Once the wheel rolled forward, Chen Xiuyuan had nowhere left to retreat.
He knew full well that Shi Lei's wooden saber was coming down from above, but his right foot was caught between the wheel and the chock. He could only raise his saber upright and take the blow head-on. The wooden saber pressed his blade down in front of his shoulder, and his body struck the cart bed, toppling half the empty baskets on it.
"Stop."
Shi Lei first had the man pushing the cart steady the wheel before taking his saber away.
Chen Xiuyuan looked down at his foot and slowly pulled it free. Had a real cart been sliding down a slope, that foot would probably have suffered more than the pain of being stepped on.
Shi Yuan righted the fallen baskets and asked him, "Still think this is a convenient place to stand?"
"It looks like I can cover both sides, but once the cart moves, I get trapped."
"That's why you shouldn't only practice around a stationary cart," Shi Lei said.
The cart yard occupied a wider stretch of dirt road inside the gate. Several borrowed old carts stood side by side, and deep ruts left by grain unloading still marked the ground. This cart was bound for Red Sand. Its driver was checking the axle end; hearing the two speak, he reached out and pushed the left wheel outward a little.
"Name's Meng Cheng," he told Chen Xiuyuan. "Stand beside the cart, and you're the first thing I hit when I turn. There's more room behind, but I'll have to call for you to move when I back up."
Chen Xiuyuan walked around the cart and looked it over. The ground behind its left rear corner was wider, and his short saber could reach past the basket rims. If an enemy came from the other side, he would not be able to circle the entire cart in time, but he could first tell the driver to stop and let Shi Lei cover that side.
He explained his idea clearly. Rather than approving it outright, Shi Lei had someone raise the baskets in front to block part of his view, then try again.
This time, the wooden saber darted in from the left. Chen Xiuyuan guarded the cart's rear, merely deflecting the incoming blade beyond the baskets without chasing Shi Lei's hand with his own saber. As the wheels turned slowly, he backed along with them, always leaving himself a way out.
Shi Lei suddenly withdrew his saber and circled toward the other side.
Chen Xiuyuan did not follow. He first called for Meng Cheng to steady the cart. Shi Yuan thrust a wooden strip in from the other side, aiming straight at the driver's back, so Chen Xiuyuan pushed an empty basket that way, placing its rim between the strip and the man.
"Move forward, get clear!"
Meng Cheng moved to the front of the cart as instructed. Chen Xiuyuan immediately drew back his saber and turned toward Shi Lei, who still stood on the left. Shi Lei had been waiting for him to chase after Shi Yuan; seeing him stay, he pressed in again with his wooden saber.
Chen Xiuyuan used the slanted rear corner of the cart to evade the heaviest part of the attack, protecting his front with the backward hook he had practiced until familiar. When the two sabers met, he tried yielding slightly with the back of his blade, shedding that bit of force along the direction of the opposing pressure, while moving his foot outward only a short half-step.
Shi Lei's wooden saber fell into empty space. Chen Xiuyuan's saber tip had already stopped beside his wrist.
On Shi Yuan's side, Meng Cheng blocked the wooden strip with the cart shaft, keeping it from actually touching anyone.
Shi Lei withdrew his saber and pointed at the cart.
"How much can you protect?"
"This corner where I'm standing. Someone has to cover the other side, and the driver has to know where to retreat."
"What if the goods fall?"
"People first. Once they're clear, retrieve what we can."
Meng Cheng lifted down the empty basket that had been pushed askew and nodded, saying that this time, at least, he did not have to worry about someone behind him suddenly crashing into his feet. Shi Yuan still made Chen Xiuyuan finish circling the cart and explain who would guard each side and where goods must not be stacked before carving his name into a wooden slip.
After they had tested him for quite a while, Chen Xiuyuan thought it was time to load the medicinal herbs, but Shi Lei said to try once more, this time with the cart moving backward.
He still made a mistake this time.
The moment Meng Cheng called out that he was backing up, Chen Xiuyuan instinctively turned sideways, only to step onto a raised rut behind him and nearly lose his balance. Shi Lei withdrew his saber in time and waited for him to find a stable footing himself before letting the cart continue.
