Heishakou

Lin Shaocong and Zhang Laifu reached Heishakou in the afternoon.

After taking Zhang Laifu to Qingxiang Garden, Lin Shaocong gave him sixteen Copper Dollars and twenty-odd copper cash.

It was not that Lin Shaocong was stingy. That was all the money he had. The bandits had taken the rest, and he had barely managed to hide those few coins.

The Copper Dollar was a kind of coin, several times larger than the one-yuan coins Zhang Laifu was familiar with. The front read "Wansheng State"; the back bore a portrait of a man wearing a military cap and uniform. He looked like a general of very high rank.

The copper cash were the familiar round coins with square holes. The front read "Wansheng Tongbao"; the back read "Minted by the Shen Residence."

Zhang Laifu did not know how to spend either kind of money, and Lin Shaocong had no time to explain. He hurried off on horseback.

At the bank of the Hunlang River, Lin Shaocong abandoned the horse and crawled all the way back to the Lin Family estate.

The Lin Family gatekeeper, Yang Qingbo, saw someone lying outside the gate. Only after a long look did he realize it was the third young master, Lin Shaocong.

Even after recognizing him as the third young master, Yang Qingbo did not take Lin Shaocong inside. He left him outside and went to tell the head steward, Guo Song'an.

Guo Song'an looked at Lin Shaocong, soaked in mud and water, his hair hanging loose. Then he asked the gatekeeper, "This is the third young master?"

Yang Qingbo stepped closer to Lin Shaocong and tried to wipe the third young master's face. "It is the third young master. Look at his face, then his leg, and you'll be able to tell."

Guo Song'an adjusted his reading glasses. Instead of looking at Lin Shaocong, he kept his eyes on Yang Qingbo. "Are you sure this is the third young master?"

"I think so..." Yang Qingbo no longer dared to wipe Lin Shaocong's face. He slowly backed away.

Guo Song'an adjusted his glasses again. "He doesn't look like him to me."

"Now that I look... not all that much..." Yang Qingbo's voice dwindled. At last, he understood what Guo Song'an meant.

"Go ask the eldest young master," Guo Song'an told Yang Qingbo. "Have him send someone to see whether this is the third young master."

Yang Qingbo turned and left.

Lin Shaocong realized things were going badly, but he could neither lose his temper nor prove who he was.

Before Yang Qingbo returned, Lin Shaocong had two choices. He could stay and see what his eldest brother would do with him.

Or he could simply crawl away and put off going home.

If he stayed, his elder brother might go with the flow and call him an impostor. Then the real thing would become a fake.

And he could not argue. He was supposed to be a fool.

If he did not go home, the bandits might kill him. He and Zhang Laifu had killed so many of their men that Hunlong Stronghold would not let him go easily. Those bandits would come looking soon.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, he suddenly saw the guard He Shengjun approaching.

Lin Shaocong immediately felt steadier. He raised his head and looked at He Shengjun, tears welling in his eyes.

He Shengjun reached him in two strides and helped him up. "Young master, you're back!"

Steward Guo Song'an said, "Look carefully. Which young master is this?"

He Shengjun glared at Guo Song'an. "Are you blind? It's the third young master! You can't recognize him?"

"How dare you!" Guo Song'an raised his cane and pointed it at He Shengjun. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

"You!" He Shengjun snapped. "Can't you hear me? You're not just blind—you're deaf, too!"

Guo Song'an trembled with anger. Supporting Lin Shaocong, He Shengjun took him into the residence through a side gate.

Remembering the looks on Guo Song'an's and Yang Qingbo's faces, Lin Shaocong ground his teeth.

Zhang Laifu went to the theater's ticket window to buy a ticket. The cheapest seat, he learned, cost eight big coppers.

He handed the ticket seller eight copper cash. Seeing Zhang Laifu covered in mud and water, the seller thought he had come to make trouble.

"I said eight big coppers. Don't you understand?"

Eight?

There were eight!

Zhang Laifu counted them again. The seller frowned. "Looking for trouble, are you? That's eighty copper cash. I haven't got time to count them. Go exchange them somewhere else."

Now Zhang Laifu understood. He had given him the wrong money. Ten copper cash made one big copper.

He took back the copper cash, paid eight Copper Dollars, and got his ticket.

The next show started at half past three. Zhang Laifu took out his phone to check the time, only to find it bent out of shape, its screen shattered.

After waiting over half an hour, Zhang Laifu entered the theater.

His ticket did not come with an assigned seat. He could sit anywhere in the back rows, but if every seat was taken, he would have to stand.

That hardly mattered. Zhang Laifu had not come to watch the opera. He paced along the wall, looking for the door through which he had entered the theater before.

As he remembered it, the door had been near the sixth row. He walked back and forth several times, but the wall was perfectly smooth. He could not find so much as a crack.

