Meng Cheng lifted the heaviest clay jar off the cart and pushed it in front of Zhu Qinghe.
"Send this separately. If you insist on loading it all onto this cart, I won't take the job today."
Zhu Qinghe bent down to inspect the cart bed and asked how much he could carry at most. Rather than simply giving a number, Meng Cheng had Chen Xiuyuan help support the rear of the cart while he stood at the front and moved the medicine chests aside, exposing an old crack beneath them in the bed.
"It's fine on level ground, but if it twists on a slope with a jar weighing down each end, who knows where it'll split."
Shi Lei pressed a hand against the crack and nodded. "Listen to him."
Chen Xiuyuan had originally thought guarding a cart meant watching only for outside threats. Only when Meng Cheng pointed out the crack did he remember that this was precisely the spot he had backed up against yesterday. He helped redistribute the heavy items, but instead of filling the space they freed, he left a stretch of solid boards where the driver could step back.
Zhu Qinghe told the worker to prepare two more small containers, taking out and packing what was urgently needed that day and leaving the rest for a later cart. She asked Chen Xiuyuan why he did not stack all the empty baskets at the back, and he told her how the wheel had hemmed him in when they tested their positions in the cart yard.
"The back is where I need to stand. If the baskets are too high, I won't be able to see which way your people are retreating."
Zhu Qinghe had the worker move them accordingly, then gave separate instructions about the inspected medicine and the losses that would need to be made up. The raw ingredients had been weighed and would be checked again upon arrival at the medicine shed; the owner would bear ordinary minor losses in transit, while losses caused by clear violations of their agreement would be handled separately. They could not deduct everything from the driver's pay the moment something was damaged.
Only after hearing that did Meng Cheng ask who would bring him back if he was injured.
"You'll be treated nearby first, and the escort will be responsible for bringing you back. I'll pay for the medicine used for injuries from this trip."
"What about the work I miss?"
Zhu Qinghe thought for a moment, raised the wage she had originally offered a little, and set aside an additional allowance for injury and loss, telling Meng Cheng to settle the details with Shi Lei. She did not promise that every injury could be healed, nor did she use a wooden token to silence him.
Chen Xiuyuan listened throughout, speaking only when they reached his share of the escort pay. He had his own payment record for the original trip from Blood Stone to Red Sand. Delivering Zhu Qinghe's goods to the eastern slope was additional work; paying for Auntie Sang's medicine did not mean she had bought his escort services along with it.
"The two payments are separate," Zhu Qinghe said. "Get the people and medicine there safely, and you'll receive your share."
Chen Xiuyuan put away the new payment token, feeling a little more reassured. Once everyone had acknowledged their duties, Shi Lei went ahead toward the eastern slope to inspect the worst stretch of road. Chen Xiuyuan and Meng Cheng stayed to put the cart in order, while Auntie Sang checked whether the remaining bundles of medicine could be divided into smaller loads.
Another soldier who had come with the group to Red Sand stayed in the market to watch over Blood Stone's unsold goods and look after their fellow travelers' lodgings. For this trip, Shi Lei would lead, Chen Xiuyuan would guard the rear, Meng Cheng would drive, Auntie Sang would accompany the goods, and one of Zhu Qinghe's workers would help identify the items for delivery and carry the medicine.
When Shi Lei returned, wet mud clung to his trouser cuffs.
"The slope is passable, but the ditch side isn't. The middle of the old road is still firm. Once we get there, lighten the load first and carry the heavy things around the side."
Meng Cheng asked whether there were any new cracks. Shi Lei pointed out two places and said he had marked them with dead branches; they must not turn the wheels toward the shoulder just to avoid a patch of mud. They would probe again when the cart arrived. If the ground sank more than before, they would unload everything rather than force their way through.
Chen Xiuyuan listened until he understood, then asked whether there was somewhere they could regroup after descending the slope. Meng Cheng said there was an old stone clearing usually used for unloading timber, not far from the mouth of the ditch. If anything did happen, they could get both the people and the medicine there first.
