by Guo Xiaoting
Gao Guoqin was a refined and scholarly person, and, even though the running man had struck him, he thought to himself, “He is not a man without heart. What harm was there in his actions?” Just as Guoqin was continuing on his way, he felt with his hand in his pocket to make sure he hadn’t dropped any of the silver. But not a trace of it was there. He thought, “Surely I could not have dropped all the silver when I was struck!” Shocked, he stood with staring eyes and mouth stupidly dropped open. The man who had seemed to be in such a hurry was actually a daylight robber. Earlier, he had seen Gao Guoqin change the notes. With a thief’s true cunning, he had intentionally run into Gao Guoqin, taking the silver and making off with it.
The more Gao Guoqin thought about this matter, the worse it seemed. “What can I say when I see Wang Chengbi? It is worse than if I had died. Yesterday I was about to die and did not—and in these two days my troubles have grown worse. Now it is as if the King of Hell has condemned me to the third hell. What horrors may await one who dares to go down to the fifth hell?”
Thinking thus to himself, he again came to the river that flowed past the town. And again he intended to drown himself. Then he called out to himself: “Gao Guoqin! Gao Guoqin! There is no way by which you can ever arrive at a decent life. I did not think that I had come here to die!”
Just as he was speaking aloud to himself in his sorrow, he heard someone ask, “Is that my dear brother, Gao Guoqin, who is speaking? I have looked everywhere for you but did not find you. I did not expect to meet you here today.” As he spoke, the man approached and craned his neck to get a better view. Looking at the man, Gao Guoqin did not recognize him. He seemed a little familiar, but Gao Guoqin could not remember him, and therefore asked, “Are you not mistaken, sir?”
The man replied, “Elder Brother, do you not even remember the one who was the same as your little brother? I am Li Seming.”
When Gao Guoqin heard this, he said, “Ai yah! So it is you!” When younger, Li Seming was part of a poor family. He and his widowed mother had lived in a house near the Gao household. Gao Guoqin’s family had all been generous and had often helped the Lis when they were in need. Later, Li Seming had studied in the Gao home. When his mother died, the Gao family paid for her burial.
Gao Guoqin had then asked Li Seming whether he wanted to study for a government post or whether he wanted to become a merchant. Li Seming said, “If I had personal resources, I might like to study for a government career. Since I have no money, how can I hope to pursue such studies? Therefore, I would like to work in a shop.”
Gao Guoqin said, “That also may be good.” He then arranged with a grain shop in town to take Li Seming as an apprentice to learn the grain trade. Guoqin also provided him with a set of clothing, since it was the custom for an apprentice to bring with him a working wardrobe of his own.
Li Seming was diligent in his work, did not make any really careless mistakes, and took to the trade. After the three full years of his apprenticeship were completed, the proprietor evaluated Seming’s work. The proprietor, having grown very fond of the young man and realizing that he was an excellent worker, made him a member of his family and opened a separate branch shop for him in Chengjiang. This venture became very profitable. The proprietor had no son and only one daughter, whom he gave to Li Seming in marriage. The proprietor then retired, giving the young people the entire property. Afterward, the old man and his wife died, and Li Seming managed the whole business.
He had often thought to himself, “If it had not been for the kindness shown to me that year by Gao Guoqin, where would I be today?” And so he took his family and some of their personal belongings and returned to the home of his late father-in-law. He intended to find Gao Guoqin and express his gratitude. However, when he reached Yuhang prefecture, there was no one who could tell him where the Gao family had gone. All said simply that the Gaos had become impoverished and gone away. Li Seming felt very bad. He bought a house outside the West Gate and opened still another grain shop outside the South Gate. On this day he was returning home when he happened to meet Gao Guoqin.
Both men were overjoyed at their meeting and sad to think of their long separation. Each explained what had happened to him since they had last seen each other. Gao Guoqin said, “Dear brother, if I had not lost that money, we two would not have met.”
Li Seming said, “First of all, come home with me. We still have much to tell each other.” The two started off together, but before they had gone very far Gao Guoqin struck something with his foot. Bending down, he picked up the object.
CHAPTER 20
When sympathetic friends meet, kindness is repaid with kindness; resentment cherished in the heart of an inferior man brings grievous injury
AS Gao Guoqin examined the object he had picked up, he saw that it was a bundle containing two rolls of fabric. When he opened the bundle, he and Li Seming could see by the bright moonlight that the edges of the cloth were marked with a name, the Ever-Flourishing Silk Shop. Li Seming said, “The name on those two rolls is not that of one of our Yuhang prefecture firms. We have two silk shops in Yuhang, both called Ever Following Heaven’s Guidance. I do not know where the Ever-Flourishing Silk Shop can be.”
Gao Guoqin said, “We will stand here and wait. If someone comes who says that he has lost his silk, we will give it to him. If this were lost by someone who had been sent on an errand by his master, the matter could be most serious for him.”
The two men stood there for quite a long time, but did not see anyone come looking for the silk. Li Seming then said, “It is now quite late. Let us go back to my house and wait until tomorrow. If we find anyone who is looking for the silk and describes it, we will consider the matter ended. If no one comes, we will put up notices about the two rolls. This action will show that we did not want to hide them.”
