Jinhai

 

Next day, everyone’s agog to see whether or not Zhu Yu will obey Shan’s order.  In fact, he does.  He starts out with bravado, accompanied by Fang Tian, who’s walking with him in a gesture of defiance.  The pace of the caravan’s so slow that it’s easy to keep up on foot and many of the travelers do walk for an hour or two from time to time to alleviate the boredom.  But walking for the whole day’s a different matter and even though we only travel about ten miles, these merchants’ sons are pampered and unused to physical exercise.  By midday, Zhu Yu’s walking alone.  By the time we camp, he’s quite obviously footsore. 

With lurking sympathy, I go over to his wagon with my medical kit.  The second Zhu son’s sitting huddled on the steps. 

“Hï,” I say, “Is your brother in?”

He nods, glancing quickly at me and then away again.  I march up the steps, knock and go in.  Zhu Yu’s sitting on the bed, deep in conversation with Fang Tian.  They break off when they see me.

“What do you want?” Zhu Yu says ungraciously.  “Come to gloat?”

“I’ve got some good stuff for sore feet.  I thought you might need it.”

“Well, you know where you can stick it,” he says.  The other boy utters his annoying snigger.

“Don’t you think you should come down off your mountain and start cooperating?  You’re making things difficult for your family and everyone else.”

“What makes you think I give a fuck?  And I don’t need any advice from a lowlife like you.  Take your girl’s face and piss off out of here.”

“I’ll take that as a No,” I say. 

As I leave, I see that the boy outside is shivering in the cool night air.  “You’d better go in,” I say, “You’ll catch a chill sitting out here.”

He doesn’t reply.

Later, as I’m going round doing the final checks, I see a familiar shape on the Zhu wagon steps.  It’s the boy, huddled in a quilt.  “What are you doing there?” I ask, stopping. 

He looks at me, half asleep.  “Ah-Yu won’t let me in.  He told me to sleep out here.”

I start up the steps, but he grabs at me.  “No please don’t say anything.  It’s all right.  I don’t mind, really I don’t.”

“Does this happen often?”

The boy’s silence answers me.

“Do your parents know?”

He shakes his head.

“Come with me,” I say, holding out my hand.

He follows me, trailing his quilt, to the Yao wagon.  Yao Lin’s sitting on the steps.  “Ah-Lin, Second Young Master Zhu’s fallen out with his brother.  Could you ask your Dad if he can stay here with us tonight?  I’ll sleep outside if there isn’t enough room.”

“Sure thing.”  Yao Lin disappears into the wagon and comes back almost immediately.  “Dad says it’s all right.  Come on in.”

The boy looks at me gratefully and follows Yao Lin up the wagon steps.

Problem solved, I think.

But it isn’t.  Next morning as we’re getting ready to move on, Yao Lin comes to me with a worried look.  “Could you come and see Dad?  He says it’s important.”

I follow him anxiously, thinking that Yao Yuhan’s health might have deteriorated, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  He’s sitting up in bed looking concerned.  “I’m sorry to inconvenience you, Young Master Zhao.  It’s about the Zhu child.”

“What’s the problem?”

“The boy’s covered in bruises.  Some of them have been there a while.  He won’t say how he got them, but it looks as if he’s been struck repeatedly.”

I sit down slowly, several connections forming themselves in my brain.  “His brother?”

Yao Yuhan looks at me without answering.  I let out a long breath. 

“Young Master Zhao, we can’t allow this to go on.” Yao Yuhan says.  “I’d be very happy for the child to travel with us.”

“Sounds like a good idea.  I’ll have a word with Madam Zhu.  We need her support on this.”

“Agreed.  Will you ask the boy?”

“I’ll do that right now.   And thank you.”

Zhu Huang’s sitting by the fire next to Lai Xue, eating breakfast.  He looks up at me nervously.  “Little Huang,” I say, squatting down, “Would you like to travel with Yao Lin and his father from now on?”

His mouth opens, full of half-chewed rice.  He looks at me and then at Yao Lin, who’s sitting on the other side of the fire.  Then he nods vigorously.

“I’ll talk to your Mum and we’ll bring your things over.”

“Great,” Yao Lin says enthusiastically.  “It’ll be good to have your company, Little Huang.”

When I explain the situation to Madam Zhu, she flushes red with anger and puffs up so much that I’m alarmed.  “That little bastard,” she exclaims, startling me, “His father gives him everything he wants and he behaves like this.  And I can’t say anything.  My husband won’t hear a word against him, especially from me.”

“The important thing is to separate them.  Sir Yao’s suggestion seems to be the best bet.  Could I ask you to get Little Huang’s things?  I’ll bring them over to the Yao wagon.”

“I’ll bring them myself,” she says, frowning.  “Then I can thank Yao Yuhan for his kindness.”

She’s a strong-minded woman, so it’s quickly done.  By the time we’re ready to roll, Little Huang’s few possessions have been transferred to the Yao wagon and Little Huang’s sitting happily next to Lai Xue and Yao Lin on the driving seat.

I mount up and walk my horse over to where Shan’s saddling Swift.  “Just to let you know, it seems that Zhu Yu’s been abusing his younger brother, so we’ve separated them.  The boy’s travelling with the Yaos from now on.”

Shan swings up into the saddle.  “The brat,” he says.

“Worse than that.”  I quickly recount what Yao Yuhan has told me about the Zhu family history.  Shan frowns and his lips tighten.

“I know what you’re thinking,” I say, “Yu Kang, right?”

He doesn’t reply.

“I know you feel responsible for what happened with Yu Kang, but this is different.  You bear no responsibility for the way Zhu Yu behaves, only for the safe conduct of the caravan.”

He smiles and half-reaches out to my face before pulling his hand back.  “Wise as usual, my little fox.  Thank you.”

