Chapter 88 — A Customer Who Paid

CHAPTER 88

A Customer Who Paid

“Three of my men came back before the others,” Yan Meizhen said. “They’re asking for medicine already.”

“Did the wounds reopen?” Shi Feng asked.

Yan Meizhen shook her head and pushed the delivery paper across the table. Morning light entered the rented furnace room. Shi Feng kept his hood and face cloth in place. Her green robe still carried dust from the road, and the three ingredient boxes beside her looked newer than her boots.

The Bone Refinement buyer read his offer again. Twelve common recovery pills each delivery, three deliveries across nine days. He'd take a small cash fee and an agreed share of any extra usable pills. The customer received her twelve before he kept anything.

“They want to go back out,” Yan Meizhen replied. “The first trip paid well. Now they all think the next one will be better.”

“Not if they spend it with an open wound,” Shi Feng said.

“That’s what I told them!” Yan Meizhen said.

She took a creased list from her sleeve. There were twelve names on it, with little marks beside the men who were still away. Her jokes faded while she checked them.

Shi Feng read the quantities. They agreed on three deliveries across nine days, with the first ready that evening.

“I’ll inspect each batch,” Yan Meizhen said.

“Of course,” Shi Feng replied. “Keep the first box dry. Those men won’t wait to reach your store.”

Yan Meizhen nodded and folded the list. She was thinking about the hunters now, rather than another way to reduce his fee.

Yan Meizhen tapped the nearest ingredient box. He opened it and examined the contents. The herbs were dry this time. She'd apparently finished arguing with her supplier.

The room and fuel deposit was paid in advance, with the balance due on collection under the signed division.

Shi Feng put the advance in a separate pouch. His own eleven stones stayed untouched.

At last, he thought. The furnace wouldn't be eating his breakfast money today. Yan Meizhen stood, then turned back at the door.

“My hunters like larger pills,” Yan Meizhen said. “They think a small one isn't worth much.”

“Bring one here when he comes back,” Shi Feng replied. “He can try a small pill before ordering a large one.”

“He’ll claim he needs three to be sure,” Yan Meizhen said.

“Then bring the captain,” Shi Feng replied.

Yan Meizhen laughed. That would settle the experiment faster than any explanation she gave them.

Yan Meizhen stared at him before laughing again. She left without securing an improvement in pill size.

Shi Feng checked the furnace before lighting it. The air passage was clear, the lid sat evenly, and nobody else's residue remained in the bowl. Once those things were right, he stopped looking for tricks and began working.

His first mistake was his own.

During the joining stage, he fed in qi too quickly. The medicinal liquid gathered at the center, but the outer layer thickened before the inside settled. One pill cracked as soon as it cooled.

Shi Feng broke the remaining pills open. Two were sound. He set those aside and put the cracked one in his own jar.

“Too eager,” Shi Feng muttered.

Mo Tianheng's memories showed the proper movement clearly. Knowing it didn't mean his fingers would always follow it. The dead master's hands controlled far stronger qi. Shi Feng needed a smaller flow and a slower turn.

He repeated the movement with an empty spoon before beginning again. It looked foolish, but foolish practice was cheaper than ruined herbs.

The second attempt gave four usable pills.

On the third, he kept the flame steady even when the liquid thickened. Four more emerged. He didn't speed up to chase a grand yield. The last attempt produced five.

Fifteen common recovery pills lay on the clean tray.

Twelve belonged to Yan Meizhen. Three belonged to him. He inspected every one before sealing the customer's box, then ate the failed pill and loose medicinal crumbs.

The failed medicine fed his golden bones without harming him. He swallowed a sound pill next and felt the stronger, multiplied effect. Those three successful pills were worth the extra care at the furnace.

He sat until the warmth settled through his skeleton. The next portion could wait until evening. His remaining furnace time belonged to cleaning the vessel and sealing Yan Meizhen’s medicine properly.

That much medicine, and only this much progress!

Shi Feng wasn't discouraged. He finally had a way to keep feeding it.

