Heishakou

By the time Lin Shaocong and Zhang Laifu arrived at Heishakou, it was already afternoon. After dropping Zhang Laifu off at Qingxiang Garden, Lin Shaocong handed him sixteen copper yuan and about twenty copper cash. Lin Shaocong was not being stingy. This was all the money he had left. The rest had been taken by the bandits, and he had barely managed to hide these few coins. A copper yuan was a coin considerably larger than the one-yuan coin Zhang Laifu was used to. The front bore the inscription "State of Wansheng," while the back showed a frontal portrait of a man in a military cap and uniform, looking like a very high-ranking general. The copper cash were the familiar round coins with square holes, bearing the words "Wansheng Tongbao" on the front and "Minted by the Shen Household" on the back. Zhang Laifu had no idea how to spend either kind of money, but Lin Shaocong had no time to explain and rode off in haste. Reaching the bank of the Hunlang River, Lin Shaocong abandoned the horse and crawled the rest of the way to the Lin Family Manor. Yang Qingbo, the manor gatekeeper, saw someone lying prone by the entrance. Only after staring for a good while did he realize it was the Third Young Master, Lin Shaocong. Yet despite recognizing him, Yang Qingbo did not bring Lin Shaocong inside. Instead, he left him lying by the doorway and went to report the matter to the head butler, Guo Song'an. Guo Song'an took a look at Lin Shaocong, covered in mud and his hair in disarray, and turned to ask the gatekeeper, "This is the Third Young Master?" Yang Qingbo stepped closer, intending to wipe the mud from Lin Shaocong's face. "It is the Third Young Master. Look at this face, and look at these legs—you can tell." Guo Song'an adjusted the reading glasses on his nose. Instead of looking at Lin Shaocong, he kept his gaze fixed on Yang Qingbo. "Is this really the Third Young Master?" "I think so..." Yang Qingbo no longer dared to wipe Lin Shaocong's face, slowly stepping back to put some distance between them. Adjusting his glasses once more, Guo Song'an said to Yang Qingbo, "To me, he doesn't look like him." "Now that I look again, he really doesn't look much like him either..." Yang Qingbo's voice grew fainter as he finally understood Guo Song'an's intention. Guo Song'an told him, "Go ask the Eldest Young Master to send someone over to see whether this is the Third Young Master." Yang Qingbo turned and left. Lin Shaocong realized things were going badly, but he could neither lose his temper nor take the initiative to prove his identity. Before Yang Qingbo returned, Lin Shaocong had two choices. One was to wait here and see how his eldest brother would handle it. The other was to crawl away and avoid going home for now. If he stayed, his eldest brother might seize the chance to brand him an impostor, turning what was real into a lie. And he wouldn't be able to argue back, because he was supposed to be a fool. If he didn't return home, he might end up dead at the hands of the bandits. He and Zhang Laifu had killed so many men that Hunlong Stronghold would not let him off lightly, and those bandits would soon come looking for him. In the midst of his dilemma, he caught sight of the manor guard, He Shengjun, walking toward them. Lin Shaocong's heart instantly settled. He lifted his head, looking up at He Shengjun with tearful eyes. He Shengjun strode forward and helped Lin Shaocong up. "Young Master, you're back!" Guo Song'an spoke up. "Take a good look. Which young master is this?" He Shengjun glared at Guo Song'an. "Are you blind? This is the Third Young Master, and you can't recognize him?" "How dare you!" Guo Song'an raised his walking stick and pointed it at He Shengjun. "Who do you think you're talking to?" He Shengjun snapped back, "I'm talking to you! Can't you hear? Not only are you blind, but you're deaf as well!" Guo Song'an trembled with rage as He Shengjun supported Lin Shaocong and led him through the side gate into the residence. Recalling the faces of Guo Song'an and Yang Qingbo, Lin Shaocong ground his teeth. *** Zhang Laifu walked up to the theater's ticket booth, wanting to buy a ticket. After asking around, he learned that the cheapest ticket cost eight big coppers. He took out eight copper cash and handed them to the ticket seller. Seeing him covered in mud, the ticket seller assumed he was here to cause trouble. "I said eight big coppers. Can't you understand plain speech?" Eight? It was eight! Zhang Laifu counted them again. The ticket seller frowned. "Looking for a fight, are you? If it's copper cash, it's eighty coins, and I don't have time to count them. Go exchange them somewhere else." Only then did Zhang Laifu understand that he had given the wrong money—ten copper cash were worth one big copper. He took back the copper cash, handed over eight copper yuan, and received his ticket. The earliest show started at three-thirty. Zhang Laifu pulled out his phone to check the time, only to find it was bent out of shape and the screen was shattered to pieces. After waiting for over half an hour, Zhang Laifu entered the theater. His ticket had no assigned seat, so he could only find an empty spot in the back row. If the house was full, he would even have to stand. That hardly mattered; Zhang Laifu hadn't come to watch an opera anyway. He paced along the wall, trying to find the door through which he had first entered the theater. In his memory, that door was somewhere near the sixth row of seats. But after pacing back and forth several times, he saw only a smooth, solid wall, without so much as a crack. Could there be some special