The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 83 Salted Fish
Having made up his mind, Huang Hetai's smile widened as he led Lin Qian toward the main house.

The main house in the backyard of the General's Mansion was reserved for the General. Although the General only stayed there a few times a year, as a subordinate, he dared not overstep his bounds and enter.

Since Lin Qian asked him for help today, he naturally had to show off his power and overstep his bounds.

Upon entering the main room, Huang Hetai ordered his men to light candles, set out tables, chairs, and wine vessels, and invited the Lin brothers to take their seats.

Bai Langzai and the others opened the food box, took out the food and drinks, and arranged them on the table.

All the dishes on this table were made by Uncle Chen. The taste may not be comparable to that of a Cantonese chef, but it is still quite rare on Nan'ao Island.

Seeing the carefully prepared food and wine, Huang Hetai became even more certain of his guess. He regained some of the demeanor of a fifth-rank official in the imperial court, immediately raised his cup, wrote a poem, and then drank it all in one gulp.

The brothers looked at each other, then turned to Lin Qian, unsure whether they should drink the wine.

Lin Qian picked up her wine cup and drank it all, and only then did the brothers drink.

After exchanging toasts with Lin Qian for a while, Huang Hetai looked around the banquet and saw that Lin Qian and his brother were only focused on eating and drinking and no one was toasting him. He immediately put on a sullen face.

Seeing that no one paid any attention to his expression, Huang Hetai cursed inwardly, "A bunch of barbaric thugs!"

Halfway through the banquet, seeing that Lin Qian still didn't mention the island, Huang Hetai simply brought it up himself.

Huang Hetai feigned a long sigh, raised his glass and said, "Chief Lin, we have hit it off. I originally intended to have you stay on the island longer, but unfortunately Chief Li is so aggressive that I can't help you. I can only offer this small toast to Chief Lin so that he can find a good place soon."

Upon hearing this, everyone stopped eating and drinking. Lei Sanxiang wiped his mouth and said, "You mean that bastard Li Kuiqi? He's long gone..."

Lin Qian stopped him with a look, then raised her glass and said with a wry smile, "It seems that Commander Huang already knows..."

Huang Hetai was stunned and asked, "Know what?"

Lin Qian said, "It's about what Li Kuiqi mentioned in his letter. The letter was delivered to the beach at Qianjiang Bay in a box."

Huang Hetai: "Is that so? What does the letter say?"

Seeing that Huang Hetai's expression didn't seem fake, Lin Qian figured that his collusion with Li Kuiqi wasn't that deep, and that Huang Hetai was at least unaware of the ship hijacking.

In this sense, Huang Hetai's life was spared somewhat.

Lin Qian replied nonchalantly, "The letter naturally urges me to leave the island, so it seems Commander Huang is unaware of it. Sigh! When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head..."

Upon hearing this, Huang Hetai was overjoyed, but he had to pretend to be depressed. He was really struggling to keep it in. He took a wine glass and clinked it with Lin Qian's for a drink, as a form of consolation.

The empty cup he left behind, with no one bothering to pour him more wine, made him feel even more contempt for Lin Qian's brother.

Lin Qian changed the subject, saying, "Speaking of which, Li Kuiqi is quite powerful, so why doesn't the government do anything about him?"

Huang Hetai was in a great mood at the time, and with the alcohol taking effect, he began to speak freely: "How can we not care? In Fujian and Guangdong provinces, Li Kuiqi's reward notice has been posted on the bulletin board until it's worn out and then posted again, it's almost plastered all over the wall."

You know what kind of people the Southeast Coastal Defense Station is; there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Fortunately, this fellow knew the rules and didn't plunder on the shore, so the governors and commanders of the two provinces turned a blind eye.

Before leaving, Huang Hetai did not forget to comfort Lin Qian: "Even the imperial court is like this, Chief Lin should not make an enemy of him, and it would be better to make plans to leave the island as soon as possible."

