Chapter 5- Refusing The Toast

Tian slept in, ate a filling breakfast of soy milk and steamed buns, then realized he was jammed. He wanted to get better tea, but the only places he could think of where you could get ‘better’ than what you already had were the warehouses and the crafters. Quartermaster Wu was finishing her shift at the warehouse, so he couldn’t go there to get the tea. But as far as he knew, the crafters didn’t craft tea. Tea was a leaf, usually.

He crouched in a corner, drawing circles on the ground while he thought. There were lots of different kinds of tea. Brother Fu had explained in a lot of detail. And it wasn’t like the leaves were just plucked and dried. There were lots of ways of treating them, which could make different flavors. That sounded kind of like crafting. It was the best he could come up with. And he had a good relationship with one of the crafters.

Senior Li Xiuning might not be the pillar of the crafters at Depot 4, but she was capable. Her capability meant she had a lot of requests beyond her usual duties, and that meant she did a lot of trading. Best of all, she never wanted to drink tea. She would, however, often let Tian accompany her while she drank wine.

“Senior, how good to see you. And may I say you look charming this morning?”

“Your Senior Brothers taught you to say that, and you are saying that because you want something for me.” For some reason Tian could never figure out, she got irritated when he used the phrases his brothers gave him. He didn’t know why. He used them to be polite. It worked most of the time on most people.

“Yes, Senior. But not for free. I suspect I will be wildly overpaying.”

That brightened her eyes, bloodshot and underlined with a wagon-train full of baggage as they were. She had little wrinkles around the corners of her eyes. Her hair was still black and shiny, but he could see her hands starting to thin, the skin loosening, the knuckles protruding. She was starting to show her age. She probably didn’t have long to live. Comparatively. But then, who did?

“Say more about this overpaying thing. I’ve been feeling underappreciated.”

“Did someone happen to pay for something recently with high quality tea, by any chance?”

Sister Li gave Tian an odd look. “Not recently, but I did get half a pound of Autumn Fire tea leaves a while back, and they have been sitting in my storage ring ever since. They should still be fresh in their box. Why?”

“What do you think of this jar of wine?”

She grabbed it and carefully looked it over. “I think it’s worth more than half a pound of Autumn Fire tea, and that’s good tea.”

“Good wine?”

“Lousy wine. But expensive.”

Tian blinked. For him, to the extent that he understood the value of things as measured in currency, good equalled expensive, lousy equalled cheap. “I don’t understand, Senior Sister.”

She tapped the label. “I’m guessing you looted this off a Heretic.”

“Yes, Senior.

“So you know these heretics you have been killing are all working for Black Iron Gorge, one way or another, right?”

Tian nodded.

“This was made in Black Iron Gorge. Which, from what I have heard, is a chasm more than a mile deep, and lined with all kinds of shops and homes and everything you would need to create a livable city for heretical cultivators. Most especially water. They have a massive desalination operation there, processing the water from brine wells. And do you know the other thing you get from a brine well?”

Tian shook his head.

“Salt. They are a very, very rich city. Nobody ever said anything to me, but there are definitely above Heavenly Person Level figures holding down the fort there. It’s become a massive trade center. Salt and slaves are the two most obvious markets but there are so many more. Herbs, insects, strange metals, all sorts of natural treasures, innumerable weapons and armors, all the spells and arts that Heretics accumulate raiding, all going through the markets and stores of Black Iron Gorge. It is functionally the trade hub for not only the wasteland, but a lot of the surrounding countries. If you have enough strength, and no conscience, it would be hard not to earn a fortune there.”

Tian’s eyes widened. He wondered how heretics could stand up to the combined forces of several sects. It turns out the answer was “Money.”

“Then why are all the heretics so broke?”

“You think you can live under the protection of such glorious existences for free?” Sister Li’s laugh would have given Grandpa Jun a run for his throne in the nastiness department. “Taxes, fees, costs to rent a room to sleep or a stall in a market, costs to rent a storefront. Costs of food, of raw materials, of skilled labor that you can trust without direct and constant supervision. Endless expenses. They are out here fighting us because they are broke! The rich heretics are in the city or traveling by caravan. Or by sky barge, unpleasant though that thought is.”

“So… why is the wine expensive?”

“You see much rice growing in the desert?”

“None, Senior Sister.”

“Do you know how much rice and clean water it takes to make a jar of wine?”

“I do not, Senior Sister. A lot?”

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“Recipes vary wildly, but before distillation, it would be about six pounds of rice per gallon of base wine. Then you would evaporate more water out of the base wine, concentrating the alcohol. So a jug like this? Eighteen pounds of rice? Maybe more? Then include all the water needed to steam the rice. It’s all imported rice, obviously.”

“Expensive wine.”

“Yep. And the water tastes lousy in Black Iron Gorge. So it’s bad wine, but very, very expensive. Earthly realm heretics use it as a status symbol. Whoever you killed was probably going to offer it to someone as a gift or a bribe.”

Tian felt a little internal stab. That was exactly how he had intended to use it.

“Look, the label is a talisman, guaranteeing it’s authenticity and that it hasn’t been opened yet. Bribe.”

“Well. Even if you don’t want to drink it, would you trade for it?”

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Tian brewed the Autumn Fire tea gingerly. He didn’t know how to brew it, and Sister Li hadn’t known either. Quartermaster Wu’s office was surprisingly snug, filled with shelves full of ledgers and made habitable only with two hard chairs and a wide desk. The only examples of the luxuries permitted by her station were the two intensely plush pale green cushions on the chairs. The softness of the cushions seemed to match well with the scent of the tea leaves waiting for the water.

“It’s a red tea, so it can probably stand up to hotter water than green tea, but other than that, I have no advice.” Quartermaster Wu smiled. It was somewhat endearing seeing a plain looking child fussing over his tea set, especially since he was so sincere about everything. It was comforting to know the traditions of the West Town Outer Court that made her continue on to a new generation.

“I’m sorry, Martial Aunt. I was supposed to study red teas with Senior Brother Fu, but we were still on white and green teas when we left West Town.”