Chapter 1074: Trouble in the Street

The group that had come together was quite dejected. No matter how you looked at it, this was a failure on their part. Even if they weren't reprimanded when they returned, they'd likely still get a black mark against them. Having learned this lesson, they immediately announced that from the next day onward, anyone going out had to be in mixed squads of Zhao Battalion men and Liaodong refugees — no one was to go out alone.

There wasn't much comfort to be had. Early the next morning, the ones who had arrived first went with the innkeeper to the Dengzhou county yamen. A fair amount of silver had already been spent, and the proper greetings had long been given; the officials ought to grant them some convenience, or at least make things easy to smooth over.

They had originally planned to go to the corpse-collection squad after visiting the yamen, but to their surprise, they found the man right inside the county office. Old Xiong was built like a bear — broad-shouldered and brawny, with plenty of distinguishing features, very easy to recognize. The innkeeper exchanged a few words with the head constable and slipped him some loose silver. Grinning, the head constable made arrangements for them to go to the jail to collect the man.

The runner guiding them also got a string of copper cash for his trouble and led the way, beaming from ear to ear. When they reached the jail, the runner spoke with the warden, who immediately ordered a jailer to fetch the prisoner. This was all routine business to them — they didn't take it seriously at all.

Unexpectedly, the jailer who had gone to fetch the man soon came running back, his expression somewhat off. He whispered a few words in the warden's ear. The smile on the warden's face vanished. After hesitating a moment, he spoke: "It's not that I won't help. The Lou family sent word — they want him to die of illness in the cell tonight. It really is hard to manage."

The steward from Cloud Mountain Trading and the innkeeper were both old hands at reading people. The moment they heard "hard to manage" rather than "impossible to manage," they understood perfectly. They simply brought out silver to talk. Fifteen taels of silver handed over, and the man was released on the spot. A human life for fifteen taels — one side thought it was too expensive, the other thought they'd made a killing.

Old Xiong, released from the cell, was bruised and battered, his spirit utterly deflated. He had clearly suffered quite a bit. The steward who had come to ransom him had been very displeased with Old Xiong, thinking he would give him a harsh scolding the moment they met. But seeing him in this state, he flew into a rage and demanded to know what had happened.

The day before, Old Xiong had been walking the streets. In Dengzhou's prefectural city, people selling others and selling themselves were truly everywhere. The more Old Xiong saw, the worse he felt, but there was nothing he could do. Passing down a street, he caught a glimpse of someone across the way who looked familiar. He hurried over to check and found it was the younger sister of a man from the mine. The girl was kneeling on a straw mat, selling herself. The so-called "selling oneself to bury one's father" act was usually a setup or a trick to draw sympathy, but in Dengzhou, where the human trade was so brisk, selling oneself was hardly a rarity.

The reason she was selling herself was simple enough. Her father had fled here with his three children, but the father had died at sea. After coming ashore, the eldest brother did odd jobs for people, only to die mysteriously on the street one night. The second brother, stricken with grief and rage, fell ill. The siblings, who had barely been scraping by, immediately collapsed. This girl had no money to buy medicine for her second brother and refused to fall into the pleasure trade, so she went straight to the street to sell herself. She made a point of declaring that any buyer must first provide silver to treat her family, then go to the yamen to draw up a formal contract. If the buyer wasn't a law-abiding commoner, she absolutely refused to go.

Though sallow and gaunt, this girl still had a trace of beauty, and youth was on her side. Back in the Liaodong mines, she had been quite well-known and was originally meant to be sent to the Li household as a concubine. But the girl was also naive. She had probably heard too many rumors and idle tales and thought selling herself could raise money. Perhaps she even harbored a few illusions in her heart.

When Old Xiong discovered her, the two old acquaintances met and wept bitterly. Old Xiong still had silver on him and knew that the Xuzhou side would help take them in. After scolding the girl a bit, he first took out the few taels of silver he had saved privately and told her to get medicine and see a doctor, then said he would bring them all to Xuzhou.

The woman, naturally unwilling to show her face in public if she could avoid it, immediately followed Old Xiong's arrangements. She hurried home to get medicine and call for a physician. But before she could leave, a group of men who looked like household bullies surrounded them. At the center was a man in his twenties, dressed in a brocade robe, sitting high on a horse with an arrogant air. He looked at the terrified girl, nodded, and said, "Not bad at all. A few days of rest at home and she'll be presentable."

Old Xiong knew they had to leave quickly at a time like this. He had seen men like this back in Liaodong and knew exactly what sort they were. He only said in a muffled voice, "The child doesn't know any better. She saw her family was sick and had no other way, so she foolishly tried to sell herself. Now we've raised the silver and need to hurry back to treat the illness. Everyone, please do us a kindness and let us pass."

At those words, the young lord on the horse's face darkened. One of the household bullies below was quick to react and immediately shouted, "You've got some nerve! You took our young master's deposit and now claim you've raised the silver. Trying to pull a swindle in broad daylight — let's take this to the magistrate!"

