Chapter Forty-Five: The Firearms Expert, Part Two

After a moment, Cai Lei suddenly lit up with delight. “Done!” he said, and with great care he lifted the lid from the wine jar. No fragrance of wine escaped. Fang Guohuan asked in surprise, “Brother Cai, what sort of wine is this? Why must it be handled with such caution?”

Cai Xiaolei smiled. “You must not have drunk wine like this before. Before it is used, it must not be shaken. If it is disturbed, its spirit disperses. Only after it has grown still may it be drunk, which is why it is called Still-Cloud Wine, a thing found nowhere else in the world.”

He spoke, then used a ladle to draw out two bowls, slowly sliding one before Fang Guohuan. “Wait until the ripples settle, then taste it carefully. Only then will you know its flavor.”

Fang Guohuan shook his head with a laugh. “It would be better to call it Slow-Drinking Scholar's Wine. So cautious a thing—how could it stir any excitement at all?”

“Not so,” Cai Xiaolei said. “True drinking pleasure is wild yet elegant, and this Still-Cloud Wine is no ordinary liquor. It must be taken in just this manner.” He lifted his bowl, sipped slowly, then closed his eyes to savor it, seeming utterly enraptured.

Seeing this, Fang Guohuan also took a small sip. At once a mellow fragrance filled his mouth, as if it had burst forth all at once and spread in every direction. As the liquid entered his belly, its aroma stirred his stomach and bowels, sending through his whole body a marvelous warmth, gentle and deeply comforting. Fang Guohuan secretly praised it: excellent wine! Then he thought of the Three-Flavored Jasper Tonic brewed by Han Xing'er, and found that it, too, shared something of this wine's strange and marvelous effect.

“Well?” Cai Xiaolei asked with a smile. “Is it unlike other wines?”

Fang Guohuan nodded in admiration. “Excellent wine! Excellent wine! I never imagined wine could possess such a wonder. To drink it today, I am truly fortunate beyond measure!”

“What you say is not far wrong,” Cai Xiaolei replied. “Among all who have tasted this wine, there are not even five people in the world today. Ten taels of gold a cup would not be too much.”

Fang Guohuan asked in astonishment, “Where does this Still-Cloud Wine come from? Who brews it, and by what method, that it has such marvelous qualities?”

Cai Xiaolei said, “The story of this wine is rather wondrous. No one had lived here before; there were only a few crumbling stone huts, said to be the remains of an ancient wine workshop. Three years ago, I and my friend Ruan Fang, the present owner of this house, came here on an outing. While resting, we accidentally noticed a broken wall sunken into the ground. When we pushed it, it seemed ready to fall, and the earth beneath was very loose. Knowing something was amiss, we fetched iron tools and dug. Beneath the broken wall we uncovered a cavern. When we went down to look, it was a huge wine cellar, storing several hundred jars of wine, left by heaven knows what dynasty. We were overjoyed and opened one jar to taste it. The aged wine had mellowed to perfection, its strange fragrance filling the mouth and creating a wholly new sense of enchantment; curiously, when one smelled it, the wine's scent was not very strong. Only later did we discover, by chance in tasting, that once it was shaken its fragrance dispersed. Only when left still and sipped slowly did its mellow aroma emerge, allowing one to taste its true flavor. Utterly marvelous! Ruan Fang and I were naturally astonished and delighted, so we named it Still-Cloud Wine. Fearing it might one day be discovered by others, Brother Ruan simply moved his home here to live. The two of us agreed to spend the rest of our lives drinking our way through the cellar's store, and we would not share it with anyone who came without proper intent. Such fine wine is unique in the world; to sell it would be a pity. Only by keeping it for ourselves can we honor the bond that brought it to us.”

Fang Guohuan listened in amazement. Together with Cai Xiaolei, he drank slowly, and little by little his spirits relaxed.

