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Shen Qingqiu had had an idea.
It was an intriguing premise, that opened up magnificent possibilities. Demon and human goods were much in demand across the border. Things had always been tense between humans and demons, but that wasn’t the inevitable order of things; perhaps the establishment of robust trade networks could go some way towards bridging the gap. Surely that would be much easier on everyone concerned, including the group of pleasant, if puzzled, demon smugglers in front of him.
As it happened, Shen Qingqiu didn’t have anything in particular to do at present, so he decided that he might as well pursue this line of thought. Perhaps he might establish an alternative career for himself out here in the borderlands, where no one would think to look for him.
When he broached the idea, he was met with confused glances at first. This was understandable; no one had tried such a thing before. Of course it would be hard for demons to establish reliable trade routes, given the longstanding hostilities. (Not to mention that less than an incense time ago, they’d been smuggling in the same area. Perhaps it would be better to move their operations a little further afield.)
’What you need,’ said Shen Qingqiu, with all the wisdom of a fuerdai, ’are connections. It’s all about networking.’
Six Balls looked yet more confused. ’Net Work isn’t here today,’ he said. ’He’s on vacation.’ He hadn’t known that his smuggling companion had cultivator friends.
Shen Qingqiu sighed. Airplane and his character names! Did he really name them after the first thing that came into his mind? Come to think of it, he hadn’t known that demon smugglers had vacations. Good for them, he thought.
He’d been told that presentation was integral to selling an idea, so he cleared his throat and regarded them with an air of dignified benevolence. ‘Let me show you,’ he said, with great wisdom, ‘what the power of connections can do.’
*
The first town they came to was rather deserted, since the frequency of demonic phenomena had driven most of its population to emigrate. But it was as good a place to begin as any; perhaps they could revitalise the economy and draw people back here. Shen Qingqiu liked the look of the marketplace, and there were some stalls, now sadly abandoned, that he thought he’d like to visit.
Their first target was a merchant who appeared to be packing up his wares in rather a hurry. He was the first person they’d come upon since they arrived; this town truly was deserted. Given that he was packing up, he didn’t seem ideal, but they had to start somewhere.
’I’ll approach him on my own first,’ said Shen Qingqiu. ‘Watch closely, now.’
He approached the merchant as hastily as he could without detracting from his dignified mien. He risked a glance behind him; Six Balls and company were following close behind, and trying unsuccessfully to look as if they weren’t. Well, perhaps it was just as well to have them present, since he was negotiating on their behalf.
The merchant seemed to be glancing nervously from side to side, but he returned Shen Qingqiu’s greeting, if a little abstractedly.
’We wanted to talk about your wares,’ said Shen Qingqiu. ’Those are some fine cups you have there.’
Shen Qingqiu’s eyes glinted keenly through his beard, with the look of one who had sighted his prey, for he was very eager to demonstrate his skills. He waved his fan with an air of sagacity. The cups were rather fine; he had a good eye for such things, and he knew it was important to show your business associates that you could appreciate quality.
The merchant took a nervous step back. ‘I—I don’t know anything about their origin,’ he said. ’I happened upon someone who could sell them to me, that’s all. Someone I didn’t know, of course. Now, if you’ll excuse me—’
Of course no merchant would want to disclose their trade secrets, Shen Qingqiu reasoned. ’Oh, no, we aren’t interested in that,’ he said. ’We were simply wondering if we could come to an arrangement. For mutual benefit, of course. Since you appear to be in a hurry to get away—’
The expression on the merchant’s face grew even more hunted. ’You can have it all!’ he said, taking to his heels.
Six Balls and his companions cheered from the bushes. They’d had their doubts about this eccentric cultivator, but his methods were certainly proving effective.
Shen Qingqiu sighed. ’We might as well take it all,’ he said. ’I doubt he’ll be coming back here.’ He wondered, a little forlornly, what he’d done to frighten the merchant so much. He didn’t think he was nearly as scary as his older brother, who had always been very successful at networking.
‘Good job, Xiansheng!’ said Six Balls. Shen Qingqiu perked up a little. At least he appeared to be looking cool in front of his new friends.
