Chapter 4: We Are All Law-Abiding Citizens
Chapter 4: We Are All Law-Abiding Citizens
“How can a grown man be afraid of a few leeches? You should be ashamed!”
The boat girl looked at Yang Xin with disdain.
Yang Xin was lying on the sampan, staring with horror at the twenty leeches in front of him. The boat girl had plucked them from his body. Each one, fat and lazy from feeding, wriggled slowly, like a bunch of overstuffed orange cats. Clearly, in those bright, picturesque scenes of watery villages, the lotus-gathering maidens among the lotus leaves could sometimes shift from poetic charm straight into a horror movie.
“Do you even know what a psychological shadow is?”
Yang Xin argued stubbornly.
The thought of lying there sunbathing while twenty little creatures sucked his blood gave him the creeps, even though these things weren’t really dangerous and even thoughtfully numbed the wound, as professional as a surgeon…
Professional bloodsuckers.
“Afraid is afraid. Saying things people don’t understand doesn’t make you not afraid.”
The boat girl continued to look down on him.
But Yang Xin’s expression clearly lifted her spirits. Just as he let out a long sigh and instinctively started to stand up, she suddenly pinched a leech and moved it toward Yang Xin’s face…
Yang Xin grabbed her wrist.
“Hands like soft blades of grass, skin like…”
He grinned cheekily.
Then the boat girl loosened her fingers. The leech slid down Yang Xin’s chest and dropped right onto the torn sackcloth piece at his waist…
As Yang Xin hopped about in alarm, she let out a joyful laugh.
Half an hour later.
The sun was setting in the west. A small sampan drifted on the Grand Canal, where the tide was still rising.
Yang Xin lay leisurely at the stern.
“Miss, may I ask your name?”
He spoke to the back of the boat girl.
“Huang Ying!”
she said.
“That’s a good name. Later, I’ll tell you a story about a little spirit named Huang Ying.”
Yang Xin said.
“You’re the spirit!”
Huang Ying said.
“I’m not talking about an evil spirit. The Huang Ying I’ll tell you about is a chrysanthemum spirit, and she has a perfect love story with a scholar. Definitely a tale of a gifted scholar and a beautiful lady.”
Yang Xin said.
“More nonsense!”
Huang Ying said unhappily.
Clearly, she was still full of expectation for tales of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies.
“Are you sure I didn’t kill anyone?”
Yang Xin asked.
“You didn’t kill anyone, but you hurt many. You seriously injured a Xiucai master, stomping his face until it was ruined. According to the Great Ming Code, those who brawl and destroy another’s ears or nose receive one hundred cane strikes. Also, you are a runaway slave. According to the law, if a slave injures a commoner, the punishment is increased by one degree, which means strangulation. You also injured two other slaves, plus a hired commoner martial arts instructor. We don’t know if that Xiucai master was a household head. If he was, then a slave assaulting a household head can only be punished by beheading. You also resisted arrest and injured several Tianjin Guard soldiers while doing so. Resisting arrest and injuring others also warrants beheading. Therefore, you need to be beheaded twice, strangled once, and also receive at least two hundred cane strikes. If I were you, I’d be thinking about how to escape right now.”
Huang Ying turned her head and said with a bright smile.
“Since your father sent you to find me, that means he doesn’t care about this.”
Yang Xin said.
He knew the boat boss would look for him, which is why he lay there waiting. The Southern Grand Canal wasn’t wide; boatmen had good eyesight and would surely have seen where he swam to.
As for his criminal acts…
They were just to scare him, to make him recognize the situation and obey obediently. Since the boat boss dared to send someone for him, it meant the boat boss didn’t take these matters seriously at all.
“Fortunately, you saved the granddaughter of Vice Minister Wang, the Governor-General of Ji-Liao. While he won’t bend the law for you, at least before she leaves Tianjin, the Tianjin Military Defense Circuit has to give enough face. They won’t rush to arrest you and cause trouble for the Wang family. But after that noble person leaves, your life or death has nothing to do with them. Thousand Household Han is just waiting to skin you alive. You caused him to accidentally injure a Provincial Scholar and offend Vice Minister Wang. You also made the entire Tianjin Guard lose all face. Two city gates couldn’t stop you. The Military Defense Circuit is furious. I hear there’s even a high official in the city, preparing to go to the capital for an audience with the Emperor, who’s laughing at him.”
Huang Ying said.
“So we’re not going to Tianjin?”
Yang Xin said, watching her steer the small sampan past the Sancha River estuary.
They were entering the Northern Canal.
Huang Ying quickly poled the boat to a reed marsh by the shore. Making sure it was hidden enough, she put down the pole and sat opposite him. She fished a bunch of water chestnuts from the water, plucked a few tender ones, and tossed them to him.
“My father says you’re quite skilled. We happen to need a helper.”
She said while shelling a water chestnut.
“You’re not involved in illegal activities, are you?”
Yang Xin said, also shelling a water chestnut.
“Don’t talk nonsense. We are law-abiding citizens!”
Huang Ying said.
“Law-abiding citizens who harbor fugitives?”
Yang Xin said.
“Are you in or not?”
Huang Ying said irritably.
