Copper Coins

Chapter 37: Theatre Troupe (II)

    The scarred man had a frightening face and looked intimidating, but was actually very kind. In fact, all of the ragtag people in his group were jovial, empathetic people. After their conversation with the scarred man, they did not seem to mind this addition at all, and actually decided to offer Xue Xian and the others a whole carriage for themselves.

    With the blizzard, it was difficult to navigate the winding paths on the mountain. Probably in order to avoid anyone getting separated, the horses were all tied together by a long rope one after the other, with the mule at the very back. 

    The scarred man bundled him up his face from the cold and, carrying a flask of hot wine, settled into the first carriage. He directed the rest of his group to take the wooden stoppers away from the carraige wheels.

    "We're off! Sit tight," he called out, and set the horses going.

    Xue Xian and the others sat in the third carriage. It was not so difficult to fit the five of them into a four-person carriage, especially because Jiang Shining was extremely thin and Twenty-Seven was still the size of a child. There was actually a decent amount of room. 

    Xuanmin did not like to chat, and, apart from Xue Xian, no one dared to disturb him. Inside the carriage, they all gave him a wide birth. As for Xue Xian...

    Stone Zhang feared Xue Xian as a mouse feared a cat. Each time Xue Xian looked at the stonemason, he felt his whole scalp turn numb, as if a terrifying roll of thunder could strike down upon him from the heavens at any point.

    So when they settled into the carriage, Stone Zhang, Twenty-Seven, and Jiang Shining all sat on one side, and left the other side for the two frightening wizards.

    Xue Xian took the black robe off of his face and sat down. He looked across from him, then looked back at where he sat. Then he grinned and said to them, "Thanks, guys."

    Stone Zhang's face scrunched up in pain and he looked away. There are three of us here. Why did he have to look straight at me?

    The scarred man and his companions were definitely well-travelled, and the animals appeared used to life on the road, too –– they only needed the scarred man at the head of the train to point them in the right direction, and each followed steadily. It was effortless.

    The carriages were also well-decorated: even the windows had thick, heavy curtains nailed over them, to block the wind.

    In the middle of the carriage was a rectangular wooden table that was just the right size: small enough for them to stretch out their legs, and large enough for them to place their belongings onto it. A small shelf had been wedged into the corner of the carriage and held a lantern that they could light at any time, as well as folded stacks of blankets –– the kind that elderly people used to drape over their legs in the winter.

    "They have everything here," Stone Zhang observed. "It seems that they travel a lot. They basically live on the road."

    Before they'd gotten on, one of the kindly old ladies had even given them a small portable heater to help warm up the carriage, as well as a small bundle, saying, "There is some food in here, and the carriage has wine. If you're cold, have some –– it'll help. We're taking two mountain roads and the snow has made them slippery, so there's no guarantee we'll get to the next town before nightfall. Don't get too hungry."

    Stone Zhang had said No, no, keep it, keep it, but had all the while taken the heater tightly into his arms, without any intention of letting it go again.

    Although the carriage was better than being outside, it was still freezing cold.

    As Stone Zhang warmed his stiff fingers with the heater, his eyes kept darting to the stack of blankets in the corner. But Jiang Shining and Twenty-Seven sat between him and the blankets, so he could not simply reach over and take them. He did not want to do anything that might cause Xue Xian and Xuanmin to remember that he existed.

    Stone Zhang's eyes swivelled around. He turned to Twenty-Seven and said, "Take one of those blankets. We can share it and put the heater between us. What do you think?"

    Twenty-Seven glanced back at him. Although disdain did not explicitly cross his face, it might as well have. "No. I'm not cold. Just use it yourself."

    Stone Zhang still wouldn't let go of the heater, so he pointed at Twenty-Seven's hands with his chin. "Look at how cold those hands are," he said. "Have you ever had an ulcer? In this kind of humid, cold weather, if you don't at least stick your hands into your sleeves, you'll get an ulcer –– and then you'll be sorry. They're swollen and itchy, and susceptible to frostbite as well. The worst is if you get one on a joint. Each time you move your finger, you crack the ulcer and the flesh squeezes out of it. You ––"

    Twenty-Seven's scowled. He grabbed a thin blanket from the pile and dropped it over both their knees. "Sir, please stop talking."