Yan Meizhen returned before sunset. She checked the seals, opened the box, and chose a pill from the middle herself.

“Don't say I picked your best one,” Yan Meizhen said.

“Take one from the bottom too,” Shi Feng replied. “They were cooled together.”

She snorted, examined the pill, and counted twenty-four spirit stones onto the table. The transaction ended without a single plea for a discount. Then she reached for the empty ingredient boxes.

“The boxes are mine,” Yan Meizhen said quickly.

“Take them,” Shi Feng replied.

Yan Meizhen stacked the boxes beneath her arm and hurried out. A company runner was waiting beside the gate. She asked which hunters were back before he could offer to carry them.

After paying the session's eighteen-stone costs from the advance, the twenty-four-stone balance joined the eleven stones in his pocket for thirty-five stones in all. Before leaving the market lane, he bought a plain mortar and a finer sieve so Yan Meizhen's next batch wouldn't settle into coarse grains on the road.

One completed commission hadn't made him rich. It had left him with medicine and money at the same time. That was already an improvement.

At the rice stall, he bought grain, greens, and two eggs for three stones. He didn't buy a spirit fish to celebrate surviving a spirit fish. The remaining thirty-two stones could stay alive for another day.

“Only two?” Ling Qingzhu asked when he set the eggs beside the stove.

“Would you like to hatch them?” Shi Feng asked.

Ling Qingzhu gave him a cold look. Her black hair was tied loosely behind her, and one sleeve was rolled higher than the other. She'd been washing a cup. Water still clung to her fingers.

“I meant eggs for tomorrow,” Ling Qingzhu said.

“Tomorrow's chickens haven't been consulted,” Shi Feng replied.

“Your business must be doing wonderfully,” Ling Qingzhu said. “You're even arguing with chickens now.”

“Customers are harder,” Shi Feng said.

He washed the vegetables while she dried her hands. She stayed in the kitchen doorway instead of going back into their room. When he reached for the salt, she passed it before he asked.

He looked at her.

“What?” Ling Qingzhu asked. “You've put it in the same place every day.”

“Then remember where the rice bowl goes too,” Shi Feng said.

“I know where it goes,” Ling Qingzhu replied. “Into your hands.”

Shi Feng laughed and turned back to the stove. Her answer was shameless, but he liked hearing it. There was nobody here to impress, and she wasn't using the careful voice she wore before strangers.

He fried the eggs with chopped greens. When he divided them, her bowl received the crisp edges she liked.

Ling Qingzhu noticed. She took a bite, then glanced at the money pouch hanging from his belt.

“Did someone finally buy your medicine?” Ling Qingzhu asked.

“Someone paid for an order,” Shi Feng replied.

“So don't glare at the lamp tonight,” Ling Qingzhu said. “You make it look guilty whenever I turn it up.”

“The lamp burns oil,” Shi Feng said.

“I burn oil too,” Ling Qingzhu replied. “Are you going to glare at me?”

“You'd charge me for looking,” Shi Feng said.

Ling Qingzhu almost smiled before lowering her head. He saw it anyway.

After supper she stayed beside the courtyard table, talking about Su Wanning's departing carriage. Shi Feng listened while cleaning a bowl. His business notes could wait a little.

Later, behind the folding screen, she heard him spreading his bedding on the floor.

“Shi Feng, tomorrow I don't want the egg burnt,” Ling Qingzhu called.

“The crisp edge?” Shi Feng asked.

“Yes,” Ling Qingzhu replied.

“You ate all of it,” Shi Feng said.

Ling Qingzhu pulled her blanket higher and didn't answer.

In the corner, Shi Feng smiled before closing his eyes. Tonight there were thirty-two stones in the house and two pills put away—yet Gao Yuan's parting whisper at the furnace gate stayed with him in the dark: a clerk wearing the Eastern Palace badge had visited two neighbouring furnace yards that afternoon, asking which private refiners paid their bills in clean spirit coin.