button or hidden mechanism? Zhang Laifu ran his hands along the wall, feeling inch by inch. An attendant walked up and asked, "Sir, care for some tea?" Zhang Laifu waved his hand. "No!" He continued feeling around. Another attendant approached. "Sir, care for melon seeds?" "No!" He kept searching. A third attendant came over. "Sir, need a hot towel?" "No..." Zhang Laifu stopped searching. The three attendants had surrounded him. "Sir, if you don't want anything, please see yourself out." "I paid to watch the show." "Then sit properly on a bench and watch. Once it's over, be on your way." Zhang Laifu pointed at the wall. "There used to be a door right here. I need to get out through it. There was a guy here too—I told him the lock was pretty heavy..." "Sir, I think it's time you went home!" The three attendants escorted Zhang Laifu out of the theater. This was clearly a train station, so why couldn't he go through? Where could he go now? Zhang Laifu knew nothing about Wansheng Prefecture, but since the language was the same, he had to still be in the country. Since he was still in the country, the laws should be the same. Could he report this to the police? Zhang Laifu found a rickshaw puller and asked, "Where do I go to report a crime?" The puller stared at Zhang Laifu, stunned for a long time. "What do you mean, report a crime?" "I mean I ran into bad people, and now I need help..." Zhang Laifu explained at length before the puller seemed to catch on. "Are you looking for the police station? That's quite a distance. Let me pull you there. I won't overcharge you—just five big coppers." The puller lifted the shafts of his rickshaw. Police station. The term sounded distinctly different from the institutions Zhang Laifu was familiar with. It seemed this really wasn't his home country. Were they friendly to foreigners here? Back on Fangpai Mountain, Zhang Laifu had killed several people. If this wasn't his country, would what he did count as justifiable defense under local law? If it wasn't considered justifiable defense, would they believe him if he told them he had only thought he was acting in a play? I didn't kill Lao Liang—that should be pinned on Lin Shaocong. I didn't kill the others either—all of that can be pinned on Lin Shaocong. But what if Lin Shaocong refused to take the blame? A swirl of questions churned in Zhang Laifu's mind. Meanwhile, the puller kept chattering beside him. "Sir, just take my rickshaw. Five big coppers really isn't much." Zhang Laifu had only sixteen copper coins to begin with. He had spent eight on the opera, leaving eight. If he spent five more, he would only have three left. This little bit of money was his only livelihood in Wansheng Prefecture. How could he squander it like that? "Just point me in the right direction. Tell me where the police station is." The puller urged, "Sir, if you don't know the way, you won't find it even if I tell you. It won't cost you much for me to pull you there. How about this: I'll knock off one coin—four big coppers, how's that?" "Just give me directions." "Three and a half, I can't go any lower! Have some pity on me, sir, my wife and kids are waiting for food..." No matter how the puller pleaded, Zhang Laifu refused to take the rickshaw. The puller was a little annoyed, but he still gave Zhang Laifu directions, explaining each step in great detail. "Head north from here, cross two streets and an alley, and you'll reach the Heisha River. Cross the river over Lotus Bridge, head down Zhupai Road, and it's the second intersection from the east. Let me tell you, it's really not close, so take your time walking!" Worried that Zhang Laifu might lose his way, the puller even spent a long time drawing it out on the ground. Zhang Laifu took out five copper cash and offered them to the puller. Five copper cash amounted to half a big copper. It wasn't much, but the puller hesitated to take it. "What's this for? You didn't take the ride, so why are you giving me money?" Zhang Laifu said thank you and pressed the coins into the puller's hands. Waiting for fares wasn't easy. The man had worn himself out talking, missed out on business, and still given him directions. He deserved some compensation. Zhang Laifu walked northward, turning over in his mind how he should explain the situation to the police. He would explain how he had arrived in Wansheng Prefecture in as much detail as possible, gloss over his experience on Fangpai Mountain with a single stroke, and put aside any other demands for now—if he could just return to Huan, that would be a blessing! His mind made up, Zhang Laifu picked up his pace, but then he heard a bell ringing behind him. *Ding-ding!* The puller came running up, pulling his rickshaw and ringing his bell. "Sir, slow down, I have something to tell you!" Zhang Laifu stopped, thinking the puller was going to pester him about taking the ride again. Yet the puller didn't mention the ride at all. Setting down the shafts, he panted heavily and asked, "Earlier, when you mentioned reporting a crime and all that, you didn't sound like a local to me. Are you from another prefecture?" Zhang Laifu said nothing. The puller glanced around and lowered his voice. "Sir, if you came here through proper channels, I won't stop you—go handle your business! But if you didn't arrive by proper means, whatever you do, you must not go to the police station. We've pulled plenty of people from other prefectures around the theater, and we know how things work. Any outsider who can't explain their origin will lose their life the moment the police catch them. Sir, you must think this through!"