Chapter 4 The Blood Crossbow Case: How Many People Died?
Aunt Lou couldn't hear what she was muttering, "Go to sleep early, you'll go to work at the workshop with Shi Tou tomorrow."
"Go to work? What do we do?" Guan Ye perked up.
"Tell me what you can do?" Aunt Lou sized up her figure, her eyes intentionally or unintentionally sweeping over the hand she was holding.
"I can do anything." Guan Ye rolled up her sleeves and waved her arms at Aunt Lou. "I'll do whichever pays the most."
"No wages." Aunt Lou glanced at her skinny arms.
Guan Ye stared wide-eyed. Could Xingguo Fang be even more corrupt than Hu Xian? She was about to shout a few words to stir up some trouble when Aunt Lou firmly stopped her. "Canglang Island doesn't rely on outside money. In the early years, it was just a group of refugees fishing and making a living on the island. After Xingguo Fang came to the island, the Pei family led people to reclaim wasteland, farm, mine, and make charcoal, gradually building it into what it is today. If you want to live on the island, you have two paths to choose from."
Seeing that Guan Ye was listening attentively, Aunt Lou deliberately paused for a moment, "One is to find your own way out. The island has no shortage of wasteland. Find a piece and cultivate it yourself. Xingguo Workshop will give you seeds. You can pay back five bushels of grain next year to settle the score. The other is to work for Xingguo Workshop. The Pei family has farms, ponds, cloth workshops, and schools. They may not have money, but they will provide you with everything you need, including food, clothing, and daily necessities. They will even provide you with a coffin and bury you when you die."
"Pah, pah, pah!" Guan Ye thought to herself, spitting inwardly. She was determined to live once she got to the island; who cared about that flimsy coffin?
"What Auntie means is that it was sold to the Pei family," Guan Ye concluded.
"That's not how you say it." Aunt Lou thought about it and realized that what she said made sense. She rolled her eyes and said, "If you don't want it, go to Manager Pei tomorrow. He will assign you a piece of land."
"They come from the Pei family's weapons workshop," Guan Ye added. "Does the workshop need any sword-wielding slaves?"
"You even know about sword slaves?" Aunt Lou seemed to have seen right through her. "What, you've worked with them? Did you carry bags or burn fuel?"
Guan Ye rubbed her hands together and shook her head, saying, "Auntie, you're joking. Isn't this an armory? I originally thought it was all blacksmithing work. Besides," Guan Ye took a deep breath, "the island has such a strong smell of charcoal, there must be at least dozens of furnaces."
"Dozens more?" Aunt Lou suppressed a laugh. "I thought you had some knowledge, but it seems you're nothing special. Xingguofang hasn't been blacksmithing for a long time. What you thought was a furnace."
"The furnace in Xingguofang doesn't burn charcoal."
"If not charcoal, what should we burn?"
—“Living people”.
"A furnace for burning living people?" Guan Ye muttered to herself.
"Your brain is about the same as my Stone's." Aunt Lou didn't want to say anything more to her, so she got up, pushed open the door, and went out. "Go to the neighborhood with Stone tomorrow morning. Since you're staying, live a down-to-earth life and don't think about anything else."
Guan Ye had just lain down when she quickly got up again, tiptoed to the window, and peered through the crack. She saw that the man named Lou Shitou was still chopping wood with great effort. This man was incredibly strong; he could split a tree trunk as thick as his leg in one go without much effort. She and Aunt Lou had only exchanged a few words in the time it took to burn half an incense stick, and in that short time, a pile of firewood half a person's height had already accumulated around Lou Shitou, but he didn't seem to be finished yet.
"Lou...Lou Shitou." Guan Ye mustered her courage. "That's about enough."
“There’s more,” Lou Shitou said, wiping his sweat. “Mother said we have to finish chopping it all.”
“What you chopped up is enough to burn for your family for ten days.” Guan Ye pushed open the window. “Besides, your mother is gone.”
“Mother is gone, but the work continues.” Lou Shitou didn’t even look at Guan Ye. “My younger brother also said he would do more work and take good care of the family.”
It was his younger brother again. Guan Ye closed the window and looked around. The room was simply furnished, but spotless. The bedding was neatly folded, and you could smell the sunshine as if it had been aired out every day, waiting for his brother to return at any time. Guan Ye lay down on the soft bed and felt something uncomfortable under the pillow. She pulled something out of her palm and looked up. It was a small wooden sword about half an arm's length long. She squinted at the wooden sword and saw that it was really poorly made. Not only was the workmanship rough, but the hilt and blade were the same length. The person who made the sword probably had never seen a real sword.
