Chapter 28: Right and Wrong

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“It’s not my fault... It’s not my fault...”

Jiang Xiaodao and Old Cui, along with the men of the Changfeng Escort Agency, crouched at the foot of the courtyard wall under the watch of a Russian soldier.

The Russian leaned crookedly against his rifle, a cigarette clenched between his teeth. He cursed and grumbled, looking deeply impatient as he waited for the men inside to come out and relieve him.

From the rear room, the woman’s voice gradually changed from agonized wailing to muffled sobbing.

“Old He! Save me! Please...”

Jiang Xiaodao hugged his knees tightly to his chest and kept murmuring, “It’s not my fault... It’s not my fault...”

Old Cui frowned. “Xiaodao, what are you muttering about?”

“Old Cui, can you really blame me?” Jiang Xiaodao stammered. “I was begging with you at the temple fair, and everything was fine. Then that Escort Chief Hu insisted on arresting me. If I hadn’t told him that he’d killed a Russian, I’d have been thrown into a cell to wait for death!”

“Ah!”

“And just now, if I hadn’t killed He Lishan, I’d be the one lying dead! The disaster that befell the He family all began with those words of mine!” Jiang Xiaodao asked anxiously, “But can you blame me for that? Old Cui, can you?”

Old Cui’s expression darkened.

He patted Jiang Xiaodao on the shoulder and comforted him. “Child, don’t torment yourself. It isn’t your fault. No one blames you.”

“Right. I thought so too... It isn’t my fault.”

Another cry of grief came from the rear room. It sounded like a child.

“Father! Father! Where are you? Save me!”

A chill ran through Jiang Xiaodao, and unease seized his entire body.

He was asking someone else, but he was also asking himself. “Old Cui, really, it isn’t my fault? They... they don’t blame me either, do they?”

This time, Old Cui answered only with a sigh.

For a full hour, the Russian soldiers went in and out, in and out. Nothing pleased them more than violating the women and then standing in the courtyard, taunting the escort guards. They toyed with the men’s dignity without restraint, because they knew that fury alone could kill no one.

Inside the house, some victims were tortured to death beneath the knife. Others, unable to endure the humiliation, hanged themselves.

At last, Ivan emerged, thoroughly satisfied, and fastened his belt. As always, he reminded himself that he was a nobleman, carefully twisting his mustache into hooked curls with his fingers.

“Zhang! Zhang!”

“Coming!”

Zhang Zongchang trudged over with his head bowed.

The spirit had gone from his face as well.

Ivan rattled off several sentences in Russian. Zhang Zongchang nodded repeatedly, then cleared his throat and translated: “Officer Ivan says the matter of the Loyal and Righteous Army isn’t over yet. But since you’ve all been relatively obedient, he’ll spare your lives for now. Stand in a line, nice and orderly, and follow him back to the barracks.”

The men felt as though they had been granted a reprieve from death. Some even showed a flicker of gratitude in their eyes.

Head Constable Li hurried forward and said timidly, “Brother Zhang, could you tell the officer that if they take people away so confusedly, we brothers really won’t know how to answer to our superiors? Perhaps you could ask him to discuss it with our master once more?”

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Zhang Zongchang translated the request briefly.

Ivan gave a couple of cold laughs and said there was nothing to discuss. If they were dissatisfied, their master could come to the barracks and find him at any time. If Zeng Qi, the General of Shengjing, was willing to kneel and beg him, he might consider releasing the prisoners.

After that, there was naturally nothing left to negotiate.

The constables immediately gathered to confer.

“Old Li, what are we supposed to do? Are we going to come all this way for nothing?”

“You’re asking me? Who the hell am I supposed to ask? With foreigners here, who still gives a damn about us? If you ask me, we’d better go home and find some other way to make a living!”

The constables wore faces of misery. “We’ve spent half our lives in this trade. What else do we know how to do?”

“Figure it out yourselves!” Head Constable Li said darkly. “I heard that in the capital, starting last year, constables aren’t called constables anymore. They’re called police or something. There are examinations and training, too. In any case, they’re replacing us with young men. It probably won’t be long before they do the same here.”

“What? Then what are men our age supposed to do?”

“What are we supposed to do?” Head Constable Li mocked himself helplessly. “Carry baggage, pull rickshaws—and if all else fails, head into the mountains and become bandits!”

“Hey, if you want to become bandits, I have connections.”

“Really? Then why don’t you send word for me first?”

“I hear there are plenty of mountain strongholds around Haicheng...”

“Perhaps we could...”

The constables walked away, talking with dejected faces.