Then, from outside the door, a voice cried, “Cai Xiaolei, drinking in my house, and you did not wait for me?” As the words rang out, a middle-aged man strode in. Tall and broad-shouldered, with a square face and a powerful countenance, he was a truly imposing figure. In his left hand he carried several wild chickens and rabbits; in his right, a musket.

At sight of him, Cai Xiaolei was overjoyed and quickly rose to greet him. “The master of the house has returned!” Then, smiling, he said, “Today I brought a friend who can truly appreciate good wine to drink this Still-Cloud Wine. Your fiery temperament would never let you taste its real flavor.”

Fang Guohuan knew this must be Ruan Fang, and rose at once. Seeing that a stranger was present, Ruan Fang set down his things, cupped his hands, and said, “I had no idea there was another guest. Ruan has been rude.”

Cai Xiaolei introduced him: “This is my close friend Brother Ruan Fang, a famed sharpshooter known far and wide.”

Fang Guohuan stepped forward and bowed. “Your younger brother Fang Guohuan greets Brother Ruan.”

Ruan Fang nodded. “So you are Brother Fang. Why have I never met you before?”

Cai Xiaolei laughed. “Brother Fang is a new friend of mine. We hit it off splendidly, so I brought him here to drink.”

Ruan Fang was pleased to hear it. “So that is how it is. Welcome, welcome. A friend chosen by Brother Cai must certainly be no ordinary man.” He then invited Fang Guohuan to sit. At that moment Liu Xiang came in, and Ruan Fang said, “I have just hunted some game. Take it to the kitchen and prepare it, and make us a few more dishes to drink with.” Liu Xiang answered and carried the game away.

Ruan Fang filled three bowls and invited Cai Xiaolei and Fang Guohuan to drink. Saying, “Please,” he drained his bowl at once, before the wine had settled. Cai Xiaolei shook his head and laughed. “Such fine wine, and Brother Ruan wastes it so.”

“Drinking is meant to be heartily enjoyed,” Ruan Fang replied. “All this fuss only spoils the fun.” Then, smiling at Fang Guohuan, he added, “Please do not mind me, Brother Fang. I am too rough a fellow to appreciate such refined things.”

Fang Guohuan smiled. “Brother Ruan is refreshingly straightforward. Wine, after all, should rise with the mood and increase one's heroic spirit.”

Ruan Fang threw back his head and laughed. “Brother Fang speaks very well indeed.” Then he shook his head. “Still-Cloud Wine is a unique treasure among wines, but I am merely a rough man and cannot savor it delicately. Besides, when there are too many fine things, one ceases to treat them as treasures. Better to buy a few jin of hard liquor in town and drink for sheer pleasure. Still, if all this wine were left for Brother Cai alone to enjoy, I could not stomach it, so I often come and drink with him at random, disturbing his refined mood.” Having said this, he laughed heartily.

Cai Xiaolei smiled and shook his head. “You fellow, so that is your scheme. Since you cannot endure the patience needed to taste it properly, you come only to ruin my enjoyment. It seems I had better keep this cellar's wine separate from now on.”

Ruan Fang laughed. “A man who does not drink is no companion at all. How could I leave you alone?”

Fang Guohuan saw that both men were open and generous in spirit, and was secretly pleased to have made their acquaintance. Ruan Fang pressed him to drink several more bowls, and the three of them passed cup to cup, talking and laughing in high spirits, most delightfully.

When Cai Xiaolei spoke of how he and Fang Guohuan had first met, Ruan Fang struck the table angrily and said, “That tavern keeper was utterly unreasonable! If Brother Fang's precious chess piece could be taken in exchange for his tavern, then it was worth a fortune. To try to cheat someone out of it simply because he was in need—that is nothing short of theft. If I ever ran into such a man, I would put a bullet through him and be done with it.”

Fang Guohuan said, “It was thanks to Brother Cai's righteous intervention, and his paying my meal bill to get the chess piece back, that I was not at a loss. Otherwise I truly would not know what to do.”

