The Corpse Reader (11 page)

Worn out by everything that had happened and by his own internal debate, he shut his eyes, comforting himself with the idea that his parents were still watching over him and Third. It wasn’t that he was unacquainted with death—he knew of women dying
in childbirth, stillborns, children dying young from illness or malnutrition; he knew of deadly floods and typhoons—but none of that had prepared him for the deaths of his parents and his brother. Either the gods were capricious, or he’d done something terribly wrong and this was his punishment. And the pain he felt—he had no idea how he would ever be rid of it.

And he didn’t know what course his life would take next. Lost and overwhelmed, he knew all he could do was focus on the present—getting away from the village, protecting his sister. That was all.

By the time the sun came up the barge crew was already busy. Wang had hauled anchor and was giving instructions to his sailors when a small rowboat crashed into the barge. Wang shouted at the man at the oars, but he was an old fisherman with a foolish grin and didn’t seem to care. Then a small fleet of fishing vessels appeared and swarmed past the barge.

“Damn them, they ought to be hanged!” said the captain.

“We’ve sprung a leak!” shouted one of the sailors. “The cargo will be ruined!”

Cursing, Wang immediately ordered them to move close to shore, just in case. Luckily, they weren’t far from Jianningfu, the main confluence of rivers in the region where there was a large town; they’d be able to get repair materials there. Being near the shore, though, would also make them easy prey for marauding bandits; the captain told everyone, Cí and Third included, to keep their eyes peeled.

The Jianningfu jetty, when they got there, was a hive of dealers, hawkers, livestock, beggars of all kinds, prostitutes, and peons. The stench was of rotten fish, cooking oil, and unwashed, rancid bodies.

As soon as they docked, a small man with a goatee rushed over demanding the docking fee. Wang drove him off with a few kicks; they weren’t stopping to do business, Wang roared, but because some idiot, probably a local, had damaged the barge.

After leaving the younger of the sailors to guard the boat with Cí and sending the older sailor, Ze, to buy bamboo and hemp for the repair, Wang went for provisions. The younger sailor grumbled over being left behind, but Cí was pleased since he wouldn’t have to wake Third, who was fast asleep again, nestled between two sacks of grain. There was a bracing breeze coming off the mountain, and Cí covered his sister with an extra blanket. The younger sailor stood watching the prostitutes go by with their makeup and bright clothes, and he soon spat out the straw he’d been chewing, announced he was going for a stroll, and jumped down to the dock. Cí didn’t mind being alone; he decided to make himself useful by scrubbing the deck.

When he looked up, a girl was standing beside the barge. She wore a threadbare red robe that made no secret of her curves. Her smile showed off a full set of teeth. He blushed when she asked if it was his barge.

She’s even prettier than Cherry.

“I’m just, um, looking after it,” he stuttered.

She made Cí nervous. Aside from Cherry, the women in his family, and a few glimpses of the courtesans in Lin’an when he went to the tea shops with Judge Feng, he’d barely had any contact with women. The girl strolled a few steps away from the barge, and Cí watched her hips sway. When she turned and approached again, with her eyes fixed on his, Cí didn’t know where he was supposed to look.

“So, is it just you traveling?” she asked.

“Yes…I mean no!” Cí noticed that she was looking at the burn scars on his hands, so he hid them behind his back.

“But you’re all alone now,” she smiled.

“Y-yes. The others have gone to buy tools.”

“What about you? Don’t you get to go ashore?”

“They told me I have to watch the barge.”

“So obedient!” She came closer. “And have they also said you aren’t allowed to play with the girls?”

Cí couldn’t think of an answer; he was being pulled into the girl’s spell.

“I…I don’t have any money.”

“
You
don’t need to worry about that.” She smiled. “
Good-looking
guys get a special. Wouldn’t you like a nice cup of hot tea?” She pointed to a cabin nearby. “My mother makes a peach tea—that’s how I got my name: Peach Blossom.”

“I really can’t leave the barge,” said Cí.

She smiled and walked slowly to the cabin. A few minutes later, she emerged with a teapot and two cups. Blushing as he was, Cí couldn’t hide how much he wanted her.

“Don’t just stand there,” she said. “Give me a hand up.”

He offered her his hand while trying to hide the worst of his scars beneath his sleeve cuffs. One quick heave and she was aboard. She leaned over the side to get the tea, took a seat on a bale, and offered him a cup.

“Come
on
, I’m not going to charge you for it.”

