Flowery World (Please Vote)

Zhang Laifu arrived at Fish-Tendon Wharf. The wharf really was small, but it was crowded. Some people carried shoulder poles, others had bedrolls on their backs, and still others squatted on the stone-paved road beside piles of wicker baskets, bamboo baskets, and bundles.

Vendors had set up stalls right along the shore. With a little pot and a wooden board, they made noodles, sliced-noodle soup, rice porridge, fried dough twists, and pancakes to order. The aromas mingled with the river's fishy smell and drifted through the autumn wind.

Near the pier stood a ticket booth with blue-brick walls and half a scrap of paper pasted over its window frame. Behind the little window sat a woman in her thirties, touching up her makeup with a powder compact and a small mirror.

Zhang Laifu went to the window, took out all his money, and asked the fare to Miedaolink. The woman put away her compact and said, "First class is one hundred and twenty, second class is seventy, and third class is thirty-five."

Thirty-five.

She certainly didn't mean copper cash. She meant Copper Dollars.

Zhang Laifu had four large copper coins and a dozen or so copper cash. How could he scrape together thirty-five Copper Dollars?

"Is there a cheaper class?"

As he struggled with that, the ticket seller offered a suggestion. "Sir, take second class. Meals are included."

Zhang Laifu sighed. "Second class costs seventy. What am I supposed to buy it with?"

"You're quite the joker. You've already pulled out a Silver Dollar, and you still can't bear to spend it?"

A Silver Dollar?

Zhang Laifu looked closely at the money in his hand and only then noticed that one coin was different.

The coin was silver. Its front still bore the words "Wansheng State," and its back showed the head of a man in military uniform. Unlike the Copper Dollars, though, this portrait was in profile.

This was a Silver Dollar? A Silver Dollar worth a hundred and thirty large copper coins?

Where had it come from?

Zhang Laifu remembered giving Li Yunsheng three large copper coins. Li Yunsheng had handed him two coins in change. Zhang Laifu hadn't looked closely at the time; he hadn't expected one of them to be a Silver Dollar.

What kind of business was this? How could he take the man's money?

Zhang Laifu wanted to return it, but then he heard an argument nearby.

"Why is it so hard to get you to do one little thing?"

"Miss, please calm down. We need to know why you're here before we can send word to the residence."

"What's there to ask? Just tell him Yuan Kuifeng is here!"

Yuan Kuifeng? That name sounded awfully familiar!

Several people were lined up behind Zhang Laifu to buy tickets. The moment they heard Yuan Kuifeng's name, they turned and ran.

The ticket seller's face changed. She slammed the glass window shut with a bang.

The wharf manager was still trying to reason with Yuan Kuifeng. "Miss, please wait a moment. Our young master isn't at the wharf. We'll have to go to the main residence to find him."

"Bullshit! Would I be here if he wasn't? Old Song, block the way. Don't let a single person leave!"

Old Song?

Which Old Song?

Zhang Laifu turned to leave. He had barely taken two steps when a sound that made him feel as though he couldn't breathe reached his ears.

Bang! Ding-ding-ding! Bang! Ding-ding-ding!

Old Song was here.

The sound of cotton being fluffed was here.

That name and that sound set off a panic response in Zhang Laifu. For a moment, he had no idea what to do.

Run out of the wharf?

Plenty of people were running toward the exit. One person's legs went weak and he collapsed on the spot. Another stretched out his legs but couldn't take a step, as though something had caught his trouser cuffs. Others ran at full speed, only to circle back to where they had started. Cotton covered their eyes.

Fine wisps of cotton drifted everywhere. This was the Cotton Fluffer's signature trick—Flowery World.

Yuan Kuifeng had said not to let a single person leave, and Old Song really had stopped them all.

The trouble was, Zhang Laifu still couldn't see where Old Song was.

If he couldn't see him, he had better not move blindly. Zhang Laifu hurried behind the ticket booth.

The wharf rang with shouting. Several bandit soldiers grabbed people and brought them one by one before Song Yongchang for identification. Old Song kept shaking his head. None of them was the person he wanted.

They were about to search the ticket booth. Clutching his Clay Knife, Zhang Laifu was wondering where to run when his searching hand suddenly found a seam in the booth's wall.

It was the booth's back door.

Zhang Laifu pushed it open and went inside. He saw neither the ticket seller nor the ticket window. Instead, he saw a man in a wheelchair, shaping clay.