Was there some hidden button or mechanism?

Zhang Laifu felt along the wall inch by inch. An attendant approached him. "Sir, would you like some tea?"

Zhang Laifu waved him away. "No!"

He kept searching. Another attendant came up. "Sir, would you like some sunflower seeds?"

"No!"

He was still searching when a third attendant approached. "Sir, would you like a towel and clappers?"

"No..." Zhang Laifu stopped feeling along the wall.

The three attendants had surrounded him.

"Sir, if you don't want anything, please leave."

"I paid to watch the opera."

"Then sit on a bench and watch it. Once it's over, leave."

Zhang Laifu pointed at the wall. "There used to be a door here. I need to leave through it. There was a man here, too—I told him the lock was pretty heavy..."

"Sir, I think it's time you went home!"

The three attendants escorted Zhang Laifu out of the theater.

This was clearly a station. Why couldn't I get there?

Where could I go now?

Zhang Laifu knew nothing about Wansheng Province, but since the language was the same, he figured he must still be in his own country.

And if he was still in his own country, the laws should be the same. Could he report what had happened?

Zhang Laifu found a rickshaw puller and asked, "Where do I go to file a report?"

The puller stared at him for a long while. "What do you mean, 'file a report'?"

"I ran into some bad people, and I need help..." Zhang Laifu explained for a while. The puller seemed to understand some of it.

"You mean the constabulary? It's quite a way. I'll take you. I won't overcharge—just five big coppers." The puller picked up the rickshaw shafts.

The constabulary.

The name did not sound quite like the institutions Zhang Laifu knew.

So this wasn't my country after all.

Were people here friendly to foreigners?

On Fangpai Mountain, Zhang Laifu had killed quite a few people. If this was not his own country, would the local law consider what he had done self-defense?

If it did not, would they believe him if he said he had thought it was all an act?

I didn't kill Old Liang. That was on Lin Shaocong.

I didn't kill the others, either. Those could all go on Lin Shaocong, too.

But what if Lin Shaocong denied it?

Questions circled through Zhang Laifu's mind. Beside him, the puller kept talking. "Sir, take my rickshaw. Five big coppers really isn't much."

Zhang Laifu had only sixteen Copper Coins to begin with. The ticket had cost eight, leaving him eight. If he spent another five, he would have just three.

That money was all he had to live on in Wansheng Province. How could he squander it?

"Just point me in the right direction. Where's the constabulary?"

"Sir, if you don't know the way, you won't find it just from my directions. It won't cost much for me to take you.

"How about this? I'll knock one off the price. Four big coppers. What do you say?"

"Just point me in the right direction."

"Three and a half. I can't go any lower. Have a little pity on me—my wife and children are waiting to eat..."

No matter how the puller tried to persuade him, Zhang Laifu would not get in.

The puller was a little annoyed, but he still gave Zhang Laifu directions, explaining every step in detail. "Head north from here, cross two streets and an alley, and you'll reach the Black Sand River. Cross at Lotus Bridge and go to Bamboo Raft Road. It's the second intersection from the east. I'm telling you, it's a long walk. Take your time!"

Worried Zhang Laifu might not find the place, the puller even spent a while drawing a map on the ground.

Zhang Laifu took out five copper cash and offered them to the puller.

Five copper cash came to half a big copper. It was not much, but the puller hesitated to take it. "What's this for? You're not riding, so why give me money?"

Zhang Laifu thanked him and pressed the money into his hand.

Waiting for fares was hard. The man had talked himself hoarse without getting the job, and he had still given Zhang Laifu directions. He deserved something for it.

Zhang Laifu headed north, thinking about how to explain things to the constables.

He would describe how he had come to Wansheng Province in as much detail as he could, skim over what had happened on Fangpai Mountain, and put aside every other request. If he could get back to Huan Kingdom, that would be a stroke of luck!

His mind made up, Zhang Laifu walked faster and faster. Then he heard a bell behind him.

Ding, ding!

The puller was ringing a bell as he ran after him with the rickshaw.

"Sir, slow down. I need to tell you something."

Zhang Laifu stopped, thinking the puller was about to pester him into taking a ride again.

But the puller said nothing about a ride. He set down the rickshaw shafts and asked between breaths, "When you talked about filing a report, you didn't sound like a local. Are you from another province?"

Zhang Laifu said nothing.

The puller glanced around, then continued, "Sir, if you came here through proper channels, I won't stop you. Go take care of your business. But if you didn't, you mustn't go to the constabulary.

"We've picked up plenty of people from other provinces at the theater. We know how some things work. If the constables catch someone from another province who can't explain where they came from, that person's life is over. Sir, please think it through."

P.S. Wansheng Province was not very friendly to people from other provinces.

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