Chapter 5 - The Monk from ZhongShan

Hakuya felt his neck hairs bristle as he leaned over and snatched the flask out of Reid’s hands, “Don’t be ridiculous. This isn’t anything of the sort.”

“I suppose not.” Reid grinned sheepishly, “But it certainly feels like it could be, with how rich in essence it is.”

“The recipe is simple, and the ingredients not too difficult to procure. Although I suppose it isn’t a potion that can be easily obtained.” Hakuya swirled the liquid gently, watching the light refract within, sparkling at times, as if there were gems dissolved inside. “Considering the current condition of the patient it’s made for, perhaps it can be considered a life giving elixir.”

Hakuya began packing up the array of items on the table, returning the glass tubes into his leather case and wiping down the brass plates, tube stand and funnel with a clean rag. He folded the dirty rag with grub fluids and entrails into the cleaner rag, and then placed the bundle into the bottom of his sack. Then he replaced the case and the rest of the items into the sack, returning it to its original lumpy appearance.

The remains of the grubs were left in one of the original glass jars, which Reid took back for himself. He would dump them outside in the forest later.

“The medicine will retain its highest potency only for a few hours, so I must be off.” Hakuya said, hoisting his sack over his shoulder and hanging his conical straw hat from his back.

“It was a pleasure watching you work.” Reid said, standing up and forming a fist across his chest as he bowed slightly to the disciple. “I feel I have learned a lot today.”

Hakuya held back a smile as he nodded, feeling awkward in accepting the praise. He turned to leave, and then paused as a thought came to mind. “If by chance I can save the aether for you...?”

“Contact your broker again, whichever one you know. They all know me. I have a feeling I’ll be here for a while yet.” Reid said.

“Are there many orders for grubs these days?” Hakuya let himself show a hint of a grin.

“If only.” Reid sighed. “No, there appears to be much larger prey lurking about these mountains.”

For a moment, the hunter’s face darkened, and his brows furrowed in contemplation. Then just as quickly the expression faded. He shook his head and the smile returned to his eyes, “Hunter business is what it is, after all.”

“I wish you luck on the hunt, then.” Hakuya said, pressing the tips of his fingers together, forming a relaxed triangle with both hands as he bowed in the Huan custom.

“May our paths cross again.” Reid bid him farewell, sitting down and reclining back onto the chair.

Hakuya left the room, entering the bleak dimly lit corridor and shutting the door. The paint on the wall was peeling, and the dirty tile floor was chipped. The weak lamplight seemed to emit a grey rather than an orange light. The contrast between the two locations really was startling, especially since they were right beside each other!

Once again, Hakuya felt the unsettling sensation of being watched by unseen eyes, causing him to subconsciously walk a little faster towards the exit. Hakuya made his way back to the door he originally entered the corridor from, but found that it had no handle. A small sign on the door read, “NO EXIT”. Strangely, Hakuya did not remember seeing this sign when he had entered. Did the old man hang it while he was inside the room?

Hakuya turned around, a thoughtful look on his face. Perhaps this was the import store’s way of keeping their clientele safe? After all, knowing that deals were being made inside, the prime targets for an opportunistic thief would be those exiting the premises. Each store must have its own method of protecting the anonymity of its clients, depending on its resources and location.

Hakuya ruminated on this topic as he walked down the twenty metres to the wall at the end of the corridor. It branched off to the left and right in a ‘T’, with a small sign in the center of the wall. A left arrow was drawn beside the words “Chuhou Street”, with “Manbu Road” written next to an arrow pointing to the right. This fit with Hakuya’s theory. Making the exit point different than the entrance point, as well as providing multiple exit paths made it more difficult to track the clients of the store.

Not being familiar with the town, Hakuya picked the right path at random and walked down the hallway. The corridor continued for another hundred meters, turning left then right, with no doors or even any furnishings other than lamps spaced periodically along the wall. They flickered with the same dull grey flames that seemed to drain the colour out of the already bleak surroundings.

The hallway ended in a door, which opened out into a staircase that led up to a heavy wooden door that exited out into a small, cramped alley. A sliver of sky was visible directly above Hakuya, crammed between the sides of two brick buildings that were no more than two meters apart. Hakuya closed the door behind him, noting that the outside of the door had no handle.

He checked his sack for the potion vial, confirming that it was snugly wrapped in cloth, before slinging it onto his back and leaving the alley.

