Chapter 619 - Before Running
"Use these goods for the retail trade," Guo Yi instructed. "Inventory the gold and silver for jewelry-making in the warehouse. When people come to withdraw deposits, use those to pay first. I'll also transfer silver over. Don't worry."
"Yes." Hearing that Master Guo had prepared silver to handle the run, Shen Fan felt much calmer. Not a few of the clients with deposits at Purple Treasure Shop had been brought in by him personally. If the shop were sealed, the government people were the type who gnawed bones without leaving scraps—there would be no hope of recovery. He would lose face built up over many years.
"Should the craftsmen be sent home?"
"You need to maintain appearances here for now." Guo Yi considered—if they started large-scale dismissals now, it would certainly arouse official suspicion. They might even seal and arrest people ahead of schedule. They had to maintain the appearance of normal operations.
These local craftsmen simply kept their heads down, worked, and collected wages. Though grateful toward such a generous employer as Guo Yi, they were ultimately outsiders among outsiders, knowing little of the Guangzhou Station's secrets. Even if the government sealed the shop, it wouldn't do anything to them. No need to rush their dismissal.
To prevent people from noticing he was preparing to leave, Guo Yi ostentatiously rode his sedan chair the next day to visit clients in the city. Very few were willing to see him now. Guo Yi simply left his calling card at each door and moved on. He was just announcing his presence.
After making the rounds, his luxurious grand sedan was carried to Zhiming Tower. It was still brightly lit, but this once drunken-gold pleasure palace of Guangzhou was now deserted, with only an empty great hall remaining.
Zheng Shangjie and others who usually kept low profiles had already evacuated one after another. Only Pei Lixiu, bored, showed her face here daily. At this moment, she was reclining on a Xiang Fei couch in the second-floor pavilion, drinking alone.
She was a woman who loved excitement and admired splendor. Usually, sitting in this pavilion at the center of the second floor, watching through the fine bamboo screen as people came and went in the great hall below, with laughter and music filling her ears... how delightful it all had been.
Now the great hall stood empty. Even the fountain's dripping could be heard distinctly.
Seeing Guo Yi arrive, Pei Lixiu greeted him with a cavernous yawn.
"How is it? No customers?"
"Not a single one." Pei Lixiu took a sip of kvass. "Only people coming to withdraw silver."
"Can you handle it?"
"No problem. The big depositors withdrew long ago," she said. "The small ones don't amount to much silver, and they're not even asking for interest." She poured a cup for Guo Yi as well. "You drink too. We can't take the kvass with us. Leaving it just benefits others. Might as well drink it all ourselves."
"Though it's like soda, it does have some alcohol. You should drink less." Guo Yi took a sip and found it mixed with rum. "We need to be ready to flee at any moment. How can you run if you're drunk?"
"Do you think we can come back?" she suddenly asked.
"Three months at the shortest, half a year at most, and this will be your territory again."
"This half year will be so hard to get through..." She looked at her red fingernails.
"Otherwise you could go back to Lingao. I hear they're going to open a Lingao version of Zhiming Tower there..."
Pei Lixiu laughed. "Little Guo—" She seemed oddly unaccustomed to the informal address now. "Can we really go back? My jewelry boxes full of ornaments, my dozens of trunks of clothes; your concubines, maids... we're completely incompatible with Lingao now."
Guo Yi's heart tightened. This was exactly what he had been worrying about. He took a sip of kvass. "Don't think about it that way. At most we're just among those who got rich first. The Executive Committee will understand what we've done in Guangzhou..."
"You've been in the bureaucracy too long. You're talking like a party official now." Pei Lixiu was a bit tipsy. "I don't want to go back to Lingao at all..."
"Stop talking nonsense." Guo Yi nervously glanced around. No one else was in the pavilion. "Without Lingao, there'd be none of what we have in Guangzhou. Don't you understand even that? Right now Guangzhou is full of dangers. Do you want to be arrested and beaten with boards, shackled, and made to kneel in chains in prison?"