Guan Ye opened her palms and gently rubbed her calloused hands. She had seen many things her father had forged, but she had never seen him forge a precious sword. Her father said that the forging ancestor Ou Yezi had taught her that forging a weapon requires three things: iron ore, cold spring water, and polishing stone. Iron ore must be collected to refine the blank, cold spring water must be dug to store it, and polishing stone must be used to shape the weapon. If one of the three is needed, the weapon will not be made; if two are needed, it will be an ordinary product; only if all three are needed can a weapon be made.
From the time Guan Ye could remember, her father often sighed, lamenting the decline of the world, the scarcity of precious artifacts, the chaotic existence of workshops, the near absence of fine pieces, and the mere existence of defective and broken items sold in the market, which were barely usable and would turn into scrap metal in a few years.
Guan Ye was puzzled. Her father was a skilled craftsman, and there were other craftsmen like him around, so why couldn't they forge good items? Her father said that they were either dead or on the run. They would help out at some makeshift troupes when they passed by, just to earn a living for the father and daughter.
Guan Ye still remembers that once when she was burning fuel, her father saw how skillfully she was burning it, and without saying a word, he flicked her on the head with a finger, saying, "This is dangerous work, be careful with the burning."
She just couldn't understand how making a living by blacksmithing could be so dangerous. Her brute force kicked in, and she burned even faster, the sparks flying like a defiant protest.
"Do you know how many people died in that bloody crossbow case?" Her father pulled her ear.
"We're just putting on a saddle," Guan Ye retorted. "It won't kill anyone."
"One case wiped out an entire clan of over 130 people. Five major workshops in the capital were raided overnight. Those involved were beheaded and their heads displayed in public. Those deeply implicated were imprisoned for life, those with connections were exiled to the frontier, and those who had worked there were enslaved." Her father growled in Guan Ye's ear, "Are you afraid that others won't know our origins?"
Guan Ye's ears were ringing from the explosion. He didn't understand, but he knew that saving his life was the most important thing. His father had said that the Blood Crossbow Incident happened suddenly back then. When the news came, Rongdu was sealed off overnight. Fortunately, he had some connections with the garrison commander and received the news half a day earlier. He took out a few pieces of gold jewelry that his mother had kept at the bottom of her trunk and managed to get out of the city.
"If we have a relationship, why would I need to take your gold?" Guan Ye asked, puzzled.
Father flicked his finger again; it was a matter of life and death, everyone was risking their lives. This gold was well worth the money.
Guan Ye rubbed her head. "Is this what you call a worthwhile life?"
"Foolish." Father raised his hand, and Guan Ye threw down the shovel and jumped back a few steps. Back then, you were in your mother's belly. If it weren't for the gold paving the way, you wouldn't have been able to open your eyes.
"You didn't commit this crime." Guan Ye grew angrier the more she thought about it. Her mother died on the road, never able to return to Rongdu, so where was she supposed to run to?
This case… her words seemed to have stung her father, and his burly body stood frozen for a long while, so frozen that Guan Ye was a little scared and hurriedly went forward to shake his hand.
“They didn’t do this case either.” A deep sorrow welled up on Father’s weathered face.
"Father, what is the Blood Crossbow Case?" Guan Ye finally asked this question.
Father seemed not to hear her. He picked up the shovel Guan Ye had dropped and continued burning the fuel intermittently. Guan Ye could smell the burning, but he kept burning it without end, as if he wanted to burn all the past events to ashes.
Guan Ye recalled the past, gripped the small wooden sword tightly, and felt sad. She was already sleeping on a soft bed. How wonderful it would be if her father were by her side.
Lou Shitou's younger brother must really like this sword, otherwise he wouldn't keep it under his pillow every day. Lou Shitou's younger brother... Guan Ye's thoughts wandered aimlessly. And what about that guy named Ajiu? Where did they go, and when will they be back? Ajiu was chosen by Steward Pei at first glance, and his physique was far stronger than hers. He must have found a better place.
Aunt Lou hadn't lied to Guan Ye. Apart from the furnace that burned every day, there was no sign of blacksmithing in Xingguo Lane. Guan Ye carried a charcoal bag that was half his own weight, and surprisingly, he straightened up despite the swaying. Lou Shitou blinked and gave Guan Ye a thumbs up, saying, "You're a real man."
