CH 2

Chapter 2 – Beat him up

Mrs Zhou was almost done crying and having vented her frustrations, she opened a box which she took out from underneath (the bed?). She opened it and allowed her son and daughter to look at the money inside.

There were strings of money which were quite heavy. There were only two small pieces of silver. That was the remaining funds after building the house.

There were only copper coins, and Mrs Zhou couldn’t help wiping her tears when she set eyes on the money.

She counted the money again. She counted many times, but there were still only nine strings of money. The two pieces of silver only added up to one and a half taels.

She also took out the money box from the bedside table. This was money put aside for daily use. It was time for the autumn harvest, and her third and fourth son have handed in their wages from working with Master Bai, the landlord. She hasn’t counted the money which she saved in that box.

However, there wasn’t a lot of money. The money was counted and strung together. One hundred wen equalled one string, and 10 strings made one diao.

They were out of luck. There were only six strings of money inside, and 20 to 30 wen of small change at the bottom of the box.

Qian looked at her daughter, and then, her son. As the screams outside become louder and louder, she gave the money to her son to carry out. She walked out with the little girl.

When Si Lang saw his mother coming out with the money box, he sighed in relief and almost couldn’t help crying loudly.

Man Bao saw all this clearly and was very angry with her fourth brother.

There were also gamblers in the village. Their third uncle Zhou lived three doors away. Uncle’s son incurred gambling losses six months ago. He led the people from the casino home and sold his wife and children to pay off his debts.

The daughter who was sold, was only two years older than Man Bao, and they were good friends. So, Man Bao knew gambling was deadly. She didn’t know whether gambling would kill the gambler, but it would definitely kill the gambler’s loved ones.

At that time, Man Bao’s parents warned them against gamble. Unexpectedly, it was their turn now.

Man Bao was so enraged that she rushed forward and kicked Si Lang’s face.

Si Lang screamed, “Ouch!” and shouted, “Yao Mei (youngest sister), Yao Mei, don’t step on me, I, I know I am wrong!”

Mrs Zhou didn’t stop Man Bao. She turned to her husband and said, “We don’t have enough money. We are short of four and a half taels.”

Old man Zhou frowned sadly, while she looked at her three daughters-in-law, and said, “Take out all the money in each family. Take it as a loan to your fourth brother. In the future, he will repay you.”

Xiao Qian, Feng, and He (San Lang’s wife) looked at their husbands. The men had ugly expressions, but they nodded. The women pulled their children back into the house to retrieve the money.

The Zhou family lived together. All the money earned must be handed over to the public fund, managed by Mrs Zhou, who would disburse funds for food and drinks. In the past, Mr and Mrs Zhou said there were only two ways for the children to set up their independent households. One, wait for them to pass away or two, wait until all the siblings were married.

However, Mrs Zhou understood that a married son wasn’t not the same as one who was single. The former needed to have some money in hand.

So, she was flexible. She collected all the harvest in the field, but she only collected 60% of the money earned by her children through other means. The remaining 40% was kept by each family.

For example, the eldest son’s family. Xiao Qian was the school’s cook and she earned at least 100 wen a month. She handed in 60 wen and kept the balance.

Another example was Er Lang. In the past, he worked for Master Bai, the landlord and surreptitiously acquired the carpenter’s skills. He also knew how to weave rattan. The things he crafted during his leisure time could be sold in the town’s market.

It was the same for San Lang. He was very hard working. The Bai family steward favoured him and would hire him whenever there was work. As such, San Lang also managed to make some extra money.

There were three younger sons. The fourth can’t be counted on, he was still laying on the ground. The fifth and sixth were still young. If they had any money, the money would be coaxed away by Mrs Zhou or Man Bao. If not, the boys would beg Er Lang to buy sweets for them when he goes to the market. Mrs Zhou knew she probably couldn’t find even two wen even if she searched through their clothes.

She wouldn’t do that.

Quickly, the three daughters-in-law took out their private savings and collected them. However, the money wasn’t enough. They were still short of two strings of money.

Mrs Zhou looked at her husband and sons.

Xiao Qian was the first who couldn’t bear the situation. She fell to the floor, slapped her legs and cried, “Mother, there is no more money. Even the savings to buy cakes for my natal family to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival had been emptied out. This will ruin the family!”

Her mother-in-law slapped her in anger, “Why are you crying? This old lady is not dead yet!  We have even survived the year of disaster! Do you think I am afraid of these two hundred wen?”

Man Bao ponder for a moment, and rushed back into the main house. She found a silver lock from her treasure box and took it to Mrs Zhou. “Mother, use mine!”

Mrs Zhou’s expression changed drastically. She immediately grabbed the silver lock and held on to it for safekeeping. In anger, she said, “This can’t be given away. this is…this is commissioned by your father and me. The Taoist priest said your life is precious and this silver lock is needed to protect your life.”

Old man Zhou agreed, “Can’t give.”

The thug sneered, “So, holding on to a long-life lock is more important than your son’s life. Let me ask, are you giving the lock to me? It’s already half a day. We still need to go back to town. If not, are you providing food and lodging for the night?”

At the blink of an eye, the gangsters behind him began to flip and kick the things in the yard. “Pay up quickly! It’s only natural to pay up when you are in debt!”

The hooligans from the casino were all strangers. How could Da Lang allow them to rummage through the house? He immediately stopped them.

His two younger brothers stopped pressing Si Lang to the ground, and quicky went to help.

