Chapter 31 — The Ferry Owner's Scale

CHAPTER 31

The Ferry Owner's Scale

“Eighteen spirit stones! Baggage costs extra!” Song Deyuan shouted.

Shi Feng stopped at the edge of Shuanghe Ferry's landing. On the third morning after leaving Yunze Town, he finally reached a river too wide to cross on foot.

Two ferries were tied below the stone steps. One carried fishing baskets. The other had a flat deck large enough for loaded carts, and every traveler on the bank was waiting for it.

Song Deyuan stood beside a scale with one hand out.

“Don't block the steps!” Song Deyuan said. “Are you crossing or admiring the water?”

“I'm looking for the Jade Scale convoy,” Shi Feng replied.

“Then admire their water!” Song Deyuan said, pointing toward the warehouses.

A duck climbed onto the bottom step behind him. Song Deyuan kicked at it without looking. The duck bit his trouser hem and refused to let go.

“Whose miserable bird is this?” Song Deyuan shouted.

“Mine,” Yu Sanniang called from the queue. “It’s already paid for the crossing!”

Shi Feng went toward the warehouses while Song Deyuan tried to argue with the duck’s owner and escape its beak at the same time.

Shi Feng walked past him.

Behind the first warehouse, three carts stood beneath blue canvas covers. A pointed-bearded merchant watched two porters struggle with a wheel pin. He wore a plum robe and turned a jade ring whenever the hammer missed.

“Pei Rong?” Shi Feng asked.

The merchant immediately smiled.

“Ah, the right man at the right hour! Going west, young friend?” Pei Rong asked.

“To the capital,” Shi Feng said.

“Eighty stones. Crossing included. Meals aren't,” Pei Rong said.

“How long?” Shi Feng asked.

“A few days. We stop for business,” Pei Rong replied. “You can sit on the third cart if there's room.”

Shi Feng looked at that cart. The wheel leaned, and the porter underneath it was arguing with the man holding the hammer.

“Will it leave today?” Shi Feng asked.

“As soon as that pin goes in,” Pei Rong said.

“Then you might be here a while,” Shi Feng replied.

The merchant's smile stiffened.

A porter pulled the iron bar again. The corner of the cart rose a finger's width, slipped, and dropped. The man with the hammer shouted at him. They blamed each other while the pin stayed on the ground.

Shi Feng set down his pack.

“I'll lift it,” Shi Feng said. “Fresh shoulder dressing and a little swelling salve are included in my fare.”

Pei Rong's eyes flicked toward the bandage.

“You're injured,” Pei Rong said.

“It's still cheaper than another wheelwright,” Shi Feng replied.

Pei Rong looked at the two sweating porters.

“Done!” Pei Rong said.

Shi Feng handed over the eighty stones, then crouched beside the frame. He braced the cart on his left forearm, kept the right wrist straight, and rose. Six heavy cases of blades lifted with the cart.

The porters froze.

“Put the pin in,” Shi Feng said.

The hammering porter dropped his tool. He snatched it up and drove the pin home in three quick strikes. Shi Feng lowered the cart and stepped away.

“He lifted all of it!”

“Those are blade cases!”

“Did you see the bandage?”

“…”

Pei Rong stopped turning his ring.

“Your travel paper, young friend,” Pei Rong said. “I need the name for the passenger list.”

Shi Feng handed it over. The merchant glanced at the departure date and Yunze Town's red seal, then paused at the description beneath the name.

“You're Shi Feng,” Pei Rong said slowly. “From the Shi clan.”

“The fare's paid,” Shi Feng replied. “Remember the medicine.”

“The ruined meridians…” Pei Rong began.

“Don't prevent me from carrying things,” Shi Feng said.

Pei Rong looked at the cart again. He was surprised, but surprise didn't tell him a cultivation realm. He couldn't sense qi from the youth, and good body medicines could produce strange results.

“Of course, of course,” Pei Rong said. “Strong tonics! I'll get the salve.”

Shi Feng thought: let him think that. I didn't come here to explain my bones to a merchant.

He picked up his pack. Before he reached the steps, Song Deyuan blocked the porters rolling the first cart downhill.

