The Go-Between

He Yunxi wiped his face. "How did that errand go? Where are the buns? Did you eat them all yourself?"

"No, I only ate one!" Zhang Laifu took the remaining two buns from inside his robe and handed them to He Yunxi.

"Good work. I like a man who keeps his word!" He Yunxi promptly counted out five copper coins and handed them to Zhang Laifu. "How much were the buns?"

"Two coppers for three buns."

He Yunxi gave Zhang Laifu another two coppers. "Like I said, the buns are on top of that."

Zhang Laifu thought he had been given too much and was wondering how to make change, but He Yunxi waved him off. "Keep it. You're sleeping under a bridge. Anyone can see you're short of money."

Zhang Laifu straightened his long robe. "You don't have to laugh at me. You've fallen on hard times yourself, haven't you?"

"Me? Fallen on hard times?" He Yunxi puffed out his chest. "Which eye of yours saw that?"

"Look at the state you're in. Who beat you up?"

He Yunxi spat. "Some little brat with a death wish."

"And you're still talking tough!"

"Talking tough?" He Yunxi washed the blood from his face. "Ask that little brat another day and see which of us got hurt worse."

"Where's your bird? Did someone take it?" Zhang Laifu remembered that Sixth Master He always carried a birdcage.

"As if I'd let anyone take it! Here, have a look." He Yunxi reached into his crotch and pulled out a birdcage. Inside sat a thrush, its head tilted, watching him with one eye.

He Yunxi took the tobacco pipe from his waist, drew on it, and blew smoke over the birdcage.

Amid the curling smoke, the thrush raised its white eyebrows in contentment and chirped twice.

"See? My bird's doing just fine!" He Yunxi was about to tell Zhang Laifu more about the thrush when he noticed Zhang Laifu staring at the river.

He really was thirsty.

"Don't drink water straight from the river. You're already sleeping under a bridge. If you fall sick too, you'll leave your life right here." Sixth Master He pulled a flask from inside his robe and tossed it to Zhang Laifu. "Drink this."

Zhang Laifu held the flask, stunned for a moment.

Sixth Master He snorted. "What, afraid I'll poison you? You haven't got a copper to your name. What would I gain?"

Zhang Laifu opened the flask and took a sip. Warmth flowed down his throat and into his stomach.

He returned the flask to He Yunxi, then sat down against a bridge pier.

He Yunxi sat beside him, and together they stared blankly at the river.

Singing drifted over from the opposite bank. Zhang Laifu could not understand the words, but he recognized the melody. It was from the opera Carmen.

He Yunxi drew on his pipe and blew a puff of smoke toward the far bank. "That's coming from the Dream Night Gallery. It used to be an opera house. I went there all the time to show my support. Now they've turned it into a theater for foreigners. Instead of putting on anything decent, they have a few foreigners wailing like ghosts. I can't be bothered to go anymore."

The beggar cooking stew laughed. "As if you could afford to!"

"Why couldn't I?" He Yunxi took another draw on his pipe. It was a strange pipe: he never lit it, yet it always gave off smoke. "One of these days, I'll rent out the whole Dream Night Gallery. Everyone can come in except you."

The beggar looked disdainful. "Keep boasting. Have you seen the state you're in? You even went to cheer for a Zhu You Practice doctor just to be part of a crowd. What sort of people work in that trade? Swindlers, every one of them! You really weren't afraid to make a fool of your old self."

Zhang Laifu looked from the beggar to Sixth Master He.

The two clearly knew each other, and knew each other well.

Zhang Laifu said to the beggar, "That Zhu You Practice doctor isn't a swindler. He has real skill. He can catch ghosts."

"What?" The beggar burst out laughing so hard he nearly lost his breath. "You're saying a Zhu You Practice doctor can catch ghosts? If those doctors could catch ghosts, beggars could climb to heaven!"

"Believe it or not," Zhang Laifu said, unwilling to argue further. "That man really does have skill."

Sixth Master He sipped his liquor. "If you know he has real skill, why did you pick a fight and challenge him? If I hadn't smoothed things over for you, you wouldn't have gotten away today without giving him a proper apology."

The matter had been on Zhang Laifu's mind too. "I didn't know he had real skill until after I'd picked the fight. If I see him again, I really should apologize."

Sixth Master He smiled. "You're right. You do owe him an apology. That Zhu You Practice doctor isn't a swindler.

"But this beggar's right too. Zhu You Practice doctors can't catch ghosts, and beggars can't climb to heaven!"

As he spoke, Sixth Master He kept his eyes on the beggar.

The beggar ate his stew, but he could not help shivering.

He Yunxi glanced at Zhang Laifu again. "You challenged the man, and I helped you keep the show going. Things were getting lively. Why did you leave before it was over?"

Zhang Laifu did not hide it. "When your life's on the line, you're in no mood to watch a show."

He Yunxi paused, then smiled. "You've got a one-track mind. Then again, a one-track mind can be a blessing."

A cold wind blew through, and Zhang Laifu pulled his long robe tight around himself.

Sixth Master He offered him the flask again. "Have another sip."

Zhang Laifu took another sip, and warmth spread through his body.

He still had half a bun left. He ate it with the liquor.

He Yunxi called to the beggar, "Bring that stew over. Let him have a bite."

The beggar hugged his pot and turned his back on them. "I won't!"

Sixth Master He frowned. "I'm not asking for any. Give the young fellow a bite."

"Then I'm even less inclined!" The beggar looked at Zhang Laifu. "You're young. Why don't you find yourself some work?"

"What work?" Sixth Master He set the birdcage beside him and pulled his ragged clothes closer. "Work isn't so easy to find, and it isn't so easy to do once you find it. Eat when there's food, sleep when there's a place to sleep. Why worry so far ahead?"

He Yunxi leaned against the bridge pier and mumbled lines from The Fourth Son Visits His Mother.

Zhang Laifu watched the reflections on the water grow hazier and listened to the opera drifting near and far. Then he fell asleep.

He did not know how long he had slept when He Yunxi's voice suddenly reached him.

"You little bastard, are we fighting or not?"

Zhang Laifu jolted. Fighting? Who was he talking to?

"Look at the state you're in. If we fight now, I'd be taking advantage of you."

It was the beggar speaking.

"You stinking beggar, spare me the talk. I'm here, aren't I? If you want to fight, get on with it. We'll see who takes advantage of whom!"

"Sixth Master He, I truly can't bring myself to hit you. That bun seller already beat you half to death."

"That bun seller's barely breathing himself. He won't be out and about for the next couple of years. Come on and try me. Let's see if you can take a beating."

What bun seller?

He'd beaten him half to death?

What kind of blood feud was this?

The beggar said, "How did you find that bun seller? Don't you two have a rule? You can't meet directly. Someone has to bring you together."

Sixth Master He looked at Zhang Laifu. "This silly kid brought us together. I'll tell you this first: you can fight me, but you're not to touch him. He ran an errand for me today, and he got it done.

"If something happens to him tomorrow, that's none of my business. But nobody touches him today!"

What was going on?

I brought them together?

All I did was buy him two buns.

Didn't he want the buns? Why did he beat up the man selling them?

Zhang Laifu tried to open his eyes, but the liquor suddenly rushed to his head, and he fell asleep again.

The night breeze was cold, but Zhang Laifu slept soundly.