Chapter 1753 - Escape
Returning to the Chastity Hall, Liu San found the women all gathered at the gate, watching for them. When they saw the party approach, they scattered one by one. Only the child's mother rushed forward upon seeing her son in Liu San's arms. She snatched the infant to her breast and burst into loud sobs.
"Don't cry!" Liu San said. "The child is all right for now—there's still hope to save him!" He instructed her to take the child inside, clean him up first, then apply cold compresses with wet cloths wrung out of cool water.
"Hold his hands so he doesn't scratch himself. If the blisters break, they'll get infected." Liu San turned to Mao Xiuyu. "Is there writing material here?"
"Yes, yes."
"Bring it!"
Mao Xiuyu hurried off and returned with paper, brush, and ink. Liu San washed his hands and dashed off a prescription in one stroke. He prescribed Ling Zhu San, a formula for treating infantile tonsillitis, measles-rash, chickenpox, and mumps—all viral infections. The main ingredients were antelope horn, pearl, and amber. The original formula also called for cinnabar, which in traditional Chinese medicine was used to calm fright and soothe the spirit; but cinnabar could cause mercury poisoning, so Liu San omitted it.
"Send someone back to the city at once to fill this prescription. The faster the better." Liu San instructed the squad leader.
"Allow me to go." One of the retained yamen runners, sharp-witted, stepped forward immediately. "I know the city well. Your soldier here may not know where the pharmacies are."
"All right, you go. Go to a reputable apothecary," Liu San said. "Pay the market price. No extortion or harassment!"
"Yes, yes, I wouldn't dare." The runner took the prescription and the money and departed.
Liu San then asked whether there was any strong liquor at Puji Hall. Mao Xiuyu rummaged through the belongings Master Dong had left behind, found a bottle of "Guoshi Wushuang" brandy, and brought it over.
"Use a clean cloth dipped in the liquor to wipe the child's palms and the soles of his feet—not the body! Understand? Change the compress as soon as it warms up." Liu San exhaled. "Don't worry. He doesn't have smallpox—just chickenpox. Once the fever breaks, he'll recover on his own."
"Yes, yes, many thanks for your lordship's kindness." The woman was sobbing too hard to speak clearly. She knelt and kowtowed three resounding times. Liu San, looking at the wailing child on the bed, thought of his own son and felt a pang of sorrow; tears nearly welled up.
"My lord, the rice gruel is here."
Fifth Sister-in-Law Sun brought in a small clay pot of steaming congee. Liu San glanced at it and saw the rice was fairly white and the consistency just right. He took a bowl, carefully ladled out the thin liquid, then fished a piece of hard candy from his pocket. Unwrapping it, he broke off a small chunk, dropped it into the rice water, and stirred until it dissolved. Only then did he lift the bowl, blow on it to cool it, and feed the child spoon by spoon. The child, famished and parched, drained most of the bowl in one go. But Liu San stopped there.
"Wait a little while before feeding him more," he instructed. "He's ravenous right now—he'll overeat and make himself sick." He lifted the child upright against his shoulder and patted the little back gently until a burp came, then laid him down again, rocking him softly to sleep.
Everyone present was moved. This Australian Chief, for a sick child who was no relation to him, had crawled into a bone-filled Infanticide Tower, undaunted by the risk of contagion, and carried the child out with his own hands. Then he had diagnosed the illness, sent for medicine, and fed the child rice water spoon by spoon—even a natural father might not have done so much! Mao Xiuyu sank to his knees almost involuntarily: "My lord, you are truly a bodhisattva descended to deliver the suffering!"
When he knelt, the women watching inside and outside followed suit. Suddenly someone began to cry, and then, as if a dam had burst, one after another, the "chaste widows" wept aloud—a raw, piercing lamentation filled with all the bitterness and sorrow of human life.
Standing in the room, hearing their wails, Liu San's own eyes grew moist. How small is the individual's strength; how vast the world's suffering. I, and the Senatorial Council alike, are but a tiny boat drifting through this age of misery. How many can we ferry to safety?
The Investigative Squad runner was quick. Within a little over an hour, he had returned with the medicine. Liu San examined the label: it was produced by Chen Li Ji—a house whose products he trusted. Antelope horn, pearl, and amber were all precious ingredients; unscrupulous shops often adulterated them, and the drugs also required extremely fine grinding, which only reputable old establishments could manage. He dissolved the powder in rice water and fed it to the child, then explained the dosage and nursing instructions to the mother in detail.
Liu San toured the rest of the Chastity Hall. The living conditions were wretched, and there were many children—more than one of them was ill. He felt that, at the very least, the supply standards ought to be raised. He asked about Puji Hall's grain and cash situation. This time Mao Xiuyu held nothing back: there were still ten-odd shi of grain, but no cash at all—Master Dong had taken it all when he fled.
"But there is cloth in the storehouse," Mao Xiuyu added. "By regulation, one bolt per person is issued every three years. This year's allocation has just arrived. Master Dong hadn't had time to liquidate it yet."
"Take me to see it." Liu San thought that cloth would be useful—if nothing else it could be sold for cash, or made into clothing for the poor.
Mao Xiuyu led him to a back hall behind the director's quarters and office. When the lock was turned and the door pushed open, a musty odor wafted out. Inside, the floor was covered with mouse droppings. Several grain bins stood against the walls; Liu San inspected them: all were years-old, stale rice that crumbled at a touch. But on one side, atop reed mats, over a thousand bolts of cloth were neatly stacked.
