Chapter 57: Drowning

Another volley of cannon fire struck, interrupting Li Qin's thoughts.

He felt the ground tremble beneath him, the air filled with the thunderous collapse of houses, mingled with piercing screams.

A cannonball landed right nearby, collapsing three houses in a single blast.

The dust thrown up blotted out the sky, making it impossible to open one's eyes.

Li Qin snapped back to reality like one waking from a dream, and commanded his young eunuch attendant: "Where is my personal vessel? Prepare it at once, and load up all the gold, silver, and valuables!"

"Yes, Godfather!" The young eunuch acknowledged and hurried off in a fluster to make preparations.

The patrol inspector stopped him: "The main gate of the naval stockade is already surrounded by the pearl folk, and there are those barbarian warships as well—there's no way out. The only option now is to climb over the rear mountain and take a boat on the west side."

"Does the Inspector have a boat on the west shore?" Li Qin's eyes lit up with hope.

The patrol inspector nodded: "It's a small boat—can't carry much. Besides, the mountain path is rough going. Eunuch Li can only bring whatever he can carry on his person."

Li Qin's heart ached at the loss. He looked around the room—coral ornaments, a sandalwood desk, blue-and-white porcelain from the fallen dynasty, a celadon jade ewer—every piece a treasure, and parting with even one made his heart bleed.

"Enough. We'll take the fallen-dynasty blue-and-white porcelain." Li Qin said dejectedly.

"Yes." The young eunuch acknowledged, cradling the blue-and-white vase in his arms.

Li Qin thought for a moment—the vase seemed to have room for more—so he wrapped several jade objects in silk cloth and tucked them inside.

There was still some space, so Li Qin stuffed in several strings of Hetian jade prayer beads.

Still not full, Li Qin opened a chest half his height, and a fluorescent glow immediately shone forth—inside were top-grade pearls the size of longan pits.

Li Qin told the young eunuch to bring the vase over, and he began stuffing pearls into the blue-and-white vase by the handful.

He grabbed too many at once, and pearls spilled out between his fingers, clattering and rolling all over the floor.

The patrol inspector watched, frantic and furious.

Frantic because his soldiers were all expert fishermen but had zero combat ability—once the barbarians came ashore, there was no way they could hold them back.

Furious because he had squeezed every drop of blood from his troops with all his might, and in the end, he hadn't earned as much as the dirt under this dead eunuch's fingernails.

"My good Eunuch, stop taking things! Keep yourself alive—there will be more money later!" The patrol inspector was hopping with anxiety, urging him repeatedly.

Hearing this, Li Qin stood there and tears streamed down his face: "I worked so hard, scrimping and saving to build up this little fortune, and now it all goes to those barbarians!"

Before he even finished speaking, another volley of cannon fire came.

Dust poured through the doorway into the room, choking the men into coughing fits.

"Cough, cough, cough... Eunuch Li, stop taking things... let's, cough... hurry, if we don't leave now, it'll be too late."

"Fine!" Li Qin rose and strode resolutely toward the rear mountain.

The patrol inspector led the way, the young eunuch following close behind—but he accidentally stepped on a pearl and toppled over backward on the spot.

The blue-and-white porcelain vase crashed to the ground, and the jade objects carefully wrapped in silk shattered along with it.

Countless pearls bounced and clattered across the floor.

The fall nearly knocked the breath out of the young eunuch. He barely recovered, struggling to his feet.

There stood Li Qin, staring blankly at the mess strewn across the floor.

"Godfather, I—!" The young eunuch was terrified.

"Smack!" Li Qin slapped the young eunuch across the face, saying: "You useless thing!"

The young eunuch immediately dropped to his knees and reached out to gather the porcelain shards and jade fragments, stuffing them into his clothes—his hands cut bloody and raw, yet he felt nothing.

Li Qin's heart softened, and he pulled the boy up: "Enough. As long as we two survive, that's what matters. Alive, and there's always a way out! Come, let's flee together!"

"Mm!" The young eunuch's eyes brimmed with tears.

Unburdened by valuables, they moved faster.

