The Long Journey

In a daze, Li Yan was pushed awake. Opening his eyes, he saw it was Fourth Sister Li Xiaozhu; Third Brother was no longer beside him. Her eyes red and swollen, she looked at him and said, "Fifth Brother, the Village Chief is here. Father wants you to get up and come over."

Li Yan had barely slept the night before, only dozing off after the roosters crowed several times. He sat up straight and said to his sister, "Fourth Sister, I'm going right now."

Li Xiaozhu didn't move, her eyes still reluctant to leave him.

Li Yan forced a smile. "Fourth Sister, don't be like this. Next New Year's, I'll come back to see you all. But by then, I wonder if you'll still be at home."

Li Xiaozhu was startled, then her face flushed. "Smart mouth," she said, before turning and walking out the door.

Li Yan watched his sister's retreating back and let out a soft sigh. He didn't even believe his own words. Coming back next New Year's—though it was now late summer turning to early autumn—he had no idea what would happen in half a year, let alone next year or the year after.

After a quick wash, Li Yan went to the front room. There, five people were seated: his father, mother, Third Brother, Fourth Sister, and a sturdy man in his forties. The man sat on a slightly taller, larger chair, with a square face full of beard, wearing a short-sleeved hunter's outfit. In this early autumn morning in the mountain village, he didn't seem cold at all. His muscles bulged, and even sitting there, he exuded a certain presence.

Seeing Li Yan enter, the man laughed. "Li Yan, you're up a bit late."

Li Yan walked up to the man and bowed. "Uncle Guoxin, good morning!"

The man's name was Li Guoxin, the Village Chief of this village. Besides farming the fields, he was also an excellent hunter, often leading the village's young men to hunt on the outskirts of the mountains. In the past two years of locust plagues, it was thanks to him that the village fared better than others—at least no one starved to death.

Li Guoxin looked at Li Yan, then at Li Yan's mother, Li Wei, and Li Xiaozhu, and said, "Originally, I wasn't going to the county town until two days from now. The second son of the Old Mountain Family and the eldest of the Li Tian Family need to go to the county town to work as kitchen helpers and blacksmith apprentices, and I was to take them and give them their certifications. Last night, Chang Bo came to my house and told me about Li Yan's situation. I've decided to set out today."

Li Yan's father was named Li Chang, and everyone in the village called him Chang Bo. Li Guoxin glanced around again and continued, "Actually, I told Chang Bo yesterday that Li Yan could go to the county town to work like the others—that's a stable livelihood. But I have to make this clear: for a half-grown lad like you, you'd have no experience, so you'd have to start as an apprentice. Apprenticeships cost money, and you'd have to do all kinds of work and sign a contract. If something happens during the apprenticeship, the Main Family won't compensate you for anything. But Chang Bo still decided to let Li Yan join the army and eat the military's rations."

It really came down to money. Li Yan's family had very little. The apprenticeship fee was only five hundred coppers, but for a family of five that spent only about fifty coppers a month, that was nearly a year's expenses—they simply couldn't afford it. The second reason was that apprenticeships were grueling, with no personal freedom and no dignity until you finished your training. It wasn't uncommon for the Main Family to injure or even kill an apprentice.

Chang Bo glanced at Li Yan and said, "It's settled, then."

He then smiled at the Village Chief. "This will trouble Guoxin."

Li Yan's mother, her eyes red and swollen, couldn't help but ask, "You're leaving today?"

The Village Chief nodded. "Yes. Though conscription is common these days, someone from the village came back from the county town yesterday and said that Marshal Hong had already started recruiting soldiers yesterday morning. These soldiers are likely to be the Imperial Guards who guard the city. They usually protect the families of officials in the city and guard the granaries and armories. They rarely see real battle, so it should only take two or three days at most to fill the quota."

Li Yan's mother grew anxious. "Ah, so there's going to be war?" Li Xiaozhu also looked urgently at Li Guoxin.

