So, Qu Fengren, the district magistrate of Qizhou, got promoted. Many colleagues came to congratulate him, and he was wined and dined for days. Later, his appointment was officially approved by his superiors. He specially went to the provincial capital to show his gratitude to his bosses. Just as he was about to return to take office, he suddenly received a notification from the province saying that he had previously served as a treasurer in several departments, with clear accounts and strong work ability. Now the court had sent Inspector Tong, the big shot from the capital, to inspect the accounts. He had already reached Nanjing and would soon arrive in Hubei. Every government office handling money had to get their books ready for the Inspector. Therefore, the province asked him to stay and help with this matter, while someone else would be acting magistrate for a while. Although it was only temporary assistance, Qu Fengren wasn’t happy. Here he was, a newly promoted official, stuck auditing other people's books. Tough luck, orders were orders.
Minister Tong Ziliang, a native of Shanxi Province, is a senior official of the court who previously served as a local official before being promoted to the central government. He served as the Vice Minister of Revenue for two years and is currently acting as the Minister of Revenue. At that time, the court was short of money, and things ground to a halt for lack of funds. Some officials memorialized that the southeastern provinces, such as Liangjiang, Huguang, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangxi and Guangdong, are wealthy areas with annual tax revenues of tens of millions of taels. However, there were arrears in funds and grain, and tax revenues were embezzled. A thorough investigation could significantly boost national revenue within a year. However, the officials of various provinces were happy to drag their feet, avoid rocking the boat, and avoid a proper audit. They even came up with the pretext of "exports," claiming that funds were raised that could only be used within their own provinces, when in reality it was just a cover-up. In order to address this issue, the court decided to send a reliable minister to conduct a detailed inspection and audit in each province. After reviewing the memorials, the court found the proposal reasonable and called in the relevant officials. Tong Ziliang also thought this was a good idea and volunteered: "I have been a local official for twenty years and am very familiar with the situation. I will first go to Jiangnan, then to Fujian and Guangdong, and I should be back in six months." The court approved his request, immediately issued orders, and sent him to inspect the accounts in Jiangnan and other provinces. The next day, after expressing his gratitude, Minister Tong selected eight officials from the Ministry of Revenue and brought in several others from different departments, along with a sizable entourage, totaling over fifty people. Worried his only son might bully his other sons, he brought him along as well. With everything arranged, he set off.
Tong Ziliang had a peculiar quirk; he particularly disliked foreign goods. He refused anything with a "foreign" label, from food and clothing to household goods. He only wore homespun. However, when he was in his fifties, he developed an addiction to opium and couldn't quit. One day, in the court, a prince joked with him, "Ziliang, don't you hate foreign goods? Why are you smoking foreign cigarettes?" He was furious, and when he returned home, he threw away all his smoking paraphernalia and told his family, "I will never smoke this stuff again!" But his addiction was too strong; if he didn't smoke for two or three hours, he'd be a mess, tears streaming down his face. Seeing him suffering, his family wanted to advise him but didn't dare to advise too harshly. When they did, he would say, "Don't bother me; I'd rather die than quit smoking!" Later, unable to bear it, near death, he could only look at his eldest son with his eyes, waiting for his son to handle his end-of-life arrangements.
His eldest son was eighteen or nineteen years old, wasn't much of a scholar, but was very clever. Seeing his father like this, he asked why he had to quit smoking. Someone said it was because of a joke from the prince. His son thought for a moment and said, "So it's the 'foreign' part that's the problem. No wonder he can't quit! You guys just say this is a Yunnan local plaster. Yunnan and Guangdong are both in China, not foreign." The family did as he suggested and brought new smoking paraphernalia. When Tong Ziliang saw it, he initially waved his hand to stop his family from coming in. Later, after the family explained according to the eldest son's suggestion, he took a drag. This time, he smoked more than usual and finally got his fix.
A few days later, the nobleman invited him to dinner. After they met, Tong Ziliang said, "I've quit smoking those foreign smokes." The nobleman was very happy and praised him, saying, "Ambition knows no age! To think you, old timer, actually quit smoking! That's great for the country!" While drinking, he kept an eye on whether Tong Ziliang smoked or not. But then, halfway through the meal, Tong Ziliang asked for a cup of hot tea to be poured, took out some tobacco paste from his purse when no one was looking, and put it in the tea to consume. Since the nobleman was very familiar with him and often joked around, he grabbed this chance and asked, "If you don't smoke foreign cigarettes, what's the big difference? They're both tobacco, aren't they?" Tong Ziliang shot back, "Look, quitting smoking refers to quitting foreign cigarettes, not domestic ones. See all that money going to foreign countries for those smokes? I'm cutting that out. I'm switching to domestic tobacco to save money and boost our own economy. It's a win-win! I'm leading by example, letting everyone know that I don't smoke foreign cigarettes to save money and smoke domestic ones to earn money. I'm doing my part!" The nobleman said, "Wow, that's impressive! I didn't expect that the old gentleman quitting smoking would involve such a big economic principle!"
