Chapter 23: Gao Qing's Troubles

Spring was ending in the City of Five Rams, but the weather remained stubbornly cool. Gao Qing sat in the courtyard, staring blankly at the sky. It had been nearly two months since he had become a servant to the Australian masters.

Master Gao had instructed him to report on their every move, and had promised to take his family back if the Australians ever left, or if something went wrong. He and his wife had discussed it several times. What if the Australians wanted to take them back to Australia?

The Australian masters were kind. They had given him extra rice and a monthly allowance for his son. But they were foreign sea merchants. They would leave one day. And if they wanted to take his family with them… what then? A servant must follow his master, but he did not want to be uprooted again. He had already fled his homeland, sold himself into servitude. To go to that Australia, tens of thousands of li away… it was a barbaric land, surely. How could it compare to China?

He sighed, his eyes fixed on the gate. Manager Yan would be coming soon. The Australian masters were due to arrive any day now.

They came once every half a month or so, staying for several days. He never knew when they arrived, or how. He would simply wake to find the gate to their courtyard open, and piles of goods stacked in the hall.

It was mysterious, and a little frightening. Master Gao had pressed him for information, had promised him rewards, but he had never dared to investigate. A servant’s most important duty was to not know what he was not supposed to know. It didn’t matter if the master was from the Great Ming or from Australia.

His son, Gao Di, came running over. “Dad, Mom wants to know when the masters are coming, so she can prepare their meals. Master Wang said he wanted to have a good meal, to taste the dishes of the Great Ming.”

“It should be in these few days,” Gao Qing said. “Are your account books ready?”

“Yes. The masters even praised me for my meticulous work. Master Wang corrected my wrong characters, and Master Xiao said he would teach me something called Arabic numerals, which are even faster for calculation.”

“Good, good,” Gao Qing said vaguely. It was good that his son was favored by the masters. But they were foreigners. He was reluctant to part with his children.

“I think that Master Wen likes sister very much. He always talks to her and gives her things. Will he take sister as a concubine?”

The words hit Gao Qing like a physical blow. “It depends on her fate,” he said, his face sullen. But in his heart, he was not willing.

He heard the gate creak. It was Manager Yan. Gao Qing greeted him and offered him tea and dried fruit.

“Old Gao, the Australian sea merchants are coming again. What about the matter the master instructed you to do?”

“I really can’t find out anything,” Gao Qing said. “The masters are very vigilant. They come and go without a trace.”

“It’s been two months, and you’re still saying the same thing. You really are a piece of trash,” Manager Yan said, his voice dripping with contempt.

“Yes, yes, I am stupid.”

“How do you expect me to report back to the master?”

“I must ask Manager Yan to bear with me, to put in a good word…” Gao Qing fumbled at his waist and produced two qian of silver, his savings from the past two months.

Manager Yan pocketed the silver. “I will help you for now. But you can’t hide from this forever. You have to find out the details of these people!”

“Yes, yes, I understand.”

“As soon as they arrive, invite them over. At any time.”

“Yes, I know.”

After the manager left, Gao Qing wiped the sweat from his forehead, his brows furrowed. To spy for Master Gao would be to betray his current masters. And the Australian masters were benevolent. It would be an act of ingratitude. But to ignore Master Gao’s instructions… it would be effortless for him to deal with a slave like him.

His sworn brother, Gao Chang, arrived, carrying a food box filled with snacks from Master Gao for the Australians.

“Did that scoundrel Manager Yan come to extort you again?” Gao Chang asked. He was a strong young man, from the same hometown as Gao Qing. They had sold themselves to the Gao family together and had become sworn brothers.

Gao Qing poured out his troubles.

“Brother, you are too cowardly,” Gao Chang said. “You are the Australian masters’ man now. Why do you bother with him?”

“It’s a long story,” Gao Qing said, looking at the sky. “This family… I’m afraid we will still have to rely on Master Gao in the future.”

“That’s strange. The deeds of sale for your whole family have been given to the Australian masters. Why do you want to rely on Master Gao again?”

“But they are foreign sea merchants!”

“So what? They are not red-haired, green-eyed Franks. They are Chinese people.”

“They will have to leave one day. What if they want to take the whole family with them?”

Gao Chang understood. His sworn brother was worried about his family. He, an orphan with no ties, did not care where he went. But for a family man, it was a different matter.

“Brother’s concerns are valid. But in my humble opinion, if they go, then just go. This Great Ming is good, but it is not our Great Ming. Here we are slaves, and in Australia we will also be slaves. How much worse can it get? These masters are kind-hearted. If your whole family follows them, you will certainly not suffer a loss.” He smiled. “If I were you, brother, if they go, I would follow. It would be good to see the customs of this Little China overseas.”

“What you say is true, brother, but I don’t want to die in a foreign land,” Gao Qing said, tears streaming down his face. “I am already over forty. If I have to be buried overseas in my old age, I will not be able to die in peace.”

Gao Chang comforted his sworn brother, but in his heart, he did not agree. When a slave of the Gao family died, he was given a thin coffin and buried in the public cemetery outside the city. His sworn brother wanted to stay here for that? A feeling of desolation washed over him.

This muddle-headed young man, who had been a slave his whole life, for the first time in more than twenty years, a glimmer of light flashed in his heart: This world, perhaps it shouldn’t be like this…