Chapter 315: Brother and Sister

“I never thought it would be so difficult to reach Lingao. The farthest I had ever traveled was Jinan Prefecture and Tianjinwei. I knew only that Lingao was in Qiongzhou Prefecture, in the south, but I had no idea of the route.” This Wang Xinglong was a talkative fellow, and with Lin Ming’s deliberate prodding, he chattered on about his journey.

It turned out he had not walked all the way. He could not afford such a long journey, nor did he know the way. He knew only that the Australians had many business partners in Jiangnan, with ships coming and going. So he had joined a large number of refugees and taken an empty grain ship returning south along the canal, all the way to Jiangnan. In Shanghai, he had met the shopkeeper of the Haixing Firm, who had then arranged for his free passage to Lingao.

“If I had wanted to make a living, it would have been easy to stay in Jiangnan. But I had always heard that the Australians here possess strange skills, and that their miscellaneous studies flourish. My heart itched, so I came,” Wang Xinglong said with great enthusiasm. “Only after arriving did I realize what a fine place this is. It is a time of peace and prosperity!”

Another one who has drunk the Australian bandits’ intoxicating soup, Lin Ming cursed inwardly. Seeing that Wang Xinglong had not shaved his head or changed his clothes and was still in Ming attire, he asked, “You have not shaved your head?”

“My body, hair, and skin are a gift from my parents.” Wang Xinglong sighed. “Now that my family is broken and I am alone, I have only these memories left. I dare not change them casually.”

“Brother Wang is a filial son,” Lin Ming praised. Since he was unwilling to shave his head and change his clothes, it seemed he still held a sense of Chinese identity and could perhaps be won over. “This is the attire of our great China. How can it be changed so easily? Otherwise, we will not be able to face our ancestors after we die.”

How could Wang Xinglong know the twists and turns of Lin Ming’s mind? He was a scholar by birth, and though still young, this concept had been ingrained in him since childhood. Lin Ming’s praise struck a chord, and he nodded in agreement.

“It is also thanks to Shopkeeper Qian’s kindness in taking me in and bringing me to Lingao. If I had taken the Australians’ refugee ship, I would have had to shave my head whether I wished to or not,” Wang Xinglong sighed.

“The rule of the Australians is indeed a time of peace and prosperity, but this insistence on shaving one’s head and changing one’s clothes always feels a bit… inappropriate. Alas, they are from overseas, after all…” Lin Ming said deliberately.

“The Australians do not say you must shave your head and change your clothes, but if you do not, you cannot enter their schools. Fortunately, there are many books and newspapers on the market, and there are libraries. It is just a pity that I cannot receive the teachings of the great Australian sages in person,” Wang Xinglong added with some regret.

The two talked as they walked, and soon they arrived at the East Gate Market police station. After completing the household registration, Wang Xinglong took him to a shop to buy bedding and toiletries.

“Consider these an advance. You can pay them back from your wages,” Wang Xinglong said.

Returning to the Haixing Firm, Wang Xinglong led him to the back: a small, brick-paved courtyard, surrounded on all four sides by two-story buildings. In the center stood a well, and beside it, a large green stone. A girl in a green dress, her hair in two buns, stood with her back to them, sleeves rolled high, vigorously washing clothes. The wooden basin on the ground was piled high.

“This is my younger sister,” Wang Xinglong introduced, then called out, “Jinchun!”

The young woman turned. Seeing her cousin with a strange man, she showed no surprise. She wiped her hands, red from the well water, on her apron and curtsied.

Lin Ming hurriedly returned the courtesy, cursing Wang Xinglong in his heart for his ignorance. They were not related; how could he let his sister greet a strange man so directly? Did he not know that men and women should not have physical contact? Could it be… that he had taken a liking to him and wished to marry his sister to him?

Looking closely at the sister, she was not unattractive. It was clear she came from a respectable family, but she was tired, and her figure had lost some of its delicacy. She was a bit stocky, her arms bare… a good girl, wasted…

While he was lost in thought, he heard Wang Xinglong say, “My sister also works at the Haixing Firm, in charge of general affairs. She is our colleague as well. If Brother Lin has any clothes to be washed, just give them to her.”

“How can I…”

“Brother Lin, do not be so polite,” Wang Jinchun said, not minding at all. “This is my job. The shopkeeper hired me to wash clothes and clean for everyone. If you do not let me wash for you, would I not be a redundant person in the shop?”

Wang Xinglong said, “Jinchun, Brother Lin has just come from the ship and does not know the rules here very well. He will get used to it in a few days.” He then led Lin Ming to a small room on the second floor.

“Brother Lin, you may stay here.” Wang Xinglong helped him put down his bedding. “The male clerks of the shop all live in this courtyard. The shower is downstairs in the south building, and the washroom and toilet are also there. It is very convenient.”

“There are female clerks here as well?” Lin Ming saw that the room was almost identical to the one in the For the People Inn, even the furniture was the same.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, large shops and firms never employed women. The clerks could not bring their families; even the shopkeeper had to go to his post alone. To hire female clerks was a shocking thing.

