Chapter 234 — Named One Night Late

CHAPTER 234

Named One Night Late

The naming ceremony began at dawn with a single stick of incense, and Li Changyuan lit only half of it.

“Half will do,” Li Changyuan said, snapping the stick. “He’s becoming a core disciple, not ascending to Heaven. Hold the tray steady.”

He stood on the stone dais in his patched brown robe, holding a broom instead of a staff. Behind him, He Zhen and the five other inner-court elders watched in silence. Below the dais, two hundred disciples had gathered in the cold light, yawning and trying not to look as though they were.

Shi Feng stood near the back with Zhu Liu and Sima Lan. Zhu Liu was holding a fresh page of the receipt book. Sima Lan was holding a cup of hot water and passing it to Shi Feng whenever he forgot to drink.

“Gongsun Ce,” He Zhen read from a scroll. “Total of twenty-four points in the Quarterly Assessment. First place.”

Gongsun Ce stepped onto the dais. He wore a new robe, which he had clearly rented at great speed, and a small silver crane puppet perched on his shoulder. His missing eyebrow had been redrawn in ink. The line was a little straight.

“This disciple,” Gongsun Ce said, with a bow, “is honoured.”

“Sure,” Li Changyuan said. “Hold out your hands.”

Gongsun Ce did. Li Changyuan placed a green jade token in them, then took it back, looked at it, wiped it on his sleeve, and returned it.

“Core disciple,” Li Changyuan said. “Hall in the east. Ten stones a month, when we have them.”

“Ten stones,” Gongsun Ce said.

“When we have them,” Li Changyuan repeated, and held up the broom. “Also you skip sweeping. Don't tell the others how much you'll miss it.”

The crowd laughed and applauded. The loudest cheers came from Gongsun Ce's cronies, who threw their caps into the air and then waited, uncertain, for someone to hand them back. When one man attains the Way, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven, as the saying goes.

“Prince Gongsun Ce, core disciple!”

“Of course it was him. He built half the array!”

“Gold always shines in the end!”

“The champion cut a block in half with a lump.”

“Ungradable! What kind of grade is that?”

Shi Feng drank his hot water.

When the ceremony ended, the crowd drifted toward breakfast. Gongsun Ce came down the steps with the token in his fist and a smile he had been saving for weeks. He walked straight toward Shi Feng.

“Champion,” Gongsun Ce said. “Do you remember the wager?”

“I remember,” Shi Feng said.

“I became a core disciple before you reached peak Foundation Establishment,” Gongsun Ce said, raising the token. “You were still late Foundation Establishment at the assessment. I believe that makes me the winner.”

“I reached peak Foundation Establishment last night,” Shi Feng said.

Gongsun Ce's smile stayed where it was, but nothing else in his face did.

“Last night?” Gongsun Ce asked.

“Around midnight. In the cavern. Ring eight,” Shi Feng said.

“Ring eight is closed. Nobody's gone past seven in sixty years!” Gongsun Ce said.

Shi Feng took the dusty green tally from his sleeve and held it out. The characters on it were old and dim. At the bottom, one fresh smudge of his fingerprint showed in the dust.

Gongsun Ce took it, turned it over and stared at it. His lips moved. He turned it back.

“Midnight,” Gongsun Ce said. “And the naming was at dawn.”

“Yes,” Shi Feng said.

“By a night. A single night,” Gongsun Ce said.

“Yes,” Shi Feng said.

“You could have waited!” Gongsun Ce said, rather loudly. A few disciples looked over. He lowered his voice. “Until after the ceremony. Nobody would ever have known.”

“I'd have known,” Shi Feng said. “So would you. I don't lie about wagers.”

Gongsun Ce fell silent. He was furious at the timing and miserable about the wager. But Shi Feng had brought the tally and told him directly. The prince couldn’t dismiss that honesty, however badly he wanted to argue.

“Pay up, Prince,” Lin Langtian said happily.

He had appeared at Shi Feng's elbow again, with a potato in his sleeve. He clapped Gongsun Ce on the shoulder.

“I saw him do it,” Lin Langtian said, clapping Gongsun Ce’s shoulder. “One night! You nearly had him, Prince. Congratulations on making it so close.”

“Everyone should be congratulated for losing,” Lin Langtian added. “It's rare to lose well.”

Gongsun Ce let out a long breath. Then he took a small cloth bag out of his sleeve and held it out.

“The usual currency,” Gongsun Ce said.

Sima Lan took the bag before Shi Feng could. She weighed it in her palm, opened it, counted and nodded once.

“Correct,” Sima Lan said. “Without interest.”

“There's interest?” Gongsun Ce asked.

“For one night of delay,” Sima Lan said. “Seven percent. But I'm waiving it, since the champion is generous.”

“I didn't say that,” Shi Feng said.

“He says it now,” Sima Lan said.

Gongsun Ce took a tiny brush and a small black notebook from his belt. He wrote in very neat characters, each the size of a grain of rice, and held the page toward Shi Feng.

Wager one: lost by one night. This does not count.

“It counts,” Shi Feng said.

“It doesn't,” Gongsun Ce said, closing the notebook. “You didn't win it fair. You simply finished early. There's a difference.”

“What is it?” Shi Feng said.

“Later,” Gongsun Ce said, putting away his brush. “We’ll settle the next one at the Quarterly Assessment. I top the board again, by a bigger margin. Double the stake.”

“Accepted,” Shi Feng said.

“You don't even want to hear the stake?” Gongsun Ce said.

“I'll hear it when you've found it,” Shi Feng said.

Gongsun Ce looked at him for a long moment, then marched off toward the dining hall with his token held in front of him like a lantern. His cronies hurried after, still carrying his cap.

Lin Langtian watched him go and wiped one eye.

“What a fine young man,” Lin Langtian said. “He pays his debts and starts new ones before the incense is out.”

“The incense is out,” Zhu Liu said, with great care. “It was half a stick.”

“Even better,” Lin Langtian said.