act15side

07上

...Mm.

My head, poor head... what makes this clamor now... hm?

Ah... it was a folk song of bamboo, clapping away.

He shelves his game, knows not of ages' change. From dreams I wake, ask only of the years... what years... what years...

Urgh...

Why is my wine gone?

What cruelty is this.

Shang Zhong feels at the herbal plaster on his neck, as is his habit.

His ten years taking up his pole every day, climbing up and down the mountain, was his habit too.

Qujiang Peak is incontestably tall and perilous. So tall it lacks any human habitation, so perilous not a sound can be heard.

He's lost count of how many springtimes he's now passed in Shangshu. He raises his head to look afar, and at the end of a pass with no human's former trace, he sees but one person.

A person who has been waiting for him, for a very long time.

...In the end, we meet again.

We only just met.

You didn't have your blade then, so we didn't meet.

Well, I've brought it now.

I'll be clear.

I know the fault isn't yours. I also know, that rainy night, it wasn't just my son who died.

Of course you know.

You took in his daughter. How is she now?

I plan for her to continue my work.

Your work as an escort? Or do you want her comfortable as an innkeeper, like you've been these past years?

Either or. Whatever she likes.

Has she found a sweetheart?

Not yet.

A shame.

You won't live to see the day she becomes a bride.

Maybe we don't need to jump to the killing today?

Impossible. I know how you are. Your heart is heavy, but mine holds a grudge.

A grudge of ten years.

...So?

So you never planned to win against me today. The restaurants, teahouses, inns, aren't they all ways out to leave to your daughter?

You know the escort is a profession of wrongs. You also know the state the escorts will be in, with you gone.

Don't forget. You've gone outside the rules, with a blade strapped to you. People will sympathize with you. But by reason, you'll still be a traitor.

If you bore the guilt and led the escorts onward after that night, how could I be betraying it?!

My son walked that path. How could I not know? But your actions, opening inns and restaurants? Aren't you trampling upon their deaths?

It was you! You fell at a stroke, and ran from your past!

I did... I know that. But we've said a little more than enough now.

I am Head of the Xingyu Escort Assocation, Asker to the Frost, Zheng Qingyue.

...Polearm of the Shangs, Shang Zhong.

In early spring, twilight approaches. The trees' shadows sway, the fallen snow like silver.

A gust of wind blows, and a blade falls.

...Mm.

You've rested far too long, Zheng Qingyue.

It might not be my rest. Maybe you've climbed too many mountains, improved your footwork again.

It's hard to know.

But heroes like you are doomed to spend your older years unable to walk. It's such a shame.

So your blade flowed quick, the snow's gleam hit my eyes, you cut open my trouser leg, and you think now I can't walk?

You won't be able to block the next slash. That pole isn't any family treasure, you know. It's nothing but a stick of lousy bamboo.

—Dad!

Ye?! What are you...

So you were Du Yaoye after all. In the blink of an eye, you've grown so tall...

Oh.

You two are quite free, if it's getting dark and you still have the time to be... practicing kung fu here.

It's you. What are you doing here?

I'll tell you straight, Master Shang. My friend tasked me to find that goblet on your belt. I'm looking for a pavilion, and I just can't do without that cup.

I worry, see, since swords don't discriminate. If you... glanced off of it in your scuffle, it'd hardly be worth it when the dust settles.

Dad, what are you even doing—!

...Ye, I...

Ten years ago, the Xingyu Escort Association took on a great commission. But heavy rains came on the way, and they were attacked by bandits in the wild.

To protect the goods, Zheng Qingyue abandoned his fellow escorts. A dozen brothers were killed. Among them was my son, and your... blood father.

Zheng Qingyue let them die without trying. Not only did he let them die, he didn't protect the goods in the end. He didn't protect the escorts' reputation.

I—

And after all that, he even turned a blind eye to their decline, and fled from his failure. Did you know that?

After that, your mother left Shangshu, and went back to her home.

Du Yaoye... Can you swear you knew any of this?

Ye. This has nothing to do with you. Your dad's going to—

Then you're... Master Shang.

No.

The traitor Shang Zhong.

Who the hell do you think I am? You think I spent all my life sheltered like some clueless idiot?

Yeah, I knew all about my mom and dad. I know better than you what old Zheng's done all these years and how he's done it.

And that's precisely why I need to tell you two today—

—Association this and inn that, they'll all be Du's sooner or later.

Now, if you two oldies can stop making trouble for me.

If you don't step aside, you'll regret it.

If you've got something to say, say it...

A coin-sword?

You're joking. Are you going to cast some kind of magic in front of me or something?

Ah, excuse me, now, I'm not handy in close combat at all... it's just...

If you really want this thing, then take it. Catch.

––Hold it!

Zheng Qingyue! No more distractions!

—Don't touch my dad!

Rngh! Out of the way!

Urgh!

Ye!

Shang Zhong, you've lost it! Using violence on the young!

A clang.

A sweep of the pole holds back the sharp gleam, but without obstruction, Zheng Qingyue's blade now sweeps elsewhere.

And that goblet proves its sturdiness again, for how could earthenware anywhere take a strike from Zheng Qingyue's blade without a stroke of harm?

But with that strike, that goblet, black as the night, is sent flying away.

—The cup!

Just leave us! Go do your thing!

But you're...

This is family business!

Fine.

Just hold on for a bit, I'll be right there.

Ye, don't let him go!