White lanterns were hung throughout the Wu Manor.
Upon receiving the news, Lin Yue went to offer her condolences.
After seven days of mourning, the funeral procession, dressed in coarse hemp and mourning white, marched out of the city gates. Lin Yue stood by the roadside, watching as the crowd carried the coffin into the distance. White paper flowers fell from the sky like snow, carpeting the entire path.
Seeing a contemporary pass away for the first time filled her with an inexplicable sense of loneliness. Perhaps this was the price of longevity.
In November, the deep cold arrived, and snow began to fall.
Outside the city gates, the Wu siblings saw Lin Yue off.
"It’s snowing heavily now. Why not stay a while longer? It won't be too late to leave after the snow melts," Wu Nian said.
"Traveling requires silver. Take these. If you ever need anything in the future, come find me at the prefectural city."
Wu Yan pulled several banknotes from his robe. Lin Yue took one and declined the rest.
"Life is short and bitter; I plan to travel far and wide. We shall meet again if fate permits."
The youngster, draped in a snow-white fox fur robe, flipped onto the horse and cupped their hands in farewell before galloping away. The horse's hooves crunched through the accumulated snow as the figure headed east along the main road.
Who says Heaven is a poor host? The drifting snow sees off a lone traveler. The receding silhouette merged into the blizzard, isolated in a world clad in silver until it vanished from sight.
Amidst the vast white snow and breath that turned to frost, Lin Yue traveled for several days until she reached a small county town.
The town was neither wealthy nor poor. Nearby stood a mountain, and atop that mountain was a temple called Qingyuan Temple. Every dawn and dusk, the deep, resonant tolling of a bell echoed from the summit, and the townspeople lived their lives by its rhythm.
Lin Yue adopted a disguise and bought a small shop with a backyard through a broker, then found a wholesaler to open a medicine shop.
She planned to spend her retirement here for a while, staying until she cultivated peerless internal strength before venturing out again.
Why not go to a deep forest or a remote mountain? Too many mosquitoes, snakes, and insects. Besides, there was a saying:
The lesser hermit hides in the wilds; the greater hermit hides in the city.
Those who could live alone in the deep mountains were definitely masters, and she had no desire to accidentally encounter another expert or a heavily injured protagonist. It was better to be an ordinary person in a bustling market.
The shop was located toward the far end of the street. On the first day of business, she sent some medicinal herbs for brewing tea to several equally quiet neighboring shopkeepers. After exchanging a few polite pleasantries to mark her arrival, Lin Yue returned to her shop and sat by the door, waiting for customers.
On the first day, she drew about a dozen curious glances, but people only peeked inside before moving on. No one entered.
For several days, people walked by outside, but the interior remained perfectly tranquil.
Fortunately, Lin Yue didn't plan on relying on the shop to make money, and she hadn't stocked many herbs. She bought a reclining chair and lay on it, holding a hand warmer while watching the snow fall outside the door. Scattered silhouettes hurried past, and though the cold wind blew in and people outside were bundled in cotton coats, rubbing their hands and huffing warm air, she did not feel the cold at all.
Finally, a customer entered the shop. Lin Yue, who had been reclining for nearly half a month, was about to stand up when a sturdy, dark-skinned young man with a silly grin asked, "Boss, do you know the way to Zhou's Ironworks?"
Lin Yue lay back down and lazily pointed him in the right direction.
"Thanks, Boss!"
The young man nodded his thanks and left.
Lin Yue closed her eyes to rest. It seemed she had chosen a location too far down the street; if this were a real business, it would surely go bankrupt.
Before she could lament further, several heavy footsteps approached. Lin Yue opened her eyes to see a man with a square face and an O-shaped beard leading several shifty-eyed brothers into the shop. He shouted in a coarse voice.
"Hey! When did you get here? Have you paid your respects to the local power yet?"
Lin Yue raised an eyebrow and rose from her reclining chair with a friendly smile. "Brothers, I arrived just this month. Please forgive me; this is my first time opening a shop, and I don't know the rules!"
"It's cold by the door. Come in quickly, brothers, and have some hot tea to warm up! I also have some wine that hasn't been opened for half a month. I'll heat it up for you to drive out the chill..."
Lin Yue grabbed the lead brother, intending to pull them toward the backyard.
"What are you doing!" the square-faced leader roared, breaking free from Lin Yue’s grip. He took a wary step back and snapped, "If you have something to say, say it here! Why go to the backyard?"
Lin Yue’s expression froze for a moment before she nodded. "Fair enough."
"Please, take a seat."
The square-faced leader sat down and spoke.
"It’s normal not to know the rules when you first open. Let me tell you! This street is covered by our Qinglong Gang. To open a shop here, you must inform the Qinglong Gang. You can only open if our boss permits it!"
"Secondly, you must pay a fee for our hard work at the end of every month. Since you're running a medicine shop and your location is at the end of the alley, your fee is lower than those at the head of the street. Just give us one hundred wen every month; brothers will come by to collect it!"
"We don't take your money for nothing! This entire street and the surrounding alleys belong to our Qinglong Gang. If anyone comes to cause trouble or demands money from you, tell our brothers, and we will get justice for you!"
Lin Yue nodded.
"Alright, that's all. Tomorrow, go to the courtyard on the right at the end of Sanmazi Alley to register."
"Sure, I’ll go tomorrow. Please, brothers, stay for a cup of hot tea."
"No need, we have other shops to visit! Brothers, let’s go!"
The square-faced leader rose and waved his hand, leading his brothers away.
Watching them leave, Lin Yue couldn't help but sigh. "Are gangs nowadays this formal? It's like property management."
Once they were a distance away, the square-faced leader let out a long sigh of relief, his eyes still flickering with lingering fear.
"Damn it! That kid smiled at me like he was seeing his own parents and tried to drag me to the backyard. Fuck, if I'd gone in there, I might never have come out!"
"You're right, Boss! Those people living at the end of the alley are terrible. We even have to follow their instructions on how much to charge—charging too much is a no-go, charging too little is a no-go, and not charging at all is also a no-go! Look at what happened to Er Gou and the others last month when that hot-tempered one beat them so badly they still can't get out of bed! Sigh, today was our turn to be unlucky."
"These jianghu people just love coming here to open shops! They all flock to the end of the alley because of that bell at Qingyuan Temple, babbling about finding peace. Can't they find peace somewhere else? When will that bell finally break? I pray they stop coming!"
"Don't panic, brothers! Hasn't our Qinglong Gang endured for twenty years? Come with me, let's go talk to Er Gou. They've been doing this for five years and have experience. Let's see if there's anything else we need to watch out for!"
"Come on! Everyone chip in one wen; we'll buy a gift to bring along."
The next day, Lin Yue went to Sanmazi Alley to pay her one hundred wen and returned to continue her wait for customers.
A month passed, yet she still didn't see a single soul enter. She was puzzled—did no one living near the end of the street ever get sick? That shouldn't be right!
There was a problem.
Lin Yue stood up, closed the shop door, and walked down the street. A pastry shop, a general store, an ironworks, a liquor shop, a cloth store... After a circuit, she returned with a bag of pastries, two bowls, a kitchen knife, and a jar of wine. She sighed; they were all retired, wealthy martial artists.
Just like her.
Putting herself in their shoes, it must be the tolling of the bell that made this small county town seem so peaceful and tranquil, far removed from the killing and fighting of the jianghu.
Rate on N.U.