    That tone was half Twenty-Seven and half Nineteen –– as though his stubborn core were wrapped up in a skin of restraint.

    But Stone Zhang didn't pay attention to that. Delighted, he made sure the blanket was well-arranged on their legs, then slipped the heater inside. In an instant, the heater had filled the blanket with a pleasant warmth. The heat seeped into their flesh and bones and climbed up their frozen knees –– so comfortable!

    Even the angry-looking Twenty-Seven's pale face started to flush a little after a while. His finger twitched, then he gave in and reached his hands into the blanket too.

    "Ai –– there you go," Stone Zhang said. "You're much too young to be behaving in this way. There's nothing embarrassing about protecting yourself from the cold."

    Twenty-Seven turned his face away and pretended not to hear.

    "At my age, if I don't protect my knees, when I'm old, I'll be unable to walk at all." Stone Zhang loved the sound of his own voice. Ever since they'd gotten into the carriage, he had chattered away non-stop –– now that was a talent, too.

    But as soon as he said that, he felt that something was off. He lifted his head instantly met eyes with Xue "unable to walk at all" Xian. 

    Stone Zhang's mouth dropped. He shrank his neck and tried to make himself as small as he could, then stammered, "I'll... I'll shut up."

    Once he fell silent, Jiang Shining, who had not said a word, massaged his temple and began to speak. "Earlier, before we got onto the carriage, you held me back and told me not to ask anything. What did that mean? They..."

    Jiang Shining's gaze fell upon the thick curtains, beyond which were the other carriages. He lowered his voice and said, "Is there something wrong with them? Then why did we get on?"

    Stone Zhang piped up again. "They aren't bandits, are they? But they gave us the heater and food. Could they really be evil?"

    Then he slapped his own mouth. "That's my last sentence. I'll really shut up now."

    Twenty-Seven rolled his eyes. He was sick to death of the man, but he had acquired some of Nineteen's calmness, and learned to bite his tongue.

    Xue Xian began to rifle through the carriage, looking for the wine that the old woman had mentioned. As he did so, he said, "There's a taboo here, so I can't really talk about it. But I took a look earlier. The two bundles they brought into the mule carriage weren't wrapped that tightly, and some clothing fell out."

    "Oh, I saw it too," Jiang Shining said. "All patterned and colorful. Have you been to the theatre before? They looked like theatre costumes to me."

    Xue Xian found the wine flask and began to cradle it again, heating it quickly to a boil.

    "This wine really does smell good," he mumbled. Then he replied to Jiang Shining, "Why would I watch theatre? Is theatre more interesting than me?"

    Jiang Shining sighed. True. You have more drama than any troupe.

    "Can I say something?" Stone Zhang asked.

    "No one blocked your mouth and pulled out your tongue," Xue Xian snapped. "Cut the crap and say what you have to say."

    "When they were moving things into the carriage, I actually went and looked inside the mule carriage," Stone Zhang said. "This young gentleman guessed right. They had all sorts of props inside the carriage, and instruments like drums and gongs. They are performers, the travelling kind of troupe made up of all sorts of homeless people who travel everywhere. That man with the three scars on his face is probably the troupe leader. And I counted the rest of them. There are old ones and young ones, who are the huadan, laodan, xiaosheng, and zhengsheng.* And the others probably play the clown roles and the jing roles. Put together, they can do quite a big performance."

    There was no small number of theatre troupes in Anqing Prefecture. Some performed at wine halls and were able to avoid trawling through rain and snow –– they did quite well for themselves. The famous ones among them even had celebrity actors. But others had no fixed venue, and travelled far and wide setting up shows in small towns. Sometimes they'd be invited by local wine halls for a guest performance, or else they simply busked on the street. 

    "That brother told me that they were also going to Qingping County," Jiang Shining said. "But if there's a taboo, then let's not talk about it. Since you didn't stop us from getting on, then surely there's no issue in travelling together for a while. Right?"

    "As long as we don't go on roads we're not meant to go on, then it's fine," Xue Xian said. 

    He put the rumbling flask onto the wooden table.

    Surreptitiously, Stone Zhang reached for the wine. But Xuanmin, who sat directly across from him, suddenly twitched his finger, and Stone Zhang felt as though there were something invisible pressing his hands down. It struck a pressure points, and his wrists went limp. 

