Chapter 49: Elder Sister

Of the three, Lin Qian was a fugitive from the household registry, and Bailangzai was one of the Tanka boat people—both identities that could not bear the light of day. Only Zheng Zhilong held proper civilian status.

Better to keep clear of government officials.

Su Kang went over to greet them, shooing his daughter to the back courtyard.

The little girl called Mei'er, worried about her father, did not go to the back courtyard but hid behind the curtain to peek.

Su Kang brought out a money box from behind the counter and scooped several strings of copper coins into a sack.

But it seemed he had not paid enough—the yamen runner said a few words.

Su Kang dumped every last coin from the money box into the sack.

Still apparently not enough; the runner's expression grew increasingly impatient.

Zheng Zhilong whispered with schadenfreude: "This physician scraped together the donation levy but didn't fork over enough of the customary fee. As they say, the physician cannot heal himself—there's a good show to watch."

Lin Qian had been strolling all morning and knew that beyond the artisan silver tax and the stall levy, the court had newly imposed a donation levy—much like the Liaodong levy newly added for farmers—essentially another tax under a different name.

But the term "customary fee" was something Lin Qian had never heard before.

Zheng Zhilong explained: "The customary fee is the money common folk pay to honor the officials—there's the scale fee, the remittance fee, the document fee, and also the shoe-and-sock money to tip the petty clerks."

Lin Qian clicked his tongue inwardly. Bribes to officialdom had actually become standard practice, and when not paid in full, the officials would come demanding more—truly outrageous.

In his previous life he had seen foreign yamens with black hearts and black hands, but they always acted with some restraint.

He had never seen officials as brazen and unbridled in demanding bribes as those of the Great Ming.

No wonder that during the morning chats, the common folk spoke of officialdom with nothing but contempt and resentment.

Seeing that Su Kang could not produce the customary fee, the runners prepared to seize medicinal herbs in lieu of payment.

Su Kang went to stop them but was shoved to the ground with a single push.

Mei'er, who had been watching from behind the curtain the whole time, saw her father struck and could no longer hold back—she threw aside the curtain and charged out.

She had barely taken one step when an arm grabbed hers, and a great force pulled her back.

Startled, she was about to cry out when a hand clamped tightly over her mouth.

She looked closely and saw Lin Qian making a shushing gesture at her, then pulling two taels of loose silver from his belt.

"If the runners ask, say you found it at home, understand?" Lin Qian said in a low voice, then pressed the silver into Mei'er's hand.

He then signaled Bailangzai with his eyes to let go.

Mei'er shot Lin Qian a look of mingled confusion and gratitude, then took the silver to pay the tax.

Her family's customary fee was still short one tael and six mace; the remaining four mace would serve exactly as the shoe-and-sock money.

This shoe-and-sock money was quite generous, and the runners beamed with delight. They helped Su Kang up, put the herbs back, and left through the door with great courtesy.

Before long, the sound of gongs rang out in the street as they moved on to the next household.

Su Kang, forgetting his own condition, hurriedly asked his daughter: "Where did that silver come from?"

Mei'er pointed at Lin Qian sitting in the corner: "That young master gave it."

Su Kang straightened his clothes, stepped forward to bow his thanks, and asked Lin Qian's name and residence so he could call on him later to repay the debt.

Two taels of silver was a drop in the bucket to Lin Qian. His reason for paying Su Kang's tax was to win him over, so how could he let him repay the debt? Thus he declined repeatedly.

But Su Kang was a man of stubborn, unyielding temper—he insisted on learning Lin Qian's address, as if those two taels of silver had made them enemies.

Seeing this, Lin Qian said: "Consider those two taels of silver as your consultation fee, sir."

Su Kang thought to himself that two taels for a consultation was far too much, and was about to speak when Lin Qian cut him off.

"Not for my own consultation. In a few days I intend to hold a free clinic, and I would ask you, Mr. Su, to come and see patients."

