Chapter 10

He sees flood victims on the road, and valiant deeds vanish his enmity.

He comes to the inn in the night, and expertly plays a trick on a hero.

He traveled through the night, and when the sky lit up the next day, the rain had not yet stopped. Jiang Xiaohe found himself a shop where he had some food and tea, though he didn’t rest long before spurring his horse on north. He turned through the northern foothills of Mount Song, and turned his way west. By evening he came to a small town thirty miles east of Luoyang city. Because it was no longer early, Jiang Xiaohe found a hostelry in which to rest one night, and to guard against the possibility that Ji Guangjie knew that he was here and would implement some secret ploy, his sword never left his side.

When the morning of the next day came, he left the hostelry. The rain had already stopped, but a thick fog still covered the earth, making it both humid and hot. On his horse, Jiang Xiaohe took off the short jacket, revealing his sturdy arms, and spurred his horse on to the east gate of Luoyang. He thought, Ji Guangjie isn’t some sort of important high official. How could I know where he’s staying while he’s here? He reined his horse up and thought for a moment. Then he said to himself, “I’ll look for a security office and ask around.” Thus he turned his horse around and looked around at the shops on either side, suddenly spotting a security office with a sign on the door, reading, “Taiping Security Office, Famous near and far.” On the white wall, there was another line of text, though the ink had been mostly washed away by the rain. He could still see it faintly, however, and it read, “Capture Jiang Xiaohe” in large characters.

Jiang Xiaohe saw this and said, “Ah! So it turns out Ji Guangjie that scamp is here!” He jumped off his horse immediately, and leading it, barged through the gate of the security office. At this security office, the front hall was right behind the gate, which was closed. Jiang Xiaohe walked up and kicked it open. There had still been a few people sleeping inside and they were roused by Jiang Xiaohe. Two or three people got up from the kang, and asked angrily, “Hey! What the hell gives you the right to kick our door in?” Jiang Xiaohe replied by pulling out his sword and saying, “Does it not say to capture Jiang Xiaohe in the front? I am that good sir! Which one of you cretins wants to capture me? Come the hell out, and we’ll have a little contest!”

When those people heard him, their complexions all changed from fright. One who was about forty said, “Oh! So that’s what this is about! Sir Jiang, put your sword away and hear me out. The writing on the wall was not put there by any of us here. It was a few days ago, someone came by the name of Ji Guangjie. He’s the grandson of the Xia of Longmen, and he came with two men of the Kunlun School—” Jiang Xiaohe said, “Where are they staying right now? Tell me, quickly!” The man spoke as he put on some clothes, “Ji Guangjie stayed in Luoyang for two days, writing those words in many places in and out of the city. Everyone knew his martial ability, and if anyone displeased him a little bit, he would beat them up. That’s why we had no choice but to let him write. We dared not stop him. They left a few days ago, and after they left those of us here washed the words off the wall with water, though we probably didn’t wash it completely out.”

Jiang Xiaohe asked, “Where did Ji Guangjie and the others go?” The man said, “We heard they went south. We have nothing to do with him, though we all know his name. Sir Jiang! Think. We are all men who travel Jianghu and rely on our friends to eat. Who wants to offend their friends? To say nothing of the fact that we have never sown enmity or hatred. He wanted to write on our clean walls, and we were helpless, because if you stopped him, you had to be prepared to fight!” Jiang Xiaohe asked angrily, “Ji Guangjie and the others, they went south to where?” The man said, “We don’t know. You could go to the Zhenying Security Office in the city and inquire there. When Ji Guangjie came, he stayed there. Ji Guangjie and Lu Zhenying are good friends.”

Jiang Xiaohe nodded and went outside, carrying his sword and leading his horse. He gave the faint words on the wall a few chops of his sword, sending pieces of plaster down. Then, he mounted his horse and entered the city. Before going far, he saw the Zhenying Security Office. He looked first to the wall, and spotted a large black smear on it, likely having originally read, “Capture Jiang Xiaohe.” Jiang Xiaohe asked as soon as he went through the gate, “Which one is named Lu Zhenying?”

There was a man in the yard with bared arms swinging a spear about. Upon seeing Jiang Xiaohe enter with sword in hand, he hurriedly ceased his spearwork. He gave Jiang Xiaohe a once-over and then said, “Lu Zhenying is on a security job. What business do you have with him, friend?” Jiang Xiaohe said, “I’m looking for Ji Guangjie. I heard that Ji Guangjie stayed here.” The man nodded, saying, “That’s right, because he and our captain know each other. He came a few days ago and stayed here a couple days. Then, he left.” Jiang Xiaohe glared at him and asked, “Where did he go?” The man said, “They say he went to Shangshui county to look for Liu Qingkong.”