Offering tea, he knew, was a tactic used by all “flowers,” as the prostitutes liked to call themselves. Surely, he told himself, he could accept a cup of tea without any obligation, and anyway, he was thirsty for one. As he drank the tea, which was spicy, he looked at the girl—her painted-on eyebrows, her rice-powder makeup. She began to sing while using her hands to make motions like those of a flying bird.

As the melody floated up around him, he took another sip of the hot tea. Cí felt caressed by the song, the tea, the air, the lapping
of the river. He began to feel very drowsy, and sweet sleep soon swallowed him whole.

Cí woke to cold water being thrown at his face.

“Slacker!” shouted Wang, hoisting him off the dock. “Where’s the damned, damned,
damned
boat?”

What is happening?

Cí’s head pounded and spun. The old man shook him, but he couldn’t talk.

“Drunk! Where’s my sailor? And where in damned hell is my boat?”

The older sailor threw another bucket of water on him, and Cí began to feel less dizzy. A series of images: docking at the jetty…the captain and the sailor going off…the girl…the tea…and then, nothing. He understood in an instant he’d been drugged and the boat stolen—and with it, his little sister.

Desperate, he pleaded with the captain to help him find Third. Wang shouted that all he really needed to do was throttle Cí for abandoning the barge.

Wang could have threatened to tear him to shreds, but Cí would have done anything necessary to find his sister.

He scrambled after Wang, who had dived into the crowds looking for a boat to rent. He didn’t have any luck until he came across a couple of young fishermen next to a skiff. They said they’d rent their boat, but when Wang tried to hire them to row, and when they heard he was going after bandits, they changed their minds: no way would they risk their lives or put their boat in danger. They would agree only to sell the boat—at a massively inflated price. Wang couldn’t change their minds, so he paid them and hopped onto the skiff with Ze. Cí tried to get aboard, too.

“Damn! What the
hell
do you think you’re doing?” cried Wang.

“My sister’s on your boat,” he said.

Wang looked over at Ze—clearly they needed Cí’s help.

“Fine, but if we don’t recover that damn cargo, I swear you’ll pay for it in blood, which I’ll beat out of you myself. Both of you, get the damn skiff ready, and I’ll go and find us some weapons—”

“Boss,” Cí interrupted. “Is that a good idea? Do you know anything about weapons?”

“By God, I know enough to cut out your damn tongue and eat it grilled! How would you suggest we stop them, eh? Offer them a cup of tea?”

“But,” reasoned Cí, “we have no idea how many there are, or if they’re armed. They probably have a better idea about fighting than a couple of old guys and a country boy like me. If we try and attack them with bows and arrows we have no idea how to use, they’ll slaughter us.”

“So we just go and ask nicely?”

“While you argue,” said Ze, “they’re getting away.”

“Damn you, Ze! Why don’t you just do what I say?” screamed the captain.

“The boy’s got a point,” said the old sailor. “And if we head off right now, we’ll find them within an hour. They’re bound to unload downriver. They’ll be in a rush, and they won’t have any transport. It will be easy to corner them.”

“And how do you know all that? A prophet as well as a sailor now!”

“They’ll see their cargo is wood, won’t they? And they must know that upriver, wood’s worth nothing, whereas down at Fuzhou they’ll get a good price. Plus they’ll want the easy way out—downriver,
with
the current.”

“And finding them in an hour?”

“The leak. The barge won’t stay afloat long,” said Ze.

“Yes! The leak!” said the captain. “They’ll have to make for shore, and as you said, how would they have transport—”

“Who knows, boss, but I think we should just look for the first inlet or tributary where they might be able to hide from prying eyes. If you happen to know of any—”

“I damn well do, as it goes! Come on, let’s get going!”

Cí loaded the materials they’d bought for the repair and jumped on board. Each of them grabbed a pole and began pushing the skiff in pursuit of the bandits.

Just as Ze had predicted, within an hour they caught sight of the barge making its way up a tributary. It was listing badly, and it moved slowly and close to shore. They had no idea how many were on board, but only one person was at the helm, which Cí thought was a good sign.

They pushed the skiff faster.

During the pursuit they had considered different strategies, and whether to board the barge as soon as they caught up to it or wait until it had been unloaded. When they saw that there were three bandits, they decided on Cí’s plan: he would pretend to be a sick merchant to awaken the robbers’ greed, and they would get as close to the bandits as possible. “The last thing they’ll expect,” Cí said, “is for two old men and one so ill to attack them.”

“Then, on my signal,” Wang said, “we’ll hit them with the poles and try to knock them into the water. But we’ve got to reach them before they dock.”

As they approached the barge, Cí covered himself with a blanket, and Wang smiled broadly in greeting to the three bandits and the prostitute.