Chapter 37: Meteor Shower
On the third day into the Moheyan Desert.
All the horses and mules had thick felt bound to their hooves to guard against the shifting sands, but even so, several animals were scorched by the searing heat. One old mule had its front leg gashed by a camelthorn. The wound became infected with the poisonous alkaline sands of the region, and by the time its owner noticed, the leg was already festering and rotten.
There were no healing salves. With no rest over several days of travel, and little water or fodder, the old mule could no longer bear the pain. Limping with its wounded leg, it walked on, crying out in agony.
The owner, knowing the mule would not make it out of the desert, had already cut off its food and water. He intended to abandon the beast. Its wound oozed pus and blood with every step, leaving behind dark, wet stains on the sand that attracted a cloud of gnats and flies. Yet the mule, almost as if it understood, followed the caravan with halting steps, never once falling behind.
Everyone in the party was already struggling with exhaustion. The mule’s endless cries pierced the stillness of day and night, grating on the nerves. Finally, the owner, eyes bloodshot and teary, drew his dagger and approached, stroking the mule’s head: “Old fellow, I’ve no choice. It’s not cruelty, I just can’t take care of you anymore. Forgive me. I’ll send you on your way.”
The old mule seemed to understand. It let out a thin, mournful cry and nuzzled the man’s palm. Then, kneeling, it bowed to him, as if begging for mercy. In this scorching heat and it hadn’t had clean water for several days, the mule couldn’t possibly cry tears, and yet two streaks of red trickled from its eyes, dropping onto the sand with faint, wet plops.
The man’s heart softened. Though he knew the mule could not be saved, he sighed and let it go. He removed its bit and left it to fate.
But the old mule, seeing everyone leaving, unwilling to part, forced itself to rise and continued to limp after the caravan. That night, it finally collapsed. Its foreleg gave out, and it crumpled onto the sand.
From behind the caravan, it cried and cried, calling out to the people who had left it behind, sharp, thin cries like a child wailing, filled with pain and pleading, tearing into the ears and hearts of those who heard it. Slowly, its voice grew fainter and fainter until at last, it was gone, scattered into the brilliance of the desert night.
The older travelers, long accustomed to such sights, only sighed. But the younger ones–hearts still tender–felt pierced to the core, ashamed by their helplessness and ruthlessness
Chun Tian had already covered her ears. Her eyes stung, and the cloth across her face was damp, clinging to her skin. She had just survived the butchery of the Turkic raid, blood spraying, bodies falling, utterly powerless to save anyone. And now, just to offer a mule a single drink of water, a handful of fodder–she couldn’t even do that. No matter how she pleaded, Li Wei refused.
Li Wei rode beside her in silence for a long time before saying softly, “These bones all around us… are of those who died of thirst. You might save them for a day, not for two. And in the end, that choice might take you with it.”
“Mm.” Chun Tian turned her face away from him.
She knew that what Li Wei said was true. Yet the endless days of torment and scorching heat in this desert, and the mule’s pitiful cries, pressed down on her chest like a heavy sand dune, so heavy she could hardly breathe. She grit her teeth and endured it for days, nearly at the edge of what she could bear.
Li Wei saw the listlessness in her eyes and couldn’t help but shake his head with a bitter smile.
He had once caught her secretly giving water to the old mule. He had seen the brief flash of panic in her eyes. She knew how precious water and food were in the desert, and that no one would approve of what she did. But this was simply a youth’s nature–soft-hearted, fragile, brimming with compassion, and never thinking of consequences.
Pack animals suffered more than people. The desert was unbearably dry, and apart from camels, mules and horses had to carry their own fodder. Their feed, compressed cakes made of beans, alfalfa, and millet, was extremely valuable. The road ahead was long, and the mule’s fate had long been sealed.
Li Wei offered no further explanation, he simply took away all her food and water skins without a word.
The caravan stopped to rest.
Kouyan Ying leapt from his horse, flung out his arms, and lay flat on the soft dune, gazing up at the sea of stars.