Gao Guoqin said, “First, I must go to inform Wang Chengbi about my situation. He gave me some notes that I was to change into silver, a small part of which I was to use to buy some things. He wanted me to come back and drink some wine with him. It was because I lost the silver that I was thinking of committing suicide. If I do not go back now, I fear that he will suspect me of stealing.”
Li Seming countered, “First come home with me, brother, and then I will send one of my household servants to him with a message. Then tomorrow you may take me to meet him.”
As they talked, they continued on their way until they reached the home of Li Seming at the West Gate. The front gate was not completely closed. They pushed it open and entered.
Before they reached the second gate, which closed off the inner courtyard, Gao Guoqin could see a light shining through the window lattice of a house with three sections on the west side of the outer courtyard. Gao Guoqin said, “It is very late now. Tomorrow I will go within, but tonight let us just sit in that room and talk.”
Li Seming said, “Those three sections are rented out. I really do not bother about rent money, because I am often away from home and I need to have someone live there to keep an eye on the outer gate.” Gao Guoqin nodded. They went on to the second gate and knocked.
A serving woman opened the gate from inside, saying, “Ah, the master has returned.”
Li Seming said, “Go in and tell your mistress that my kind friend Gao Guoqin has come.”
The old woman went in. Before long they heard a voice say, “Please enter.” The two men then walked through the inner courtyard and into the principal house.
After Li’s wife, Ho Shi, had politely come to greet their guest, Li Se ming told the old serving woman, “Have several kinds of dishes prepared. We two brotherly friends will go to eat in the east building.”
The two then went there to sit and under the lamplight opened the rolled up fabric to look at it. Li Seming said, “These two rolls are a real treasure. I simply do not know where the Ever-Flourishing Silk Shop is located. Tomorrow we will post notices, and if anyone answers and tells a satisfactory story, we will give him the silk. If no one c
laims it, why not use it to make two long gowns—one for you and one for me?”
Gao Guoqin answered, “Yes, but tomorrow, dear friend, you will go with me to see Wang Chengbi. If he had not saved me, I would already have been beneath the Nine Yellow Springs. He is a friend who truly seems to be sincere and straightforward, a prince of a man who treated me from the first as if he had always known me. I feel very grateful to him. Good friends are not easy to find.”
Li Seming said, “Good. Tomorrow I will go with you to meet that friend of yours.” After the two had finished drinking and talking together, they slept peacefully in the east room.
The next morning the two men awoke and were drinking tea together when they heard someone shout: “Li Seming! Do you have a man named Gao Guoqin staying with you?” The shouts from the outer courtyard continued. The two men stood up, went outside, and opened the gate to see who was calling. There stood two headmen with four underlings, all wearing dark kerchiefs and dark clothing, with uniform jackets. Each wore a leather belt and boots and carried a wooden staff with an iron tip. One of the heads was named Qin Lushou. The other, Dong Shichang, asked, “Friend, you are named Gao, are you not, and is your personal name not Guoqin?”
Gao Guoqin replied, “That is not wrong. Why do you two ask?”
Dong Shichang immediately took iron fetters and locked them upon the wrists of Gao Guoqin. Li Seming started to protest, and he was locked in irons as well.
One of the heads said, “We will now enter the inner courtyard and search for stolen property.” Searching everywhere, they soon brought out the two rolls of silk.
Li Seming asked the two men, “Headmen, why have you manacled us?”
Headman Qin answered, “We have here a warrant by which the highest official of the prefecture urgently dispatched us to arrest you, but we two have no reason to mistreat you, nor would we dare to mistreat anyone who is arrested. We take no pleasure in mistreating people. Whatever you may have done, you yourselves know. Therefore, why should you ask us?”
The headmen said to the underlings, “Take them away with as little talk as possible. When you get to the yamen, you will all understand.” The men were taken away quickly, along with the two bolts of silk. When the party reached the prefecture yamen, Gao Guoqin and Li Seming were taken inside.
At this time everyone was waiting for the magistrate, who was away on official business and had not yet returned. After they all had waited until the sun was approaching the horizon in the west, the magistrate came into the yamen and took his seat upon the bench.
There were three classes of underlings who stood during court and served by assisting in carrying out the magistrate’s court functions and by maintaining a sense of orderliness. First were the robust and vigorous fellows who acted as bailiffs, either serving summonses or as guards, or performed other similar tasks in which they might have to overawe the accused. Second were the ugly fellows who acted as jailers or executioners, beating the prisoners with bamboo and applying other tortures. Third were the quick fellows who acted as constables and detectives, serving warrants and uncovering hidden criminal activities.
The magistrate’s surname was Wu and his personal name was Daoguei. He had entered into government life through the competitive public examinations. As soon as he had begun his duties, he had kept away from anything questionable, as if he were a saintly immortal. No taint of improper influence had ever touched his sleeves. He loved the common people as if they were his children. He truly went through his life neglecting nothing, and his gate was never closed at night to anyone who had a complaint.
