v4c31: Full Circle

“Ganbei!” I called, raising up my cup in the traditional ‘cheers’. We were at a restaurant and had just finished our dinner.

“Ganbei!” the rest of our little group replied, clinking the porcelain together.

It was me, Mei, Gou Ren, Meihua, and Tingfeng. Meihua and Tingfeng had joined us part of the way through, and Meihua had immediately joined in on our little ‘see who can get Yun Ren the best present’ challenge.

The caravan itself was quite interesting. It was certainly different from anything the Azure Jade Trading Company had. The caravaneers, the Roaming Deer Caravan, was a generational thing. There were multiple families and clans, all working together on their nomadic wanderings.

They spent their entire lives on the road, and there was something kind of romantic about constantly travelling through this dangerous world. Or at least, I thought it was romantic now. I hadn’t exactly enjoyed my own journey from Raging Waterfall Gorge. It was all mostly one big blur in my memory.

Maybe one day we would go on a road trip ourselves, now that I could actually enjoy it. The world was vast and beautiful, if a bit dangerous… and it was my home now. It would be a shame if I didn’t see a bit more of it, if I could.

It would also let me get more kinds of food. Seriously. Peppers! They had peppers! What we used for spice up here was more like szechuan peppercorns, but these were actual chilis. I was beginning to think the Crimson Phoenix Continent was Asia, Europe, and the Americas all mashed together. The western side of the continent definitely had a massive variety of ‘new world’ fruits, spices, and vegetables.

That little revelation made me even more confident in Chyou’s expedition.

The peppers would likely have to go in the greenhouse. They needed a lot of humidity, and while the Azure Hills got pretty hot it was often a dry heat. It only really got humid if it was about to rain, but that wouldn’t be enough for them.

And, well, Washy had heard about the peppers and had immediately taken some of the seeds back home to start sprouting them. There were going to be plenty of new things to try. I had always liked South American food; birra tacos, cachapas, empanadas… there was testing to be done.

I took another swig of my rice wine and leaned back in my seat, content for a moment, and then I spoke up.

“Alright. Show ‘em. And may the best person win,” I demanded.

At once, the gazes around the table sharpened as we all reached for our purchases.

“You first!” Meimei demanded of me and I obliged, pulling out the easily transportable, cast iron cooking pot. I opened the lid, revealing the well-arranged and stacked boxes within.

“Our man is gonna be out on the road, and sometimes you can’t get to an inn—so here’s spices and a pot. With these, he’ll never be without good food! And if he has to, he can use the spices to trade,” I said, crossing my arms.

It was a well thought out, practical gift in my opinion. Judging by the nods, I was correct.

“Well, mine is practical too!” Meimei said, as she got out… duck down and fabric? “I’ll be making him a coat!”

We all stared at her purchases. Meimei’s coats were spectacular—I should know, I had one, and it was a damn fine coat. However—

“Disqualified,” Gou Ren immediately declared.

“What?!” Meimei shouted, looking outraged.

“Disqualified,” Meihua agreed. “We said whoever bought the best gift. Making something is cheating.”

“I know we said that, but I still bought it—”

“Forgive me, Meiling,” Tingfeng interrupted. “But as one of the scribes… I must agree with their reasoning. The rules are clear. Disqualification.”

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“Wha—bu—Jin!” Meimei turned to me.

I absolutely knew I would pay for this later.

“Disqualified,” I declared solemnly.

My wife threw up her hands. “You all know that I was going to win! Conspiracy! My own husband is against me! You shall all pay for this, all of you!” She started to grumble and curse under her breath, her eyes switching from one of her friends to the other as she sulked while the rest of us laughed.

“Well… You two were thinking too small,” Meihua said haughtily, revealing what she had brought. It looked like… formal clothes? In a bunch of different colourful styles, and there was a dress in there as well.

“What’s with the dress?” I asked her.

Meihua smirked. “Biyu likes dressing him up… and pretty, exotic dresses for herself,” she said, sheer smugness radiating off her. Sneaky, going after Biyu… but I couldn’t deny it was going to be effective, and neither could Meimei, who was pouting even harder. Yun Ren would definitely like this gift. “So, are you all ready to declare me the winner?”

“It’s a good one, Meihua, it’s a good one…” Gou Ren mused, rubbing his chin. “But I gotcha beat.”

Gou Ren leaned, lounging dramatically as he tossed a sheaf of papers onto the table. I leaned over and picked them up, and then frowned.

Descriptions and artists renditions of some spectacular-seeming landscapes, as well as detailed instructions on how to get to them. There were ten pages of this stuff, arranged by distance and province, as well as what looked like a rough map.

I glared up at Gou Ren over the paper as he leisurely sipped his wine.

It was put to a vote. Gou Ren won.