69: Mother Plum, Side Door

The slab phone rang at 9:30 AM IRL Saturday.

I was at the desk at the dorm. I was on my second cup of tea. I had read the small folded carbon-paper receipt from Friday once more at 8:30 and put it in the drawer at the back of the desk under the small folded square from the Beijing pipeline and the small folded square from the noodle-stall witness night. The desk drawer was, by this Saturday morning, three small folded squares of paper deep.

The slab phone display read: *Su Family Pingjiang Road*.

I picked up.

I said: "Auntie Su."

She said, in her ordinary careful Suzhou-shopkeeper's-wife voice: "Cangtian. You are awake."

"I am awake."

"I am calling — for the first time, by my own initiative on the slab phone — about a small specific matter that is not, on this call, the matter of my daughter or the matter of your father's mat. The matter is the small specific matter of a small specific Pingjiang-Road auntie I have known eleven IRL years. Her name is Wang Yu. She is thirty-eight IRL years old. She runs the small mooncake stall at the eastern end of Pingjiang Road, two stalls past the small red-paper-and-incense vendor. She has — by her own small specific quiet preference — never married. She has, since 2003, been the small specific carrier of the small specific Pingjiang-Road-mooncake-recipe my own mother taught me when I was nine."

"All right."

"She has, in the past three IRL months since the small specific in-game game launched, taken up a small specific in-game guild. The guild's small specific name is *Yellow Plum*. It has twelve members. The members are mostly small specific Pingjiang-Road-equivalent shopkeepers and stall-vendors in the small specific in-game lower city. The guild's focus is the small specific NPC-relations cultivation that the small specific Pingjiang-Road auntie network has, in the IRL frame, been doing for two hundred years. Wang Yu — in the small specific game — uses the name *Mother Plum*. Her tank slot is held by her small specific cousin who plays *Iron Plum*. Iron Plum is the small specific eleven-year-old's-cousin tank — a small specific 41-IRL-year-old retired iron-foundry technician from the small specific Suzhou eastern industrial district. He is in the game four hours a day. He is good at it."

"All right."

She said: "Wang Yu has, by my own small specific judgment after the small specific Wednesday Pingjiang-Road auntie-network meeting at the small specific third-row table, decided that the small specific *Yellow Plum* guild would, on the small specific rationale of a small specific civilian-affiliate signing under your guild *Severing Light*'s small specific charter, like to be considered. She is not — by her own small specific request relayed only — asking for any small specific favor. She is asking for the small specific consideration. She would like the small specific signing — if you will accept her — at the in-game Greenleaf Inn private second-floor room at 9 PM IRL tonight. I am — by her request — relaying the small specific request only. I am not — by my own small specific position — pressing it."

I held the slab phone.

I said: "Auntie Su. I will accept the introduction. I will be at the Greenleaf Inn at 8:50 PM IRL. The signing will go at 9 PM."

She said: "Good. I will tell her at the small specific 11 AM Pingjiang-Road meeting. She is at the small specific eleven AM tea-stall on Saturdays."

She paused.

She said: "Cangtian."

"Yes."

She said: "Wang Yu has, since 2003, also been the small specific carrier of one other small specific Pingjiang-Road-recipe my mother taught me when I was nine. The other recipe is the small specific cadence-receipt my own mother — your future grandmother-by-Wanqing — taught my own mother in 1962 at the small specific Pingjiang-Road kitchen table where my mother taught me. Wang Yu is — by her own small specific mother's small specific Pingjiang-Road-1962 line — the small specific carrier of the small specific second-generation Pingjiang-Road-cadence-receipt-line that the small specific Hangzhou-9 first-cycle adjunct-training-receipt and the small specific Hangzhou-9 second-cycle Brigade-survey-cadence-receipt are, by the small specific 1962-Pingjiang-Road origin, both descended from. The small specific living version of the cadence is — by the small specific Pingjiang-Road origin — in three pairs of hands. My daughter knows this. She does not know that the small specific second pair is Wang Yu's. I am — by the small specific Pingjiang-Road auntie-network protection-protocol — telling you. I am not — by the same small specific protocol — telling my daughter. The decision to tell my daughter is my daughter's, by the small specific protocol's small specific timing — which the small specific Sunday after Mei Yulan's Tuesday visit is."

