The first days at the hut after the small accumulating *coming-back* went by, by the small specific reading at the past three days, at the small accumulating *settling* shape of a household whose accumulating *six brothers* had been gone from the hut for one year and seven months and whose accumulating *six veterans* had not, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two years, ever been at the master's hut at all.
The six veterans laid in slowly.
Yan Shaozhong — at the small accumulating *senior veteran* position — bowed at the master at the morning of the first day's accumulating fire-lighting. He said in the small low voice: *master. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past year's accumulating *forty*'s accumulating engagements — the small accumulating *moment*-teaching the lad has been laying has been the small accumulating *Wagang technique* the rebellion needed. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the six veterans are at the small accumulating *receiving* of the master's accumulating teaching for as long as the master's accumulating reading allows.*
Lao Wen — at the small wooden stool — looked at Yan Shaozhong for a long beat.
He nodded.
He said in the small low voice: *brother. By the small specific accumulating reading at this morning — the master accepts. The small accumulating *moment*-teaching will be at the small accumulating *full reading* at every noon at the small clear ground.*
The six veterans accepted.
By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three days, the master's hut had — by the small accumulating *re-arrangement* — taken in the small accumulating *six new mats* the lame brother had laid at the small accumulating *new lean-to's accumulating eastern clear ground*. The six veterans slept at the lean-to. The six brothers slept at the hut's small low pad at the western wall, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past six and a half years' arrangement.
The master held the cot at the eastern wall.
By the dusk of the third day, the master at the small wooden stool said to Heizi in the small low voice: *lad. By the small specific reading at this dusk — the small accumulating *come-back* is, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, what the small specific accumulating *coming year* will require.*
He paused.
"By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months at the southern fold's accumulating peddler-saying — there is, at the small accumulating *new* arrangement of the small accumulating Yang Yichen's accumulating Sui southern command, a small accumulating *recognized* old militia officer's name on the small accumulating *Sui-court ledger of accumulating recognized rebels-in-hiding*. The name is — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small accumulating *Wén Déxiū*. The Sui has — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — finally laid the name."
Heizi looked at him.
Lao Wen looked at the small wooden bench.
He said: *lad. The small accumulating *Wén Déxiū* is, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, the master's accumulating real name. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the master has not, in the past nineteen years and four months at this hut, allowed the small accumulating real name at any small specific accumulating saying or any small specific accumulating writing. By the small specific accumulating reading at the past three months — the Sui has, by some small specific accumulating reading of an old comrade's accumulating saying or an accumulating peddler's accumulating saying or an accumulating *informant's accumulating saying* I do not, by the small specific reading I am giving, know — laid the name.*
He paused.
"By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the master will not give the lad the name at this dusk. The master will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the small specific accumulating *some unfound moment* of the next year, give it. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the small accumulating *some unfound moment* will be at the small specific accumulating *moment of the engagement that ends the master's accumulating quiet*."
He paused once more.
"The lad has, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, laid the small accumulating *Wén Déxiū* in his head. The lad will, by the small specific reading I am giving, recognize it when he hears it again."
Heizi nodded.
He filed it.
He laid the small accumulating *Wén Déxiū* at the small accumulating *staff-officer's small interior register*, beside the small accumulating *master's accumulating no-real-name* he had been keeping for six and a half years.
The name was, at this dusk, in his head.
He did not — at the small wooden bench — write it down.
He did not — at the small wooden bench — speak it aloud.
He filed.
That night Heizi at his watch sat at the small banked fire of the *staff-officer's* small specific accumulating new position at the small clear ground in front of the south face of the hut.
He listened.
The shape of the silence on this watch was — by the small specific reading at this evening — the shape of a small old hut at the grove of twelve pines whose accumulating *seven brothers + master + six veterans* had — at the small specific reading at the third day's coming-back — laid in the small accumulating *real* arrangement of the small accumulating *coming-year*'s accumulating *come-back* of the small accumulating *Wén Déxiū*'s accumulating *recognized* by the small accumulating Sui.
He filed it.
By the small specific accumulating reading at the next two months at the hut, the small accumulating *moment*-teaching laid in for the six veterans. By the small specific reading at the dusk of the first day of the second moon of the thirteenth year, the six veterans were — by the small specific accumulating reading at Lao Wen's accumulating eye — at the small accumulating *four-of-six* against a Sui-veteran-shape. The six veterans had — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two months — laid in the small accumulating *quarter-circle* and the small accumulating *cut at the recovery* at perhaps a small accumulating apprentice's first month of receiving.
By the small specific accumulating reading at the dusk of the first day of the second moon, a peddler came up the path.
He carried a small accumulating *bundle* the boy An Ashi had been waiting for since the first month of the eleventh year.
The bundle was — by the small specific reading at the seal — from the boy's accumulating *western-contact*.
The boy opened it at the small wooden bench.
Inside was — by the small specific accumulating reading at the small folded paper at the bundle's outer wrap — a small carved wooden fox.
The fox was perhaps the size of a child's two fists set together. It was — by the small specific accumulating reading at the boy's eye on it — the same small wooden fox the boy's accumulating younger brother had been at since his accumulating eighth year.
The boy laid it on the small wooden bench.
He did not — at the small wooden bench — speak.
He held the small fox in his small thin hands for a long beat.
He laid one finger, very gently, at the small accumulating *eye* of the fox — the small accumulating black charcoal-eye that the small accumulating Samarqand merchant had laid at the third stall of the market all those years ago.
He nodded, very small.
He said in the small low voice: *big brother. The fox is home.*
Heizi laid one hand once on the boy's shoulder.
He said in the small low voice: *boy. By the small specific reading I am giving — the small accumulating fox is at the small accumulating master's altar, beside the master's accumulating three names and the small accumulating carved horse, by the small specific reading I am giving — yours to lay.*
The boy nodded.
He took the small fox to the small low altar at the back of the master's hut.
He laid it, very gently, at the small flat plate beside the small wooden tablet with the three names of the master's wife and two sons, and the small carved horse with the dark ribbon Tie-zhu had laid there at the past sixth year.
He bowed once.
He said in the small low voice: *brother. The fox is at the master's altar.*
He stepped back.
He came to the small fire.
Heizi laid one hand once on his shoulder, again.
He filed it.
In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the small specific dusk of the *Wén Déxiū* filing, he set: *the small specific dusk of the first day of the second moon of the thirteenth year, when the small accumulating *fox* of the boy's accumulating brother came home.*
The lighter catalog stood at perhaps eighty-three items.
The dark catalog stood at twenty-two named names plus the *unnamed thousand*.
That night Heizi at his watch sat at the small banked fire.
He listened.
The shape of the silence on this watch was — by the small specific reading at this evening — the shape of a small old hut at the grove of twelve pines whose accumulating *small house's full count* had, at the past three days, become — by the small specific accumulating reading at the small accumulating *six brothers + master + six veterans + the small accumulating fox at the altar* — at the small accumulating *thirteen-and-one* shape.
He filed it.
He sat his watch through.
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