Chapter 31: A Windfall Beyond Measure

That afternoon, Chao Bo and the others sat in the thatched hut discussing the morning's grand competition, but everyone was clearly distracted. Little Tao kept spacing out and staring blankly from time to time; the brothers Ke and Buke stood up even more often, peering out the window. Ping paced restlessly around the room, while Zhi sat cross-legged on a straw mat, seemingly calm as he wove straw sandals — yet the nimble hands of old kept making mistakes today for some unknown reason.

"Money's here!"

Just then, a loud shout came from outside. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and rose to their feet in unison.

Next, the door was kicked open. Skinny Ji Ying walked in beaming, holding a large clay basin in both hands. Mu followed right behind him, his pair of big palms carrying a small earthenware bowl, his face also brimming with delight.

After them, Heifu and Dongmen Bao also walked in, pulling the door shut again behind them, blocking out every envious and jealous gaze from outside.

Ji Ying and Mu set the vessels in their hands on the ground, and the group immediately crowded around. Inside the basin and the bowl were four straw-woven winnowing baskets, and inside those baskets — piled to the brim, gleaming with golden light — were bronze coins!

In this era, bronze was not called bronze but was generally referred to as "metal," because before oxidizing in the soil, the copper-tin alloy was actually a bright yellow. Yet it was distinct from gold, which served as high-grade currency — the specifics depended on the context. People of later ages who indiscriminately took every mention of "metal" to mean bronze, or every mention of "metal" to mean gold, were all acting like scoundrels…

So when these bronze coins were heaped together, they truly glittered and shone, making a strange light flicker in everyone's eyes. The few who had been waiting so long in the hut, in particular, were grinning so wide they couldn't close their mouths.

They had all come from poverty, and in their entire lives, they had truly never seen so much money!

The most exaggerated was Ping. He knelt on the ground as if he wanted to embrace the coins and said gleefully, "I'd be fine even dying on top of them."

Chao Bo was somewhat calmer. He asked, his voice trembling, "Is this… truly four thousand coins?"

"It is." Heifu smiled. "A thousand coins per basket. Yuan Bai gave us four baskets in total. Ji Ying wasn't at ease and counted them one by one! It is indeed four thousand coins — not one coin more, not one coin less!"

That Yuan Bai was straightforward enough; he scraped together the money and had it delivered in a single afternoon. As expected of a famously wealthy household in the county town. Of course, this was all because they had earlier invited officials to bear witness and drawn up a binding contract — there was no way to renege.

Hearing this, everyone felt reassured. But then the next problem arose: how should this money be divided?

For a moment, all eyes turned to Heifu. After all these days, the squad leader's authority had risen as high as the midday sun. Everyone deferred to him.

"Here is what I'm thinking."

Heifu crouched down, selected one basket, and lifted out the strings of banliang coins — one hundred coins per string — dividing them into five portions of two hundred coins each, setting them aside.

"Mu, Zhi, Ping, Ke, Buke — for the five of you, two hundred coins each."

He then reached for another winnowing basket and divided the thousand coins inside into three portions.

"Ji Ying and Little Tao, three hundred coins each. Chao Bo, four hundred coins."

Finally, Heifu picked out five hundred coins and placed them in front of Dongmen Bao.

"Dongmen Bao, five hundred coins."

Then he broke into a smile. "The remaining fifteen hundred coins go to me. Do you all think this division is fair?"

While Heifu divided the money, everyone held their breath and said not a word. Only at the end did they look at one another. Some were fully satisfied, but others had a few objections.

"I thought we'd be splitting it evenly among ten people…"

Ping, who had only received two hundred coins, said this with a touch of sourness, while muttering under his breath, "The squad leader sure took a lot for himself…"

"You wretch!"

Before Heifu could even react, Ji Ying and Dongmen Bao — Heifu's diehard supporters — instantly flared up in anger. But the first to rebuke Ping was Chao Bo, the oldest among them.

"Ping, don't you stand there making snide remarks!"

