Chapter 2: Red Ravine Valley
Suzhou was originally known as Jiuquan and its most famous product was an exquisite luminous jade vessel, which was offered annually in tributes to the Emperor. In addition, Jiuquan’s spirits were the best and intoxicating. Jiuquan’s melons and fruits were sweet and it enticed people to eat freely and to the fullest.
On the day they arrived in Suzhou, forceful and stinging water was poured from the Heavens, creating cold rainfall. Immediately, everyone sat in a circle in an inn, relishing the warmth of strong Suzhou liquor. After a day’s rest, they headed east towards Ganzhou.
Suzhou was about 400 miles away from Ganzhou. Following eastwards along the foot of the Qilian Mountains, that scenery gradually differed from the barren wilderness beyond the Great Wall. The sky was bathed in blue, white clouds unfolded and majestic mountain ranges were contrasted by the snow on the peaks that never melted all year round. In the distance, pasturelands stretched long and unbroken, undulating in textures, extended out like a scene in a portrait. Along the entire journey, everyone had become accustomed to seeing boundless yellow sands .Looking at the mountains, rivers, lakes and ponds in the distance, all had untroubled hearts and pleased spirits.
Heiquan’s relay station was a small dilapidated relay station along the road. Everyone here stopped to replenish water and provisions. Approaching Duan Jinke, Cao Dening suggested, “Ke-ge’er, it is already noon, how about we stop to take a rest here before continuing?”
Duan Jinke was watching as his jujube red-colored horse was drinking at the nearby well and nodded: “Everything will be done according to Uncle Cao’s plan.”
Were it not for the relay station villages along the way, where you can use pots to cook, everyone would subsist on dry rations instead. Most of the rations consisted of round sesame flat cakes and meat jerky, which were sold at small inns and relay stations by the wayside. A round sesame flat cake was about one or two inches thick and had been scorched on a wood charcoal fire, thick, salty and fragrant. A hole would be poked in the middle and then using a rough rope, one could string the cakes together. When eating, one could moisten and soften it with water, serving it with dried meat jerky.
Duan Jingke was born in Chang’an and born to a mother from an official’s family south of the Yangtze River. The cooks in the residence were all southerners, experts in making fine chopped meat or fish dishes as well as refreshments. This past year, while other things were not a problem, regarding food and drink, he had suffered unspeakable misery.
His biscuits had an astringent flavor and Duan Jinke took small bites, dryly chewing and swallowing the food. His young and clever manservant, Wei Lin, took out a small case from his sleeves and shook out a few dried fruits to give to Duan Jinke, “Young Master, here.”
These were purple perilla plums from the well known Cui family’s shop in Chang’an. A small case housed a small colored glass cup, each cluster sleek and lustrous like gems, the color red like rouge. The plums melted in one’s mouth and amidst the tartness, a sweet flavor was exceptionally pure. Although Duan Jinke looked to be refined and used to riches, he was not too picky about food, clothing, housing and transportation—he loved sweet and sour foods the most, probably because the furen had ate too many plums when she was pregnant—ever since Duan Jinke was young, he had tasted all kinds of exotic delicacies. He enjoyed a bowl of plums with his meal and ate to his heart’s content.
Sucking on the small plum pits in his mouth, he stood up to gaze at the unbroken chain of mountain peaks in the distance. In front of him was the South Peak of Yema and only ranges of hills covered the eyes, the ups and downs heavy while a faintly discernible mountain road snaked down the side.
In the current dynasty, Liangzhou became a military stronghold for the land west of the Yellow River. It had six assault-resisting garrisons, defended with 40,000 troops. The trading market was designated in Ganzhou which was managed by a market supervisor. The market was intended to encourage commercial trade and interactions between people of the Central Plains and diverse tribes of Western Regions. When the caravan entered Ganzhou to unload their luggage, after a journey of a thousand miles, they would finally return home.
“Hey, once we arrive in Ganzhou…” one could not tell who among the caravan brought up this topic, “Once you arrive in Ganzhou, you must eat for three days and three nights. Order a camel’s hump, a bowl of yogurt, powdery horseshoe freshwater soft-shelled turtle and snowy ox-tail. Not even immortals would trade places with us!”
“Grape wine is the best, lamb wine–let’s enjoy it to the fullest. Buy 180 jars of Chang’an wine, one cannot finish within three days and three nights.”
“Naturally it should be one’s wife in Ganzhou, it is enough to hold her and sleep for three days and three nights.”
The crowd burst into laughter.
Above, birds spread out their wings, testing their wings against the high and tapered mountain peak while below, the caravan on the road, winded into one long procession that seemed to have no start or end. The jingling of camel bells sounded as they slowly entered the mountain road.
On Yema Mountain, there were a lot of moraine stones, gravel that had been eroded by ice, snow, wind and rain year after year. The caravan crossed one jagged after another, all of which were obtrusive precipices, chaotic rock formations that towered arbitrarily.
