Chapter 2 – Ingot (1/2)

Chapter 2 – Ingot

Part 1

April Sixteen. Clear Skies.

The day started like any other day, the air clear and dry. Travelers streamed to and fro along the main road leading out of Jinan City.

But for some people, although the day started like any other day, the end of the day would be completely different.

Another way to put it would be to say that some people might look ordinary on the outside, but are actually anything but.

Wu Tao was one such person.

***

Wu Tao, an ordinary person, a businessman, appeared to be quite honest, yet wasn’t the slightest bit stupid.

Neither fat nor skinny, neither handsome nor ugly, he wore a set of clothing which, though not crafted from the finest material, appeared to be very durable. Covered with dust from time spent traveling, he rode a mule that seemed to be as hard working as himself. Not young, he looked like the kind of person who had some savings somewhere. He just wanted to provide for his wife and children, and maybe make his own life a bit more comfortable when he grew old.

Who knows how many people like this exist in the world. The only difference between him and them is that before sunset on April 15th, no one had ever seen him.

No one had ever seen him before, not even a single person.

***

You could even say—

This ordinary businessman Wu Tao didn’t appear in the world until after the death of the multi-millionaire Sun Jicheng.

Hadn’t appeared at all.

Part 2

Outside of big cities are small towns, and small towns always have inns.

Liu Village outside of Jinan City had inns, and that was where Wu Tao was staying. [1] He’d arrived late in the night on April 15th.

At that time, the moon had already began to set, and the inn’s main gate had been closed. He’d called out for quite some time before they opened it.

He chose an inn in this village because at that hour, the city gates of Jinan Prefecture were all closed. As a traveler from another part of China, no matter how much you called out, they wouldn’t be opened. So he had no choice but to stay at an inn.

—But was he really traveling from another part of China to Jinan Prefecture? Or was he actually leaving Jinan?

Thankfully, the innkeeper and staff had no interest in asking such questions, neither did they notice whether his appearance on the second day was the same as his appearance upon his arrival.

The clerk who had woken up in the middle of the night to receive him hadn’t paid the slightest attention to what he looked like.

Similarly, no one paid any attention at all to what he did in his room that night.

***

The 16th was market day in Liu Village; early in the morning people flocked from everywhere to participate, bringing along their chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, fruit, vegetables, seafood, flowers, rice, flour, and grain to barter for makeup materials, silk cloth, embroidery or pieces of silver to take back to their happy families.

Of course, pickpockets and beggars wouldn’t miss this chance to take advantage of all the commotion.

By the time the inn opened its main gate, the square and main street across from it was packed with people of all sorts. There were even two Jianghu theatrical troupes performing, so the village bustled even more than usual.

Wu Tao couldn’t help but go out to soak in the excitement.

And then he noticed something quite amazing. It seemed the beggars here were extremely organized; the quietly collected their gains into a specific area. If people didn’t give them anything, they didn’t ask for anything. If people gave a lot, they likewise did not call out, not even to say “thank you.”

In every group, an older beggar with a burlap sack on his back sat in the rear, dividing up their spoils evenly amongst the other members.

Who would have imagined that beggars would have such systemized rules. Everyone found it quite interesting.

But one of the beggars, a fellow with rather large eyes, didn’t seem to understand the rules.

This young man had a round face, and when he smiled, two dimples appeared. Whenever he caught someone’s attention he would smile and stretch out his hands. Perhaps because of his charming appearance, or perhaps because of his ability to judge people’s characters, when he stretched out his hands, they rarely came back empty.

And so he collected more and more money, all of which went into his own bag.

When his bag filled up, he began wandering amidst the crowd, and at one point he smacked into Wu Tao and sent him tumbling.

Wu Tao didn’t give him a single copper coin.

He wasn’t the type to give out charity. His money had been painstakingly earned, much more painstakingly than any money this beggar ever earned.

He knew that the young beggar had bumped into him on purpose. But he was more slippery than a loach [2], and immediately after hitting Wu Tao, he ran off, disappearing without a trace in a matter of seconds.

Wu Tao didn’t pursue him.

He also wasn’t the type of person to look for trouble or get angry about trifles. And yet, after getting smacked into, his excitement regarding the market disappeared.

He returned to the inn, mounted his mule, and headed straight for Jinan.

***

He really did head straight for Jinan.

Regardless of where he came from, this was a fact, and no lie. By noon, he had already arrived.

