Early in the morning, before the rooster crowed, Chen Ji opened his eyes and saw five small silver ingots lying beside his pillow.
They were the payment Cloud Goat had promised, but he did not know how or when Cloud Goat had slipped into the clinic. It was as though the five ingots had appeared out of thin air.
They were not just Cloud Goat's payment, but also a warning.
Chen Ji silently got up and changed into the new clothes Xibing had sent him. When he unfolded the outer garment, he saw that it was a dark navy, stand-collared robe with a broad overlapping front. Both buttons at the collar were adorned with silver, making it several grades finer than the clothes he had worn before.
A set of clothes like this probably cost several taels of silver, didn't it?
Unfortunately, Xibing had sent only the robe, an inner garment, and trousers, but no boots or belt. After putting on the stand-collared robe, Chen Ji still had the same worn cloth shoes on his feet and a broad hemp sash tied around his waist...
Chen Ji was amused. He looked rather mismatched.
Who cares? What does a little apprentice need to be so particular for? I'll make up the rest when I earn some money.
When the rooster crowed, Chen Ji went out. Across the street, the grain and oil shop happened to be taking down its doorboards.
"Good morning, ma'am," Chen Ji said with a smile as he entered the shop.
"Oh, what would you like, Doctor Chen?" The proprietress had been busy preparing to open, but seeing him come in so early, she immediately put aside what she was doing.
"How much for a jin of millet?" Chen Ji asked.
"Anyone else would pay eight copper coins, but for you, Doctor Chen, it's six," the proprietress said with a smile.
"How much for a jin of rice?"
"Nine coins. I can't make that any cheaper, I'm afraid."
Doctors were scarce these days, and their standing was relatively high. Chen Ji's master was a proper Subordinate Seventh Rank imperial physician of the court, so the neighbors were fairly polite to Chen Ji.
"Then I'll take five jin of millet and five jin of rice... and a bottle of sesame oil. Oh, and a strip of cured pork!" Chen Ji said.
The proprietress beamed. "All right! That comes to one hundred and ninety-five copper coins. I'll charge you one hundred and ninety."
Chen Ji broke his one-tael silver ingot, leaving several strings of copper coins at the shop to collect that evening, then carried the parcels of various sizes away.
The parcels were tied together with braided straw straps that dug into his hand, making it ache a little, but he was still in a good mood.
He had bought the things to take home on his day off. Judging by his own living conditions, Chen Ji thought, his family was probably not well-off either.
From what his master had previously let slip, his father ought to be working on the river embankment, right?
Even under such circumstances, his father had helped him present an apprenticeship gift to his master and find a promising future. It must have taken everything the family had.
Chen Ji was touched, and even a little curious about his family in this world.
The Chen family lived in Emerald Cloud Alley. He asked a shopkeeper by the road for directions and made his way north through Luo City.
Luo City had grown livelier that morning. He saw someone driving an ox cart with several burlap sacks on it; he had no idea what was inside, but the driver looked to be heading to market.
There were also merchant caravans entering through the northern city gate, their wagons stacked with stretched hides. Winter was approaching, making these the hottest goods among the wealthy and noble.
It was said that the East Market's most famous entertainment quarter was called Red Clothes Alley. Its leading courtesan did not ordinarily receive clients, but a wealthy merchant who presented her with a white mink fur was sure to win a kiss.
Mischievous children chased and played by the roadside, singing nursery rhymes and carrying homemade pinwheels.
Beside the little river that ran through the city, women washed clothes while chatting and teasing one another, breaking into laughter from time to time.
When Chen Ji reached Emerald Cloud Alley, he asked a stallholder, "Sir, which house belongs to the Chen family from east of the pass?"
The old man glanced at him. "Isn't this Chen Ji? Why do you need to ask where your own home is?"
Chen Ji: "..."
So they knew each other.
He hesitated for a long while, not daring to ask anything more, and simply carried his things into the alley.
Just then, a clamor came from up ahead. "Steward! Steward! Where do these lanterns go?"
A man's sharp voice replied impatiently, "Must I teach you everything? Hang them from the eaves above the stone lions' heads. There are hooks there! Hurry up, hurry up! The two young masters will be back any moment. If you keep dawdling, you'll answer for it!"