    "Don't drink the wine," Xuanmin said coldly, without so much as a look at the stonemason.

    "Ah?" Stunned, Stone Zhang's mind began to fill with questions. He took his hands back. He thought for a while, then glanced at the bundle of food that the old woman had given them. "So the food --"

    "Eat it. Then there'll only be four people in this carriage, and we'll all have more room," Xue Xian said.

    Stone Zhang gulped.

    Xue Xian began to fidget with discomfort.

    The hot feeling inside his body was still relentlessly roiling within him. It wasn't as bad as when he'd been a small dragon, but it was still a bother. All he could do was direct all the heat into his hand, and then find some cold object to cool his hands off. Now that he had nowhere to transfer the heat anymore, he began to feel irritable.

    Staring at the ceiling, he slipped his hand toward the wooden table and pretended to casually rest it there. In reality, he was holding the table leg.

    Soon, the train happened to cross a bumpy patch, jolting one side of the carriage. Jiang Shining and the others stumbled, and unconsciously shot out their hands to steady themselves against the table.

    "Ow!" Jiang Shining hissed, blowing onto his hands.

    Stone Zhang cried out too.

    Twenty-Seven only brusquely yanked his hand away and glared at Xue Xian. "If you keep touching the table, you're going to set the table on fire."

    Xue Xian pretended not to hear and averted his gaze, pretending to stare at the heavy curtain on the window. Then, he slowly removed his hand from the table and gripped the edge of his bench.

    Soon, Xuanmin shook his head and pinched the dragon's wrist, prying it away from their seat. "Enough. Find somewhere else."

    If he kept going, would this carriage even be fit for sitting anymore?

    Xue Xian thought for a while, then put his hands on the carriage door.

    Now the whole carriage warmed up, but the temperature quickly rose and the air became hotter and hotter.

    Wordlessly, Twenty-Seven stiffened his neck and pushed the blanket off his knees, then shoved the heater back into Stone Zhang's lap.

    As for Jiang Shining, he pushed open the curtain and surreptitiously let in a sliver of fresh air. To a rogue ghost used to the freezing cold, this temperature was absurd. He felt as though they were a group of buns in a bamboo steamer –– their skins were already cooked, and, in a short while, their filling would be ready too.

    As the carriage became increasingly stuffy, finally, it was Xuanmin who spoke up. "If it gets any hotter, there will be three extra spaces in this carriage."

    Those three buns, almost ready to be picked out of the pot, glared at Xue Xian.

    The dragon raised his eyelids. Then, in an exaggeratedly magnanimous gesture, peeled his hands away from the carriage door. He was about to reach for the lantern in the corner when Xuanmin intercepted his wrist.

    If he overheated that thin ceramic lantern, it would no doubt explode.

    Now Xue Xian made for the metal hinges on the carriage door, but Xuanmin swatted his wrist away again.

    He definitely couldn't touch the metal hinges. He'd melt them, and then they wouldn't be able to get out.

    Xue Xian had been blocked over and over again, and each time by that nefarious bald donkey. Xue Xian's temper exploded. He glowered at Xuanmin from the corner of his eye, then suddenly took out his pair of claws and stuffed them into the monk's collar. "If you block me again, I'll fucking boil you."

    Xuanmin did not reply.

    The three sitting across from them watched, stunned. None of them dared to speak –– they feared that if they made a sound, it would be their necks at stake. Quickly, they all dropped their heads and looked away.

    How were they supposed to live like this? 

    Suddenly, they heard the horses ahead whinny loudly. The scarred man made a long hu––– noise, then began to console the horses. "Shh... Shh... Don't be afraid," he coaxed.

    As the train came to an emergency stop, the horses bumped into the carriages and all began to whine.

    "Why did we stop?" Jiang Shining asked, anxious. "Are we in trouble?"

    He looked at Xue Xian and said, "What was it you were saying before? We'd be fine as long as we didn't do... something... Do you really think we'd be that unlucky?"

    Ever since Xue Xian had mysteriously warned Jiang Shining away before they'd left, he'd been consumed by panic, terrified that something might happen. But it was as they say... whatever it is you're scared of, it will happen for sure.