They set out shortly before noon.
This time, there was no large convoy blocking his view. Standing at the rear of the cart, Chen Xiuyuan could see the woods stretching into the distance on either side. The medicine baskets had all been secured lower than yesterday. Meng Cheng still called out before turns, and sometimes Shi Lei stopped on a rock ahead to let the cart pass slowly, waiting until the last person had found secure footing before continuing.
At first, the road was easier than expected.
Auntie Sang checked the tarpaulin along the way. The medicine shop's worker told her she need not be so anxious, since there was no rain today. She did not argue, merely lifting a shaded corner to show him the few drops of water that had dripped from the mountainside onto the cart bed.
"The rain has stopped, but the water in the mountains hasn't finished draining."
The worker moved the medicine packets scattered in the corners of the cart inward and laid down the moisture-blocking leaf lining again.
Chen Xiuyuan remembered those words and looked toward the rock face ahead. A thin wet line beneath the stone flowed downhill along the old roadside ditch. There was not much water, but the topsoil had already soaked to a darker color.
He did not presume to declare the road impassable based on that color alone, first telling Meng Cheng what he had seen. The driver told him to watch the rear wheels and call out if the tracks suddenly deepened, slowing the draft animal a little himself.
The cart finally stopped at the place where Shi Lei had planted the branches.
Two broken branches stood beside the road, with the soil between them sagging into a shallow fissure. Meng Cheng crouched and probed along it with a long pole. He had pushed only a short length inside when the tip suddenly met empty space.
"There's no solid earth underneath."
Shi Lei told everyone to move away from the outer edge. He crossed over the firmer stone base in the middle of the road and probed farther ahead. By the time he returned, the ease had vanished from his face.
The water in the wet ditch he had seen that morning had risen, and the small patch of ground they could originally have gone around on had softened too.
After hearing this, the worker first glanced at the medicine behind him.
"If this cart turns back now, the shed will have to wait until tomorrow. If it's only this one stretch, could we lift it across?"
Meng Cheng handed him the long pole. "Feel how deep it is first. Lifting the cart is easy. Where are the people supposed to put their feet?"
The worker probed with the pole but could not find a firm bottom, so he said no more about lifting the cart. Auntie Sang had already untied a medicine basket and asked Chen Xiuyuan to help carry it onto the dry rocks on the inner side, rather than let the cart keep pressing down on the same patch of soft ground while everyone stood arguing.
Chen Xiuyuan took the bottom of the basket. As he exerted himself, he could clearly feel that his Qi and blood were more abundant after opening his second meridian, but his shoulders and back still felt heavy after carrying one basket of medicine. He did not count that little extra strength as enough to shoulder the entire cart. Once he had set the basket down securely, he went to examine the inner path Shi Lei had found.
Along the mountainside on the inner side was a narrow stone ledge that people could walk on. Beyond it lay the old stone clearing. If the cart kept to the middle of the road, the most dangerous part would be the few steps where its right wheel came close to the ditch wall.
"People can carry the medicine along the inside," Chen Xiuyuan said. "Leave a little on the cart to keep its center of gravity steady, and take it across first. Don't have everyone stand on the outside to push."
Shi Lei nodded, but amended the first part. "Walk it empty-handed first, and make sure the baskets won't catch against the mountainside. If someone gets wedged there by a basket, they'll block both directions."
Auntie Sang tried first. After one trip, she found that her medicine basket scraped a protruding rock at the narrowest point, so she divided its contents into two bundles and used shoulder straps to carry them close to her body instead. The worker walked the path once as well, only then learning that there was a downward stone step along the way; with a heavy load, he could not simply stare at the back of the person ahead.
Chen Xiuyuan took the second run. Carrying a light bundle of medicine, he stopped above the stone step, scraped the mud off his soles, then stepped down. Shi Lei stood ahead to help him and let the others continue only once he was steady.
After two trips, most of the heavy chests had been moved to the stone clearing.
