Fear

Li Jinbao was carried back by two constables.

More precisely, they dragged him back like a dead dog.

The beating at the Gathering Worthies Restaurant had left him sprawled on the ground for a full quarter of an hour before he came around.

In the end, the proprietor couldn't bear to watch any longer. He sent a waiter to fetch help, and they carried Li Jinbao home.

The Li family's residence stood in the west of North-Rejecting City. It was a three-courtyard compound with gray brick walls and dark-tiled roofs, and two stone lions squatted at the entrance. By the standards of North-Rejecting City, they were a well-off family.

When Li Jinbao was carried into the courtyard, the first person to rush out was his mother, Madam Wang.

Madam Wang was in her early fifties, dressed in a dark-brown silk jacket with a silver hairpin in her hair. She looked every bit the pampered lady. She was drinking bird's nest soup beneath the veranda when she saw her son being carried in. The bowl in her hand hit the ground with a crash.

"Bao'er! Bao'er, what happened to you?!"

She rushed over, shoved the two constables aside, and threw her arms around Li Jinbao, wailing.

His face was covered in blood. His eyes had swollen until they were only slits, and dried blood still clung to the corners of his mouth.

Hearing his mother's voice, he managed to open his eyes. His lips trembled as if he wanted to say something, but all that came out were a few indistinct groans.

"Who?! Who did this?!" Madam Wang shrieked, tears streaming down her face. "My Bao'er! Which heartless bastard beat you like this?!"

The commotion was so loud that it brought the people inside out.

The first to appear was his second uncle, Li Houyi. In his fifties, he was short and stout, with a paunch. He ran out with his robe thrown over his shoulders, and sucked in a sharp breath when he saw Li Jinbao's condition.

"W-what happened?"

His third uncle, Li Houli, came out after him. He was thinner, with a goatee and darting eyes—the picture of a shrewd man.

Last to appear was the clan head, Li Houde.

He walked at an unhurried pace, wearing a dark-gray robe and holding a coarse porcelain bowl in his hand, still wearing the same leisurely air as he sipped his water. When he saw Li Jinbao, he frowned and handed the bowl to a servant beside him.

"Take him inside," he said.

They carried Li Jinbao into the main hall and laid him on a cushioned couch.

Madam Wang crouched beside him, weeping as though her heart were breaking. Second Aunt and Third Aunt arrived too, crowding around and chattering with questions. Several maids rushed about, some fetching water, others bringing towels. The hall was in chaos.

Li Houde sat in a grand armchair. He waited until the wailing and shouting had quieted a little before asking the two constables, "What happened?"

The two constables stood in the doorway and exchanged a glance. One of them smiled apologetically. "Master Li, I... I'm not too clear on the details myself. Someone caused a disturbance at the Gathering Worthies Restaurant today, so we went to take a look. But... by the time we got there, Constable Li had already been beaten like this. We could only bring him back first..."

Li Houde frowned even more deeply. "Who beat him?"

The constable stammered, unwilling to answer.

By then, Li Jinbao had recovered enough to force out a few words through trembling lips. "It... it was Li Jinshui..."

The main hall fell abruptly silent.

Everyone froze as if under a spell.

Even Madam Wang stopped crying, staring blankly at her son.

The hand holding Li Houde's teacup paused in midair, and his expression stiffened for a moment.

Li Houyi's mouth hung open, unable to close for a long while.

Li Houli's eyes darted even faster, as if he were calculating something.

"Who did you say?" Li Houde's voice lowered. "Li Jinshui?"

Li Jinbao nodded, jostling his wounds. He bared his teeth and groaned again.

"He... he became a squad leader... a squad leader in the Third Battalion... He had a bunch of men with him... They beat me... He just stood there watching... and laughing..."

His words came haltingly, but each one struck everyone's heart like a stone.

A squad leader.

A squad leader in the Third Battalion.

The orphan they had sold into the Death Squad Camp like a piece of trash three months ago had become a squad leader.

Madam Wang was the first to react. She broke into wails again. "That little beast! That ungrateful wretch! We should've let him starve to death! How dare he hit my son? What does he think he is?!"

Li Houyi came to his senses too and joined in. "Exactly! Our Li family raised him all these years, and this is how he repays us? Has he no conscience?"

Li Houli didn't curse. He only watched Li Houde, waiting for him to speak.

Li Houde sat in his grand armchair, his expression unreadable.

He was silent for a long time before asking Li Jinbao, "Was he... really a squad leader?"

