70: The Long Table

The first joint op had run on Sunday evening.

We had taken the small lower-city civic chain at 8 PM IRL — fourteen named NPCs, mostly the small Pingjiang-Road-equivalent shopkeepers and stall-vendors *Yellow Plum* had cultivated to small faction-friendly over the past two IRL years. *Severing Light* had run the small protective tactical layer at the perimeter; *Yellow Plum* had run the small relationship layer at the center. Mother Plum had taken the small Number-Three-Lane stall-vendor herself — a small wiry NPC in a small grey apron who had taken the small careful Pingjiang-Road-mooncake variant Mother Plum had brought from her own small stall in-game render — and the small wiry NPC's small careful in-game-relationship score had moved, by the end of the small two-hour run, from *neutral* to *cordial* to *small-careful-friend*. Iron Plum had held the small north-perimeter angle without taking a hit. Yu Tieshou had held the small south-perimeter angle the same. Wanqing at the small mid-line had not, the entire two hours, drawn the bow.

The op had cleared at 10:14 PM IRL.

Old Wolf, at the small post-op meeting at the southern boundary of the small civic chain, to me — looking at the small nine-meter span between the two perimeter-tank positions Yu Tieshou and Iron Plum had held: "That, in twenty months, is the cleanest civilian-affiliate-tactical handoff I have observed on this server. The architecture is yours."

I had said: "The architecture is the small careful four-things' architecture. The four things are not mine. They are at the small careful Greenleaf Inn long oak table where they were signed by twenty-three at the founding-feast. Twenty-three. The two more — by Mother Plum's signing — are now twenty-five."

He had said: "All right. The architecture is also the four-things'. Both at once."

I had logged out at 10:30.

Monday — the IRL Monday between the small Sunday joint op and the small Tuesday Mei Yulan visit — had run at its own ordinary IRL pace.

I had worked the small applied-coursework problem set at the dorm desk through the morning. I had eaten the small lunch. I had slept from one to three. I had read for an hour. At four I had gone to Manager Fang's cafe — not for the shift, for the small careful Manager-Fang-side-ledger conversation Manager Fang had bonded-DM'd me at noon to ask me to take in person.

The small careful Manager-Fang-side-ledger conversation had been three lines long.

Manager Fang had said: "Three things. One: the small specific Pingjiang-Road-suit gentleman did not, by the small specific Hu-Xiaodu-internal-rotation calendar, return to Wang Yu's small careful stall this Sunday. He has, by the calendar, been small carefully reassigned to the small specific Pingjiang-Road-second-stall vendor — a small careful chestnut vendor who, by the small careful Pingjiang-Road-auntie-network protection-protocol, will at the small careful suit-gentleman's small careful November-twenty-second visit also report having sold no chestnuts to the small careful gentleman in the small careful suit. The chestnut vendor has, by the small careful Pingjiang-Road-auntie-network protection-protocol's small careful Wednesday-meeting-third-row-table consultation, been the small careful protector of a small careful piece of the Pingjiang-Road-1962-cadence-line for forty-six years. The small careful piece is at the small careful chestnut vendor's small careful third-generation Pingjiang-Road-stall-front. Two: the small specific TT-internal Hu Xiaodu intelligence file on Bladeless gained, this morning at 9:14 IRL, the small specific entry the small specific November-twentieth quarterly will, by the small specific Hu-Xiaodu-quarterly-meeting calendar, hold to the small specific 49-line cap before the small specific December-first reset. The entry was: *Pingjiang Road mooncake-stall vendor Wang Yu, Yellow Plum guild civilian-affiliate to Severing Light, signed November fifteenth.* The 49-line cap is, by the small specific quarterly's structural mechanism, a small specific cap that the small specific November-twentieth quarterly will, in its small specific quarterly-decision-meeting, decide whether to extend to a small specific 60-line file. The decision will, by the small specific TT-sub-board chair's small specific signature, depend on whether *Severing Light*, by the small specific November-eighteenth Mei Yulan visit's small specific outcome, accepts the small specific Brigade-leadership-residual offer. If we accept, Wang Jingxun extends the file. If we decline, Wang Jingxun does not. Three: your father called the shop telephone this morning at 6:14 IRL. He asked me to confirm to you that the small specific Doctor-Yan November fifteenth follow-up appointment confirmed the small specific three-month-and-three-week projection at the same small specific three-month-and-three-week, with no small specific further extension and no small specific reversal."