Guan Ye chuckled, hoisted the charcoal bag, and strode towards the source of the thick smoke. Her father had said that in the weapons trade, skill was the foundation. Each workshop had its own techniques, and skills were tested by weapons. When weapons clashed, the superiority or inferiority was immediately apparent. Xingguo Workshop's century-old reputation relied on this furnace that had been burning for over a hundred years. Yet, the furnace was right before her eyes, the charcoal fire seemed inexhaustible, but no weapons were being forged.
Guan Ye was curious: the legendary Heavenly Furnace had not been used for many years. Could it still be used to forge weapons that would be passed down through generations? And what kind of weapons would they be?
Pei Bi was right. There were few people and a lot of work on the island. Guan Ye was doing the work of two people. Fortunately, she had been trained since childhood and became a skilled worker in just a few days. Although it was lonely and hard, Guan Ye did not feel it. It was hard to find work outside, and she often could not even get a meal. Although Xingguo Ward was hard, she was guaranteed to have three full meals a day. No one would gossip if she ate an extra steamed bun. Guan Ye even felt a little happy thinking about it. Her cheeks, which were blackened by the charcoal fire, were faintly visible, which attracted the attention of the other sword slaves.
Aunt Lou took a fruit out of her pocket, wiped it with her sleeve, and stuffed it into Guan Ye's hand, saying, "Eat as much as you can."
"Aunt Lou, you've gone too far!" someone shouted. "Yesterday we had meat, and you gave Guan Ye a couple extra bites. Today it's fruit, so we want some fruit too."
"Eat your head!" Aunt Lou scolded, hands on her hips. "These are fruits that grow in my own yard. I can give them to whoever I want."
"The meat from yesterday wasn't from your family either," someone said, adding insult to injury.
"Hey!" Aunt Lou picked up a pebble and threw it at him. "Say it again, and next time you'll be eating shit."
"Eat shit." Lou Shitou swallowed his steamed bun and repeated the words.
The stubborn one still held firm, "Give us more to eat so we can carry heavy loads. Guan Ye is just a girl, eating too much won't make her strong, unless..." The man chuckled and glanced at Lou Shitou, "Aunt Lou, you're letting people stay in your house, are you up to something?"
“He’s sleeping in my brother’s room, so he’s my brother.” Lou Shitou got up, wanting to punch the man, “What’s it to you?”
Guan Ye, who was munching on fruit, grabbed Lou Shitou's sleeve, raised her face, grinned, and showed her white teeth. "So what if you're a girl? You can carry a big bag, so can I. Selfish motive? You're the one who's selfishly wanting to eat fruit, aren't you?"
Aunt Lou laughed loudly, and everyone else laughed along with her. Lou Shitou didn't understand why everyone was laughing again. He scratched his head and sat down with a thud. Guan Yan wiped the sweat from her forehead, and her face under the cigarette ash was clean and white.
Guan Ye occasionally wondered where A-Jiu was. Xingguo Ward wasn't small, but it wasn't very big either. If A-Jiu wasn't a sword slave, what else could he do? Surely... Guan Ye suddenly remembered what Song Mian had said. Surely they wouldn't use him to fill the furnace, would they? But if they really used someone to fill the furnace, how could she possibly survive?
Day after day, Guan Ye stopped thinking about it. She watched the sea flow eastward in the morning and the red sun set in the west in the evening. For Guan Ye, life on the island was not too difficult. Guan Ye longed for a place where she could live a peaceful life until she died. If she could grow old and die on Canglang Island, it wouldn't be a bad thing.
Time flies, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye. Guan Ye has grown taller and her body has matured. After wiping her face with a wet wipe, the pretty face in the basin felt unfamiliar to Guan Ye herself. She couldn't even remember how dirty she looked when she was young. Girls change a lot as they grow up, and the changes were especially great in Guan Ye. One day, she was drawing water by the well when Pei Bi passed by and stopped to look at her several times before recognizing her as the impetuous little girl he had left behind all those years ago.
The tranquility of Canglang Island also came to an abrupt end that year. Many years later, Guan Ye still clearly remembered every scene from that day: the dragon-headed treasure ship that carved a path through the raging waves, the hundreds of fully armored soldiers on the deck, and the black-robed man wearing a straw hat at the bow. The sea breeze stirred up the satin cloth covering the black-robed man's face, revealing half of his face covered with tattoos. Strange patterns spread across his cold half of his face. He wore a gold-embroidered eye patch over his left eye, while his right eye shone brightly as if it contained twin radiance. He remained expressionless as he rode the wind and waves, as if everything was under his control.
A note from the author:
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