When he heard this, Jiang Xiaohe was taken aback. He thought, That he’s gone to find Liu Qingkong is not important, but if he finds out that Yang Xiantai and I are friends, and vents his anger with Yang Xiantai, then wouldn’t it be all over? It would mean that I’ve caused my friend harm! Thus, he led his horse preparing to leave, but then thought, Since the captain of this security office is close with Ji Guangjie, I ought to let them know who I am! So he said spiritedly, “Let me tell you, I am Jiang Xiaohe. When I heard that Ji Guangjie was displaying those words of his, posting notices everywhere and writing on walls that he wants me captured, I came here especially to find him. He needn’t capture me. I’m the one who will capture him! I’m leaving now for Shangshui county to look for him.”

As he said this, he noticed a stone stake nearby used for hitching horses, very thick and very sturdy. Jiang Xiaohe went over and struck it. All they heard was a loud crack, as he knocked half of it off with his palm, sending splinters of rock falling in a spray. The man who was practicing his spear and a few others who looked like security escorts all paled with fright as they stared at him. Jiang Xiaohe said, “When your captain comes back, tell him about this!” After he said this, he mounted his horse and departed through the gate.

Jiang Xiaohe left Luoyang city and rode east with fury in his heart. He didn’t mind that Ji Guangjie was helping the Kunlun School to fight him, but that he was writing “Capture Jiang Xiaohe” everywhere was not something a hero would do. Before riding forty miles east, he entered a narrow ravine with loess plateaus on either side. Into the earthen wall was carved the words, “Capture Jiang Xiaohe,” every character of which was writ large. Not to mention that they were carved deep, as if it was done with a sword. Jiang Xiaohe grew even angrier. Sitting on his horse, he brandished his sword and sliced and chopped at those words crazily. Many clumps of dirt fell off until the words were unrecognizable, whereupon Jiang Xiaohe left.

When he came out of the ravine, he kept both of his eyes looking around to catch sight of any place where Ji Guangjie might have left words. In the evening, he lodged at the limits of Xinzheng county and asked the innkeeper if someone by the name of Ji Guangjie had passed through here. He gave a general description of Ji Guangjie, that he was a young man carrying a sword and writing everywhere, with two helpers alongside him. Hearing this, the innkeeper said, “Right, that’s it! That man came through here around noon the day before yesterday and even wrote a few words on our earthen wall! It read something like, ‘Capture Jiang Xiaohe.’ We thought he was an official, so we didn’t dare get in his way. After he left, we took an iron shovel and scraped those words off.” Jiang Xiaohe grew ever more furious at hearing this and wanted nothing more than to leave and chase after Ji Guangjie that very night, but he truly felt at this time that his body was a bit worn out.

When the following day came, Jiang Xiaohe continued his pursuit, asking people along the way about the route to Shangshui county and the whereabouts of Ji Guangjie and the others. At about the ninth hour of the morning, he came upon a small town. He spotted a large locust tree at the side of the road, upon which where posted in disarray a dozen or so strips of paper, all of which read, “Capture Jiang Xiaohe,” “Capture Jiang Xiaohe”! Jiang Xiaohe was so angry his face paled. He dismounted his horse, plucked all the paper strips down and tore then into shreds. There were several people nearby watching him carefully. Jiang Xiaohe then asked the people nearby, “Who put these strips up? It looks to me like they’re all new.” One of the people pointed to the east and said, “It was Fatty Ma from that tavern.”

Jiang Xiaohe was in a rage. Leading his horse, he walked to the front of the tavern and left his horse there. He burst inside with sword in hand and saw that there were no customers here. A portly barkeep was telling a young attendant to grind out some ink. Holding a blunt brush, he was jotting down the same characters “Capture Jiang Xiaohe” over and over again, just like a schoolchild doing his writing drills. Beside him were placed strips of paper in excess of twenty or thirty. Jiang Xiaohe approached, grabbed the inkstone and, slap, struck the barkeep across his pockmarked face with it. Fatty Ma yelled out in pain with both ink and blood on his face. Jiang Xiaohe ripped all the strips of paper to shreds and kicked the table over as well. The young attendant had long fled outside in fear.

