Chapter 283 — One Item

CHAPTER 283

One Item

Li Changyuan held out the jade slip, then checked its wording once more before letting Shi Feng take it.

“One item,” Li Changyuan said. “From the Treasury. Of your choice. For the tribulation.”

Shi Feng looked at the slip, then at the sect master. The old man had come to hut nine at dawn, still holding his broom. His face was the face of someone who'd been told to pull his own tooth.

“Thank you, Sect Master,” Shi Feng said.

“Don't thank me,” Li Changyuan said. “Thanking is how it starts. Next you'll want a second item.”

“Is it a gift or a loan?” Sima Lan asked. She stood in the doorway with the ledger open and her chalk already out.

“A gift,” Li Changyuan said. “It's a gift. Why does everyone ask me that?”

“Because you're sweating,” Sima Lan said.

“It's warm,” Li Changyuan said.

“It's a cool autumn morning,” Sima Lan said. “Attendant's note: the sect master sweats when he gives.”

Li Changyuan pushed the slip into his hand and left before anyone could ask for more. He swept the doorstep three times on the way out. Sima Lan watched him go, visibly amused by how much the gift had pained him.

Zhu Liu poked his head around the doorframe as soon as the old man was gone.

“Senior Brother Shi, I've heard,” Zhu Liu said breathlessly. “The whole eastern lane has heard. The sun is rising in the west! They say the sect master is giving away the Treasury!”

“One item,” Shi Feng said.

“That's what I said! Nobody believed me.” Zhu Liu pulled out his receipt book. “Should I write it down?”

“Not yet,” Shi Feng said. “Let's see what the item is.”

He thought, Thunder-Calming herbs. That was the one thing on Lin Langtian's list he couldn't buy in any shop within a hundred li. Beast heart and ore could be hunted or taken. The herbs had to come from somewhere that already had them. If the sect had any, they'd be in the Treasury.

If the sect had any.

The Treasury stood at the back of Thousand Forge Peak, a squat stone building with an iron door and a window the size of a bread basket. Elder Qian Mo waited at the door with a lantern.

It was full daylight.

“Lamp oil,” Elder Qian Mo said, before anyone could ask. “Two coppers a cup. The inside of the Treasury has no windows, and I will not have a guest feeling around in the dark like a thief.”

“That's very considerate, Elder,” Zhu Liu said.

“Consider the oil first,” Qian Mo said, lifting the lamp. “One cup lasts an hour. People wander in here without deciding what they want, and somehow the Treasury pays for their indecision.”

“No, Elder,” Zhu Liu said.

“Neither do I, and I've counted for forty years.” Elder Qian Mo shook his head sadly. “Rule one. Touch only what you take. Rule two. Take only what you've decided. Rule three. If you drop something, it's yours.”

“Is that in the sect rules?” Sima Lan asked.

“It's in my rules,” Elder Qian Mo said.

Sima Lan wrote it down. Elder Qian Mo watched her chalk with a pained expression, as if the chalk too would be added to somebody's bill.

“Elder, I've brought the sect master's slip,” Shi Feng said.

“I've read it.” Elder Qian Mo snatched the jade slip and held it to the lantern. His lips moved. “'One item. Of the disciple's choice.'”

He read it again. His face crumpled in a way that Shi Feng found oddly sincere.

“Of the disciple's choice,” Elder Qian Mo said weakly. “Not of the treasurer's. He wrote that on purpose.”

“Sect Master Li did say it was a gift,” Zhu Liu offered helpfully.

“He used that same voice with me,” Qian Mo said bitterly. “Honey on the lips, a sword in the belly. Forty years I’ve heard it. He makes the generous offer, and I find out what the Treasury must give away.”

“Where is the chief disciple?” Elder Qian Mo added suddenly, looking around the empty path. “I saw him on the lane. He follows you everywhere.”

“On the roof,” Sima Lan said.

Elder Qian Mo froze.

A faint crunch came from above. Something small and round rolled down the tiles and dropped past the lantern. It was a sweet-potato skin.

“Lin Langtian!” Elder Qian Mo shouted, staring up. “What are you doing on my roof?”

“Roasting a potato!” Lin Langtian called cheerfully from somewhere overhead. “Don't mind me, Elder. I'm only a witness!”

“Those tiles are load-bearing!” Qian Mo said.

“Then I'll sit very lightly!” Lin Langtian said.

Qian Mo lowered his eyes from the roof to Shi Feng. He looked furious with Lin Langtian and afraid for his shelves. Finally he swallowed his objections and reached for the key.

“Come in,” Elder Qian Mo said at last, unlocking the iron door with a key that hung from his neck. “Mind the lion.”

“What lion?” Shi Feng asked.

The door swung open, and the lantern light fell on a pair of golden jade eyes.