A Family Letter Worth Ten Thousand in Gold

The mountains were high and the emperor was far away; the grass grew thick, and bandits ran rampant.

After resting for the night, Song You traveled from the ferry crossing toward Lingbo County. The journey was nearly a hundred li, and aside from the winding, difficult mountain roads and the dense grass and forests, there were two groups of bandits who stopped them.

Neither group made things difficult for him. Seeing that he was a genuine Daoist, they let him go.

As for money, Song You still had some on him.

When he left home, he had brought roughly twenty taels of silver. The merchants along Jinyang Road had given him another dozen or so, and the bounty notice for the Earth-Escaping Thief had earned him twenty more. But Yidu City was expensive. During the half-year he lived there, Song You had hardly denied himself anything, and although he had earned a little here and there by drawing talismans, he had still spent nearly twenty taels.

He had originally planned to buy a horse or mule with what remained, then keep a little aside as starting capital for setting out again after spring. After that, he could spend more freely when he had money and tighten his belt when he did not. Either way, it did not matter much to him. Unexpectedly, he had obtained a horse without spending a thing, saving him a substantial sum.

Had these bandits known he was carrying nearly thirty taels of silver, they probably would not have let him go so easily.

He reached Lingbo County on the morning of the second day.

Song You determined north by the direction of the sun, though it was not very accurate. For one thing, the sun did not necessarily rise due east; for another, the divisions of the city into east, west, south, and north were not necessarily precise. Half searching and half asking for directions, he finally reached the northern part of the city.

It was nearly noon by then.

He found Ganzao Lane and then asked for the Chen Household.

By the time he reached the door, the sun had passed overhead. Song You stood outside, hoping only that Chen Han had not moved and was at home today.

Delivering the letter had already been difficult enough. There was no need to add more trouble.

So he lightly knocked the door ring, and a thudding sound rang out.

Voices and footsteps soon came from inside. The footsteps drew closer and stopped at the door, but perhaps the man had only just risen from his midday rest and was straightening his clothes, for he did not open it immediately.

A middle-aged man's voice came from within:

"Who are you looking for?"

"Chen Han, Duke Chen."

"And who might you be, sir?"

Song You saw him lean close to the crack in the door and peer at him through it.

"I am a wandering recluse who cultivates in the mountains and wilds. I travel throughout the land, and at Chen Han's father's request, I have brought a family letter."

"A family letter? From where?"

"From a roadside tea stall outside Yidu City."

With a bang, the wooden door was thrown open.

A dark, thin middle-aged man stood inside. His clothes hung loosely about him, and he wore a beard. His face was weathered, and his expression was both shocked and respectful.

"I am Chen Han!"

"Then I have come to the right place."

"Did you truly come from Yidu?"

"I could not possibly fake it."

"That is a journey of sixteen hundred li!"

"The waterways were easy to travel."

"Sir..."

"There is no need to be like this."

"Quickly, please come in!"

The middle-aged man's lips were trembling.

Song You followed him through the door.

There was a courtyard inside, neither large nor small, with some chickens being raised. It was even spacious enough to lead a horse in.

"My horse is well behaved. There is no need to tie it up; it will not wander off. My cat is sensible too and will not harm your chickens or ducks," Song You said. Then he casually drew a bamboo tube from his pack and handed it to the man—

"I have not failed in the trust placed in me."

Chen Han immediately extended both hands and respectfully accepted the bamboo tube, trembling. He twisted off the mud seal at once and took out the letter paper. But after holding it in his hands and reading only two or three lines, his eyes had already reddened.

When he finished reading, he suddenly burst into loud sobs.

Song You merely stood quietly to the side and watched.

The words were impossible to make out through the sobbing. He could only vaguely distinguish phrases such as "Your unfilial son" and "Thank you, sir."

There was only one thought in his mind—

A family letter truly was worth ten thousand in gold.

Before long, someone inside heard the crying and came out. It was a woman. Seeing what had happened, she hurriedly helped Chen Han up, took out a handkerchief to wipe away his tears and mucus, and alternated between questioning and comforting him. Only after a long while did she manage to calm him down.

