Chapter 1563 - The Gathering (Part Four)

Huang Ande listened patiently to his brothers' complaints without saying a word. Generally speaking, the brothers were not doing very well in Lingao. Since most of them had no special skills, apart from those who became soldiers, the rest were laborers or odd-job men. The only one doing decently was Lu Laonian. Although Huang Ande felt the Chiefs must have their reasons for this arrangement, the brothers who had gone through life and death with Old Huang felt aggrieved.

Cao Qing said, "Brother Huang, why don't we all come to be soldiers and serve as your personal guards? We brothers crawled out of the pile of dead bodies with you, Brother Huang; we can be trusted. Being a soldier for the Australians is better than enduring hard labor in the factories."

Huang Ande knew that the Chiefs privately tabooned forming cliques the most, so he hurriedly expressed that there was no such thing as personal guards or family retainers in the Australian army. If they really wanted to be soldiers, that was fine; they could just go sign up next time there was recruitment. But where they would be assigned was unknown.

He felt Huang Xiong's words showed signs of a bad trend, so he decided to take this opportunity to persuade everyone.

"Big Brother! Although you had bad luck and your career was delayed, the Chiefs haven't forgotten your contributions. Didn't they recruit you into the training class? If they really forgot, they would have left you to rot in the White Horse Detachment. Old Brother, do you still remember Gao Sanleng?"

"How could I not remember? He was a sergeant in the security corps back then, also a deserter from North Zhili. I even went to attack Baitu Village with him," Huang Xiong still had an impression of this semi-fellow villager. "I heard he was wounded during the Great Battle of Chengmai and was discharged."

"I saw him last month. He's missing an arm and his leg is a bit lame. The Chiefs arranged for him to watch the gate at a factory." Huang Ande poured a cup of wine for Huang Xiong. "Big Brother, although you aren't doing exceptionally well, at least you are in one piece, became an officer, and now you have a sister-in-law and a son on the way. What does Gao Sanleng have? He'll probably be watching that gate for the rest of his life, and it's hard to say if he can even get a wife. Not to mention the brothers who died in battle, just in terms of suffering, is yours greater than his?"

Huang Xiong drank his wine silently, seemingly a bit moved. Huang Ande continued, "I didn't come from the old security corps, but quite a few from the old security corps died or were crippled. Last time our company went to Cuigang to sweep the tombs, the hillside was full of tombstones, patch after patch. Once a person dies, they only occupy such a small piece of land. Heaven and earth be my witness, compared to them, aren't we doing much better?"

Huang Xiong nodded, "That's true! Can't compare with that."

Huang Ande slapped his thigh, "Exactly." He glanced at everyone again, "Most of us brothers came over from Penglai. Like Brother Cao said, we crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood... Think about those commoners who died, and our families, relatives, friends, and neighbors trapped in Dengzhou Town... Now that we are still alive, have a full meal to eat, and a stable place to sleep... People must be grateful and content."

These words calmed everyone's anger considerably. Huang Ande added some more words to comfort everyone: The Chiefs' enterprise was just taking off, and seeing that the Great Ming was about to fail, if everyone worked hard and followed them, there would definitely be a day when they could stand out.

Just as everyone was chatting nonsense at the wine table, there was a sudden knock at the door. Cao Qing slapped his thigh, "It's that soft egg Lu Laonian."

Huang Ande opened the door and saw Lu Laonian standing there stiffly, holding a large food box in his left hand and a jar of wine in his right. He wore a naive smile on his face: "Brother Huang, Brother Cao, Brother Zhu Four, sister-in-law—" Lu Laonian entered the room and greeted everyone inside one by one. Even to Huang Xiong and Wang Bao'er, whom he didn't know, he imitated the Chiefs' manner and bowed in greeting.

"Lu Laonian, why do you always chicken out! Truly an old softie." Cao Qing was the first to shout.

"Hey, Brother Cao, I didn't want to come late. Work ends this late today. I rushed over as soon as I got off work. Ideally, the road here is flat and wide, that's why I got here so fast."

"Tch, you just forgot your brothers once you got it good. We fought our way out of Dengzhou together, and now you are doing the best. You were the first to arrive in Lingao and became a formal employee. Speak! Did you give some Chief benefits?"

"Hey, hey, hey, don't talk nonsense. Brothers all know Laonian never kisses up. Besides, the Chiefs don't like bootlickers," Huang Ande hurriedly smoothed things over.

"Brother Li, you've wronged me, Laonian. That day on that Korean island, a big group of people were squatting and sitting there. The Chief asked who could read and who was originally a craftsman. I thought to myself that my old mother taught me a few words, and my family used to do blacksmithing, so I stood up then. The Chief took me to Lingao first, shaved my head, made me a regular employee, and put me to work in the big iron factory."

"Then you shouldn't have eaten alone." Everyone criticized Lu Laonian all at once. Lu Laonian just sat naively by the table, smiling and not answering.

"Laonian, drink a mouthful of wine to moisten your throat." A gentle voice sounded by his ear.