They had already entered the heart of the Moheyan Desert. Beneath their feet was no longer the dull gray fine sand and gravel, but sweeping dunes of ochre-yellow, twisting and undulating like waves. The group had to climb along narrow, blade-like ridges, sinking with each step, a trial of strength and stamina.
Chun Tian sat beside him, removing her face scarf and wind hood, letting the cold wind lash her cheeks without expression.
No matter how tired the body, no matter how frayed the spirit, the moment one looked up at the stars, the soul would be quietly shattered.
What in this world could rival the vastness of the sky, the boundlessness of the earth, the cruelty of time?
The blossoms of Chang’an, so dazzling in her memories, now felt small and insignificant before this endless wilderness of sand and starlight.
“Chun Tian, why are you going to Yiwu?” Kouyan Ying stretched with a lazy sigh, his pale blue eyes squinting. “You don’t see many little ladies like you out here.”
“To find an Uncle of mine.” Chun Tian replied calmly. Seeing how the starlight dusted across his face, highlighting features too beautiful for this rugged place. She was briefly dazed by the rare, striking grace of it. “Will you also become like Elder Kouyan one day, leading caravans through the desert?”
“En.” He laced his fingers behind his head. “Our Kouyan family is the living map of the Western Regions. My grandfather’s getting old and wants to pass down the trade. The elder brothers have all married and don’t want to endure the hardship–they ran off early. Only I’m left.”
With a face like yours, spending your whole life exposed to the desert sun… isn’t that a waste? Chun Tian thought silently, then asked aloud, “Are you willing?”
“I do. If I don’t do this, I’d have to farm or trade. Farming means taxes and begging heaven for good weather–working yourself to death just to eat half full. Trading means rushing around, always worrying about disasters and bandits. All things considered, guiding is easier. Just point people east or west, don’t have to lift a hand, and you make good silver.” Kouyan Ying grinned. “Always on the road, no need to marry or raise kids. Isn’t that great?”
Resting her chin in her palm, she asked, “Is it expensive to hire you? How much silver does it cost to go from Yumen Pass to Yiwu?”
He leaned over and whispered, “For this trip? Five hundred tea notes. If it’s digging for treasure or robbing graves, things that offend the spirits, then double the price.”
Chun Tian let out a soft sigh, her eyes sweeping the camp. She murmured, “Then I don’t have enough silver for him.”
“For who?” Kouyan Ying asked curiously. Glancing toward Li Wei in the distance, he chuckled cryptically. “Is Li da-ge really your cousin? I don’t hear you calling him that. He’s carrying a quiver and blade–is he your guide? Or your hired guard?”
“He…” Chun Tian faltered, unsure how to define her relationship with Li Wei. She finally said, “He’s… a very good person. He saved my life. I owe him a great debt.”
“He treats you really well, looks after you in every way.” Kouyan Ying tapped his chin, his eyebrows curved. “And he’s very good-looking.”
“Is he?” Chun Tian turned her head, following his gaze toward Li Wei. He was speaking with Huang Sanding and Guo Pan, his expression calm and distant.
Kouyan Ying sat up in the sand, clearly intrigued, eyes gleaming. “Like meat in the pot, smells good, probably tastes better. Is Li da-ge married?”
“He married young. Has a wife and a child.”
“Shame.” Kouyan Ying flopped back down, disappointed. “Already has a family, huh.”
Chun Tian froze, casting an uneasy glance at Kouyan Ying. The strange glint in this boy’s eyes unsettled her.
The Milky Way hung like a jade ribbon in the sky; the nebulous stars, like silk shawls draped over a girl’s shoulders. The caravan rested atop the dunes–dusty, weather-beaten, worn by the road. Stars clung densely to their shoulders, and streaks of meteors slashed across the sky, falling in waves and clusters.
“Evil stars,” Huang Sanding muttered as he sat up, pointing to where the meteors faded. “There’s trouble ahead in this world.”
The Hu merchants, long accustomed to desert travel, found such sights unremarkable. “Meteor showers are common in the desert,” one said casually. “With luck, you might even find a fallen meteorite on the road, take it to the market, and you can trade it for a tidy sum.”