His thoughts turned briefly to the ornate chest, the edge of his lip curling up slightly in a mix of guilt and amusement. Now that he had used some of the proceeds from pawning it, he was stuck on this path that he had chosen, at least until he got some more funds.

It was a valuable relic of his sect, but at the same time it was not valuable. His mission was to deliver the chest to LingNan, but this was a routine trip with practically zero danger which he’d made for the past few years. The time frame was loose, and he was encouraged to help others along the way.

Strictly speaking, pawning the chest temporarily allowed him to adhere to his sect’s values of benevolence and charity without jeopardizing his mission.

Worst case I can always send a letter to ask the monastery to pay it back, though it might take a few weeks. He mused. They probably wouldn’t be happy to hear it… Well, if I can save this patient, it would be worth it in the end.

As for the chest itself, the mystical artifact contained within it was sealed by the runes on the chest, and from Hakuya’s understanding there was no actual danger to exposure to normal people even if the chest were opened.

All in all it should be perfectly safe. Hakuya had no doubt in his mind on that matter.

The sun was setting as Hakuya emerged out of the alley onto a quiet street, casting long shadows on the orange-tinged cobblestone road. In the distance, the forested peaks of the mountains sat under a darkening green and coral pink sky. A chill breeze caused Hakuya to pull his cloak tighter around himself as he headed down the street, using the mountains to the north to orient himself eastward.

~

Yuzu stood with her arms tucked under her armpits, shoulders hunched as she stood outside the closed double doors of a medium sized manor. It was not particularly cold out, you could even call it a pleasant early spring evening, but to Yuzu, feeling cold was as normal as a fish feeling wet. She began regretting that she had been in such a rush to leave the house that she was still dressed in the same thin black cardigan that she had worn in the shop.

Beside her, Grandma Jingyi stood patiently with a calm, unperturbed expression, perfectly comfortable and seemingly unaware of Yuzu, who was doing her best to hide her shivering. The sun was beginning to wane in the sky. It would be dark soon. This early in the year, the days were still short.

The house that they were standing in front of was three storeys high, with sixteen bedrooms, six baths, three sitting rooms and even a small hall for special occasions. It was situated in Whitehare Crescent, one of the well off suburbs on the east side of Noga. The neighborhood had once been part of a separate village, but the growing city had expanded into the village and assimilated it. It was now considered a part of Noga, though the short masonry wall that surrounded the original village had been kept up for historical preservation.

Yuzu had been here a few times, mostly before her parents had passed. She had many memories of playing hide and seek in the mansion and around the curated lawn. It was owned by Sansen Zhao, or Uncle Zhao as she referred to him. He had always intimidated her as a child, but now that she was older - and more importantly, taller than him - she regarded him as a kind old relative. Before long they heard footsteps and voices approach the door from the inside, and a rush of warm air and laughter greeted the pair as one of the doors opened.

“Jingyi! You’re late! Everyone is here already!” An old man with grey hair and a broad smile greeted them boisterously. He had wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and brow from years of smiling. “And Yuzu, what a surprise!”

“I had a small detour to the Xing’s, where I picked up little Xing.” Grandma Jingyi smiled, referring to Yuzu by her nickname - Little Xing. She stepped in leisurely and Yuzu followed, bowing her head respectfully towards the man.

*Author’s Note: Pronounced Shing*

“Good evening, Uncle Zhao.” Yuzu greeted him. None of Grandma Jingyi’s friends tonight were relatives of Yuzu, but out of respect she would refer to them as Uncle and Auntie.

“Evening, Yuzu. What a pleasure to have your pretty smile join us tonight.” Uncle Zhao smiled warmly, closing the door behind them and guiding them to the dining room. Yuzu bowed her head lower, biting her lip as she looked down at the floor awkwardly. She never knew how to respond to him when he greeted her this way.

“Come, we’re just sitting down for dinner. We have some special guests tonight!” He hummed a little to himself as he led them through the first sitting room, through a set of double doors.

Yuzu felt that something was off. Uncle Zhao was a cheerful man, but something had him particularly in a good mood this evening. A sinking feeling hung in her stomach as she realized what it meant just before they entered the dining room. Grandma Jingyi seemed to sense her mood as she took Yuzu’s hand and squeezed it gently before firmly leading the way in.

“Auntie Jingyi!” An energetic voice exclaimed, confirming Yuzu’s deepest fears.