At this, Pei Lixiu shrank back slightly. She said hesitantly, "Surely not... I think the Ming officials seem quite refined. They're all rather chivalrous toward women."
"Once you fall into official hands, you'll learn how the jailers show 'chivalry.'" Guo Yi sneered inwardly. Never mind that this was the seventeenth century—even in the twenty-first, a trip through the dictatorship apparatus to "have a cup of tea" would be quite enough. PEPI really spent all day immersed in romance novels and had forgotten what era this was.
Guo Yi knew discussing further with her was pointless. But since she was still holding on here, she could attract many eyes. The purpose was achieved. He gave PEPI a few more instructions, then got up and went to the safe house in the back. Xiahe was in the safe house burning documents. He knew this girl was actually a graduate of the Political Security General Administration's classified communications class, professionally trained and very reliable. He gave her additional instructions.
Just then, one of his servants who specialized in handling secret matters came to whisper a report: everything was prepared. Only then did he go to Pei Lixiu's boudoir—there, several sets of servant and shop-boy clothes and shoes had already been prepared for him to change into. After smearing some soot on his face, he quietly opened a secret door in the room and descended a hidden staircase to the rear courtyard. Two security personnel sent by Zhang Xin were already waiting there.
The Guangzhou Station's security department consisted of young men selected from the Qiwei Escort Bureau who, after vetting, had secretly gone to Lingao for training. Organizationally, they were independent and had few connections with the escort bureau.
The three men slipped out of Zhiming Tower among a group of shop-boys and cooks, walked down back alleys to the main street, twisted and turned until reaching an uninhabited area. After confirming no one was following, only then did Guo Yi board a waiting sedan chair.
This way, everyone believed he had gone to Zhiming Tower and was spending the night at his concubine's place. In the past, such elaborate precautions hadn't been necessary. Now he had to be extremely cautious.
The sedan traveled down small streets for a long time before being carried into a dark little courtyard. This was a property he had purchased earlier, used for secret meetings when there were confidential matters to handle.
Tonight he was meeting Sun Kecheng. The Qiwei Escort Bureau was one of the Guangzhou Station's pillars, but Qiwei's semi-independent status gave Guo Yi considerable concern about their attitude. Though the Station controlled Qiwei's entire finances, most of the people inside hadn't gone through Lingao's screening and political vetting. He had to guard against Sun Kecheng or his disciples suddenly defecting to the government—escort bureaus always prided themselves on running a "legitimate business" and were compliant toward officials.
What Sun Kecheng's attitude was—he had to find out tonight. This concerned future cooperation. On the blueprint for national deployment, the Qiwei Escort Bureau was also an important component.
Sun Kecheng was already waiting inside. Seeing Guo Yi arrive in disguise, he was immediately startled.
"Master Guo, has the situation become this urgent?" Sun Kecheng dispensed with pleasantries. The news that the government was going to move against the Australians had already spread.
"Within ten days to half a month, there'll definitely be a resolution!" Guo Yi didn't conceal what might happen. "I naturally need to avoid this storm. It's just that the Qiwei Escort Bureau has always had many dealings with us. I'm afraid you'll be implicated..."
"That's no problem. I have my own ways." Sun Kecheng waved his hand. "What about you?"
Seeing his apparently sincere manner, Guo Yi deliberately said: "We're prepared to hide here for a while first."
"Master, please don't speak so distantly." Sun Kecheng shook his head. "How many people can this little courtyard hold? You have many people. Why not stay at my place? I bought several properties in the countryside years ago. However many of you there are can stay there."
Guo Yi was noncommittal, merely saying there were still many things to handle. He might hide here for a while first. Once things were settled, he'd decide.
"Let's set that aside for now. Once the government moves against us, how will you respond?" he asked.