Chao Bo pointed at Ping furiously. "You really have no memory! Back when we said we didn't want to compete for first place in the grand competition, it was the squad leader who made the decision and told us to give it our all. Without the squad leader taking the initiative, there would be none of this money."

"Furthermore, the squad leader has trained us day and night these past days, even bringing out his family's training methods. Otherwise, with you lot as dumb as stupid oxen, how could you have improved so rapidly?"

"Lastly, it was the squad leader alone who entered into that contract with Yuan Bai. For these four thousand coins, he put himself on the line. If we had lost, he would have borne it alone and gone to serve as Yuan Bai's bondservant for two years, absolutely not implicating any of us. Now that we've won, he willingly shares the money with us… In over thirty years of life, I have never seen a man who conducts himself with such fairness."

With every sentence he spoke, Ping's face paled a shade, and his head drooped lower and lower, until at last it hung completely down.

Chao Bo poured out all the words pent up in his heart these past days in one breath. "In my view, even if the squad leader took half the money, there would be no problem!"

"Chao Bo has spoken fairly!" Dongmen Bao and Ji Ying clapped and cheered. Little Tao, Zhi, Mu, and the others also nodded in agreement.

Throughout the entire exchange, Heifu had only smiled without speaking. He waited until the clamor died down, then raised his hand to quiet them.

"Actually, there is a reason I divided it this way."

"The five who received two hundred coins each — that is the reward you deserve for your hard training."

"These past days, Ji Ying has often helped me counsel and comfort everyone. He has rendered minor service, and so he deserves three hundred."

Hearing this, Ji Ying nodded to the group with a smug look. The money was a small matter; what mattered was that his good brother had not overlooked this contribution of his.

Heifu's eyes turned to Little Tao. He patted him on the shoulder. "Little Tao was threatened and bribed, yet he did not fear violence and flatly refused. Moreover, of everyone here, he learned the fastest and performed the movements most precisely. Those behind him all basically took him as the standard — am I wrong? Therefore, he also deserves three hundred coins."

Little Tao scratched his head, very embarrassed, and his face flushed red again.

"As for Chao Bo." Heifu bowed to him with clasped hands. "Chao Bo is an old campaigner. These past days, he has spoken freely of all he knows and helped me improve the training methods — a contribution that cannot be overlooked. He is also an elder, and so he deserves four hundred coins."

"Only what I ought to have done, only what I ought to have done." Chao Bo's goatee quivered slightly.

"Dongmen Bao is a squad commander. He has assisted me with all his strength these days — this needs no further explanation. He deserves five hundred coins." Dongmen Bao nodded at Heifu. Heifu had already discussed the division of money with him beforehand. Dongmen Bao valued loyalty over wealth and had no objections whatsoever, leaving everything to Heifu's discretion.

Here Heifu paused briefly, then pointed at himself. "As for me — Chao Bo has already spoken just now, so I won't sing my own praises. If anyone thinks my division of the money is unfair, speak up freely. If everyone finds your argument reasonable, then I, Heifu, will take not a single coin and give all of this money to you!"

After he finished speaking, his gaze swept over the group. Everyone remained silent. Including Ping, who had the biggest complaint — no one dared utter half a word of dissent.

"Two hundred coins is plenty." Zhi contentedly picked up his share of the money and smiled. "It can let me buy a thick winter coat and add two pairs of coarse cloth shoes. What is there to be dissatisfied about?"

"Indeed, the squad leader divided it fairly. We have nothing to say!" His brother Mu spoke up, a rare occurrence.

"Besides the money, the squad leader also shared wine and meat with us, and helped us get next year's corvée labor reduced. With such great kindness, if anyone still dares to complain, then their conscience has truly been eaten by pigs and dogs!" Ji Ying cursed.

The others chimed in one after another, putting away their respective money. Laughter and cheer returned to the room once more…

…

Although the Gui Squad's division of money had been done behind closed doors, with a big mouth like Ji Ying around, word soon spread. The corvée conscripts buzzed with discussion about it, all of them envious.