Chapter 37: Theatre Troupe (II)

    The scarred man had a frightening face and looked intimidating, but was actually very kind. In fact, all of the ragtag people in his group were jovial, empathetic people. After their conversation with the scarred man, they did not seem to mind this addition at all, and actually decided to offer Xue Xian and the others a whole carriage for themselves.

    With the blizzard, it was difficult to navigate the winding paths on the mountain. Probably in order to avoid anyone getting separated, the horses were all tied together by a long rope one after the other, with the mule at the very back. 

    The scarred man bundled him up his face from the cold and, carrying a flask of hot wine, settled into the first carriage. He directed the rest of his group to take the wooden stoppers away from the carraige wheels.

    "We're off! Sit tight," he called out, and set the horses going.

    Xue Xian and the others sat in the third carriage. It was not so difficult to fit the five of them into a four-person carriage, especially because Jiang Shining was extremely thin and Twenty-Seven was still the size of a child. There was actually a decent amount of room. 

    Xuanmin did not like to chat, and, apart from Xue Xian, no one dared to disturb him. Inside the carriage, they all gave him a wide birth. As for Xue Xian...

    Stone Zhang feared Xue Xian as a mouse feared a cat. Each time Xue Xian looked at the stonemason, he felt his whole scalp turn numb, as if a terrifying roll of thunder could strike down upon him from the heavens at any point.

    So when they settled into the carriage, Stone Zhang, Twenty-Seven, and Jiang Shining all sat on one side, and left the other side for the two frightening wizards.

    Xue Xian took the black robe off of his face and sat down. He looked across from him, then looked back at where he sat. Then he grinned and said to them, "Thanks, guys."

    Stone Zhang's face scrunched up in pain and he looked away. There are three of us here. Why did he have to look straight at me?

    The scarred man and his companions were definitely well-travelled, and the animals appeared used to life on the road, too –– they only needed the scarred man at the head of the train to point them in the right direction, and each followed steadily. It was effortless.

    The carriages were also well-decorated: even the windows had thick, heavy curtains nailed over them, to block the wind.

    In the middle of the carriage was a rectangular wooden table that was just the right size: small enough for them to stretch out their legs, and large enough for them to place their belongings onto it. A small shelf had been wedged into the corner of the carriage and held a lantern that they could light at any time, as well as folded stacks of blankets –– the kind that elderly people used to drape over their legs in the winter.

    "They have everything here," Stone Zhang observed. "It seems that they travel a lot. They basically live on the road."

    Before they'd gotten on, one of the kindly old ladies had even given them a small portable heater to help warm up the carriage, as well as a small bundle, saying, "There is some food in here, and the carriage has wine. If you're cold, have some –– it'll help. We're taking two mountain roads and the snow has made them slippery, so there's no guarantee we'll get to the next town before nightfall. Don't get too hungry."

    Stone Zhang had said No, no, keep it, keep it, but had all the while taken the heater tightly into his arms, without any intention of letting it go again.

    Although the carriage was better than being outside, it was still freezing cold.

    As Stone Zhang warmed his stiff fingers with the heater, his eyes kept darting to the stack of blankets in the corner. But Jiang Shining and Twenty-Seven sat between him and the blankets, so he could not simply reach over and take them. He did not want to do anything that might cause Xue Xian and Xuanmin to remember that he existed.

    Stone Zhang's eyes swivelled around. He turned to Twenty-Seven and said, "Take one of those blankets. We can share it and put the heater between us. What do you think?"

    Twenty-Seven glanced back at him. Although disdain did not explicitly cross his face, it might as well have. "No. I'm not cold. Just use it yourself."

    Stone Zhang still wouldn't let go of the heater, so he pointed at Twenty-Seven's hands with his chin. "Look at how cold those hands are," he said. "Have you ever had an ulcer? In this kind of humid, cold weather, if you don't at least stick your hands into your sleeves, you'll get an ulcer –– and then you'll be sorry. They're swollen and itchy, and susceptible to frostbite as well. The worst is if you get one on a joint. Each time you move your finger, you crack the ulcer and the flesh squeezes out of it. You ––"

    Twenty-Seven's scowled. He grabbed a thin blanket from the pile and dropped it over both their knees. "Sir, please stop talking."