“Is that so?” Huang Sanding responded with surprise. “Then I must be terribly ignorant.”
“It’s true,” the merchant replied. “Meteorites are dark as iron, but heavier than iron. Even one the size of a fist is too heavy to lift with ease. Jewelers pay good money for them, and if you present one to an official as a rare treasure, you might even be rewarded.”
“Now that’s a fine trade–high reward, no investment.” Huang Sanding chuckled. “A perfect business for someone as lazy as me.”
“The desert stretches for a thousand miles,” the merchant said slowly. “To find even one meteorite requires luck. Such chances don’t come to just anyone. In fact, it’s not just meteorites–wealth, marriage, fortune… all of it depends on fate.”
He paused, then added, “You ever hear the story about a poor farming family out in Xizhou? At their doorstep, there was this black stone, been there since their grandfather’s time, when they built the house. It was just a rock picked up outside the walls, used as a threshold stone. Over the years, they stepped on it day in and day out, worn it smooth and battered. One day, a traveling peddler came by, thirsty for water. He stood beneath their eaves and happened to notice that stone. Paid a few copper coins to take it away.”
“Well now, a year later, a wealthy man suddenly appeared in the city of Xizhou. Around the same time, trouble came upon that poor family, they had committed a crime–they were selling off their sons and daughters. The child traffickers sent a few of their kids to that very rich man’s household. Now guess what happened next?”
The Hu merchant stretched his legs with a teasing smile.
Beside Huang Sanding, the usually reticent Guo Pan spoke up calmly, “Let me guess, the rich man was the same peddler. He recognized the children, and the family realized who he was. That stone must’ve been no ordinary rock–it was a treasure, wasn’t it?”
The merchant gave him a thumbs-up. “Exactly right. That threshold stone turned out to be a piece of flawless jade. The peddler recognized its worth, sold it for tens of thousands of strings of cash, bought property, land, and shops, and became a man of standing. When the farming family learned of his rise, they realized that worthless rock at their doorstep had been a treasure all along. Consumed by regret, they demanded he return the wealth, but he refused. The farmer was so angry that he went to the yamen to seek justice from the County Magistrate. Since both parties had agreed to the original trade, the magistrate only awarded a paltry few dozen taels in compensation. The very next day, the entire family was found hanging beneath their own eaves.”
“Tragic,” someone muttered.“A stone they stepped on for decades, only to learn it was priceless jade all along. How could they not hate themselves for being so blind?”
Guo Pan spoke slowly, “But isn’t the most infuriating part that it was the peddler who profited? If the jade had ended up in the hands of some noble, and they’d rewarded a few dozen taels of silver, it would’ve been enough to feed the family for years, at least the farmers could’ve felt content. The real injustice is that both started off as poor men, so why should one get to rise to fortune overnight while the other is left to struggle in the mud, to wallow in the mire?”
Chun Tian and Kouyan Ying listened to the conversation in silence, their gazes drifting toward the falling stars. A gust of chill wind made Kouyan Ying shiver. He shook his head and muttered, “How can a place this wretched have skies that look so beautiful?”
After a short rest, the group resumed their journey–they had to reach a stony stretch with shade before sunrise to rest through the heat of the day.
Blue shadows were already beginning to form beneath Chun Tian’s eyes. Traveling through the nights was exhausting, and though the desert’s winds were so cold that they had to wrap themselves in felt blankets, once the sun rose, the heat turned the world into a steamer. Sleep was shallow and fleeting as they tossed and turned, finding it difficult to rest.
Li Wei often marveled at her endurance. Even when she swayed in the saddle, teetering on the verge of collapse, she never once complained of pain or exhaustion. And time and again, he questioned himself, what possessed him back at Yumen Pass to agree to take her with him?
