Another Delivery

For the rest of the day, Mother had me run more errands. She had me fetch a few items from the market, help her grind the dried herbs for medicine, clean the fish, and even run a few more deliveries. Soon enough, the sun had begun to set, but I still had yet to visit Father at his workshop today.

I had finished grinding up some dried herbs for Mother when she approached me with yet another package of medicine to deliver.

Pouting, I said, "Another delivery?"

"This is the last one," she said. "After this delivery, you can go visit Father."

I perked up at this. "Who is the delivery to?"

"It is to one of Baldy Li's men. His name is Xu Liu. Make sure he gets his medicine by tonight, otherwise his cough will worsen."

"No compensation, as usual?" I asked.

"It is good karma to help others when you are able to," Mother said.

I suddenly remembered my encounter with Auntie Pei. "Be careful," I warned Mother. "Auntie Pei told me she would be visiting soon to give you some of her rice wine."

Mother winced at this. "Neither your father nor I drink."

"I told her that, but she kept on insisting! I didn't know what to say to stop her."

Mother sighed but waved me away. "I can deal with her later. Off you go now."

At this, I darted off. I treaded eastwards of the docks of Shuangyu Port, passed the yelling sailors and hollering merchants, and towards the barracks housing Baldy Li's men.

Father had told me that these men, although they sailed the seas to transport goods from all around the four seas, were all capable warriors. Baldy Li's men hailed from many different coastal provinces of the Great Ming, speaking a myriad of dialects. Amongst his men were even those who hailed from outside the Great Ming. Some men came from Japan, Joseon, Malacca, and even the distant country Portugal.

Dozens of different languages drifted through the barracks at Shuangyu Port. Many of the languages spoken by those from outside of the Great Ming were smooth and without much fluctuation. The language spoken by those of us from the Great Ming, no matter the province we hailed from, had tones that rose and fell like the chest of a sleeping baby.

I passed by two men who sat outside playing a game of xiangqi.

"Excuse me, do you know where Uncle Xu is?"

"Xu Liu is busy right now," one of the men said. "Can't you make the delivery another day?"

"Sorry, Mother said he needs his medicine by today."

"I suppose if you don't get it delivered today, your mother won't let you eat dinner again?"

I nodded.

"They say a soft hearted mother breeds lazy children. Looks like your mother doesn't want you to be lazy!" The man laughed at his own observation before saying, "Xu Liu is guarding the stowaway and that lout Chao. He's guarding the house several li south of Baldy Li's."

"Thank you, sir," I said before scurrying away. I wanted to get the medicine delivered as quickly as possible so that I could visit Father.

Soon I arrived at a small stone house with a single man standing guard at the door. If it were any other man watching guard, he would have been paired with another guard. But this man towered above the rest of us, even taller than the foreigners from Portugal. He was a giant, and the spear he wielded was as heavy as a boulder. He alone had the fighting power of a dozen men. Or at least, that was what I had heard the other sailors say about him.

"Uncle Xu?" I said.

He glanced at me. His eyes were narrow and stern, and he had fiery, dragon-like eyebrows. I would have flinched from his gaze if he did not immediately start coughing upon seeing me.

"Your medicine, sir."

His expression lightened a bit, but as he was about to grab hold of Mother's medicine, someone pounded violently on the door behind him.

"Let me go!" someone said.

It was the voice of Chao, the beak-nosed man. "I promise I will never be blinded by greed again!"

"Stay silent and wait for your interrogation," Xu Liu said

I gulped and hesitantly held out the medicine. "For your cough."

Xu Liu accepted the medicine and tucked it into his robe. "Tell your mother I said thank you."

"Yessir," I said.

Chao pounded on the door again. This time, the stowaway also called out.

"Please, let heaven and earth be my witness. I swear I am not working for this Zhu Wan you accuse me of working for. I am only searching for medicine to cure my sick Young Lord."

But no matter how much he begged and begged, his please of innocence fell on deaf ears. Xu Liu coughed another hacking cough into his sleeve before ushering for me to leave.

I scurried away, not wanting to hear anymore of the stowaway's cries.

*****

Father's workshop was located in the barracks of Baldy Li's men. Inside his workshop Father sat near the forge. He was crafting a spearhead that was still glowing red while a man I didn't recognize spoke to him. This man had light colored hair, almost red like the fire that flickered within the forge, and he was pale and had a tall straight nose. I recognized him to be a sailor from the distant land of Portugal.

He spoke to my father in our tongue, but with a thick accent. Our language rose up and down, but this man had a tendency to smooth out the tones of our language.

"This niaochong has a problem," the man said. "It won't fire anymore."

He handed father a niaochong, which was a type of firearm that the sailors frequently carried. The niaochong was more powerful and precise than a bow and arrow, and it was far more effective in long range combat than the spear or sword.

Father examined the niaochong for a brief moment, turning it this way and that. "The trigger is faulty," he said. "It's not connected to the match. No wonder your firearm doesn't work."

"Will you be able to fix it?" the Portuguese man asked.

Without saying another word, Father tightened the metal piece that secured the trigger to the wick of the firearm and handed it back to the Portuguese man. "Go and see for yourself."

The Portuguese man blinked and left the workshop with his firearm in hand. In a matter of moments, a gunshot rang through Shuangyu Port.

Satisfied, Father went back to working on the spearhead. I watched in awe as Father worked. His hands were so nimble, so quick, so certain.

After several dozen clinks and clanks of his hammer against metal, Father placed the spearhead in water, and with a sizzle, the glowing red of the metal dimmed to dark gray. Then he grabbed a wooden pole that had been leaning against the wall beside him and examined it from end to end, making sure that there were no chips or dents. Once the pole was thoroughly examined, he pulled out a knife and began inscribing a few words onto one end of the wooden pole.

His deft hands guided the blade along the unpolished wood, leaving strokes both thin and thick, long and short, smooth and abrupt. I did not know what the meaning behind the strokes were, but I was fascinated nonetheless.

"What does that say?" I asked.

"A-Ma," Father answered.

I cocked my head to the side. "Mother? Why are you carving the word 'mother' onto the pole?"

"That is a nickname for the goddess Mazu, the protector of sailors and merchants. She goes by many names -- Ancestral Mother, Lady of Light and Kindness, and Empress of Heaven to name a few. But the sailors simply refer to her as Mother."

"How come?"

"The sailors believe that if they call out to her using her formal name, the goddess will have to take time to get ready and don her imperial robes. This would delay her from coming to their aid in times of urgent need, so they choose to call her Mother instead."

Once Father finished carving the last stroke for the character Zu, he blew off the excess dust and began assembling the spearhead and pole.

As he assembled the spear, I told Father about the stowaway at the port and about how Baldy Li had the beak-nosed man locked away for being greedy. I also told him about all of the chores I had to help Mother with and about how I had to deliver medicine to Xu Liu.

At the mention of Xu Liu, Father asked, "Did you get the medicine delivered?"

"Of course I did. Mother wouldn't let me eat dinner unless I did so properly."

Father nodded and placed down the spear for a moment to pat me on the head. His hands were rough but reassuring.

"Good job," he said.

I raised my brow, confused. "Is something wrong, Father?"

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Why would you praise me for something as simple as running an errand for mom?"

Father looked at me for a moment, his face sterner than usual, before picking up the spear again. "It's getting late now," he said. "You should head home to see if Mother needs help with anything."

"But Father," I protested. "I want to see you finish making the spear."

"Only if you promise to deliver the spear to Baldy Li once I'm done."

"I'll be off then, Father."