Part 3

Gongs and drums clanged and clashed in the marketplace. A young girl, seventeen or eighteen years old, her hair combed into two braids, was performing a tumbling act. Her legs, long, straight, and strong, seemed to be ready at any moment to burst out of the trousers she wore, which were sewn together from multiple pieces of colorful cotton cloth.

This area of the market was much more lively than others, with many people gathering to watch the scene.

The young beggar slipped like a loach through the crowd, then squatted down, panting.

He knew that the stingy old man with the gray, pointed face wouldn’t pursue him. He probably still didn’t realize that his coin purse was no longer at his waist, but in the young beggar’s knapsack.

His coin purse was not light at all; there must be at least twenty or thirty shiny pieces of silver inside.

The young beggar, his large eyes drawn to the long legs of the girl with the braids, felt quite happy.

When she held out her copper gong and said, “Dear audience, please give a few coins,” the young beggar, who just now been begging others for alms, suddenly became generous. He pulled out a few coins and tossed them into the gong.

The braided girl smiled at him sweetly, and the beggar suddenly felt a bit dizzy. Just when he was thinking of giving a few more coins, he suddenly felt hands clamp down on his shoulders.

It was two beggars, one pock-marked, the other crippled, and the force of their grip was not light.

The young beggar might be as slippery as a loach, but in their grip he could barely move.

The only thing he could do was smile at them with his trademark specialty smile.

Unfortunately, these two fellow beggars did not seem to be the least bit moved by his round face, big eyes and dimples. Not only did they refuse to release him, the grabbed his arms and dragged him up from the ground and away from the crowd.

Everyone around was paying attention to the long legs, and not a one seemed to care about the affairs of these three stinking beggars.

The gongs and drums sounded out again, and a new show started.

Part 4

The young beggar was not small. Looking at his face you might put him at between 14-16, although judging on his physique he was probably between 17-19. But in the hands of the pockmarked and crippled beggars, he was like a baby chick, his two feet not even touching the ground.

He wanted to laugh, but couldn’t.

He also wanted to cry out, but the pockmarked beggar had already scooped up a handful of mud from the ground. “If you cry out, I’ll stuff your mouth full of this.”

Getting your mouth filled up with a big handful of mud was no fun, so the young beggar could only make a bitter face and say, “Dear sirs, I didn’t do anything to offend you. My are you treating a poor kid like me in this way?”

“We didn’t want to have to deal with you,” said the crippled one. Though his face was stiff, his voice was mild. “But you need to come somewhere with us.”

“Go somewhere? Where?”

“To see Uncle.”

“Uncle? Ever since I was young, I never had a mom or dad, where could an Uncle come from?” The young beggar seemed on the verge of tears. “Sirs, I think you must have made some kind of mistake.”

They ignored him. The sound of drums and gongs from the marketplace grew more and more distant.

They had already reached a small hill outside the village.

***

On the hillside stood a large, bluish-green tree. Underneath the tree lay a bluish green slab of stone. And on the stone sat a man wearing a bluish green garment.

The garment, dilapidated, covered with patches, was nonetheless quite clean.

The man’s face too, was clean, but expressionless, seemingly without any color whatsoever, almost as if he were dead.

Thankfully it was the middle of the day; were it the middle of the night, anyone who saw him would either be scared to death or scared so bad they would jump three meters into the air.

It seemed as if the man in bluish-green hadn’t noticed them. He just sat there, his head tilted at an angle, staring off into the distance, seemingly lost in thought. Perhaps he was recalling some bittersweet memory, or perhaps some unforgettable person.

And yet his ashen face showed no expression, and his cold eyes truly looked like a corpse’s.

The pockmarked beggar and the crippled beggar stood in front of him, not daring to even breath.

The young beggar seemed to have lost his usual nerve, and was too scared to say anything.

Quite some time passed before the man in bluish-green garment spoke. And when he did, he only said three words: “Let him go.”

The two beggars immediately released their pincer-like grasp on the young beggar. Even as he let out a sigh of relief, he took a closer look and suddenly noticed that the right sleeve of the man’s bluish-green garment was empty. Completely empty and tucked into the waist of his garment. On his back he carried several large burlap sacks, all empty. It looked like there were at least five, and maybe even seven or eight. [3]

Another burlap sack lay on the bluish-green rock, and it seemed to be bulging with something, although who knew what.

Anyone with experience in Jianghu should be able to tell that the man with the bluish-green garment and missing arm was someone of immense power and influence, with countless disciples under his control. He was clearly one of the esteemed and venerated Elders of the great “Beggar Sect.”

But the young beggar didn’t seem to realize this.

He didn’t understand rules, and didn’t understand the ways of the world. And what’s worse, things that he shouldn’t understand, he seemed to know a lot about.