Hearing his wife's words and seeing his fourth daughter's worried expression, Chang Bo slapped the table in front of him in displeasure. "Didn't Guoxin just say it? These are Imperial Guards—they guard the city and protect the home, not fight in wars. What kind of behavior is this?"

Li Xiaozhu and Li Yan's mother timidly glanced at Li Guoxin. He looked at Chang Bo, then nodded and offered some reassurance, finally calming them down so they stopped pressing.

Li Yan, who had said nothing since entering except for his greeting, now felt a surge of sorrow rise in his chest. A bitter lump lodged in his throat, and his eyes began to redden. If I ever earn money, he thought, I'll come back home to stay with Father, Mother, and my family. I won't leave again. I want to see their satisfied smiles every day and enjoy that warm, harmonious happiness.

In truth, although the Imperial Guards usually didn't participate in battles, if war came and troops were insufficient, it didn't matter whether you were an Imperial Guard or not—you'd at least have to man the city walls. The enemy's swords, spears, and arrows had no eyes; they couldn't tell an Imperial Guard from a general. They'd shoot first and ask questions later. And you might even have to go out of the city to meet the enemy in close combat.

Still, all things considered, the Imperial Guards were far better than the other units typically conscripted. Li Wei, however, looked at Li Yan with concern. He vaguely sensed that things weren't as simple as the Village Chief made them out to be.

Li Guoxin, seeing that Li Yan hadn't spoken, asked him, "Do you have any questions?"

Li Yan replied, "Uncle Guoxin has already said that the Imperial Guards are personally recruited by Marshal Hong to guard the granaries and armories, and even to protect the homes of officials. This is already a very good, hard-to-get position. I'll be sure to do it well."

Hearing this, Li Guoxin frowned slightly, thinking that Li Yan had truly believed everything he'd said. I'll have to set this kid straight on the road, he thought. He can't really think this job has no risks at all.

Li Guoxin then took his leave of Li Yan's family. "We'll set out in half an hour. This time, it'll just be me and the three lads. No one from the families can see us off. With over two hundred li of mountain roads, if one person from each family came to see us off, plus the luggage, the cart wouldn't go fast enough, and we wouldn't make it to the county town today."

The village only had two good horses. Pulling the cart with the four of them on board, it would already be a stretch to reach the county town before sunset.

Not long after sunrise, the cart rolled out of the village. The mountain hamlet slowly receded into the distance. Looking back at the few houses at the village entrance and the weeping women among the crowd, the other two boys on the cart, only thirteen or fourteen years old, began to sob, wiping their tears continuously.

Li Yan watched his crying Fourth Sister and mother in the crowd, and his Third Brother limping as he supported Father, and said nothing.

Until he got on the cart, Third Brother and Father hadn't said a single word—they just tried to smile. Fourth Sister and Mother, however, kept tugging at the corners of his nearly new coarse-cloth clothes, as if afraid they weren't smooth, crying and giving him all sorts of instructions: come back to see them when he had time, there were dry rations and pickled vegetables in his bundle, eat when he was hungry.

Li Yan didn't cry. He just held back his tears, his heart aching bitterly. He forced a smile and waved at them. "Father, Mother, Third Brother, Fourth Sister, take care. Next time I come back, I'll bring you lots of things from the city. Third Brother, take good care of the family."

"Fifth Brother, I've got it, I've got it. Go on, go on."

"Fourth Sister, once I'm settled, I'll send you some rouge and powder from the city."

"Fifth Brother, I'll wait, sob sob."

"Fifth Brother!" With a heart-wrenching cry, Li Yan's mother collapsed into Fourth Sister's arms.

The other two families were also crying in waves, and the sobbing on the cart grew louder. Li Yan could no longer hold back his tears; he let them stream freely down his face.

The cart finally moved away, leaving behind the place where he had grown up, leaving the foot of the Great Green Mountains, leaving every familiar blade of grass and tree. As the cart rounded a mountain bend, the village slowly shrank into a dark speck and then vanished from sight. But the wind carried the sound of weeping from the village, seeming even louder than before.