So, this Lord Tong, right? He loves money above all else, but he only recognizes silver coins, not foreign coins, because he has a thing about the word "foreign." Back in the day, Beijing didn't use foreign coins; it was pretty convenient to swap silver for copper coins. But in recent years, foreign coins have gradually become popular, and now they're being used in Beijing too. Some clever folks used to give one hundred taels of silver as a gift, but now a hundred pieces of foreign coins will do, which is only worth just over seventy taels of silver, and they still think it looks good. But not Lord Tong – he wouldn't have any of it. If someone tried to give him foreign coins, he'd send them right back. His gift-givers were either students or old workmates, all with favors to ask. This had them stumped. Eventually, they learned why and switched to silver, which ended up costing them more!
This time, Lord Tong didn’t refuse; all he accepted was cash or silver notes, ranging from three hundred to two thousand taels. Most were written on plain white paper, but some folks got a bit fancy, using large red satin to write, a real splash of color!
Although he loves money, he doesn’t waste a single penny. All the silver notes he received were kept in a little shack in the backyard. The shack was dark and cramped, with no windows, and it had several locks on it. No one was allowed in—not even his son, who had to wait outside the door. One day, the old geezer was poking around in his little shed, and the young master didn’t dare go in, so he waited outside. After a while, he suddenly heard the old man calling out from inside, and his wife lit a lamp, peeked in, but didn’t dare go inside. The old man seemed to be groping around on the ground for a bit, then suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Found it!" Then he came out and locked the door. When his wife shone the lamp inside, the young master took a sneaky look and saw that the four walls of the little shack were covered with paper that looked like bills—all silver notes! The young master’s jaw dropped. "Wow," he thought, "The old man's a bloody millionaire! That shack's his vault!"
Two years later, several provincial governors memorialized to buy machines to make foreign-style Chinese coins. Tong immediately opposed it, thinking it was not feasible. But the court had already approved it, so he had no choice but to go home and sulk for two days, saying, “What’s wrong with good old China? Why use foreign junk? We’ve always used silver! Now we gotta copy foreigners and make these… these silver dollars? If we all start using them, the whole country’ll be run by foreigners! No way! I’d rather kick the bucket tomorrow than see this happen!” But what he said was of no use; no one paid any attention to him. The following year, two provinces sent the finished silver coins to the Ministry of Revenue (he was now the Minister of Revenue), and officials brought a package for him to inspect. He closed his eyes and said, “I don’t want to see this country-wrecking stuff; take it away!” The officials knew his temper and had to retreat. Later, this incident spread, and it became a big joke in Beijing.
One day, a student, who was a Hanlin scholar, was appointed as the Jiujiang magistrate in Jiangxi Province after passing the imperial examination, and came to say goodbye to Master Tong. Master Tong said, "I heard that Jiujiang is very lively." The student replied, "It's a trading port, with merchants from various countries; it's tough doing business there. That's why I came to ask your advice." Master Tong sighed and said, "So many different countries! In short, those foreigners are trying to cheat us out of our money in every possible way! I don't believe they're so broke they have to come all the way to China for business. Unfortunately, our governors and provincial officials are just jumping on the bandwagon. When the foreign currency is not enough, we even specially mint coins for them to use. What have these foreigners done to deserve all this? I really don't understand!" The student said, "The coins we make aren't called 'foreign coins'; some are called silver dollars, and some are called dragon coins." Master Tong said, "Just changing the name to fool the Emperor, isn't it the same as foreign coins?" The student said, "Same size, different design. Our dragon coins have a dragon in the middle, so they are called dragon coins." Master Tong became interested when he heard that the designs were different and said, "Do you have one? Show me." The student happened to have two coins with him, one eagle coin and one dragon coin, so he took them out to show Master Tong. When Master Tong saw the eagle coin, he frowned and said, "Brother, why are you using that?" He tossed the eagle coin onto the kang and carefully examined the dragon coin. Later, he found that there were also foreign characters around the dragon on the dragon coin, so he said with a stern face, "Brother, why are you trying to deceive me too? If it wasn't meant for foreigners, why the foreign lettering? Seems everyone's gone soft on foreigners these days!" The student explained again, "We minted dragon coins to compete with foreign money; it's like you only smoke domestic cigarettes, right?" Although Master Tong understood a lot, he still refused to use the dragon coins because they had foreign characters engraved on them.
