Chapter 13 (1/2)

It was May 16th. The town seemed tranquil and peaceful. Jiang s.h.i.+guang was sitting on the threshold, smoking a water pipe whose bubbling could be heard clearly. The town hadn't been quiet since April when non-native soldiers started to pa.s.s by and catch people now and then. He hoped to avoid them, thus moved back to the village where the property of the Jiangs was. Staying with his third son and taken care of by his daughter-in-law, he was leading a comfortable life.

His son had gone to work in the fields while his daughter-in-law was busy making dinner. Their life was getting harder while their family bigger. The government sent petty officers to collect grain taxes regularly. Bandits and the army pa.s.sing by often disturbed their life. To the unarmed common people, the ones carrying guns were all lords. Recently, it had been said that the government was arresting communists and had killed a lot. Jiang s.h.i.+guang was hoping that the defeated troops wouldn't pa.s.s by their village.

While his mind was wandering, Jiang s.h.i.+guang pulled hard on the pipe. The bubbling was getting louder. He was considering when to go back to town when some kids started to make a racket in the distance.

The old man stood up quickly, put the water pipe on the ground and said: ”These children are just fooling around on such a fine day. What a waste! Don't children read anymore? Don't they need to seek an official position in the future?” Saying this, he went over and intended to give them a lecture.

Jiaxing was a place where reading had been a common practice in the past generations. 27 people had pa.s.sed imperial examinations and took places, including Number One Scholar, bangyan1, tanhua2 and chuanlu3. Jiang s.h.i.+guang had studied in a private school built with family funds when he had been young, but he hadn't been liked by the teacher, so he had dropped out eventually. Now he was old and couldn't stand people wasting time instead of studying. One hand holding the water pipe, he lifted his gown with the other, patted it and walked towards the village entrance.

Huang Xuan was surrounded by kids. A trained plane traveler would have plenty of ideas for such situation, but Huang Xuan didn't have any. He just stood there, embarra.s.sed, unable to make a move.

Since all the zippers of Huang Xuan's clothes had been taken off by Rolin and dropped in P112, presently he was in rags like a hobo, with the flyer open. At the sight of this weirdly-dressed person, the kids started laughing wildly and surrounded him.

It was time to go to work in the fields. Although it was not the busy farming season, few adults could be seen in the village. The ones who stayed at home and occasionally walked about usually couldn't discipline these kids and most probably would join the onlookers laughing at Huang Xuan. It was until Jiang s.h.i.+guang came that the crowd broke up in a hubbub.

Jiang s.h.i.+guang looked closely at Huang Xuan, who had fair skin, clean fingernails, and no calluses on his hands. He was wearing clothes similar to the ones in the shops run by foreigners in quality and material; although in rags with dust and a few stains on, he looked neat. He had an affected expression but was livelier than his peers in the village. Although Jiang s.h.i.+guang hadn't seen any significant scenes in his lifetime, to him, this hopefulness was rarely seen in b.u.mpkins.

Thinking this, Jiang s.h.i.+guang half bowed with hands folded in front and said respectfully: ”Mister, have you been robbed by bandits? Are you alone?”

Although the Revolution of 19114 had been over for more than a decade, the Republic of China (1912-1949) had been plagued by bandit problem ever since. The villagers' life was related to bandits in innumerable ways. Jiangjia Village was no exception. It had allied with other villages to seek protection, but the disturbance of bandits still couldn't be avoided completely. However, because the village was near the town, the bandits wouldn't be seen in hordes. The reason why Jiang s.h.i.+guang had asked that question was to find out who the person in front of him was.

Seeing the children run away, Huang Xuan exhaled deeply, much relieved. Hearing Jiang s.h.i.+guang asked, he bowed back with hands folded in front and said: ”I am apart from my family and am looking for a hotel to stay. Do you know where I can find one?”

”This place is far from the main road,” Jiang s.h.i.+guang switched hands to hold the pipe, came nearer and said: ”You can stay in my house. There is a spare room.”

Actually, Huang Xuan had no money for the hotel. Hearing the offer, he didn't decline and said with a smile: ”Sorry for putting you to trouble!”

”No trouble at all,” Jiang s.h.i.+guang said while leading the way: ”There is plenty of s.p.a.ce in the countryside. Besides, who never had moments in need?”

Huang Xuan had partic.i.p.ated in such dialogues so many times that he was proficient at it. Although the time had changed, and people might say different polite formulas, the gist remained to talk nonsense and to cotton up. After some chatter, Huang Xuan felt relaxed. On the other hand, Jiang s.h.i.+guang judged that this was a rich kid from another place who was unfamiliar with local customs but well-educated, which was enough to find a free place to stay in Jiaxing.

Ganpu Town was where Jiang's ancestral house was located. The house looked a little old but far from being run down. The main house in the center of the village had been built with blue bricks. The tiles were of the length of at least two palms, stretching in front of the vermilion gate. Over the gate was hanging the stone horizontal inscribed board saying ”Haichang Jiang's Residence”. On both sides of the gate were the couplet saying: ”Majestic mountains are located in the north of North Lake; beautiful hills are situated in the west of West Brook.”

The handwriting was great, better than the ones Huang Xuan had seen at his grandpa's house. Huang Xuan had an idea. He twitched his mouth slightly and said: ”Can you check it?”

”No problem.” Without the interruption of the planes of the same grade, Rolin could hear anything he wanted to. He added: ”Searching for information needs a net connection, which is a waste of energy.”

”I will fix the net access as soon as I am back,” Huang Xuan comforted Rolin as he followed Jiang s.h.i.+guang.