Chapter 96: The Qingjie Courtyard

“Oh? It seems there’s a lot of profit to be made here,” Liu San said with a smile and a nod.

“Whether there’s profit or not, this humble one dare not say,” Mao Xiuyu said with a squint and a smile. “But take the most recent Master Dong, for example. When he first took office, he looked no different from the poor people living here. In less than two or three years, he built a new house and bought land back in his hometown. And he even bought a house here in Guangzhou to keep a mistress.”

Liu San mentally calculated: 2,165 people, each receiving three dou of rice and forty-five wen of cash per month. In one month, they could claim 6,495 dou of unpolished rice and 97,425 wen of cash from the government granary. Six hundred and fifty shi of unpolished rice, at the average market price in Guangzhou, was nearly seven hundred taels of silver. Adding the cash, the Puji Hall’s monthly expenses were nearly nine hundred taels of silver, which amounted to over ten thousand taels a year!

He suddenly realized that it was impossible for this amount to be fully disbursed; it was customary to take a cut. He immediately asked, “By custom, how much of it actually reaches the hall?”

“The Master is truly an understanding person!” Mao Xiuyu said with a smile. “By custom, it’s thirty percent.”

Liu San thought, this is truly corrupt. He then asked, “Tell me the truth, how much money and rice do the people in this hall actually receive each month?”

Although Mao Xiuyu was all smiles, he licked his lips before saying, “Everyone in the institution, as long as they are not too sick to move, has to go out and beg every day…”

“So, they actually get nothing?”

“It’s not that they get nothing. For the old, weak, sick, and disabled who can’t move, the hall provides them with a bowl of congee. When it’s rainy and they can’t go out, the hall also provides food. The women in the Qingjie Hall can’t show their faces in public, so they live by weaving and raising chickens, and the hall has to subsidize them a little,” Mao Xiuyu said in a low voice, no longer smiling.

“How much money and rice do you get a month?” Liu San asked.

“There’s a fixed amount for that,” Mao Xiuyu said. “The workers in the hall all get two dou of rice and three hundred wen of cash per month.”

“No extra income?” Liu San said with a smile.

Mao Xiuyu looked at him nervously, chuckled dryly, and said, “If I said there wasn’t any, the Master certainly wouldn’t believe me, but it’s very limited. Just a drop in the bucket.”

“How many workers are there here?”

“There are over a hundred in total. This humble one has never seen the roster, so I dare not say for sure…”

“Where are they?”

“The few that Master Dong brought with him all fled with him. I haven’t seen the others myself. There are seven or eight of them still around, looking after things in the hall.”

“Since you work here, how can you have never seen them?” Liu San was puzzled.

“May the Master understand,” Mao Xiuyu said. “They were all recommended by powerful people. The officials of the prefecture and county couldn’t refuse them, so they just put their names on the list to share in the profits.”

Only thirty percent of the funds arrived, and there were over a hundred redundant staff who took money but did no work, not to mention the corrupt manager who was “building houses, buying land, and keeping a mistress.” It was obvious how much actually reached the people under their care. No wonder the Puji Hall was so dilapidated, and the people inside looked like beggars—they basically were beggars.

Liu San had long traveled, collecting and buying herbs and practicing medicine, and he had deep contact with traditional society. He was no stranger to the extreme corruption and darkness of this time. He estimated that the 2,165 people under their care were not a real number; at least half of it was inflated. He asked:

“Are the rosters and account books of the hall still here?”

“That… they are all in the hands of Master Gao.”

Liu San thought, who is this Master Gao? “Who is Master Gao?”

“He is the accountant of this hall, his name is Gao Bohai. He doesn’t come to the hall often,” Mao Xiuyu said cautiously. “The account books and rosters are all in his hands.”

Liu San guessed that this Master Gao was also a powerful figure in the Puji Hall. He asked Mao Xiuyu a few more questions and learned that Master Gao was “recommended” by a local gentry member and had been the accountant at the Puji Hall for over ten years.

Liu San noticed that Mao Xiuyu’s eyes flickered and he hesitated when he mentioned Master Gao. He knew there must be a hidden story. He tried to coax it out of him, hinting that the position of manager could be given to him. Influenced by the atmosphere of “a new dynasty and a change of fortune,” Mao Xiuyu finally revealed some key information.

In fact, Master Gao was the one who truly controlled the Puji Hall. All the affairs of the hall were in his hands, much like the relationship between a county magistrate and the household department clerk. The manager of the Puji Hall came and went with the prefect, but Master Gao was as rooted as a tree. When a new manager took office, the first thing he had to do was to get on good terms with this Master Gao. Otherwise, within a few months, a huge deficit would appear, and the elderly and women in the hall would go out to the streets to protest to the provincial officials. Then, even if the manager were the prefect’s own son, he wouldn’t be able to keep his job.

“The managers all come with the masters to get rich and enjoy life. How many of them are willing to stay in this desolate mountain of graves and do real work? As long as they get their share of the money, that’s all that matters.”

However, Master Gao didn’t have any “ultimate weapon” like a “fish-scale register” to contend with the manager. The key was the gentry philanthropist who had recommended him for the position.

This philanthropist’s name was Zhen Gaizheng. He owned large tracts of land and forests north of Guangzhou. He was rich and powerful, and enthusiastic about charity: repairing bridges and roads, burying the dead found on the streets, setting up congee kitchens… He had also donated several pieces of land for public burial grounds. He had a great reputation both inside and outside the city and was known as Philanthropist Zhen, a model of a local worthy.

