By the time the rope end was flung onto the cart post, Meng Cheng no longer dared look down.
Chen Xiuyuan looped the rope around the inner crossbeam and told Auntie Sang to take the other end to the tree roots beside the stone terrace. The medicine shop assistant tried to come help, but he stopped him at once. "Stay up there and pull the rope! The soil won't hold if another person stands here."
Shi Lei's shoulders and back bulged as the shafts slowly rose inward. The rope tied to the crossbeam finally took the strain. Chen Xiuyuan pulled his shoulder free, half his arm aching so badly he could barely hold his knife.
He took two breaths, then went to push the last medicine basket first.
A strap caught the basket's bottom, and it sprang back halfway through his push. The wooden chock beside Meng Cheng's foot shifted with it, making him curse in pain. "Don't pull! It's pinning my foot!"
Chen Xiuyuan stopped immediately and crouched where he could see beneath the axle.
Wet vines rose from the ditch edge and wound around the axle, twisted together with the strap beneath the basket. If he pressed inward as hard as he usually did when cutting rope, the knife tip would hit the axle, and the freed wheel might roll down the slope. He laid the back of his knife against the wood and first found the side of the vine bundle bearing the most strain.
"Meng Cheng, can you still turn your foot inward?"
"A little. I can't pull it out."
"Don't pull yet. Shi Lei, hold the front up. Don't let go until I say."
Chen Xiuyuan tilted the blade outward, moving his elbow aside with it. He did not lock his wrist. As the edge cut into the wet vines, his waist and back slowly guided his forearm into a new angle. The moment resistance pressed against it, he let the blade slide along that narrow gap.
When practicing with ironback hide, he could stand straight and shift his footing. Now he had only half a foot on the stone ledge. He had to keep what little room for footwork he had within his waist and hips; the slightest deviation of his knife would catch Meng Cheng's trouser leg.
The wet vines' outer skin split, but the tough fibers inside held the blade.
He drew back a little, picked up that pulling force again, and followed the curve he had just cut. The fine fibers snapped one by one. The last section of vines sprang against the wooden axle, exposing the taut cloth strap underneath.
"Catch the basket on the inside!"
Auntie Sang caught the basket's rim. Chen Xiuyuan cut the strap and pushed the entire basket toward her feet. One medicine packet burst at a corner, spilling pale-brown leaf fragments into the mud. Auntie Sang gathered only the intact packets, then turned and retreated to the stone terrace.
The cart was lighter now, and its rear no longer pulled Shi Lei off balance when he raised the shafts.
Chen Xiuyuan pried up the wooden chock pinning Meng Cheng's foot a little, letting him withdraw his leg in the direction indicated by the back of his knife. His trouser cuff tore, and his shoe fell into the ditch, exposing a right ankle already swollen. Meng Cheng still tried to retrieve his shoe, but Chen Xiuyuan grabbed his back collar and hauled him inward.
"Leave the shoe!"
Meng Cheng braced the long pole against the ground and lunged onto the stone ledge. He banged his forehead but had no time even to cry out in pain, turning instead to look at the cart.
Chen Xiuyuan pushed him toward the assistant. "Help him up. Keep his foot off the ground."
He had barely spoken when the bushes below abruptly parted.
A grayish-brown beast emerged from the bottom of the ditch, mud and water caught in the stiff mane along its back and a clump of rotten grass still hanging beside its mouth. It first fixed its gaze on the struggling draft animal, twitched its nose twice, then moved toward the narrow opening from which the people had retreated.
"An Armored Mane Beast!" Shi Lei shouted. "Don't run in front of it!"
Meng Cheng had just been supported over to the stone steps. At the sound, the assistant nearly let go of him. Chen Xiuyuan stood his ground facing those yellowish eyes, holding his short knife across his body.
He recognized that tough hide. Some of the armor plates Elder Shi supplied for knife practice came from this beast. They were thinner than ironback hide, but overlapped in layers around the shoulders and neck. A short knife chopping head-on into them could easily get stuck.