Auntie Sang placed the medicine beside a sheltered rock wall, and the worker stayed to guard it while Shi Lei and Chen Xiuyuan returned to the cart. Meng Cheng moved the last two lighter baskets into the center and tested the weight of the shafts. Only after confirming that the cart would not tip out of balance forward or backward did he prepare to lead the animal slowly across.
"You stay on the inside," he told Chen Xiuyuan. "If I tell you to let go, let go. Don't force yourself under it."
Chen Xiuyuan looked at him. "The same goes for you."
Meng Cheng smiled. "You certainly know how to boss people around."
The smile lasted only a moment. Before leading the cart into the dangerous stretch, Meng Cheng circled it again and gathered in all the rope ends at his waist so they would not catch in the wheels again. Remembering the old scar on his shin, Chen Xiuyuan shifted back from where he had planned to stand, leaving a route onto the inner stone ledge.
The cart began to move.
Shi Lei held the shafts at the front to guide it, Meng Cheng led the animal, and Chen Xiuyuan guarded the rear side, constantly watching where the wheels landed. When the right wheel rolled over the first patch of wet soil, it left only a shallow track and the cart did not sway. None of the three quickened his pace because of it.
Farther ahead, the road suddenly tilted a little to the left.
Chen Xiuyuan warned Meng Cheng, and the driver immediately eased the reins, letting the animal turn in small steps. The wheel went around a rock and was just about to return to the firm ground they had probed earlier when a wider fissure opened in the mud on the right.
"Stop the cart!"
As Chen Xiuyuan shouted, Meng Cheng was already tightening his grip on the reins. The animal in front stopped, but momentum carried the cart a little farther. The right wheel sank half a palm's depth, and the entire cart bed tilted.
The remaining medicine baskets slammed toward the outside.
Chen Xiuyuan did not reach for the baskets. He first braced the inner cart post, helping Shi Lei steady the cart. Meng Cheng went around toward the shafts, trying to guide the front inward, but as he planted his foot, a whole sheet of topsoil slid outward, grass roots and all.
One of his legs immediately sank beside the ditch.
Shi Lei shouted for him not to move and promptly passed him the long pole. Meng Cheng grabbed it and tried to pull his foot out, but his ankle was pinned beneath a wooden chock that had rolled down beside the wheel, and his trouser leg had become tangled in wet vines.
The wheel was still sinking slowly.
Chen Xiuyuan saw the old crack in the cart bed being pulled a little wider, while the remaining medicine baskets slid inch by inch toward Meng Cheng. If they focused only on tugging his arms, the baskets would fall and the wheel would turn with them.
He immediately shouted toward the stone clearing, "Don't come over yet! Bring a long rope! Leave the medicine chests where they are!"
Auntie Sang called back. The worker, who had been about to hurry over along the narrow ledge, stopped and turned to untie the ropes used to carry the medicine, leaving their last walkable route unblocked.
Meng Cheng's breathing grew increasingly rapid. Clutching the pole with both hands, he could not help looking at his trapped leg.
"Don't let the cart tip outward," he said. "If it presses down any farther, I won't be able to get this foot out."
Chen Xiuyuan leaned his body against the inner cart post. The stone ledge beneath his feet was still solid, but his arms were already going somewhat numb. He looked at Shi Lei, knowing that even with so much of its load removed, he still could not support the cart alone.
"Keep the front steady. I'll unload these last two baskets first!"
Shi Lei immediately changed his grip, drawing the front shafts inward a little. In that instant, Chen Xiuyuan loosened part of his grip, drew his blade to cut the outermost binding rope, and pushed a basket of medicine back onto the firm ground inside.
The strap beneath the second basket was stretched tight, and the wet vines wound around the axle were tightening little by little.
Meng Cheng gave a muffled groan.
Chen Xiuyuan bent down and saw a small length of trouser cuff beneath the wooden chock, beyond his hand's reach. Drawing his blade fully from its sheath, he first shouted to Shi Lei, "Hold it steady! Don't turn the wheel!"