Chapter Eleven: Gathering by the Sea

Qin Zhen was the kind of man who could not rest easy until he saw the body with his own eyes. Without delay, he called Chen Shu and set out to search the forest. As a scout, Chen Shu was indeed skilled; he led Qin Zhen five or six miles through the woods before they finally discovered another broken leg bone. At that moment, several wild boars were gnawing at it, nearly picked clean. Yet, Qin Zhen, examining the scattered clothing, deduced that this must be a part of Wang Wu.

“It must have been dragged off by some wild animal. Blood is the greatest lure for beasts,” Chen Shu said gravely. “Besides, with such grave injuries and blood loss, there was no chance he’d survive.”

Qin Zhen understood this well enough. Still, he could not help but resent himself for not having killed the man outright the night before. There was an emptiness in his heart because he had not taken vengeance with his own hands.

Chen Shu, on the other hand, felt relief. Qin Zhen was still young; taking a life could leave a deep scar on his soul. Chen Shu had hesitated long over whether he should do the deed himself. Now that Wang Wu had fallen to wild beasts, it suited him perfectly.

In the days that followed, comforted by Qin Zhen, Liu Juan gradually emerged from her shadow, her smile once again lighting up her face. The village chief spoke privately with the villagers; everyone knew what had happened, but not a single tongue wagged. All cursed Wang Wu’s damnation.

Qin Zhen did not return to the woods. He had promised Liu Juan, and in any case, there was plenty of surplus grain at home—no need to take unnecessary risks. Leisurely, he took up the tools he had bought and began to tinker with a few small inventions.

The spinning wheel creaked rhythmically.

“Zhen, this spinning wheel is wonderful! It takes no effort at all to pedal!”

The spinning wheels sold in the county were stiff and cumbersome, requiring everything to be done by hand—laborious and time-consuming—and the finished cloth was often poor. Qin Zhen had modified it with his tools, removing unnecessary parts and adding a foot pedal; this freed up both hands, improved efficiency, and produced smoother, sturdier silk.

“Juan, your weaving is excellent,” Qin Zhen admitted, genuinely impressed by her skill. “How come you never mentioned you could do this before?”

“There was no point talking about it then. We couldn't even afford rice, let alone a spinning wheel,” Liu Juan replied, sweat beading on her brow and soaking her clothes, outlining her enticing curves. “Not to boast, but my family was once a well-known cloth merchant…”

At this, a hint of sorrow clouded her face.

A merchant’s daughter, fallen so low—Qin Zhen could well imagine the stories buried in her past. He did not press. When Liu Juan wished to speak, she would tell him in her own time.

“Now that we have the spinning wheel, I can help weave cloth and bring in some income for the household,” Liu Juan said, caressing the wheel, her eyes full of hope.

Profit was never Qin Zhen’s primary concern; he had made this mostly to please Liu Juan.

Meanwhile, he was busy sanding wood, preparing to assemble a new repeating crossbow.

He had given the previous wooden contraption to Chen Shu. Now that his tools had improved, his weapons ought to as well.

“Zhen, why haven’t you been sneaking into the woods lately?” Li Han appeared out of nowhere. “Come on, let’s go hunting!”

“Aren’t you worried about what your father will say?” Qin Zhen grinned.

“Not a bit! Once a son is grown, he’s his own man!” Li Han boasted.

“I’m not going,” Qin Zhen said, focusing on sanding the wooden peg. “I promised your sister-in-law not to go back into the forest. Besides, I gave my crossbow to Uncle Chen. With our meager skills, we wouldn’t catch a thing—not even a rabbit!”

Hearing that Qin Zhen had taken her words to heart, Liu Juan felt a sweet warmth inside.

As they spoke, Liu Quan passed by the door with a group of men, all carrying wooden stakes.

Liu Quan teased, “Hey, isn’t this Han? What, come to watch Zhen and his wife being lovey-dovey again? If you want a girl of your own, tell your father to find you one!”

Li Han, his belly swollen from eating too much clay, looked displeased.

In times like these, few could afford to marry. When you were starving, how could you feed a wife? Not everyone could strike it rich overnight like Qin Zhen. That was why Li Han was always urging Qin Zhen to go into the woods—his family was poor, and he hoped to find some luck in the forest. Even if they didn’t kill a bear, bringing home a wild boar or a few rabbits could put food on the table.

“Brother Liu, where are you off to?” Qin Zhen asked curiously.

“Fishing!” Liu Quan replied, waving a beam in greeting. “The weather’s been perfect lately—ideal for fishing. Want to join us?”

Qin Zhen mulled it over and agreed gladly.

Since he could not return to the forest, he needed a new way to make a living; idleness was not in his nature.

“Zhen, didn’t you say only fools go fishing by the sea? Why are you going along now?” Li Han grinned. “Let’s just go to the woods instead.”

“Let’s just take a look.”

Qin Zhen pulled Li Han along, gave Liu Juan a few instructions, and set off with his unfinished crossbow.

On the way, Li Han watched Qin Zhen fiddle with the weapon and asked, “Zhen, why does this one look different from your old wooden contraption?”

“This one’s more powerful, has a longer range, and is more accurate!” Qin Zhen explained.

“Can it kill a bear?” Li Han asked eagerly.

“No,” Qin Zhen replied. Wooden crossbows were simply not the same as iron ones. To make a crossbow capable of felling a great bear, he would need a professional blacksmith—knowledge alone would not suffice.

“But it should do just fine against a few wild boars,” Qin Zhen continued, snapping the parts together. Though rough in appearance, the crossbow exuded a kingly air. “After all, this one fires repeatedly!”

Li Han longed to try it out, but Qin Zhen tucked it securely at his waist.

The seaside lay more than ten miles from the fishing village. After one or two hours’ walk, the vast blue expanse finally came into view.

Curiously, from a distance, the sea’s horizon showed no curve—it was a straight line. Qin Zhen wondered whether this meant the world was not a sphere; clearly, this place was utterly unlike the world he once knew.

The golden beach was already teeming with people. Most were plainly dressed, skin and bones—poor folk from nearby villages, scraping a living from the sea.

Several groups of fishmongers wove through the crowds, shouting and bargaining, driving down prices as they bought the villagers’ hard-won catches.

“Those people are the middlemen,” Liu Quan pointed them out. “They buy fish from us at ten coins apiece and sell them in the county for fifty. Further off, they can fetch over a hundred each.”

“That’s outrageous!” Qin Zhen exclaimed. “Are we selling to them, too?”

“What choice do we have? Let them rot in our hands?” Liu Quan sniffed. “Fish don’t keep. They die soon after you catch them. We can't transport them, but those fellows have donkey carts.”