Ransoming a girl

Qi Yu and Xie Ning stood on a street corner in the East Market, facing a girl kneeling in mourning clothes. She looked fifteen or sixteen, so thin that her chin came to a sharp point, her eyes red and swollen from crying. A sheet of coarse paper lay spread on the ground before her, with a crookedly written message: "Selling myself to bury my mother." A broken roof tile weighed down its edge, and the corners rustled in the wind. Behind her stood a battered handcart carrying a thin-board coffin. Its lid did not fit tightly, and half a sleeve of washed-out burial clothes showed through the gap.

Xie Ning crouched to look at the paper, then at the girl. She knelt there without crying or making a fuss, her head lowered and both hands clutching the hem of her clothes. Xie Ning stood and pulled Qi Yu aside.

"She wants to bury her mother. The coffin shop is asking five hundred taels." Xie Ning kept his voice very low. "I have two hundred taels in banknotes on me. How much do you have?"

Qi Yu turned his purse inside out. His loose silver came to less than fifty taels, what remained of the spending money his Crown Prince brother had given him last month. He had spent most of it at the sugar-roasted chestnut stall outside the Eastern Palace gates. "I thought we were just coming out for a bowl of wontons today." Qi Yu turned the purse over and shook it, dislodging two more sugar-roasted chestnuts.

Xie Ning looked at the two chestnuts and fell silent for a moment. "I'll go talk the price over with her." He went over and crouched down, telling the girl that the coffin shop was fleecing an outsider by asking five hundred taels, and that a shop in the west of the city sold a good coffin for three hundred. He also asked whether she had any relatives she could turn to. With her head lowered, the girl said her father had died years ago and she was the only one left in her family. Xie Ning paused in his crouch for a long while before standing and walking back.

"I told her to wait here. We'll go back and get the money." He took out his two hundred taels in banknotes, folded them neatly, and placed them in the girl's hands. "Take this for now. We'll scrape together the rest. Don't sell yourself, do you hear me?" The girl clutched the banknotes and looked at him. Tears fell onto the coarse paper, soaking the words "bury my mother."

Xie Ning grabbed Qi Yu and pulled him along. Neither spoke as they walked down Chang'an Street. After a while, Xie Ning suddenly stopped. "What are you laughing at?"

"I'm not laughing." Qi Yu could not keep the corners of his mouth down.

"You clearly are. Your mouth's practically split all the way to your ears."

"Am I? I just think we're quite the impressive pair. The reigning emperor's fourth son and Marquis Jinghai's second legitimate son, with two hundred and fifty taels between us." Qi Yu finally could not hold it in any longer.

Xie Ning stared at him for a long moment, then suddenly laughed too. They stood on Chang'an Street, laughing as they traded remarks, until even the customers in the roadside tea stall poked their heads out to look. At last, Xie Ning wiped the corners of his eyes and straightened his collar. "I'll go find my father."

"I'll go find my Crown Prince brother." Qi Yu thought for a moment, then corrected himself. "Never mind, I'll go straight to Father. My brother gets his money from Father anyway."

They parted at the intersection on Chang'an Street. Xie Ning swung onto his horse. The white horse snorted, its four hooves kicking up dust as it headed toward the Jinghai Marquis Residence. Qi Yu climbed into his carriage. Sitting on the driver's bench, A Ping heard his prince muttering to himself inside, "Five hundred taels. I don't even have five hundred taels." A Ping turned and asked, "What did you say, Your Highness?" Qi Yu did not answer.

At the Jinghai Marquis Residence, Xie Ting had just finished conferring with his advisers and was sitting in his study, wiping his old saber. It was the same tempered-steel saber he had used at the Northern Border, with a rice-grain-sized notch in its edge that he had never let anyone grind away. Hurried footsteps sounded outside. He looked up and saw Xie Ning stride in, sweat still on his forehead.

"Father."