As the dawn skies began to glow with streaks of rose and gold, the travelers finally spotted a stony patch of land littered with jagged rocks. They drove their horses forward, relieved to find tufts of coarse grass underfoot, enough to feed the animals. The camels and mules were released to graze. The sand dunes were still a little cool at this time and the merchants, grateful for the reprieve, promptly fell asleep wherever they could find ground.
Chun Tian also found a sheltered patch of shade and laid down her felt blanket, but her steps faltered at the sight of a scorpion crawling slowly beneath the rocks.
The desert insects were especially large and fierce. She had grown used to black ants and spiders, but no matter how often she saw them, the sight of those double-clawed scorpions still made her scalp prickle.
Li Wei noticed her standing still and came over. He glanced beneath the rock and saw a black scorpion retreating into its hole, its tail curling lazily.
She lowered her gaze, saying nothing.
He set his quiver down on the ground. “It’s a desert scorpion. Not poisonous. Besides, they’re nocturnal, they stay hidden in the day and won’t come wandering.”
Leaning against the wind-shaped stone, he patted the felt blanket beside him. “I’ll keep watch. Go on and sleep. The heat will come soon enough.”
“All right.” Chun Tian gave a small nod. After traveling through the night, her eyes were sore and stinging; she lay down, using her wind hood as a makeshift pillow, and drifted into sleep.
She didn’t know how long she had slept. When she awoke, her whole body felt heavy, her throat parched, her stomach empty. The sun was already high in the sky, and a few wisps of white cloud were being tugged eastward by the wind.
She turned her head and saw Li Wei dozing against the stone wall. His expression was quiet and composed. A few strands of messy hair hung down beside his cheek, the shadow of stubble beneath his jaw faintly visible. His clothes were worn and dusty, the marks of hardship written across his whole person.
He must be exhausted too.
If not for her, he should have been back in Ganzhou by now, keeping company with Changliu and enjoying the warmth of a father and son reunited.
The journey across the Moheyan Desert was brutally difficult, but if it meant reaching Yiwu a few days sooner, then it was worth it.
She looked away. All around was still and quiet. The Hu merchants remained asleep, and not far off, the pack animals were resting in the shade, lying on their sides. She let out a silent breath.
To make travel easier, she had dressed in men’s clothes this entire journey. Her hair had been tied up simply into a smooth knot at the crown of her head, fastened with no ornaments, only a length of cord.
Now, seeing everyone fast asleep, Chun Tian knelt on her felt blanket with her back to Li Wei. She reached up and loosened her topknot, letting down the length of her hair. With a small comb, she began to quietly smooth through the half-long strands.
Since passing Yumen, there had been little chance to wash or groom. Her thick black hair had long become dusty, tangled, and dry. She pulled from her sleeve the dagger her father had left her. After holding it for a moment, rubbing at the dagger, she measured a length of hair between her fingers and, with a swift motion, sliced off several inches, leaving only enough to tie into a short knot at her shoulders, her hair now at shoulder length.
Her posture was graceful, her spine straight as a blade, like a woman dressing before a mirror. Once she finished tidying her hair, she gathered the cut strands from the blanket into her hands, tied them into a bundle, and dug a small pit in the sand to bury them.
After she was done, she turned to put her wind hood back on, only to catch a glimpse of Li Wei, already awake. His long legs were drawn up as he leaned back, a wine pouch resting casually on his knee. His pitch-dark eyes were clear and steady as they gazed at her.
Just one look. The briefest of moments, like lightning in the dark, and they both quickly averted their eyes.
Chun Tian’s cheeks flushed with warmth. She bit her lip and murmured like a mosquito, “Da-ye.”
He handed her a water pouch and some dried meat. “Eat a little something. You haven’t eaten enough these past two days. You need to build up your strength, or your body will wear out.”
She took the food in both hands, placed it on her lap, and bowed her head in silence.
These past two days, the two of them had grown distant.
Li Wei rose, brushed the sand from his clothing, adjusted his bracers, and slung his quiver over his back. Just as he turned to go tend to the horses, his eyes caught Chun Tian sitting there, head down, fidgeting endlessly with the corner of her robe.
He paused, turned, and crouched before her. “What’s wrong?”
