My dao to eternity

The lumber merchant's apprentice didn't come by the shop that week, nor the week after, and it took until the third missed delivery for Li Fan to think anything of it beyond a scheduling change at the timber yard. Merchants shuffled their routes often enough without explanation. He'd have gone on assuming exactly that, if the boy's own master hadn't shown up in his place, cart heavier than usual, face carrying none of its ordinary easy humor.

"Boy's laid up," the merchant said, unloading the cedar planks himself with more force than the task required. "Won't be running deliveries for a while."

"What happened."

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