Fatty Ma was lying on the floor, unable to get up. He shouted indignantly, “Why did you hit me?” Jiang Xiaohe slapped him on the head with the flat of his sword and asked angrily, “I am Jiang Xiaohe! Why are you writing these strips about capturing me? You’re not an official, and I haven’t broken any laws!” Upon hearing that this was Jiang Xiaohe himself, Fatty Ma couldn’t help his whole body from shaking from fear, hurriedly explaining himself, “It wasn’t that I wanted to write it. It was the day before yesterday, a customer gave me five taels of silver and told me to write it, the more the better, and after a couple days, he would come back and give me more money. Actually, I can’t even read these few characters!”

Jiang Xiaohe yelled furiously, “You scoundrel! He gives you five taels of silver and you incite things for him, and dishonor me as you wish?” Suddenly raising his head, he noticed a dozen or so jars of wine stacked in a cabinet, and on five of them was written a single character, which put together read, “Capture Jiang Xiaohe.” [Note: “Capture Jiang Xiaohe” is written with five characters in Chinese: 捉拿江小鶴.]

Jiang Xiaohe became even madder at seeing this. It took quite a bit of effort for Fatty Ma to pick himself up. He said, “Good sir Jiang, I didn’t write those characters on the jars. It was the customer named Ji himself who did it. There were three of them in all, and he was carrying a sword in his hand. Even our Fourth Sir Zhang here flattered him. Don’t say it’s because he gave me money. Even if he hadn’t, I didn’t dare not to listen to him!” Jiang Xiaohe indignant, found a steelyard in the room, held it in his hand, and hammered at the wine jars. Crash, crash, splash, was all they heard! It turned out that while three of them were empty, two of them were still filled with wine, and as soon as the jars were shattered, the wine flowed out! Fatty Ma stamped his foot and cried loudly, “Oh no! Those two wine jars of mine are worth six or seven taels of silver!” Jiang Xiaohe said, “Why don’t you go find the one named Ji and have him compensate you for it? If you dare write any more and I find out about it, I’ll come back for your life!” When he finished, he turned around and left the tavern angrily. He went out the gate and was about to mount his horse when he spotted six people approaching from the north, all armed with sabers and staffs. Jiang Xiaohe quickly stopped in his tracks and waited for them with his sword held in front of him.

The men who came were all wearing short pants, with a few of them dressed in small coats, and some with arms bared. One of them was the young attendant who’d fled earlier. The young attendant pointed at Jiang Xiaohe and said, “That’s him!” Instantly, the men rushed towards him carrying their weapons, and surrounded Jiang Xiaohe. They said together, “Don’t even think about leaving. So you are Jiang Xiaohe. There are people out to capture you!” At this point, Fatty Ma had stuck his head out from the tavern, not yet washed of ink and blood, and bellowed angrily, “Grab him! He hit me! And he destroyed two jars of my wine! Get him to repay me!”

Jiang Xiaohe brandished his sword and asked furiously, “What do you think you’re doing? Was it Ji Guangjie sent you here? If he’s around, hurry and tell him to come meet me. This has nothing to do with you. If you don’t know what’s good for you and you get me angry, my sword knows no mercy. If I kill or wound any of you, don’t come crying to me!”

The men said together, “Enough with your boasting, you cretin! Throw down your sword while you still can, and come with us to see Fourth Sir. Our Fourth Sir and Sir Ji are kinsmen. When Sir Ji left the day before yesterday, he entrusted our Fourth Sir with a task. To capture you, if you were to come. Since you are a bandit who has committed serious crimes, the Kunlun School and the Xia of Longmen’s men all want you captured!”

Hearing these words, Jiang Xiaohe angrily rebuked, “Hogwash!” He swung his sword and sent chops at the five or six men. None of the men knew how great a skill Jiang Xiaohe had, and surged forward, charging at him together, brandishing their sabers and staffs ... However, with casual shakes of Jiang Xiaohe’s sword, after three or four exchanges, three of four of the men had thrown down their weapons and fallen wounded to the ground. The street immediately erupted in chaos, with people saying, “There are injured!” Fatty Ma had run out of the tavern as well with his thick arms open, running north like a pig, shouting loudly, “Officer! Officer! Something’s happened here!” Jiang Xiaohe flew onto his horse, after which he injured another two men, and then he galloped to the southeast.

