Prelude --Continued
When the time came to light the candle, the young man finally regained consciousness. Over two big bowls of steaming noodles with sliced chicken cooked in ginger soup, his face flushed red. Although he still felt a little dizzy, he struggled to sit up when Wu Ciyou pushed the door open and came in with a lantern. Wu Ciyou hastened to stop him, saying, “Don’t move, my friend. Just keep lying in bed.” The young man bent forward and kowtowed continuously on the pillow. “My benefactor, you have saved my life! I will be eternally grateful to you for your act of kindness. I have no words to express my thanks. I am even willing to give up my life if that’s what it takes to repay your kindness to me!” he said with with tears streaming down his delicate face.
Wu Ciyou pulled up a chair beside him and sat down. “What is your name? Why did you come to Beijing? How did you end up like this?” he inquired with care. The young man reclined his back against the pillow and let out a long sigh. “My benefactor, I am a member of the Plain Yellow Banner. My name is Ming Zhu. I have been told that all forefathers descended from royal families. My father Ni Yaha was a chief of the smallest unit ‘niru’ under Mergen Cin Wang Dorgon. He followed the Emperor and came through the Pass. Unfortunately, he was implicated and dismissed from his position when Dorgon got himself into trouble. My father was so indignant that he fell ill and never recovered. From then on, my family started to decline and I had to wander about with my uncle in Mongolia. The master Na Ertai took pity on us and granted us a small plot of arable land. But then last autumn, we were all totally taken by surprise when Ao Bai, the Bordered Yellow Banner leader, forced us to swap our Plain Yellow Banner land for his land. He claimed that when Dorgon roped off the land, the Bordered Yellow Banner got shortchanged. Now it was payback time. Just like that, my father and I were cheated out of our land! At first, we thought that this old scoundrel would leave us some of our land for us to make a living even if it was just out of normal respect for our common forefathers. But who would have thought that this old bastard would be so ruthless as to have his brother Mu Lima set our village afire after all the villagers were driven out on a snowy day… What a miserable fate we’ve suffered!” He wiped the tears off his face and the sobbed on, “My uncle and I begged our way from Rehe into the Pass, only to fall into the hands of bandits, who coerced us to join them. As you can imagine, I would never allow myself to become a robber since I did not know if my father was alive or not. So we had to escape but my uncle didn’t make it. He was killed by an arrow shot by a bandit. I came to Beijing by myself in the hope of borrowing some money from my father’s former colleagues. But I didn’t expect that they would barely show any empathy towards me. Once they heard that our family offended Ao Bai, none of them dared to give me a shelter. So I had to earn a living out of writing characters for people on the street. As a member of the nobility, I really had a hard time of it. Now look what’s become of me…. With the heavy snow in the past few days and an empty stomach, I had intended to take shelter against the snow at the door of this inn. But who would have thought…”
Ming Zhu became so emotional that he broke down and cried outright. “My benefactor, you are my second parent and I am your flesh and blood. If I cannot repay all your kindness in this life, I will repay it even after my death!”
Wu Ciyou, who could not help but feel extremely saddened by his story, quickly did his best to comfort him: “Ming Zhu, you don’t have to thank me. These days, all of us common folk are going through hard times! In the past few days, I have seen so many beggars in Beijing.They are all homeless people whose land was roped off outside the Pass. By the way, do you have any relatives in Beijing?”
Ming Zhu shook his head and said, “No, I don’t. And even if I did,it is difficult for me to meet them.”
Wu Ciyou asked, “Why will it be difficult to meet them?” Ming Zhu composed himself and said, “I heard that Madame Sun, a female cousin on my mother’s side, is the wet nurse of the Third Imperial Prince. I met her seven years ago before she went to work in the imperial palace. But looking like this, how would they ever let me into that heavily guarded palace?” Wu Ciyou hesitated for a moment and said: “You can stay here for the time being. For now, don’t worry about your future. A well-educated and honorable scholar like you will have no problem getting ahead. And just in case you run into any problems, I will write my father a letter, introducing you to him so he can take care of you and help to secure a job for you. My name is Wu Ciyou. My hometown is Yangzhou. I am here waiting to take the imperial exam. When the last exam is finished, we can go south together.”
As an extraordinarily clever young man, Ming Zhu struggled to get off the bed and kowtowed three times on the floor in response to Wu’s offer. “With heaven as my witness, may I, Ming Zhu, be like this writing brush if I ever become ungrateful and forget how elder brother Wu saved my life!” With this, he pulled out a large-sized weasel hair brush from his sleeve and snapped it into two in the light of the lantern.
Right at this intimate moment in their conversation, the cotton curtain lifted and in came He Guizhu, who said in a low voice, “Second master,rumor has it that Shunzhi emperor passed away! I heard it from eunuch Wang, the patrol chief from the Thirteen Offices, who came here for a drink just now.”
“The emperor has passed away!” This rumor spread like wildfire through the wine shop, teahouse and opera house, where people gathered for recreation and amusement. In no time it was known throughout the city of Beijing. However, before the imperial edict was issued, they could only observe quietly in the background and talk it over with their closest friends as if it had really happened.
“The emperor is only 24 years old. How could such a healthy young man pass away at such a young age?”
“Alas, a man’s fate is a fickle thing! Who can say what’s going to happen any of us? For example, tonight you took off your shoes, but who can guarantee that you will be still be around to put them back on tomorrow morning?”
“Stop babbling nonsense! Besides, what I heard was that the emperor has simply fallen lovesick over his deceased Concubine Dong! Do you remember that painter surnamed Chen from Jiangsu Province? His whole name escapes me now . . . Oh, I’ve got it. His name was Chen Luoyun. This lucky guy was rewarded 10,000 tael of silver for his portrait of Concubine Dong. Just imagine that! Have you ever seen so many silver ingots in your whole life? It’s really easy for those with good luck to strike it rich!”
“You always go off on a tangent every time you open that mouth of yours! I heard that the Emperor granted an audience with Suke Saha only five or six days ago. Is something fishy going on?”
“Shhh– look who’s talking! You’re the one who’s always going off on the damn tangents! I think you’d better watch your mouth. Whether or not the emperor has passed away, it is none of your damn business!”