I closed my eyes for the small two seconds the closing took.

I said: "Auntie Su."

"Yes."

"Thank you for telling me."

"Don't thank me. Carry it. The signing is at 9 PM. Wang Yu does not, by her own small specific quiet preference, want to know that you know. Sign her in as the small specific NPC-relations-cultivation civilian-affiliate. Treat her as the small specific 38-IRL Pingjiang-Road mooncake-seller she has, by her own small specific arrangement of her own small specific public face, decided to be. The small specific other matter will, by my daughter's own small specific Sunday-after-Mei-Yulan timing, come to the small specific kitchen-table conversation at the small specific time it is meant to."

I said: "I will carry it. I will sign her in as she is."

She said: "Good. Goodbye, Cangtian."

"Goodbye, Auntie Su."

The line went silent.

I set the slab phone on the desk.

I sat at the desk for a long minute.

I opened the small Suzhou-cotton-paper notebook.

I wrote one line:

*November 15, 2014 — 9:30 AM IRL — Mrs. Su (own initiative) — eight minutes — Wang Yu / Mother Plum civilian-affiliate signing tonight 9 PM.*

I closed the notebook.

That was the third entry.

The Saturday daytime ran. I worked at the desk through the morning on the small applied-coursework problem set. I ate a small lunch. I slept from one to three. I read for an hour. I went down to the small dormitory inner-courtyard for three slow laps around the small concrete badminton court. The small grey cat was at the corner of the bicycle rack again. I went back up. I made the small early dinner. I cleaned. I went to the pod at six.

I logged in at 6:00 PM. Wanqing was at the south-gate marshal stone. I bonded-DM'd her the briefing line: *Mother Plum / Wang Yu signing tonight 9 PM at Greenleaf private second-floor room. Twelve Yellow Plum + our eleven + Old Wolf.* She bonded-DM'd back: *Confirmed. I will run the seating geometry. Old Wolf should be at the corner closest to the door.*

We worked the early evening at the south-gate at small inventory and small charter-table preparation. At 8:30 PM the *Severing Light* eleven gathered at the Greenleaf Inn private second-floor room. Yu Tieshou took his shield-drawn-down position at the eastern wall. Iron Fan took the bench in the corner. Lin Mo at the corner closest to the stairs. Wenqing at the south end of the long oak table with the small civilian-affiliate registry open. MeiLight at her balcony tab. Old Wolf came up at 8:38 and took the corner closest to the door.

The *Yellow Plum* twelve came up the stairs at 8:51.

Mother Plum came first.

She was, in the in-game render, a small careful round-faced woman in her late thirties in the small careful pale-yellow overcloak that gave the *Yellow Plum* guild its color. Her hair was in the small careful low bun. She had at her right hand a small careful hand-folded paper fan painted, on the in-game render, with a small careful single yellow plum branch.

Iron Plum came second. He was the small careful Suzhou-eastern-industrial-district 41-IRL-year-old Mrs. Su had described — broad-shouldered, in the small careful tank-armor of a Lv 26 in-game iron-foundry-class-equivalent. He carried a small careful round shield slung across his back.

The other ten came up after — six women, four men, the small careful 30-to-50-IRL age distribution of a small careful Pingjiang-Road shopkeeper-and-stall-vendor cohort in the small careful in-game game.

They took their seats along the long oak table.

I stood at the head.

