71: The Third Winter

The third winter at the hut went on, by the small specific accumulating reading at the small wooden table and the small clear ground, at the small specific careful pace of an old officer's careful arithmetic.

Heizi, at the morning's small reading, advanced from a hundred and fifty radicals to two hundred and ten of the two hundred and fourteen by the third moon of the third year. By the dusk of the third moon, Lao Wen — at the small wooden table — laid down the last four radicals. The small specific full set was, at this dusk, in Heizi's head.

The small specific guessing-method, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past year's reading of the *Analects* and the *Daxue*, had become — by the small specific reading at this dusk — Heizi's small specific accumulating instinctive reading. He could read, by the small specific accumulating reading at any new character he had not seen, at the small specific eight-out-of-ten correctness of an apprentice's third year.

By the small specific reading at the dusk of the fourth moon, Heizi had begun the *Mencius*.

By the small specific reading at the dusk of the third year of the eighth moon, he had finished the first chapter.

The smith's son had, by the small specific reading at the small slates that Lao Wen had — at the second day of the eighth moon of the third year — laid out for the four young men's monthly review, advanced to perhaps two hundred and forty characters. He had not, by his own small specific quiet decision, gone past the small specific minimum the household required. The lame brother, by the same small specific monthly review, had advanced to perhaps three hundred. The lame boy had — at the small specific accumulating reading of the past year's small specific work at the small wooden tablets at his bench — found that the small specific careful reading of characters, by the small specific way of his hands' joinery, was a small specific work he could give a small specific portion of his evenings to without disrupting the small specific accumulating making of the household's small specific accumulating wooden inventory.

An Ashi, by the small specific reading at the same monthly review, was at perhaps fifteen hundred characters. He had — by the small specific reading at the past year and a half — overlaid the radical method on his merchant eighty entirely, and was now at the small specific accumulating reading of any small specific magistracy memorial Lao Wen could lay out from the small wooden chest.

By the small specific reading at the dusk of the third year, the household's reading was — by the small specific way Lao Wen had laid in the third moon — at the small specific shape of a small five-man unit's small specific reading.

The small specific *moment*'s teaching, at the small clear ground at every noon of the third winter, advanced. By the small specific reading at the dusk of the third year of the fifth moon, Heizi at the *cut at the recovery* was at five of ten on certain days, and at four of ten on most. The smith's son at the *quarter-circle* was at four of ten on certain days. The boy, at the small specific accumulating Sogdian variant, had begun — by the small specific reading at Lao Wen's eye — to lay in a small specific second instrument of his own design, a small specific *circle-and-thrust* that the boy had — at the small specific evenings of the second moon — drawn on a small piece of pine bark for Lao Wen's small specific approval. Lao Wen had looked at the drawing for a long beat. He had said: *boy. The small specific instrument is — by the small specific reading at your father's saying — the small specific old western-country saber's careful work, in the small specific shape your grandfather perhaps taught your father. We will, at the spring of the third year, lay it in the household's small specific accumulating reading.*

The boy had nodded.

The lame brother, at the small specific defensive holding-place at the corner against the south face, had — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past year — taken the small specific *quarter-circle* in his own adapted version at perhaps three of ten on certain days. The lame brother's small specific defensive holding-place was, by the small specific reading at Lao Wen's eye, at the small specific shape of a small specific *holding* that — by the small specific reading at any small specific accumulating attacker's small specific reach — would, at the small specific instant, give the smith's son and the big brother and the boy the small specific time they needed to flank.

The household's small specific second formation was, by the small specific reading at the dusk of the third year of the fifth moon, at the small specific shape of a small five-man unit's small specific second formation. By the small specific reading at the next two years, by Lao Wen's small specific saying at the small wooden table, the household would be at the small specific third formation.

In the same third winter, the lame brother — by the small specific reading at his small specific accumulating watching at the eye-station — reported, at certain dusks of the eighth and ninth and tenth moons of the third year, three small specific cooking-fire smokes at the lower contour at small specific separate quadrants. Each of the three small specific smokes was at the small specific reading of perhaps four to six men. The lame brother, by the small specific reading at his small specific accumulating tracking, gave them small specific names of his own at the small slab — *the small four-band of the eastern contour;* *the small six-band of the southern fold;* *the small five-band of the northern bend.* The household, by the small specific reading at An Ashi's small slab arithmetic, was at the small specific reading that the small specific bandit-population of the lower contour had, in the past year, increased by perhaps a factor of three.

None of the three small specific bands had — by the small specific reading at the past three winters — come up the western face.

By the small specific reading at the noon of the first day of the fourth year of the second moon, Lao Wen — at the small wooden table after the morning's reading — laid out a small new piece of paper.

He said in the small low voice: *lad. By the small specific reading at the past four years' accumulating peddler-traffic, by the small specific reading at the lame brother's small specific accumulating tracking, by the small specific reading at the master's old officer's accumulating arithmetic — the small specific failure of the Da-ye reign is — by the small specific reading at this noon — perhaps two and a half years ahead.*

He paused.

