The Rudder Shaft

Late at night, at the Hunlong Stronghold's Water Stronghold on Tail-Swinging Shoal.

Yuan Kuifeng was drinking with Yuan Kuilong.

"Brother, Song Yongchang was deliberately picking a fight with the Lin Family. I saw it clear as day." Yuan Kuifeng picked up the wine jar and filled Yuan Kuilong's bowl to the brim. "He went for the kill against He Shengjun right there on the docks. If your sister hadn't been quick on her feet, that mess would've been hard to clean up."

"My sister's incredible!" Yuan Kuilong praised her again and again. "But what I can't figure out is how deep Old Song's grudge against the Lin Family goes. Is it all because of what happened to Old Liang?"

Yuan Kuifeng hiccupped. Her tongue felt a little numb. "Old Song's definitely not doing this for Old Liang. He's got something else on his mind. What it is, I still can't quite work out."

Yuan Kuilong set down his wine bowl. "We have to get to the bottom of this."

"Don't rush. Finish your drink first!" Yuan Kuifeng told her men to bring a couple more dishes. "I'm telling you, it wasn't easy for us two siblings to meet in this mortal world!"

Yuan Kuilong looked at her. "I didn't want to meet you either. We just happened to come out of the same womb!"

Yuan Kuifeng's brows shot up. "You, with Long in your name—do you fucking look down on me?"

"My surname isn't Long. It's Yuan!"

"So what if it's Yuan?"

"Isn't yours Yuan too?"

Bang!

Yuan Kuifeng swung the wine jar against Yuan Kuilong's head, smashing it to pieces.

"My surname's Yuan, so you look down on me?"

Yuan Kuilong turned and shouted, "Quick, bring a rope! She's gone wild with drink!"

At the mention of rope, Yuan Kuifeng decided that made sense. She shoved Yuan Kuilong, sending him spinning on the spot faster and faster.

Yuan Kuifeng reached back for a hemp rope and used the force of his spin to tie him up. "You, with Long in your name, tell me straight. Why do you look down on people named Yuan?"

"Fuck..." Yuan Kuilong tried to break free of the rope, but failed after several attempts.

This was no ordinary hemp rope. A Craftsman God of the Mortal World had twisted it, and it had been cultivated three more times in the Bowl. It was a Blood Artifact through and through.

Ordinarily, Yuan Kuifeng was no match for Yuan Kuilong. They were a level apart: Yuan Kuilong was a fifth-level Arena-Guarding Powerhouse, while Yuan Kuifeng was a fourth-level Mystic Game Expert.

But once Yuan Kuifeng got drunk, she became extraordinarily good at fighting. Yuan Kuilong held back for fear of hurting his own sister, and ended up bound.

Being tied up was no great matter. Once Yuan Kuifeng sobered up a little, she would naturally let him go.

But the wine hit especially hard tonight. Yuan Kuifeng took a knife and walked up to him. "You, with Long in your name, what have you done with my big brother? Tell me the truth, or I'll cut you down!"

Yuan Kuilong shouted, "Hurry up and get the Grainmaster! Let her cut him all she likes!"

Yuan Kuilong usually had Zhao Yingde with him when he drank with Yuan Kuifeng, but Zhao Yingde wasn't home today.

Yuan Kuifeng raised the knife. "You, with Long in your name, aren't you the Grainmaster?"

"The Grainmaster doesn't have Long in his name. His surname's Zhao!"

"So what if your surname's Zhao? Why do you look down on people named Yuan?"

Yuan Kuifeng was about to bring the knife down when a woman came over.

"Sister Feng, our Grainmaster's back. Something happened to his ship. Hurry over and take a look!"

Yuan Kuilong roared, "You, with Feng in your name, I made you leader of the Water Stronghold, not so you could loaf around. Get down to the docks and see what happened!"

Yuan Kuifeng decided that made sense. She released Yuan Kuilong, and the siblings went to the docks together.

A Grain Ship had stopped in the middle of the great river, dozens of meters from the dock. The Grainmaster, Zhao Yingde, had dropped anchor and stood at the bow, shouting, "Lord Long, Sister Feng, my rudder shaft's been snapped! The ship can't turn, so I had to stop here for now."

It was the dead of night, and fog covered the river. Yuan Kuilong couldn't make out what was going on. "If you leave the ship there, how are you going to get back?"

"Boss, forget the ship. Send two small boats to pick us up."

"How can we abandon a ship that big?" Yuan Kuilong shouted. "Quick, find some haulers!"

"What good are haulers?" Yuan Kuifeng barked. "With the bow out of line, how are they supposed to pull it back from that far? It's only a rudder shaft. I'll make one!"

"You're so drunk you've forgotten your own surname," Yuan Kuilong said. "You think you can make a rudder shaft?"

"Quit talking nonsense. Get some people to set up the lathe and choose the timber."

By "set up the lathe," she meant assembling the Turning Lathe. The rudder shaft on Zhao Yingde's ship was over six meters long, and Tail-Swinging Shoal had no ready-made Turning Lathe that size. Dozens of people from the Water Stronghold carried its parts from the workshop to the riverbank, aligned the axle, and assembled the lathe.

