story_qiubai_1_1

I think the situation's pretty clear to me now.

Deui m jyu, Neuisi. We assumed you were carrying that sword for nefarious purposes, but it was all a misunderstanding.

We understand you burst into a home while running for your life.

As for the ones who attacked you, witnesses weren't able to give too many details, but the L.G.D. will investigate to the best of our ability.

However, there is the matter of compensation for the glass you broke...

I can't pay.

Alright, no need to worry. I actually came to inform you that your relative explained the situation and paid what you owe, so you're free to go.

...My relative?

I know it's not the best feeling, relying on family for your first visit to Lungmen.

But in these circumstances, better you ask her for help than end up with a criminal record.

You're quick with your sword, and you weren't the most forthcoming with an explanation. If you'd resisted arrest with that blade, it would've been a lot more trouble for all of us.

I'm glad you're keeping fit with kung fu, but do be more careful here in Lungmen.

Alright, Neuisi. We've returned your weapon, so hurry on back home.

But I don't know...

Never mind. Doje.

Oh, it's you, Loubaan.

Take this. It's an ointment for your wounds.

I'm fine. Just a few scratches from the broken glass.

I appreciate you getting me out of jail. Doje.

You sure know how to give an old woman a scare.

Lucky for you I noticed when you didn't pass by for two days. I asked around the neighborhood only to learn that you had men trying to kill you, and that you'd escaped into one of those fancy uptown apartment blocks.

People have been watching me so closely?

The waiter at the dai pai dong across the way. She loves to gossip.

Yes she does...

Did you hear anything from her?

Nothing really.

I heard this shop is haunted. Apparently, a lot of people died here, many years ago.

And I also heard that you make mysterious visits to the cemetery, tending to the grave of someone she doesn't know.

*sigh* She's been reading those conspiracy magazines again. I'm afraid she'll lose her mind if she keeps at them.

There is one thing she's right about, at least. You are rather strange, Loubaan.

I caused trouble, but you weren't afraid. You even came to my rescue.

Haha... I think you'll find that you're the strange one, Qiu.

If I hadn't gone to the L.G.D. to explain things, would you really have just sat there without a word?

People like me are not exactly trustworthy, and I didn't know who was chasing me. It would have been rather difficult to explain it all.

A better move would have been to buy time and find an opportunity to escape.

You think you could have escaped?

Bandit strongholds, merchant escorts. I've escaped a few times in the past.

Those aren't really the same.

Besides, didn't you say you were going to Yumen to look for someone?

Lungmen's about to link up with Yumen. If you miss this opportunity, the two cities will separate and go far apart.

A nomadic city can travel dozens of li in a day. If you journey on foot like before, you'd be walking for months.

Doesn't matter to me if it's months early or months late, I'm fine either way.

And anyway, Yumen is preparing for battle and not admitting travelers. Without a suitable title to my name, I wouldn't be able to enter regardless.

'Preparing for battle'... Conflict can be more unpredictable than the weather.

Considering you have someone to see, don't you feel some urgency?

Unless you're not worried they might die before you can meet.

Loubaan, how can I repay you for coming to my aid?

How could I possibly ask something from a girl who spends her nights up in the rafters cradling her sword?

I do have a sword, after all.

Coming by to chat whenever you're free is enough for me.

You have a safe place to hide here.

And didn't you say that you were born in a river fort? Here in Lungmen, you can think of this flyover as the bridge across that river, and the street below is a little fort of your own.

That old television can still play classic films on CD.

Just don't get too into them. Don't want you trying to play hero in real life.

Everything in this house is ancient artifacts from twenty or thirty years ago. If you start practicing your kung fu willy-nilly, you'll break it all.

'...After traversing li upon li, so far from the jianghu, I fear that I shall never see her again.'

'Perhaps it is for the best that you disappear. Jianghu herself will follow you, an eternal source of foes, and I do not wish to see you to take up arms against all under Heaven...'

Qiubai shows no interest in the story playing out on the TV screen, simply holding down the fast-forward button.

A movie poster inadvertently caught her eye earlier that day, which led her to peruse the stock of the DVD shop.

But as she rummages through the dust-covered disks, she is unable to find the so-called <i>Grandmaster</i> among the other movies.

This 'hero' has nary a drop of blood on his hands, just like the one in that drama series.

This really would have me believe that every time blood is drawn, all the kung fu masters dodge the splatter using qinggong.