Chun Tian lifted her gaze for a fleeting moment, then quickly looked away and shook her head.
Li Wei studied her for a moment. “Are you feeling unwell?”
She shook her head again. Her pearly teeth biting into her soft lips, soft and pale. “No.”
He thought she looked a little bashful and, puzzled, asked gently, “Do you need to relieve yourself?”
Her face turned scarlet in an instant. Her ears flushed pink, and she pouted in exasperation. “No!”
“Then what is it?” His tone was that of coaxing a child.
She frowned slightly, lips pressed together. A small whirl of tension appeared at the corner of her mouth. Beads of sweat shimmered at her temples. At last, she murmured, “Li Wei, I’m sorry.”
He raised his brows. A flicker passed through his dark gaze, and a soft smile touched his lips. “So bold. What did you used to call me?”
Chun Tian grew uneasy. Her voice came out muffled. “Don’t be mad, Li Wei.”
Li Wei had planned carefully, between the two of them, they had more than enough food and water to cross the Moheyan Desert. But after Chun Tian gave part of her own share to the wounded mule, she had begun rationing her own portions to make up for it. Li Wei had not allowed this, in fact, he’d forced her to eat more than usual.
He had never been harsh, but the steady pressure of his gaze was inescapable. In the calm depths of those dark eyes, there was an unspoken force that made it impossible to defy him.
Under that gaze, Chun Tian felt utterly laid bare.
“It’s me who’s made things too hard for you.” He looked at her wan face, she resembled a fish left out of water, and let out a quiet sigh. “I’m not angry. I know it’s been difficult. The longer one walks through the Moheyan Desert, the more it breaks the spirit. Even men struggle to endure it, let alone someone like you.”
She hugged her knees. Though she knew full well how long the journey would be, she still couldn’t help asking, “How much farther do we have to go?”
“Another two or three days to Wild Horse Spring. There’s a lush oasis there, with cool, clear water. We’ll rest for a day or two when we arrive. After that, it’s three more days across the desert, and beyond that, you’ll see grazing lands. That’s the border of Yiwu, you’ll see people again.”
Her lips parted slightly, and she let out a slow breath. She nodded.
Li Wei sat beside her and handed her the wine pouch. “The desert road is bitter. Want a sip of wine?”
His wine pouch was small and worn, the color of aged stone blue. It was clearly an old possession, and ever since they left Yumen Pass, Chun Tian had often seen him take discreet sips.
She had tasted fruit wine at home before–mild, slightly tart and sweet. After a moment’s hesitation, she accepted the pouch, cupped her hand, and poured a few drops into her palm. Carefully, she raised it to her lips.
A strong scent rose to meet her nose, rich and fiery. The wine was slightly cloudy. She furrowed her brows and took a cautious sniff. Trembling slightly, she extended her tender, pink and smooth little tongue, brushed it against the liquid pooled in her palm, tasting carefully. She only felt a slight spiciness. She then sucked remaining drops in one quick motion. At once, the searing heat of the liquor surged across her tongue and burned down her throat like fire.
She choked a little on the fumes, her eyes welling up. She looked at Li Wei through the haze of tears. He took back the pouch, sipped from it himself, Adam’s apple shifting with the swallow, and said lightly, “That was my fault. I forgot how strong this wine is, it’s not something you should be drinking.”
TN: Hi everyone!! Some of this chapter is quite poetic and philosophical, it gets you thinking about life in a way, which is quite interesting~
Announcement: We have set up a kofi and patreon account! If you would like to support us or get early access to advance chapters to my current works (TMD and Spring Tree North fo teh Wei River), those options are available for you (in support us page)! I have just added a patreon tier for Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examinations in which patreons can have access to a google document with ALL of my advanced translated chapters for the novel. Since I am a grad student, there should usually be at least 10 advance chapters in the document at a time, but depending on my schedules, there may be fewer or more. I’m currently extremely busy, but I have translated out some new chapters for you all! But, I will still post each week with the same schedule. Thanks!
Twin Dragons Translations 