Su Kang's brow relaxed, and he agreed: "In that case, I shall await word from you, young master."

After Lin Qian and his two companions left, Su Kang immediately dragged Mei'er aside and scolded her, rebuking her for taking Lin Qian's silver.

Mei'er's face was full of grievance: "I was afraid Papa would get beaten..."

Su Kang grew angrier and waved his hand: "Even so, you mustn't take another man's silver!"

"But I could tell those three young masters were good people..." Mei'er argued in a small voice.

"Good people, my foot!" Su Kang fumed. "These three call each other brothers, spend money lavishly, and reek of the jianghu—how could they be good people? They might well be mountain bandits or sea bandits!"

"Ah?" Mei'er was somewhat startled, then said with conviction, "Even if they were mountain bandits or sea bandits, they'd still be better than the lords in the yamen!"

Su Kang was furious and raised his hand to strike, but seeing his daughter's pitiful expression, his heart ultimately could not bear it, and he slowly lowered his hand.

"Enough. One free clinic session will count as repaying the favor. If they pester us again, we can report them to the authorities then." Such were Su Kang's thoughts.

The next day, at dawn.

On the surface of the Pearl River, a great number of small boats appeared.

These boats were no different in size from ordinary fishing boats, but their canopies were enormous, as if a small house had been set down upon the hull—top-heavy and quite incongruous.

These were Tanka boats.

Lin Qian and his two companions stood on the shore, gazing toward the direction of the approaching boats.

Bailangzai was especially excited, standing with his feet in the water, peering into the distance.

As the Tanka boats drew near, Bailangzai made out the people aboard and began shouting and waving at the boats.

Soon, someone on board noticed him.

Someone called out: "Bailangzai? Is that you, Bailangzai?"

Bailangzai shouted back: "It's me! It's Bailangzai!"

Then cries of surprise came from the Tanka side: "Bailangzai's back—he didn't die..."

After that, many people walked to the bows of their boats to look at Bailangzai, and quite a few came to greet him.

After a while more, a small skiff emerged from the fleet and made for the shore.

On the skiff, a thin, dark figure was working the oar.

She did not seem to be rowing with any great effort, yet she drove the boat forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, shooting straight toward the shore.

"Sister... Sister!"

Bailangzai shouted excitedly, then kept walking forward until half his body was submerged in the water. He simply dove headfirst into the sea.

When he surfaced again, he was already beside the boat. He gripped the gunwale, hoisted himself up with a single push, and boarded — the motion was utterly fluid, trailing a string of clinging spray.

Bailangzai's sister set down the oar and stared at him carefully, pinching his arms and cheeks with her hands, afraid that the person before her was an illusion.

"Sister, I'm back." Bailangzai laughed and cried at once.

Tears welled in his sister's eyes as she smiled: "Back is good. Back is what matters."

With a casual twist of the oar, the little boat turned about as if it were alive, darting toward the direction of the fleet.

"Come, once we're back at the dock, I'll make you some boat-congee."

Bailangzai hurriedly said: "Sister, don't rush — Brother Lin hasn't boarded yet!"

"Brother Lin?" His sister was briefly taken aback. Following the direction of Bailangzai's finger, she saw Lin Qian and Zheng Zhilong.

"Land folk?" His sister's voice carried wariness.

The Tanka boat people had been looked down upon by the land-dwellers for generations, and bore an instinctive distrust of "land folk."

Bailangzai explained: "Brother Lin and I have sworn brotherhood. The other one is Brother Zheng, a friend of Brother Lin's."

His sister relaxed: "Since he's your friend, he may come aboard."

With that, she twisted the oar again, and the little boat nimbly spun in place. Then, with a few gentle strokes, the boat came to a steady stop at the shore.

Bailangzai jumped off the boat and introduced everyone to one another.

"Sister, this is Brother Lin, and this is Brother Zheng Zhilong."

"Brother Lin, she's my sister — her name is Bai Qing."

Yahei

Fenyuan

Pen