Chapter 455 - Autumn Levy (Part 10)

"If Uncle is willing to take the lead, this humble nephew stands ready to serve as your vanguard, running errands on your behalf," Huang Binkun declared, appearing quite eager.

"Good. Then I must trouble you with this."

Huang Binkun took his leave, brimming with energy. He paused in the street for a moment to collect himself, then resolved to first return to the county school and contact his fellow students. Together they could brainstorm and compose a moving, persuasive petition—that would truly show Liu Dalin something.

Students were all educated people who understood principles. Throughout history, scholars had served as the pillars of the nation. He firmly believed the scholars of this county were such pillars.

Yet the group of examination graduates at the county school proved unenthusiastic about the matter. No matter how emphatically Huang Binkun stressed that this concerned the entire county, most remained hesitant. Some claimed this was a matter for their elders and that juniors shouldn't meddle. Others, upon hearing they were to submit a petition to the Australians, blanched with fright and refused to utter a word. As for those scholars from impoverished families, they possessed even less interest in this proposal—their families held no significant landholdings. In their most basic, most practical sentiments: wouldn't offending the Australians mean having their stipends terminated? They had only just begun receiving this allowance, their families had finally caught their breath, their wives and children could eat a few proper meals, and with some savings, by year's end they might purchase some cloth and a few jin of meat for a celebration.

Huang Binkun talked until his lips were parched, yet apart from one student named Li Xiaopeng from the county seat's Li family, he found no supporters. Let alone anyone volunteering to help draft this "petition." The Li family was also considered a "great house" in the county. His ancestors had hailed from northern Anhui and followed Zhu Yuanzhang in fighting for the realm, eventually becoming minor officials here and settling down. The Li family had long ranked among the wealthiest in the county—not because they owned extensive land, but because they held a hereditary monopoly on Lingao county seat's "night soil district."

The proprietor of a night soil district was responsible for removing residents' waste. Though the business sounded foul and reeking, the owner needn't perform the work himself. He hired workers from among the rural peasantry as waste collectors, and didn't even need to pay wages—the waste itself served as their compensation. The collected waste and refuse was then sold to farmers as fertilizer. This income was not only stable but extremely profitable. In a county like Lingao with utterly undeveloped commerce and industry, this constituted quite a substantial enterprise. The Li family had leveraged this foundation into rural moneylending, accumulating considerable wealth.

With money came land. The Li family also possessed roughly a thousand mu in the countryside, so the grain levy directly concerned them. Second, Li Xiaopeng harbored considerable hostility toward the Australians. His family had formerly been the county's foremost wealthy household. The Gou family, though rich, couldn't flaunt their wealth openly. But ever since the Australians arrived, several nouveaux riches had suddenly emerged—Lin Quan'an in particular. Having abruptly come into wealth, he naturally had to display it. Moreover, as the transmigrators' agent procuring various industrial and agricultural materials across the island, he had gained considerable worldly experience. In matters of consumption and enjoyment, he had become the county's leading figure, which Li Xiaopeng found utterly insufferable.

Li Xiaopeng was the restless sort who relished stirring up trouble. He had always found studying at the county school tedious. Hearing this affair could embarrass the Australians, he immediately declared his eager support.

Li Xiaopeng's essays weren't particularly accomplished, but he possessed plenty of fair-weather friends. One summons could gather forty or fifty people. Huang Binkun reckoned that though these idlers weren't particularly useful, they could at least create a show of force—rural folk were timid, and some might lose their nerve at the crucial moment.

Seeing no results at the county school, Huang Binkun decided to first canvass among the major households in town. He immediately went to Wang Ci to request leave.

Departing the county school, he was hurrying along the street when, at the deserted corner near the Temple of Literature, he was suddenly tripped. Fortunately, he possessed some martial arts training and stable footing; he staggered several steps before regaining his balance. He observed a beggar sitting against the wall, disheveled and in rags. A bamboo staff lay stretched across the middle of the alley.

Because the Australians prohibited begging, anyone caught begging in their territory—no matter how pitiful their performance or whether truly destitute—was hauled off by the constabulary. The sick were dispatched to the hospital for the first batch of medical students to practice upon; the healthy were sent straight to labor-reform teams to work. Consequently, the number of beggars in the county had dropped considerably. The remaining ones had drifted into the county seat to continue their vocation—the Australians didn't trouble themselves with this area.

Huang Binkun spoke angrily, "You beggar—why is your staff lying all over the place?" He wanted to kick the man a few times, but remembering he had urgent business, he lacked time to argue with a beggar.

Yet the beggar displayed no fear. He slowly withdrew the bamboo staff, and the man lifted his head slightly. On a face so grimy and blackened that its natural complexion was unrecognizable, his mouth actually stretched into a grin.

"Brother Binkun, how have you been?"

Huang Binkun was startled. The voice sounded familiar, but for a moment he couldn't place it. Examining the beggar more closely, the filthy face was crisscrossed with several scars, quite unsightly. Yet the features seemed familiar. He called out uncertainly, "You are—"

"Gou Chengxuan!" The beggar smiled—a smile uglier than weeping. "What, can't recognize me?"

