"Get up! Stop lazing around!" Li Yuangui kicked the young servant. "Get up and cut some reeds!"
"Huh?" A-Chen scrambled to his feet, still looking dazed. "Cut reeds?"
"We'll bundle them together as floats and swim across!" Li Yuangui pointed to the northern bank opposite. "It's not far. We can drift ashore—better than sitting here waiting to drown!"
Moreover, they were soaked through, and the cold river wind cut to the bone. Now that the initial shock had worn off, the chill was unbearable, their fingertips slowly growing numb. If they didn't move soon, they'd freeze to death, and their strength would only wane further.
Both carried horizontal swords, which could barely serve to cut reeds. A-Chen remained reluctant, grumbling as he bent to work: "This servant can't swim," "The water's so cold we'll freeze to death," "I've heard there are river monsters that devour children." Li Yuangui couldn't be bothered to scold him and ignored the complaints.
But when the servant earnestly called him "Fourteenth Young Master" twice and made a request, Li Yuangui could no longer brush it off. A-Chen pleaded, "Your Highness, could you give this servant a new name?"
"A new name?" Why bring up something so trivial now?
"This servant's name... it's too unlucky," the boy said miserably. "How about 'A-Fu'? Or... 'A-Fei'?"
Li Yuangui stared at him, torn between laughter and another kick, when suddenly, a woman's laughter carried across the river.
The sound came in broken snatches on the wind, but it was unmistakable. Li Yuangui looked up and saw a small boat drifting downstream. As it drew nearer, he could make out two figures—a man and a woman. The man wielded a punt pole while the woman handled the oar, their boat skimming the water with effortless grace.
A-Chen immediately began shouting for help, but within moments, the boat was upon them. The tall man deftly guided it to halt precisely beside Li Yuangui's stranded vessel, the craft bobbing slightly in the current yet steady under the man's control.
The couple appeared to be seasoned boat workers in their forties, their hands and feet rough, skin weathered, dressed in coarse linen and hemp sandals, their calves bare. The woman wore a cloth headscarf and laughed heartily:
"What young masters are you, stealing a boat to play on the river? Such boldness! We saw from upstream you were in trouble—no skill, just begging for death. A shame for the boat!"
"Madam!" A-Chen hastily clasped his hands in greeting. "Heaven has sent us saviors! This is our Fourteenth Young Master, who took this servant out... for leisure, hoping to cross to the northern bank! We beg you to ferry us across. Our gratitude would be boundless!"
Even Li Yuangui, who prided himself on his dignity and seldom asked for favors, could only stiffly bow his head in humble acknowledgment. The boatwoman glanced at him and chuckled:"To be honest with your Fourteenth Young Master, my husband and I have been salvaging goods and rescuing people on this Wei River, doing business without capital, for two or three years now. This stretch of the river is the most deceptive—it looks calm and safe, but underneath are hidden currents. Every year, outsiders unfamiliar with its depths capsize, losing both cargo and lives. These past two years, there’s even been a group on the southern bank running an illegal dock—perfect for us! Only folks like us, raised by the river and skilled swimmers, can come out here when we’re short on cash, rescuing people and salvaging goods! If we save some poor wretch with nothing to repay us, well, so be it—we’ll count it as merit for the afterlife. But if it’s noble young masters like you… hehehe…"
Her gaze swept over the bundle tied to A-Chen’s chest, revealing seven or eight teeth in a grin that looked quite white against her sun-darkened face. The pack A-Chen carried had been carefully prepared before leaving Prince Wu’s residence, containing a flint, tinder, and dry rations—now likely soaked beyond use—along with several strings of cash. They’d come out to gather information, and bribes were often necessary.
Like now—Li Yuangui sighed and nodded to A-Chen. The young servant asked gloomily, "How much does madam want?"
"How much?" The boatwoman paused her oar, the clack of wood against metal drowning out the river’s murmur. "Don’t learn to value money over life at your age! My husband and I are just kind-hearted, averse to killing. Back in the lawless days over a decade ago, who’d bother rescuing anyone? My man here could knock someone out with one swing of his arms, strip them of clothes and goods, and push the body into the river to feed the fish—how many bones do you think lie at the bottom of this water?"
"That was over a decade ago," Li Yuangui retorted coldly. "As locals raised by the river, you must have land and livelihoods now, right? Bandits can kill and flee, but can you? Would you abandon your newly cultivated farmland? You take money instead of lives—is it out of Buddhist compassion, or fear of retribution from victims and the authorities?"
The boatwoman glanced at her husband and burst out laughing:
"Husband, look at this boy, spouting big words like a pro! Doesn’t he remind you of Old Wang’s second son from the military garrison?"
The man, who had been glowering silently, merely coughed and remained expressionless, his demeanor quite intimidating.
"Fine, fine," the boatwoman chuckled, turning back to Li Yuangui. "You seem like a clear-eyed young man, not so easy to fool. Have him lay out the valuables in that pack, and we’ll take half—leaving half for your Fourteenth Young Master. Two lives for half your goods—you’re not losing out!"
"Take us to the northern bank," Li Yuangui added.
"Of course! It’s much closer from here. Do you think we’re fools, going out of our way to row farther?"
I’ve grown quite capable, Li Yuangui thought to himself as he watched A-Chen untie the bundle to pay. A noble scion like me, bargaining with these rustic toughs… truly a face-saving skill.
The boatman couple were efficient and straightforward. Once paid, they beckoned the two aboard. With a push of the pole from the man, the small boat left the rocky shore and skimmed swiftly toward the northern bank.
This wooden boat was slightly larger than the one Li Yuangui had procured at the private dock, comfortably seating four with a canopy in the middle one could duck under. Li Yuangui had no intention of going under the canopy. Standing at the bow, he took a deep breath and inadvertently caught sight of the boatman’s left hand—startling him.It was a wooden prosthetic hand. The lower end was concealed within the sleeve, while the top was carved into a clenched fist shape, fitting snugly into the pole and holding it firmly. When his right hand rested on it, from a distance, one couldn’t tell it was an artificial limb at all.
This fierce-looking boatman turned out to be a one-handed amputee.
“How did… this happen?” Li Yuangui blurted out before realizing his question might be inappropriate—he had spoken too freely. The boatman merely snorted in response, ignoring him. However, the boatwoman rowing at the stern chimed in:
“You’re asking about my husband’s lucky hand? Heh, if he hadn’t been ruthless enough to cut it off back then, he wouldn’t be alive today! Of all the young men from our neighborhood conscripted for war or forced to transport provisions, barely one in ten made it back! All thanks to this lucky hand! I’ve been thinking—maybe I should have my boy’s hand cut off too?”
Li Yuangui had heard before of peasants maiming themselves to escape conscription, but he had dismissed it as hearsay. Now, seeing it firsthand, his heart churned with conflicting emotions, leaving him speechless.
“Say, Fourteenth Young Master,” the boatwoman pressed on, “the northern shore isn’t far now. Where exactly do you want to disembark? There are several piers and crossings nearby…”
“Did you happen to see two men and a woman this morning—one of them a burly man with a foreign girl wearing a veiled hat—crossing the river to the north bank?” Li Yuangui asked. “Or perhaps a day or two earlier, a foreign merchant with a Han girl crossing over?”
#####This chapter’s annotations discuss the “Equal-field System” and the “lucky hand” custom of the early Tang Dynasty. For the notes, visit the author’s Weibo. Search for the ID “Tang Dynasty Tour Guide Forest Deer” on Sina Weibo. Comments and discussions are welcome.
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