Big Personages

"Hahahaha..." Chen Chong had just finished reading out how the silver would be handled when Xu Yao's strange honking laughter burst out of him — he had clearly been holding it in until it hurt. While everyone was still thundering with cheers, a fresh surge of hilarity piled on top, and the laughter shot straight up to the sky. The big men slapped their thighs, laughing until tears came. "Big Fatty, that holler of yours is priceless, hahahaha..." Xu Yao hastily shut his mouth, face scarlet. "Heh heh heh..." "We're rich!" Bao Facai laughed so hard his buck teeth jutted clean out past his lips. The highest reward he had let himself hope for was ten taels of silver; this time, in one stroke, he had gotten over a hundred. Xu Yao grinned and counted on his fingers, reckoning up his silver: five taels plus four, plus one hundred, plus thirty-four and a half — a grand total of one hundred forty-three and a half taels. Mother's money box would be filled to the brim in one go! Wonderful! These great-sect people were so open-handed — two thousand taels at a stroke! In all his life, Xu Yao had seen a whole ingot of silver exactly once, and that was yesterday. His mother's money box held nothing but dull, dark scraps of broken silver. He grinned until his mouth would not close. The silver was not in his hands yet, but his eyes were already full of its gleam. His mouth and tongue went dry; before he knew it he was licking his lips — once, then again, then again — until his face turned into a flower. He badly wanted a little composure. He couldn't keep laughing — too embarrassing. Hold it in. Hold it. Hold it... Then he heard Chen Chong issuing orders: "Xu Yao!" "Here!" Xu Yao's answer was crisp and bright, brimming with spirit, still carrying the laughter about to burst out of him. It was infectious; happiness spread across every face. "Wages go out at the end of the month, but this reward money — pay it out right now. Let everyone enjoy themselves." Chen Chong laughed too. With a grand sweep of his big hand, magnificent as a rainbow: "Pay out the money!" In this compound Xu Yao was not only the clerk; he also doubled as the bookkeeper, and now he could even go up the mountain to catch ghosts. Without anyone quite noticing, he had turned into a jack-of-all-trades. At once the pack of men, flushed with excitement, began rubbing their hands and lining up at Xu Yao's desk. "Whoop! Pay out, pay out!" This was a big sum — especially for Third Squad. Their usual monthly pay was only a few coins; thirty-odd taels was more than half a year's wages with a bonus on top! Grinning from ear to ear, Xu Yao bustled about. The big men cradled the gleaming white silver in hands broad as palm-leaf fans, every one of them smiling like a flower in bloom. Some were already fixing up a game: "Tonight — one round!" "Whoop!" A chorus of agreement. At these sounds of bets being arranged, brigade captain Chen Chong's three brows knotted into a '川' shape. But he could not stop it: these fellows were stuck in this place, and outside of training, their only everyday amusement was gambling... "Anyone with a wife doesn't gamble!" Chen Chong could only add one pointed order: "Take it home and hand it to your wives to keep! What does a grown man want with money!? It's gambling and brothels and nothing else — is there any proper business in any of you!?" "Heh heh..." A dozen-odd big men rolled their eyes. They did not dignify it with an answer. An old bachelor like you, laying down rules for us married men... and sounding so very experienced about it, heh heh heh... At most things they might dawdle, but collecting money had to be fast. In no time, Xu Yao had paid it all out. Now he hugged his own hundred forty-three and a half taels to his chest, arms wrapped full around them, grinning like a fool. Every so often he ducked his head to sniff the smell of the silver, then tipped his face up to the sky and went right on grinning foolishly. Then he looked down again — and went on baring his teeth in that silly grin. "Heh heh heh..." That look of his, heart blossoming wide open, was nearly unbearable to look at straight. In all his life he had never earned this much silver. Xu Yao felt as if his face had burst into bloom; it even felt a little fevered. A fortune! If I carry this money home, how happy will Mother's face look? At the thought, a fire kindled in his chest, and his feelings slipped clean out of his control! All that bitter toil to earn money — wasn't it for exactly this? Your son — the one no good with letters and no good at arms, without the talent even to be a physician, the one who kept you worrying over his future — he's earning money now! Xu Yao's heart surged as though it would burst, his face flushing red. Never in his life had a single moment given him that feeling of "I've grown up." Now, he had it. The big men looked at this fool of a boy hugging his silver, so delighted his eyes had all but vanished, plainly a little dizzy, plainly a first-time money-earner — and none of them managed to hold in their guffaws. "Hurry up and put