Chapter 1406 - The Belated Warning
"Little Ding Ma, why put yourself through this?" Zhuang Haoren looked with an expression of pity at the maidservant held between two burly men. Her hair was disheveled, her face swollen, and traces of blood remained at the corner of her mouth.
"You were once a 'young lady' yourself, dressed in silks and satins, eating and drinking the finest. Now you've fallen to being someone's scullery maid, scraping by on leftovers. Why be so loyal?" Zhuang Haoren lifted her chin. "Right now I'm still observing some code of the streets. Otherwise, I could have you stripped naked and strung up from the rafters—how would you like that? You probably think that since you were once a girl in the trade, salt-water whippings and kneeling on iron chains were routine, and you can take it—maybe not though. This Brother Chen of mine used to eat at the pleasure quarters; he specialized in disciplining disobedient girls. No matter how chaste or heroic, in his hands even they would be turned into wanton harlots!"
The maidservant clenched her teeth and refused to speak. Zhuang Haoren glanced sideways. A thin, weasel-faced man with a vulgar expression came over with a smile, holding a box. He set the box on the table in front of the maidservant and ceremoniously unlocked it, lifting the lid. Inside, all gleaming darkly, were various instruments of torture. Though small in size, each one was grotesque, glinting with a sinister black sheen.
"How about it, Little Ding Ma? Your body is still quite delicate—why suffer like this?" Zhuang Haoren said softly, one hand caressing the back of her neck, lightly brushing her earlobe, making her body shudder. "It's not too late to reconsider." At his signal, someone brought out a gleaming ingot of silver—a full fifty taels.
"How about it? No need to think too hard." Zhuang Haoren's lips had drawn close to the back of her neck.
"She identified him?" Qian Shuixie asked.
"Yes, it's confirmed—it's Hao Yuan!" Zhao Tong could barely contain his excitement. "The maidservant on the boat identified him from both the portrait sketch and the photograph!"
"Excellent! Move immediately!"
The moment Zhuang Haoren left, the Special Investigation Team and Office of Sticky Poles personnel went into combat readiness—kidnapping someone from the boat was time-sensitive. Once the maidservant failed to return to the boat on schedule, Hao Yuan would certainly flee immediately. So Qian Shuixie had already issued orders in advance: everyone armed and ready; as soon as definite word came, they would launch the assault.
"No one on the boat may escape." Qian Shuixie donned his full gear. "Anyone attempting to flee is to be shot without mercy! Take Hao Yuan alive if possible; if not, at least leave a corpse!"
The latest orders had come from Lingao via the Executive Committee: even if they could not capture Hao Yuan and had to kill him on the spot, they were to find a way to preserve the body and send it to Lingao for forensic examination.
Beneath a glass lamp shade embossed with the three characters "Zicheng Ji" in relief, the crimson candles burned high. The candles were also products of Guangzhou's Zicheng Ji; their price was three times that of the best candles on the market. But they burned brightly without odor, and had become a household item eagerly sought by officials and gentry. The "Fragrant Drizzle Vessel" catered to the wealthy, so such novel and useful items had naturally been procured at no small expense.
Beneath the candle stand, Hao Yuan was writing rapidly. Though daylight still lingered outside, the cabin was cramped. To shield himself from outside eyes, the windows of his cabin had been screened with bamboo blinds, making the interior quite dim. Even in broad daylight, reading and writing required candlelight.
He had been lying low on this boat for about ten days now. The boat had been rented at great expense by one of his subordinates, Dong San, who had instructed the boat's crew to simply serve him well and ask no questions.
These past ten-plus days, Hao Yuan's mood had been rather low. Xihua's betrayal and the failure of the operation had dealt him a heavy blow.
Since coming to Hangzhou, this was his first clear-cut failure. Xihua's betrayal in particular had caused the complete collapse of his carefully prepared plan to raid the Wanbi Bookshop, thereby trigger a great fire in Hangzhou, frame Zhao Yingong, and force the Shorn-Headed Bandits' influence out of Hangzhou.
And yet that was not what struck him hardest—although he had not participated in the attack on the manor, he soon learned of everything that had happened outside. Months of careful preparation had been easily thwarted by a few gunshots. These Shorn-Headed Bandits indeed possessed the most formidable power, just as his master had said.
Thus he had not dared to slacken since. Following the methods his master had once taught him, he immediately went into hiding in the city, maintaining contact with the others through couriers and dead drops.
Though not a single subordinate was by his side, he kept himself fully informed of every movement inside and outside Hangzhou city and of the state of his organization.
Hao Yuan dared not flee far. His organization had only been built up over two years or so. Though he now had a core of trusted lieutenants, the organization was not yet tightly knit. Once he left Hangzhou, he would be unable to keep firm control over it; given enough time, there was the risk of it dissolving or degenerating.
His choice to lie low on a pleasure boat on West Lake had been carefully considered. Pleasure boats had always been places the authorities ignored; as long as one paid enough, the pleasure-trade folk could keep their mouths shut. West Lake was outside Hangzhou city, making it convenient whether for contacting the organization, gathering intelligence, or escaping in an emergency.