"No problem. We escort and guard—we deal with the wealthy and powerful. We still have some small reputation. They won't make things too difficult. When officials leave office, they count on us to escort their accumulated wealth and women back home. What good does it do them to shut down Qiwei? The silver and goods in the bureau all belong to clients. You think officials are going to personally escort goods and run inns?" Sun Kecheng said. "Besides, without you pulling us up back then, Qiwei was just a small bureau living hand-to-mouth. Now it's become a major establishment in Guangzhou city. Several hundred people depend on it for their livelihoods. Everyone at Qiwei is eternally grateful. Though Qiwei doesn't dare break the law, we're not fools who only know how to kowtow—everyone's heart is clear as a mirror about right and wrong in this world..."
Though he had ascertained Sun Kecheng's attitude, and was quite confident about Sun Kecheng's character, Guo Yi still didn't dare entrust the most important matters to his safekeeping—he was reliable, but that didn't mean all his subordinates were. After much consideration, he decided to have Sun Kecheng look after the local employees and craftsmen, and also hide some of the workers transferred from Lingao along with bulkier goods.
He also instructed Sun Kecheng to prepare a secret escape route. They agreed on code signals—if escape became necessary, they would meet using the codes.
But when it actually came to running, he still wouldn't completely trust them. The Foreign Intelligence Bureau had already cabled that they were preparing to dispatch a mixed team of Special Reconnaissance Team members and intelligence personnel as a reception squad to Guangzhou, ready to help them escape by force if necessary.
However, there were no signs of the government actually moving to seal the Guangzhou Station. Guangzhou's officials seemed intent on giving Guo Yi and the others ample time to consider dedication targets. The three Purple-Character businesses were simply left alone. Meanwhile, an endless stream of people came to discuss dedication. Tian Da visited almost daily to press him. Guo Yi simply refused to see anyone.
"Master Tian has come to call." The gatekeeper announced.
LĂĽ Yizhong was just about to go out. He had to sit back down again and sighed:
"Quick, show him in!"
He had been running around for days on army deployment business, so busy his feet never touched the ground.
After the strategy conference had decided on expedition plans, He Rubin wanted to "proceed carefully." Having served in Guangdong for many years, he knew something of Hainan's climate and geography—summer with its rainy season was imminent, and early autumn brought typhoons. So he advocated simply waiting until October to march. By then autumn grain would be harvested, making it easier to procure provisions along the way. Autumn's cool, crisp weather would also make army marching and encampment less likely to cause epidemics.
But Wang Zunde wanted "quick action." By now provisions and pay for departure were prepared, and He Rubin couldn't delay further. He had to decide to move some troops in early June.
Outside Guangzhou city, men shouted and horses neighed as various armies assembled. With so many military affairs to handle, Lü Yizhong was already overwhelmed. Then he also had to deal with Tian Da coming every few days demanding he "quickly settle the Zhiming Tower matter." He was crying bitterly inside—regretting he should never have taken on this business. Originally he had been over ninety percent confident that once Guo Yi heard the court was sending troops against Lingao, he would be scared out of his wits and obediently dedicate his properties to Tian Da. Not only would he please Tian Imperial Father-in-law, but he would also pocket a nice profit—Tian Da had originally promised him three thousand taels after the deal was done.
He had never expected this Guo Yi to be so stubborn, refusing to budge no matter what. Not only did the three establishments continue operating normally, but after seeing Tian Da and the others once, Guo Yi had refused all further meetings.
So Tian Da came to make trouble here, demanding he immediately arrest Guo Yi and force him to dedicate his properties.
Idiot! Lü Yizhong silently cursed upon hearing his "brilliant idea." But he was helpless—this "idiot" could give him orders, and he had to smile along.
Arresting someone was easy—he just had to tell Nanhai County. But once arrested, the properties would be confiscated and sold. What dedication then? As for who would end up with them after confiscation—that was another matter entirely. Tian Imperial Father-in-law was far away in Beijing after all. Not everyone would defer to his reputation.
No matter how Lü Yizhong explained, Tian Da kept pressing—after all, he was just a servant, throwing his weight around only by virtue of the Imperial Father-in-law's power. He had no actual influence in Guangzhou city. As long as officials stalled and deflected, he couldn't get things done.