I had closed my eyes for the small two seconds.

I had said: "Thank you, Manager Fang."

He had said: "Don't thank me. Thank your father."

I had walked back to the dorm at 5:30. I had written one line in the small Suzhou-cotton-paper notebook:

*November 17, 2014 — 6:14 AM IRL — Manager Fang (relay from Father) — three minutes — Doctor Yan, three-month-and-three-week confirmed, no further extension, no reversal.*

That was the fourth entry.

I had eaten a small early dinner. I had gone to the pod at 5:50.

Monday in-game evening. The Greenleaf Inn private second-floor room at 8:30 PM IRL was lit, this evening, by the small careful in-game candle-array Wenqing had placed at the small careful four corners of the long oak table — twenty small careful tapered candles in the small careful four-by-five geometry the small careful 25-place-setting required.

Twenty-five place settings.

Mother Plum at the head, on the small careful chair Old Wei would, in either timeline, have taken as the small careful elder-of-the-table. Iron Plum at her right. Wanqing at the small careful chair on Mother Plum's left. I at the chair across from Mother Plum at the foot. The eleven *Severing Light* and twelve *Yellow Plum* along the sides — the small careful seating geometry Wanqing had run on the small careful seating-diagram she had bonded-DM'd Mother Plum at 6:14 PM IRL Sunday between the small joint-op log-out and her own small log-out twenty-two minutes later. Mother Plum had bonded-DM'd back at 6:18: *I accept the geometry. The chair at the head is, by the small careful Pingjiang-Road convention, the chair the elder-of-the-table takes. I will take it tonight as the small careful 38-IRL second-pair carrier of the small careful Pingjiang-Road-1962-cadence-line your mother and your aunt and Sun Xiulan and you and I share. I will take the chair without saying so. The not-saying is the small careful protocol. The taking is the small careful acknowledgment.*

Wanqing had, when she read the bonded-DM at 6:19, read it twice, and bonded-DM'd back: *I accept.*

The candles were lit at 8:54 PM IRL.

The dinner was the small careful Greenleaf Inn private-room banquet menu — a small careful eight-course Suzhou-style banquet with the small careful pork-rib and the small careful braised eel and the small careful cold sliced pork with garlic sauce that Mrs. Su's Suzhou-style cooking and Mother Plum's Pingjiang-Road-stall-front offerings had, by the small careful in-game Greenleaf-Inn-banquet-menu render, both been imported from. Wenqing had pre-paid the small careful in-game-banquet-menu fee from the small careful *Severing Light* shared inventory at 6 PM IRL.

We ate.

The eating ran an hour and forty-eight minutes.

At the small careful eighth course — the small careful sweet osmanthus-and-glutinous-rice ball that the small careful Suzhou-style banquet closed on, three to a small careful porcelain dish — Mother Plum stood up.

She raised the small careful porcelain wine cup at her right hand.

She said: "Bladeless. Wanqing. Old Wolf. *Severing Light*. *Yellow Plum*. The small careful Greenleaf Inn long oak table, at the small careful 25-place setting, is the small careful long oak table at which the small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road-cadence-line has been signed under the small careful four-things charter. I would like, on behalf of the small careful Pingjiang-Road-second-pair I have, since 2003, been the small careful carrier of, to give the small careful toast at the small careful sweet osmanthus course."

She paused.

She said: "The small careful toast is to the small careful long table. The small careful long table is — by the small careful four-things charter — the small careful kind of long table that the small careful Pingjiang-Road-1962-cadence-line was, by my own small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road-mother's small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road-mother's small careful original instruction, made for. The small careful long table is the small careful place at which the small careful playing for the people at the table happens. We are, tonight, at the small careful place. Drink."

She drank.

We drank.

At the small careful drinking — at the small careful seat on Mother Plum's left where Wanqing was — Wanqing's small careful right hand crossed the small careful nine centimeters of the long oak table between her own small careful place setting and mine, and rested briefly on the back of my left hand at the wrist where Old Wei would, in the small careful old-timeline-launch-week-plus-three-month version of this game, have held it for the small careful one-third-of-a-second the small careful in-game-banquet's small careful elder-of-the-table-toast-acknowledgment-gesture took.

