Calculations and Plans

"You belong to us! Your soul is ours! You cannot escape!"

When Huan Wei woke up, he was sweating again and aching all over. The nightmare haunted him again. He kept falling, each time with the same helplessness. There was nothing that could help him. He tried to calm down by taking deep breaths for a while.

He was hungry because he hadn't eaten during the night. He slowly got up from his seat. He stretched a little to relieve the numbness in his body. When he left his room and went to the bathroom, the swelling on his face had gone down a little. He splashed water on his face a few times. He threw his disheveled hair behind his head. After a few seconds of silent staring at his reflection in the mirror, he left the bathroom and went to the kitchen. His father had passed out in the chair again. He hadn't even picked up the pieces of the bottle he had broken last night. Strangely, he hadn't finished the drinks either. There were still two bottles on the table.

Huan Wei approached him and asked in a low voice, "Are you awake?" When there was no answer for a while, he repeated, "Father?" But there was no response from the man. The young man then took the bottles of alcohol from the table. At least he could sell them and get a few copper coins back. He hoped they would provide what he needed. He put the bottles in the same bag his father had used to buy them and went out of the house. The streets were empty this time because people had piled into the marketplace. The lines of customers did not stretch this far. Huan Wei made his way straight to the liquor merchant.

With the money, he could do that thing that would make them think he was Huan Hong, but he still needed a big distraction. He had to get the attention of the whole marketplace. Merchants, guards, customers, everyone.

Huan Wei thought of the bottle his father had thrown last night. When the alcohol had touched the fire on the stove, it had caused it to spike. Alcohol was flammable. "Fire..." he said to himself. "A fire big enough to attract everyone's attention."

He looked at the bag in his hand. The cheap alcohol his father normally bought was not this flammable, but a few drops of this was enough to raise the fire in the stove. This time Huan Chao had bought good quality alcohol. He could sell one and keep the other. He could have bought more for a few copper coins, but more importantly, he could use one of these bottles to start a big fire. Such a disaster would have attracted the attention of the whole town. Everyone would scramble to put out the fire. Even the merchants might forget their stalls for a moment and look toward the fire. This was the distraction he needed. Big and interesting...

There was another problem. He could make them think that Huan Hong had set the fire, but Huan Hong had to be there when he stole the pill for them to think he had done the stealing. Huan Wei's plan was more than a simple theft, but he couldn't do it unless they were in the marketplace at the same time. So he first had to find out where Huan Hong would be and arrange it according to his plan.

When he got to the liquor merchant, he took out one of the bottles from the bag. It had come to someone who didn't particularly know him. So they wouldn't question where he got this bottle. The man took it and examined it. "I'll give you one silver for it."

"Can you give it to me in copper?"

"Okay, wait a bit."

The merchant counted 100 copper coins into Huan Wei's hand. Then he took the unopened bottle and placed it on the shelf. Huan Wei nodded to him and left the shop. Now he was left with one bottle. He didn't want to carry it around with him, but he had no other choice. There was no secret place in the house where he could hide anything. If his father found it, Huan Wei would not be able to buy another bottle. So he had to carry it with him.

He filled the bag with soil before walking to the marketplace. He stopped filling it when it was full enough for a bottle of liquor. At least now he would have an excuse if anyone asked about the bag. So he walked until he reached the market. His main goal was to find out what Huan Hong wanted from this market. Or what would interest him. It had to be something that would bring him to the stall he wanted in the market. Even if he didn't want to buy it, he only had to come to see it. It was also a question of how he would find it in this crowd. There were hundreds of people here, people he knew and people he didn't know. With some hope, he headed towards Huan Quon's father's shop.

When he arrived at the merchant's shop, he chose a place in the crowd and began to watch. He pretended to be interested in other crops. He kept his bag of soil in his hand. He stayed there until almost noon. He had memorized everything that was for sale at every stall as he waited for them, but the wait finally paid off. Huan Quon and Huan Hong met in front of the shop and started walking together. Huan Wei followed them through the crowd. He needed information. He needed to hear what they were saying.

The whole time he was following them, he struggled to get close to them. People were talking too much. The noise pollution made it hard for him to pick out the sentences of his main targets, but eventually he got close enough to them. Huan Quon was angry. "The old bastard is still not satisfied. No matter what I do, he is never satisfied. It's like he expects me to become a god tomorrow."

Huan Hong was calmer. "Families are like that, brother Quon. As long as you do your best, the rest is nothing."