A long haired, elegantly dressed girl with a diamond face, clear skin and large amber eyes bounced up from the table towards them. She was one hundred sixty three centimetres in height. Delicate crystal earrings hung from her ears, matching the silver necklace that outlined her slender neck. She wore a white satin blouse that seemed to accentuate her youthful figure, and a rose coloured pleated skirt that came down just past her knees. The warm, welcoming smile on her face was undoubtedly inherited from her grandfather, Sansen Zhao.

Her name was Char Char Zhao. Since Char Char’s relation to Grandma Jingyi wasn’t close, she referred to the elder lady as Auntie out of respect, just as Yuzu referred to Uncle Zhao as Uncle Zhao.

Yuzu and Char Char had known each other since they were children. They were the same age, but they had never gotten along. To put it succinctly, Char Char could be considered the fire to Yuzu’s ice. There was a point when they had gone to the same school, and Yuzu had made a point to pick on Char Char constantly with her friends. Char Char, in her stupid naivety, would come crying and weeping to Yuzu, never realizing that it was actually Yuzu that was antagonizing her.

Despite all the horrible things Yuzu had done to Char Char, the girl never seemed to hold it against Yuzu. That was the fact that perhaps made Yuzu despise her the most.

Char Char had moved away nearly five years ago to attend a boarding school for girls, much to Yuzu’s joy. Their relationship had thus mellowed out to merely being acquaintances, as they saw each other only occasionally throughout the years.

“Char Char, how nice to see you again.” Grandma Jingyi smiled.

“You’ve grown fat.” Yuzu said bluntly.

Char Char’s eyes flickered to Yuzu and the smile wavered for brief moment before she shrugged sheepishly, “Yeah, grandpa kept taking me out to so many restaurants last week. At this rate I’m going to balloon up!”

“Come, sit, sit!” Uncle Zhao said, having missed the briefly hostile moment between the girls as he had rejoined the table. Char Char played the gracious host and led Grandma Jingyi and Yuzu to an empty pair of seats on the large rectangular dining table. Both girls helped the elder woman take her seat comfortably before Yuzu sat down beside her, and Char Char went around to take her seat next to her grandfather.

Yuzu calmly looked around the table at the people that were gathered for the meal. Uncle Zhao sat at the head of the table with Char Char on his left. Two old ladies sat on Char Char’s side of the table. There were three empty seats on that side of the table at the far end. To Uncle Zhao’s right, there was a young man Yuzu was unfamiliar with, followed by two older men, also part of the regular friend group, then Grandma Jingyi and Yuzu. Yuzu recognized several of them as regular friends of Uncle Zhao and Grandma Jingyi.

Aside from the guests and hosts at the table, there were two maids in charge of serving dinner. They had promptly provided a dining set and a cloth napkin for the pair as they took their spots on the table.

Out of all the people at the table, the young man next to Uncle Zhao stood out the most. He was young, perhaps not even much older than Yuzu and Char Char, but he had a shaved head and wore an earthy brown set of monk robes. The robes were made of a thick hempen material and were tied together by a woven rope of the same colour. His brown eyes were vibrant and cheerful, and he moved with a graceful strength of a trained athlete.

“Jingyi, Yuzu. Please meet our guest of honour tonight, Edwin Mak. He is a monk from the legendary Heavens Gate Monastery in ZhongShan. He has traveled here to visit their sister monastery in the mountains outside of town.”

Yuzu recognized both the monastery and the name of the famous mountain range in the Huan. The monks from the Heavens Gate were historically renowned for their physical strength and agility, their mastery of the Seven Star spear, and for their deep knowledge and skills in spiritualism. However, that was from the era of the five kings, more than a thousand years ago. There were many plays that were based off of the stories of the monks and warlords of those times, but as for modern day, Yuzu hadn’t been aware that the monastery still existed. She eyed the monk with scrutiny. He looked like a normal, athletic person. Nothing like how she’d imagine a warrior monk or spiritual master to be.

Edwin touched the fingers of both his hands together, forming a triangle in front of his forehead, and bowed briefly to the newcomers.

“Well met.” He said with a reserved but friendly smile.

“Welcome to our humble table.” One of the older men named Reza chuckled, “Have you been able to visit your sister monastery yet?”

A frown swept over Edwin’s face as he shook his head. “No. It seems that my master, who arrived two weeks before me, has gone missing. I have been searching for him since I arrived last week, with no luck.”