"Two and a half. By my small specific saying at the third winter — the failure had been four. By the small specific reading at the past year's accumulating accelerating bandit-traffic and the small specific reading of the peddler at the eighth moon of the third year — two and a half."

Heizi looked at him.

He filed it.

That spring, by the small specific reading at the small clear ground, the household — at the small specific reading of an old officer at sixty-one — added a small new instrument to its small specific accumulating shape.

Lao Wen, at the morning of the third moon of the fourth year, took down from the small wooden corner-shelf a small specific small wooden box Heizi had not, in the past three years, seen at the shelf. He set the box on the small wooden table.

He opened it.

Inside the box were a small specific set of old papers — perhaps thirty small folded sheets, small specific accumulating writings of an old militia officer's accumulating reading, that Lao Wen had — at the small specific reading at the past nineteen winters at the hut — been keeping for an unfound year.

The unfound year was found.

Lao Wen took out the first folded sheet. He laid it on the small wooden table. He unfolded it.

The sheet was — by the small specific reading at Heizi's eye on the small thin even strokes — a small specific letter. Lao Wen had written it himself, at some specific year of the past nineteen winters. The small specific letter was perhaps two hundred characters.

It was — by the small specific reading at the small specific accumulating reading of an old scholar's small specific small careful writing — a letter to a man Lao Wen had, in the past nineteen winters, never sent it to.

The letter was addressed to Old Zhang.

Lao Wen, at the small wooden table, said in the small low voice: *lad. By the small specific reading at this morning, the small specific accumulating shape of the next two and a half years is — by the small specific reading of an old officer's careful saying — at the small specific point at which the small specific letters of the small old comrades' small specific old ledger should, perhaps, begin to be written.*

He paused.

"I will, in the next two and a half years, write — by the small specific reading at the small specific accumulating thirty papers I have at this small wooden chest — to the four old comrades and to the unnamed fifth's family at his old village, against the small specific event of the small specific failure. The lad will, in the small specific accumulating reading of the next two and a half years, learn — by the small specific reading of the master's careful writing on these papers — the small specific shape of an old scholar's small specific letter."

He paused once more.

"And lad — by the small specific reading I am giving — the lad will, in the next two and a half years, also write."

He looked at Heizi.

"To Old Zhang. To Old Cui at the village. To Wei Da-niang at the hamlet of two wells. To Lan-gu, perhaps, if the lame brother's small specific reading of his own promise allows. To the boy's younger brother at whatever Liangzhou market the country has put him at — even if the small specific letter is, by the small specific reading, never sent. The small specific writing-of-letters is — by the small specific old reading of an old scholar — the small specific accumulating work of a small specific household at the small specific approach of a small specific failure. The household will — by the small specific reading I am giving — write."

Heizi looked at him.

He nodded.

He said in the small low voice: *yes, master.*

That afternoon, at the small wooden table, Heizi laid out the small specific first letter of his own writing in the small specific way of an old scholar.

He laid it on the small folded paper Lao Wen gave him.

He laid it slowly.

The letter was perhaps a hundred and twenty characters. It was addressed to his foster father at the village in southern Hebei.

It said, in the small specific even strokes:

*Father. The lad has been at the upper hills of Henan for three years and four months at an old scholar's hut. The brothers — Wang Er, Tie-zhu, and a Sogdian boy named An Ashi we found in a snow gully — are with me. The fourth brother — Ah Si, the small one — died at the burning of the hamlet of two wells in the seventh moon of the year of departure. He was twelve. He killed for a girl. The teacher at this hut is a man called Lao Wen. He says he was at the watch with you in Wen-di seventeen. He says you would know him. The lad has, by the past two years' work, become a young man whose hand the country may, in the small specific accumulating reading of the next two years, need. The teacher says the small specific failure is two and a half years ahead. The lad will, by the small specific reading at the small specific failure, perhaps come down to the lower country with the brothers. The lad has not, since the road, forgotten you. The lad has not forgotten Mei-er. The* 生 *on the silk is what carries the lad. The teacher is well. The teacher is sixty-one. The lad will, by the small specific reading I am giving in this letter, find a way to send this letter to you in some small specific accident of the country. The lad does not know whether the letter will reach you. The lad writes anyway.*

He laid the small folded letter at the corner of the small wooden table.

He looked at it for a long beat.

Lao Wen, at the small wooden stool, did not speak.

He took up his own small folded letter and read it slowly to the small fire's quiet of the afternoon.

By the dusk of the day, Heizi had — by the small specific reading at the past three years' accumulating reading and the past three months' accumulating *moment*-teaching and the small specific noon yesterday's small specific writing of his first letter — entered, by the small specific accumulating arrangement of the country, the fourth year of his apprenticeship to an old militia officer at a hut at the grove of twelve pines in the upper hills of Henan.

He filed it.

The lighter catalog stood, at this dusk, at perhaps thirty-two items.

The dark catalog stood at six names.

The work, in the small unhurried way, went on.