This evening he took his seat in the court and prepared to take up the business at hand. He began at once with the case of the armed attack upon the Ever-Following Heaven’s Guidance Silk Shop, during which the owner had been wounded with a knife and fifty bolts of silk had been stolen, together with a thousand ounces of silver. Now the alleged head of the robbers, Gao Guoqin, with his accomplice, Li Seming, had been captured.
The bailiffs immediately brought the two men before the bench. They knelt and identified themselves.
“Gao Guoqin, bachelor degree graduate, kowtows to his lordship above!”
“Li Seming, an insignificant person, kowtows to his lordship above.”
The magistrate looked down and saw Gao Guoqin, polished and gentlemanly with upright deportment and extreme politeness, whose clear and regular features and facial aspect had no suggestion of baleful criminality. Then the magistrate shot a question at him. “You slave, Gao Guoqin, when you and the rest committed the armed robbery at the Ever-flourishing Silk Shop, how many men did you have with you and where did you take your loot? Explain in detail!”
Upon hearing this, Gao Guoqin replied, “Revered as my father above, this student is a man of books and knows nothing about the Ever-Flourishing Silk Shop, nor any armed robbery.”
The magistrate struck the desk and gave a look that frightened the entire yamen, saying, “Ha! Seize him for interrogation! Though not one in ten thousand wishes to confess at first, after interrogation they all do! Drag him here and beat him for me.”
Gao Guoqin said, “Do not be angry, good father. This graduate speaks sincerely. About the robbery of the silk shop and the wounding of the proprietor, I truly know nothing. If you beat me during the examination, it will only be to make me say something that is not true and about which I know nothing.”
The magistrate said, “As I see it, you are a base-hearted person with a long experience in crime, and you certainly stole from the silk shop. If you do not understand why I believe so, then why were these two bolts of silk in your possession?”
Gao Guoqin answered, “Yesterday evening this graduate was outside the southwest corner of the wall and I found the silk. I had intended to put up notices about it today in order to find the owner and return it to them. It had never occurred to me that we would be brought here. This is a true account of what happened.”
When the magistrate heard this, he took the two bolts of silk into his hands to examine them. At the same time he ordered that Wang Hai, the proprietor of the Ever-Following Heaven’s Guidance Silk Shop, be brought into court. Before long a man was seen coming in from the outside. He was about fifty years of age with a broad round face. He seemed to be a worthy, simple, and straightforward person. He knelt and kowtowed. The magistrate had one of the court underlings take the two bolts of silk down to Wang Hai, saying, “Look and see if these were something usually sold by your shop. If so, were they taken from your shop by the robbers? In a matter of such importance we cannot be careless.”
Wang Hai took the rolls, and after looking at them said, “Your worship, these two bolts of silk are very clearly among those taken by the robbers.”
When the magistrate heard this, he asked, “How do you know that they were stolen by the robbers? What evidence is there of the fact? Explain.”
Wang Hai said, “To reply to your worship about the proof, in my store the goods on the shelves are only marked with the words Ever-flourishing Silk Shop. They do not have the imprint of our own shop seal. If someone comes to us to buy silk, at the time of the purchase we stamp the goods with our seal. The words on this seal are a reasonable profit, with characters formed in the ornamental style. This silk is not stamped with our seal. Because of this fact, I know that the bolts were taken, and not purchased, by the robbers.”
The magistrate prepared to come down from the bench. Gao Guoqin knelt again as he realized the meaning of what had been said. The magistrate asked, “Gao Guoqin, did you hear that?” Then the magistrate commanded, “Have the instruments of torture affixed to Gao Guoqin, and afterward we will question him again.”
Gao Guoqin said, “Truly, your worship, this graduate found the silk. The robbers took it, and perhaps they lost it and I found it. What proof does the magistrate have that I am the robber? Can’t this be investigated?”
When the magistrate heard this, he suddenly became very angry. Frightening everyone in the yamen, he s
houted, “You low creature! It is clear that you are a habitual criminal. How do you dare to attempt such deception in this district? You still say that the prefecture is treating you wrongfully. Attendants, left and right! Have the eyewitness brought forward.”
When Gao Guoqin heard that there was an eyewitness, he was so frightened that his face changed color. Then he saw the attendants leading a man forward from one side of the courtroom. When Gao Guoqin looked at him, however, he did not recognize him, but saw only a man somewhat over twenty years old with a dark blue kerchief on his head. The man was wearing a short, dark cloth jacket over a dark-blue shirt and pants, a white sash and dark shoes. He had a grayish face with darker touches, eyebrows like the spurs of a fighting cock, and a pair of eyes like the bottoms of teacups. His nose and lips were thin, his forehead and face were narrow, and his rather large chin slanted back into emptiness.
Li Seming recognized him as soon as he saw him. He was the man who lived in the three-sectioned building in the outer courtyard of Li’s home. He was supposed to watch the outer gate. His name was Leng Er. The neighbors called him Leng, and nicknamed him “the Unwatchful.” He usually attempted to borrow money without returning it. His heart was filled with vengeful thoughts. Leng was a person who lived from day to day. He could not take care of his wife, who went out to work for other people. He spent his days at home spinning schemes and plans and nursing his hatred for Li Seming, who would no longer lend him money.