By the final round, Chen Xiuyuan could change positions while guarding. Whenever he encountered a spot hemmed in by ruts, he first called for the cart to stop instead of forcing himself into that narrow gap just to prove he could fight.
Shi Lei took away the wooden saber.
"You'll guard the rear side on this trip. I'll be up front. If things change on the road, listen for my call to stop."
Chen Xiuyuan looked at the wooden slip in Shi Yuan's hand. "Then how will my pay be calculated?"
"You tell me first."
"Basket hauling is counted separately. For guarding this cart to Red Sand, I get a guard's share. If something happens along the way because I lose my position, you can't count me as just a basket hauler then, either."
Shi Yuan did not smile. Instead, he brought over another wooden slip that had already been marked and had him compare his share with that of an experienced guard traveling the same route.
Chen Xiuyuan's cultivation realm was low, and the area he guarded was small, so he could not receive the pay Shi Lei earned as the leader. But he did bear responsibility for protecting the cart and should not receive only an ordinary odd-job worker's share. Once both sides were clear, Shi Yuan asked what would happen if someone was injured on the way, having Meng Cheng and Auntie Sang listen as well.
"Anyone who needs saving gets saved first, and someone looks after them on the return journey. Injuries and losses from this trip are shared as agreed. No one gets to say when the time comes that bad luck is your own problem," Meng Cheng said first.
He rolled up his trouser leg. A crooked old scar ran beside his shinbone.
"I've heard that before."
Seeing the scar, Chen Xiuyuan asked which trip had left it.
Meng Cheng lowered his trouser leg. "The guards were too busy chasing beasts, and no one steadied the cart. I fell off, and my leg landed right beside the wheel. The owner said the goods were damaged too, and he couldn't spare anything to compensate me. I lay in bed for half a month, then had to go back to pulling his cart."
Auntie Sang had been tying up herbs. At this, she put down her cord and said that the guards' share came out of every basket. Since everyone wanted someone looking after them, they had to acknowledge both the scope of that protection and what happened in the event of injury.
Hers was not the only household bringing medicinal herbs on this trip. Several people gathered around, and someone worried that if they saw no sign of beasts all the way, would the guarding fee not be wasted? Meng Cheng pointed at the wheel where Chen Xiuyuan had stood in the wrong place earlier and said that even if all they encountered was a stuck cart, someone willing to grab hold of it first and pull people out was still doing work.
After hearing them both out, Shi Lei restated the agreement himself. In danger, they would first gather the carts and protect the people, rather than let any guard chase off alone from the group; ordinary losses would be recorded truthfully, and anyone who needed to withdraw for any reason would hand over their duties beforehand. Only after clarifying the share he should receive and the expenses did Chen Xiuyuan leave his mark on the wooden slip with the others.
The old wooden token remained inside his clothes, while he put the new escort record elsewhere. He felt for them twice before finally securing them both.
Elder Shi had not come to the cart yard.
When Chen Xiuyuan returned to the room for his saber, the old man was sitting by the door with a roll of clean cloth in his hand. The old short saber had been wiped dry, the most badly worn section of its scabbard strap replaced, and the cloth wrapping on its handle tightened again.
"Take it," Elder Shi said. "Wipe it clean after use. Don't stuff herb dregs together with wet cloth, then come back with a rusty saber and say you had no time on the road."
Chen Xiuyuan took the saber and asked whether the old man wanted anything else.
"If there's cheap coarse cloth, trade for some. If not, forget it. Don't argue with someone all day over that little bit of stuff."
He agreed, paused a moment, then told the old man about the escort arrangements they had just settled. Elder Shi nodded when he heard that they would gather the carts first in danger. When he heard that Chen Xiuyuan would guard the rear side, he told him to draw the saber halfway and see whether it would get in the way when he bent down beside the moving cart.
The scabbard had originally been tied too far back and bumped against the cart bed whenever he bent over. Following the old man's guidance, he shifted it, then tried raising his leg and bending down once each. At last, it no longer caught on the hem of his clothes.
Only once everything was ready did Elder Shi tuck the cloth roll into his small traveling pouch.
