By the time Chen Xiuyuan found the guard, the man had already heard the shouting outside.
The man beside the cart said the road ahead was blocked and wanted to spend the night inside. He also asked for Auntie Sang, who had inspected the medicine that day, to come out and identify the goods. The guard at the gate answered through the crossbar, asking where the driver had gone, but the man merely urged him to open up quickly.
"During the day, he said he was heading to the South Entrance to cross the shallows before dark," Chen Xiuyuan said. "Night has barely fallen, and he's already come back from there? With a different driver, too?"
The guard sent someone to fetch Shi Qiren and stayed at the gate himself, telling those outside to lift the tarpaulin and come under the light to answer questions one by one.
The man beside the cart stepped back a little.
Chen Xiuyuan walked along the inside of the wall to Shi Yuan. After confirming that the rear passage had been barred, he returned to his room for his saber. Elder Shi was sorting medicine under the lamp. Seeing him fasten both saber and scabbard to his waist, he immediately asked what had happened outside.
"The medicine cart from earlier came back. The timing doesn't add up. The guards are questioning them."
The old man glanced outside, then reached over to straighten the crooked tip of the scabbard at his belt.
"Don't let it catch your feet. Tell them first wherever you're going."
Chen Xiuyuan agreed, put the illustrated manual somewhere dry inside, and took his leather wrist guards before heading back. He had yet to master his hard-armor research. Tonight, he could still only use the Bloodstone Saber Technique he had practiced until familiar.
Suddenly, someone outside the gate shouted that a beast had charged into the livestock resting area to the south.
The lamps on the wall immediately moved that way. When Chen Xiuyuan reached the gate, he saw a guard about to hurry south. Shi Qiren reached out from beside him and stopped him, first asking whether the person shouting had seen any sign of the beast.
The man said he had only heard the livestock crying and seen the straw shed move.
"Two of you go look. The rest stay at the gate. Report when you've seen it. Don't all rush over the moment someone shouts."
Shi Qiren then turned to Chen Xiuyuan and Shi Yuan, asking whether anyone was outside by the grain store or rear courtyard. Shi Yuan counted them and his expression shifted slightly: several families were collecting the remaining mixed grain tonight and had brought children to wait in the shed. The old herb gatherer had returned that afternoon to check a batch of returned and exchanged medicines and was still resting in the side room near the grain courtyard.
The supplementary medicine accounts had not yet been delivered to the inner rooms.
"I'll bring everyone inside," Shi Yuan said.
Chen Xiuyuan followed him through the short corridor behind the meat shed. The courtyard ahead led straight to the grain store. Two temporary lodging rooms stood on the left, while a narrow passage on the right connected to the rear gate. Anyone coming around the low section of the outer wall would reach that narrow passage first.
Shi Yuan first stopped the grain distribution, telling those who had received theirs to take their families into the inner courtyard. The others would be recorded and could collect theirs the next morning. One man worried there would be none left when his turn came and still refused to leave, clutching his sack.
"The grain stays here. It'll still be yours after you leave." Shi Yuan pointed to the tally on the board. "Take your child's hand first. Don't block the door."
Seeing the saber at Chen Xiuyuan's waist, the man finally picked up his child. Those behind him followed, retreating inside, but another child under the shed had crawled behind an empty basket and would not come out, however much they called.
Chen Xiuyuan crouched beside the basket and asked what he was looking for.
"My shoe fell off."
A straw sandal was wedged between the basket bottom and the foot of the wall. Chen Xiuyuan reached in, retrieved it, and handed it to the child's mother, telling her to carry him inside first. Thanking him as she stuffed the shoe into her clothing, she walked so quickly she nearly tripped over the threshold.
Shi Yuan went to close the grain store's main door, while Chen Xiuyuan turned toward the side room. The medicine porter was still working inside, helping the old herb gatherer pack away opened medicine parcels. Hearing there might be trouble outside, his first reaction was to shut the door.
"Go farther inside," Chen Xiuyuan said. "This is beside the rear passage. It's no place to stay."
The porter glanced at the window. "Are the people outside looking for me?"
"We don't know yet. First, go somewhere with a door that can be secured."
The old herb gatherer picked up his small medicine chest but refused to leave the account board on the table. He had come to check which of the Du Family's old goods had been returned and which were still owed to buyers. If he lost the figures, he would have to find people and ask all over again.
Chen Xiuyuan took the heavier medicine chest from him and had the porter carry the accounts. The three followed the short corridor toward the inner courtyard. They only closed the side room's outer door without locking it, so overnight guests would not have to find a key when fleeing.