Li Jinbao nodded. "I saw it with my own eyes... He had a badge hanging from his belt... Those people called him Squad Leader Li..."

Another silence fell.

Second Aunt cut in, "So what if he's a squad leader? Our Bao'er is still a constable! He's just a soldier. How dare he lay a hand on someone from the government?"

Li Houli let out a cold laugh. "What do you know? Those soldiers, especially the ones in the Third Battalion, are the kings of the city. Even the prefect doesn't dare provoke them, let alone us."

Second Aunt fell silent.

Madam Wang wailed again. "What are we supposed to do, then? Just let him bully us? My Bao'er can't take a beating for nothing!"

Li Houde raised a hand, pressing down the noise.

He looked at Li Jinbao and asked, "Did he say anything?"

Li Jinbao froze. Then, as if he had remembered something, he shuddered all over.

"He... he said..."

"What did he say?"

"He said... to tell the clan head not to worry about him... He said... he'd come back to see us in a while..."

The main hall fell silent again.

This time, the silence was colder than before.

At last, Li Houde's expression changed.

He remembered that glance from three months ago, when two soldiers had dragged the boy out of the house and he had looked back at them.

"Clan head?" Li Houyi called tentatively. "What do you think we should do?"

Li Houde said nothing.

Li Houli leaned closer and lowered his voice. "Brother, that boy climbed from the Death Squad Camp to squad leader in three months. He's no ordinary man. What we did back then... we really went too far. If he holds a grudge..."

He left the thought unfinished, but everyone understood.

Madam Wang wouldn't have it. "Hold a grudge? What does he have to hold a grudge about? We raised him! When his parents died, who looked after him? Wasn't it us? So what if we asked him for a little money? So what if we sent him to join the army? How dare he hold a grudge?"

Li Houyi chimed in. "Exactly! That boy's ungrateful!"

Li Houli sneered. "Ungrateful? What kindness did you ever show him? When his parents died, did you pay for even one coffin? When he was so hungry he had to dig up wild greens, did you give him even half a bowl of porridge?"

Li Houyi was left speechless.

Li Houli turned to Li Houde. "Brother, we need to think this through. That boy is a squad leader now, and he has men at his command. If he really wants revenge, then we..."

He didn't finish.

But everyone knew what he was going to say.

Li Jinbao lay on the couch. Some of the blood had been wiped from his face, but it was so swollen he hardly looked human.

He remembered the words Li Jinshui had whispered in his ear at the Gathering Worthies Restaurant.

"These past three months, I've thought about you every day."

He shuddered all over and suddenly grabbed his mother's hand. "Mother... he... he wants to kill me... He really wants to kill me..."

Madam Wang began wailing again.

Li Houyi came to his senses too and joined in. "Exactly! Our Li family raised him all these years, and this is how he repays us? Has he no conscience?"

Li Houli didn't curse. He only watched Li Houde, waiting for him to speak.

Li Houde sat in his grand armchair, his expression unreadable. After a long silence, he finally spoke.

"Stop wailing." His voice wasn't loud, but it drowned out Madam Wang's cries. "Take Bao'er to the physician first."

He pointed at Li Houyi. "Withdraw ten taels of silver from the accounts and hire the best bone-setter in the city. Houli, find a carriage and get him into it."

His two younger brothers answered and went off.

Madam Wang was about to say something, but Li Houde silenced her with a glare.

As Li Jinbao was carried into the carriage, he was still groaning and shouting about revenge.

Li Houde stood at the entrance and watched the carriage disappear, his brows knotted into a frown.

"Brother," Li Houli said when he returned after seeing them off, drawing close to his side.

"This matter... A physician won't solve it. That boy belongs to the army. We can't afford to provoke him."

Li Houde nodded. He paced around the courtyard twice with his hands behind his back, then abruptly stopped.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll go see the prefect."

Li Houli stared. "The prefect? Can he interfere in military affairs?"

"The Third Battalion answers to the military command, but they injured a government constable in the city. That gives the prefect an excuse to get involved."

Li Houde said gravely, "Bao'er is a constable and draws his pay from the government. Li Jinshui led soldiers in beating an official. Put bluntly, he slapped the prefect in the face. As long as the prefect is willing to step in and put some pressure on the Third Battalion's commander, it shouldn't be difficult to make Li Jinshui keep in line."

Li Houli thought it over, then slowly nodded. "That might work. But... will the prefect help us?"