'Do it right, girl. This move here's a feint. You can take it easily.'

'This here is a shaving strike. Don't look away as you bring the blade down.'

'Oh, don't tell your parents we taught you these moves.'

'It's not that you're too young to be learning how to take up arms. It's just that... they probably still hope that you might look away.'

Hah.

As if things could ever be that clean.

Qiu.

Are you asleep back there?

No, I'm awake.

Ah, good.

Can you help me watch the store?

You'd trust me with that?

Hasn't it already been more than two weeks since your last dust-up?

You'll be fine. Not many customers this late at night, and our sign doesn't exactly bring in the crowds.

I might not know what sort of people are chasing you, but in the twenty-odd years I've lived here, we haven't had many ruffians coming around.

And if they do show?

Then you bring down the shutters and close the doors. No need to wait for me to come back. Just find a moment to put the key under the mat.

Also, there'll probably be some drunks looking for trouble in the middle of the night.

If any of them come into the store and won't leave, just give them what they want to make them happy.

These things happen, can't really avoid it. If they happen to you, don't take it to heart.

Alright.

If I really do run into one of those miscreants, I'll teach them a lesson.

Ah, no need to make a mountain out of a talpihill.

I won't, I'll just give them a scare.

You've shown me kindness, and I will do my best to repay it.

Mafaan nei la.

Those flowers you're holding are beautiful.

Haha, are they? I love white flowers too. It's a shame that they're not for a happy occasion.

Are you going to visit a grave?

I suppose I am.

Life and death lie in the hands of Heaven, and it's not up to me to say if that's good or bad.

However...

What is it?

No, nothing. I won't hold you up any longer.

Rental prices are on the wall, take a look.

Not even a 'funying gwonglam' from you, shopkeep?

No.

If you're just another drunk here to cause trouble, know that I've already kicked out a—

I see you recognize this knife.

I saw one just like it a month ago, stuck into the wall beside my antler.

I hear you had real quick reflexes that time, charged right through a window into the building by the road.

You should have kept yourself hidden like before.

That wasn't my knife last time.

Before you draw your sword, you might want to guess as to how many eyes are on you.

Your knife has an insignia on its handle. You've come from a certain caravan.

To be precise, the Yellow Sands do any job for coin. Armed escort is just one of our services.

I took a bag of rations from you and now you've come all this way to kill me over it?

You were a wanderer in the wilds on the brink of starvation, we would've turned a blind eye, if you had eaten it yourself.

But you went and roughed up my friends in the process, and used those rations to save an outcast.

It is a habit of mine to share my meals. I've been saved by the kindness of others many times in the past, and I won't pass on the chance to save a life myself.

That guy we threw out was no saint.

After you saved him, he became obsessed with revenge, and hounded us out of our work.

Killing just him wouldn't be enough to make things right, now would it?

Augh!

Sorry.

M-M hou yisi, I didn't mean to disturb you, I'll come back later...

No, it was my mistake for drawing my sword. I've caused a misunderstanding, I see.

What's the matter?

We've closed up shop, but we didn't sell all of the salt and pepper scalecis we made for the day. The boss told me to give you some.

It's fresh from the wok and still hot. No good when it gets cold.

I see you don't have any free hands, so I'll just leave it on the counter, okay?

Doje.

I hope you two enjoy it!

Well, this is a surprise.

You found yourself a quiet place to settle down.

No, it's mere happenstance.

These things, it's like they're encased in glass. If I were to brandish my sword, it would be all too easy to shatter them in carelessness.

Like right now?

Ah. I just got an idea.

Since what you really owe us is money, there's no need for you to pay with your life.

Is money all you think about?

Don't get me wrong. Our founding mission is to maintain order, uphold virtue, smite evil, that sort of thing. We're just looking to be properly compensated for our good deeds.

Since you love being a meddlesome busybody, you might as well meddle some more.

Have a look at this ledger.

Plenty of bounties for infamous robbers and serial killers in Lungmen.

You help us out with a job, use the bounty to repay us, the city's less one bad guy, and you get to keep the peace.

On the other hand, if you decide not to play nice with us... I'm afraid it would be rather hard for you to protect that peace, on this street at least.

So you're saying that if they're in this ledger, they're either a robber or a killer?

That's right.

You know, my mother says the grave that Lee tends... Its stone is totally blank!