    That tone was half Twenty-Seven and half Nineteen –– as though his stubborn core were wrapped up in a skin of restraint.

    But Stone Zhang didn't pay attention to that. Delighted, he made sure the blanket was well-arranged on their legs, then slipped the heater inside. In an instant, the heater had filled the blanket with a pleasant warmth. The heat seeped into their flesh and bones and climbed up their frozen knees –– so comfortable!

    Even the angry-looking Twenty-Seven's pale face started to flush a little after a while. His finger twitched, then he gave in and reached his hands into the blanket too.

    "Ai –– there you go," Stone Zhang said. "You're much too young to be behaving in this way. There's nothing embarrassing about protecting yourself from the cold."

    Twenty-Seven turned his face away and pretended not to hear.

    "At my age, if I don't protect my knees, when I'm old, I'll be unable to walk at all." Stone Zhang loved the sound of his own voice. Ever since they'd gotten into the carriage, he had chattered away non-stop –– now that was a talent, too.

    But as soon as he said that, he felt that something was off. He lifted his head instantly met eyes with Xue "unable to walk at all" Xian. 

    Stone Zhang's mouth dropped. He shrank his neck and tried to make himself as small as he could, then stammered, "I'll... I'll shut up."

    Once he fell silent, Jiang Shining, who had not said a word, massaged his temple and began to speak. "Earlier, before we got onto the carriage, you held me back and told me not to ask anything. What did that mean? They..."

    Jiang Shining's gaze fell upon the thick curtains, beyond which were the other carriages. He lowered his voice and said, "Is there something wrong with them? Then why did we get on?"

    Stone Zhang piped up again. "They aren't bandits, are they? But they gave us the heater and food. Could they really be evil?"

    Then he slapped his own mouth. "That's my last sentence. I'll really shut up now."

    Twenty-Seven rolled his eyes. He was sick to death of the man, but he had acquired some of Nineteen's calmness, and learned to bite his tongue.

    Xue Xian began to rifle through the carriage, looking for the wine that the old woman had mentioned. As he did so, he said, "There's a taboo here, so I can't really talk about it. But I took a look earlier. The two bundles they brought into the mule carriage weren't wrapped that tightly, and some clothing fell out."

    "Oh, I saw it too," Jiang Shining said. "All patterned and colorful. Have you been to the theatre before? They looked like theatre costumes to me."

    Xue Xian found the wine flask and began to cradle it again, heating it quickly to a boil.

    "This wine really does smell good," he mumbled. Then he replied to Jiang Shining, "Why would I watch theatre? Is theatre more interesting than me?"

    Jiang Shining sighed. True. You have more drama than any troupe.

    "Can I say something?" Stone Zhang asked.

    "No one blocked your mouth and pulled out your tongue," Xue Xian snapped. "Cut the crap and say what you have to say."

    "When they were moving things into the carriage, I actually went and looked inside the mule carriage," Stone Zhang said. "This young gentleman guessed right. They had all sorts of props inside the carriage, and instruments like drums and gongs. They are performers, the travelling kind of troupe made up of all sorts of homeless people who travel everywhere. That man with the three scars on his face is probably the troupe leader. And I counted the rest of them. There are old ones and young ones, who are the huadan, laodan, xiaosheng, and zhengsheng.* And the others probably play the clown roles and the jing roles. Put together, they can do quite a big performance."

    There was no small number of theatre troupes in Anqing Prefecture. Some performed at wine halls and were able to avoid trawling through rain and snow –– they did quite well for themselves. The famous ones among them even had celebrity actors. But others had no fixed venue, and travelled far and wide setting up shows in small towns. Sometimes they'd be invited by local wine halls for a guest performance, or else they simply busked on the street. 

    "That brother told me that they were also going to Qingping County," Jiang Shining said. "But if there's a taboo, then let's not talk about it. Since you didn't stop us from getting on, then surely there's no issue in travelling together for a while. Right?"

    "As long as we don't go on roads we're not meant to go on, then it's fine," Xue Xian said. 

    He put the rumbling flask onto the wooden table.

    Surreptitiously, Stone Zhang reached for the wine. But Xuanmin, who sat directly across from him, suddenly twitched his finger, and Stone Zhang felt as though there were something invisible pressing his hands down. It struck a pressure points, and his wrists went limp. 

