Chapter 123 — The Li People
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 5
Ming Li saw that this Miao chief was easygoing enough, and nodded. "You are too kind, Chief. It is we who are intruding."
Tumagu gave a chuckle and said no more.
Down the mountain, Tumagu considered a moment, then led Ming Li toward the river. All along the way many Miao turned to look, though their eyes lingered mostly on Xiaobai.
They crossed the stone bridge of Central Plains style that Ming Li had noticed earlier, and came to a relatively secluded house on the far bank, set beside a row of green trees.
Standing behind Tumagu, Ming Li frowned quickly and slightly. The house was not large—a single story, a single room, square and plain, built wholly of wood. And on the outer walls there was none of the beast hides and bones that hung on ordinary Miao dwellings.
Tumagu turned. "This house has stood empty a long while, but we have kept it swept, and it is clean enough. Few people come this way. The two of you will have to make do here for a night."
Ming Li inclined his head slightly. "Thank you, Chief."
Tumagu smiled and glanced at Xiaobai in Ming Li's arms. "Then I will leave you in peace. Rest now."
With that he seemed about to go, then halted as if something had occurred to him. "I will send someone along with some food presently. Rest easy. Our customs here are crude—you must forgive the poor lodging."
Ming Li shook his head again and again. "Not at all. Thank you, Chief."
Tumagu nodded and turned to go. Ming Li watched him for a while, and when he was well away, he turned back and looked the house over once more.
However he looked at it, the house seemed one built by a man of the Central Plains.
He carried Xiaobai and Xiaohui up, pushed open the door, and went in.
The furnishings within were simple enough—a bed, a table, a few wooden chairs. The walls were of tong wood cut to even sizes, with a window on one side, and the whole room held a faint fresh scent of timber.
Ming Li had never set much store by luxurious lodgings; plainness like this rather suited him. He went over and laid Xiaobai on the bed first. She murmured a word or two under her breath and sank back into sleep.
Ming Li shook his head and lifted Xiaohui down from his shoulder. The monkey's mouth opened and shut, and now and then he made a smacking sound; he looked thoroughly content. Ming Li sighed and laid him on the bed too.
Looking at the sleeping woman and monkey, Ming Li turned, went to the table, and sat down. The room seemed suddenly very quiet; apart from their breathing there was no sound at all.
In this strange house in a strange land, he sat alone and still.
Beyond the window, the sunlight was bright and fair.
Ten li east of Qili Tong, which lies ringed by mountains, a stretch of high hills rolled on and on. On one of the peaks stood two men, gazing into the distance at the fertile land cradled among the mountains.
"So that is Qili Tong."
The man standing in front spoke these words in a low voice, and in them were deep feeling, wrath, and longing.
The sun shone down on a man of enormous height and strength, bare-chested, his lower body clad in breeches sewn from the hides of savage beasts.
His skin, weathered by years of sun and wind, was a hardy bronze. On his corded, muscular body there was a bear's-head tattoo across the chest. Elsewhere the flesh was seamed with great, crisscrossing scars, and it was not hard to imagine how many fearsome beasts he had wrestled.
"Yes, Chief," answered the man standing a step behind him. "That is Qili Tong." His dress was like the other's, save that besides the beast-hide breeches he wore a garment of fur on his upper body, and he looked far smaller in build than the burly man before him.