By the time they reached the inner courtyard, Shi Yuan had arranged for two households to lend rooms farther inside. The children stayed with their families, while the porter and old herb gatherer rested in the room beside the small kitchen. Its walls were high, and a side door led to Elder Shi's quarters. A guard remained nearby, first moving away the wooden baskets beneath the window so no one outside could use them to climb in.
The old herb gatherer was still staring at the medicine chest in Chen Xiuyuan's hands.
"Give it here. You'll need your hands."
Chen Xiuyuan handed the chest back and moved aside the firewood beside the threshold that could trip someone.
"If anyone comes, only listen to voices you recognize, and look carefully first even then. Don't open up just because someone calls through the door."
When he returned to the outer courtyard, Shi Lei had arrived.
He brought word from the south that the livestock had been frightened. Someone had scattered something strongly scented outside their resting area and pried open a corner of the straw shed, but no wild beast had yet been seen charging in. Men had to remain there to watch; they could not let the animals snap their tethers and run wild.
The medicine cart still stood outside the gate. The man beside it changed his story, saying the driver had an upset stomach and had gone to the ditch. When the guard told him to call out to the driver under the light, he instead complained that Blood Stone was bullying travelers and loudly protested his innocence.
"He certainly knows how to shout." Shi Lei glanced outside and raised a hand to test his bowstring.
Chen Xiuyuan told him the number of people in the inner courtyard and where they had been settled, then asked whether more men could be posted along the side wall. Shi Lei looked toward Shi Qiren, who was assigning a man to inspect the water opening. The only men he could still move were those at the gate and the grain courtyard.
"Someone has to get a clear look at that cart first," Shi Lei said. "As long as it sits out there, we can only keep wasting time with it."
Shi Qiren picked two men to accompany Shi Lei through the side gate and around to the cart road to question them, agreeing that two short whistles would be the signal for support. Chen Xiuyuan took a step forward to follow, but Shi Lei raised a hand to stop him.
"You stay inside."
Chen Xiuyuan looked at the dark road outside. He could barely make out where the cart stood. Beyond it, only shadows of trees remained. If archers were lying in wait, he might not even see which direction they came from.
"I'll guard the narrow gate in the rear courtyard," he said.
Shi Lei paused before saying what he had been about to say and turned to look at that gate.
The narrow passage ran beside the mountain rock. The ground outside was lower, with two extra steps inside the gate. The wooden gate opened inward, and one hinge was loose, so it had to be lifted when closing. When moving grain, Shi Yuan always found it a nuisance and often propped it open with a stone. Today, the stone had been removed, but the gate was not fully shut, left open for the last few people entering the inner courtyard.
"The ground outside slopes. Don't go down there and fight them for the path," Shi Lei said.
"I know. If we can hold it, we'll shut it. If we can't, I'll guard the steps. Come back through the main gate. Don't come blundering in this way."
Hearing this, Shi Qiren stationed the guard originally assigned to the grain courtyard outside the inner courtyard instead, responsible for receiving those retreating. Chen Xiuyuan would guard the narrow entrance, and Shi Yuan would handle the grain store and the crowd. None of them would have to abandon their own position the moment they heard a shout.
Once the assignments were made, Shi Lei approached Chen Xiuyuan and lowered his voice.
"That new blade path you've thought up-don't try it tonight."
"I'll use what I've practiced."
Shi Lei patted his saber arm before turning to leave.
Two sacks of mixed grain remained in the courtyard. When Shi Yuan called for help, one of the men collecting grain suggested moving all of it away first, in case someone really slipped in to set a fire. But there were paths both inside and outside the walls. If everyone rushed to carry sacks into the inner courtyard, they would block the entrance just cleared for the children and witnesses.
After discussing it with Shi Yuan, Chen Xiuyuan had the dry grass near the fire sources cleared away first, the grain store shut, and buckets of water kept nearby. The two sacks they could carry were moved farther inside. The rest would be guarded where they lay rather than emptying the entire grain store now.
Shi Yuan agreed, telling the man to take the grain distribution board inside as well, while he stayed to lift the gate.
"You should move farther inside too," Chen Xiuyuan said.
"I know this hinge. You'll be slow lifting it alone."
Shi Yuan went over to try it. Sure enough, the wooden gate stuck a palm's width from the frame. Only when he braced his shoulder against its lower edge and lifted did it close smoothly. Chen Xiuyuan noted where he had lifted, then tested the bar to confirm it could bear pressure once inserted.