Wu Lang and Liu Lang enthusiastically joined the fray. The Qili villagers also jumped in. After all, they certainly wouldn’t allow strangers to bully their fellow villagers!

The thugs had never seen so many brothers in a gambler’s family. When they noticed they were surrounded by the villagers, they didn’t dare to behave too viciously. What happened was you pushed me, I pushed you. But everyone was angry.

The village chief sighed when he saw the situation. He stopped everyone and said, “Stop it. We are short of just 200 wen. Uncle Jin (aka Old man Zhou), I’ll lend you the money. Remember to pay me back later.”

After saying that, he sent his son home to retrieve the money.

All the money collected from various sources filled the box. Except for two small pieces of silver, the rest were copper coins. Not that it mattered to the thugs. They counted the money and stuffed them in the bag they carried.

Towards the end, the hooligan’s leader who was playing around with the two pieces of silver said, “This silver can be exchanged for more than this amount. You are also aware that in the bank, these two silvers can now be exchanged for 12 strings of money, so…”

Da Lang stepped forward, kicked Xi Lang, and asked, “Did you gamble with copper coins or silver?”

“Copper coins, copper coins.”

Da Lang clenched a fist and hit him, and angrily asked, “Are you certain its copper? Are you sure?”

Xi Lang’s nose was swollen, blood was streaming down, and he continued to wail, “Copper coins, copper coins.”

Da Lang repeatedly punched Xi Lang’s face. He lividly asked, “Are you certain its copper? Are you sure?”

Xi Lang screamed to high heaven. “Elder brother, I gambled with copper coins, copper coins. They are lying to you, they are lying to you.”

The gangsters noted Da Lang wasn’t restraining himself in beating up Xi Lang. They couldn’t help but sneered, put away the broken silver pieces, and nodded, “Fine. Let’s take it as copper coins.”

They turned to leave.

Er Lang stood in front of them and asked, “Where is the IOU?”

The thug curled his lips, gave him the IOU, patted his shoulder and said, “People like you can’t afford to gamble. It’s best to watch your brother closely. Otherwise, your luck may not be so good next time. In this world, there are many gamblers who have ruined their families and destroyed lives.”

The Zhou brothers looked at Xi Lang unkindly.

Xi Lang curled up on the ground.  When he saw his brothers’ angry stares, he buried his head and didn’t even dare to cry too loudly.

The hooligans finally left.

Old man Zhou and his eldest son managed a forced laugh and sent the villagers’ home. They thanked them especially the chief for their help, and repeatedly said they would find time to treat them to a meal.

Once the villagers have gone home, Old man Zhou asked his youngest son, Liu Lang to close the door. He picked up the pole and continued to beat his son.

As Mrs Zhou was afraid Man Bao would be frightened, she took her back to the house earlier. However, this wasn’t very effective, as the child kicked off her shoes and climbed into her bed. Then, she leaned on the window and looked out, relishing the scene of her father beating up her fourth brother.

Mrs Zhou was not in good health. The incident tormented her, she was sad and tired. She didn’t stop Man Bao. Instead, she asked her three daughters-in-law to cook some food. They haven’t eaten even a single grain of rice since morning. The adults can stomach it, but the children would be hungry.

Once the arrangements were made, she called Man Bao over, and helped her to put on the silver lock. Mrs Zhou said, “Didn’t I tell you not to take this off? Father and mother gave this to you to protect your life. You are not allowed to take it off in the future. Do you understand?”

Man Bao said awkwardly, “It’s not comfortable to wear.”

Mrs Zhou pondered for a moment and said: “You don’t have to wear it at night, but you must wear it during the day.”

Man Bao helplessly agreed. Seeing her mother was sad, she asked, “Mother, what about fourth brother?”

“Leave him be, let your father beat him up. Our lives have just improved in these last couple of years. And your brother went gambling! Ruining the family! He should be beaten to death.”

Man Bao said, “If we wanted to kill fourth brother, we should have allowed the thugs from the casino to do it. That way, we would have saved our money!”

Mrs Zhou choked. She said, “This child, the way you speak is exactly like your father, not forgiving at all!”

“Really? Is my father so smart?”

Mrs Zhou didn’t answer but said, “If we don’t beat him, he wouldn’t remember his act of folly.  If he repeats this, how much money do we have for him to gamble?”

“Fourth brother only remembers whether he can eat or not, and wouldn’t keep the beatings in mind. It will be useless even if you beat him until he is disabled. Unless we break his leg and he can’t walk anymore.”

“That won’t work, we will have to raise him in the future.” Mrs Zhou was also afraid Old man Zhou would beat his son until he was disabled. She sighed and called out from the bedroom window. “Enough. If he is beaten until disabled, we’ll have to fork out money for his medical expenses. We don’t have a single wen in the family.”

The sound of beatings outside the house slowly stopped. Old man Zhou hated his son for not living up to expectations. After kicking him, he allowed the eldest and second son to drag Si Lang back into the room.

Man Bao said to her mother, “Mother, I have a good idea to punish him without using any money.”

“What’s your idea?”

“Let fourth brother go and clear the wasteland. Then, let him grow things on the wasteland, and use the money he earns to repay his debt to the brothers and sisters-in-law. He owes them 15 taels of silver.”

Mrs Zhou was very puzzled, “Clear the wasteland? Why did you think about clearing the wasteland?”

Man Bao replied, “Didn’t big brother village chief* said the yamen** allows us to clear the wasteland? The land cleared will belong to us and it will be tax free for the first three years.”