Cai Xiaolei said, “Brother Fang, you were too careless. You should not have shown such a valuable thing in a place like that. By the way, what exactly was so remarkable about that chess piece that it could inspire such greed?”

Fang Guohuan took a starstone chess piece from his robe and placed it on the table. “This is a starstone chess piece, fallen from a meteor shower beyond the heavens, something not found in the world.”

Cai Xiaolei exclaimed in surprise, “From beyond the heavens?” He reached out to take it and inspect it. Yet when he tried to lift it, it would not budge. Startled, he tried again with greater care, only to feel a shocking heaviness in his hand, as though he were lifting an iron ingot.

“How heavy!” Cai Xiaolei said in astonishment. “It truly is a rare object!” He handed it to Ruan Fang. “Brother Ruan, come and see this thing from beyond the heavens.”

Ruan Fang took it, weighed it in his hand, and was likewise amazed. Muttering to himself, he said, “This thing is both hard and heavy. If used in place of lead shot and loaded into a musket, it could strike the sun and moon.”

Cai Xiaolei laughed beside him. “You never forget your firearms. Though Brother Fang is a new acquaintance, he feels like an old friend. They say ten years of friendship may not win heartfelt trust, yet one evening's conversation can make a true confidant. He and we get on splendidly. Brother Ruan, why not show us a specialty and enliven the drink?”

Ruan Fang smiled, returned the starstone chess piece to Fang Guohuan, and reached for the musket beside him. Fang Guohuan thought to himself that Brother Ruan's special skill must be marksmanship.

By chance, at that moment a yellow finch flew to a branch outside the window and settled there, chirping. Ruan Fang glanced outside and said carelessly to Fang Guohuan, “Brother Fang, do you see that little bird? Should I take it alive, or take it dead?”

Fang Guohuan was startled. How could the fate of a bird be foretold by the strike of a pellet? Could this Brother Ruan possess some other secret art? So he asked, “How will Brother Ruan decide the finch's fate?”

“If I want it dead, that is simple enough. If I want it alive, then I shall frighten it into flight and strike only its wings.”

Fang Guohuan was astonished and could scarcely believe that Ruan Fang could handle a musket with such precision. Yet seeing his confident manner, he said half in doubt, “Then please take it alive, Brother Ruan.”

Ruan Fang merely smiled, said nothing, picked up a chopstick from the table, and flung it outward, striking the branch outside. The yellow finch had just settled when it was startled into flight. With a sharp whir it shot straight into the sky, turning in the blink of an eye into a tiny black speck in the window's distant heaven, already hundreds of paces away. Seeing this, Fang Guohuan could only shake his head inwardly, knowing there was no hope either way.

Yet at that very moment there came a crisp, ear-splitting report of a gunshot, and the tiny black speck, still receding into the distance, suddenly fell and drifted downward. Fang Guohuan sprang up at once and cried, “Excellent!” Cai Xiaolei, standing nearby, also smiled and nodded. Ruan Fang had by then lowered the musket at the window and turned back with a smile. “A mere trifle. Brother Fang flatters me.”

Just then Liu Xiang, having heard the shot, ran over and asked, “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Ruan Fang said. “Go to the east end of the woods and pick up the finch that has fallen to the ground.”

Liu Xiang understood at once and ran off cheerfully.

Fang Guohuan marvelled. “Brother Ruan is truly a divine marksman!”

Ruan Fang waved a hand. “You overpraise me. Merely a small trick, not worth mentioning.”

Cai Xiaolei laughed beside him. “A small trick, when spoken by Brother Ruan, is hardly meant as modesty. Brother Ruan is the foremost expert of our age in the study of gunpowder and firearms. In this field, his achievements may well be the greatest in all history.”

Fang Guohuan was stirred to deep respect. “So Brother Ruan is a master hidden from the world. Forgive my disrespect!”

