The Faith and Salt

David rested for days after returning to Huai'an.

Xiao Yan tried to tell him something before leaving, but David understood absolutely nothing.

Heavy rain had completely soaked his thick Morrison dictionary.

He had to tie it carefully to a wooden window frame using thin ropes.

Wet pages stuck tightly together.

Any hard pull would tear them right open. David had to use his fingers extremely carefully.

He separated them one by one so they would not dry into a solid block.

Even so, he tried his best to learn a bit more.

Sometimes, he just stared blankly at those running ink marks.

His mind kept going back to his time with Xiao Yan inside that dirty inn.

Now, he no longer saw Xiao Yan's beautiful body as just some wild dream. Instead, this beauty felt like a loss.

They had already built a real connection.

A bond that was incredibly hard due to their significant language barrier. However, they were no longer just total strangers sitting far apart.

Two men were trying to reach each other...

But why?

Why would Xiao Yan want to reach me?

Is that just another fantasy in my head?

David honestly did not know.

He just sat there with a stiff neck, staring at those Roman letters to practice complex Chinese sounds. He could not read those strange character shapes at all.

That was not his main problem right now, anyway. He needed to speak a few words instead of acting completely dumb.

He tried to guess his next conversation with Xiao Yan. He wanted to learn the exact sounds to answer possible questions.

Doing this was already hard enough. But this dictionary's terrible shape made things even worse:

Some pages were completely ruined.

Others had totally blurry ink. He was not even sure if he was reading those letters right anymore.

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But this was still much better than nothing. He would never find any other English-Chinese dictionary here.

This struggle also reminded him of another matter.

"Hong Xiuquan? Hong Xiuquan?" He tried asking local servants and the inn boss about Hong's location.

He only got highly confused looks in return. Sometimes people gave very long answers.

But even when they wrote things down on paper, he could not read a single word.

Having no other choice, he went out to find Archie inside a noisy tavern.

Damn it, why was Archie always so incredibly easy to find?

He smelled strongly of cheap alcohol. Of course, he had already made new friends in this foreign city.

David believed he had enough street sense to survive rough places like East London.

But Archie was completely different. He was not a normal sailor, but a very annoying language genius, or a liar who had been to China before.

"That's my new lad, Master Pan from the local salt guild," Archie said.

He could even introduce David in Chinese.

That man stood up and bowed politely.

David crossed his hands and bowed back.

"Hey... Archie, do you know any place selling waterproof oilcloth around here?" David asked.

"That is not easy," Archie said. "How much money ye willin' to spend?"

Of course, always about money.

David touched those small silver pieces Xiao Yan gave him.

He had absolutely no idea how much they were actually worth here.

But what was in his pocket felt like a solid handful of British shillings.

It would be enough money to buy cheap bread for a whole month back in London.

God, don’t let my estimation surprise everyone again.

So, he pulled out two small silver pieces and placed them on that wet wooden table.

Archie looked happily at those silver pieces. He reached out one dirty hand, ready to grab them for himself.

"You must buy it and bring it to me," David said. He had watched Archie's face very carefully. Now, he pressed one hand firmly down on those silver coins.

Archie looked back at him. He leaned his body back, acting like he was reconsidering.

"Tomorrow morning, I will drop that waterproof cloth right outside yer door."

"Deal." David finally pulled his hand away.

"My good lad Pan has a very big and powerful family," Archie bragged loudly to David. "And he told me that rich people here are hiring English teachers now. I reckon ye might be interested?

"Why?" David asked, "Do they pay me well?"

"Huh?" Archie looked confused by this question. "Teaching English and spreading the gospel was part of yer mission, aye? You ought to do that WITHOUT money, parson."

"I know what's in your mind, "David said, "Don't even think about taking advantage of me. They do pay well, isn't it?"

"Jesus." Archie said, "Ten ounces of silver a month."

"Only ten?"

"Only TEN!?" Archie said, "Do ye know how much people here earn annually? Ye greedy little parson."

"Fine. But how do you know they really want to learn English?"David felt truly surprised. "I'm afraid I can't see any sign of their wish or interest to learn English."

"None of me damn business, nor yers."

Archie blew his nose loudly.

"Also, I can’t speak Chinese. You know that."

"Just do yer job, bow when ye need to, and I'll be there assisting," He was apparently upset with David, "Now get off old Archie's arse will ye?"

"Fine, I'll think about that," David asked. "But one more question, do you know where Hong Xiuquan went?"

"Who?"

"That young man who acts way too excited, and speaks a little English."

"That lad has already left the town, that's all I know," Archie continued. "Now if ye don't mind—"

David let out a sigh. "Don't forget my request."

Archie didn't respond; he spoke some Scottish-accented Chinese words to his local friend named Pan.

Both men burst into wild laughter.

They started to drink more and more.

What an old bastard.

God knows why he was so popular here.

But soon enough. He will need Archie again.