The girl had never seen a scene like this. She wept as she tried to argue. Old Xiong, however, knew trouble was coming. He saw no familiar faces around him. Everyone nearby was shrinking away — even the onlookers didn't dare come close. Left with no choice, Old Xiong grabbed two stones from the roadside and snarled fiercely that he would fight to the death if anyone came near. He was tall and strong, and from the mass brawls the miners had fought to the death against the Tartars, he had picked up a few desperate fighting skills. He figured if he could hold out through this crisis and run back to the inn for help, he wouldn't suffer too badly in the end.

Normally, the hangers-on around a foppish young bully like this were just dogs relying on their master's power. Knock a few of them down hard, draw some blood, and you could scare the rest off and buy enough time to run back to the inn. But Old Xiong hadn't expected that the young rider's household bullies all had martial training. Before he could even throw the stones in his hands, someone had already closed in on him. A punch landed square on his kidney, draining all the strength from his body. Two more men rushed up and kicked him to the ground. The crowd swarmed over him and beat him savagely. And the woman was seized right there on the street.

The beating wasn't the end of it. Old Xiong was thrown straight into the jail, where the jailers worked him over with clubs and whips. If the Zhao Battalion men hadn't come looking for him the very next day, he would have suffered far worse. After being rescued, Old Xiong was filled with a remorse that went without saying. He wanted both to help his fellow townsmen and to rescue that girl from her misery.

The Zhao Battalion steward was perfectly willing to help the gravely ill Liaodong miner, but he showed little enthusiasm for rescuing the sister. Anyone who could run rampant like that in the prefectural seat of Dengzhou was surely no one to trifle with. Besides, a refugee woman taken into a noble household — though her chastity might be lost, she would at least be fed and clothed, which counted as a kind of settlement. In chaotic times, staying alive was what mattered most; everything else came second. The girl might even be considered to have landed in a life of comfort.

After walking for a while, Old Xiong himself figured out this logic. He was only angry at that young lord's utter unreasonableness. Together, they went to the place the girl had mentioned the day before to look for people. They turned down several streets and came to a filthy part of the city, a place that looked like a dumping ground for trash. Even in such a spot, many makeshift shacks had been thrown up. As it turned out, the trip was fruitful. The people there were all from the Thirteen Hills mining area — nearly two hundred of them, all enduring bitter hardship there. And the gravely ill were more than just that one man.

When they saw Old Xiong appear, the group was overjoyed and astonished. Inevitably, there was a flood of emotion and tears. A third of these two hundred-plus people were sturdy women capable of heavy labor; otherwise, they couldn't have made it here. According to them, their luck was actually considered good. They had relied on sticking together and using their strength to seize this patch of ground. If they had been outside the city, they might well have been swept up and carried off by bandit gangs or soldiers posing as bandits, their fates unknown. During this period, people from the Thirteen Hills background had all been heading this way, but as their numbers grew, food, clothing, and shelter grew scarcer. Life was very strained.

The Zhao Battalion steward who had come along was very pleased to see these people. Moreover, these people could bring even more people. This trip back to Xuzhou would count as a genuine merit. He immediately took out silver for them to buy medicine and call for a doctor, then had Old Xiong speak from personal experience, telling them what Xuzhou was like.

In truth, these Liaodong refugees didn't care what Xuzhou was like. What they heard was that they could eat their fill and dress warmly there, and that someone would provide meals even on the road. That was already enough for them. Staying in Dengzhou's prefectural city had been a dead end. Everyone knew that if this went on, it was likely a road to death, but with nowhere else to go, they could only endure in misery.

With enough silver provided, the doctor came. Most of the people's ailments were caused by cold and hunger. A few full meals and a recovery of their health and spirits would cure them. The innkeeper who had come along didn't find it troublesome either. These Xuzhou men spent freely; one more person meant one more source of income — why not be happy about it? He immediately and eagerly said he would go back and make preparations to bring all these people over.

Besides buying medicine and calling for a doctor, the Zhao Battalion steward took out another ten taels of silver to buy everyone a meal. Then Old Xiong picked a dozen or so trusted men. They would first go back to the inn to learn the route, then return to lead the others over. They also needed to get a few large carts to bring the gravely ill along. At this, everyone was grateful for the Xuzhou people's compassion — they even took the sick, instead of sending them off to die.

As for that girl, no one cared. When Old Xiong spoke with some anger about the daylight abduction, there were even people who said enviously that it was a blessing — if you didn't have those looks, no one would bother to seize you. Everyone wanted to laugh, but no one could. In times of peace, if something like this had happened, the miners would have fought to the death, and the woman would have hanged herself. Now, it had become something to envy.

Sighing like this, they returned to the inn. The entire inn sprang into action. Doctors were called from outside to prescribe medicine. Hot soup and hot meals were prepared. Clothes too filthy and tattered were taken outside to be burned. Inevitably, they had to go knock on the pawnshop's door to buy some old pledged garments. The whole inn was buzzing with activity. The Zhao Battalion men felt the mission of recruiting refugees could be accomplished well. And the inn's people, though busy, made money on every single task. Business had been slow in the winter, but once the free-spending Xuzhou guests arrived, they were earning more than in peak season.

The innkeeper who had gone along to fish Old Xiong out of jail kept puzzling over one thing: "Just whose family is that Young Master Lou from? Why have I never heard of him?"

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