Ruan Fang shook his head. “How can I be called a master? I am just a rough fellow.” Then, growing solemn, he said, “Gunpowder was invented by our own people, and it is the most yang and fiercest of substances. Sulfur and saltpeter are originally opposing elements; when combined, they produce a different power altogether and yield immense force. The method of making gunpowder later spread to the West, where it has been used throughout their armies to seize cities and take lands, all for the slaughter of war, truly offending the will of creation. Yet if used to blast mountains, split rocks, and cut roads through the earth, it can also benefit the world. It is a pity people nowadays do not know how to use it well.” Fang Guohuan and Cai Xiaolei nodded in agreement.

At that moment Liu Xiang came in carrying the roasted game, and Ruan Fang invited Fang Guohuan to partake. The three of them drank a few more cups, and Ruan Fang said, “For several generations my family has studied gunpowder and firearms. In the armies of this dynasty there was once a kind of water arrow called Fire Dragon Emerging from Water. Its range could reach beyond a thousand paces. It was used to attack enemies far away, driven forward by the force of exploding gunpowder, and when it reached its target it burst open like a dragon rising from the water, swift and fierce. It was indeed offered to the military by our clan, but it lacked refinement and was of little real use.”

He then pointed to the wine jar containing the Still-Cloud Wine and said to Fang Guohuan, “If this jar were filled with explosives, would Brother Fang believe its power could overturn rivers and seas?” Fang Guohuan looked at the jar, not very large at all, and could only shake his head in confusion.

Cai Xiaolei said from the side, “The explosives Brother Ruan developed are extremely powerful, several dozen times, even a hundred times stronger than ordinary powder. Earlier, when road work in the neighboring county was blocked by a rocky hill, they blasted it with gunpowder for more than ten days without success, wasting both labor and money, while the deadline drew near, making things truly miserable. When Brother Ruan heard of it, he secretly went there by night and exploded two jars of his own explosives. The stone hill was leveled at once, and a boulder weighing a thousand jin was thrown more than a hundred paces away. People at the time did not know the truth and thought heaven and earth had been moved by their sincerity, so the laborers gathered to worship at the foot of the hill and thank the divine powers, never realizing it was all Brother Ruan's doing alone.”

Fang Guohuan was filled with admiration. “Gunpowder is fierce indeed, but when used rightly it can benefit the people of the world; when used wrongly it harms all under heaven. Brother Ruan's feat deserves the reverence of all people.”

Ruan Fang shook his head and laughed. “Brother Fang overstates it. I was only testing the power of a new explosive on that occasion.”

At that moment Fang Guohuan noticed the musket standing nearby, the one Ruan Fang had just used to shoot the finch. Its design was somewhat different from ordinary muskets, broader in shape. He said, “People nowadays are accustomed to sword and bow on horseback, while firearms and muskets are still mostly used by hunters. It seems that because each shot requires reloading, they are rather inconvenient and not very practical.”

Ruan Fang smiled. “Not at all. People simply do not understand the ingenuity and power of firearms. Take my so-called Bead-String Gun, for instance—it can fire four shots in succession.”

“Bead-String Gun?” Fang Guohuan exclaimed. “This musket can really fire repeatedly?”

“Yes. Since we are among friends today, I might as well show you.” He pointed casually to a branch on the tree outside the window. “I have already used one shot to strike the bird, and three remain. Let us see how many sections I can break from that branch.”

With that, Ruan Fang raised the gun and fired. With three deafening reports, the slender branch was broken into three sections and fell beneath the tree, while the room was filled with the choking smell of gunpowder. Fang Guohuan stood beside him, utterly dumbfounded.

Ruan Fang lowered the musket and smiled. “The power of firearms is still not widely known. Though this Bead-String Gun can fire four shots in succession, it is far inferior to the wall-hung Chain-Plate Gun in power.”

“Chain-Plate Gun?” Fang Guohuan cried in astonishment, staring at the mechanical contrivance hanging on the wall, shaped somewhat like a pipa. “So this is also a firearm!”

This novel was first published here.

Even a single message from you, even just a little heart, will become the author's inspiration. Please do your best to encourage the author!