The day’s uneventful.  The countryside we’re passing through is generally flat and unsuitable for ambushes, so the danger of being surprised by bandits is low.  But our camping place is near a thicket of trees.  Shan and I investigate the thicket thoroughly, but find nothing alarming. 

After supper, he asks me courteously if, as a person with medical knowledge, I would remove the brace on his arm.  He unfastens his robe and shrugs off the left-hand side.  I roll up the sleeve of his undershirt to reveal the leather and metal brace.

Lai Xue catches sight of the brace and his eyes focus as they do when he’s playing Go.  “Can I see?  How’s it fastened?”

“It was sewn and then wetted and dried so that the leather shrank,” Shan replies, amused.

“They must have had to calculate it exactly so it wasn’t too tight,” I remark.  I look carefully at the small stitches in the leather.

“So all you have to do is wet it again and the leather will expand and you can get it off,” Lai Xue says.

We both look at him.

“I’ll get the water,” he says and dashes off.

“Who is that child?” Shan asks.

“He belongs to the Lai family.  He used to follow Zhu Yu but he’s attached himself to us now.  He’s the only person here who can beat Yao Yuhan at Go.”

Lai Xue returns with a basin of water and carefully wets the brace, with the air of someone conducting an experiment.  “There,” he says triumphantly. 

The leather has loosened enough for me to get a sharp instrument under it to cut the stitching.  A few moments later and the brace is off.

“Can I have it?” Lai Xue asks.  He starts to study it eagerly.

I run my fingers along Shan’s forearm and feel him shiver.  “It’s fine,” I say, trying to sound normal.  “The bone’s healed straight.”

“Ah-Jing!”  Lei Qing appears round the corner of the wagon, looking very worried.  She doesn’t seem to notice Shan’s state of undress.  “That wretched girl’s gone,” she says.

“Which girl?   Gone where?”

“Lai Xia.  My mother and I went to visit and she’s not in her wagon.  That stupid maid told us she’s with Zhu Yu.”

“What!”

“They’ve been exchanging notes,” Lai Xue says casually, still examining the brace.  “The maid’s helping them.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” I exclaim.

He stares uncomprehendingly.

We check Zhu Yu’s wagon.  It’s empty.  “They’re probably in the woods,” Shan says, “You two, come with me.”

Lei Qing and I follow him to the edge of camp and into the thicket.  “Listen for voices,” he says , holding up a hand.

We stop to listen and immediately we hear a girl’s voice, raised not in panic or alarm, but in indignation.  “What are you doing?  Let go of me.”

We head in the direction of the voice and then hear, “Let go of my hand!  I don’t want to do that.  It’s disgusting.”

And then Zhu Yu’s husky voice, “You’ll enjoy it, I promise.”

We find them in a small clearing.  They’re lying together on a cloak, the girl with her collars undone and Zhu Yu with his trousers open and his lower body exposed and aroused.  He’s hardly aware of our interruption, but Lai Xia looks up at us appalled, turns a deep scarlet, snatches her hand away from Zhu Yu and scrabbles to pull her clothing together.

Shan seizes the boy by the back of his collar and hauls him off.

“What the fuck…!”  Zhu Yu yells, struggling, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Protecting this young lady.”

“Young lady?  She’s just a pricktease.  She led me on.”

“I didn’t know you were going to do this,” she protests naïvely, still with that note of indignation in her voice.  She looks up at me.  “He wanted me to touch his…. his thing.”

I suppress the urge to laugh because indeed, this isn’t a laughing matter.  But from the girl’s tone, it‘s clear that no real harm’s been done.

“Young Miss Lei, take her to your mother and make sure she’s unhurt,” Shan orders.  “If anyone sees you, say she’s been with you all this time.”

“Understood.”  Not very gently, Lei Qing pulls Lai Xia to her feet, picks up the cloak and wraps it round the other girl.  “Come on,” she says. Lai Xia sends a furious glance back over her shoulder at Zhu Yu as they go.

Shan releases Zhu Yu’s collar.  “Tidy yourself up.  And listen to me.  If you say a single word about what’s happened, or try to blacken that girl’s reputation, I’ll find you and thrash you.  Do you understand me?”

Zhu Yu‘s face is white with fury.  “You wouldn’t dare!”

“You fool, don’t you realize that if you tell anyone about this, that girl’s father will insist you marry her?  And I’m sure your father has other plans for you.”

“I’m not going to marry that stupid little idiot,” he says, but from his tone, I can tell that this has got through.

“Then keep your mouth shut.  Do we understand one another?”

Reluctantly, he nods.

“Good,” says Shan.  “Young Master Zhao, let’s go.”

As we walk back to camp he lets out a long breath and says, “Whatever next?”

Half an hour later, Lei Qing comes to where we’re sitting by the fire.  “Mother says everything’s fine.  She’s given Xiaxia a good talking-to.”

“Will the maid say anything?”  I ask.

“I doubt it.  Mother has her absolutely terrorized.  Mother sends you both her thanks for dealing with the situation.” 

“Give her our thanks in return,” Shan says.  “And tell her we’ve silenced Zhu Yu.  And thank you too, Young Miss Lei.  You did well.”

She reddens slightly.  “Thank you, Sir Zhan.”

Lai Xue appears, still holding the arm-brace.

“Oh, did you find them?” he asks.

“Yes.  All’s well,” I say.

“Oh good.  I suppose you can’t really blame Xiaxia, shut up in that wagon all day.  It’s enough to drive anyone crazy.  And Zhu Yu’s awfully good-looking.  Nearly as good-looking as you, Ah-Jing.”

“Ah-Xue, you’re an embarrassment,” says Lei Qing, but even she’s smiling.