She also doesn't go every year. It seems like out of the two decades or so her shop has been open, there's been a few years where she skipped the visit.

She must have some secret buried deep in her heart, so secret that she can't even have the person's name carved on the stone.

I don't know who it could be... or maybe it could be <i>those people?</i>

I wasn't planning on staying here for so long. I should be in Yumen.

I'm sure someone in one of your supply transport teams can help me find a way there.

If you can agree to this condition, I might be able to help you with your other issues.

Not having to deal with another pain in my ass here... Hmph, I'm glad you're so reasonable, Siuje.

I hope that's it.

Aiya, why are you here so early today? I only just opened up shop.

Every time you say you're not that interested in those CDs, but you've really gotten into them, haven't you?

I wouldn't say that many of them really interested me.

Well, there's lots of duds in there, so that's only natural. Any of them stand out to you?

I only remember thinking that most of the kung fu in them was all style, no substance.

Keh, you really didn't take an interest at all then, did you?

These ones over here were outstanding, though.

Haha, I've gotten too old. My bones might ache all the time, but my eyes aren't so dim that I can't tell a skilled hand.

I suspect that anyone else would not have dared to try and free me from L.G.D. arrest.

Oh, I've got plenty of experience dealing with them.

Although it might be thanks to the many mistakes of my youth, if my silver tongue could help a girl in need, then I'd say it was all worth it.

Who taught you how to swing a sword?

My father's... friends taught me the basics. The rest I taught myself over the course of my travels.

I wouldn't know how to use one to stick a fin in a barrel.

Although I'd say you'd be better off not knowing. Best you keep that sword from spilling any blood. Just... don't end up like me.

Would you mind helping me hold the ladder? I need to swap those disks at the top for some newer ones.

Alright.

Yesterday, it took to the afternoon to actually have any customers. My regulars usually only come once every twenty-four hours or so.

Qiubai looks down at a photograph she has on her of a young Liberi woman, her hair still not yet white with age.

It is a bounty for a bandit willing to kill for money, and that while her accomplices have mostly been executed, she alone remains at large many years later.

The shopkeep doesn't look back at her, focused on managing her store.

Out on the street, the shutters of the various stores and stalls all rise together with a thunderous crash, the neighbors greeting one another in familiar tones.

Hot cups of tea steam beside cash registers, while televisions blare out family sitcoms that have been running for over a hundred episodes.

The movies might not contain her enemies, but it was hard for them not to share one or two moments from her five years and thousands of li worth of travels.

Whose grave did you go to tend the other day?

If you're so curious, you should come with me next time.

Well...

Qiubai slowly loosens her hand that has been tightly gripping the hilt of her sword.

When I was young, my father taught me to repay hate with hate, while my mother taught me to repay kindness with kindness.

Where'd that come from, all of a sudden?

I'm setting out on my journey. I just wanted to express my gratitude.

She stuffs the photo with the bounty into a crack in the cash register drawer, then quickly steps out of the store.

Until we meet again.

Oh hey, hasn't it been a few days since I last saw you? Want to come in to eat or...?

The rental shop's closed...

When did that happen?

Eh? Oh, it just closed this evening.

I waved hello to Lee earlier today. She told me she had something to do, so she closed up earlier than usual.

That's good to know.

She must be gone by now.

Oh, yes, I saw her walk off.

So uh, would you like to have a seat?

Sorry, I'm just passing through.

I doubt you'll be seeing her again. Too dangerous.

Dangerous? What are you talking about?

Don't worry about it. I'll take a look.

The key's still here...

It shouldn't be... What's happened to her?

Lee Loubaan!

I figured you might show.

You were thinking of leaving the shop to me, weren't you?

You decided that with all your past misdeeds and grudges dying with you, I could keep living here peacefully.

If you don't like that idea, then be sure to give the key to someone who does.

When will your enemies arrive?

You may have laid aside your arms at your age, but I still have mine in hand.

Put that sword of yours away and sit with me awhile.

Very well.

I thank you for your kindness, both in letting me know about the bounty, and for trying to cover my escape.

There are many who hate me, and it's taken them this long to catch me. Should be enough for me to have a right laugh at them, no?

You took the initiative and sought them out.

Otherwise, they would have had no way to hunt you down in this great city.

It was my arrival that drew attention to this street, wasn't it?

An item two or three decades old will break at the slightest touch.

