78: The Eighth Winter

The eighth 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 *practicing*-arithmetic.

By the small specific reading at the dusk of the first day of the twelfth moon of the eighth year, Heizi was at the small specific reading of perhaps thirty-eight hundred characters. He had — by the small specific reading at the past two months' accumulating reading at the *Han Shu* selections — begun to read at the small specific accumulating speed of an old scholar's small specific careful reading; he could, at the small specific moments of the small evenings at the small wooden table, read a small specific paragraph of perhaps fifty characters in the small specific accumulating time it had once taken him to read three.

Lao Wen, at the small wooden stool, said in the small low voice at the dusk of that day: *lad. By the small specific reading at the past month's reading-pace — the lad has, by the small specific accumulating reading at six years' work, become — by the small specific reading I am giving — at the small specific accumulating reading of an old scholar's small specific *real* reading. The lad will, by the small specific reading at the next year, be at the small specific accumulating shape of a young man whose hand and whose eye and whose voice the country will need.*

He paused.

"And lad."

"Yes, master."

"By the small specific reading I am giving at this dusk — the lad will, in the small specific accumulating reading at the next moons, begin to write, at the small wooden table at the long evenings, a small specific *piece*."

"A piece?"

"A small specific piece. By the small specific accumulating reading at the *Mencius* and the *Daxue* and the *Han Shu* selections — a small specific *memorial*. The small specific kind of accumulating reading a young scholar at his small specific apprentice's full sixth year would, in the small specific accumulating tradition of the country, lay at his master's small wooden table as a small specific *first* small piece of his own accumulating reading."

He paused.

"By the small specific reading I am giving — the lad's small specific *piece* will be, at the small specific reading I am asking, on the small specific *Mandate of Heaven* at the small specific accumulating shape of a country's failing reign. The lad has — by the small specific reading at the past four years' political-philosophy reading — the small specific accumulating reading. The piece will be perhaps eight hundred characters. The piece will be — by the small specific reading I am giving — the lad's small specific *carrying-down* of his accumulating reading at this hut, against the small specific moment of his own small specific accumulating decisions in the rebellion."

Heizi nodded.

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

That winter, Heizi at the small wooden table at the long evenings began the small specific piece.

He laid it slowly, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past four years' reading at the *Mencius* and the *Zhongyong* and the *Han Shu* selections. He laid it on three small folded sheets of Lao Wen's paper. He laid it in the small specific even strokes of an apprentice's first piece. He wrote, in the small specific accumulating shape of his own accumulating reading:

*The small specific Mandate of Heaven is — by the small specific reading at the* Mencius's *small specific saying — neither a small specific gift to a ruler nor a small specific reward of a ruler's small specific accumulating virtue. It is — by the small specific reading I am giving — a small specific *condition* the country places on a ruler's small specific accumulating reading of his own small specific accumulating duty. The condition is — by the small specific accumulating reading — the small specific *the people are the foundation*: when the people, by the small specific accumulating reading at any small specific season of any small specific reign, are no longer at the small specific accumulating shape of a *foundation*, the Mandate is — by the small specific reading — at the small specific accumulating shape of a *withdrawing*.*

He continued.

He continued, slowly, at the small specific accumulating reading of the small specific accumulating shape of the falling Da-ye reign.

By the dusk of the second day of the third moon of the ninth year — six years and four months at the hut — the piece was finished.

Lao Wen, at the small wooden table at the dusk, took the small folded sheets up.

He read them slowly, by the small specific careful reading of an old scholar at sixty-three at his small wooden stool. He read the eight hundred characters in the small specific accumulating time of perhaps a quarter hour. He set the sheets down.

He looked at Heizi.

He said in the small low voice with the small specific southern-Henan accent: *lad. By the small specific reading at this dusk — the piece is, by the small specific accumulating reading of an old scholar's small specific accumulating reading, at the small specific accumulating shape of a young apprentice's *real* first piece. The small specific accumulating reading of the* Mencius *and the* Zhongyong *— by the small specific reading at the piece's accumulating shape — has been laid in the lad's accumulating reading at the small specific *real* accumulating place of an apprentice at his sixth year. The piece is — by the small specific honest measure — small. The piece is — by the small specific honest measure — sufficient.*

He paused.

"Lad."

"Yes, master."

"The piece will, by the small specific reading I am giving, be the lad's small specific *carrying-down*."

"Yes, master."

"And the piece — by the small specific reading at the small specific accumulating shape of the next year — will not, by the small specific reading at the *Mandate of Heaven*'s small specific accumulating arithmetic, be the only small specific *piece* the lad will, in the small specific accumulating reading of the next ten years, write."

Heizi looked at him.

He nodded.

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

The brothers, at the small specific noon of the spring's first day, made the small specific accumulating preparation for the small specific *going-down*. The boy An Ashi laid out, on a small folded scrap of pine bark at the small slab, the small specific accumulating arithmetic of the household's small specific *going-down* shape:

The lads — Heizi, Wang Er, Tie-zhu, An Ashi, Ah Chou — would go down at the dawn of the first day of the fourth moon of the ninth year. They would carry the small specific four sabers, the small specific spear (Lao Wen's old militia officer's, which Lao Wen would, by the small specific arrangement at the morning fire, give to the lame brother as the lame brother's *carrying-down*), the small specific accumulating four bows (Lu Wen-han's old hunting bow that the smith's son had, in the past two years, copied at the small forge with the bog-iron reinforcements at the limbs, plus three new bows the smith's son had laid at the past year), the small specific accumulating thirty arrows from the boy's small specific stock, the small specific accumulating supply of dried hare and salt-pork and grey salt for perhaps a moon. The lame brother would walk; the foot, by the small specific reading at the past year, was at the small specific working pace.