"Best if you never need it. If you really do, don't begrudge unrolling it."
On the day they set out, the morning mist had yet to disperse.
Shi Lei walked ahead of the carts to watch the road, while another combat soldier traveling with them watched the middle section. Chen Xiuyuan stayed behind and to the left of the last cart. Auntie Sang walked alongside the herb baskets, checking now and then beneath the cover for returning dampness, while Meng Cheng always called out before a turn so those behind would know which way the front of the cart was heading.
At first, Chen Xiuyuan answered quickly. Only after crossing two slopes did he realize that holding his position behind the cart took more attention than it had during practice.
When branches stretched out from the roadside, he could not worry only about his own head. If a wheel veered on a narrow stretch, the whole cart would bear down on one side. When the carts ahead stopped, he had to promptly tell those behind not to crowd up. Even drinking water had to wait until they reached an open spot where someone could take over.
Those trivial tasks added no words to his panel, yet overlooking even one could truly lead to a mistake.
As they passed beneath a low branch, the cord around a herb basket snagged. Meng Cheng assumed a wheel had become stuck again and raised his whip to urge the animal on. Chen Xiuyuan immediately called a halt and raised his hand to direct his gaze overhead.
Auntie Sang went to free the cord, while he stood on the outer side, watching the shortcut behind the branches and leaves rather than leaving his position to lend a hand. Soon the cord came loose, the herb basket had not come apart, and the group continued forward.
Meng Cheng looked back and told him, "That shout was worth it."
Chen Xiuyuan smiled, his hand still resting on his scabbard.
He still remembered wanting to draw his saber at every rustle of leaves on his first trip into the mountains. Now he could distinguish the sounds made by the carts and their cargo, but he still dared not dismiss every patch of bushes he could not see through as merely the wind.
That afternoon, they rested on an open stretch of stone ground. After checking the road ahead, Shi Lei told everyone to portion out the water; another stretch of walking would bring them to Red Sand. Chen Xiuyuan sat beside a wheel eating flatbread. Listening to Auntie Sang work out last year's herb prices with a fellow traveler, he learned just how much the price of the same root differed between being dug up, dried, and delivered.
"They still have to send it into the city," Auntie Sang said. "We know it's far, but we don't know just how far. When they say they need another half-share, sometimes all we can do is believe them."
Chen Xiuyuan looked toward the road ahead. Beyond the high slope, sheds and carts were already visible, far busier than the little market outside Blood Stone.
Upon reaching Red Sand, Shi Lei first led the carts into the public cart-resting area. He told Chen Xiuyuan to keep watching the last cart while he went to meet those guarding the market. Auntie Sang took out the herbs according to the grades they had sorted beforehand, placing the best bundles on top and keeping the rest separate, without using good roots to hide inferior goods.
Soon, someone came over to ask the price.
The man's cuffs were securely stitched, and a string of cart tags of different sizes hung at his waist. He looked first at the herbs, then at those guarding the carts. After hearing Auntie Sang list the goods she could accept in exchange, he put down the best bundle and directly quoted a price for the entire cartload.
It was even lower than what Auntie Sang had calculated on the road.
"Shopkeeper Lu, you can't price them all the same." Auntie Sang pointed at the two separate baskets. "This basket holds good roots, freshly dried. I'm not selling the basket below as the same quality, either."
"I have to sort everything again after taking it in. However finely you divide it, it still has to pass through my hands."
The man was called Lu Yong. Speaking unhurriedly, he casually pointed at several large carts parked at the other end of the resting area. People beside them were repairing straps, while others changed the cloth on injured guards. It did indeed look as though he was in the long-distance freight business.
"I receive your goods, store them, and have to guard the road when I send them out. Auntie Sang, you go home once you've sold everything here. My people have to keep going. You can't count only what the roots are worth."
After hearing him out, Chen Xiuyuan came around from behind the cart to Auntie Sang's side.
"Then if we sell only this basket of good roots and don't need your carts to deliver it, what price would you offer?"
Lu Yong glanced at the old saber at his waist, then raised a hand to point at the two baskets of herbs.
"At my price, I only take the whole lot."