"Yue'e, oh no, sister-in-law, thank you." He took the wine cup awkwardly, took a small sip, and quickly put the cup on the table, not daring to look at Zhu Si's fiery eyes.

Back in the Dengzhou camp, because Lu Laonian had some craftsmanship, Zheng Yue'e often had to ask him to do some mending work. Her attitude towards him was better than towards ordinary men, which left quite a suspicious impression on Zhu Si.

Everyone clamored that Lu Laonian was late and, according to the Chiefs' rules here, had to be punished with three cups of wine. So Lu Laonian was forced to down three full cups of jackfruit shochu—Xue Ziliang bragged that this was jackfruit brandy. Once the wine hit his stomach, Lu Laonian boldly said, "Brothers, Brother Huang, it's not that I wanted to be late. I'm busy from the moment I open my eyes until I close them. Except for eating and resting at noon and evening, I have no leisure time."

Saying this, Lu Laonian seemed to relax. He took the chopsticks Wang Bao'er handed him, picked up a slice of roast duck, chewed it for a while, and continued, "And the Chiefs are strict; they hate lateness and leaving early the most. Being late by half an incense stick's time means a deduction in wages. Everyone knows I have a large family to feed. If I get punished, my family has to go hungry for a meal." Smacking his lips, he picked up a slice of sausage and chewed on it. Everyone knew he was telling the truth, so their desire to tease him faded.

After drinking wine, Lu Laonian became more talkative, "They say the big iron factory has good benefits and high wages, but you need to be alive to spend the money. In that factory, people die every month, and the deaths are truly bizarre, of all kinds! Yesterday, Old Chou, a charger over at our side, clutched his chest and squatted down while pushing a cart on the road. When people saw him and went to pull him up, he was already dead! Usually, he was as strong as an ox, full of energy. If not for my family, I would maintain not want to do it anymore..."

He held his wine cup, "To say working happily, it was still better back in the Penglai camp doing blacksmithing. Although it was busy, it was never this tense. Work for a while, rest for a few days. When there was no work, no one cared if I lay at home sleeping..."

Cao Qing said, "Knock it off. You make it sound so idyllic now. Have you forgotten how you were driven by the officials to make cannons on an empty stomach and almost fainted into the furnace from hunger?"

"Haven't forgotten, haven't forgotten," Lu Laonian hurriedly said. "If only the Great Ming could produce a few decent officials to govern properly. Everyone having food to eat, serving peacefully, how good that would be!"

These words resonated with everyone yet again:

"Indeed, who wants to leave their native land? The weather here is especially hot and humid; I feel a bit unaccustomed to it."

"I see the Emperor can be considered sage-like; as soon as he ascended the throne, he arrested the great traitor Wei Zhongxian. But the officials below are too disgraceful; they don't treat us soldiers as humans..."

"What the hell does it matter to you if Wei Zhongxian is a great traitor or not? Wei Zhongxian was killed, but aren't we still the same suffering grunt soldiers? The military lords are still military lords, owing pay just the same. What benefit it is to you?"

"That's why they say the Great Ming is finished," Huang Ande said. "We common folks just want to be full and warm, have a stable place to sleep, marry a wife, and have a baby. But in Emperor Zhu's world, even this can't be achieved!"

Huang Xiong nodded, "Brother, your words make sense. Otherwise, why would I stop being a perfectly good military officer and run to Lingao? It was out of no choice."

Wang Qisuo asked curiously, "Brother Huang was a military officer of the court? Tell us quickly."

Huang Xiong was a little proud. Among the people here, he had held the highest rank in the Great Ming; when he killed someone and fled, he was already a squad leader (bazong). Although a minor military officer, he was at least someone who could lead a few personal guards into battle and wear armor on a warhorse.

However, he shook his head and said, "A tiny squad leader, what kind of official is that? Couldn't even get paid, and ended up killing someone by mistake!" He sighed, "Selling one's life to the court is truly not worth it..."

"No matter how unworthy, he was still a court official. What does he count as now? Wearing a cloth jacket of two and a half feet..." Wang Bao'er muttered in the kitchen.

Huang Xiong's face instantly turned livid, and he cursed, "Starve you to death, you thief woman! Had a few full meals and you forgot your own name! What nonsense are you chewing?!"

With his scolding, the kitchen instantly fell silent. After a moment, someone was heard sobbing quietly, and Zheng Yue'e whispered words of comfort. The atmosphere at the wine table cooled down somewhat.

Huang Ande patted Huang Xiong's shoulder meaningfully, "Old Brother, sister-in-law's thinking..."

Huang Xiong smiled bitterly and nodded, took out a cigarette and lit it, inhaled deeply, and only after a good while did he whisper, "Brother, marrying a wife is something you have to be cautious about. Look at me now..." He sighed heavily, "Forget it. She is a proper maiden. Although she didn't follow me sincerely, she's about to be the mother of my child anyway. Us men should just be more tolerant."

"As the saying goes, a virtuous wife brings less trouble to the husband. Sister-in-law having no filter like this, be careful that trouble issues from the mouth," Huang Ande also lowered his voice and said. "Here we are all our own brothers, but outside, who knows..."

(End of this chapter)