Looking Homeward

The grand drama drew to a close.

Outside the Welcome Inn, Yang Ge and Wang Dali bustled about, offering tea and a chance to rest to the county constables and runners who had come to clean up.

Inside a private residence, a meticulous brush painting, its pigments still wet, was delivered to Shen Fa.

At his first glimpse of the vividly colored painting and its precise, delicate brushwork, Shen Fa turned toward the painter beside him in surprise.

Noticing Shen Fa's gaze, the painter bowed with his hands clasped, but offered no explanation.

Shen Fa could only turn back and study the painting again.

He knew that the painter created every work from the information he gathered about his subjects-their words, actions, and mannerisms-guided entirely by intuition. Even the painter himself could not control the style or brushwork that emerged.

His previous subjects...

Some had been a bloodstained saber.

Some had been an unsheathed sword.

Another had been a chaotic tangle of ink resembling a tiger, a wolf, and a vicious ghost all at once.

Yet whatever painting he produced, the eventual outcome always proved him right.

Strange talents and extraordinary men could hardly be measured by ordinary standards...

But even Shen Fa had never seen a meticulous brush painting from this painter's hand before.

A great river divided the painting in two.

On one side was a vividly colored view of a distant village. Around it were men and women, houses and fields, grass growing lush as orioles flitted overhead, and yellow dogs and tabby cats chasing butterflies and bees... the brushwork was so delicate that even the yellow dogs' wide-mouthed grins appeared in the finest detail.

On the other side was a bird's-eye view of a city in black and white. The brushwork was fluid, with broad expanses left blank; only the rising and falling outlines of houses and indistinct human silhouettes could faintly be made out... the style had something of the underworld about it.

A middle-aged man with a weathered face stood before the cityscape, gazing across the river at the village on the opposite bank. With both hands, he pulled the corners of his mouth upward and threw back his head in laughter... only his smile looked uglier than weeping.

The vivid colors gradually faded from the village toward the city across the river, until they turned black and white upon the middle-aged man...

As Shen Fa pondered the painting, Yang Ge's listless, half-dead appearance kept flashing before his eyes, and his own feelings gradually grew complicated.

He looked at the painter and asked earnestly, "Is this painting called 'Homesickness'?"

The painter hesitated for a few moments before replying, "My lord, I believe 'Looking Homeward' would be a more fitting title."

"Looking homeward, looking toward..."

Shen Fa mulled over those words for a long time before nodding slightly. "Indeed, that is more fitting!"

He carefully rolled up the painting and set it beside him, then called sharply without turning his head, "Accountant, have you still not finished checking the accounts?"

A middle-aged scholar in a blue-green robe stepped forward at his summons, holding a ledger. He bowed. "My lord, there is nothing amiss with the guest's financial transactions in Luting County... please examine them."

Shen Fa picked up the ledger and gave it a perfunctory browse. It contained nothing but trivial little accounts, the amounts matching the wages Liu Degui paid Yang Ge each month, with no expenditures that warranted particular attention.

He set down the ledger and leaned back in his grand armchair. "Village headman."

"My lord, our inquiries found that, apart from a personal bond with the innkeeper beyond their monetary dealings, the guest has no personal relationships in Luting County... he seems to instinctively reject all social contact, whether well-intentioned, malicious, or driven by ulterior motives."

Shen Fa tapped the armrest with a bent finger and pondered for a moment before speaking again. "Teacher."

An elderly man with a white beard, dressed as a scholar, stepped forward at his summons and bowed with clasped hands. "My lord, the guest's cultural allegiance undoubtedly marks him as flesh and blood of our Huaxia. In his very bones, he also possesses something of the conviction that Huaxia stands supreme, looking down upon all four corners of the world."

At this, Shen Fa gently exhaled a stale breath and said evenly, "Seal the guest's dossier. Leave two elite men stationed here to attempt contact with him... nothing that happened today is to be disclosed. Any who disobey will face punishment under our house rules!"

Everyone in the room bowed with clasped hands and answered in unison.

The crowd outside the Welcome Inn had completely dispersed.

The constables and runners who had cleaned up did not even dare accept the tea money Shopkeeper Liu slipped them privately, and promptly withdrew.

Yang Ge stood inside the entrance, looking around and wondering why the contact Shen Fa had mentioned still had not arrived.

Everything else was a minor concern. The main question was where he was supposed to collect his wages.

Surely they could not saddle him with the label of temporary worker without even paying him?