Chen Ji looked at the house, decked out with lanterns and festive decorations, and wondered what happy occasion was being celebrated. But the more he looked, the more something felt wrong. Then he saw the words on the plaque over the entrance: Chen Residence.
Could there be two Chen Residences in Emerald Cloud Alley?
The entrance was bright and well-kept. Though the vermilion-lacquered gate and stone lions were not particularly grand, this was certainly no ordinary household.
"...This shouldn't be my home, should it?" Chen Ji muttered.
"Chen Ji?" The steward, who wore a handlebar mustache, looked over and asked in surprise, "What brings you back?"
Chen Ji hesitated for a second. "It's my day off."
The steward said, "Just in time. You're taller, so come climb the ladder and hang up the lanterns."
"Oh."
Chen Ji set his parcels on the ground to one side, climbed the ladder, and hung up the lanterns.
The steward directed the other maids from the side. "Come on, bring a basin of water and sprinkle it in front of the gate, so the dust doesn't fly up when the two young masters return. You clumsy lot! You're servants in the household of Luo City's assistant prefect, after all. If anyone saw you, they'd laugh at you for not knowing proper manners!"
As he spoke, the steward noticed the parcels on the ground. "Who put these here? Move them aside, quickly. Don't leave them in the way."
Chen Ji calmly climbed down the ladder. "Steward, I..."
The steward suddenly understood. "You've come for your tuition money, haven't you? The master mentioned it a while back, but look at me-I got so busy I forgot, and never sent it over."
He had someone fetch a string of copper coins from the accounts room. There should have been three hundred. "Spend it sparingly. Times are hard these days, and things aren't easy for our Chen family either."
Even now, Chen Ji still did not understand just what his place in the Chen Residence was.
The sound of hooves came from the distance, along with a rising clamor of voices from outside Emerald Cloud Alley. "The Chen family's eldest and second young masters are back! They went away to Eastern Grove Academy for three years, and now I can hardly recognize them."
"The eldest and second young masters have grown even more handsome."
Chen Ji looked over and saw two young men riding white horses into the alley. They wore blue-green brocade robes embroidered with patterns of quiet elegance; the embroidery alone showed how expensive they were.
Both young men wore cloud-toed boots, with a piece of green jade hanging from each belt and jeweled pendants draped over their chests. They looked no more than eighteen or nineteen and carried themselves with exceptional grace.
The steward hurried forward, smiling as he took their reins. "Now that the two young masters have returned from completing your studies at Eastern Grove Academy, you're sure to astonish everyone at this year's metropolitan examination!"
The two young masters jumped down from their horses and handed their riding crops to the maids. Smiling, they said, "You've gained a few white hairs these past few years, steward. It seems you've worked hard for the household."
"Not at all, not at all. It's only my duty... The master was supervising waterworks on the river embankment, but he heard a few days ago that you were coming back and made a special trip home to wait for you. Hurry and pay your respects!"
Amid the commotion, everyone followed the two young masters into the residence. As they passed Chen Ji, they did not spare him a single glance.
They were not putting on an act. They truly seemed not to recognize Chen Ji-or perhaps it did not matter whether they recognized him.
The entrance to the Chen Residence, so lively just moments ago, had fallen quiet. Chen Ji stood outside without a word, as though the world had forgotten him.
Chen Ji thought it over carefully. His master must have known about his family's circumstances, but he did seem never to have said that Chen Ji's family was too poor to pay the tuition, nor had he said exactly what his father did on the river embankment.
The reason his master had been so angry back then was that he knew Chen Ji's family clearly had money, yet kept putting off paying the tuition.
The assistant prefect of Luo City was a Subordinate Fifth Rank official, just like Liu Mingxian.
Chen Ji looked up at the plaque reading "Chen Residence" but never stepped through the vermilion gate. The youth merely bent down, placed the string of three hundred copper coins by the entrance, then picked up the parcels he had brought and turned away.
The old man at the mouth of the alley watched his retreating figure and sighed. "A legitimate son with a mother and a concubine's son without one-one's in the clouds, the other in the mud."
Chen Ji returned to Anxi Street and collected his copper coins from the grain and oil shop. The proprietress was a little surprised. "Doctor Chen, why have you brought everything back just as it was? We can't take returns here."
He smiled. "I'm not returning them. I'm taking them back as a gift to my master."