Li Houde let out a cold laugh. "The prefect accepted a gift from me when he took office. I've never shortchanged him during the New Year or any other festival since. He's eaten our food and taken our gifts. He can hardly refuse to help."

Li Houli let out a sigh of relief and patted his elder brother on the shoulder. "All right. I'll go with you tomorrow."

Li Houde waved him off. "No need. More people would only make us look guilty. I'll go alone. You stay here and keep watch."

That night, the Li family was much quieter.

Madam Wang stayed by Li Jinbao's bedside and didn't return. Li Houyi and Second Aunt went back to their rooms.

Li Houde sat in his study for a long time, wrote a calling card, then thought over what he would say to the prefect the next day. It wasn't until the third watch that he finally went to bed.

But what he never expected to find waiting for him the next morning was not the prefect's yamen gate, but a figure staggering into the courtyard.

The sky had only just begun to lighten when the gate of the Li family residence was pounded so hard it seemed ready to shake apart.

"Clan head! Clan head! Something terrible has happened!"

The old servant guarding the gate opened it. A man in his thirties rushed inside, his face streaked with either tears or mud, his legs trembling so badly he could barely stand.

Li Houde had just risen and was coming out from the inner courtyard with his robe thrown over his shoulders. The moment he saw the man, his heart lurched.

"Li Fu? Why are you—" Before Li Houde could finish, Li Fu dropped to his knees and burst into loud sobs.

"Clan head... They're gone... all of them... Twenty-seven members of the collateral branch... all dead..."

Li Houde's face changed dramatically. He grabbed Li Fu by the collar. "What did you say?!"

"Last night... Last night, someone broke into the collateral branch's residence... They killed everyone they saw... men, women, young and old... not a single person was spared..." Li Fu wept so hard he could barely breathe. "I happened to go over there this morning. It was all blood, all blood. Clan head, you have to go see..."

Li Houde let go and staggered backward, stumbling two steps before crashing into a veranda pillar.

By then, Li Houyi and Li Houli had been roused as well and came running out in their robes.

At the news, Li Houyi's face turned deathly pale, and the teacup in Li Houli's hand crashed to the ground.

"Who did it?!" Li Houyi's voice cracked.

Li Fu trembled all over. "I... I don't know... I only went over this morning."

"Let's go!" Li Houde gritted his teeth. "We'll go see!"

The collateral branch's residence was in the southeastern corner of North-Rejecting City, near the slums. It was worlds apart from the grandeur of the Li family's residence.

Li Houde led Li Houyi, Li Houli, and a few bolder servants there at a run. Before they even reached the place, the strong stench of blood hit them, mingling with the morning mist and clinging to their nostrils, impossible to shake.

The sight inside the courtyard brought them all to a halt.

Li Houde's pupils contracted sharply.

Bodies were strewn haphazardly across the courtyard.

Men, women, old people, children. Some had fallen across the threshold, some lay facedown beside the well, and some had been nailed to the door.

There were also several human butchered-pigs. Behind them stretched long, crooked trails of blood. They had watched in agony as their loved ones were killed one by one, then died themselves in excruciating pain.

The old clan head of the collateral branch, Li Houshan—a distant cousin of Li Houde—had been pinned to the door with a long saber. The blade had pierced his chest and sunk three inches into the door.

His eyes were still open, and his mouth hung wide, as though he had wanted to shout something before he died but had never managed to get the words out.

Li Houde's legs began to give way.

Li Houyi was the first to break.

He doubled over and vomited. The porridge he had eaten that morning splattered across the ground, followed by sour bile, then dry heaves. At last, he collapsed to the ground, his whole body convulsing violently.

Li Houli wanted to throw up too. He clapped a hand over his mouth and forced it down, but the tears kept streaming from his eyes.

It wasn't grief. It was fear.

His teeth began to chatter, clacking like cicadas shivering in winter.

One of the servants who had come with them fainted outright. Another leaned against the wall, his face white as paper and his lips purple. He stared blankly at the corpses, mumbling to himself in a voice no one could make out.

Li Houde forced himself to take another step. His foot landed in something sticky. He looked down and saw a severed hand, its fingers still faintly curled, blood packed beneath its nails.

His stomach lurched. At last, he couldn't hold it in and turned aside to retch twice.

"Don't... don't look anymore..." His voice was so hoarse it didn't sound like his own. "Go back... All of you, go back..."

They fled down the alley as if running for their lives.

By the time they returned to the Li family residence, the sun was already high.