The gate opened partway again, and the last two helpers came in from the outer shed. One carried an empty basket on his shoulder and nearly knocked over the water bucket against the wall. Chen Xiuyuan caught the basket's edge and told them to leave the obstructing things outside first.
The footsteps gradually receded.
Chen Xiuyuan stood on the steps, his saber still sheathed. He could see a stretch of dirt path beyond the gate, with bushes to the left and the grain store's rear wall to the right. Farther on, the corner blocked his view. If someone charged along the path, he could hold them from above. If two came together, the narrow passage would prevent them from swinging their blades side by side.
His retreat lay behind him. Around an empty shed was the inner courtyard. He had walked that route so many times that he knew which stone became slippery after rain, and knew firewood had been stacked at the base of the left wall. It had just been cleared away.
The first whistle sounded in the distance.
Shi Yuan turned to look outside, but Chen Xiuyuan first looked toward the inner courtyard, confirming that the guard was still at his receiving position and had not been drawn away by a single whistle.
The second whistle did not come.
Someone near the main gate shouted about shooting arrows, then Shi Qiren immediately shouted them down. The words were indistinct. The grass outside the narrow gate stirred slightly. Chen Xiuyuan stepped half a pace forward without descending the steps and merely drew his short saber.
Shi Yuan also picked up the short pole beside the gate and stood behind him to one side, asking whether the people outside had started moving.
"Wait until we can see clearly."
Chen Xiuyuan's gaze followed the alarm cord. It ran in from beyond the low wall, along the side of the narrow passage, and connected to a small bronze bell inside the gate. Normally, it rang whenever someone touched it. Now the wind swept across the grass, but the cord's shadow hung slack, much lower than before.
He crouched and gently lifted the dangling end with the back of his saber.
The cut was clean.
The bronze bell had not rung, but someone outside had already cut the cord.
Chen Xiuyuan immediately had Shi Yuan call the last person into the inner courtyard, then raised his saber and planted himself beside the gate.
A faint scrape of a shoe sole against stone came from beyond the wall, only a few steps from the stairs.
Chapter 29: This blade guards my gate
Chen Xiuyuan took a length of thin sinew from the tool basket beside the gate, attached the broken cord to a short piece of wood nearby, and flicked the bell's clapper.
The soft ring carried into the inner courtyard, and the guard stationed there called back.
Shi Yuan had just lifted the loose gate hinge when someone lunged from beyond the wall. The man slammed his shoulder into the gate, sending it springing inward. Shi Yuan stumbled back two steps, and the short pole slipped from his hands beside the frame.
Chen Xiuyuan did not brace against that force. Bending down, he wedged the back of his short saber into the narrow gap beside the lower hinge and used half an old wooden shim as leverage to pry up the sagging corner. Shi Yuan immediately supported it and pushed the gate outward to close it.
By the time the saber came free, only a sliver of space remained at the entrance.
A boot thrust into it.
A blade immediately followed through the gap, heading straight for Shi Yuan's hand beneath the gate. Chen Xiuyuan slid his short saber along the inside of the gate and knocked the incoming blade aside, barking under his breath, "Pull your hand back!"
Shi Yuan withdrew his hand in time, but without support, the gate sagged again. Seizing the chance, the man twisted his foot and forced it half a foot open. The long saber hidden behind the gate stabbed diagonally toward Chen Xiuyuan's chest.
Chen Xiuyuan retreated inward onto the second step.
The point grazed his clothing and lodged in the wood beside him. His saber hand did not pursue it outward. Keeping his elbow close to his side, he waited until the man pulled his weapon free before cutting upward at the hand gripping its hilt.
The attacker jerked his wrist back, drawing his long saber outward along the frame. Its spine struck the short blade, sending a numbing jolt through the web of Chen Xiuyuan's hand.
He was stronger than Chen Xiuyuan.
Chen Xiuyuan withdrew his saber with the momentum, keeping his front foot on the higher ground rather than stepping down to pursue the hand. After pulling his weapon free, the man swung it sideways, but before its edge could sweep clear, it struck the wall on the right of the narrow passage.
His saber was too long, and this gate too narrow.
But the man reacted extremely quickly. He immediately shifted his grip closer to the guard and held the long blade upright, ramming the gate with his body to force Chen Xiuyuan back inside.
Shi Yuan had retrieved the short pole and stood behind Chen Xiuyuan to the left. He wanted to brace the gate with it, but Chen Xiuyuan told him to hurry the people in the inner courtyard away first. The gate could no longer close smoothly. Two people crowding the entrance would only block the path of his withdrawing blade.
