The Faith and Salt

Xiao Yan's cradle days were spent in a salted fish basket.

He grew up intimately familiar with the briny smell of the salt flats, the sharp scent of mulberry leaves fermenting in clay pots, and the acrid gray powder of crushed river clams.

Memories of his home village felt completely blurred now.

The only thing he clearly remembered was his mother's voice.

As she mended fishing nets for the neighbors, she would hold him close and hum: "Moonlight, moonlight, shining on the salt storehouse..."

When he was ten, his mother took him and fled to Conch Alley in the city of Yangzhou.

That ghostly place was packed with street prostitutes and cheap brothels.

Those dark, grimy rooms were crowded with beggars and poor laborers smoking strange, cheap opium.

After taking the drug, the addicts claimed to feel ecstatic, as if they had entirely transcended the mortal world.

But to young Xiao Yan, the reality was entirely different.

All he saw were the festering sores covering their skin and their completely twisted, ruined spines.

Passersby mockingly called these addicts "Conch Meat" because of the way their broken bodies curled up together on the floor.

In his hungry and violent childhood, his powerful mother was his only refuge and support.

He never forgot how she managed to get work pulling towropes on the heavy salt boats.

A brutal job meant for men.

For the same labor, the bosses paid her five coins instead of the standard ten. Even so, she clung to the work like a lifeline.

Sickness never seemed to touch her.

It was as if absolute poverty had entirely stripped away her right to fall ill.

Years of raw blood and sweat thickened her arms, making them tougher than those of most men around them.

She never complained. She simply absorbed whatever crushing weight life forced onto her shoulders.

In this dirty alley, she seemed happier than in the village.

Walking back through the familiar alley, the rush of old memories managed to calm his racing heart.

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By the time he returned to the gates of Jieyuan, however, his steps had grown incredibly heavy.

Shame over his public loss of control weighed on him, but his mind was also busy processing the brutal reality of that map.

Seeing his return, the guard at the main entrance lowered his head in silent respect.

A maid guided him to a seat in the front parlor before hurrying toward the inner courtyard to announce his arrival.

Shortly after, Wei Yuan personally walked out to greet him again.

"I apologize," Xiao Yan said.

"It is fine," Wei Yuan replied. "I completely understand. The fault is actually mine. If I had known you were coming today, I would have warned you."

"Where are the foreigners?"

"I just sent them back to their hotel to rest." Wei Yuan gestured inward. "Let's go inside and talk."

Taking their seats in a quiet inner study, Xiao Yan let out a heavy breath.

"How long have you known about this?"

"Not very long," Wei Yuan replied.

"And Beijing? Do the Grand Councilors and the Emperor know?"

The conversation abruptly stopped as a maid stepped into the room to pour their tea.

Both men sat in total silence until she finished her task and closed the door behind her.

Wei Yuan deliberately bypassed the question.

"For far too long, people have believed the danger only exists beyond the Great Wall.

They treat outbreaks inside the borders as temporary accidents, or simply blame them on incompetent local officials.”

His eyes sharpened.

“The public cannot stay blind to the truth anymore. If they do, China will cease to exist."

"What do you need from me?"

"I am already working with Minister Lin Zexu and several others to get this map published."

Wei Yuan’s brows pulled together in a tight knot. "It will be a long journey, and I need voices from within the Bureau to help us sound the alarm."

Xiao Yan shook his head. "My official rank is far too low for that."

"No, you misunderstand," Wei Yuan clarified quickly. "I just need you to write down exactly what you have witnessed in the field. If you are willing, you can even put your name on the publication."

Xiao Yan considered it briefly. "Leave my name out of it. But I will share whatever information I can."

"You have my gratitude."

"There is one more thing," Wei Yuan added.

"Go on."

"I need you to work with those two foreigners down in Huai'an, at least in some capacity."

A sharp crease immediately formed between Xiao Yan's brows.

"Hear me out," he pressed quickly. "I know your distaste for outsiders. But the current situation is incredibly grim. Very few are willing to sacrifice themselves the way you do, and our local defenses are failing. You know that fact better than anyone. The weapons and technology these Westerners bring could finally give ordinary people a real chance to fight back."

Though the blunt logic chipped at his resolve, Xiao Yan still shook his head.

"That falls far outside my authority. Training local militias is a matter for the provincial governors and viceroys."

"Then at least protect them. Speak up for them when needed," Wei Yuan urged. "Let those poor men have someone to rely on in a foreign land. They traveled a massive distance to get here, and they harbor no ill intentions."

No ill intentions. How naive.

Even so, the argument held weight.

If the Rot had truly spread as deeply as that map claimed, making compromises was no longer a choice.

"Fine. But I refuse to travel directly alongside them," Xiao Yan said. "I will send out some Eyes for them from a distance and make sure nothing kills them."

"That is more than enough." Deep relief finally showed in Wei Yuan's eyes.

"With the business settled, let's get out of this room." His tone lost a fraction of its heavy tension.

"Where to?"

"You have been surviving in the dirt for months. We need to find some proper food and actually enjoy the evening." Wei Yuan managed a tight, forced smile.

Xiao Yan honestly doubted he had the stomach or the mood for any sort of enjoyment.

The brutal reality of the map still weighed heavily on his mind.

Still, he was thoroughly sick of the suffocating, dead air inside the study.

"Let's go."