    "Don't drink the wine," Xuanmin said coldly, without so much as a look at the stonemason.

    "Ah?" Stunned, Stone Zhang's mind began to fill with questions. He took his hands back. He thought for a while, then glanced at the bundle of food that the old woman had given them. "So the food --"

    "Eat it. Then there'll only be four people in this carriage, and we'll all have more room," Xue Xian said.

    Stone Zhang gulped.

    Xue Xian began to fidget with discomfort.

    The hot feeling inside his body was still relentlessly roiling within him. It wasn't as bad as when he'd been a small dragon, but it was still a bother. All he could do was direct all the heat into his hand, and then find some cold object to cool his hands off. Now that he had nowhere to transfer the heat anymore, he began to feel irritable.

    Staring at the ceiling, he slipped his hand toward the wooden table and pretended to casually rest it there. In reality, he was holding the table leg.

    Soon, the train happened to cross a bumpy patch, jolting one side of the carriage. Jiang Shining and the others stumbled, and unconsciously shot out their hands to steady themselves against the table.

    "Ow!" Jiang Shining hissed, blowing onto his hands.

    Stone Zhang cried out too.

    Twenty-Seven only brusquely yanked his hand away and glared at Xue Xian. "If you keep touching the table, you're going to set the table on fire."

    Xue Xian pretended not to hear and averted his gaze, pretending to stare at the heavy curtain on the window. Then, he slowly removed his hand from the table and gripped the edge of his bench.

    Soon, Xuanmin shook his head and pinched the dragon's wrist, prying it away from their seat. "Enough. Find somewhere else."

    If he kept going, would this carriage even be fit for sitting anymore?

    Xue Xian thought for a while, then put his hands on the carriage door.

    Now the whole carriage warmed up, but the temperature quickly rose and the air became hotter and hotter.

    Wordlessly, Twenty-Seven stiffened his neck and pushed the blanket off his knees, then shoved the heater back into Stone Zhang's lap.

    As for Jiang Shining, he pushed open the curtain and surreptitiously let in a sliver of fresh air. To a rogue ghost used to the freezing cold, this temperature was absurd. He felt as though they were a group of buns in a bamboo steamer –– their skins were already cooked, and, in a short while, their filling would be ready too.

    As the carriage became increasingly stuffy, finally, it was Xuanmin who spoke up. "If it gets any hotter, there will be three extra spaces in this carriage."

    Those three buns, almost ready to be picked out of the pot, glared at Xue Xian.

    The dragon raised his eyelids. Then, in an exaggeratedly magnanimous gesture, peeled his hands away from the carriage door. He was about to reach for the lantern in the corner when Xuanmin intercepted his wrist.

    If he overheated that thin ceramic lantern, it would no doubt explode.

    Now Xue Xian made for the metal hinges on the carriage door, but Xuanmin swatted his wrist away again.

    He definitely couldn't touch the metal hinges. He'd melt them, and then they wouldn't be able to get out.

    Xue Xian had been blocked over and over again, and each time by that nefarious bald donkey. Xue Xian's temper exploded. He glowered at Xuanmin from the corner of his eye, then suddenly took out his pair of claws and stuffed them into the monk's collar. "If you block me again, I'll fucking boil you."

    Xuanmin did not reply.

    The three sitting across from them watched, stunned. None of them dared to speak –– they feared that if they made a sound, it would be their necks at stake. Quickly, they all dropped their heads and looked away.

    How were they supposed to live like this? 

    Suddenly, they heard the horses ahead whinny loudly. The scarred man made a long hu––– noise, then began to console the horses. "Shh... Shh... Don't be afraid," he coaxed.

    As the train came to an emergency stop, the horses bumped into the carriages and all began to whine.

    "Why did we stop?" Jiang Shining asked, anxious. "Are we in trouble?"

    He looked at Xue Xian and said, "What was it you were saying before? We'd be fine as long as we didn't do... something... Do you really think we'd be that unlucky?"

    Ever since Xue Xian had mysteriously warned Jiang Shining away before they'd left, he'd been consumed by panic, terrified that something might happen. But it was as they say... whatever it is you're scared of, it will happen for sure.