*
The next person they approached didn’t notice them until they were right in front of him. Then he gave a small start, and bowed to them very politely. He wore snow-white robes, that were somehow crisp and pristine despite the damp weather.
This time, Six Balls and the others clustered around Shen Qingqiu as he made his greetings. He had decided that appearances were less suspicious this way; they weren’t exactly skilled at concealment.
‘Do you live here?’ Shen Qingqiu asked.
’I walk where the winds take me,’ said the man, ’and no possessions weigh me down. Are you wanderers too?’
Shen Qingqiu was beginning to think he hadn’t chosen a very promising town to begin his business venture. There didn’t seem to be an opening for trade talk in this conversation, so he decided to exercise his second talent instead: gossip.
’We’re just passing through,’ he said. ’Interesting town, this. Surprising that all these stalls are abandoned, isn’t it? Do you know anything about it?’
’I came here, and found them gone, like leaves in a strong wind,’ said the man. ’Soon I’ll be gone, too.’
Beside him, Six Balls made another attempt. ‘Are you interested in jewellery?’
‘Ah, jewellery!’ The man’s eyes were far away. ‘Gems the colour of the evening sky, gems as warm as a fire, gems that make their own light. Truly, this world is full of fascinating sights for those who look.’
’You’re interested in jewellery, then?’ said Shen Qingqiu, perking up. Perhaps he’d erred in his first judgement.
’Not in the slightest,’ said the man politely.
’Where do you go when the wind isn’t blowing?’ Six Balls asked.
The wanderer smiled, as though he approved of the question. ’Then I stop to watch the sky,’ he said.
Shen Qingqiu glanced dubiously at the sullen, lowering sky, but forbore to comment.
Six Balls had evidently taken the wanderer’s wisdom to heart, for he turned to look at the sky, too. ‘It’s very red,’ he said with admiration. ‘And green!’
Shen Qingqiu patted him on the head. ‘You have an artist’s eye,’ he said.
*
The next merchant was friendly, but seemed a little dubious of their proposal. She urged Shen Qingqiu, in a friendly manner, to get out of this town as fast as he could, for there had been a spate of robberies in the vicinity.
‘You might want to be careful,’ she said, glancing around apprehensively. ‘I hear some fine cups were taken.’
‘We have fine cups!’ said Six Balls, jumping out from behind a bush. He had watched Shen Qingqiu’s diligent attempts, and decided that he couldn’t leave him to do all the work.
The merchant paled. ‘You’re the robbers?’
‘No, no,’ said Shen Qingqiu, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. ‘We came by these honestly. I think.’
The merchant looked dubious. ’There’s no-one here who’d care how you came by them,’ she said, ’but you might want to rethink your sales strategy a little.’
Shen Qingqiu nodded, cowed. This was turning out to be much harder than he’d thought.
*
Shen Qingqiu stopped short at the sight of another trader, looking rather careworn, standing before a cart piled high with cups similar to theirs. No, as he approached, he discovered that they were identical.
The trader made no attempt to get away; she greeted him politely but rather mournfully, and he blinked at her, too confused to return her courtesy properly. ‘Are you the robber?’
‘No, no,’ said the trader, running a harried hand through her ponytail. ’I think the robbers had made an error in their plans. I found them running as fast as they could from the scene of the crime; they were only too eager to be rid of these. I’ve been trying to sell my wares all morning, and instead all I get is another cart of wares, and now everyone thinks I’ve stolen them. It’s not fair!’
‘I know,’ said Shen Qingqiu sympathetically. He indicated the cart behind him. ‘I’ve had that happen today, too.’
The trader glanced from him to the cart, and her wan face lit up in an instant. ‘Now there’s an idea!’
‘There is?’
‘You want to get rid of those, don’t you? And so do I!’ She slapped her hands together and beamed triumphantly.
Shen Qingqiu blinked at her again. She appeared to have an idea, but he was having trouble grasping it.
’Well, if we exchange them,’ said the woman patiently, ‘we make them less likely to be tracked down, don’t we?’
Shen Qingqiu glanced from his cart of ill-gotten goods to hers. It wasn’t a bad plan, on the surface of it. There was only one flaw.
‘They’re identical,’ he said.
