He Shengjun wanted to kill Zhang Laifu to silence him, but Lin Shaocong would not agree.
"No. I have my rules!"
"Young Master, you talk to me about rules, and I obey them. But what are we supposed to do with Zhang Laifu? He can't get out of Heishakou right now, but keeping him here won't do either!"
"Why won't it do?" Lin Shaocong pondered for a moment. "Go find him some work to do. Just keep him away from the Lin Manor—the further, the better. Give him an advance of a month's wages, get him fully stocked with food, drink, and supplies, and keep him from wandering around the streets."
"All right, as you say, Young Master." He Shengjun agreed. After seeing Lin Shaocong back to the Lin Manor, he took Zhang Laifu out of town alone as dusk fell.
All along the way, He Shengjun urged, "Brother Laifu, you can't leave Heishakou for now. The bandits from Hunlong Stronghold definitely won't let you get away. Staying here under the Lin family's protection is the only way you'll keep your life. The Lin family doesn't support idle mouths. My young master wanted to find you a living, but work in town isn't safe, so we could only look somewhere remote."
Zhang Laifu asked, "How remote?"
"Over twenty li outside town. Food and lodging provided, ten silver dollars a month. What do you say?"
"What kind of work?"
"Caretaking. An old country manor belonging to the Lin family."
A wonton vendor worked from dawn till dusk for barely twelve or thirteen silver dollars a month, yet watching an empty house paid ten?
It reminded Zhang Laifu of the twenty-thousand-dollar salary Lao Song had transferred to him.
"I won't trouble you then. I can find work on my own." Zhang Laifu turned to leave, but two plates suddenly slipped beneath his feet. With a skid and a slide, they spun him right back where he started.
"Brother, are you genuinely deaf or just playing dumb?" He Shengjun looked at him. "Our young master was thinking of old ties when he found you a job. If you refuse to take it, I'll just have to send you somewhere really nice."
Zhang Laifu nodded. "Fair enough. Let's go see the place."
He Shengjun had said the country, so Zhang Laifu assumed it would be in a village. But when they arrived, he found only a desolate wilderness, with not a single household in sight for miles around.
"Why did the Lin family build a manor out here?"
"Brother Laifu, some things are better left unasked. Let's go inside and take a look." He Shengjun led the way and pushed open the front gate.
The gate swung open, and the two stood at the threshold without rushing in. Dirt was crumbling down from the lintel above, and against the glow of sunset, thick layers of dust poured down like a waterfall.
Once the dirt had mostly stopped falling, they skirted the screen wall and entered the front courtyard. He Shengjun introduced the layout as they walked: "In the front courtyard, there's one gatehouse, six servants' quarters, a kitchen, a woodshed, two storerooms, and two latrines.
"There's a well in the front courtyard. The water is a bit bitter, but you can drink it once it's boiled, and it clears internal heat anyway. The storeroom has grain, brand-new rice I arranged to have delivered just today.
"I've also stocked plenty of Chinese cabbage in the cellar, along with some radishes—enough to last you all winter.
"By rights, you ought to stay in the front gatehouse. But there's no one else here, and since you're here to watch the place, you can look around the other courtyards too..."
As he spoke, He Shengjun stumbled. Many of the flagstones on the ground looked intact on the surface, but wild weeds' roots had long split them beneath. Stepping on them often crushed them to bits.
"'Ground-piercer' weeds!" He Shengjun yanked up a weed with force, bringing up a clump of sand and gravel. "Pull them when you have time. This courtyard needs careful tending."
Passing through the festooned gate, they reached the main courtyard.
The weeds in the front courtyard were tall, but the ground had still been faintly visible. In the main courtyard, the weeds rose past their ankles and were creeping up toward their knees.
He Shengjun continued his tour: "The main courtyard has one principal room, two side rooms, two east wing rooms, two west wing rooms, and two opposite-facing rooms..."
Zhang Laifu noticed a one-wheeled handcart parked outside the principal room. Flanking it on either side were two large wooden crates caked in dust and cobwebs.
The cart's shape and craftsmanship were exceedingly crude. By all rights, such an object had no place in a main courtyard. Looking closer, the principal room's door leaves had fallen off and its frame was smashed to pieces; the handcart must have crashed straight into the room.
"What's this cart for?"
He Shengjun replied, "Haven't you ever seen a water seller? Though there's a well in the courtyard, it doesn't yield sweet water. The Lins are the foremost family in Heishakou, so they certainly wouldn't drink bitter water. They had to buy sweet water, and this is a sweet-water cart."
So-called sweet water was simply ordinary drinkable water. Many wells produced water that was bitter and undrinkable, fit only for washing clothes or sweeping floors. If one wanted drinkable water, one had to buy it from a water seller. Water peddling was also one of the three hundred and sixty trades.
"Did the cart drive right into the room?" Zhang Laifu had never seen a water seller, but the sight before him made no sense.
"Brother Laifu, how many times do I have to tell you? You'd best ask fewer questions about the master's business."
Skirting the covered veranda and passing through an arched doorway, they went into the rear courtyard. It was slightly smaller than the main courtyard, containing a pond, a swing, and a grape trellis.
One detail was quite astonishing: there were still live fish swimming in the pond.
The manor had been abandoned for so long that no one could possibly be feeding them. Zhang Laifu wondered what on earth they ate.
"Back in the day, someone of your status wouldn't have been allowed back here, since this was where the women lived. But there's no one here now, so feel free to check on it often."
Having walked through the rear courtyard, they visited the east and west side courtyards.
"The east side courtyard was originally for the steward, and the west side courtyard for the bookkeeper. If you find it comfortable, you can live here too. Even if you don't, you should still look in from time to time.
"Last time I came, a sounder of wild boars had made their den in the west courtyard. If the old master had seen that, what a disgrace it would have been!"
Zhang Laifu surveyed the state of the west courtyard. "Even wild boars weren't too proud to live here?"
"What kind of talk is that?" He Shengjun spun around in the center of the main courtyard. "Such a fine manor!"
Clatter!
His voice had been slightly too loud, and a section of the principal room's window lattice shook loose and fell.
Of the dozens of rooms in this manor, not a single one was intact.
Some roofs leaked; some doors were missing; there weren't even five rooms with all four walls standing whole.
Still, it was vastly better than sleeping under a bridge.
Once He Shengjun finished giving instructions, he handed over the first month's wages. "Ten silver dollars a month, paid before you've even lifted a finger! Ask around Heishakou and see if anyone else is as generous as our young master!"
Generous indeed—just as generous as Lao Song.
"Brother Laifu, the old manor is yours now. I ought to be heading back. You're our young master's friend, but I still have to make things clear. You haven't mastered a trade, and you're not even properly established with a lineage. By rights, we shouldn't have hired you. But since you're here, act like a proper worker. Caretaking means guarding the place. I'll drop by now and then to check on you. If I catch you away from the manor, pack your bedding and clear out."
With his instructions finished, He Shengjun left the estate, stepped onto two plates, and glided all the way back to town.
When he returned to the manor, Lin Shaocong asked with concern, "Is the matter with Laifu settled? The place isn't conspicuous, is it? Is it far enough from the Lin Manor?"
He Shengjun nodded. "Not conspicuous at all. I arranged for him to watch the old manor."
Lin Shaocong was startled. "Which old manor?"
He Shengjun said, "The old manor at Baicaodang."
Lin Shaocong's eyes went wide. "What are you trying to do? That place is haunted—are you sending him to his death?!"
Chapter 20