I said: "Mother Plum. Welcome to the Greenleaf Inn. Welcome to *Severing Light*. We have, by Mrs. Su's introduction, the small careful pleasure of considering the small careful civilian-affiliate signing of *Yellow Plum* under our charter this evening. The signing will go at nine PM. Before the signing I will, in the small careful brief small careful manner of a probationary guild commander, explain four things our charter holds. After the four things, if you accept them, the signing will go."

Mother Plum bowed — the small careful Pingjiang-Road shopkeeper's bow that a 38-IRL-year-old returned to a small careful 22-IRL-year-old guild commander she had been told about by a small careful older sister-friend.

She said: "Bladeless. Thank you. Please."

I said the four things.

The four things were the same four things I had said at the *Severing Light* founding-feast in late August: play for the people at the table; no corporate sponsorship; win by patience not force; do not allow any save to break another save.

When I had said the four things Mother Plum nodded once.

She said: "I accept the four things. I will sign them. *Yellow Plum* will sign them."

She paused.

She said — looking at the small careful long oak table, looking at no one at it in particular: "I sell mooncakes, Bladeless. I have, since 2003, sold them at the small specific Pingjiang Road eastern stall my own mother sold them at before me. I do not sell them to the small specific kind of buyer who comes in the small specific kind of suit. The small specific kind of buyer has been coming, this October, more often than usual. He came on the eighth, on the fifteenth, and on the twenty-second. He came in a small specific dark grey suit and a small specific white shirt and a small specific small careful red tie. He did not, on any of the three October visits, buy a mooncake. He asked, on each of the three visits, the same small specific small careful question. The question was: *Auntie. Have you, by any of your small careful customers' small careful Wednesday-meeting reports, heard the name Bladeless of Severing Light.* I told him, on each of the three visits, the same small careful answer: *Sir. I do not, in my small careful stall, listen to my customers' small careful Wednesday-meeting reports. I sell mooncakes.* He left, on each of the three visits, without buying a mooncake. I am — by my own small careful judgment — not going to sell mooncakes to him on the small careful November twenty-ninth, when by his own small careful pattern he will come again. I would prefer — by my own small careful judgment — that the small careful November twenty-ninth visit, when it comes, comes to a small careful stall whose small careful proprietor is signed under a small careful guild charter that is not the small careful charter the small careful gentleman in the small careful suit serves. *Severing Light* is not, by my own small careful read, that small careful charter."

She paused.

She said: "That is the small careful private reason for the signing. The public reason is the small careful NPC-relations cultivation. Both are true."

Old Wolf — at the corner closest to the door — coughed the small careful one-syllable cough that was the small careful approval cough.

Wenqing — at the south end of the long oak table — opened the small careful civilian-affiliate registry.

I said: "Mother Plum. *Severing Light* accepts both reasons. The signing will go."

The signing went at nine PM.

Mother Plum signed first — the small careful calligraphic hand the same hand Mrs. Su's grocery-list hand was, the small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road kitchen-table-cadence-receipt-descended hand. Iron Plum signed second. The other ten *Yellow Plum* members signed after — each at the small careful inclination of the head a small careful Pingjiang-Road shopkeeper signed an in-game civilian-affiliate-charter document at.

The signing closed at 9:24 PM IRL.

Mother Plum stood.

She said: "Bladeless. The Pingjiang-Road auntie network's small careful Wednesday-meeting third-row table will, by next Wednesday, register the small careful signing. The small careful gentleman in the small careful suit will, by the small careful following Wednesday, know. He will, by my own small careful read, not return to my small careful stall after he knows."

I said: "Thank you, Mother Plum."

She said: "Don't thank me. Sign Iron Plum onto the next charter scout's tactical pool. He is good at it."

She walked off east toward the staircase with the small painted hand-folded paper fan and the small *Yellow Plum* twelve behind her.

When the *Yellow Plum* bond markers had cleared the south-gate map Old Wolf — at the corner closest to the door — said:

"That was Mrs. Su's introduction."

I said: "Yes."