"Two thousand one hundred sixty-five bolts in all—not a single one missing."
Liu San looked them over: all were cotton cloth dyed indigo. This grade of fabric fetched little on the market. Slightly disappointed, he asked, "You said only thirty percent arrives at the Hall. How come this is the full amount?"
"Who can use so much cloth—especially this coarse stuff?" Mao Xiuyu explained. "The plan was for Master Dong and Secretary Gao to sell it for cash, then divide the proceeds."
Liu San nodded. He ordered his men to paste seals on the bolts. Though the grain was stale, it was still edible—continue to dispense it for now.
"For any woman in the Chastity Hall with children, add three sheng of rice monthly."
"Yes." Mao Xiuyu assented, but he seemed hesitant. Liu San asked, "What is it? Is there a difficulty?"
"I have no authority over matters of the Chastity Hall. Even Master Dong couldn't really direct what went on inside."
Mao Xiuyu explained that Fifth Sister-in-Law Sun had been placed here by a person with a "tall gate-threshold" and had controlled the Chastity Hall for years. Though it was on Huanghua Temple's grounds, Puji Hall had no jurisdiction over it beyond the monthly grain allotment. Not even Master Dong or Secretary Gao knew the details of what went on inside.
"...The Chastity Hall doesn't depend entirely on the Hall's money and grain. I hear it mainly relies on charitable donations of money, grain, and cloth from the wives and daughters of great families in the city."
So that's how it is! Liu San thought. If that were so, the material conditions in the Chastity Hall should have been much better than what he had just observed—yet what he had seen was barely subsistence. Moreover, Fifth Sister-in-Law Sun had said the widows wove cloth and silk from dawn to dusk, meaning they already supported themselves by their own labor. Clearly, there was no small amount of embezzlement and abuse here as well.
"I have my own plans." After a moment's thought, Liu San pulled a sheet of blank paper from the desk of the director's office, picked up a brush, and wrote: "Hereby appointed: Mao Xiuyu as Deputy Director of the Guangzhou Special Municipality Livelihood and Labor Office, Puji Hall Relief Station." He then took his personal seal from his belt and stamped it.
Blowing the ink dry, he said: "I am now appointing you as the acting director here. Do a good job, and in six months I'll make it official."
Mao Xiuyu accepted the sheet with trembling hands. He had worked here over twenty years, forever just a laborer—subsisting on his meager pay and the table-scraps of the various lords. With the Australians' arrival, he had been handed a position of authority just like that!
Granted, this was a minuscule and unofficial post. But it was still a "post," and henceforth everyone in Puji Hall would have to call him "sir."
"This humble one shall exert himself to serve..." Mao Xiuyu said, overcome. "It's just that the grain..."
Liu San understood. Though those drawing phantom wages had fled, there were still several hundred paupers who needed at least a token feeding, and the ten-odd shi of grain wouldn't last long.
"I'll find a way to get more grain. For now, carry out my instructions. Keep the cloth under watch and don't let anyone take any. In a few days, I'll send someone to conduct a proper handover." Liu San continued, "As for the old workers, assign them appropriately and have them stand guard over the premises. Other matters—we will send people to handle."
He had been inclined to order Mao Xiuyu to clean up the sanitation, but on second thought, the man was just a common laborer—how much authority could he possibly wield? Meanwhile, the fiscal system was not yet in place, cadres had not arrived, and there was no telling whether the relief station would even remain here. Better to maintain the status quo for now.
Once these matters were settled, the sun was already slanting west. The squad leader urged them to leave—the Investigative Squad runners warned that this area was notoriously dangerous, swarming with bandits who sometimes robbed people in broad daylight. Liu San dared not tarry and gave the order to return to the city at once.
The party filed out of Huanghua Temple. Liu San's palanquin-bearers carried his sedan chair as they hurried toward the city. The landscape here was nothing but deserted graves—eerie and forlorn at the best of times. Now, with the sun sinking, crows cawing in the leafless trees, surrounded by toppled tombstones and overgrown mounds, the atmosphere was more sinister than ever. The bearers quickened their pace almost involuntarily.
They had not gone far when a figure suddenly leapt out from the tumbled graves beside the road and barred their way. A gust of wind blew back long hair, revealing a ghastly pale face. In a hoarse, keening voice, it cried:
"Save me, my lord!"
The Investigative Squad runner in the lead shrieked and nearly collapsed. The bearers were so startled they almost dropped the sedan chair. The guards immediately raised their rifles and closed in.
Liu San himself had been frightened. Then the squad leader came running to report: it was a woman, and she was asking to see "Court Physician Liu."
Liu San was puzzled. He didn't know a soul here—how did anyone know he was "Court Physician Liu"?
"Bring her here."
The guards brought her over: a young girl, her hair in disarray and tangled with leaves and grass, her indigo-blue cloth dress—that garb was very familiar. Was this not the dress the chaste widows of the Chastity Hall wore?
Could she have escaped from the Chastity Hall? Liu San asked, "What is your name? Why do you wish to see me?"
The girl knelt and kowtowed once. "This servant is He Xiaoyue. I beg your lordship to save me!"
(End of Chapter)