The three left the room, and everywhere they looked was nothing but crumbling walls and ruined buildings.

They hadn't walked far before they saw soldiers lying wounded on the ground, groaning incessantly.

When the soldiers saw the patrol inspector coming, they reached out for help, only to have their hands knocked away with the inspector's scabbard.

All around, as far as the eye could see, there was hardly a single person still standing.

Clearly, the soldiers of the patrol station had already fled clean.

In the distance, the barbarian warships—whether out of some great hatred—continued their bombardment unabated.

Unburdened by valuables and traveling light, the three made it up the mountain in no time.

Li Qin turned back for a look, and saw that beyond the ruined walls of the naval stockade, the pearl folk's boats had formed a ring—apparently blocking off his escape route.

"Base-born wretches!" Li Qin cursed in a low voice, his face twisted with venom. "You all deserve to drown in the sea!"

The patrol inspector urged him to hurry along, to escape before the barbarians came ashore on the island.

Li Qin withdrew his gaze and focused on the path beneath his feet.

By now the sun had climbed high, and its glare was suffocating.

Li Qin, accustomed to a life of ease and comfort, was already panting and drenched in sweat after walking this stretch of mountain.

The patrol inspector, for his part—a military officer—was hardly better off, his breath coming in ragged gasps, sustained only by sheer willpower.

They finally reached the mountainside, and before they could even catch their breath—

The trees all around began to sway.

The patrol inspector, as if forcing every last bit of air from his lungs, called out: "Who's there?"

He drew his blade with difficulty.

Li Qin's heart leaped into his throat.

A dozen or so figures emerged from the surroundings. At their head stood a man gripping a Japanese sword, his face cold as frost, his gaze sharp as a blade—it was Bailangzai.

Seeing that the ones who had appeared were a group of pearl folk armed with weapons, Li Qin was seized with terror.

He forced a smile and said: "Brave warriors, if you but let me go free, I will surely petition the Guangzhou prefectural office to grant you all rewards and honors."

None of the pearl folk answered, but in every pair of eyes there seemed to burn a fire.

Only then did Li Qin see clearly that every pearl diver had white cloth wrapped around their arms.

He recalled that half a month ago, several hundred of the old and weak pearl divers had thrown themselves into the sea, and at the time he had secretly gloated, thinking that with the old and weak dead, he could save some grain.

But now he never expected this pack of lowborn wretches to come collecting their debt.

Li Qin was terrified beyond measure.

The patrol inspector seized the moment and suddenly swung his blade at Bailangzai—kill the bandit leader first, and perhaps there would still be a way to live.

Bailangzai merely sidestepped slightly; the patrol inspector's swing cut nothing but air, he lost his balance and toppled over on his own, his blade flying from his hand. When he scrambled back up, his face was covered in blood from his nose.

The patrol inspector kowtowed ceaselessly to the pearl divers, begging for mercy, and pointed at Li Qin, saying: "It was all his doing—he forced me into this. Every wrong has its source, every debt has its debtor—you should seek vengeance from him..."

Before he could finish speaking, Bailangzai swung his blade.

The patrol inspector clutched his neck, his face full of astonishment, blood spurting from between his fingers, and in a moment he crumpled to the ground.

Li Qin was scared out of his wits; it seemed neither the hard approach nor the soft approach would work anymore.

Anger rose unbidden in his heart—he thought, the barbarians rebelling was one thing, but this pack of lowborn pearl households daring to rise up against their superiors as well—this was truly a revolt against heaven.

He roared in fury: "How dare you all! You have the audacity to—"

Halfway through his words, a flash of blade light passed, his neck grew hot, and then he could no longer make a sound, blood bubbles ceaselessly spilling from his mouth.

Li Qin's expression was ghastly; he knelt collapsed on the ground, his hands struggling desperately, gurgling sounds coming from his mouth, as if he were drowning.

After much futile struggle, Li Qin gradually fell into the pool of blood and stopped moving.

The blade Bailangzai had just swung had sliced open his throat; blood poured back down his windpipe, and Li Qin drowned alive in his own blood.

Yahei

Fenyuan

Pen