act31side

My dear sister.

Traveling with the gentleman has taught me that the lands beyond are very different from Dahuang. Humans have invented many new things in just a few decades.

There are all kinds of cities in Yan, more than just fields as far as the eye can see. There are glamorous palaces and busy markets, and so many more fascinating things.

I'm just coming back for a little break. Then I'll go out on a long journey again. I don't know how many years it will be.

Dahuang isn't the backwater hovel it once was. There are many people who can take care of these fields for you. Are you sure you don't want to go and see with me?

I realized that the world outside isn't so different from Dahuang after all.

How long has it been? Decades? Centuries? Perspectives change.

The more you see, the more you realize that people are the same everywhere. Devious, but predictable.

Yes. Now I fully understand what the gentleman said before he died.

Just how long do you plan to stay here, my dear sister?

Wei—

Why do you still shut your self away like this? It took us so much effort to get you out of that hill. Shu's not here. Wanna go for a walk with me?

There's nothing new here, but the produce is on another level compared the agricultural plates in the other cities. Say, have you seen how they make booze out of grain yet?

Ugh.

Did the Tianshi Bureaus come looking for trouble?

I'm not afraid of the Tianshi Bureaus!

I'm just... I...

With skills like that, you should be dealing with that big guy outside who refuses to move.

All the Tianshis are out there for the relief effort. What can I do on my own? It's not like I could do it with my own two hands...

I'm so bored! C'mon, lemme see what you're drawing...

No!

Oh, don't be like that. I could give you ideas, if you've got art block or whatever.

Get, out—

Why so nervous? Looks like you're hiding something.

No I'm not. Something's just bothering me.

The folks at the Tianshi Bureaus might be annoying, but they can't actually do anything about you. The imperial court has already given us a guarantee. The worst they could do is complain.

So you're bothered about... <i>him.</i>

I can feel his presence. He never hides. Are you sure you don't want to go and see him? We're family, after all.

No.

Wow, you really are cold... I heard how he always brought you the best paintings of the era whenever he passed by your hill. Don't pretend you didn't like them.

Things are different now.

When was the last time you saw him?

I can't say I remember.

His business got so big that he started getting warnings from the Sui Regulator. He pulled things back a little afterwards. He's been enjoying himself the last few years, sightseeing all over Yan.

But the Sui Regulator keeps a much tighter eye on him than it does us.

How do you know all that?

I had a peek in the Regulator's notebooks in the course of my dealings with them. The parts that weren't super-double classified, anyway.

'His business became so big'? I always remember him as that simple-minded boy following Shu around, with no eye for anything other than silkworms and mulberry.

The last time I saw him was when he 'passed by', and I caught a glimpse through the painting.

His eyes were clouded, repulsive, like—

—like the stinky weiqi failure, I know.

He was in Baizao the year our weiqi failure broke out. Who do you think Yan had its eyes on for the past few years while ignoring you and I?

You think they're in cahoots?

No idea. I thought Ling and Dage were the only ones he got along with.

But he wouldn't have been able to call on people like he does now if the Sui Regulator made a decision like that, would he?

You know how comfortable he is in human skin. Every transaction in the books he submits every year to the Sui Regulator is perfectly above board. You couldn't find a flaw if you put them under a microscope.

He's always the first to donate whenever a city is hit by Catastrophe. The Sui Regulator has to give him some respect on that point alone.

You really think he did it out of the kindness of his heart?

He's our brother. I won't badmouth him behind his back.

Yeah, riiiight.

Anyway, relationships like ours don't exist amongst humans. Brothers? Sisters? I...

You what?

Get out of here. Now, and no peeking!

Fine, fine. No need to get all violent and excitable.

Sibling ties in the worldly sense mean nothing to us, after all...

Maybe Yanese historians will invent a word to describe our relationship in a few hundred years or so... maybe.

But we would've thrown a few more family reunions if you could change that stubborn streak of yours.

I'm not stubborn.

So, when are you going to show me the twelve scrolls in your study?

Go away!

Yes, I know it's twelve. You kept the one for Sanjie, our third sister, even after she disappeared.

—Have you figured out who the people depicted in the scrolls are? Or did you give up on that?

Unless... you haven't even started on your self-portrait?

Why are you so stubborn?

A rainstorm.

The dark clouds have dispersed, but the moisture in the air remains palpable.

Zuo Le watches He Sheng clench his teeth and press the switch on his apparatus.

A large vehicle, the likes of which he has never seen, rolls over the fields, trampling row after row of crops underneath.

Wind blows past dead, yellow leaves, making a sound like scornful laughter.

Disaster comes and goes as it pleases.

What can mortal men do before the will of Heaven?

All these crops have to be destroyed?

Yes.

It was my first ever test field. Maize. All soaked in Originium-polluted water. No other choice.

Restoring Originium-polluted soil is extremely difficult. The land is vast, but precious little of it is fit for farming.

Even the cob of the corn was sweet. I tried it when I first came to Dahuang. It was the best thing ever.

I wanted to grow it in the earth, so that everyone could taste the sweetness, feel the joy that I did when I tried it for the first time.

Only the bare earth is left once the engine rumbling passes.

Found you, Xiaohe!

The farmers are arguing with the Tianshis after the engineers bulldozed a field. You need to come! Hurry!

Folks, the disaster has left us with little supplies and even less time. We can't afford any delays.

The decision has already been made to abandon these farms. Please, let us pass through with our tools.

Abandon? You liar! The Tianshis who planted here told me two days ago that the crop research was at a crossroads.

Who gave you the authority to trample our fields with your trucks?

'Originium particle concentration in Plate D-4 soil samples exceed acceptable limits.' That means this field is polluted and no longer usable—

We've dealt with stuff like this every year! Who do you think you are, an outsider deciding that this field should be abandoned?

These fields can't be moved. It's been polluted by natural disaster, and the higher-ups have made the decision to not save it...

This is already a bad year for the harvest! There's going to be a famine if we don't save the fields!

You've never seen thousands die of starvation, have you? All you people care about is your construction projects! You're not helping to save the fields, you're trampling them!

Dahuang belongs to us!

You speak without wisdom.

No wisdom, huh?

I'll show you wisdom!

You dare strike me?

Screw you, son of a...

I'll show you a son of a...

Hey, everybody, calm down!

Uncle Wang!

These fields...

Just look! It's bad enough that the fields were ruined by Originium, now these people are running over it with their trucks!