The Go-Between

He Yunxi wiped his face and said, "How did that errand go? Where are the buns? Did you eat them all yourself?" "No, I only ate one!" Zhang Laifu took the two remaining buns from inside his robe and handed them to He Yunxi. "Good work. I like people who keep their word!" Without hesitation, He Yunxi counted out five copper yuan and handed them to Zhang Laifu, then asked, "How much were the buns apiece?" "Two dazi for three buns." He Yunxi gave Zhang Laifu another two dazi. "As agreed, the money for the buns is separate." Zhang Laifu felt he had been given too much and wondered how to make change, but He Yunxi waved a hand. "No need for change. You're hunkering under a bridge, so anyone can see you're strapped for cash." Zhang Laifu straightened his long gown. "You don't need to mock me. Haven't you fallen on hard times too?" "How am I down on my luck?" He Yunxi puffed out his chest. "Which of your eyes sees me fallen on hard times?" "Looking like that, you're not down on your luck? Who beat you up?" He Yunxi spat. "Got jumped by a little whelp who doesn't know what's good for him." "Still talking tough!" "Talking tough?" He Yunxi washed the blood from his face. "Go ask that little whelp another day and see who came off worse!" "Where's your bird? Someone snatch it?" Zhang Laifu recalled that Sixth Master He was always carrying a birdcage. "Think someone could take it from me? Here, let me show you my bird!" He Yunxi reached down into his crotch and pulled out a birdcage. Inside was a thrush, tilting its head, watching He Yunxi with one eye. He Yunxi drew a tobacco pouch and pipe from his waist, took a puff, and blew smoke over the cage. Amidst the curling smoke, the thrush contentedly twitched its white eyebrows and chirped twice. "See? My bird is doing just fine!" He Yunxi wanted to introduce the thrush properly to Zhang Laifu, but saw him staring intently at the river water. He was truly thirsty. "Don't you go drinking raw water. You're already sleeping under a bridge—if you fall sick on top of that, isn't your life just tossed away here?" Sixth Master He pulled a flask from his chest and tossed it to Zhang Laifu. "Drink this instead." Zhang Laifu stared blankly at the flask for a moment. Sixth Master He grunted. "What, afraid I'm poisoning you? You don't have a single dazi to your name. What could I possibly want from you?" Zhang Laifu uncorked the flask and took a swig. A warm current slid down his throat and gullet, settling into his stomach. Handing the flask back to He Yunxi, Zhang Laifu sat down against the bridge pier. He Yunxi sat beside Zhang Laifu, staring blankly at the river along with him. From the opposite bank came the sound of singing. Zhang Laifu could not understand the lyrics, but he recognized the melody—it was from the opera Carmen. He Yunxi puffed on his pipe and blew smoke toward the far bank. "That singing is drifting over from Mengyelang. Used to be a playhouse, and I was always there showing support. Now it's been turned into a foreigners' theater. Instead of putting on proper shows, they've got foreigners howling like ghosts and wolves. I can't even be bothered to go anymore." The beggar stewing his pot of food chuckled. "Assuming you could afford it in the first place!" "How couldn't I afford it?" He Yunxi took another pull from his pipe. His pipe was miraculous; without needing to be lit, it constantly produced smoke. "Tomorrow or next, I'll book out Mengyelang. Anyone can come in—except you." The beggar scoffed disdainfully. "Keep blowing hot air. Look at the state you're in! Just to join the ruckus, you even went and rooted for a Zhuyou branch quack. What kind of folks are in that trade? Swindlers, every one of them! You've certainly got thick enough skin to throw away whatever face you had left." Zhang Laifu looked back and forth between the beggar and Sixth Master He. These two clearly knew each other, and well at that. Zhang Laifu said to the beggar, "That Zhuyou doctor isn't a swindler. He has real skill. He can catch ghosts." "What?" The beggar burst into loud laughter, nearly choking on his own breath. "You say a Zhuyou doctor can catch ghosts? If a