"Leave me half a step!"
Shi Yuan understood and immediately stepped aside, shouting for those inside to hurry.
The man outside advanced again while they spoke. Planting one foot on the lower step, he smashed his saber hilt toward Chen Xiuyuan's face. Chen Xiuyuan tilted his head aside and turned his saber in a tight arc beneath his elbow, sending it toward the man's forearm.
The man withdrew his arm and reached for Chen Xiuyuan's shoulder with his other hand.
Chen Xiuyuan shifted half a step inward from the upper stair, slipping his shoulder out from beneath the man's fingers while his feet still blocked the route into the courtyard. As he drew his saber back before his chest, a child suddenly cried behind him. Someone retreated through the short inner corridor, their clothing brushing near his blade.
He changed the sweeping cut he had been about to make into a downward withdrawal. The point curved around that flap of clothing and stopped beside the outside of his leg.
The man outside laughed and pressed his long saber straight down while Chen Xiuyuan gave way to the others.
Unable to evade the entire blade, Chen Xiuyuan could only catch it at an angle and redirect its force sideways. The two sabers clashed. A cut opened across his leather wrist guard, and searing pain seeped through from beneath.
His feet were still on the higher ground. Bending his knee, he channeled the impact toward the lower step. Thinking he was about to fall, the man hurried forward again, but his hilt struck the gate's edge first, throwing the point aside.
Chen Xiuyuan had been waiting for precisely this distance.
He first pulled his short saber back, avoiding the strongest section of the long blade, then hooked it back from close range. Its edge grazed the side of the man's saber wrist. The man cursed, his hand loosened, and the long saber fell toward the stone steps.
Chen Xiuyuan did not bend to seize it. He kicked its hilt toward the gate's edge, keeping his short saber before him.
Another man squeezed in from outside, carrying a short axe. The axe head first struck beside the wounded man's shoulder. They blocked one another in the narrow passage, and Chen Xiuyuan used that moment to retreat inside. Shi Yuan thrust the short pole in from the side, bracing it where the gate would swing back.
"Anyone left?" Chen Xiuyuan asked.
"The last household!" Shi Yuan answered.
Chen Xiuyuan glanced inside. The man carrying the child was helping an elderly family member over the threshold, moving very slowly. The waiting guard reached out to carry the elder on his back, but the man turned around just then, as though he wanted to help.
"Take them away!" Chen Xiuyuan shouted.
An axe blow had already struck the outside of the gate, sending wood chips flying beside the short pole.
The pole bent inward a little.
Shi Yuan gritted his teeth and braced it, but his feet slowly slid over the stone. Another axe blow would send him crashing inward with the gate.
Chen Xiuyuan looked at the gap beneath it. The wounded man's boot had withdrawn. The axeman outside was now pressed extremely close, and each time he raised his axe, a section of its haft appeared through the broken wood.
"Let go when I tell you."
Panting, Shi Yuan nodded.
Chen Xiuyuan stood beside the gate. Waiting until the axe rose for the third time, he suddenly said, "Let go!"
As the pole withdrew, the gate swung violently inward under the axe's force. The axeman had committed too much strength, and his upper body crossed the lower step while the short axe in his hands was still descending. He tried to lunge inside with the momentum, but Chen Xiuyuan had already moved away from the gate's side. His short saber traveled along the outside of the man's forearm, first letting the heaviest part of the axe pass before drawing back.
The gate caught the axe haft for an instant.
The man hurriedly pulled back, straightening his arm. Chen Xiuyuan's edge landed between wrist guard and sleeve, slicing open a wound. In pain, the axeman turned, trying to ram him aside with his shoulder, but Chen Xiuyuan had already withdrawn his saber after cutting in, rather than leaving his arm there to be trapped.
That withdrawal cleared the path of the charging shoulder just in time.
He turned inward, with half a step of empty space still behind him, while Shi Yuan had retreated to the other side. The axeman lunged into empty air. When he stepped onto the upper stair, his foot failed to land securely and his weight pitched forward. Chen Xiuyuan brought his saber back through the opening and slammed its hilt into the side of his jaw.
The man stumbled half a step backward, straight into the wounded-wrist man blocking the way behind him.
The two crowded together against the frame. Chen Xiuyuan hurried back to his original position, keeping his short saber where they would have to pass to advance farther inside. His chest burned painfully from that burst of rapid movement.
Blood showed at one corner of the axeman's mouth. He wiped it with a hand and abruptly stopped forcing his way in. Grabbing his companion behind him, he shoved him aside to free his own hand, then lowered his head and felt for something at his waist.