But how long could he go on hiding like this? How was he to begin the next phase of operations?
His collaboration with Stone Elder had ended. Cao Guangjiu was dead; the three escorts from Beijing had also been silenced. The connection had been cleanly and decisively severed. But Zhao Yingong's counterattack was now extremely fierce, as though he would not rest until Hao Yuan was destroyed—had the enemy already sniffed something out?
And recently Jia Le had been arrested—somewhat unexpected yet somewhat expected. Lately quite a few people in the organization had been assassinated or kidnapped, but most were low-level personnel; it did not affect the overall situation. Jia Le was the first relatively important figure.
But Jia Le's arrest posed no threat to him or to the organization as a whole. She knew few of the organization's secrets and did not know the hiding places of Hao Yuan or the other leaders.
Even so, he felt deep regret for Jia Le—she was clever, and he had personally taught her. In his heart, he had already regarded her as his disciple.
When news of Jia Le's arrest arrived, he had briefly entertained the idea of trying to rescue her. But then he remembered what his master had once said: once these "Australians" learned of his existence, they would use every means at their disposal to destroy him without hesitation.
"At times like this, survival is what matters most. Only by staying alive will you have the chance to educate more people. You must endure."
Besides, he had no capability at present to rescue Jia Le. All he could do was wait quietly for an opportunity.
He finished writing his letters to Li Da, Li Er, and the others, sealed them, and set them aside to be sent out tomorrow when Little Ding Ma went ashore to shop. After writing for so long, he was somewhat tired. He stood and walked out to the outer cabin.
The outer cabin served as living quarters for honored guests. Though not large, it was elegantly appointed. In the center was a small square table, and Mei Yan'er was sitting at it, absorbed in shelling lotus seeds.
Since there was no banqueting on the boat, and the summer heat was truly oppressive, she was not wearing her usual elaborate attire. She had on only a lake-blue skirt with a ramie-gauze sleeveless jacket over it; her black hair was loosely knotted in a simple bun, secured with a pearl hairpin.
"Making iced bowls again?" Hao Yuan smiled and sat down on the couch by the window. "Isn't it a lot of trouble?"
Iced bowl: a small bowl with a few pieces of crushed cooked ice, topped with fresh lotus root slices, fresh lotus seeds, fresh walnuts... all drizzled with a light sugar syrup. Cool and refreshing to eat—a seasonal delicacy on the boat.
Though the iced bowl sounded simple, preparing the ingredients actually took a great deal of effort. It was a typical wealthy-household indulgence that required much labor for a small treat.
"It's hot, and you're cooped up on the boat all day. I was afraid you might have no appetite. This is both cooling and appetizing—eat it and the summer heat will vanish." Mei Yan'er smiled.
Hao Yuan laughed heartily, not taking it to heart—though he had not been in the Great Ming long, he was not naive. He knew all about the tender, attentive little gestures of pleasure-quarter women. Naturally he would not be beguiled by them.
"I'm fine, really—it's only been about ten days. You all are on the boat every day; don't you find it stifling?"
"We're people who live our lives on the water. We're used to it. In fact, we feel freer on the water." Mei Yan'er smiled. "Besides, it's convenient out here on West Lake."
"Hangzhou is truly the foremost prosperous land south of the Yangtze. And this boat of yours is a paradise within paradise," Hao Yuan said with a smile. "Even though the weather is so hot, in summer you still have ice."
Mei Yan'er lowered her head to shell lotus seeds as she spoke: "How would you gentlemen know the trouble behind it? The ice for iced bowls isn't river ice from the icehouse—eating that would give you a stomachache. In winter, you have to find a place with a big courtyard, fill special clean wooden boxes with boiled water, cover them, and leave them out in the yard overnight to freeze. The boxes can't be too big either, or the ice won't set. Once frozen, it's sent to the icehouse to be stored. Then when summer comes, it's taken out. This ice is small, so it has to be kept cold with big blocks of ice or it'll melt. A little bowl like that—so much fuss." She looked up and glanced outside. "Little Ding Ma still isn't back. Mother is waiting for her to buy a winter melon from the Wang family garden to make winter-melon bowls."
"Oh? You have to go to a specific place just to buy a winter melon for the bowls?"
"Of course. Winter-melon bowls take the most effort, and you need a good winter melon. Too old won't do; too young won't do either." Mei Yan'er waved her slightly aching hand. "If she doesn't come back soon, there won't be time to prepare it..."
Hao Yuan's heart gave a start. This was the second time Mei Yan'er had mentioned that Little Ding Ma "still isn't back." Little Ding Ma's trips ashore to shop and run errands had no fixed schedule, so ordinarily no one paid attention. But now that Mei Yan'er had said "still isn't back," it meant Little Ding Ma's errand today had already far exceeded the usual time...
Before his thought could fully form, there came a splash of water from the bow, and the boatman cried out in alarm: "Who are you—" His voice was abruptly cut off mid-sentence.
In an instant, Hao Yuan drew the dagger from his waist; with his other hand he pulled a double-barreled flintlock pistol from beneath the wooden couch. Without asking questions, he fired a shot at the cabin door leading to the bow.