“You said it yourself: I at least have to take two hundred big cane strikes, then hang from a gallows once, and still get my head chopped off twice. What choice do I have? Anyway, my head is already tucked in my belt. What wouldn’t I dare to do? Whether you’re smuggling, dealing in illicit salt, or river bandits, I don’t care. But I am curious. Your father sent a tender young girl like you to find a fugitive like me. Isn’t he afraid of throwing meat to a dog?”
Yang Xin lay there, smiling.
The girl was somewhat pretty, just a bit tanned from years drifting on boats. But thanks to that, her figure was excellent: tall, long-legged, evenly proportioned, with no visible fat. Her waist looked very springy. Though she only wore rough men’s clothing, it couldn’t hide her charm. But she didn’t look very old, maybe seventeen or eighteen, probably not married yet. Yang Xin believed he had an eye for such things. Though in this era, she probably didn’t quite match people’s aesthetic ideals. After all, someone like Sister Lin was more popular. If she coughed occasionally, she’d be delicate and pitiable.
This kind could only be considered a wild child.
Huang Ying gave a charming smile.
Suddenly, she flicked her sleeve, and a cold gleam shot straight toward Yang Xin.
Yang Xin’s right hand shot out like lightning.
“This won’t do!”
He said, not without pride, clutching the small throwing dart.
Huang Ying pulled at the end of the long pole at her feet. A short sword was immediately drawn out. Yang Xin grabbed both sides of the boat and gave it a hard shake. The girl fell smoothly into the water and vanished beneath the boat. Just as Yang Xin looked to the right, she suddenly emerged from the left, grabbed Yang Xin, and pulled him backward. But she clearly underestimated her opponent’s reaction speed. Yang Xin turned around extremely fast, reached out, and grabbed her back. Amid her startled cry, he lifted her right out, though after she waved her short sword threateningly, he quickly let go…
“Not bad skills!”
Huang Ying said, her face flushed, as she picked off the water weeds hanging on her.
“Do you know when a woman is most attractive?”
Yang Xin lay there, his eyes shining.
“Rogue!”
Huang Ying glared at him.
“Of course, when she’s soaking wet!”
Yang Xin said happily, looking at her curves, which stood out even more against the sunset’s afterglow.
Huang Ying gritted her teeth, swung her hand, and threw the short sword over. It stuck in the wood right by Yang Xin’s ear, but Yang Xin acted as if he didn’t see it.
“I’m hungry!”
He said lazily.
Huang Ying pointed at the few water chestnuts.
“Can these fill anyone up?”
Yang Xin protested unhappily.
Huang Ying shot him a look, pulled the short sword from beside his ear, and inserted it back into the end of the long pole. Yang Xin then noticed the end was iron, and the short sword’s hilt actually had a screw thread. Huang Ying twisted it a few times, and it became a spear over five meters long. This pretty much confirmed it: the people on their boat were not law-abiding citizens. This thing was clearly suited for boarding fights on water. But that was expected. These days, running boats on inland rivers might not compare to those merchant-pirates on the sea, but they definitely weren’t law-abiding citizens. Holding the spear, she watched the water surface intently, then suddenly thrust it down. A carp was skewered and, with a flick of Huang Ying’s pole, landed in Yang Xin’s lap. She tilted her chin, signaling.
“Raw fish has parasites!”
Yang Xin said.
“Parasites?”
Huang Ying said, puzzled.
Yang Xin grabbed the carp and fiddled near its tail. Huang Ying sat beside him curiously. Yang Xin turned his head and glanced at her chest. Huang Ying pinched him fiercely. Satisfied, Yang Xin lowered his head. Soon, he found one for her. A tiny red thread wriggled slowly inside the fish’s tail, looking like a tiny blood vessel. Yang Xin then tore the fish open from the wound on its body, searched carefully among the flesh, and soon picked out another blood-red one, placing it directly in Huang Ying’s hand.
“If you eat it raw, it will burrow into your belly, then wiggle and dig through your flesh and blood, all the way to your brain. It will settle there and live by eating your brain matter. It can grow up to half a foot long!”
Yang Xin said, feigning horror.
“Are those people with headaches, even headaches so bad they go mad, bitten by these?”
Huang Ying said with a serious expression.
“Pretty much!”
Yang Xin said.
Of course, he was just trying to scare her. These were red worms, not tapeworm larvae.
“But if it’s cooked, it’s fine. Cooked, it’s just a piece of cooked meat. Come on, beauty, make me a braised carp!”
He added immediately.
“In your dreams! Eat it or not!”
Huang Ying said bluntly.
“Poisonous woman!”
Yang Xin complained.
“You know about medicine too!”
Huang Ying said curiously.
“This is common knowledge. The fish doesn’t have just this one kind of parasite; this is one we can see. Actually, there are many more we can’t see with our eyes. Not just fish, even this water has countless invisible little bugs. If you drink this raw water, these little bugs will enter your body and give birth to even more little bugs inside you, breeding generation after generation until they completely occupy your body. Do you know about water gu? Water gu is just such little bugs.”
Yang Xin continued his science lesson.
Huang Ying held the red worm in her hand, poking at it curiously, completely unaware that the guy beside her had turned on his side, propped up his head, and was happily admiring the curves of her upper body. By now, the sun had half-set. The sunset glow reddened the horizon and also Huang Ying’s back. Her clothes, clinging to her body, seemed to have a reddish halo.
A large boat quietly stopped on the river surface not far from them…