Shi Lei was still holding down the shafts. If he let go to face the beast, the cart would overturn. Chen Xiuyuan saw it circle the wheel and pause slightly as its front paw landed in the mud, as though it too was wary of the long pole above.
"Get Meng Cheng past the stone steps!"
He did not charge down. His toes remained hooked against the hard rock on the inner side of the narrow opening. The Armored Mane Beast stretched its head forward tentatively, its nose still some distance from his knife tip, then suddenly lunged at his outer leg.
Chen Xiuyuan drew his knee inward and pressed his short knife diagonally against the stiff mane sweeping up along its shoulder, using that bit of resistance to slide outward. The knife tip cut a wound along a gap in its armor, flinging blood onto the wheel, but the beast's head still slammed into him.
The impact drove his shoulder against the mountain wall, leaving him unable to draw breath.
The Qi and blood in his two Heavenly Meridians surged toward his arm, and the knife finally came free of the armor gap. There was no time for another slash. He could only lower the knife tip to protect his lower abdomen and let the beast's claws rake the outside of his trouser leg. Cloth tore and his skin burned with pain, but his feet did not retreat onto the soft soil.
Shi Lei's roar came from behind him. "Duck!"
Chen Xiuyuan dropped low with the motion. A length of pole passed over his shoulder and rammed hard into the beast below its neck. Forced back, the Armored Mane Beast scraped its stiff mane against the rock wall with a piercing rasp.
Shi Lei had wedged the shafts into the wooden chock and freed himself to come over.
"Hold the opening," he said. "Don't chase!"
Chen Xiuyuan answered and raised his knife again. The Armored Mane Beast circled halfway around below the slope. Seeing Shi Lei draw his long knife as well, it finally plunged back into the bushes. Clods of mud it dislodged rolled down the ditch, taking some time to fall silent.
Shi Lei watched along the ditch for a while. Only after confirming it had not circled back did he let Chen Xiuyuan retreat to the stone terrace.
Meng Cheng sat beside a medicine chest, his right foot propped on rolled-up tarpaulin. Seeing Chen Xiuyuan approach, he first reached for the rope at his own waist. Finding nothing, he looked down and saw it still wound around Chen Xiuyuan's hand, then let out a breath.
"I really thought I'd have to leave my leg behind."
Chen Xiuyuan unwound the rope. His palm had been rubbed red. He sat beside him and lifted his torn trouser leg. The beast's claws had only grazed the outer skin, leaving little blood, but the spot where his shoulder had struck hurt badly. Auntie Sang examined him, told him to rest a while, and cleaned the abrasion with the clean water she carried.
The medicine shop assistant counted packets nearby. When he reached the missing packet, he looked toward the ditch bottom.
"There's still some we can pick up."
"It's touched ditch water." Auntie Sang pressed his hand down. "If you take it back, which pile can you put it in?"
The assistant looked at the medicine fragments mixed with rotten leaves and did not go down again. He recorded the loss on the back of the original shipping list. Chen Xiuyuan told him to record the outer wrapping torn while unloading the baskets too, rather than writing down only this packet.
Hearing them record the losses, Meng Cheng slowly pushed himself upright. "The cart's still there. I can point out the spots while you drag it out. The road's easier farther on. If it's usable, keep using it."
Shi Lei looked at his swollen foot. "You still want to drive?"
"I'll sit and give directions. Let him lead." Meng Cheng pointed at the assistant. "I'll call out on the slopes, and I can tell him how tight or loose to keep the reins. If we carry everything to the east slope on our backs, we won't finish before dark."
Chen Xiuyuan could tell he feared too great a loss, so he made things clear first. "If the cart can't be saved, it stays here. You're out already. You're not going back down to chock the wheel."
Meng Cheng opened his mouth, then finally said, "All right. Check the outer wheel first. There's a crack in the rim. Don't treat it like a sound wheel."
Shi Lei tested the footing along the inside again, then went down with Chen Xiuyuan. Despite losing the weight of those medicine packets, the cart still leaned outward, its right wheel sunk deeper. The rope held it back, and the crossbeam gave faint creaks.
