The Art of Destiny by Wesley Chu

Author:Wesley Chu [Chu, Wesley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2023-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

BAD TROUBLE

It took most of the night to bail Master Soa Sohn out of the magistrate’s holding cell. The only way they were even able to free the eternal bright light master at all was because it seemed Brother Lao’s favor was actually worth something. That, and the two boys had to make a special trip to the money lender to get a new pay marker and increase Taishi’s—or Nai Roha’s, in this case—limits.

They finally released Sohn just as the King’s first rays were piercing the forest canopy. Both Jian and Kaiyu were exhausted. Jian, particularly, was dead on his feet. The previous night’s excitement and then the stress from worrying about Taishi’s wrath had spent him physically as well as emotionally. There was no way he could keep this trip hidden from Taishi. He was fairly certain she was going to skin everyone involved. Well, except for Kaiyu. Everyone loved that kid.

“Thanks for bailing me out of jail. I don’t know about you boys, but I’m beat.” The man did not sound remorseful. “I take it the marker’s no good now.”

“I might have to cancel some of my order,” Jian admitted. He had already decided to cut the alcohol order in half but didn’t feel like arguing about it.

“When will everything be ready?”

“Tonight.” Jian yawned. “It depends on whether the blacksmith can get to the pots by then.”

The yawn became contagious. Sohn stretched. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find a nice bed of moss and some shade under a tree. Get me when you’re ready to go.”

“We have a bed at the teahouse,” said Kaiyu.

“I would rather sleep in jail,” Sohn called back.

“How do we find you?” asked Jian.

Sohn didn’t look back as he walked away. “I’ll find you, somehow.”

“So we just wait around for you to come?” Jian threw his arms up when he didn’t get an answer. “He can reach us, but we can’t reach him?”

“You told me yesterday you thought he was misunderstood,” said Kaiyu.

Jian sighed. “That was before he gambled away all of Taishi’s coin, incited a riot, got arrested, and then left without even saying thanks.” Jian raised his voice and shook his fist. “You could have at least helped load all the booze you’re going to drink!”

“It’s going to be a big load, isn’t it?” asked Kaiyu.

“At least four trips from the houseboat to the temple,” said Jian.

“It’ll be good conditioning.” Kaiyu had an uncanny ability to see the good in every situation.

The two returned to the teahouse. The shop had not opened yet, so they circled around to the back. It took Jian four tries knocking on the door before someone answered. He had mixed up the knock sequence, first knocking three-one-two, then three-two-one, then finally the correct two-one-three, except he became so annoyed, there wasn’t a long enough beat between his two and one.

This time, the teahouse apprentice was a young man. At this point, Jian wasn’t taking the bait. “Hello again.

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