Chapter 119: The Capture of Lai Da

The raid on the construction site was a joint operation between a platoon from Li Yayang’s garrison company and the Dongmen City police force. Under Li Yayang’s command, soldiers silently established a perimeter at both ends of the site, cutting off traffic and sealing the entire area.

As the laborers worked, sharp whistles suddenly pierced the air from both ends of the road, followed by the glint of bayonets. Infantry in grey uniforms and police in black began to press inwards from both sides.

“Get down! Get down!” “You! Put that shovel on the ground!” “Move aside! Move aside!”

A few police officers barked orders through megaphones. The gleaming bayonets of the soldiers lent their words a convincing authority. The bewildered laborers, caught off guard, quickly squatted on the ground. A sudden silence fell over the once-bustling construction site.

Led by a political security instructor, a team of political security officers, identifiable by their police uniforms and blue “Political Security” armbands, began to check the identification of every person on the site.

The supervisor for this section of the project was a Transmigrator named Zhang Liping. He had been operating a self-produced steam crane. The machine was massive and difficult to move, and without electromechanical controls, it was a deathtrap in the wrong hands. The hastily trained local operators had already caused a string of accidents, destroying materials and killing people, so Zhang Liping had taken over, operating the machine himself while training the crew.

The whistle blast startled him. A few moments later, he found himself surrounded by a flock of “black crows.”

“What’s going on?!”

“Surprise inspection, Chief!” the lead instructor said with a salute. “Your papers, please!”

“Alright.” Zhang Liping pulled his ID from his pocket. The instructor examined it meticulously before handing it back. “Thank you. We need to inspect all personnel on the site. We’ll need your cooperation.”

Zhang Liping produced the section’s roster, and the political security officers began their checks.

Laborers and staff assigned to the section were cleared quickly once their identities were confirmed. Other authorized personnel on-site for business were also let go after a brief registration.

However, anyone else was treated less cordially. They were interrogated one by one. Those with identification fared better, but those without were questioned harshly, frightening some of the more timid ones to the point of nearly wetting their pants.

Anyone without identification was detained pending further verification.

Amidst the busy inspection, a political security officer noticed a man using the cover of an earth mound to slip down into the dry riverbed. He was using the dense reeds for concealment and had already made it a considerable distance. If not for a small clearing that exposed him, he might have escaped unnoticed.

“Someone in the riverbed!” he yelled.

Before the police could even blow their whistles, the sharp crack of a rifle shot echoed from the bank—a garrison soldier had opened fire.

“Hold your fire!” the instructor in charge shouted immediately. Waving his hand, he commanded, “Quick, take him alive!”

A dozen soldiers, police, and security officers let out a cry and swarmed toward the spot.

A few minutes later, the would-be escapee was brought before them. Zhang Liping was secretly astonished—could there really be a spy working on his section?

The man wore a set of indigo-dyed cotton work clothes, common locally. His trouser legs were rolled up, his calves and forearms were caked with mud, and he wore a worn-out straw hat. He looked no different from any other laborer on the site.

A search of his person revealed only some small-denomination scrip and a few copper coins. Nothing else, and certainly no identification. No one on the site recognized him.

“What’s your name?” the instructor asked.

“My name is Chen Da,” the captured man said nervously, constantly licking his lips.

“Why did you run?”

“…”

“Which work team are you with? Why don’t you have an ID?”

“I’m a casual laborer, hauling earth… My ID, I lost it…”

His speech was hesitant, his behavior highly suspicious. The instructor ordered him to be taken back for interrogation.

The man they had captured was Lai Da.

Lai Da had returned to Lingao under orders to contact the Huang family. He knew that security in Lingao was extremely tight, so he dared not take the main roads, sticking to smaller paths instead.

After much consideration, Lai Da figured that since his main contacts were among the gentry, who generally lived in the countryside, he would be safe as long as he avoided bustling centers like Dongmen Market, the county seat, and Bopu.

Before he and Gou Chengyun had fled, he had made an arrangement with his younger brother, Lai Xiao. On the first and fifteenth of every month, Lai Xiao was to wait for him for an hour at a ruined temple outside the city.

Lai Xiao, who had been waiting with bated breath, was overjoyed to finally see his brother and to hear the news that government troops were on their way to attack. However, he strongly advised against the plan to rally the local gentry.

“You can promise them you’ll do it, but you absolutely can’t actually go through with it!” Lai Xiao whispered urgently to his brother.

Lai Xiao’s caution was well-founded. As a handyman at the county school, he had the freedom to move around Lingao and was well-informed. He told Lai Da that the “kūnzéi bandits” were already mobilizing for war and had brought in many reinforcements.