Sunlight fell on the gray brick walls and dark-tiled roofs, and on the two stone lions, but everyone felt a chill creeping over them, cold to the bone.

The moment Li Houde entered the main hall, he slumped into his grand armchair, his hands trembling so badly he couldn't lift his teacup.

Li Houyi huddled in his chair, wiping the sweat from his face again and again. Cold sweat kept breaking out in layer after layer, and he couldn't wipe it away.

Li Houli paced back and forth. After more than ten circuits around the hall, he stopped and stared straight at his elder brother.

"It was him." Li Houli's voice was very quiet, as though he were afraid of waking something. "It was Li Jinshui. He said... he said he'd come back to see us."

Li Houyi jerked his head up. "Our... our Li family's collateral branch had twenty-seven people. All of them disappeared in one night... Are we next?"

His voice was shrill and piercing, as though someone were choking him.

Li Houli ignored him and continued speaking to Li Houde. "Brother, didn't you say you were going to see the prefect?"

Li Houde gave a bitter smile, uglier than crying. "Go see the prefect? Seventeen people were killed last night—no, twenty-seven—and the city didn't make a peep."

"The army kills people, and the yamen doesn't even dare fart. Do you think I can go see the prefect? Would he offend the Third Battalion for my sake? And most importantly, we have no proof!!!!"

Li Houli's face turned utterly bloodless. "No proof? No one saw who killed them last night?"

"Then... then what do we do?" Li Houyi was almost wailing. "We can't just sit here and wait to die!"

Li Houde closed his eyes.

He remembered that glance from three months ago, when the boy had looked back as they dragged him out of the house.

Back then, he hadn't thought much of it. An orphan with no father or mother—crushing him would be like crushing an ant.

But that ant had now become a wolf, its teeth sharpened, its thirst for blood sated.

He jerked his eyes open. They were bloodshot.

"Beg for mercy," he said.

His second and third uncles looked at him at the same time.

"We'll go beg him." Li Houde's voice trembled, but every word seemed to be forced out through clenched teeth.

"Since he only killed the collateral branch and didn't come straight to our courtyard, it means he still wants to play with us. Whatever he wants, we'll give him. If he wants silver, we'll give him silver. If he wants us to kowtow, we'll kowtow. If he wants a life—"

He paused and glanced at his second and third uncles.

"Whoever he wants, we'll give him."

His second uncle's face was as pale as a corpse's.

His third uncle lowered his head and said nothing.

The main hall fell silent for a long time.

Sunlight poured in through the doorway, falling on the green-brick floor. But that patch of brightness seemed icy, like frost in the dead of winter.

"We'll go today." Li Houde stood up. His legs were still trembling, but he gritted his teeth and straightened. "Bring silver. Bring gifts. I'll go see him."

He said, "I'll go," but all the confidence had left his voice. Only the humility of a man begging for mercy remained.

Just then, a scream rang out from the inner courtyard—it was Madam Wang.

She had probably just heard about what happened to the collateral branch.

Then came Li Jinbao's wailing.

None of the three men in the main hall moved.

They listened to the cries as if they were hearing a funeral bell that had already begun to toll.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking.

Outside the Third Battalion garrison in North-Rejecting City, an old man in a dark-gray robe stood at the entrance, waiting to request an audience.

He waited for an hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

The sun rose in the east, climbed overhead, then began to sink toward the west.

The guards at the gate changed shifts three times. Each time, they refused to let him in and only told him to "wait."

Deep inside the barracks, Li Jinshui sat in his quarters, sharing a piece of dried meat with Er Gou.

"Squad Leader—no, Ten-Man Leader!" Er Gou corrected himself with a grin. "You really won't go see him? That old man's been standing outside for three hours."

Li Jinshui chewed his dried meat, unhurried.

"What's the rush?" he said. "Let him stand."

Outside the barracks, the sunlight slowly slanted westward.

Li Jinshui stood up and went to the window to look outside.

Toward the garrison gate, a dusty gray figure was still standing there, motionless.

He watched for a while, then the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.

He turned around, sat back down, and picked up another piece of dried meat.

"Wait a little longer," he said. "Let him stand there a while more."

The sun slanted a little farther west.

Li Jinshui finished the last piece of dried meat, stood up, and straightened his clothes.

"Let's go," he said. "I'll go see my good clan leader."

He pushed open the door and headed for the garrison gate.

Behind him, Er Gou hurried to catch up.

The setting sun stretched his shadow long and long, like a wolf slowly padding toward them.