Page 54 of The Cinders
‘Indeed.How can I help you stranger?’
Lim looped Longma’s reins over the bamboo fence and walked towards the property’s owner.‘I am hoping for a place to stable my horse.The owner of a tavern suggested I speak with you?’
‘Did he now?’Ren said with good nature.He was as thin as the stems of his lotus, and a little gaunt in the face to Lim’s mind, but his smile was wide and welcoming.‘He’s always looking for a way to gain more of my lotus, that Zhang Wei.Thinks I shall reward him every time he sends a traveller my way.Come, walk with me, Master…?’
‘I am Song Lim.’And he had no interest in a walk.That itch of impatience that had driven him from Kunming was now outright unbearable.‘I am in something of a rush…I’m sorry.There is someone…I have important business to attend, and I’m already late.I can see you are very busy, too.’
Master Ren regarded him with curiosity; not annoyance, as Lim would have done if the situation were reversed.
‘Not too busy to see to your horse, who looks like he’ll enjoy a full food bin very much.Let me set these down so I can be more welcoming.’
As Lim made his way down the stone path that ran along the front of the residence, he lost sight of Master Ren for a moment.When he rounded the corner, the man had emptied his armload of lotus blooms into a bucket that sat alongside several others, all assembled within three bamboo walls of a roofless enclosure.The other buckets were filled with lotus pods, stems cut off; green as jade and large as a halved pomelo.Thinking on those tangy citrus fruits, Lim’s favourite, had his stomach growling.
‘When did you last eat, Master Song?’
Ren’s question took him aback.He was still decent paces away, and the growling had been low, and soft.‘At dawn, I had some congee.’
‘Dawn was a long time ago, half the day is done now.’Ren fussed over his lotus, picking at a bug that had settled on his blooms.‘I know you are in a great rush, but a man must eat.I have some abalone soup left from my noon meal, with bamboo and water mallow, and lotus roots, of course.Would you like some?’
Lim nearly groaned at the thought of abalone, a seafood most people of modest means couldn’t dream of tasting more than once in their lives.But he had no time for such indulgence.Not yet.He must lay eyes on Xian first.Maybe that would quell this constant prickle of urgency that had followed him from Kunming; no matter how much his own doubts sought to quell it.‘That is most tempting, and gracious, but I must decline.I have something I must attend to.Forgive me, I mean no disrespect.’
‘And none has been taken.I’m happy to see to your horse, it shall give me some respite from my chores.’And he looked happy about it, his smile finding his eyes; which were a most curious light grey.He gestured at the assembled lotus buckets.‘I’m growing them as quickly as they are cut, and I’m still uncertain I’ll satisfy demand.And you’d not believe how many of my abalone have been ordered, the number would startle you.It even startles me.’
He laughed easily; the sound flowed around Lim as though taken by the breeze and played with.
‘You must have great skill to have them flowering at this time of year…how do you keep the waters warm?’
He knew something of the lotus plant, and having so many flowers at the tail end of winter seemed unusual.
‘Ah, now an artisan never reveals his best secrets.’Ren smiled broadly, wiping his hands against the wide trousers of his light brownshanku.He was more damp than dry, but hardly seemed to mind; water stains marked both the trousers and the stomach of his crossover jacket with its contrasting sand-coloured bands at the cuff and collar.‘I’ll just say that the water and I hold a great connection, and she rewards me well for it.’
To Lim’s eyes, it seemed the water took him to task.
‘I can understand that, I am a craftsman myself,’ Lim said, with the note of pride he knew some mistook for vanity.‘A shoemaker.’
‘Oh, how wonderful!’Ren grinned in a way that lifted his thin cheeks.‘Please do not look at my shoes in that case.I don’t treat them well.You’ll be horrified.’
Lim had already noticed the haggard state of the man’s straw sandals; one strap was just a day away from breaking, and there was mud thick on the soles.‘I have coin for my horse’s upkeep but I can see to your shoes as well, if time permits?I’m uncertain how long I shall be in Manhao.’
‘Oh?Do you not wish to stay in the company of the person you visit?’Ren laughed, turning away to survey the lotus pods in the next bucket.Lim blinked.Water dripped from the tip of the man’s queue.
‘I have come unannounced,’ he said carefully.‘And it is a very busy time of year.The man I am visiting is…’ What was Xian to him?He’d lied to himself the entire journey; the prince was simply a man who’d lost his shoe and needed it returned.But what shoemaker rode his arse raw for six days to deliver shoes he’d not asked a single coin for to a man who may not wish to lay eyes on him?A mad one, perhaps?Even if the Daoguang Emperor himself had demanded Lim’s service, he’d have balked at the journey, were the prize not rich enough.‘He is a customer of mine in Kunming.’
Lim could have named a hundred other towns, but had spoken the truth when a lie was needed.He cursed behind his teeth, hoping Master Ren was not so astute as he seemed.
The farmer studied his lotus, running his finger over the rounded bumps that clustered in the circular pod.The Red River could not be far from the farmhouse; the faint call of riverboat men came with the travelling wind.
‘Kunming?’Ren said.‘You’ve come far, Master Lim.Was there not an envoy from Manhao just in your city?Is it one of those officials you wish to see?’
Lim cursed the man for not being stupider but was distracted by thought of those officials; especially the captain, who thought himself worthy of harassing a prince.
Seeking to give himself a moment to calm, Lim looked over his shoulder to where the gelding nuzzled its way through the grass at the edge of the path.The saddlebag, with its precious cargo, was exactly where he’d left it.‘No.I do not wish to see any of those men again, if it can be helped.’The wind brought the river to them; earthy and holding a hint of mustiness.
‘Then it must be His Royal Highness, the Prince Xian, that you are seeking?Why is it you did not travel with him?I understand the poor man arrived without a single attendant from Kunming, most unusual.’Ren did not make the statement accusatory, and the way he watched Lim was with a certain, unexpected sympathy.
‘I was not ordered to…no one was.’He chewed his lip.‘You seem very well informed, Master Ren.’
‘Much news travels down the Red River, even from those cities that are far from it’s banks.The stories say that he is treated little better than a servant at the Governor’s Manor, kept hidden away mostly, and when he appears he is veiled so heavily none can be sure who actually lies beneath.Some speculate that Prince Xian did not survive the fire that took his mother, after all.’