And so, by evening, the matter of "Heifu dividing the money" had passed from the mouth of Centurion Chen all the way to the ears of Du Xian, the County Right Lieutenant.

"Excellent. It seems this Gongshi Heifu not only possesses martial skill and can perform his duties as squad leader well, drilling a motley crew into good order, but he also divides rewards fairly and reasonably. He is a talent."

His gaze shifted to Centurion Chen. "If a man like this does not become a minor official, it would be dereliction of duty on our part…"

"What does the superior officer mean?"

Centurion Chen was taken aback. Although he had seen the Right Lieutenant's appreciation for Heifu, he had never expected that Du Xian actually intended to make Heifu an official!

By all accounts, Heifu held a noble rank, had come of age, and already met the basic requirements for becoming an official. But after this incident, the man had thoroughly made enemies of the Left Lieutenant and Centurion Bin. At a moment like this, the Right Lieutenant wanted to appoint him as an official — what was the meaning of this? Did he intend to fall out completely with the Left Lieutenant? Or did he simply want to leave the Left Lieutenant with a bone stuck in his throat before being transferred away?

Moreover, there were many avenues for appointing officials in Qin. Did the Right Lieutenant intend to personally recommend him? Or have the locality nominate him on their own? Or request the county magistrate to summon him? The first path carried too much risk; the latter two were no easy matter either.

"There's no rush with this matter."

Du Xian, however, waved his hand and said, "Let me observe this man's character a while longer. It won't be too late to decide after his gengzu service is finished!"

……

Elsewhere, Heifu was unaware of the discussion between the Right Lieutenant and Centurion Chen. After the ten-day grand drill ended, all the gengzu began to be merged together. Holding bamboo poles and wooden staves, they started practicing "dividing to unite, and uniting to divide."

Once they learned these, they would be qualified reservists, liable to be conscripted into the army at any time, issued weapons, given more specialized training, and then set foot on the real battlefield.

With their earlier foundation, the Gui Squad also completed the movements fastest during the combined drill. Yet Heifu kept feeling that Centurion Chen, who was training them, had been looking at him with deep meaning these past few days. His attitude was no longer the earlier condescension of bestowing favor from above, but had turned into warm co-opting…

As for Centurion Bin, ever since the day the Right Lieutenant severely punished him, making him do ten laps of deep-squat frog jumps across the drill ground in front of the gengzu and county soldiers, he had not appeared again. It was said he was recovering his health — after all, ten laps of frog jumps, his legs must have nearly broken. And going forward, Centurion Bin probably would not be able to hold his ground on the drill ground anymore. Word was he might be transferred to one of the townships under Anlu County.

On the morning of the fifteenth day of the tenth month, after completing the final combined drill, the gengzu were allowed a half-day's rest, but forbidden from going out. Starting tomorrow, they would begin even more grueling corvée labor — their easy days were over.

Returning to the thatched hut, Heifu discussed with everyone whether they should cut another strip of the dried meat awarded during the grand drill to improve their meal today.

He had originally said he would divide all the meat, but everyone felt embarrassed and only let Heifu portion out five strips, leaving five strips to dry in the sun, to take home after their service ended. In any case, the dried meat was all salted and would not spoil in the dead of winter.

As for someone stealing it? No need to worry. Qin law stipulated that even if you stole a piece of meat the size of a thumbnail, even if it was not worth a single coin, you would still be punished for theft. Your head full of black hair would be shaved off, and from then on you would have no face to meet anyone.

With Heifu taking the lead, Dongmen Bao also brought out two of the five dried meat strips he had received and shared them with everyone. Thus, everyone could eat a bit of meat every day, living quite happily.

Just then, Ji Ying, who had gone to borrow a cauldron, came back. The fellow shouted loudly from outside the hut, "Heifu, someone outside the drill ground has come looking for you, says he's your elder brother!"

(End of chapter)