China Edward Rutherfurd (essential reading .txt) 📖

set out after Nio at once? He calculated. His riders were probably asleep already. He’d have to rouse them. They wouldn’t like that. And their horses needed rest in any case. It would probably be better to wake the men at dawn, tell them a Taiping warrior had been seen during the night, and set off then, with men and horses that were fresh.

No doubt Nio would make detours to give them the slip, but there were only certain roads he could take to get him back to Nanjing.

Truth to tell, if the task of capturing Nio fell to someone else, he wouldn’t be sorry.

But the woman standing before him did not know that. “He did not want to kill you, Lord,” she said in a low voice. “Were you friends?”

“We knew each other.”

“Do you want to kill him?”

“He’s a traitor. I serve the emperor.”

“Do you want money, Lord?”

She was trying to bribe him. What else could she do? Many officials, no doubt, would have taken the money.

“I thought you had no money.”

“He gave me money,” she said dully.

He nodded slowly. Of course. Nio had given her money. Money she needed for her family. And she was going to give it up to save his life. “I have no need of money,” he said.

She made a little gesture of despair. “What will they do to him?” she asked in a whisper.

He didn’t answer. Put him in chains, for a start. Then they’d ask him questions. They’d want to know everything about the Taiping, the state of affairs in Nanjing, the future plans of the Heavenly King.

If they were intelligent, they might even try to persuade Nio to turn informant, return to Nanjing and act as a government agent. After all, that was usually the way with these pirates and smugglers. They’d work for any side so long as you paid them.

The question was, would Nio cooperate? Would he talk at all?

Shi-Rong had a feeling he would not. In the years gone by, he would have. But there was something about the fellow now, a maturity, a firmness. As if he’d found a purpose in life. If he did break, he probably wouldn’t tell them anything of much use.

For they were sure to torture him. They’d do to Nio just what he himself had done to that pirate who’d tried to kill Commissioner Lin, all those years ago in Guangzhou.

The woman might have some idea about torture, but he wasn’t going to tell her.

And as the horror of that torture and death suddenly came back to him with an appalling vividness, he knew he did not want that for Nio. I’m not sending him to that, he thought, not even for the emperor.

His father would surely have told him that he must. But he wasn’t going to.

How beautiful the woman was. Perfect. Spotless. How extraordinary to find such a beauty in a humble village. A precious pearl in the wilderness.

“Have you wine?” he asked. She nodded. “Bring me wine and I shall look at the moon,” he said.

While she went to get the wine, he remained on the little bridge over the pond and gazed at the moon’s reflection in the water. When she came back again, he told her, “I am not going after Nio, on one condition. You must never tell anyone that I met him and let him go. Otherwise, it is I who will be arrested. Do you understand?”

She bowed. “I swear, Lord,” she said. And she was about to retire to the house when he motioned to her to sit down on the bank, a few feet away from him. He saw her look alarmed.

It was hardly proper for a married woman to remain out there with him. But who was going to see? She was certainly in his power. Some men, military commanders on campaign, he supposed, might have tried to take advantage of her.

He gazed at her. I would not touch her, he thought. But I can enjoy her beauty in the moonlight. “I shall remain here until dawn,” he remarked. “You are going to entertain me.” He smiled. “You will have to tell me a long story.”

“A story, Lord? There are many famous tales.”

“No. I want something different. Tell me the story of your life. It must be truthful. You must leave nothing out.”

“It’s not very interesting,” she said.

He smiled. “Then I shall fall asleep.”

But he did not fall asleep, and the peasant woman told him her story until dawn.

—

The morning passed quietly. She helped Mother as if everything were normal. In the afternoon, they both rested a little.

That evening the sky was clear as darkness fell. Nobody stayed up late. Mother was ready to turn in. Her elder boy, Ka-Fai, was tired from his work. Even her brother-in-law had been out in the fields that day and had already gone to lie down.

Only Mei-Ling was still awake. From the courtyard she could see the moon, almost full, rising over the wall, but she had no desire to go outside and look at the glimmering pond. She stayed sitting by the tree, with the gate shut. She could feel her eyes drooping, and she was about to go to her bed when a sound at the gate caused her to start, then frown.

Someone was trying to get in. Who could it possibly be at this hour? Surely Nio was far away by now. Then with a sinking feeling, she thought of the magistrate. Had he changed his mind? Had he caught Nio and returned to arrest the family for harboring him? Was it an intruder? The gate was closed fast by a stout wooden crossbar. It would take more than a single man to break it down. Just wait, she told herself, and the intruder would go away. But he didn’t. Now Mother appeared, woken by the noise. They looked at each other uncertainly.

And then came a voice calling for someone to let him in. A voice she could not mistake.

—

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