They first freed the draft animal and led it onto the stone terrace so it would not panic and drag things about. From some distance away, Meng Cheng pointed out where the cart's underside could bear force. Shi Lei inserted a long piece of wood and levered it up bit by bit. Chen Xiuyuan only filled the spaces already exposed, keeping his hands out of gaps that might close at any moment.
The wheel finally came free of the soft soil. Its rim was indeed cracked, and another wood chip fell away as they pushed it onto the hard ground on the inside. Although the frame was skewed, the spot where Chen Xiuyuan had cut the vines remained intact. The wooden axle bore only its old polished wear marks.
"If that knife had gone straight down, the axle would probably have taken a hit too." Meng Cheng examined it closely. "I meant to warn you, but the pain made me forget."
Chen Xiuyuan turned the blade toward the light. A tiny section of its edge had rolled. It had cut vines to save someone and borne force against the beast's armor. This borrowed old knife could not, after all, withstand whatever he put it through.
Shi Lei patted his back. The moment his hand touched the shoulder, Chen Xiuyuan sucked in a sharp breath.
"You hit yourself here?"
"It's swollen from the knock. I can still walk."
Shi Lei stopped patting him and told him to sit down first. Following Meng Cheng's instructions, he and the assistant replaced the damaged wheel with the old spare carried on the cart, then used a hard board they had removed to reinforce the split in the cart bed. Even repaired, it was unsuitable for heavy loads and could only travel slowly. The medicine was divided among several people to carry, and Meng Cheng was settled near the front with his injured foot suspended.
When they set off again, Chen Xiuyuan guarded the rear of the cart. His knife was sheathed, but his hand stayed beside its hilt.
They did not see the Armored Mane Beast again along the way. The assistant struggled to lead the draft animal smoothly and tried several times to hurry it, only for Meng Cheng to stop him. Auntie Sang carried a heavier medicine bundle than on the way out and called a halt whenever she tired. No one used their lateness to rush her. On level ground, Shi Lei took one of her bundles. Chen Xiuyuan reached out to help, but Shi Lei blocked him again.
"Save your strength to watch behind us. You've already used it saving someone."
Only as dusk fell did the lights of the east slope medicine shed appear at the edge of the woods.
Seeing Meng Cheng's foot, the people in the shed first cleared a sleeping space by the wall, then took the medicine. Zhu Qinghe had not arrived yet. The receiver asked them to mark the shortages and damage on the shipping list. Hearing that the road had collapsed, he immediately sent a porter familiar with the routes along another footpath to report it, with instructions for Red Sand to suspend cart departures through the old ditch.
Chen Xiuyuan spread out the soaked wrapping and explained item by item which medicines had spilled into the ditch and which had only had their outer wrapping soaked. When he mentioned the Armored Mane Beast, the receiver examined his trouser leg and the cut, then went to ask Meng Cheng which injury needed treating first, rather than hastily signing for everything as intact.
They ate a hot meal in the shed. Only after his shoulders and back stiffened did Chen Xiuyuan realize even standing was difficult. Shi Lei took on the patrol outside and told him to rest against a medicine chest. Later that night, hurried footsteps sounded outside, and Zhu Qinghe arrived with the porter who had brought the message.
She had already closed her stall when she left Red Sand and had taken a mountain path impassable to large carts. The edges of her shoes were covered in mud. On entering, she first checked on Meng Cheng, then placed the loss list written by the receiver before Chen Xiuyuan.
"He's told me what happened. This lists one spilled packet of medicine, two torn outer wrappings, and one wheel."
"Yes." Chen Xiuyuan sat a little straighter. "The wet packets are still separate. They haven't been mixed back in with the good medicine."
Zhu Qinghe lifted the cloth, lowered her head to sniff, and added a mark beside the medicine packets with her brush.
Meng Cheng fell silent, and the assistant stopped trimming the lamp wick.
She turned the loss list over to the side bearing the agreed payment. "First, let's discuss whose pay should be given in full."