It was as if a flame blazed in his heart when he thought of how hateful Ji Guangjie was. If he were to see him, he would kill him for sure. It didn’t matter if he was the Xia of Longmen’s grandson, and he didn’t care about his master’s rules! After he rode for ten or so miles, he noticed a group of horses following after him from behind. Jiang Xiaohe reined up his horse and said in surprise, “Could they be coming after me?” Thus, he reached out and unsheathed his sword.

In a short while, the horses caught up to him. There were a total of twelve horses, and atop each horse sat an able-bodied man. The one in the lead was a tall man, dressed nicely and riding a brown horse. Jiang Xiaohe turned his horse around and held his sword out to meet them. He asked them, “Hey! Are you chasing after me?” The tall man on the brown horse looked up and said, “We’re just riding on the road. What would we be chasing you for?”

Jiang Xiaohe saw that all twelve of the riders were wearing sabers, though none of them had baggage, so he couldn’t help but sneer a little and nod, saying, “All right. You’ll go your way and I’ll go mine, and neither of us will bother the other.” He turned his horse back around and galloped southeast. The twelve horses behind him trotted quickly behind him, and Jiang Xiaohe was enraged! He pulled his sword back out and was about to turn his horse around when he saw the twelve horses charging at him in a row. Hearing a crash like an oncoming tide, Jiang Xiaohe couldn’t dodge them in time and he was knocked off his saddle by the horses behind him. However, his body being nimble, when he felt off balance in his saddle, he quickly leapt down and at the same time flashed the sword in his hand. The glimmer of the sword frightened the horses that were charging up from behind into lifting their hooves up, and two of the men fell off their horses. Jiang Xiaohe disregarded all else, and turned to pursue the brown horse.

The tall man riding the brown horse had already run far away with several of the others. The horse ran quickly, but Jiang Xiaohe’s legs were not slow. In a split second, the tall man riding the brown horse turned his head to look, and oh! Jiang Xiaohe had nearly caught up to him. There was but twenty-some paces between them. The men nearby were all in shock, saying, “What fast legs! Fourth Sir, watch out!” The tall man on a horse they called Fourth Sir hastily waved his whip and went for the saber next to his saddle. However, before he could pull his saber out, he saw Jiang Xiaohe leap up, just as if he was a red-crowned crane in flight, and the sword in his hand like a crane’s wing.

In the blink of an eye, a crack and a doleful cry was heard. Jiang Xiaohe had cut down the tall man with one slash of his sword. The riders nearby quickly withdrew one after the other. Jiang Xiaohe brandished his sword and slapped the tall man across his body with the flat of his sword, and then gave him a kick. A gush of fresh blood flowed from his shoulders as he rolled over a few times and passed out. Of the remaining eleven riders, three witnessed Jiang Xiaohe’s extraordinary martial arts and hastily spurred their horses into flight. The other eight knew not their own limitations, together drew their sabers, and dismounted their horses to fight. Jiang Xiaohe’s sword turned and jumped, much like a white cricket leaping about in a saber forest. He didn’t display any sort of swordwork; he simply needed a quick eye and a quick hand. Seven or eight exchanges and he had sent six men down with stabs. The two left over took hold of their horses and fled.

Jiang Xiaohe didn’t chase after them. He withdrew out of his sword stance and looked down at the seven lying about the ground. Because Jiang Xiaohe obeyed his master’s instructions, he wasn’t willing to harm anyone’s life. Thus when he used his sword, he exerted very light strength. Not only did the six strong-looking men suffer from very light wounds, but some of them were even able to get up. And though the tall man who fell from his horse had a heavy sword wound on his right shoulder and his torso was covered in blood, he was gradually coming to. It was only that he cried continuously in miserable pain.

Jiang Xiaohe first went to go find his horse, and then he rode it back. When he came to the wounded men, he scoffed, “Don’t say that there were only twelve of you. With your skill, even if there were a hundred and twenty surrounding me and I let you harm one hair on my body, I would not be the one named Jiang! I, surnamed Jiang, did not want to hurt anyone, but your methods were too cruel. Good men emphasize one saber or one spear. Even if a group of people ganged up on one person and triumphed, that would be the conduct of petty men. Just now you lined your horses up and charged me. If it had been any other person, they would already have been trampled to death by your mess of horses. Fuck! Even bandits aren’t as vicious as you!” When he said this, he dismounted his horse in fury with sword in hand to punish those men further.