Wasn't that Lin Shaocong?

Lin Shaocong was just as surprised to see Zhang Laifu. "What are you doing here?"

"To catch a boat."

"What for?"

"To run away."

"Shouldn't you have reached another Outer Province ages ago?"

"If I could get to the Outer Province, why would I be here?"

Lin Shaocong said bitterly, "Of all the wharves you could've gone to, you had to come to this one! You've landed me in a fine mess!"

The commotion outside grew louder. Lin Shaocong hurriedly shaped a lock and stuck it on the door along with a bolt he had made earlier.

"Will that lock work?" Zhang Laifu glanced at the remaining clay.

"It will. An ordinary person can't open it." Lin Shaocong had full confidence in the lock he had made.

"What about this room?" Zhang Laifu looked around the booth.

The booth had an outer room for selling tickets and an inner room for storing money. Thanks to its ingenious design, the inner room was hard to find.

Lin Shaocong was confident in the booth, too. "My father personally found someone to build this—"

Crash!

The outer room's door was kicked to pieces. The ticket seller cried out repeatedly as someone dragged her away.

Zhang Laifu picked up a lump of clay and handed it to Lin Shaocong, then waved the knife in his hand. He was telling Lin Shaocong that making more Clay Knives would be far better than making locks.

Lin Shaocong hurried to shape knives. The booth's design really was unusual. Even standing in the outer room, the bandit soldiers couldn't tell there was an inner room.

After searching for a long time without finding Lin Shaocong, Song Yongchang called out to the crowd, "We came here today specifically to find your third young master. This has nothing to do with anyone else.

"If anyone knows where Lin Shaocong is, sorry for the trouble, but please tell me. Once we find him, you can all go wherever you like. We won't harm innocent people."

Zhang Laifu glared at Lin Shaocong. "They're here for you! You're the one who dragged me into this! What are you doing here? Trying to flee by boat too?"

"This is my family's wharf. I came to check the accounts." Lin Shaocong finished making two Clay Knives and handed them to Zhang Laifu.

Zhang Laifu felt relieved. "Since it's your family's wharf, they'll surely protect you."

Lin Shaocong pressed his lips together and said nothing.

Zhang Laifu no longer felt quite so relieved. "You're their third young master. They won't sell you out, will they?"

"They'll probably do something to keep up appearances. Whether they'll do anything that matters is harder to say..." Lin Shaocong was telling the truth. The bandits had arrived, and no one had revealed where he was.

But no one had come to protect him, either. No one had even come to warn him.

Perhaps it was just as well they hadn't. So far, the bandits hadn't discovered the booth's inner room.

Steward Hu and the other wharf workers kept quiet. They wouldn't hand over the third young master themselves, but if he was found, they couldn't be blamed for it.

The bandit soldiers searched the place and failed to find Lin Shaocong.

Yuan Kuifeng had received definite word that Lin Shaocong was at Fish-Tendon Wharf. Having searched this far, she had no intention of giving up.

She summoned Steward Hu and asked where Lin Shaocong was.

Steward Hu repeated himself. "Our young master isn't at the wharf. He's gone back to the residence."

Yuan Kuifeng smiled at Steward Hu. "Old fool, I'm asking you nicely. Don't you understand?"

"Our young master really, really isn't here..." Steward Hu's eyes darted about, ready to stray toward the ticket booth at any moment.

Lin Shaocong picked up the dozens of clay Throwing Darts he had made and aimed them at the door to the outer room.

Zhang Laifu stood guard at the back door with a short Clay Knife.

The two held their breath, ready to fight for their lives, when a man's voice suddenly came from outside. "This stretch of wharf belongs to the Lin Family. The water's neither deep nor shallow.

"If the eldest miss wants to wade across, she'd best test whether the stones underfoot are slippery. It wouldn't be a pretty sight if she took one step, fell into the river, and soaked her clothes."

Zhang Laifu looked at Lin Shaocong. "Who's that?"

"One of ours!" Lin Shaocong wiped away his sweat and let out a long breath. "The Lin Family's chief guard. A fourth-level Mystic Game expert!"

P.S. A fourth-level Mystic Game expert could give Old Song a run for his money. Whether he could stand up to Yuan Kuifeng was another question.

Thanks to my patron Xin Wuguang. He was my patron back in the Puluo days, and Shala will never forget that kindness.