“Overweight!” Song Deyuan shouted. “Twenty stones more!”

Pei Rong's smile vanished.

“The weight hasn't changed since you agreed to carry it,” Pei Rong said.

“My scale says it has,” Song Deyuan replied.

A woman carrying egg baskets started shouting at him too.

“You weighed my baskets twice!” Yu Sanniang cried. “They got heavier when I complained!”

“Then your hens lay heavy eggs!” Song Deyuan snapped.

He slapped the scale beam. One pan sat higher than the other, even with nothing in it. A cloth hung beneath the counter, hiding most of the support.

Shi Feng looked at the beam, then at the wooden peg jammed behind it.

That wasn't even a good hiding place.

He reached beneath the cloth and pulled the peg free. The pan dropped with a clang. Song Deyuan jumped back, and the waiting travelers fell silent.

Pei Rong took the peg from Shi Feng's hand.

“Does the river's current push this in too?” Pei Rong asked.

Song Deyuan's face turned red.

“It keeps the beam steady!” Song Deyuan said.

“It keeps your purse steady!” Yu Sanniang shouted. “Give me back my stones!”

Three more people pushed toward the counter. Song Deyuan hurried around it, waving both hands. His greedy trick might have worked on one traveler, but now the whole landing could see it.

Shi Feng went to the ferry while they argued. He didn't need to spend the morning punishing a fool who couldn't hide a peg.

The porters followed. Song Deyuan finally opened the chain and stopped demanding more money.

By the time the carts reached the deck, Yu Sanniang was counting a refund into her sleeve. She looked fierce enough to demand payment for the counting too.

The ferry pushed away from the steps. Water slapped its blunt side, and ferryman Yu Jiang poled until the current caught the hull.

Shi Feng sat beneath the stern awning. The wrapped sword lay between his feet, and the shoulder felt better after the fresh dressing Pei Rong provided.

The merchant sat beside him.

Two stone pillars stood farther upstream, with no bridge between them. Shi Feng pointed them out to the ferryman.

“What happened there?” Shi Feng asked.

“The Immortal Crossing Bridge!” Yu Jiang replied proudly. “They started it thirty years ago. Two Foundation Establishment cultivators came to lay the first stones.”

“Then why isn't it finished?” Shi Feng asked.

“The money was gone before the third pillar,” Yu Jiang said.

Yu Sanniang snorted from her seat by the rail.

“The bridge hasn't crossed the river, but its taxes crossed thirty years ago!” Yu Sanniang said.

The passengers laughed. Yu Jiang grinned and leaned against his pole.

“Don't say it so loudly,” Yu Jiang said. “They'll collect another tax to bring the first one back!”

Pei Rong rubbed his rings and looked toward the pillars.

“A finished bridge would be bad for Song Deyuan,” Pei Rong said.

“He wasn't born when they stopped building,” Yu Jiang replied. “Don't give him credit for everything!”

Shi Feng looked at the broad river between the two useless pillars. Even two Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't make an official finish spending the money in the right place.

“Good eyes,” Pei Rong said. “You saved me twenty stones.”

“You agreed to the medicine before that,” Shi Feng replied.

“Fair is fair! I wasn't going to take it back,” Pei Rong said.

He rubbed his ring and looked toward the long bundle.

Shi Feng waited.

“I buy weapons,” Pei Rong said.

“I noticed the six cases,” Shi Feng replied.

“Ordinary ones. Better ones too,” Pei Rong said. “If a young friend has something he doesn't need…”

“Say a price after you've seen it,” Shi Feng said.

Pei Rong's smile widened. He didn't reach for the wrapping on the open deck. Whatever else he was, the merchant knew when a valuable object deserved a private room.

The ferry turned toward the far landing. Yu Jiang called to the men at the ropes, and the passengers stood to collect their baskets.

The road ahead climbed between green hills. Beyond them lay larger towns and, at last, the capital. He'd spent two mornings practicing the altered sword turn with his knife. Soon he'd have a proper blade again.

Pei Rong leaned closer.

“Our warehouse has a quiet room,” Pei Rong said. “We can talk there.”

Shi Feng rested a hand on the bundle.

“Bring your stones,” Shi Feng said.