The other bandits chose the timber and carried over an elm log. Once it was mounted on the lathe, several bandits stepped on the treadles, and the log began spinning rapidly.

The Turning Lathe was somewhat like an Outer Province Lathe, except its cutting tool was not controlled by machinery. Yuan Kuifeng gripped the tool in her hands and cut directly into the whirling wood.

Yuan Kuifeng knew the rudder shaft of every ship in Hunlong Stronghold by heart. Drunk as she was, she needed no plans or measurements. She sang as she cut:

"Elm roots run deep, its grain holds fast; soaked in the waves, it won't bend at last. An inch I turn, a rudder I make; with every cut, a ship's life is at stake! Bring wine!"

"Stop fucking drinking and get the job done!" Yuan Kuilong snapped.

A Turning Lathe artisan was a craftsman who made workpieces on a Turning Lathe, one of the three hundred and sixty trades.

Yuan Kuifeng's cuts were precise and fierce. In less than the time it took an incense stick to burn, a new rudder shaft had taken shape. The wood gleamed, its grain ran straight, and the shaft head was clean. It needed no polishing.

"Fit the rudder!" Yuan Kuifeng ordered.

Someone had a boat ready. They loaded the rudder shaft aboard and took it out to Zhao Yingde's ship.

Working together, they fitted the elm shaft into the rudder slot. Click! The tenon engaged with its socket, and the hull gave a slight shudder. The new shaft was in place. Zhao Yingde took the helm himself and brought the ship back.

"Sister Feng, I'm truly in awe of your skill!" Zhao Yingde got off the ship, promptly lifted off the top of his skull, ladled a bowl of wine from inside his head, and offered it to Yuan Kuifeng.

Yuan Kuifeng drank the wine, wiped her mouth, and smiled. "Old Zhao, good wine. Come here. I'm going to chop you up!"

Zhao Yingde laughed. "Sister Feng, you're joking again."

"I'm not joking. I'm chopping you up today!" Yuan Kuifeng went looking for a knife. Yuan Kuilong tied her up with the rope and took her back to the stronghold.

After Yuan Kuifeng fell asleep, Yuan Kuilong poured Zhao Yingde a bowl of wine. "You took three ships to transport grain, and only this one came back?"

Zhao Yingde drank it. "Boss, getting even this one back wasn't easy. Sixty li beyond Tail-Swinging Shoal, someone intercepted us. They knew exactly where to find us. Before we could even start fighting, they'd punched holes in our hulls!

"We fought for a while, and those other two ships sank. Luckily, the brothers were good swimmers. Thirteen drowned, and I rescued the rest."

"Did you fight back?"

"I did! We sank one of their ships and killed at least a dozen of them."

Yuan Kuilong stroked his bushy beard. "So they're fucking serious! If those ships had been loaded with real gold and silver, a fight like that might have been worth it. But spending so much to seize three shiploads of grain? Has Lin Shaoming gone mad? Marshal Qiao's about to arrive, and he insists on making a scene this big?"

"Boss, I didn't see Lin Shaoming."

Lin Shaoming was the eldest young master of the Lin Family and Lin Shaocong's older brother.

Yuan Kuilong frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

Zhao Yingde shook his head. "Nothing else, boss. I really didn't see Lin Shaoming. I didn't see anyone I recognized."

Throughout his years at Hunlong Stronghold, Zhao Yingde had always been like this. He reported what happened, never what it meant.

"Was the Lin Family behind this or not?" Yuan Kuilong was getting confused. "Should I go talk to Old Song? He keeps provoking the Lin Family. What's his reason?"

"You could talk to him." Zhao Yingde took a peach from his armpit and handed it to Yuan Kuilong.

Yuan Kuilong ate the peach, but something still felt wrong. "Talking might not do any good. That old bastard has plenty of ways to pull the wool over my eyes."

"Then don't talk to him." Zhao Yingde scooped a handful of melon seeds from his chest and gave them to Yuan Kuilong.

Cracking the seeds, Yuan Kuilong said, "There was a fool who ran off with Third Lin. What was his name—Laifu? He might know what's going on. Where did he go?"

"That's right. Where did he go?" Zhao Yingde took a towel from his back and wiped Yuan Kuilong's face.

Yuan Kuilong pushed him away. "What are you wiping me for? As soon as Marshal Qiao leaves, bring that fellow—whatever-his-name-is Fu—back to me."

"Got it, boss."

"Do you know where Old Song is?"

"No idea. I just got back and haven't seen him." Zhao Yingde pulled a warm washcloth from his belly and wiped his boss's face again.

Yuan Kuilong felt that something was amiss. "Don't tell me that bastard's gone to Heishakou again."

Song Yongchang led a dozen or so men across Lotus Bridge to Bamboo Raft Road.

At the second intersection to the east, they found the Police Station.

Song Yongchang gave the order at once: "Set it on fire!"

P.S. Old Song, have you lost your mind? You dare burn down the Police Station?