[continuing chapter 3]
This time, Chin contented himself with murdering only the officers. Wen excused himself from the event, taking advantage of the opportunity to explore the fort. In the commander's office he discovered the reason for the wall around the fort: a chest held what looked like thousands of copper cash (and were probably at least several hundreds) plus several taels of silver. This garrison must have housed the paymaster for all of the garrisons along the section of the coast on which the Green Turbans had been operating. Well, thought Wen, there's no sense in this going to waste. If Chin sees it no doubt he'll just donate it to some dragon or other, and if the peasants get hold of it no doubt some magistrate or other will just take it away from them again. Better I should take care of it.
Besides, if I can just figure out a way to move this without attracting too much attention, I might be able to go north on my own and find a way to make a living relieving gold-miners of their hard-earned treasure. I do believe I've had enough of rebellion.
"What are you doing, wretch?"
Wen groaned. "Hello, Number One Grandfather," he said. "It's been too long since we last spoke. Are you well?"
"Don't be impertinent, you ungrateful pile of duck's leavings. What are you doing here and why aren't you studying the rituals?"
"Believe me, Honored One, I would much rather not be here. In fact, I would probably enjoy performing the rituals much more than I enjoy being the object of General Chin Gwai's homicidal tendencies. I was just about to see what I could do in the lines of obtaining the cash needed to properly fund donations and sacrifices and, oh, sutras or something, in your honor."
"I weep when I think that our family has come to this," said Number One Grandfather. "Stealing copper cash from poor peasants."
"It's not poor peasants, I'm stealing—no, appropriating—from a corrupt government that has lost the Mandate of Heaven. Haven't you been listening to Chin Gwai?"
"I try not to." Wen heard the crackle of long-dead leaves in his ancestor's voice. "And that's another point on which I think we're going to have to punish you. That ignorant lout is entirely the wrong sort of person to whom you should be owing fealty. Confucianism is all well and good, Wen Xia, but your primary responsibility is to your family, and that man is not worthy of us."
"Do you think I don't know that?" Wen tested the handles of the chest. It seemed very heavy. "I have been thinking about how to get away from Chin Gwai almost from the moment I met him. And while we're on the subject, wasn't it you who helped him escape from Magistrate Li? I haven't seen him do anything as effective in the way of magic since that day as he did in the magistrate's chambers."
Number One Grandfather coughed, and for a moment Wen's ears were filled with the sound of dozens of old men coughing to hide their embarrassment. "You'll regret that, wretch," Number One Grandfather said. Wen was on the verge of saying something clever in response when a small string of cash flew past his head, just missing his ear.
"Hey!" he said when a second, larger string lifted out of the chest. "You're going to ruin everything!"
"That's a awful big box, ain't it?"
Wen resisted his instinct and made himself turn slowly. "Why Yu," he said. "I do believe that's the longest sentence I've ever heard you say."
"Never much need to talk to you before," the erstwhile farmer said. "You know what General Chin thinks about money."
"What a good thing for us both that I'm not General Chin, then." Wen looked at Yu, then at his ancestors—all of them glaring back at him—and then looked into the chest. It would be hard to run carrying all that weight, and even the weight of the silver would likely slow him down. Besides, knowing Number One Grandfather there would be a sudden explosion of roots spring up from the ground to trip him as he moved. "Fancy having your own farm, Yu?"
"Fancy having a better world," Yu said. "A world without magistrates and princes and—and thieves."
"Oh, come on!" This wasn't going well. "Do you actually believe that drivel Chin spouts? He isn't going to get rid of the magistrates! And if he does get rid of the prince, it'll only be so he can put himself on the throne instead! You're going to end up the same way you were before. You'll just be paying your taxes to a man you helped put over you."
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