Liu San nodded and suddenly lowered his voice, “Tell me the truth, how many people are actually under the care of the Puji Hall?”

Mao Xiuyu stammered, “There are… there are… about four or five hundred people… I’m not sure of the exact number myself.” He said that the Qingjie Courtyard had over a hundred poor, chaste women and dozens of young children. Because they rarely went out, he knew the approximate number. As for the others, they came and went as they pleased. Anyone with a Puji Hall waist token was considered a person of the Puji Hall. Over the years, many of the tokens and the people they belonged to no longer matched.

“…Even with a roster, it’s probably impossible to know the real number. This roster hasn’t been updated for many years.”

Liu San thought to himself, this small Puji Hall is full of dark secrets. But these were matters for Lin Baiguang and his team. He was more concerned about the environmental sanitation here. He said, “Show me around the hall.”

“The hall hasn’t been cleaned for many years; it’s very filthy…”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, yes,” Mao Xiuyu thought, this Australian is really strange. What’s there to see in this ruined temple with piles of rubble and garbage everywhere? If it weren’t for the money, he wouldn’t be willing to stay here for a moment longer.

He led the way. A flat bluestone path led from behind the main hall straight to the pagoda in the back. Wild grass grew thick on both sides, and there were broken bricks and tiles everywhere. Weeds one or two feet high grew in the cracks of the stone slabs.

This Huanghua Temple was very large, with many halls. Although it had been abandoned for a long time and was in ruins, there were still many buildings inside. Most of the doors and windows were open, and the grass in the courtyards was taller than a person, with no signs of human activity. The altars in the halls were covered in dust, and the tracks of rats could be seen on the offering tables and the floor.

Some places showed signs of habitation, with tattered clothes, broken bowls, and chipped earthenware pots. The ground was covered with worn-out straw mats that were nothing but straw. But most of the people were not there. Only some who were sick or disabled remained. According to Mao Xiuyu, anyone who could walk had gone out to beg. It was uncertain whether they would return at night. Some would be gone for months at a time.

“When the ‘Huinan Tian’ comes and it rains a lot, more people who have been out will return. If it’s very cold in the winter, fewer people will go out.”

Mao Xiuyu led him to the entrance of a courtyard. Liu San saw that the gate of the courtyard was tightly shut and locked, which he found strange. Mao Xiuyu took a few steps forward and called out a few times, “Fifth Sister-in-law!”

A middle-aged woman in her thirties, who looked very capable, came out in response. Seeing Mao Xiuyu with a few “Kun people,” she was startled for a moment, but she quickly recovered and put on a cheerful expression. She hurried down the steps and knelt before Liu San to kowtow:

“This servant, Sun Wu’s wife, kowtows to the Master.”

“This is—”

“This servant is an official matchmaker, specifically here to look after the Qingjie Courtyard.”

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, local yamen had official matchmakers. Whenever official business involved women, they were responsible for looking after them, serving as female yamen runners.

Liu San saw that she was quick-witted and had sharp eyes. He knew she was a formidable and shrewd woman.

Hearing that Liu San was an Australian “Chief” on inspection, Fifth Sister-in-law Sun became even more attentive. She quickly took out a key and opened the courtyard gate.

Liu San was puzzled. “It’s broad daylight, why is the gate locked?”

“The people living here are all poor, chaste widows. Although this place is remote, there are still many men coming and going. By locking the gate, no outside words can get in, and no inside words can get out. It reduces a lot of gossip,” Fifth Sister-in-law Sun chattered on. “For a widow to remain chaste, the first thing is to avoid suspicion!”

She said that normally, men were not allowed to enter. Even if family members came to visit, they could only meet at the gate. Some of the widows had children, and if a boy grew to the age of seven, he had to move out.

“This place is the strictest. It’s been established for nearly a hundred years, and there has never been a single scandal, nor has anyone remarried,” Fifth Sister-in-law Sun said with great pride in her voice.

Liu San saw that this Qingjie Courtyard was converted from a monastery. The monks’ cells from the past were all around, and there was a kitchen in the corner. Now they were all dilapidated and barely patched up with broken bricks and tiles, but it was still much cleaner and tidier than outside. The bricks in the courtyard had been cleared away and replaced with various vegetables. A few chickens were strolling leisurely in the courtyard.

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun said that the chaste women mainly wove cloth and silk. There were more than thirty looms in the entire courtyard. Combined with growing their own vegetables and raising chickens, they could make a living.

“Don’t they get money and rice?”

“They do! They do!” Fifth Sister-in-law Sun said repeatedly, but her eyes kept darting towards Mao Xiuyu. Mao Xiuyu said impatiently, “Fifth Sister-in-law, just tell the truth. The dynasty has changed now; there are not so many taboos!”

Fifth Sister-in-law Sun quickly put on a fawning smile. “There is money and rice, but it’s only one dou a month. For those with children, they get an extra three sheng…”

“Only one dou?” Liu San frowned and asked.

“The Master is wise! Even this one dou is not necessarily given on time,” Fifth Sister-in-law Sun sighed. “We rely entirely on the charity of the ladies from the wealthy households in the city. They send people to the hall to give alms from time to time. Otherwise, it would be truly impossible to get by!”