LĂĽ Yizhong had intended to keep stalling him. Unexpectedly, this person suddenly made another demand:
"I've long heard that Zhiming Tower's Pei Lixiu is a gorgeous woman from Australia. This time, besides having that Guo fellow dedicate his properties, this woman must also be presented to the Imperial Father-in-law."
Lü Yizhong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Now he wanted someone's concubine too? He had seen this Pei Lixiu several times—a woman of twenty-four or twenty-five. Though her features were refined, she was rather sturdy. Her height alone exceeded most men's. Would the Tian Imperial Father-in-law really be interested in such a barbarian woman? Perhaps Tian Da wanted her for himself?
Thinking that he was currently assisting with military affairs yet also had to scheme to help a servant snatch a woman, LĂĽ Yizhong felt extreme disgust.
How absolutely absurd!
He had originally intended to stall and send Tian Da away. Then a sudden thought struck him: arresting Guo Yi wouldn't work—arrest him and the properties would be confiscated. But arresting his concubine was another matter entirely. Pin any charge on her and bring her in—a case of killing the chicken to scare the monkey, forcing Guo Yi to come dedicate on his own.
As for whether Pei Lixiu would eventually be returned to her owner—that wasn't his concern.
"This is easy. Leave it to me." LĂĽ Yizhong readily agreed.
"Really?" Tian Da had been put off by him too many times recently and was suspicious.
"Really." LĂĽ Yizhong nodded. "Three days from now, I'll naturally deliver the person to you. Once you have this little beauty, won't that damned Guo Yi obediently offer up his properties with both hands? She's his heart's treasure."
"Good! I'll trust you this once." Tian Da slapped the table. "I'll come here in three days to take delivery." He sneered. "Advisor LĂĽ, don't you go back on your word now."
LĂĽ Yizhong saw Tian Da off, then immediately went to his study and wrote a note:
"Immediately arrest Guo family's Pei-surnamed Lixiu from Zhiming Tower. Nanhai County, take note!" Below he wrote his personal mark.
When the ink was slightly dry, he summoned a servant and ordered him to deliver it to the Nanhai County yamen.
That evening, Chunliu was watching the back gate. Zhiming Tower's staff had been greatly reduced now. She had to watch the back gate herself, waiting for the courier's news. Yan Maoda, Zhang Xin, and the others had all gone underground. But communications between them had never been interrupted for a single day. All messages came via courier.
The courier was disguised as a snack peddler carrying a shoulder pole. He never came inside. Chunliu knew this peddler passed by every evening, but whether there was a message depended on the pinwheel on his pole. Placed on the left meant no message. If placed on the right, she should go buy a snack and bring the secret message back to give to Pei Lixiu.
The peddler had just passed. Chunliu was about to close the gate and go to sleep when suddenly a dark figure slipped over from the foot of the wall. Chunliu was trained—she immediately jumped back behind the door and called out the code phrase.
"Dry weather, beware of fire!"
The code served both to identify the visitor and to alert security personnel behind the door and in the rear courtyard that someone was approaching.
But the visitor didn't respond with the code. He came straight to the door. Not caring that the door was about to close, he stuck his foot in directly.
"Don't close the door!" The visitor called out urgently.
"Who is it?" Chunliu demanded.
"I'm—Wu—" The visitor hurried to remove the eye-mask from his face.
"It's you?!" Chunliu almost cried out—wasn't this Wu Zhixiang? She quickly signaled the security personnel not to move.
This Wu Zhixiang was a regular, familiar customer at Zhiming Tower. He often came to court Pei Lixiu's favor and had also deposited a large sum of silver at Zhiming Tower's counter to earn interest. But since he had suddenly brought people to withdraw his deposit half a month ago, he hadn't been seen for over a month.
"What's happened to you?" Chunliu hadn't yet recovered from her fright. This scion of an official family, even a xiucai, sneaking around dressed like this in the dead of night—what was he doing?
"Is Miss Pei here?" He asked without even catching his breath.
Note: Eye-mask was a Ming Dynasty accessory, similar to an eye patch.
(End of Chapter)