Wanqing's hand was on mine for the small one-third-of-a-second.

It lifted.

The small careful eight-course Suzhou-style banquet closed at 10:42 PM IRL.

The 25 stood up. The dishes were cleared by the small in-game-Greenleaf-Inn-banquet-staff. The candles were extinguished by Wenqing at the small four corners. The chairs were pushed in.

Mother Plum, at the small careful head of the long oak table, said to me: "Bladeless. Tomorrow at 7 PM IRL Mei Yulan will come to the small specific south-gate step. I have, by my own small careful Pingjiang-Road-second-pair-carrier-and-Yellow-Plum-civilian-affiliate-officer judgment, decided to be at the small careful western-fountain bench during the small careful Mei Yulan visit. The small careful western-fountain bench will, at the small careful 7 PM hour, hold the small careful three of us — the small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road-second-pair carrier, the small careful first-pair carrier-protégée, and the small careful future son-in-law's small careful future-son-in-law-by-Wanqing. The small careful three at the small careful bench will, at the small careful 7 PM hour, by my own small careful judgment, be the small careful Pingjiang-Road-witness the small careful Mei Yulan visit deserves."

I said: "We will be at the bench."

She said: "Good. Walk safely."

She walked off east toward the small Greenleaf-Inn-staircase with the *Yellow Plum* twelve and Iron Plum behind her.

The *Severing Light* eleven cleared the small careful private second-floor room at 11:14 PM IRL.

I logged out at 11:18 PM IRL.

At 11:30 PM IRL Wanqing and I were at the IRL western fountain bench.

The small carved-stone basin held the same small dry leaves and the same small reflection of the same small yellow lamps. The bench was empty except for us. The small lower-city night-market square was, at this small hour, almost empty — the small noodle stall closed, the small dumpling vendor closed, the small chestnut brazier the small old vendor wheeled back to his small alley at 10 PM gone.

We sat on the bench at the small twenty-eight centimeters of carved stone.

She did not, at the eight-centimeter mark, close it.

She said: "Beat five is closed."

I said: "Beat five is closed."

She said: "Beat six begins at the cairn at the foothills on the day of your Lv 30 promotion. I will, on that day, be at the cairn."

I said: "I will, on that day, be at the foothills."

She said: "Tomorrow at 7 PM IRL Mei Yulan."

I said: "Tomorrow at 7 PM IRL Mei Yulan."

She said: "The small careful three of us at this small careful bench at 7 PM. Mother Plum is, by her own small careful judgment, the small careful third."

I said: "She is."

We sat at the small twenty-eight centimeters for the next forty-two minutes without speaking.

At 12:14 AM IRL she stood up.

She said: "Walk me to the dorm-corridor western-lane intersection. Don't, at the intersection, come past it. I am at the small late library tonight."

"All right."

We walked.

At the dorm-corridor western-lane intersection she put a hand briefly on the back of my left hand at the wrist — the small one-third-of-a-second the long-table elder-toast-acknowledgment had taken — and she walked into the dorm-corridor north entrance.

I walked west toward A-7.

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

*Beat five is closed. The small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road-cadence-line is at the long table. The small careful four-civic-line intersection is at *Severing Light*. The small careful Wednesday-suit-gentleman is, by Manager Fang's count, reassigned to the small careful chestnut vendor. The small careful Hu Xiaodu intelligence file on Bladeless is at the small careful 49-line cap and the small careful Wang-Jingxun small careful November-twentieth-quarterly extension-decision will, by the small careful November-eighteenth Mei Yulan visit's small careful outcome, depend. The small careful Mei Yulan visit is, by the small careful four-civic-line map's small careful intersection, the small careful threshold. The small careful Mother Plum at the small careful western-fountain bench tomorrow at 7 PM is the small careful Pingjiang-Road-witness. Beat six begins, by Wanqing's small careful instruction, at the small careful cairn at the foothills on the day of my Lv 30 promotion. By that small careful day the small careful Quiet Hand will, by Old Wolf's count, be named.*

I closed my eyes.

I slept.