The master would stay.

By the small specific reading at the noon of the second day of the third moon of the ninth year — eight days before the planned going-down — the lame brother at the eye-station saw, at the lower bend of the path, a man.

A young man.

Not — by the small specific accumulating reading at the lame brother's small specific careful eye — a peddler, not a soldier, not a bandit. By the small specific reading at the man's small specific dress — a small specific worn but once-fine indigo robe, of the kind a young aristocrat at a magistracy court would have worn — and by the small specific reading at the man's small specific carriage — the small specific accumulating shape of a young man who had been on a road for some specific accumulating moons and who was, by the small specific reading at the small thin grey of the dusk's first hour, at the small specific edge of his small specific accumulating energy.

The lame brother came down the path at the running pace.

He stopped at the small clear ground in front of the south face of the hut.

He said in the small low voice: *master. Big brother. Another one.*

Lao Wen looked at him.

He said in the small low voice: *who.*

"Young. Perhaps twenty-three. Wearing a small specific worn fine indigo robe. Carrying a small folded bundle and a small specific old short sword at his belt. Coming up the path slowly. He is — by the small specific reading at perhaps a hundred and fifty paces — alone."

Lao Wen closed his eyes for one breath.

He opened them.

He said in the small low voice: *another one, lame brother. Take your position. The brothers, take your positions.*

The household moved.

By the second hour of the dusk, the young man came up over the upper bend of the path.

He came into the small clear ground in front of the south face.

He stopped at perhaps ten paces from the small low front wall.

He set his small folded bundle on the snow-covered ground.

He bowed — slowly, in the small specific careful way of a young aristocrat at a small specific accumulating court — at perhaps the small specific lower-stance bow Heizi had, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two years' political philosophy, recognized as the small specific *seeking-refuge bow* of an old Han protocol.

The young man said in the small low voice: *grandfather. I am asking.*

The voice was — by the small specific reading at Heizi's eye on the small specific carriage of the young man — the voice of a young man whose small specific accumulating reading at characters had been at the small specific accumulating shape of a magistracy clerk's accumulating reading, with the small specific southern-Henan accent of a small specific minor Sui official's son.

Lao Wen, at the small wooden stool inside the hut, said in the small low voice: *who is asking, lad.*

The young man at the small clear ground bowed once more.

He said: *grandfather. I am — I am Lu Jingzhi. Courtesy name Zi'an. Son of Lu the magistrate of a small county at the southern fold of Henan. My father was — at the past spring — executed by the magistracy for embezzlement. The charge was, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, perhaps true or perhaps not. The truth has not, by the small specific reading at the past four months on the road, mattered to my own small specific accumulating fate. The household's small specific accumulating goods were taken at the small specific seventh day of the third moon. My mother — a concubine — and my sister were sent to my father's brother's house at the eastern fold; I was, by the small specific accumulating reading of the magistracy's small specific accounting of a young man at a small specific accumulating disgrace, set on a small specific accumulating road. I have, by the small specific reading at the past four months, walked north into the upper hills.*

He paused.

"I am asking, grandfather, the small specific accumulating shape of an old Han household's small old reading: the small specific *seeking-refuge.* I have heard, by the small specific accumulating saying of an old peddler at a lower hamlet four days south, that an old scholar at a hut at the grove of twelve pines on the bear-back's western terrace has — at the past six years — taken in four young men of his accumulating apprenticeship. I have walked up. I am asking, grandfather, the small specific *seeking-refuge*."

He paused once more.

"My — my father had, in his accumulating reading, perhaps in his fortieth year, met an old scholar at a small specific magistracy meeting at a southern Henan town who, by my father's small specific accumulating saying, had been the magistrate of a small county and had, in some specific year of Wen-di's reign, refused a small specific famine-tax falsification and had — by my father's small specific saying — gone into exile at the upper hills. My father had, in the small specific accumulating telling of that meeting, given the old scholar a small specific name that the small specific magistracy did not, by the small specific accumulating reading, ever lay on a paper after that year."

He paused.

"By the small specific accumulating reading at my father's saying — the old scholar at the grove may be that man. I do not, grandfather, give you the name. I am asking only — at the small specific accumulating *seeking-refuge* — that you receive me."

Lao Wen, inside the hut, was quiet for a long beat.

He looked at Heizi at the small specific covered place against the brush.

He nodded — very small.

Heizi unstrung the bow.

He stepped out from the small specific covered place.

He bowed, very slightly, at the small clear ground.

He said in the small low voice: *brother. The grandfather hears you. Come in.*

The young aristocrat — Lu Jingzhi — picked up his small folded bundle.

He came forward.

The household had — at the small specific dusk of the second day of the third moon of the ninth year, eight days before the planned going-down, six years and four months at the hut — taken in its seventh.