divination with Zhe Bier, I handled every single copper coin he used. I remember there were Song Dynasty coins and Dali coins, but I don't recall seeing this one in your hand."
A fleeting, almost imperceptible sly glint crossed Wei Ji's eyes as he said softly, "That's right. I brought this coin."
I frowned and said, "The Great Shu Kingdom is gone, and money is banned. Aren't you afraid of getting into trouble by carrying this thing around?"
Wei Ji looked at me and suddenly laughed.
I was slightly annoyed: "What are you laughing at, sir?"
Wei Ji looked away and replied, "What Lady Qing just said is exactly the same as what I told Zhe Bierjia."
I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "I see."
Wei Ji added, "A few days ago, Junlian raided a den that was illegally selling copper coins. Among the stolen goods recovered was this forbidden coin."
“Last time when we were repairing the bridge, I met Zhebierjia a few times and knew that he was a gambler. Just then, Huaixu came to the prefectural government to report a case, so I lent him the forbidden money and carried it with me. Unexpectedly, it actually came in handy.”
I thought for a moment and said, "Although Zhebierjia doesn't know many characters, he's seen many Chinese characters on copper coins, so he should be able to recognize them. This forbidden coin doesn't belong to him, so he probably knows about it too."
Wei Ji tucked the forbidden money into his sleeve and said slowly, "Wang and Li, the two rebels, were tea merchants, while Zhebierjia is the owner of a mountain area. Although it's a lie that he possesses the forbidden money, his desire to avoid suspicion is genuine."
As we arrived at Yanziping, a crescent moon was already hanging in the eastern sky.
I looked at Wei Ji and asked, "Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Does Lord Wei plan to take a holiday?"
Wei Ji gave a soft "hmm".
I laughed and said, "These past few days have also been our Liao people's 'August Festival,' and it's quite lively everywhere. Since you don't have to be busy with your studies, why don't you rest at Yanziping? I'll have Huaixu and the others take you to listen to songs and dances, how about that?"
Wei Ji blushed slightly and took my hand, saying, "Thank you for your kind invitation, Lady Qing. However, I need to rush to Luzhou tomorrow and cannot stay here for long."
I couldn't help but feel sorry for him: "Alas. Doctor Liu had already prepared 'Chongbichun' wine; Mr. Liu specially made pickled fish to go with the wine. It seems you won't have the chance to enjoy it."
Wei Ji lowered his eyes: "At the beginning of the month, Prefect Xiong sent a letter inviting me to Qingfeng Temple to perform a ritual to worship the moon. I thought I would take this opportunity to talk to him in person about the rising salt prices."
"Qingfeng Temple?" I exclaimed in surprise. "He actually invited you to a Taoist temple for the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
Wei Ji nodded: "Exactly."
"Hmph!" I said sullenly, "Is this person alright?"
“He—” Wei Ji paused slightly before replying, “It’s nothing. Bo Tong has been cultivating Taoism for many years and is used to it. The more lively the day, the more he prefers peace and quiet.”
I was actually a little curious: what kind of cultivation does this "living Yama" practice? Is it the path of ruthlessness?
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, loose tea from various places entered the market in large quantities via the Eight Pavilion Road, causing constant friction between foreign merchants and the Tea and Horse Bureau. Having been entrusted with this task, I was duty-bound to act accordingly. As I also served as the judge of the Yuezhou market, I spent several days in a row at the market mediating with them.
The innkeepers were equally busy, and the evening meals became more and more makeshift each day.
One afternoon, a southwest wind suddenly rose, and heavy clouds piled up on the horizon, predicting that it would rain that evening. The foreign merchants and the weighers of the tea and horse trade suddenly reached an understanding and waited for the weighing to be completed in one go. The usual noisy scene of exchanging salt notes disappeared, and the caravan leaders lined up for the first time ever.
With a broad smile, Manager Yang distributed number plates to the various foreign merchants; the archers from the patrol office also put down their weapons and helped build up the tea stacks.
I leaned against the side, finding the scene both absurd and beautiful. With everyone working together, we finally closed the market before sunset. Manager Yang, Guo Cheng, and I sat down for a while, ate some melon seeds, and drank tea twice. Seeing that it was getting dark, we said goodbye and went home. I went straight to the kitchen, intending to cook some hearty dishes to appease our long-starved stomachs.
There was still a small basket of mushrooms left in the corner, picked by Huai Xu and Feng Qiao a few days ago, and they had already opened up. I took them to the front yard, emptied them all for the chickens, slung the bamboo basket over my shoulder, and prepared to go into the mountains to pick some fresh ones.
Lin Zhong saw this and called out to me, "Master, I'll go."
I smiled and waved my hand: "No need. Last time at Daqingyan, I saw a 'fighting rooster'. So many days have passed, I think it should be fully grown by now. Before it rains, I'd better go and pick some to make soup."
Lin Zhong reached out and pressed down on the bamboo basket on my back, then took it off and carried it on his own: "The horse team that came from Yixi this morning said that the salt gangs there stockpiled a lot of supplies before the festival, and there might be some trouble in the coming days. They told us to try to avoid going to the southeast."
Daqingyan is located in the southeast direction, so I quickly pulled Lin Zhong back: "Then you shouldn't go either."
"I'm fine."
"no."
Lin Zhong brushed my wrist away and said without turning his head, "I'm going to the west."
I couldn't help but feel a little resentful, and shouted at his retreating figure, "Go and come back quickly! Don't go to Daqingyan, do you hear me?!"
Lin Zhong did not respond, but simply waved his hand, and his figure quickly disappeared from sight.
I stood in the yard, looking up at the gloomy sky. The wind swirled fallen leaves around my feet, and for some reason, I felt a pressure in my heart that made it hard to breathe. I pressed my temples, hurried back to the kitchen, and caught sight of the salt shaker on the stove, which sent a sudden chill down my spine.
I rushed out of the kitchen: "Huai Xu, Feng Qiao!"
The two of them ran from the direction of the stable. Huai Xu brushed the grass clippings off his clothes and asked, "What's wrong, godmother? We're covering the horses with hay."
I said urgently, "Don't go into the mountains recently, understand?"
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