Some of the men then knelt on the ground and begged for forgiveness, pleading with him, “Sir Jiang! We were blind! But don’t blame me, and don’t blame our Fourth Sir Zhang. This is all because of Ji Guangjie. Not only did he post notices everywhere about capturing you, but he goaded our Fourth Sir. When our Fourth Sir saw you come, he brought us to chase you down. He wanted to knock you down with our horses so it would be easier to capture you, and let Ji Guangjie see his ability. Because our Fourth Sir is Old Sir Ji the Xia of Longmen’s nephew, if you think about it, Ji Guangjie is then his cousin!” Jiang Xiaohe impatiently asked, “Where is Ji Guangjie now?” The man kneeling on the ground said, “Ji Guangjie left the day before yesterday, heading to Liu Qingkong’s home in Shangshui county looking for you, Sir Jiang!” Jiang Xiaohe immediately nodded and said, “All right. I’ll go look for him!”

He turned his horse and was about to leave when he caught sight of a throng of carts in the distance. Jiang Xiaohe wondered if it was more of this Fourth Zhang of the brown horse’s friends, but then after a careful look, he discovered it was a band of traveling merchants. Because of the fight that occurred here, they’d all been stopped, afraid to come this way. Jiang Xiaohe put his sword away and approached on his horse. When he drew near, he clasped his fist and said, “You have all come from far away. Did you perchance see any notices posted at the side of the road, or writing on walls that said to capture Jiang Xiaohe?” Some of the merchants replied, “We didn’t pay much attention on the road.”

Jiang Xiaohe nodded and then said, “The person writing the notices is Ji Guangjie. Jiang Xiaohe, the one he wants to capture is me. I am a straightforward and upright man, and I’ve never been a thief, nor have I ever broken the law. Ji Guangjie and I are complete strangers, and have no grievances with each other. It’s just that he’s been prodded by those of the Kunlun School to dishonor me in this way everywhere. I truly cannot put up with this. These men I’ve wounded now are all henchmen of Ji Guangjie, and you have all likely seen what happened. It was they who first tried to hurt me, not I who wounded them for no reason. I invite you all to bear witness and relate this matter everywhere you go. I also ask from now on that if you see any writing about capturing me, whether on the wall or not, to please rip it up for me, or rub it out.”

The entire band of merchants agreed, saying, “All right! If we see anything like that, we’ll for certain get rid of it for you.” Jiang Xiaohe then cupped his fist and said, “Thank you! Thank you!” When he was done, he abandoned the several injured men and continued spurring his horse on to the southeast. When he thought about it, he still got very angry, speaking to himself, “The master told me I wasn’t allowed to harm people’s lives at will, but I cannot spare Ji Guangjie. He has mistreated me too deeply. If I meet him, he will have absolutely no mercy under my sword!” He hurried his horse urgently south, and by evening he came to the limits of Shangshui county.

Liu Qingkong was not considered a wealthy man in these parts, but he owned a small farmstead. When Jiang Xiaohe arrived, he dismounted his horse and walked straight into the farm. A few of Liu Qingkong’s disciples greeted him and made their salutations together, saying, “Uncle Jiang, you’ve come back.” Jiang Xiaohe had come here a month previous to compare his martial arts with Liu Qingkong. He’d knocked Liu Qingkong over with one fist, and the two ended up becoming good friends. Jiang Xiaohe had stayed here a few times before and had received the hospitality of Liu Qingkong, so these disciples all knew him. Xiaohe hurriedly asked them, “Has anyone come here looking for me?” One of the disciples said, “Ji Guangjie came here looking for you yesterday. There were three of them in all who came.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiaohe’s stare immediately intensified as he said, “Where are they now?” The disciple said, “They left yesterday, the same day they came. He heard us say that our master had gone to Xinyang, so he suspected that you had gone there as well. He posted some notices on the door before he left, reading, “Capture Jiang Xiaohe.” We grew angry when we saw them, but because we knew his martial arts were powerful and since our master was not at home, we didn’t dare provoke him. We waited until after they left before we scraped the strips of paper down.” Jiang Xiaohe heard this and fumed, “I’m going after them!” Saying this, he mounted his horse while he was still at the farm and galloped out.