"It's not nothing. I've killed many people just because he wanted me to. I've even chosen the person I'm going to marry just because he wants me to, but he's still not satisfied. I think he thinks I'm his slave."

"Have you told him all this?"

"I tried. He doesn't hear what doesn't suit him. All he wants is to have his wishes fulfilled."

Huan Wei was careful not to close his distance too much. He didn't want them to notice him. "Why don't you get him a deal with an alchemy merchant?" Huan Hong asked. "That would bring him a lot of profit."

Huan Quon shook his head from side to side. "I've already tried. None of them want to make a deal. They all have their noses in the sky. They look down on us."

"So let's make one of the merchants want to deal?"

Huan Quon turned towards Huan Hong. He was intrigued by the last sentence. "How will that work?"

Huan Hong looked left and right. "It's better not to talk about this in a crowd. Let's go somewhere where we can talk in private." Then they stopped talking and walked towards an alley where there were no people. Huan Wei couldn't follow. There was no crowd to hide in. Nor could he risk being discovered. For his conspiracy against Huan Hong, he had to avoid being seen around him. So he cursed his luck and continued on his way.

Huan Quon seemed to do a lot of things at his father's urging, but the merchants from the caravan were too high-ranking for Bitter Sea Town. That's why none of them considered Huan Quon their equal and accepted the deal. So what was the method Huan Hong had in mind? How would he overcome the arrogance of one of those merchants? Huan Wei wondered but couldn't find out. He had never seen Huan Hong as someone who schemed on the sly. As he began to look at the world differently, he realized that many things around him were different from what they seemed.

"So Huan Hong and Huan Quon will be near the alchemy stalls for a while. That's good for me, but I still have to catch Huan Hong alone, Huan Quon has noticed me before. If he does it again, I won't be able to recover. So Huan Hong has to be the only one."

While thinking, Huan Wei walked into the marketplace and approached a stall selling painting materials. There were paints, brushes, canvases and many other materials on this stall, which didn't have many customers. When the merchant saw him, he smiled and greeted him, saying, "Welcome."

Huan Wei smiled back. "I want to buy some paint, varnish and a brush."

"Sure, I have paints of many colors. I also have all the brushes you could want. What are you looking for?" The merchant was very enthusiastic. He probably couldn't find many customers. In a world where everyone was focused on power, there were not many artists.

"Silver paint, some varnish and a fine-tipped brush."

The merchant quickly arranged the items and handed them to him. "The three total 50 copper coins."

Huan Wei smiled. "I guess you don't have many customers, huh?"

"Unfortunately it is true. People turn to swords and techniques rather than writing and painting. There are very few people like you who appreciate painting."

Huan Wei took out all 100 copper coins and handed them to the man. "I appreciate your profession. This money is to help you stay in it. Please accept it."

The merchant was surprised. There were people in this town who would willingly pay twice the asking price. He bowed his head in gratitude and said, "Thank you, young master. "I will be around if you need anything else."

"Take care of yourself."

"You too, sir."

Huan Wei threw his purchases into the bag of soil and headed home. It didn't take him long to leave the marketplace. His father was not home at this time of day. So the house was safe now. He quickly crossed the alleys and came home. As he thought, his father was not at home. Once inside, he opened all the windows to ventilate the house. He wanted the smell of alcohol to subside a little. Then he went to his room full of broken things and picked up a wooden hairpin similar to Huan Hong's. He hadn't used it since he got it. He was planning to paint this carved and shaped hairpin.

He took out the paint and brush and began to paint carefully. He made sure that the silver paint touched every spot. After the paint dried, he gave shine to the wood using varnish. When he was finished, he was holding a wooden buckle that looked like silver from a distance. He was going to steal Huan Hong's identity with it. If someone like Huan Hong received a silver hairpin, he would definitely want to wear it. That's why he was sure that for the next few days it would stay in Huan Hong's hair. That would be the detail that would attract the attention of people who didn't recognize him.

Then he took out the bottle. As he examined the bottle in his hand, he thought about how he could use it. If he set it on fire directly, he would not make it to the marketplace. Because he would not start the fire inside the marketplace. It had to be some distance away so that people would head there. The fire had to reach the alcohol some time after he lit it. He took a piece of cloth for this.

"Okay, that'll do," he said to himself. "If I burn the tip of the cloth, I'll have some time." But he didn't open the bottle. He put the cloth in the bag and buried it in the soil. He put the bottle next to it. There was only one problem left. How to do the fire and the job of sending Huan Hong to the marketplace at the same time. Now he came to the part where acting was involved.