When he returned to the clinic, Old Yao raised his eyes and glanced at him. "Didn't I tell you to take the day off? Back so soon?"
Chen Ji counted out five hundred and sixty copper coins. "Master, this is money my family gave me. It covers the tuition and medicine I owe you. My family also asked me to bring you these parcels."
Old Yao curled his lip. "Your family finally came to its senses. I didn't expect your father to get his head fixed while he was off supervising repairs to an embankment."
Chen Ji said, "...Were you demoted to Luo City because your tongue was too poisonous?"
That night, Chen Ji sat in the clinic's main hall, quietly copying out key points on the pathology of cold-damage illnesses. When he looked back, Dark Cloud was already crouched on the counter behind him, a little blue cloth bundle in his mouth.
"Are you planning to run away from home?"
"What are you thinking?" Dark Cloud hesitated for a few seconds, then asked, "Can you take me to Clear Peace Alley?"
"It's already late. I'm afraid of the dark."
"Do you think I believe you?"
Chen Ji sighed. "All right, I'll take you. But what are you going to Clear Peace Alley for?"
"I don't want to say right now!"
Where was Clear Peace Alley? That was a very serious question.
Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Well... I'll take you tomorrow night. Tonight isn't very convenient."
"Why not tonight?!"
"I don't know where Clear Peace Alley is..." Chen Ji said. "You don't have to look at me like that. I can't explain why, but I really don't know where it is."
Dark Cloud thought for a moment. "I know."
A night watchman passed outside, sounding his watch and calling, "The weather is dry; beware of fire."
It was already the hour of the tiger, three in the morning.
Luo City was no longer as bustling and prosperous as it was during the day.
Chen Ji quietly closed the clinic's doorboards and followed Dark Cloud into the night.
He tied the little blue cloth bundle to Dark Cloud's back. It looked rather cute, and it also helped him keep track of Dark Cloud in the dark... Dark Cloud really was too black.
Along the way, Dark Cloud seemed to be relying on his memory to find his bearings, sniffing here and there.
The man and cat stopped and started, walking for a full two hours and taking several wrong turns along the way.
Chen Ji did not hurry him. He could tell that going to Clear Peace Alley tonight was very important to Dark Cloud.
He had patience enough.
At last, Dark Cloud stopped in a small alley and stared blankly at a tightly shut door.
"Is this the place?" Chen Ji asked.
"This is it."
"Shall I knock?"
"No!"
Dark Cloud called twice toward the other side of the door, calling for someone.
But aside from attracting two stray cats, his calls brought no response.
"I'm going to climb over and have a look. Wait here." Dark Cloud gave a slight push against the wall and leaped into the courtyard, so fast he seemed to leave an afterimage, exceptionally nimble.
Chen Ji leaned against the wall in the alley and waited at ease. Before long, Dark Cloud came back, his spirits visibly much lower. "Let's go."
"Did you finish what you came to do?"
"Mm."
"What was it?"
Dark Cloud stopped and looked back at the door. "I missed my mother."
Chen Ji fell silent. Cats missed their mothers too.
Lost in thought, Dark Cloud said, "She might not miss me, but I just wanted to come see her... Besides, aren't I going to roam the jianghu with you from now on? I had to bring you here so she could see you."
"Wasn't she home?" Chen Ji asked.
Dark Cloud's voice grew quieter. "She was probably sold too. Her cage and food bowl were both gone."
"Want me to help you find her?"
"No. This is a cat's fate."
"What's in the little bundle you brought?"
"I secretly stashed away some dried fish to bring her."
Chen Ji stood silently in the darkness of the alley. He bent down, gathered Dark Cloud into his arms, and walked toward the clinic.
Dark Cloud did not struggle. He simply curled into a little ball and covered his head with his fluffy tail.
Footsteps pattered against the bluestone paving. The youth's retreating figure was slender but upright.
"Chen Ji, what kind of person is your mother?"
"She... is a very gentle person." Chen Ji did not want to say any more. It was as though memories were a warm current of air, like breath: once spoken from his mouth, they would run away.
He carried Dark Cloud along Luo City's long street. Only a few months old, Dark Cloud was tiny; curled up, he was no bigger than two palms.
Chen Ji suddenly wanted to go on living well.
"Dark Cloud?"
"Mm?"
"Let's depend on each other to live."