Courtyard House: Home Alone

"Mr. Shimizu," he began slowly, his voice as deep as an old clock, "do you know how my master died?"

Shimizu Tozo turned his head to the side, his gaze behind his glasses flickering uncertainly.

"In the 26th year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. My master, to protect the neighborhood, took three shots from foreign soldiers with his bare hands."

Tang Baolin's voice was as calm as if he were telling a long-ago story. "Before he died, he said, 'Baolin, in this world, it's better to die standing than to live on your knees.' My Tang family has been a Xingyi Quan school for three generations, and not a single one of us has ever been a spineless coward."

He turned around and looked directly into Shimizu Tousan's eyes: "You say this ancient city will be destroyed? Aren't you overestimating yourselves? Let me tell you, with 'Ghost' around, you should be thinking about the safety of your Tokyo Imperial Palace."

Shimizu Tousan's eye twitched slightly, and the pupils behind his round-framed glasses contracted to pinpoints. He quickly regained his smile, but instead of trying to approach the window, he took two steps back and sat back down in his chair.

"Mr. Tang, your integrity is admirable."

He slowly folded the document, his movements meticulous, as if tidying up a losing game of chess. "But backbone won't feed you, nor will it stop a bullet. I'll give you three days to consider—"

"No need."

Tang Baolin slammed his cane on the ground, the sandalwood striking the blue bricks with a dull thud. "I can answer you now. I, Tang Baolin, will protect the people of Beiping; as for the 'ghost,' I know nothing about him, nor do I want to know. If you have the ability, go find him yourselves."

Shimizu Tosan tucked the folded document into his pocket. He raised his eyes, and the mask of humility was finally torn away from his gaze, revealing a chilling sharpness beneath: "The Empire can tolerate it once or twice, but there will be no third time."

For every person killed by "Ghost," the Imperial Army's retaliation will fall on ten times the number of Chinese. Mr. Tang, can you protect Beiping, can you protect the entire North China?

The air in the private room suddenly became tense. The painting of withered lotus on the north wall swayed gently in the draft, the lotus leaves drawn with dry brushstrokes looking as if they might shatter into dust at any moment.

"Are you threatening me?" Tang Baolin's voice calmed down, like the clear-headedness of an old boxer facing an enemy.

"The 'Ghost' killed five commanders of the North China Expeditionary Army and over 100,000 Japanese soldiers. To this day, you probably don't even know if he's a man or a woman. I really don't know who gave you the courage to come to Beiping and threaten me?"

Shimizu Tousan tapped his knuckles lightly on the edge of the table, producing a crisp sound. He lowered his head to adjust the cuffs of his long robe, his movements slow and deliberate, as if he were delaying something.

"Mr. Tang, the lack of intelligence does not indicate the Empire's incompetence."

He looked up, his gaze behind his glasses now possessing that unsettling gentleness. "On the contrary, it is precisely because of the 'Ghost's' troublesome nature that someone like you is needed to mediate. You have connections with all sides and are well-informed; if you could—"

"If I could sell the 'ghost' to you, in exchange for a golden house and a few concubines?"

Tang Baolin interrupted him, a mocking smile playing on his lips, "Mr. Shimizu, do you islanders think that every Chinese person can weigh things with silver dollars?"

Shimizu Tozo did not answer immediately. He got up and walked to the painting of withered lotus flowers, looked up and examined it for a moment, then suddenly muttered something in Japanese and laughed to himself.

"Does Mr. Tang know Bada Shanren?"

With his back to the old man, he traced the outline of the withered lotus in the painting with his finger. "After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Da became a monk and spent his life painting desolate landscapes. When someone asked him why he didn't paint full lotuses, he said, 'My eyes are filled with the vastness of the rivers and mountains, yet I can only yearn for distant places; falling flowers and wind and rain only deepen my sorrow for spring.'"

He turned around, his face showing a sincere sigh: "Mr. Tang, I have studied Chinese culture for twenty years and I know the integrity of your country's scholars."

But even above integrity, there are the common people. If you refuse me today, and tomorrow the Imperial Army's tanks roll into Rongxian Hutong, what integrity will remain for your neighbors, those merchants who call you "Master Tang"?

Tang Baolin's cane slowly drew a circle on the blue brick ground. That was the trajectory of the starting stance of Xingyi School, the first move his master taught him thirty years ago.

"Mr. Shimizu, have you read the Records of the Grand Historian?"

"I know a little bit."

"Yu Rang painted his body with lacquer and swallowed charcoal. After Zhi Bo died, he wanted to kill Zhao Xiangzi to avenge his master. Zhao Xiangzi asked him, 'You also served the Fan and Zhonghang families before. Why didn't you avenge them when they died?' Yu Rang replied, 'The Fan and Zhonghang families treated me like an ordinary person, so I repaid them like an ordinary person; as for Zhi Bo, he treated me like a national hero, so I repaid him like a national hero.'"

Tang Baolin's voice was not loud, but every word was clear as the clash of metal and stone: "You islanders have always treated Chinese people as 'the masses'."

They seize our land, kill our people, and expect us to be grateful. Tell me, where does this talk of "national hero" come from?

A cold glint flashed in Shimizu Tōsan's glasses. He returned to his seat, pulled a thin sheet of paper from the Shen Bao newspaper, and gently pushed it in front of Tang Baolin.

"This is a telegram sent from Tianjin this morning."

His voice returned to its usual businesslike flatness, "The Imperial Army's Third Division will arrive in Baoding tomorrow and can be stationed in the defenses of Beiping at any time."

Mr. Tang, I'm not threatening you; I'm stating a fact—the more people 'Ghost' kills, the fiercer the Imperial Army's retaliation will be. This is not something I can control; it's an iron law of war.

Tang Baolin did not read the telegram.

"Ironclad rule?"

He suddenly laughed, a strange kind of pity in his smile. "Mr. Shimizu, do you know that these are just cannon fodder sent to 'Ghost' to die?"

A slight noise suddenly came from outside the private room. Zhao Gang's voice rang out from the stairwell, low and alert: "Master, someone downstairs is looking for Mr. Qingshui."

Shimizu Tosan and Tang Baolin turned their heads at the same time, and Tang Baolin nodded: "Let him in."

Zhao Gang stepped aside, and a young man in a gray cotton robe hurried upstairs, stopping at the door of the private room. Qingshui Dongsan walked up to him and asked, "What is it?"

The young man lowered his voice and said, "Mr. Shimizu, all the people we placed around here have disappeared. And...and the people monitoring the Tang residence have also..."

Shimizu Tousan's expression finally changed. His eyes behind those round-framed glasses widened for a moment, then quickly narrowed, like a cat's eyes suddenly contracting in bright light. He subconsciously reached out and grabbed the edge of the table, his knuckles turning white from the force.

When did this happen?

"They were here half an hour ago." The young man's voice trembled. "They...they're all gone. Their stalls are still there, but they're like...like they've evaporated."

Tang Baolin slowly stood up, tapped his cane lightly on the floor, and smiled knowingly.

"Mr. Shimizu," his voice held an almost pitying calm, "you just said that this is the iron law of war?"

Shimizu Tozo did not answer. He strode to the window, took off his glasses, wiped them with his sleeve, and when he put them back on, his gaze behind the lenses had become as sharp as a knife.