After traveling for a few miles, a depression in the stone came into view. This was wasteland swept away by the wind, with sparse vegetation as well as deep ravines that warped and waved vertically and horizontally. The ground was littered with fragments of earth and rock, and there were many strange rocks. Some were blood red, some were yellow like curdled milk, while others had the color of ocher, deep red, deep violet and other such colors. It was as if the land itself had been forged by fire, smelted the ground, it had congealed and frozen in an instant. There were numerous holes and caves, pillars of stone which made it easier to lose one’s bearings. Due to the red ocher color of the earth and rock, locals named it Red Ravine Gully.
Wind laughed grindingly on the rock, the scraping sound heard by everyone. Listening to it made people feel vexed and on edge. Halfway through the journey, the leader of the caravan, Helian Guang, suddenly raised his eyebrows. Whipping his horse, he scuttled into the distance.
When he turned around, he made a gesture to stop the caravan from moving forward and sternly stated, “There is something fishy with the hoof prints on the ground.”
Everyone had already been a little anxious, but at this moment, they firmly grasped the wrapped cloth bundles on their bodies, frenetically inquiring, “What has happened?”
Heliang Guang kicked away the loose rocks by the side of the road and only saw a deep, crooked print on the sandy soil. It looked like the vestiges of a carriage, not knowing which path to take, had veered widely off. Looking a bit forward, there was a sheet of disarrayed hoofprints on the ground, the deep and shallow grooves incoherent. There was also a piece of clothing snagged on the edge of a strange rock not far away.
Duan Jinke observed the traces carefully, only to hear Old man Sun saying: “There are traces of carriages, hoofprints of horses and donkeys as well as human footprints.”
“There is another set of…iron-clad hoofprints.” Duan Jinke knitted his brows.
“Could it be horse-mounted bandits?”
The Yema Mountain range was a necessary commercial route in Gansu and Ganzhou. The mountain rocks in Red Ravine Valley were treacherous and the ravines warped vertically and horizontally like a maze. Up until now, there were many bandit gangs that took refuge in the mountain range, infiltrating every nook and cranny, specializing in plundering merchants who flitted across the road.
When everyone heard it was horse-mounted bandits, they became somewhat anxious, but Cao Dening was not flustered, “Don’t know if it is true or not. Everyone calm down for the time being. Not to mention there is safety and numbers, we have excellent bow and arrow skills, perhaps this is not something we are unable to deal with.”
Helian Guang and Shen Wan went to scout the road ahead and after returning on their horses, they both shook their heads, “There is a ditch in the front scattered with carriage shafts, dilapidated walls and some daily utensils. It seems like some passer-bys had been met with misfortune and were robbed. But, there seems to be no bloodstains or corpses, it seems they were reaped like wheat.”
In road terms, ‘reaping’ meant the robbers spared lives and took only goods.
“Since that is the case, let us hurry along and not delay any longer.”
As everyone rushed forward, not long after, a sudden commotion broke out behind. A person suddenly stretched out a finger and said, “That ditch….what is that? It seems like a person is lying there.”
Along the road, there was a slanting gully of grooved earth, extremely steep and dozens of meters deep. The rocks were jagged and the cliff reef was sinister-looking. The earth and stones were each scarlet red, resembling flames in the setting sun, as it contrasted against the especially frail-looking, pale figure.
“Even if it is a person, the ground is full of rocks and with such a steep cliff, I am afraid they are long dead.” Someone said, “Let’s go quickly.”
At some point, she awakened from that boundless chaos and haze of pain that dulled all sensation.
Probably due to pain, she had lost consciousness for a while. The entire person was similar to a willow catkin blown by the wind, the cotton flower soft and helpless, whirling and swaying, almost as if a breeze might shatter her entirely.
It was cold, why was it so cold? It was so cold that it seeped into her bone like ice crystals, turning her brittly thin and coldly stiff, threatening to dissolve like a melted ice cap upon contact with the earth.
Feeling dizzy without falling, her mind echoed with a low hum and she was inexplicably scared, her hands grasping weakly and trembling to grab something – anything– to hold onto.
Fingers smeared with rose balsam nectar reached out towards her and she strived to reach those beautiful fingertips. But, the distance was too far, much too far. No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to reach them.
There was nothing and she suddenly fell from the air and plummeted back into darkness. In an instant, she felt piercing and boring pain spread throughout her body, and there was an intense sound of rumbling echoing in her ears. Scorching pain poured into her chest, throat and nose, as if countless icicles were pricking into her body.
She painfully awoke from that delusional nothingness.
She vaguely thought, To be dragged and eaten by a wild wolf, would it hurt much?
After a long silence, she thought again, Of course, my appearance must be awfully unsightly right now…
After a long time, she dimly made out an illusory face and pair of pitch-black eyes. She could not remember if she had seen these two eyes before and she suspected that it was merely a figment of her imagination. She also thought, was it a ghost sent to lead her away?
Li Wei crouched beside her, his brow furrowed as he carefully felt along her soft four limbs, inch by inch.
When he pressed against her chest, she silently hissed in pain, her body feeling like it was having a large hole torn into it. Sharp and stabbing pains rushed towards her mind, the pain so severe she felt like dying. Her entire body convulsed, her throat filled with hissing sounds of blood and vital breath. It rolled as it moved upwards, spilling over her lips
Her state of mind suddenly became clear-headed: Did they come back to kidnap me? She vaguely remembered a man grabbing her shoulders, using lead-plated boots to trample on her chest, sending her tumbling.
