Outside of the locks, Ying and Hok traveled mostly at night, sharing the duties of rowing with the skiff's oar. One would row while the other slept.
During the day, they would try to find an uninhabited bank near a village where Hok could shop. While she hadn't found any dragon bone, she'd found plenty of other things to purchase. Beyond necessities such as food, Hok had replaced the herb bag that she'd lost in the fight club fire and was slowly filling it, village by village. She complained about the poor selection and inferior quality of most of the herbs, though. She especially complained about the high taxes.
Hok told Ying that the Emperor had placed a heavy tax on all medicinal herbs, so people had begun to purchase their herbs from black-market dealers, who sold items without tax. Legitimate herb vendors— who also happened to be trained doctors—were stocking fewer and fewer items, and what they had on their shelves tended to be old. Hok disliked the black-market vendors because most of them didn't have the slightest clue how the different herbs should be used, but she quickly found she had no choice but to buy from them.
Hok told Ying that if they could remain in any given village for two or three days, the vendors prom ised they could get her most any item she desired, including dragon bone. The black-market vendors in every village were part of the same vast network that had runners carrying items between the villages and larger cities daily. Ying and Hok discussed this and decided that waiting that long in any one place was not an option.
Rather than wasting time while Hok shopped, Ying was keeping himself as busy as his recovering body would allow. Hok had recently purchased a small tarp, and he had just finished rigging it up with branches and rope to create a large canopy over the front half of the skiff. The canopy would block the late-summer sun, as well as the occasional raindrops. It would also provide some protection from the prying eyes of soldiers, who often perched atop bridges along the canal, peering into boats as they passed beneath them.
Ying heard someone approaching, and he quickly adjusted the black silk scarf over his face. He stared upstream, his eyes straining in the dim evening light. He couldn't see very well, so he stood and accidentally bumped his head on the canopy frame.
A moment later, Hok appeared with her herb bag slung over her shoulder. She was wearing a new green dress and matching turban.
Ying relaxed.
“The boat looks different,” Hok said. “I like the canopy. Nice work.”
“It will take some getting used to,” Ying replied, rubbing his head. He pointed to the sides of the skiff. “I also scuffed up the exterior and added a few scratches and gouges. This skiff was too well cared for. Tonglong and his men will never recognize it now.”
Hok nodded.
Ying looked Hok's outfit over. “You look different, too. Good idea buying those clothes.”
“Thank you,” Hok said.
“No luck finding dragon bone?” Ying asked.
Hok shook her head. “It's the strangest thing. Was it always this difficult to locate?”
“Sometimes,” Ying said. “Especially in these small villages. Few people can afford it, so few vendors carry it.”
“Maybe we should just forget about the dragon bone,” Hok suggested.
“Not on your life,” Ying replied.
Ying knew that Hok wasn't convinced the small amount of dragon bone they did carry was helping him, but even she could not refute his faster-than-normal healing rate. The herbs she'd been applying to his wounds were certainly part of it, but it seemed something more was helping him quickly regain his strength. Perhaps it was all the extra rest he was getting. Regardless of the reason, in a few days Ying would be more or less back in fighting shape.
Ying thought about the next big city they would come to, the city of Xuzhou. It was located about one-third of the way between the Yellow River and the very end of the Grand Canal at Hangzhou. Xuzhou was where he had had his face carved. The dragon bone he'd carried for much of the past year had come from a vendor in Xuzhou, too. Ying was fairly certain he could find the man again. At the rate they were going, they would be there in four days. He was anxious to get there.
“We should get moving,” Ying said.
“I agree,” Hok replied. “Let's shove off.”
Hok leaned forward to climb into the skiff, and
Ying noticed a green jade crane dangling from a silk thread around her neck. He pointed to it. “You had that in your hand when you escaped the fight club, didn't you?”
“Yes,” Hok said.
“Where did you get it?”
“I took it back from General Tsung while we were fighting.”
“I mean, where did you get it originally?”