it away." Chen Chong grumbled at him, half laughing: "A hundred taels of silver — and look how little it takes to bowl you over!" Xu Yao earnestly corrected him: "Not one hundred taels. One hundred forty-three and a half!" "Hahaha... all right, all right — one hundred forty-three and a half. Put it away, quick, or someone will snatch it and you won't even be able to cry about it." Chen Chong asked, "How much is left in the compound's account now?" "Two thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven taels." The answer came without a pause. "Mm..." Chen Chong chewed the numbers over, brow knitted with worry. Twenty-eight hundred-odd taels looked like plenty, but the wages had to come out of it, and meals on top of that; this money truly would not last long — not with this many people. "We've got to earn more money." Chen Chong scratched at his brows. Then he called for quiet. Only after everyone's excitement had settled did Chen Chong speak, slowly: "Now then, all of you, pay attention. Two honored guests will be staying at our compound for a while." Everyone froze: honored guests? Then a sudden breath of chill air swept over them, and everyone nodded at the same time. There at the doorway stood two people. A man and a woman, both robed in white, without one speck of dust on them. The man handsome and straight-backed, tall and slender. The woman's face veiled in white gauze, her gaze clear as water. Both of them were cold and clean as snow, pure as the moon; standing in the doorway, they were like immortals of the heavens descended to the mortal world. Xu Yao saw it clearly: these were two of the three flying white-robed figures from yesterday. The elder one had not come — and these two younger ones meant to take up residence here? "We'll be imposing on you all for some days to come." The young man showed a mild smile. His features were cold and severe, yet when he smiled it was most winning; he put on no airs whatsoever. "My sister and I will be following you all about, looking for the mountain demon — and along the way, searching for a few other things." As he spoke, he glanced at the woman beside him. The woman thereupon bowed slightly after him, her voice cool and clear: "We'll be putting you big brothers to trouble in the days ahead." The pair were polite to a degree no one had expected. The big men understood perfectly well that personages like these could never truly regard the likes of them, but the two showed no contempt; their courtesy and warmth made everyone feel a good deal easier in mind. "You do us too much honor, sirs." Liu Zhen rose on everyone's behalf, bowed, and answered. Everyone knew it was because Liu Zhen's squad had found that white jade skeleton that the two had stayed on — so it was most proper that Liu Zhen should be the one to reply. "May we ask how to address you, sirs?" Liu Zhen asked, head bowed very low. "Our surname is Ning," the white-robed man said, smiling. "Sir Ning, Miss Ning," Liu Zhen called out, bent at the waist. "You're too kind, Captain Liu." The two slipped aside, out of his bow, all smiles. "It looks as if we'll be spending no little time together. There's no call for anyone to be so formal." "Yes, yes." Liu Zhen assented. Through the whole exchange, brigade captain Chen Chong watched quietly from the side, watching Liu Zhen show the brothers how it was to be done: this was how they would deal with the guests from now on. No fawning in hopes of picking up scraps of favor — but not one shred of disrespect either, lest it invite calamity. All the while, Chen Chong was also quietly reading the expression on every other face, the look in every pair of eyes, and the faces of the two white-robed figures. His heart loosened slightly. No harm, it seemed, would come of it. Xu Yao was watching too. He watched Captain Liu Zhen, ever hot-tempered, boundlessly humble before the big personages, striving to keep his voice level and never quite managing it. He watched the white-robed man and woman: though they put on no airs at all, the chill purity that clung to them seemed, of its own accord, to raise a divide of heaven and mortal world between them and the crowd. They were most cordial. And yet: no introductions, not a word about where they came from; asked how they should be addressed, they offered only "our surname is Ning," with no intention whatever of giving their names. That made it plain enough. Watching the scene in silence, Xu Yao lowered his head — and his goal came back to him all at once. A settled place in life! Then, in the presence of such great ones, how was he to win a settled place? What, before them, would even count as one? "Xu Yao." Brigade captain Chen Chong spoke: "Go make ready the two best guest rooms. From now on the two sirs lodge there, and you will see to their wants." He fixed Xu Yao with a commanding look. "Do the work with your whole heart, and it will be worth your while." Those two sentences drew a smiling glance from that white-robed Sir Ning. The glance was laden with meaning, as if it saw straight through to the bottom of Xu Yao's heart.