Scarring Jasmine-Chapter Nineteen Haul

07/20/2024 Saturday 64-85F Cloudy

Zhao’s face, neck and hands were all burnt by the sun; his lips were peeled and cracked; both of his knees were bleeding. A servant took him for a bath, applied some herbal remedies all over his body, especially his knees; then per Shen’s request, he changed to Mumei’s clothes. 

Bai met him in the living room. 

“How do you feel?” Bai asked. 

“Uncle Bai, don’t worry, I am ok.” Zhao still looked weary. 

“You are quite a man!” Bai praised, looked him over with an approving smile, “You have passed my test; now I can hand my daughter to you!” 

Zhao gaped for one second, then blurted out: “Thanks uncle Bai!” 

He got up from the chair and was about to kneel down. Bai held him off: “Haven’t you knelt enough? There is gold under a man’s knees; don’t kneel to anyone except for your ancestors. I have asked someone to tell Mumei to come home early today. We should have a good drink this evening for celebration.”

The moon climbed over the tree and shone in the eastern sky. The dinner was set in the garden; only Bai, Mumei and Zhao were at the table. Bai asked Zhao some questions about his family and medicine business; then he put down his chopsticks and said to Zhao: “About you and Jasmine’s wedding, I think we shouldn’t do it in a hurry. After all Jasmine just divorced. Probably next Spring will be good timing. What do you think?” 

“Uncle Bai, I will do what you will. At that time, my house in Peach Blossom Dock should be done; I plan to hold the wedding party there.”

“Sounds good! One more thing I need to emphasize: Before the wedding day, you are always welcome to come here; but you can’t meet Jasmine without my approval. Even though she is a divorced woman and you two are engaged, she still deserves that respect.” 

“I understand it Uncle Bai, I will obey it.” 

Then Mumei asked: “Father, why not ask mother and Jasmine to come and join the dinner with us? Your rule can be started from tomorrow. Today you have punished Zhao enough, let’s have some fun together.” 

Bai laughed, “Mumei, you are very attentive!” He called to a maid: “Go invite mistress and young mistresses all to come.” 

About ten minutes later, Shen and Gao came. Bai asked: “Where is Jasmine?” 

Shen sat next to Bai, poured some liquor into his cup, saying: “She has gone to bed already; these days she always sleeps early. She asks for you and Zhao’s pardon.” 

“That’s ok, she should take more rest.” Bai turned his head to Zhao, “Zhao, I hope you don’t mind.” 

“No, not at all.” Zhao replied with a charming smile.

But in fact, he did feel disappointed—He hadn’t seen her for almost one month; he wanted very much to know whether she looked happy or not on the first day of being his fiancée. Finally, his dream could be reached on tiptoes; that lady he met at the opera who had been so unapproachable now was going to marry him next Spring. He should try to earn more money, with which he could finish building the house as quickly as possible. Then he could show it to Bai and Shen and beg them to set an early wedding date. She would be his woman; nobody could take her away from him. He would be a husband and soon be a father; he would be the happiest man in this world and he earned it. Blood rushed into his head; everything seemed too wonderful to be true. He had an impulse that he wanted to have Jasmine right now and not let her go; he was so afraid that this day might be just a fantasy, a bubble; or perhaps he had been drinking too much liquor therefore his mind became weak… 

Four months later, one day a man burst into the room while Zhao, Tiger and Leopard were discussing business. “Wolf! It is you!” Zhao cried out and held up that man’s arms; but at once he sensed the trouble, “You were supposed to come back at the end of this month, did anything go wrong?” 

Wolf slumped on the floor, “Big Brother, our goods were robbed! All the ten thousand kilograms! They were taken by a passing army troop right after we left Hankou Boss Chen.” 

“Impossible!” Zhao claimed, “We have done that for almost a whole year and never had problems! Even if we had bad luck this time, how could they know where we hid the goods?” 

Wolf almost cried: “Big Brother, we must have been tailed! Those soldier bandits were experts; they knew exactly what our routine was and where and how to find the opium! Our men loaded the goods in the evening, then we headed for the port. About half hour later, a team of soldiers appeared and surrounded us. Without exchanging one word, they pointed their rifles at our heads. An officer on horseback directed his men to search our lard pails and found the opium wrapped in oil paper.”

“We are doomed!” Zhao fell back in his chair, “We spent almost all our cash on those goods; I expected this shot would quadruple our profit, so we all could have a good New Year break and plan for the future. Now, tell me what’s in your mind? Tiger? Leopard?” 

“Can we take back our goods by force?” Tiger asked Wolf. 

“How?” Wolf widened his eyes, “Do you know how many troops are in that area? They come and go, now and then, nobody can identify who they are from their uniforms. I tried to make a little talk with that officer while they were searching for our goods, but he was very alert and impatient--He took out his Browning immediately and positioned it at my head, scolding: ‘Go ask your ass!’ So my head got two guns pointed at it! Giving all the facts, now you tell me, even if we were lucky and after some days found out who they were, they had at least fifty rifles while we only had twenty, how could we defeat them by force?”

Suddenly, Leopard’s eyes brightened. He turned to Zhao: “Big Brother, do you want to do something big?” 

“How big? What’s that?” Zhao asked. 

“I don’t know exactly how big it can be, but definitely bigger than what we have been doing. Do you know why those warlords are rich? Because they are bandits with weapons, which allows them to override the law and to tax everything; even these peasants who don’t plant poppies have to pay them tax for it. With the money gathered from both the rich and the poor, they buy more weapons. If we don’t want to chicken out, we must have better weapons than them.” 

Zhao nodded, “I have been thinking about that for a long time, that was why I bet our money on this shot--I planned that once we sold the goods, with the profit we could upgrade our guns and buy more. But now the most urgent thing is to solve the current issue—We need either the money, or the opium. How can we do it?” 

“Big Brother,” Leopard lowered his voice, “according to the information I happened to hear from an old friend, we do have a third choice; we just need guts to do it. But once we succeed, the haul will not only bring us some quick money, but also equipment.”

“What’s the haul?” 

“Authentic Mauser Sniper Rifles from Germany, and US Browning Light Machine Guns!” Leopard whispered in Zhao’s ear.

 

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