Other than stealing chickens and petting dogs, showing his dimples and feigning cuteness and innocence, and making off with other’s money, he also seemed to understand how to appreciate women’s legs.

The one-armed man continued to stare off into the distance for a while before suddenly saying, “Do you know who I am?”

The young beggar shook his head vigorously. And then, he suddenly started nodded his head.

“I know who you are,” he said. “These two sirs said they were going to take me to see Uncle. You must be him.”

The man didn’t reply.

The young beggar sighed. “Unfortunately, you aren’t my Uncle. I don’t even have an uncle. So whose Uncle are you?”

He suddenly clapped his hands. “I know. You aren’t anyone’s Uncle. People just call you that. It’s your nickname.”

The man didn’t reply.

The young beggar laughed, pleased to find himself so intelligent. Even a difficult question like this one was no problem for him.

Unfortunately, the next question wasn’t so easy.

“Do you know why I had them bring you to see me?”

“Why?” When unable to answer a question, the best thing to do is to ask a followup question, a trick often used by worldly-wise people.

And it turns out this little bastard knew the trick too.

At long last, the man in bluish-green turned his head, staring at the young beggar with cold eyes. In an icy voice he said ten words.

“It’s because you violated the rules of the our Sect.”

“Sect?” The young beggar didn’t seem to understand. “What Sect are you?”

“The Poor Family Sect.”

Everyone in Jianghu knows that the Poor Family Sect is none other than the Beggar Sect. But it seemed the young beggar didn’t know.

“You made a mistake. I’m not in the Poor Family Sect. I mean, I’m poor, but I don’t have a family. If I did, then maybe I wouldn’t be poor!”

“It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a member of our Sect.”

“Why?”

“Because our Sect governs everyone in the world who makes their living by begging.” His voice, though cold and detached, carried the feeling of frightening power.

The young beggar laughed again, a laugh of pure happiness. And then he said two words that no one could possibly have imagined he would say: “Good bye.”

Usually people only say good bye when the time has come to leave — sometimes when they truly must leave, or other times when they don’t at all want to. Sometimes it’s just for show, a way to cajole others in to urging you to stay.

But the young beggar really did mean to leave. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he made to depart.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t.

Before he could move a meter, the two beggars with their pincer-like grasps grabbed him.

“What are you grabbing me for?” protested the young beggar. “There’s nothing here to do with me. I’m not in your Poor Family Sect, and I’m not a beggar.”

“You’re not?”

“Of course I’m not. I recently changed professions.”

“Changed professions to what?”

“I’m a thief.” The young beggar spoke with utmost confidence: “Even if you’re the ancestor of all the young beggars in the world, you aren’t in charge of me, because I’m a thief.”

What he said did make sense. Nobody could say it didn’t.

The armless man in the bluish-green garment again stared off into the distance. “Things that other people might not be in charge of,” he said coldly. “I take charge of.”

“Why?”

—“Because I’m not other people.” “Because I am stronger than other people.” “Because I am more powerful than other people.”

He didn’t say any of these things.

He neither wanted nor needed to. Sometimes saying nothing is the best thing to say.

He pointed to the bulging burlap sack which lay next to him on the bluish-green rock. “Take a look,” he said. “Take a look at what’s inside.”

***

The young beggar had wanted to look inside from the very beginning.

He knew that whatever was inside, it wasn’t anything nice, and it wouldn’t do him any good whatsoever to look. But curiosity crawled around inside his heart like a caterpillar.

Of course he wanted to look. He couldn’t not look.

And after he did, the crawling caterpillar of curiosity in his heart didn’t leave. Instead, it suddenly turned into a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand caterpillars. Wriggling not just in his heart, but also his stomach, his intestines, his pores, his blood vessels, and even in his bones.

Wherever caterpillars of curiosity could crawl in his body, they did, until he wanted to kick and curse and cry and vomit.

***

Actually, there wasn’t anything special about the things in the bag. They were things that everyone can see everyday, all the time.

The bag was filed with some noses, some ears, and some hands.

Human noses, human ears, and human hands.

It is a world of people

As long as you live in the world, and are not blind, then other than when you are sleeping, you will see these things all the time. It would be hard not to see them.

But things like this should not be packed into a burlap sack.

The man in bluish-green, his voice cold, said, “Threaten to blackmail, have ears and nose sliced off. Steal wealth, have hands cut off. Rape wives and daughters, be slaughtered without mercy. Regardless of whether you are a member of the Sect.”

“Who set this rule?”

“Me.”