“The bandits are watching the gentry like hawks! There are spies everywhere, and they’ve added more patrols on the roads,” Lai Xiao said. “There have been a lot of strange people hanging around the county school lately. I’m afraid it’s impossible for you to meet Huang Bingkun.”

“What about the Huang family estate?”

“It’s probably being watched too.” Lai Xiao hadn’t been there recently, but he had run errands for other prominent families and noticed unfamiliar people loitering near their gates.

“The bandits are keeping the big families on a tight leash, using both threats and favors. The most those families would dare to do right now is to play both sides. They absolutely will not dare to rise up in support of the army. Brother, if you try to contact them, even if they don’t turn you in on the spot, you’ll be snatched up by the bandits’ spies the moment you leave.”

Lai Da pondered for a moment. “Can you arrange for me to meet someone from the Huang family in secret? Can the Huangs really be so submissive? After the bandits killed their son and brother…”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Lai Xiao said, feeling that he couldn’t just do nothing for his young master. The restoration of the Gou family, and their own chance to return to their former comfortable, powerful lives, depended on their success in this mission.

“We must rally the gentry!” Lai Da said fiercely. “This time, we have to show those bandits a thing or two!”

Of course, Lai Da’s hatred for the Australians had a deeper, more personal root: a girl named Chu Qing.

Chu Qing was a maid whom Master Gou Er had promised to him.

In the Ming-dynasty society of Lingao, where the ratio of men to women was severely imbalanced, it was very difficult for a young man to find a wife, let alone a pretty young maid like Chu Qing. Typically, such a maid would be given to a servant only after the master had played with her and grown tired of her—and even that was considered a great act of benevolence, as many commoners simply couldn’t afford a wife at all.

But Chu Qing was a virgin, untouched by her master. This fact alone was enough to make Lai Da weep with gratitude and swear eternal loyalty. However, before he could enjoy the bliss of his wedding night, the Gou family fell.

What followed was a life of fleeing, hiding, and wandering. The two brothers fell from being feared and powerful servants of a wealthy family to surviving by doing odd jobs and begging. They were often beaten and humiliated by townspeople who had suffered under the Gou family’s past abuses. Their transformation from arrogant bullies to hunted outcasts was made even more bitter when they heard that Chu Qing had been taken by an Australian to be his concubine.

It was this potent personal vendetta that fueled the Lai brothers’ unwavering loyalty to Gou Chengyun during their most desperate and hopeless moments. It was this deep-seated hatred that allowed them to persevere through the greatest of adversities.

Lai Xiao managed to get his brother a set of old laborer’s clothes. Wearing such an outfit would make it easier to enter places like Bairen City and Bopu without being questioned.

“Brother, you don’t have an ID, so don’t go to those places unless you have to. The bandits have been checking papers very strictly lately.”

“I know,” Lai Da replied. “I’ll go work on the Wenlan River construction site for now.”

The Wenlan River project employed a huge number of workers, and among them were many casual earth-haulers who were paid daily with tokens. The workforce was highly transient, and according to modern terminology, the population flow was large. Generally, no one would check a laborer’s documents, making it an easy place to survive and hide.

As for lodging, Lai Da had brought silver with him, but he didn’t dare stay in any local inns or guesthouses. The Police Department had established a mandatory registration and reporting system for all commercial establishments that could house people, including inns, shops, hotels, and bathhouses. Every night after 8 p.m., the police would inspect the guest logs of each establishment, checking for suspicious individuals.

Not wanting to walk into a trap, Lai Da avoided such places. Instead, he set up a makeshift shelter in the woods far from the main road outside the county town. Fortunately, the weather was warm, so he wouldn’t freeze to death. He just needed to stay out of the rain.

Even so, the incessant downpours of the early summer made him suffer greatly.

Lai Xiao spent several days trying to contact a trusted servant of the Huang family, but the man was always evasive and refused to give a clear answer about arranging a meeting with the Huang family masters, even when offered money.

Lai Xiao grew anxious. He felt that the Huang family was likely unwilling to get involved and might even betray them. He urged Lai Da to go into hiding immediately, or for the two of them to flee to Qiongshan.

Lai Da reassured him, “The Huang family is just being cautious because the situation is unclear. Once the government troops arrive at Maniao, we won’t have to find them; they’ll come looking for us.”

“If we wait until then, we won’t be able to mobilize local forces to support the army,” Lai Xiao said anxiously.

“These bandits are formidable,” Lai Da said with confidence. “The gentry and the great families won’t dare make a move until the government army is right on their doorstep.”