Chen Xiuyuan saw a strip of oil-soaked cloth.
"Water!"
Shi Yuan dragged over the bucket they had placed nearby. Before the man could blow his fire stick alight, Chen Xiuyuan had already kicked the wet cloth on the ground outside. It wrapped around the fire stick's tip. The man cursed and shook it off, but before he could try lighting it again, Shi Yuan's water poured over his head.
Both sides of the threshold were soaked.
Chen Xiuyuan planted his feet firmly on the old stone and warned Shi Yuan away from the slippery edge. The wounded enemy took advantage of the splashing water to throw a stone inside. Chen Xiuyuan tilted his head aside, and it struck the grain store wall with a dull thud.
The grain store's door remained securely closed. The mixed grain inside had not been moved into disarray, and the dry grass near the door had been cleared away. This time, the enemies had found nothing they could ignite at once.
"Everyone's inside!"
At last, the waiting guard's voice came from the inner courtyard.
Chen Xiuyuan answered but still did not immediately pursue them outside. The axeman was watching his breathing. Clearly, he too could see that the young gatekeeper was almost spent and was waiting for him to lose patience and descend the steps.
Chen Xiuyuan's saber hand ached and tingled slightly, but he did not extend it another inch.
He could see a small chip in the axe's edge, and he could see the man's feet constantly avoiding the water. With the narrow entrance blocked, neither enemy could easily squeeze past him. If they retreated, Shi Yuan could brace the gate again. If they advanced, they would have to cross these two steps once more.
The axeman tried an upward strike.
Chen Xiuyuan lightly knocked the haft with his saber's spine, avoiding the axe head's heaviest point, and shifted his foot slightly aside. The axe missed and continued into the frame, but he had already withdrawn his saber before his chest, still able to take his next step.
The man glared at him and suddenly asked, "How much did the Du Family give you to make risking your life like this worthwhile?"
Remembering the arrow hole in the bottom of the basket, Chen Xiuyuan answered, "Then go ask him why he insists on coming to my gate."
A short horn blast sounded outside the courtyard.
The wounded saber wielder turned first, and the axeman also paused. Chen Xiuyuan immediately pressed forward half a step, his point threatening above the axe haft and forcing the man aside. Shi Yuan lifted the gate from behind and to the side. Chen Xiuyuan kicked the abandoned long saber inside, and as he himself retreated, the wooden gate finally closed against its frame.
Shi Yuan slid the bar into place.
A blow immediately struck from outside. The bar jolted but held firmly. The guard from the inner courtyard had arrived and joined Shi Yuan in bracing the short pole against the inside, calling for Chen Xiuyuan to step back and check his wound.
Only when no more blades reached beneath the gate did Chen Xiuyuan lower his right arm.
His wrist guard was torn, and blood seeped from a shallow cut beneath it. His fingers could still open and close, and his wrist had lost none of its strength, but his palm, shoulders, and back ached badly. Pressing a strip of cloth against the wound, he looked up at the grain store. Shi Yuan had already turned to check its lock.
"The grain hasn't been touched." After saying this, Shi Yuan called into the inner courtyard as well.
The reply came quickly. Everyone was accounted for.
Chen Xiuyuan leaned against the wall and caught his breath. Every night, when he practiced until his hands ached, he had wondered whether this saber technique could stop a real blade. Just now, if he had withdrawn his diagonal cut a fraction too slowly, or struck himself again while drawing his elbow back, he would have had to surrender the path behind him.
Now that gate remained closed, and the child's crying carried through the inner courtyard wall, farther and farther from danger.
He had just been about to wipe the water off his short saber when he heard Shi Lei's voice from the main gate: "The cart turned west! Cut it off!"
Over the low wall, Chen Xiuyuan saw lights moving toward the cart road. The herb cart with the cracked boards was rounding the pile of stones outside the main gate. Shi Lei caught up from the side and hooked the reins along the cart's edge with his scabbard, while another patrol guard hurried over to stop the draft animal.
Chen Xiuyuan did not join in the cheers. His gaze suddenly stopped on the gap in the grain yard's outer wall.
A thinner figure was dropping down from the shadows, a short blade in his hand. He did not come to ram the narrow gate, but hugged the back of the empty shed, circling toward the side room in the inner courtyard. That was precisely where the old herb gatherer and the porter had just been settled.
The two outside were still pushing against the gate, yet there was a third person inside.
Chen Xiuyuan pressed the strip of cloth tight against his arm and said to Shi Yuan, "Guard the bar. I'm going inside."