He hurried his way through the night and when the next morning arrived, he came to the limits of Zhengyang county in Jiangnan. At this time, Jiang Xiaohe’s spirits were still very active, but he was both thirsty and hungry. When he looked up he saw the northern gate of Zhengyang in front of him. He still didn’t see any teahouses, but bleak scenes did enter into his sight. There was a large mass of the destitute, wearing clothes even more ragged than those of beggars. Each of them was propping up the elderly or holding the young, carrying worn out travel bundles on their backs or supporting broken clay pots. They were teeming their way south. Jiang Xiaohe was afraid of running over these poor people, so he hastened off his horse. He stopped one of them and asked, “What are you all doing here?” The poor person said something and then hurried away.

What was spoken was in an unfamiliar accent, and Jiang Xiaohe hadn’t understood it. Nearby, someone who looked like a businessman said, “These are all disaster victims from Huaibei. The Huai River opened its mouth and caused a flood, flushing over all their fields and destroying them, so they’ve all fled to Henan. Someone over there is providing relief today, so they’re all rushing to receive some money.” Jiang Xiaohe nodded and thought to himself that he didn’t know who was providing the relief, but it must be a kind and rich man.

More and more of the disaster victims came, and it was hard to count how many hundreds of people there were. They had jammed up an entire street. There were several large carts stuck in the middle of the street, the drivers of which all climbed onto their carts, not daring to go below, afraid of being trampled by the disaster victims. Leading his horse, Jiang Xiaohe naturally could not go forward any either. Luckily, he found an inn to the side, so he shouted, “Give way!” He led his horse through the gates of the inn, and handed it over to an attendant. He thought, I have three or four hundred silvers on me. Why don’t I pass some of it out and help save some of these disaster victims?

The attendants and guests inside the inn were all standing by the door watching the activity. One of the guests sighed sadly, “This is what they mean when they say, it’s hard to open the doors of charity, and it’s hard to close those doors! There’s a young guest staying at the Mi Inn on the south side. Looking at him, he doesn’t seem like someone who has a lot of money. Not long ago, he took out five taels of silver and changed it into cash, dividing it up among a few of the disaster victims. That was too much! One told ten, and ten told a hundred! More and more of the disaster victims came, so many that they’ve almost toppled the main gate of the Mi Inn, squeezing through it! Unless that guest can make money from nothing, even if he had five hundred silvers, it wouldn’t be enough to provide relief.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiaohe thought it very novel, wanting to see what kind of person this young guest was. Perhaps it was the young master of an official’s household. Thus he forced his way into the multitude, and though it was congested as if they had rendered the street into a dead stop without even a small gap anywhere, Jiang Xiaohe was strong and light. In an instant, he arrived at the Mi Inn. He saw a mass of people gathered in front of its gates. All shouting out lamentations, “Good sir bodhisattva! I haven’t been given anything yet! I’m starving to death! And I have an eighty year old mother too!” There was also a woman holding a bone thin child in one hand, with her other hand raised up, calling miserably, “Help me! Save me!”

The gates of the Mi Inn had already long been closed. He saw a young man climb on top of the wall, and shout with his hands in the air to the hundreds of disaster victims below, “I don’t have even one coin left. I’ve given away all of my hundred or so taels of silver! I’ve even given out all of my friend’s money. I don’t have any money anymore!” The disaster victims below refused to leave, still crying out mournfully, “Bodhisattva! ... Save me! ... Give me some!”

Jiang Xiaohe saw that the young man’s age was not far from his own. He was short but sturdy and his complexion was slightly dark. He was dressed in a blue silk coat and pants with a blue muslin belt fastened about his waist. His feet wore blue boots, at the tips of which were attached silk tassels. He appeared to be a man who practiced martial arts. Jiang Xiaohe couldn’t help but secretly admire him, so he waved his hands and called out to the disaster victims, “He doesn’t have anymore money! But I do. Come with me. I have three or four hundred taels of silver, and I’ll distribute it to you all at once. Come with me!” He shouted this three times, but the jumble of sounds buried his voice, and no one heard what he’d said, many even thinking that he was asking the man on the wall for money! The mass of disaster victims kept their faces raised, pleading to the young man on top of the wall, calling out, “Sir bodhisattva!”

Jiang Xiaohe was very anxious, and it was hard to bear being crowded on all sides by people. He hated that his money pouch was not at his side. If it was, he would certainly hurl it to the young man atop the wall and tell him to give it out for him. But then he thought, That wouldn’t work! My cash is all in whole silvers, and the other half are bills from a Langzhong moneychanger. I wouldn’t even be able to break it up into change here.