CHAPTER 52

A thief sees the Spirit of the Night; Chen Liang surveys the Zhao Tower

LATER that night, Chen Liang and Lei Ming waited outside Zhao Towers. But just as they were whispering together, they heard a tiny bit of earth fall from the top of the courtyard wall. Next, they saw the top of a ladder appear. Finally a very small man appeared at the top and descended into the courtyard. Now this man was named Qian, a well-known petty burglar.

Now Chen Liang watched as Qian went into a house on the north side of the street. Peering through a crack in the gate, Chen Liang saw Qian carrying a flexible centipede ladder inside the north building. Chen Liang dropped down into the courtyard. The building on the north side had three sections. The burglar went into the east section and lit a lamp.

Chen Liang went to the latticed window and made a small hole in the paper. Looking inside, he saw that a brick platform bed was opposite the window. On the bed there was a small table and a pile of cotton quilts. Below in front was a square table and a stool with a money drawer. The burglar sat down on the brick bed and took out the purse. He was clearly very happy when he opened it, talking to himself and taking out one piece of silver after another and saying, “With this I will build a house, with this I will buy land, with this I will go into business,” and so on. After talking to himself in this fashion for some time, he put the silver back in the purse and put it in the money drawer, from which he took out one hundred cash. Getting down a wine jug that he had hidden among the rafters, Qian went off through the front gate to get some wine, humming and singing first a verse of a song and then a poem in his happiness, which he could hardly find ways to express.

Arriving at the liquor store, he said, “Draw me a bottle of wine, Manager Wang.” Now, the manager of the liquor store was from the province called the Western Mountains, and so he was known as “Old West.” Some time before this, Qian had gone to get some wine at a time when Old West’s shop was closed. Qian went to a neighboring place and bought a jug of wine there, and then said, “Write it up.” Qian had actually brought two jugs with him, one empty and one filled with water. He kept the one filled with water under his coat. The storekeeper filled the empty jug and handed it to Qian, who secretly put it under his coat and took out the jug filled with water. When he asked for credit, the storekeeper refused, and Qian said, “Pour it back, then.” But Qian had really handed back the jug filled with water. The storekeeper poured the water into his wine jar and Qian gained a jug of wine for nothing.

The next time, Qian did the same thing with Old West. Afterward, some other customers complained that there was water in the wine. This evening Qian again asked for credit, and when it was refused, handed back a jug, saying, “Pour it back then.” But Old West came around the counter and soon discovered the extra jug that Qian was carrying.

Old West said, “Qian, you’re trying to cheat me.”

“I handed you the money first,” Qian replied. There was a row and Qian received a few blows. Old West, however, poured out the water and filled the jug with wine, so Qian returned satisfied. As he entered his gate, however, Chen Liang seized him by the back of the neck with his fingers.

Now, when Qian had gone out to get the wine, Chen Liang went into the room, and opening the money drawer, took out the silver and also nine strings of cash that Qian had been saving from his burglaries. Chen Liang overturned the table and went outside to wait. When Qian came back with his wine, Chen Liang seized him, bound him, and then gagged him. Then he held up the knife and said, “If you cry out, I will have your life.” The burglar did not dare to make a sound. As he left, Chen Liang said, “I am the Spirit of the Night and I watch out for good and evil deeds. You stole, and I have punished you.”

Qian looked around when Chen Liang was gone and saw the overturned table and the empty money drawer. He was upset, but he could not move or make very much noise.

In a little while the night watchmen came by, striking the hour on their little wooden gong. “It’s dark in the alley,” said one.

“Don’t frighten me,” said the other. “I’m not very brave.”

Then they heard a sound. “What was that?” asked one.

“A ghost,” replied the other. Then they looked through the open gate and saw Qian calling out as best he could through his nose and trying to attract attention. The two watchmen soon released him.

“How did you get tied up?” asked one of the night watchmen.

“I have seen the Spirit of the Night,” answered Qian. He showed them the overturned table and the empty money drawer. “I want to report a robbery,” he said, but he did not say how much money was gone.

Meanwhile, Chen Liang had returned to the Liu family home. He placed the silver on one side of the dead body and the nine strings of cash on the other side. He removed the paper with the descriptions of young gentlemen from the tablet and went outside. There he picked up a piece of broken pottery and dashed it against the ground. At the sound, the young wife awakened, rose, and lit the lamp. She saw the silver and the strings of cash and realized that the paper was gone.

Outside, Chen Liang called out, “Tomorrow do not burn incense to us again, nor make such mistakes in the future. We are not gods. We are leaving you forever.” Then he and Lei Ming went on their way.

At the Zhao household there was still no sound of humans to be heard and no suspicious animal cries, but a dim light could be seen through the paper windows. Looking down into other courtyards, they saw one window more brightly lit and heard the sound of the piba guitar and the Mongolian violin. Someone was singing. A voice said, “It’s getting late. We must go to bed.” People were walking through the courtyards here and there and saying good night. The watchers on the roof saw three young women cross a courtyard together, laughing and talking, and go toward a building, evidently their chamber for the night. They were indeed very beautiful.

“Those are the ones we must guard,” said Chen Liang to Lei Ming.

The three young women were going up a stairway into the second story of the large flower-viewing pavilion. This was clearly the tower that Ji Gong had mentioned in his order to them. “There has been a family birthday party, no doubt,” continued Chen Liang. Behind the three young women were two more who appeared to be serving maids, and then another not more then eighteen or nineteen. She was more beautiful than anyone they had ever seen. She seemed almost like a jade statue or an immortal spirit. Then followed a lovely girl of about sixteen and two more serving maids. After everyone was inside, the watchers could hear sounds of conversation and singing. Then all was silent and the lights were dimmed.

From a distant courtyard in the Zhao family estate came the sound of the wooden gong as Chen Liang and Lei Ming heard the watchers strike three times for the third watch.