Xie Ting set down the saber and leaned back in his chair, looking at him. Standing before the desk, Xie Ning drew a deep breath, then recounted everything that had just happened in the East Market from beginning to end. As he spoke, he watched Xie Ting's expression, bracing himself for a scolding. His father hated being taken for a fool more than anything. The last time he had brought home a fake brush washer from an antique shop, his father had scolded him for three days.

Xie Ting said nothing when he finished. Leaning back in his chair, he looked at this foolish son of his for a long while before speaking. "You just gave her money because she was kneeling there?"

"Her mother was still lying in the coffin. It was right by the street. I saw it myself."

Xie Ting fell silent again for a moment. He remembered fighting at the Northern Border in his youth. One year, while passing through a village plundered by enemy troops, he too had seen a little girl selling herself to bury her father. She had been even younger than the girl today, kneeling beside the ruins with just such a sheet of coarse paper before her. He had emptied out all the silver he had on him, and afterward the old marquis had sent him a letter several pages long scolding him. He picked up the saber and wiped the dust from its blade with a cloth. "Your mother has the money. Go ask her for five hundred taels. Don't tell her I sent you." Xie Ning froze for a moment, but Xie Ting had already sheathed the saber and placed it on its rack. "Well? Hurry up. Bring back two skewers of candied hawthorn. Your mother wants some." Xie Ning turned and ran, then doubled back after a few steps, snatched a pastry from the desk, and stuffed it into his mouth. With his cheeks bulging, he called indistinctly, "Got it."

In the West Warm Pavilion of Xuanzheng Hall, Qi Xiao was reviewing memorials. He was halfway through a memorial on autumn taxes from the Ministry of Revenue when De'an pushed the door open and came in, his steps a little quicker than usual. "Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince has returned. He says he has an urgent matter and requests an audience." Qi Xiao set down his brush. His son's so-called "urgent matters" were usually things like a rabbit refusing to eat carrots or the koi in the Imperial Garden fighting. He leaned back in his chair and told De'an to let him in.

Qi Yu pushed open the door, stood before the imperial desk, and called, "Father." Then he recounted what had happened in the East Market. When he reached "selling herself to bury her mother," he leaned a little closer; when he reached "I only have fifty taels," he backed away a little. At the end, he raised his head and blinked.

"Father, I'd like to borrow four hundred and fifty taels from you."

Qi Xiao leaned back in his chair and looked at him. Over the years, this child had asked him for candied hawthorn from outside the palace, lychees from Jiangnan, and another hour to play at the hunting grounds. This was the first time he had asked for money. Not for himself, but for a girl selling herself by the roadside. A girl his own age, who had lost her mother.

"De'an," Qi Xiao said, "go fetch a thousand taels in banknotes." De'an acknowledged the order and turned to carry it out.

Qi Yu's eyes brightened. "Father, five hundred taels is enough. The coffin shop is asking five hundred."

"The rest is to help her settle down." Qi Xiao picked up his brush and dipped it in ink again.

"Father, are you lending it to me?"

"You don't need to pay it back."

"That won't do. I'm the one who wants to help, so you can't be the one paying." Qi Yu was perfectly serious. "Deduct it from my monthly allowance. Fifty taels each month, until it's paid off." He counted on his fingers. "Four hundred and fifty taels, fifty taels a month..." He worked at it for ages without finding the answer.

"Nine months," Qi Xiao said.

"Right, nine months." Qi Yu lowered his hands. "Father, you're faster at arithmetic than I am."

Qi Xiao lowered his head and resumed reviewing memorials. Qi Yu stood before the imperial desk holding the banknotes. His lips moved as though he wanted to say something, but no words came out. He folded the banknotes and put them into his purse, tucked the purse inside his robe, then went around to the side of the imperial desk and kissed his father on the cheek. He turned and ran off. De'an was bringing in tea and was nearly knocked over by him; the teacup rocked several times before it steadied. Without even raising his head, Qi Xiao smiled and shook his head.