"Please forgive me for making a spectacle of myself before you, sir."

"Not at all."

"As the saying goes, 'While one's parents live, one should not travel far.' Yet pity this son of theirs, who is thousands of li away and has not returned in two or three years. I made my old mother pine away from worry and sickness, and had to trouble someone to bring a letter..."

"Worldly affairs are never as simple as the words in a book."

"Quick! Sanniang! Kill a chicken!"

"Coming!"

The woman had probably realized what was going on as well. She did not dare delay and immediately went outside to catch a chicken.

Everyone knew how difficult it was to deliver a letter in these times. Someone who traveled a thousand li to bring one could not be dismissed merely by paying the travel expenses. Good food and drink were only courtesy; the affection and obligation involved were difficult to repay.

Thus, smoke from a cooking fire rose once more from the Chen Family that afternoon.

From the looks of it, he had actually been the first to arrive.

Song You preferred to believe that it was because the mountains were high and the waters distant, the roads perilous and long, while the others were stranded by the distance, deterred by bandits, or delayed by their own affairs—not that they had intentionally failed to deliver the letters.

Perhaps someone was still on the road.

"Sir!"

"Hmm?"

"Please do not leave today. Although our home is humble, we have a bed for you to rest on. It is still better than the inns in the city or the temples outside it." The man spoke to him with reddened eyes.

"Then I shall accept your hospitality."

There was no point in refusing now. It would only make the others feel more indebted, and Song You truly did need somewhere to stay.

Just then, knocking sounded from outside the courtyard.

"Knock, knock, knock."

The visitor had not used the door ring and knocked a little harder than Song You had.

Chen Han hurriedly raised his sleeve and wiped the dampness from his face. After saying something to Song You, he quickly walked outside.

A gentleman did not stand amid melon patches or plum trees and invite suspicion, so Song You followed him out.

Before they reached the gate, Chen Han called out:

"May I ask... whom are you looking for?"

A woman's voice came from outside:

"Is this Chen Han's home?"

Chen Han glanced back at Song You. Not daring to delay, he went to the gate and immediately pulled it open.

"It is!"

Outside stood a martial traveler dressed as a man, her face wrapped in a cloth. She was of ordinary height, with a simply styled long saber in her left hand and reins looped around her wrist. She led a yellow Southwestern horse. In her right hand, she held a bamboo tube containing a letter, and her entire body was covered in weariness and dust from the road.

She glanced inside the house, paying particular attention to Song You, then immediately looked at Chen Han.

"You are Chen Han?"

"That is me!"

"At your father's request, I have brought you a letter."

As she spoke, she handed the bamboo tube to Chen Han. Her words had the crisp, carefree directness of someone from the martial world. After a pause, she added, "Though it seems someone got here ahead of me."

She looked at Song You, and Song You looked back at her.

Song You nodded in greeting. She gave a quiet laugh.

A thousand li of distance, mountains and rivers piled one atop another, bandits roaming the roads, and the way ahead impossible to predict—this journey of delivering letters was not one an ordinary person could complete. Ability was secondary. What mattered most was trustworthiness and perseverance.

Chen Han was naturally overwhelmed with gratitude. He thanked them repeatedly and immediately invited them both inside.

The red and yellow horses stood side by side in the courtyard, while the three of them took their seats in the main room.

Chen Han read the letter once more.

The handwriting in this letter was different again, clearly written by another person. Even the wording differed, but the meaning it conveyed was the same. Without much thought, one could tell that the old man had been too embarrassed to trouble a single official to write all the letters in one sitting, so he had asked different officials to write them separately. Reading it again, Chen Han not only felt the same longing as before, but could also imagine the old man asking one official after another and speaking of his longing for his child before them. Those officials, moved by the old man's yearning, had patiently organized his rambling spoken words into the writing on the page. Each letter was different, yet each had been written with extraordinary care.

Reading it, Chen Han could not help crying once more.