“That’s right. My sister is one of them. There are three or four others,” Wang Xinglong said with a smile. “Brother Lin, you have just arrived and do not know the Australian customs. Many women here have to work, and some even work in the Australian factories.”

“Not just work, some are even officials.” With a high-pitched female voice, Wang Jinchun pushed the door open and entered. In one hand, she held a tray with a teapot and teacups; in the other, she carried a large rattan-cased bottle. “If my brother hadn’t forbidden me from getting ‘purified,’ I would have become a cadre long ago…”

“Purification requires shaving one’s head. That is absolutely not allowed,” Wang Xinglong shook his head like a rattle. “What a disgrace, what a disgrace.”

The sister, however, didn’t mind at all. “It was you, brother, who said how wonderful the Australians were and insisted on coming to Lingao,” she complained. “After all the hardship to get here, you are unwilling to follow the local customs. Now I can only be a clerk. Look at Mr. Liu who came with us. He shaved his head at the first opportunity, and now he is already a section chief…”

Wang Xinglong smiled and did not refute her, only saying, “Are the clothes all washed? I will help you hang them up later.” He then took a towel from his pocket. “Look at you, you don’t even dry your arms after washing. When you get old, your arms will ache…” He pulled Jinchun’s arm and began to wipe it carefully.

Lin Ming cried out inwardly, “Indecent! Indecent!” But he saw that Wang Jinchun didn’t mind at all, letting him wipe her arms, her eyes smiling. Lin Ming felt their intimacy and cursed in his heart, “Truly worse than an animal! No wonder he would join the Australians!” He immediately felt a great contempt for the Wang siblings, but he dared not show it on his face and simply turned his head away.

While he was feeling awkward, he heard Wang Jinchun say, “Brother Lin, this is tea. You can keep the tea set in your room. Hot water can be fetched from the kitchen. This is a thermos. If you have any clothes to be mended, just give them to me. It is all part of my duties.”

Lin Ming said a few polite words and saw the two of them out. His luggage was still at the inn, so he was in no hurry to move it. He took a closer look at the room and the courtyard. Though small, it was very clean and tidy. He roughly counted more than ten rooms in the small courtyard. Excluding the facilities on the first floor, even with one person per room, there were at least seven or eight “respectable” clerks here. Wang Xinglong had said there were also “four or five female clerks,” plus there must be some apprentices and junior clerks who slept in a common room. That would be more than twenty people… This shop employed far too many people!

Full of doubts, Lin Ming first made his bed with the bedding he had bought. Then he poured a cup of tea and drank a few sips to calm himself. He was settled now, with a job and a place to live. He no longer had to fear being “arrested as a vagrant.” He could now sort out his thoughts.

From what he had seen and heard, the Australians attached great importance to “purification,” the core of which was “shaving one’s head and changing one’s clothes”—a prerequisite for eating directly from the Australians’ pot. All the people he had seen in their government offices, baojia system, shops, and workshops were like this. Right, Wang Xinglong had called them “naturalized citizens.” Hmph, “naturalized.” Are you barbarians worthy of the term? As for the common people, it seemed they could do as they pleased. There were many “naturalized citizens” on the streets, but also many common folk who kept the Ming dynasty attire.

The grace of the great Ming for three hundred years still remains, Lin Ming thought. It seems that even in Lingao, the Australian bandits’ lair, there are still many who are loyal to the great Ming. Even someone like Wang Xinglong, who actively joined them, is not in favor of shaving his head and changing his clothes. It seems there is still hope.

Lin Ming left the Haixing Firm, first went to the employment agency to complete the paperwork, and then went to the For the People Inn. It was already late, so he rested there for the night and had a comfortable sleep. The room and bedding were clean and tidy, and most importantly, free of fleas and bedbugs. This was one area where Centurion Lin had to admit the great Ming was far inferior to Lingao.

The next morning, Lin Ming checked out, moved his luggage to the Haixing Firm, and began his work as a “clerk.”

Contrary to his expectations, the work was quite busy. Every day, an errand boy would bring a large pile of notes from Shopkeeper Qian’s accounting room. Each note contained only a few sentences, but from these, Lin Ming had to compose letters. The content was varied, but it was all business correspondence: inquiries and quotations, instructions to buy or sell, personnel changes, financial transfers… It was complex and varied. Lin Ming was an old hand at official documents, but he had never seen anything like this. Fortunately, with Wang Xinglong’s guidance, he soon grasped the key points, and his writing speed increased.

After writing the letters, they were sealed in special envelopes, and the recipient’s name and address were written on them. In addition to places in Guangdong and Fujian, they were also sent to Nan-Zhili, Zhejiang, and even Tianjinwei and the capital. Some of the places he didn’t even recognize. After asking Wang Xinglong, he learned they were all counties under the jurisdiction of Qiongzhou Prefecture.