He was not naive enough to think that if Shen Fa did not pay him, he could escape the man's demonic clutches.

"Young fellow, everything's settled here. If you have something to do, go on home!"

Having finished tidying up, Shopkeeper Liu waved to Yang Ge.

Yang Ge glanced at the empty front hall and asked with concern, "Shopkeeper, how are the arrangements for repairing the inn coming along? Is there anything I can do?"

Shopkeeper Liu pulled over a bench and sat down, kneading his stiff thighs as he smiled. "From now on, I don't intend to run this inn anymore..."

Yang Ge said, "Huh?"

Shopkeeper Liu pressed a hand downward, gesturing for him to sit. "I've already had someone send word to that unfilial son of mine, telling him to come back and take over the inn."

Understanding dawned on Yang Ge. He stepped forward, pulled over a bench, and sat opposite Shopkeeper Liu with a smile. "What made you suddenly come around? Didn't you always say you could keep going for another few years?"

"I'm old, after all. No use anymore!"

Shopkeeper Liu sighed. "Besides, this inn will pass into his hands sooner or later. If I bring him back now, I can still help keep an eye on things. If he still amounts to nothing and runs it into the ground, then so be it..."

His words were broad-minded, but his aged face was full of worry.

Yang Ge smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry so much. You know our inn's business better than anyone, don't you? Under normal circumstances, it's just the straightforward work of welcoming guests and seeing them off. Even if the young master can't bring himself to swallow his pride, he'll still have me and Brother Wang, won't he? That's exactly what the two of us are paid for! From now on, just settle down and enjoy your well-earned leisure."

He had meant only to offer comfort, but his words gave Shopkeeper Liu an idea. The old man suddenly said, "Young fellow, why don't you take over my work from now on and become the inn's shopkeeper?"

A shopkeeper was not the owner, but the manager.

It was only because many small-business owners could not afford to hire a shopkeeper, or were unwilling to let someone else run their livelihood and took the reins themselves, that shopkeepers were so often equated with owners.

Thus, Shopkeeper Liu did not mean to make Yang Ge the owner of the Welcome Inn. He meant to promote him from attendant to manager.

"No, no, no..."

Yang Ge waved both hands repeatedly. "Shopkeeper, don't you know me by now? I don't want to rise above the crowd or bring glory to my ancestors. All I want is a simpler, easier life. How could I be a shopkeeper?"

Seeing his horrified expression, Shopkeeper Liu smiled and teased, "Of course I know you. It's precisely because you don't want to rise above the crowd or bring glory to your ancestors that I'd feel safe putting you in charge. As for those wretches whose ambitions tower higher than the heavens while their fates are thinner than paper, I wouldn't spare them a sideways glance even if they paid me!"

On second thought, Yang Ge found that reasonable enough. He smiled and joked in return, "Even so, you shouldn't be the one to promote me. Doesn't the old saying go, 'A new emperor brings new ministers'? If you make me shopkeeper, won't that put a thorn in the young master's eye? If you two want to quarrel, don't use me as your spear. I still want to work here for a few more years and repay your kindness!"

"You needn't worry about that unfilial son objecting. He's the sort of man who..."

Shopkeeper Liu tried to explain, only to find himself speechless halfway through. He waved a hand. "Forget it. You'll understand later."

Yang Ge nodded. "Anyway, there's still some time before the Martial Examination. We don't need to rush, do we? We can discuss the future when it comes."

Shopkeeper Liu nodded, then let out a heavy sigh and said earnestly, "Young fellow, you're always telling me not to overthink things, to put my mind at ease. Why won't you give yourself the same advice?"

"I've never asked where you came from, and I don't know what calamities you've suffered. But I'm a father, after all. Every time I see you sitting motionless in your room, staring outside for four or six hours at a stretch, I can't help thinking that if my own children lived in such torment, I wouldn't be able to close my eyes even in death!"

The smile gradually disappeared from Yang Ge's face. He pressed his lips together hard and strained the muscles in his cheeks, forcing out an ugly smile. "What I'm afraid of is that, after my parents pass away, they won't even be able to find me!"

At the sight of him, Shopkeeper Liu's eyes reddened too. Patting his shoulder, he said, "Even if they can't find you, they would surely want you to live well and be happy, not to live the way you do now... move forward. Don't look back anymore. Life will get better!"

Yang Ge said, "But which way is forward?"

Shopkeeper Liu said, "As long as you take a step, every direction is forward!"