She could not hear what the other was saying, only thinking, scholars could be killed but not disgraced.
Li Wei gently and cautiously carried her as he stood up. She had almost lost consciousness due to the pain and exerting all her strength, she lifted her head from the crook of his arm. Panting and hissing, darkness spread before her eyes. She tilted her head, straightened her neck and tenaciously bit into the arm beside her face.
Softened by the double-layered cotton padding and coarse material, her sharp canine teeth penetrated and nipped at a small piece of his skin, much like a little injured animal cub. Li Wei did not feel any pain, but was somewhat flabbergasted and knitted his brows as he stared at the person in his arms.
A face the size of his palm was covered in sand, stone and bloodstains. Those black eyebrows were tightly wrinkled and her long eyelashes were moistened with blood and dust, implying a sort of loneliness.
Salty metallic blood spurted out from the inside of her throat, and her flabby body spasmed. All the blood sprayed onto his clothes and two or three warm drops splashed onto his face.
She fell into a comatose state again.
“Still alive?” shouted the merchants.
The person in his embrace was inconceivably light and the back of her clothes had been soaked with blood, damp and sticky on his fingertips.
“Alive.”
The crowd extended their necks as they let out a murmur of relief. Huaiyuan pulled a slab of wood from the ox cart, quickly and effortlessly leaping into the deep ditch. Seeing the scene, he could not help but be startled, “There is so much blood…”
Li Wei laid the wounded person onto the slab, lightly humming as he wiped his blood-covered hands: “Broken sternum as well as knife wounds.”
They threw down coarse rope in order to drag the two people up to the path and then saw the petite stature of the wounded individual. It looked to be a youth, a young boy, wearing an unremarkable round neck garment gown from head to toe. But, because they were wrapped in a bloodstained lamb fur coat, they could not help but breathe a sigh of relief, “Hey, whose family is this little young master from, walking on this road wearing white clothes but not afraid of getting it dirty?”
“But thanks to this white outfit, it is garish and dazzling, saving a life.”
“True.”
Li Wei pulled a few strips of felt blankets to wrap around the person and asked, “Is there a brother who has medical expertise?”
There used to be a Buddhist monk in the caravan skilled in medicine, but had taken his leave at the Yumen Pass, heading towards Dunhuang. Duan Jinke was precisely ferreting out the situation and seeing no one respond, he had no alternative but to say, “I know some pharmacology, might as well take a look.”
Contrarily, he was also alarmed and only saw a frail youngster bundled up in the felt blanket, their face covered in blood and mud, making it difficult to make out the appearance, looking only about fourteen or fifteen years old.
Wei Lin helped Li Wei and Huaiyuan lift the injured into the carriage. Catching sight of blood pattering onto the wooden slab, he could not help but exclaim in surprise, “Still dripping blood.”
“First take off the clothes and look at the injury’s condition”, Duan Jinke had yet to do what he wanted to and had reached out to remove the garments near the chest before being obstructed by a hand. Li Wei hesitated for a moment, his face wearing a strange look before he uttered in a low voice, “It seems….to be a female.”
“This…” Duan Jinke’s fingertips were still lingering on the front of the clothes and he immediately retracted it when he heard the words, “It is a girl?”
Li Wei hesitatingly nodded and got up and walked a short distance saying a few words with a short and stout Hu merchant not too far away. That businessman nodded with a smile on his face, turned around and muttered for a while. Thereafter, an enchanting and graceful Hu woman alighted from the carriage, following Li Wi towards Duan Jinke.
That Hu woman’s veil was partially lifted, exposing half a snowy-white face, emerald eyes clouded with worry and eyelashes casting a shadow of sorrow. Wei Lin abruptly saw this and an interjection of surprise froze in midair. Duan Jinke slapped him on the forehead, “Go and get a basin of water.”
Li Wei knew the language of the Hu people and whispered a few words to the Hu woman. The Hu woman raised her head and looked over, her faintly cold gaze colliding with Duan Jinke’s eyes. He suddenly stepped aside as she strided over, bowing her head to enter the carriage.
After a while, the Hu woman peeked her heat out, her face somewhat ashen as she stammered out a few words.
“…It is a female.” Li Wei relayed the Hu woman’s words, “The body is still bleeding.”
A lustrous jade pendant hung on the slender neck, inside there was a blood-soaked inner clothing and cotton cloth had been bound tightly around the chest, dark red blood drenching the wrap.
Wei Lin brought over a basin of clear water and the Hu woman took out a handkerchief and dipped it in the water to wipe the blood off of the injured person’s face. She also wiped off the yellow cosmetics that had been applied on the face and underneath the handkerchief, a battered face was exposed. The complexion was as pale as paper, looking at those eyebrows, it was actually a young girl, about fifteen year olds.
TN: Lots of the main characters introduced here! I love the way the author describes landscapes, particularly in regards to the under-written/under-explored Western Regions of Asia.
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