"It's you?! ...How did you manage to return to the county seat..."

"Shh—not for others to know!" The beggar made a silencing gesture. Seeing Huang Binkun about to ask more, he said quietly, "The Fubo Shrine behind the Temple of Literature. I'm there." With that, he hunched his shoulders and fell silent once more.

Huang Binkun glanced around—no passersby—and hurried away.

His heart pounded: Gou Chengxuan had returned to Lingao!

Though the entire Gou family was notorious, Gou Chengxuan proved no exception. This man was an expert at moneylending and gambling—a capable hand in the family "business." Though not necessarily virtuous, he was talented. He had even passed the county examination to become a xiucai. After that, the Gou family's arrogance had only grown more brazen. Gou Chengxuan seldom visited the county school—he had no interest in it, and he knew the education officials there didn't welcome him. Apart from occasional appearances to make an obligatory showing, he was rarely seen. Huang Binkun, holding a poor impression of the Gou family, had never accorded Gou Chengxuan a friendly look.

Just the previous day, he had observed a notice at the county school: the Guangdong Provincial Education Commissioner's office had issued a document to Lingao County ordering the revocation of Gou Chengxuan's xiucai status. Given what Gou Er and his son had done, revoking this xiucai was cause for public celebration. He had only wondered why, nearly a year after the Gou family's destruction and the disappearance of Gou Er and his son, this document had suddenly arrived.

He hadn't expected Gou Chengxuan would possess the audacity to infiltrate the county seat! Huang Binkun's heart constricted—what was he risking everything to return for? Surely to exact revenge on the Australians. Who would have imagined Gou Chengxuan harbored such courage! Though he had always looked down on the man, he now couldn't help but admire his daring.

In reality, Gou Chengxuan's return to the county stemmed from desperation. After his father departed for Lingao's mountains to seek refuge with Rotten-Eye Hu—his former sworn brother turned bandit—Gou Chengxuan had remained hidden in Qiongshan County. Initially, his father still dispatched letters once or twice a month; later, all communication ceased. He inquired for a long time without news, until he finally learned from traveling merchants that Lingao was conducting bandit-suppression operations and the bandits had been swept clean.

The news sent Gou Chengxuan into a panic. First, his father's whereabouts were unknown. Second, when he and his father had fled in haste, they hadn't brought much silver. Their activities in Qiongzhou Prefecture and Guangzhou had already consumed much of it. With funds dwindling and the prospect of becoming street beggars looming, Gou Chengxuan had no choice but to risk returning to Lingao.

He couldn't approach his wife's family in Lingao. His relationship with his wife was poor—years ago, on a whim, seeing how pretty the daughter was, he had forcibly married her. He had grown tired of her soon after the wedding. On D-Day itself, his wife had returned to her parents' house. If he approached his father-in-law now, they would probably bind him and deliver him to the Australians for beheading.

The only possibility was his mother's family. Even if they couldn't take him in, they could at least provide some silver. He simply didn't know whether the Baldies had made a clean sweep and slaughtered his maternal relatives as well. Gou Chengxuan disguised himself as a beggar and slipped into Lingao. He proceeded with extreme caution. Reaching his maternal relatives, he approached their door under the guise of begging and finally managed to meet his kin. But he didn't dare linger—the place was surely a focus of Baldy attention, and a sudden raid would trap him like a turtle in a jar.

Ultimately, he decided to return to the county seat. He had heard the Baldies rarely ventured there; it remained much the same as before. Having been a local bully, he was intimately familiar with every corner of the county seat. Finding somewhere to conceal himself wouldn't prove difficult.

But the county seat contained too many people who knew him—former confederates among the clerks and runners were numerous, and such people could turn on you faster than flipping a page. They might very well sell him out. In the end, Gou Chengxuan steeled himself and slashed several wounds across his own face, then shaved off his eyebrows entirely. These past days of fear and anxiety had already left him haggard and thin. Combined with the rough journey, his complexion was sallow. With this additional disguise, he was confident that even acquaintances couldn't recognize him at first glance. Only then did he slip into the county seat, taking up residence directly in the Fubo Shrine behind the county school. The Fubo Shrine, dedicated to Ma Yuan, was among the coldest and most neglected of the county's many "official shrines"—it didn't even possess a temple keeper. Only beggars used it as a resting place.

Quite unexpectedly, there in the shrine he discovered the Lai brothers, who had formerly worked for his family. After the Gou family's destruction, the brothers had lost their livelihood. Having served as the Gou family's enforcers with some swagger, they found no one willing to assist them when they fell on hard times—a classic case of everyone pushing when the wall falls. The brothers had been idlers since childhood, knowing no trade and unwilling to labor for a living. They had thus become beggars.

When master and servants met, they embraced and wept. Under ordinary circumstances, Gou Chengxuan had no particular affection for these brothers. But now, as fellow outcasts, he felt considerably closer to them. The Lai brothers lacked sophistication; seeing their young master return, they urged him to seek revenge.

(End of Chapter)