Zhuyou doctor could catch ghosts, beggars could ascend to heaven!" "Believe it or not," Zhang Laifu said, not caring to argue further with the beggar. "That man truly has real skill." Sixth Master He took a sip of liquor and asked Zhang Laifu, "If you knew he had real skill, why did you go picking a fight with him? If I hadn't smoothed things over for you, you wouldn't have walked away today without offering him a proper apology." Zhang Laifu had been dwelling on this very thing. "I only found out he had real skill after I picked the fight. If I ever see him again, I truly ought to apologize to him." Sixth Master He smiled faintly. "You're right, you ought to apologize to him. That Zhuyou doctor isn't a charlatan. But this beggar is right too: Zhuyou doctors don't catch ghosts, and beggars can't ascend to heaven!" As he spoke, Sixth Master He kept his eyes fixed on the beggar. The beggar, eating his stew, could not help but shiver. He Yunxi glanced at Zhang Laifu again. "You picked a fight with him, and I helped hold up the stage for you. The show was so lively—how come you left before it was over?" Zhang Laifu did not hide the truth. "When it's a matter of life and death, who has the heart to watch a show?" He Yunxi paused for a moment, then chuckled. "You're a single-minded fellow, but single-mindedness has its own blessings." A gust of chilly wind blew past, and Zhang Laifu pulled his long gown tightly around himself. Sixth Master He handed the flask to Zhang Laifu once more. "Have another sip." Zhang Laifu took another swallow, feeling considerably warmer. He still had half a bun left, and washed it down with the liquor. He Yunxi called out to the beggar, "Bring some of that stew over for a bite!" Clutching his pot, the beggar turned his back on them. "Not a chance!" Sixth Master He frowned. "I won't eat any of yours, but give a bite to this young lad." "Then I'm giving even less!" The beggar cast a glance at Zhang Laifu. "A young buck like you, why don't you find a trade of your own?" "Find what trade?" Sixth Master He set the birdcage beside him and wrapped his tattered clothes tighter around himself. "Trades aren't that easy to find, and even when you find one, it's not that easy to keep. When there's food, eat; when there's a place to sleep, sleep. Why think so far ahead?" Leaning against the bridge pier, He Yunxi mumbled fragments of the opera Silang Visits His Mother. Watching the rippling reflections blur and listening to the opera drift near and far, Zhang Laifu fell asleep. He had no idea how long he had slept when He Yunxi's voice suddenly startled him. "You little bastard, are you going to fight or not?" Zhang Laifu jolted awake. Fight or not? Who was he talking to? "Look at the shape you're in. If we fight now, it would be me bullying you." The speaker was that beggar. "Foul beggar, stop your blabbering! Your granddaddy is here. If you want to fight, do it now—it's far from settled who'll be bullying whom!" "Sixth Master He, I truly can't bring myself to lay hands on you. That bun vendor already beat you half to death." "That bun vendor barely has a breath left in him! He won't be moving around for the next two years. Come over here and try me; let's see how much of a beating you can take!" Which bun vendor? Beaten until he barely had a breath left? What kind of blood feud was this? The beggar asked, "How did you track that bun vendor down anyway? Don't the two of you have a rule? You can't meet directly; someone has to act as the intermediary." Sixth Master He looked at Zhang Laifu. "The one who pulled the strings is this silly boy. Let me tell you right now: you can fight me, but you aren't allowed to lay a finger on him. He ran an errand for me today, and he did it right. "Come tomorrow, whatever happens to him is none of my business, but today, no one touches him!" What was going on? I was the intermediary? All I did was buy two buns for him! Didn't he want to buy buns? How did he end up beating the bun vendor? Zhang Laifu tried to open his eyes to look, but a wave of drunkenness surged into his head, and he drifted back to sleep. The evening wind was cold, and Zhang Laifu slept soundly.