I'd say it wasn't you who broke the peace. If I hadn't helped you, I would have helped some other unfortunate swordsman or wandering child.

Either way, bloodstained as my hands are, isn't my death a good thing?

So you were trying to get me to kill you that day, or at least expose you...?

If I hadn't asked around, I'm afraid I would have believed the rumors about your evil past, and I would not have returned to see you.

Although the gang you were part of did many heinous deeds, you were not their ringleader, and you did not deserve to be hunted for so many years.

And besides, the gang was almost completely wiped out, with only you making it out alive... Were you perhaps a traitor, or maybe an undercover agent all along?

You've finally started to ask questions, I see.

Nobody else can give me the truth.

You're the only one I can ask.

I want to know... Do you really not care if your righteous deeds go unknown, if you can't explain your actions to the judge of the dead in the underworld?

What's to care about?

I wasn't an undercover agent for the imperial court, and I didn't steal from the rich to give to the poor.

Our group wandered the jianghu, and the best you could say is that we were a little bit nicer than other bandits. We bathed in blood. We were not righteous rebels, just hateful bastards.

And that's why I wanted to stop you.

Once you go into jianghu, you can never leave.

Has Lungmen ever encountered a snowstorm before, Loubaan?

Nothing so dramatic. It just snows from time to time. Why?

I... don't understand.

When I was young, my father taught me to repay hate with hate, while my mother taught me to repay kindness with kindness. This I know well.

But my father also taught me of the river's expanse, and how it could take me to many places.

I've wandered for so long, but only now when I look back do I realize this land is far greater than any river, and there are many places that do not know the touch of flowing water.

Like Lungmen, for example, this nomadic city that can evade Catastrophe.

The year that I was born, Jiangqi had just finished its spring sowing when a Catastrophe plunged it back into deepest winter. It snowed for the entirety of May.

I don't understand what exactly traps us, while the land is so vast. People say that they cannot leave the jianghu, but where do the raging rapids of the jiang start? Where is the far edge of the hu's still waters?

Haha, some very good questions.

If I don't make it to Yumen, I fear I will never understand.

I must meet that man...

I've just thought of something. Let's go for a walk. Together.

*cough* *cough*...

That's enough thinking out of you.

My enemies have been and gone. I drank my poisoned drink.

My time is near.

Oh...

You never did tell me whose grave this is, Loubaan.

If you still have regrets, I... can at least help you finish the marker.

Haha, no need...

The grave... is mine.

You've been ready for a long time.

Whether or not you have someone to send you off, sooner or later, it comes knocking at your door.

Regrets are for the living. The dead? Not so much.

The old woman's flagging gaze is fixed on Qiubai for a long while, before slowly turning towards the gravestone.

Say... This river of yours... Where does it flow to...?

Loubaan...

The old woman is no longer breathing.

Qiubai rests her body up against the gravestone, closing her eyes for her.

She looked at the marker in her final moments, the one without a name...

Maybe you really do care about what happens after you die?

You were a bandit, or maybe you were a hero.

Or maybe you were just a woman who managed to settle all her jianghu feuds. Lee, the rental shop loubaan.

You died over twenty years ago, on the day you settled down in Lungmen, or maybe you died today.

Maybe you didn't care... or maybe you've been trapped by this question your entire life.

This uncarved gravestone stands out in a public cemetery in Lungmen, as if it is waiting for an answer.

Qiubai draws her sword.

There's a lot of scrapped swords in the weapon shop. Go and sneak one out, nobody will notice. Then, I'll teach you how to use it.

Alright, look, here's how you chop, here's how you stab... Hey, hey, be careful with that!

Hey, are you alright? Scared the life outta me. If anything happened to you, he'd take my head...

Anyway, this sword's way too heavy for a little kid like you, so put it down. You can't let your sword fly out of your hands like that again!

...What's so funny?

Look at all the flowers I knocked loose! They're so pretty!

I want Father to see them...

Snow's not the only thing that's white.

Her sword slashes forth.

The only thing on its point is a single white flower.

Grudges are difficult to break, which is why men are unable to escape, unable to walk away.

But that is not a reason for me to lay down my sword.

Neither is it a reason for me to continue wielding it.

I've been to Yumen, Loubaan.

I think I've found my answer now.

Doje.

The white flower falls from her blade onto the plinth before the gravestone. Qiubai turns to leave.

The stone stands, still uncarved.