‘Yes,’ said the woman, ‘but the further they are from the source, the harder they are to trace.’
She spoke with an air of great wisdom, but even so, Shen Qingqiu was a little doubtful of this logic. But he supposed it was always good to build up trade networks, even if they didn’t pay off right away. ‘All right, then,’ he said. ‘We’ll take your cart.’
As a networking venture, it was certainly successful enough. Their new acquaintance walked off into the angry sunset, beaming, and assured them that they could always count on her. Shen Qingqiu was starting to have some doubts about his business venture, but he and the demons thanked her politely, and wished her good fortune in her trading.
*
’Xiansheng,’ said Six Balls, ’there’s some people in those bushes.’
There were, indeed, people in the bushes, though said bushes seemed a very prickly place to conduct business negotiations. The occupiers seemed to be human. They were perfectly visible, and their voices floated loud and clear into the night.
From the inferior quality of their disguises, Shen Qingqiu deduced quickly that they were bandits. Really, in a world with such good masks, why would anyone bother with disguises at all? And in this deserted area, their disguises made them more conspicuous, not less.
’We got away,’ said the first bandit, with a laugh whose villainy rang through the night.
Six Balls’ wiggly ears pricked up, and he bent to whisper penetratingly in Shen Qingqiu’s ear. ’Do you think…’
Shen Qingqiu had had his suspicions already, but that laugh confirmed it: this was a Case. They had stumbled on one of those coincidences that Airplane’s writing was so absurdly rife with. Presumably, these bandits had robbed some beautiful maiden, of the sort Binghe was always rescuing. This was probably a sign that Binghe would appear soon; he would have to be going.
’He didn’t even have the spirit to pursue us,’ said the second, with the sort of sneer that only the lower quality of villain would affect.
*
Shen Qingqiu stroked his beard, and regarded his audience. ’As you have inferred,’ he said, after a suitably dramatic pause, ’we have before us the disturbers of the peace: the robbers who have been terrorising the borderlands!’ He waited for a reaction.
Rustling Pitcher Plant scratched his horns.
’Should we try to make a trade?’ Six Balls asked.
Shen Qingqiu shook his head. ‘You see,’ he said gravely, ‘we’re dealing with a Villain, and we must thwart their designs.’
They considered this with new interest.
’I can do a terrifying laugh,’ said Six Balls.
’So can I!’ said Rustling Pitcher Plant.
Shen Qingqiu contemplated this. Perhaps he’d been taking the wrong approach to this whole venture. He had often been told that an entrepreneur ought to make use of the specialties of his collaborators.
He picked up a fan from the cart. ’All right. All together, then.’
*
Shen Qingqiu stepped into the bushes, with as much majesty as anyone could summon while being pricked from all sides.
’Unhand your ill-gotten goods!’ he said grandly, with a fine, if curtailed, flourish of his hands. True to their word, Six Balls and the rest stormed into the bushes behind him with a magnificent chorus of yells and whoops, and ringing laughs that put the robbers to shame.
The robbers blinked at them in confusion for a moment, until the possessor of the original villainous laugh recovered enough to say, ’But you have them.’
Shen Qingqiu blinked, and turned to look behind him at the cart of cups that they’d forgotten to conceal.
’Er… your goods or your life?’ said the sneerer valiantly. It fell flat, as both Shen Qingqiu’s associates and the robbers stared at him in silence. His shoulders slumped. ’It was worth a try.’
Shen Qingqiu patted him on the shoulder. ’You’ve got the right spirit. You’ll be a businessman one day.’ He paused, struck by another thought. ’I don’t suppose you’d like to be one right now?’
*
An incense time later, things were settled to everyone’s satisfaction. An alliance of smugglers and thieves was exactly what they needed to revitalise the rural areas, and Shen Qingqiu was starting to suspect he wasn’t cut out for business anyway (which he ought, perhaps, to have guessed from his past life). Both sides of the new alliance seemed a little confused about what exactly the arrangement entailed, but they seemed well disposed (apart from a couple of fisticuffs), and he was sure they’d work it out between them.
He’d been sad to leave his new friends, but they had assured him he was always welcome in the smugglers’ hideouts, and he was certain they’d get on well without him in the meantime.