Suddenly, clouds of dust rose into the air. Their figures gradually blurred, and even the fire tallies, iron shackles, waist sabers, and water-and-fire batons that had once made them look so formidable slowly faded away with them.

...

The men of the Changfeng Escort Agency had already formed a long line. Jiang Xiaodao took the opportunity to edge over and ask, “Brother Zhang, are the Russians really not going to kill them?”

Zhang Zongchang nodded firmly. “The railway is almost finished. They reckon the whole line will be open by summer. The Russians are recruiting laborers to go prospecting for gold in Siberia, and these men will be sent along to do forced labor.”

“Where’s Siberia?”

“Siberia.”

“Where is that?”

“North. Far north. I don’t know either.” Zhang Zongchang glanced back at the Russian soldiers and added, “Brother, stop asking questions. No one’s paying attention to you right now, so get out of here!”

Jiang Xiaodao nodded repeatedly. “Old Cui, let’s go!”

Just then, Li Qun of the Changfeng Escort Agency suddenly shouted, “Officer! Those two are trying to escape! They’re the real murderers! And Jiang Chenghai is in Liaoyang too. Go arrest him!”

Ivan turned around and gestured for Jiang Xiaodao and Old Cui to join the line as well.

Zhang Zongchang truly was a loyal man. He hurried over to explain matters to Ivan.

No one knew whether he had deliberately left anything out while translating. All they knew was that his expression grew uglier and uglier as the exchange continued.

At last, Ivan raised one finger, and Zhang Zongchang returned with his head hanging low.

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Old Cui sensed that things were going badly and hurriedly asked, stumbling over his words, “Brother Zhang... how... how is it? What does he mean?”

Zhang Zongchang shook his head helplessly. “Only one of you can leave.”

Old Cui looked from side to side, his eyes empty. Though he already knew the answer, he asked, “Then... then which one of us gets to go?”

The moment the words left his mouth, two Russian soldiers came up behind Old Cui and seized him by the shoulders. Shoving and kicking him like livestock, they drove him forward.

“Wait... don’t! I have nothing to do with this!” Old Cui’s voice trembled with terror. Snot and tears instantly filled the wrinkles of his face. “Brother Zhang, Brother Zhang, please plead with him for me! This really has nothing to do with me! Xiaodao! Xiaodao, save me!”

Over on the other side, Li Qun was shouting like a madman. “Arrest that boy! Arrest him!”

Jiang Xiaodao tried to step forward, but Zhang Zongchang grabbed him and held him back. “Brother, if you make any more trouble, you’ll be taken along too!”

“Xiaodao! Xiaodao!” Old Cui wept and wiped his face, his legs as limp as noodles. “I’m too old for this kind of treatment! Save me!”

Jiang Xiaodao desperately wanted to say that he would go in Old Cui’s place.

But when the words reached his lips, they simply would not come. He was struck dumb.

“Xiaodao, save me!”

Under the threat of rifle barrels, the line began moving forward.

Zhang Zongchang slapped Jiang Xiaodao on the shoulder. “Brother, I don’t know what your story is, but you’d better go somewhere far away and lie low. I have to leave now. Until we meet again!”

When Old Cui realized that everything had been decided and there was no chance of a reversal, he turned and offered his final instructions.

“Xiaodao, my home is in Fengtian. Your father knows where it is. I’ve always been fated to live poorly, so you can have the house. The money is hidden in the same place as yours, inside the kang bedstead near the footboard.”

“Old Cui!”

Jiang Xiaodao was filled with guilt.

“Xiaodao! Remember what I taught you about surviving in the martial world. Know when to yield, know how to speak auspicious words, and don’t be afraid to have a thick skin—it’s nothing to be ashamed of! If you have a skill, you’ll never starve wherever you go! And... you said you’d make my name ring out in the world one day. Did you mean that?”

“Wait! I can trade places with him...”

Jiang Xiaodao finally summoned the courage to speak, but his voice was so faint that one could not help wondering whether it had been nothing more than an attempt to excuse himself.

The line had already gone far ahead.

Feeling gradually returned to his legs. He started forward and was just about to run when a large hand suddenly seized him by the collar from behind.

“Who’s there?”

He turned and saw an unfamiliar old man whispering, “Boy, come with me. Your father sent me.”

Jiang Xiaodao’s mind went blank. He desperately wanted to follow Old Cui, yet his body moved of its own accord, allowing the old man to lead him through a series of turns.

After a moment of disorientation, he came to his senses and found himself at the southern gate of Liaoyang.

He passed through the gate tunnel. Outside the city, a familiar figure sat astride a tall horse and gave Jiang Xiaodao a teasing smile.

“Xiaodao, hurry up and pay your respects to your Seventh Uncle!”