The Three Flower Cat leaped onto the table and edged closer to watch him cry.

The woman removed the cloth wrapped around her face. Beneath it was a somewhat round face. Despite being covered in dust from the road, with lips cracked from dryness, it still could not conceal her delicate features and youthful air. Traveling the martial world with this face, she probably would not look intimidating unless she had just finished cutting someone down while carrying a bloodied saber.

Yet when she turned around, she cupped her hands toward Song You.

"A person of the martial world should give her name first. My surname is Wu, and my given name is Suowei. I am a disciple of the Xishan Sect of Yizhou. How should I address you, sir?"

Her voice, however, was much rougher than her appearance.

"My surname is Song, my given name You, and my courtesy name Menglai. I am a mountain-dweller from Lingquan County in Yizhou."

"Not a bad name."

"Your name also carries considerable Daoist resonance."

"It was indeed given to me by a Daoist priest from Qingcheng Mountain. But I think it sounds awful. The Daoist probably just blurted it out."

"That name suits a man."

"Women of the martial world often take men's names."

"I see."

Song You felt that he had gained a little more knowledge.

"Which way did you go? You actually arrived before me."

"I traveled part of the way by water."

Only then did Song You vaguely distinguish what had happened. When he had left the tea stall and gone only a short distance before turning back, the old tea seller had been asking a group of martial travelers where they were headed. She had been among them.

Fortunately, not too much time had passed, and the memory had not faded.

It was not quite right to say that it had not faded.

Had this woman not brought the letter and spoken with him now, if they had merely happened to pass one another by the roadside, he certainly would not have connected her with his memory.

So he added:

"We meet again."

"This is our third meeting."

"Oh?"

"At the temple fair in Yi Capital, I think I saw you once." The martial woman placed her saber on the table, her tone entirely unreserved. "You were wearing Daoist robes, and you looked so young that you really stood out. Later, when I came back after making a circuit, I saw you go looking for that fellow who performed magic tricks. Heh heh, we even guessed about it. Most likely that fellow had stolen your money, right?"

"Fate brings us together."

"Fate brings us together, fate brings us together..."

The woman repeated it once, then continued staring at Song You, her gaze eager.

"Did he steal your money?"

"Did you make a bet with your companions?"

"Haha, no."

The hearty laughter of a woman was something Song You rarely heard in this era.

"I am simply very curious."

"You are an interesting person."

"People of the martial world meet like duckweed on drifting water. Once we part tomorrow, the sky will be vast and the earth wide, and neither of us may ever meet the other again. I advise you not to be coy. Tell me quickly."

"You are right."

Song You narrowed his eyes and nodded repeatedly.

There was something wonderfully amusing about those words too.

Only then did he say softly:

"Yes."

"I knew it!"

The woman seemed satisfied and asked another question.

"Did you get it back?"

"I got it back."

"That fellow has some principles, then."

"Yes."

"But he seems to have been arrested that very night. You were not the one who reported him to the authorities, were you?"

"That was not me."

"I thought so too. I heard that just as that group was about to flee that night, there was thunder in winter and a bolt of lightning from the clear sky, which beat them half to death. Most likely Lord Yue revealed his spirit and captured them."

"Perhaps."

Song You was not especially eager to talk.

The Chen husband and wife soon brought out the food.

An entire old hen had been stir-fried with mushrooms, filling a large basin. It was fragrant and tender. There was also a basin of fried double-sided yellow noodles. Prepared in haste, they were still fine dishes for entertaining guests.

The woman was not at all reserved and ate the meat in great mouthfuls.

Song You said nothing either, eating while feeding the cat.

Bones gradually piled up on the table. It was truly satisfying.

Chen Han was somewhat afraid of the woman, who was clearly dressed as a martial traveler, but she had come a thousand li to deliver a letter. How could he neglect the proper courtesy? He therefore invited her to stay the night at his home as well. Still chewing on meat, the woman readily agreed, though she also understood the concerns in their hearts and said that she would leave first thing the next morning.