Chapter 39 Jinmei Interlude 3/3

A\N: These three will be posted on royalroad as one chapter.

***

A guard dragged Jinmei back to her tent and blocked the entrance. She cried alone inside.

Blossom had been her first friend — the first she had gotten really close to. The only one who knew everything about her and hadn’t left.

The sun set when she heard a commotion outside. She heard Old Lao shouting that there was a fire. There was running and shouting.

Then her tent door popped open. Another one of the teenagers — one of Bao’s friends — stared inside.

“Come quick! Lao sent his tent on fire to distract them. They were saying they stole your deer! Let’s break her out!”

Jinmei didn’t ask why or argue. She had fought for every scrap she had every day of her life. She pushed away her tears and stood to her feet on shaking legs.

Then she made a determined face and followed the teenager out. A few of them gathered together, going with her to the rudimentary lodge that housed the supervisor. There was a caravan of wagons and a row of adults standing out front. Among them was a teenager probably the same age as Bao. His eyes scanned the rows of tents. Jinmei almost imagined that she looked right at him. His expression was one of growing displeasure.

“We have to sneak by.”

“What’s the plan, Jinmei?”

“How do we get in, Jinmei?”

The others asked her. Jinmei always had a plan. She was younger than all of them, but still the most experienced miner. She fixed their carts, taught them half of what they knew about mining, and told them how to stay safe.

Today, she just shrugged, staring at the ground.

They stood in the distance, covered by tall grass that obscured the view from the rudimentary lodge.

“Are they arguing?” One of the teenagers asked.

Jinmei perked up and listened.

“Yes, Second Young Master, but you don’t understand! We don’t just produce spirit-stones here! We produce cultivators!”

The young man paused. He looked around the camp. His eyes landed on Jinmei, intentionally and obviously this time, and, contrary to her expectations, his face schooled. It became calm and placid, a lake of water.

He looked no older than sixteen. She couldn’t help but think that he was the same age Bao would have been now.

Yet Fenglin Bo, the cultivator that had disrupted so much of their lives, bowed to him. Was that the power afforded by being a cultivator? For the first time in her life, Jinmei second guessed her decision to hide her qi sensing.

“Child soldiers?” The Second Young Master asked. He sounded like he was about to smack Fenglin Bo. He took a step forward. One of his hands fell on his sword.

“Don’t be irrational Sai.” A taller adult behind the Second Young Master put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back.

“Yes, Wen.” Feng Sai’s expression became schooled again.

“Not child soldiers! No! Trainees! They go to train. Many of them become retainers of the Feng or branch families like Fenglin!” Fenglin Bo said.

“Your branch families such as Fenglin act against the virtues that we cultivators ascribe to.” Sai said. “The situation here is worse than I thought. The governor of this province lied to me…” Sai trailed off.

“We cannot be everywhere, young master.” Wen said.

“Seize the assets of the Fenglin family. We will find holistic schools for their trainees to attend.” Sai spat the word. “We’ll use the Fenglin’s assets and the orphanage funds to pay for the quality of life of all the laborers here.”

Three adult guards behind Sai bowed.

“Do you have any more crimes to bravely declare?” Sai asked Fenglin Bo.

Jinmei stepped out of the bushes and pointed at Fenglin Bo.

“He stole my friend!” She shouted.

***

“So your name is Blossom?” Feng Sai asked, petting Blossom.

Blossom leaned into the petting happily.

Jinmei — and the other teenagers who came with her — were scarfing down food in the kitchen of the supervisor. Feng Sai and Fenglin Bo sat in the living room. Blossom stood on the arm of a leather padded chair, demanding pets from Feng Sai.

Fenglin Bo stared at the ground in shock in the corner.

“You know,” Feng Sai started, then looked up at Fenglin Bo. “This spirit-beast could have killed you at any time.”

“What?” Fenglin Bo asked dumbly.

“It’s probably equivalent to a Core Formation cultivator.” Feng Wen said from the stove. He was cooking more food for the teenagers. He had gone through six different dishes already, but they never stopped eating.

Blossom pushed off of Sai’s hand and walked over to the table. Then she shook herself off and jumped up on top of it. She tracked mud over the white table cloth. One of the teenagers pushed a plate to her. Blossom started eating off the side.

“And Jinmei here has an open meridian.” Feng Wen said.

Jinmei stopped eating. She looked up, the horror and fear in her heart redoubling. She shook her head no.

“I don’t want to be a cultivator!” Jinmei said before anyone else talked.

The other teenagers stared at her.

“That’s alright.” Feng Sai said, much to Jinmei’s shock. “You don’t have to be. Not everyone should be a cultivator. We’re starting a few new schools — not martial schools. We could use a few more people with lots of experience mining.”

Jinmei nodded.

“I’m good at mining!”

“We won’t have you doing any more mining.” Feng Sai chuckled. “But maybe you can help teach others and record some of what you’ve learned here?”

“Jinmei is a great teacher!” One of the teenagers chimed in.

Feng Sai smiled.

“Have you ever been to a desert? We’re building a new city in one.”