He said: "Mrs. Su has — by the small careful Pingjiang-Road auntie-network protection-protocol I have been reading about for four IRL months at the small alcove — just placed a small careful second pair of cadence-carrying hands at the small intersection at *Severing Light*. The intersection is now, by the small careful four-civic-line map I drew Monday at six AM, also the small careful intersection of the small careful Pingjiang-Road-1962-cadence-line and the small careful Hangzhou-9-cell-residual-line. The small careful 1962-line and the small careful Hangzhou-9-residual-line are, by the small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road origin Wang Yu's mother and Su Lan's mother both came up under, the small careful same line. Wang Yu's signing tonight has — by my count — just made the small careful Hangzhou-9-residual line at *Severing Light* the small careful seven-pair line."

Wanqing said: "Old Wolf."

He said: "Yes."

She said: "Wang Yu is."

He said: "She is the small careful second pair Mrs. Su has not, by the small careful Pingjiang-Road auntie-network protection-protocol, named to you. She is the small careful second pair Sun Xiulan named at the small careful western-fountain bench last Sunday in her small careful three-pair count. She is the small careful Pingjiang-Road carrier of the small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road kitchen-table-cadence-receipt your own mother and your aunt and her sister all came up under. The small careful third pair — at the small careful Sunday-evening corner table at the small careful Pingjiang-Road tea-shop — will, by my count, decide to come within the small careful four IRL weeks following Mei Yulan's Tuesday visit. By that small careful Sunday after Mei Yulan, your mother will name them to you at the small careful kitchen table."

Wanqing held that.

She said: "Old Wolf."

He said: "Yes."

She said: "Did Mrs. Su, in calling Cangtian this morning, tell him."

He said: "She did. She told him in the small careful Pingjiang-Road auntie-network protection-protocol's small careful authorized exception clause, which authorizes telling a small careful future son-in-law a small careful piece of the protocol the daughter has not yet been given. She told him because the small careful November-eighteenth Mei Yulan visit and the small careful Wednesday-suit-gentleman November-twenty-ninth return require the small careful future son-in-law to know. She has — by the small careful protocol's small careful timing — exactly seven IRL days before the small careful Sunday-after-Mei-Yulan kitchen-table conversation in which she will tell you. Cangtian is — by the small careful protocol's small careful instruction — to carry the small careful name without telling you until the small careful Sunday-after."

Wanqing said: "All right."

She said, on the bonded thread to me: *I am not going to ask you. The protocol is the protocol.*

I said: *All right.*

She said: *I am, however, going to be at the kitchen table on the Sunday after Mei Yulan ready to be told.*

*All right.*

We sat at the long oak table for the next eighteen minutes without speaking. Old Wolf at the corner closest to the door cleaned out his empty wooden tankard.

Yu Tieshou stacked his great kite shield against the eastern wall.

I logged out at 10:42 PM IRL.

In my chest the second voice — *three months and three weeks* — was quiet. The first voice — the old counter — said:

*Wang Yu is the second pair. The cadence is, by tonight's signing, at the four-civic-line intersection. The Wednesday-suit-gentleman is, by my count, on the Hu Xiaodu intelligence file's small careful field-officer rotation. He is the small careful Pingjiang-Road-direct surveillance asset Wang Jingxun has placed since October 8. He has been counting the small careful third-row Pingjiang-Road auntie-network meeting reports for seven weeks. He will, on November twenty-ninth, find the small careful mooncake stall closed. He will, by his own small careful escalation protocol, file the small careful closure up to Hu Xiaodu within forty-eight IRL hours. The small careful TT intelligence file on Bladeless will, by December first, gain the small careful entry: *Pingjiang Road mooncake-stall vendor Wang Yu, Yellow Plum guild civilian-affiliate to Severing Light, no longer accessible at stall.* By the small careful TT intelligence file's small careful cumulative total at December first, the entry will be the small careful forty-eighth.*

I closed my eyes.

I slept.