Lin Qian pretended to think for a moment, and then said, "Even if I took people away from the island, I still stayed on the island. If the commander investigates, he will inevitably blame me."

Huang Hetai was chewing on a chicken wing when he heard this, he spat out the bone and said, "What's there to blame? The commander-in-chief himself also received reports of the pirates. The pirates... cough... the leaders of the sea who landed on the island, he can't escape responsibility for it either!"

Huang Hetai wiped his hands with a towel: "Besides, he only comes to the island a few times a year. I handle all the affairs on the island. If I don't tell him, how would he know?"

Lin Qian got the answer she wanted. It seems that Huang Hetai not only didn't tell the court about Lin Qian's trip to the island, but could also continue to help conceal it.

His casual words saved his life. Huang Hetai picked up a piece of fish, slurped it into his mouth, and then said meaningfully, "This fish is delicious. It reminds me of an interesting thing. Does the leader know about seagulls? These birds love to fly with ships. Sometimes when a ship crosses the sea, the seagull can follow it for thousands of miles in one go."

After saying that, he looked at Lin Qian.

Lin Qian expressed her willingness to hear the details.

Huang Hetai continued, "So some pirates, in order to avoid being exposed by the cries of seagulls, would throw a large piece of fish on the shore before setting sail. The seagulls would rush to peck at it, and then no seagulls would follow them."

Lin Qian understood. Huang Hetai told such a clumsy little story in order to get the fish from the beach from him.

As luck would have it, he did bring some fish with him on this trip.

Lin Qian said, "Bai Langzai, bring the gifts up."

Upon hearing this, Bai Langzai picked up a food box, and the brothers moved the leftovers aside. Bai Langzai then placed the food box on the table.

Huang Hetai's eyes lit up just by looking at the weight of the food box.

At Lin Qian's prompting, he eagerly opened the first layer of the food box.

Inside was a milky-white ewer.

Huang Hetai stretched out his trembling hands and carefully took it out of the food box.

Bringing it closer to the candlelight, one could see that the ewer was made entirely of green jade, with mountain, rock, flower and bird patterns carved all over it, all of which were carved with exquisite detail. The lid was carved with a lark, its shape extremely lifelike. It was truly a treasure, comparable to the blood coral from before.

Huang Hetai was overjoyed, his eyes crinkling with laughter.

"Good stuff, really good stuff!" Huang Hetai kept praising.

In the month or so that Lin Qian has been on the island, the gifts he has brought are equivalent to the profits he would have made as a garrison commander in ten years.

The thought that this jade flower and bird ewer was the last bribe he could accept made his heart sink.

For some reason, I've started to miss this God of Wealth.

Huang Hetai admired the jade flower and bird ewer with a smile for a long time, then reluctantly put it down and reached out to open the second layer of the food box.

If the first level contains such powerful artifacts, one wonders what treasures the second level will hold.

When the food box was opened, a faint stench of decay wafted out.

Huang Hetai saw what was inside and his expression suddenly changed. He screamed, took several steps back, crashed into the wall, and fell to the ground.

He pointed to the food box, muttering, "You...you...you're..."

On the second layer of the food box, Li Kuiqi's head was preserved in salt.

Lin Qian smiled and said, "This is Chief Li. Why doesn't Commander Huang recognize him?"

Huang Hetai was utterly horrified. His gaze was fixed on Li Kuiqi's head, and he covered his neck with both hands, as if afraid of following in Li Kuiqi's footsteps.

Lin Qian grabbed Li Kuiqi by the hair, pulled his head out of the food box, and threw it in front of Huang Hetai.

Li Kuiqi's head spun for a moment before finally stopping, his eyes staring blankly at him.

Huang Hetai shrank back as if he had seen a snake or scorpion, but his eyes were glued to the head, and he dared not look away even for a moment.

"Killing Li Kuiqi is a great achievement, and this is my second great gift."

(End of this chapter)