So, this imperial envoy, tasked with auditing and fundraising in nine provinces, kept every provincial official on tenterhooks. He reported to the court, "Your humble servant plans to travel by land, stopping at eighteen stations on the way to Qingjiangpu, and then taking a civilian boat south along the river." The emperor asked him, "Why not take the train to Tianjin and then transfer to a steamship to Shanghai? Wouldn't that be faster?" He immediately knelt down and said, "As a minister of the court, I should adhere to the national system. Although trains and steamships are faster, they are ultimately just newfangled contraptions. If I were to take them, it would reflect poorly on the nation, and I dare not do so." The emperor, seeing his lofty pronouncements and knowing his conservative nature, agreed with him. However, because the route passed through Shandong, the emperor ordered him to inspect the Yellow River while he was there. He said, "The Yellow River in Shandong has experienced constant breaches in recent years. I have heard that there are many issues. I will definitely take a good hard look in Shandong and not disappoint the court's trust." The emperor did not say much more. The next day, he bid farewell to the emperor, received travel expenses from the department, and, along with his entourage, headed north overland.
Before setting out, he sent letters to officials in various places, saying, "I'm a man of integrity; I don't take bribes. Wherever I go, no lavish entertaining is allowed. Any violations will be severely punished!" Officials everywhere thought this envoy was as honest as the day is long and would definitely not spend their money. Unexpectedly, he spent even more! Why is that? Just his travel party alone was enormous – a huge sedan chair needing four bearers per shift, three shifts a day. Then there was his young master, sixty to seventy attendants, each with their own followers and baggage – some in chairs, some in carriages. All told, we're talking at least twenty or thirty sedan chairs, over a hundred carriages, and over a hundred horses. How much did that cost in a day? Was his budget enough? Every time the envoy arrived at a place, he ordered the local officials, "All labor costs need receipts, which the constables will bring to me." The officials could only agree. Once the money was paid, no one dared ask for more. But when leaving, those receipts had to be returned, and they dared not refuse. Yet when the receipts came, the money was nowhere to be found. The officials were stuck with the loss and no longer expected the envoy to return the money. In fact, the envoy understood this in his heart, but otherwise, he'd look dishonest – and besides, he couldn't afford it himself! The key point is that it’s inappropriate for the officials to entertain too simply or too extravagantly. His constables got there first, under the guise of "advance scouting," but really to haggle with the local officials. Depending on the size of the place, they would ask for different amounts, ranging from one thousand eight hundred taels. If the officials were generous, the constables would spill the beans about the envoy's preferences. Otherwise, they'd clam up, leaving the officials to guess.
This time, the high official was ordered to investigate the river works, so he took a detour to Jinan. The governor of Shandong was afraid that the county magistrate would be too busy alone, so he specially sent two deputies and two local officials to assist. Expenses were covered by the Relief Bureau. Among these four people, one of the deputies was very frugal, refusing to spend a single penny except for the necessary supplies for the journey. The inspector came in advance to ask for eight hundred taels, but he demanded three thousand, saying, "The high official may stay here for a few days and could find fault at any time. We advise you to spend more money for peace of mind, so the high official won't find fault, and everyone will be better off." The county magistrate thought it made sense, but the deputy flat-out refused. Helpless, the county magistrate privately gave five hundred taels to the inspector.
The provincial capital of Shandong had long known that the high official disliked foreign goods, so they didn't use any foreign stuff – no clocks, watches, blankets, lamps, tables, or chairs. At night, numerous tallow candles were lit, shining brighter than the foreign lamps. Other decorations were all Chinese, and the food served was fancy Chinese banquets. After the high official stayed for a few days without saying anything, April was getting warmer. His guys complained the water stank and the towels smelled funky. The officials quickly had water brought from Baotu Spring for the high official to drink, and also bought some Linwen cologne for the attendants, saying, "Add some cologne to the basin when the high official washes his face, and there will be no smell; it will smell nice." However, before the cologne reached the high official, the towel guy flipped out, yelling it was poison meant to kill him! The high official was furious and wrote to the governor to investigate the officials. The governor quickly hauled the four guys in for questioning, and they truthfully reported that the cologne could beat the heat and ward off sickness. The governor reported the situation to the high official. The high official then asked where the cologne was bought, and upon hearing it was from a foreign goods store, he became even angrier, saying, "I've been a loyal servant for sixty or seventy years! You think you can poison me now? What's the deal with you creeps?!"
After news of this spread, everyone handling official business was walking on eggshells. Even when provincial officials came to report their work, they dared not show anything remotely foreign to the imperial commissioner. One time, while discussing official business with a few superiors, they forgot about the time, and one of them asked, "What time is it now?" A deputy magistrate casually replied, "It's probably around one o'clock." Tong Ziliang said, his brow furrowing, "What did you say? I don't understand." He claimed not to understand, but he knew they meant the time on a watch. He figured they all had watches. He remained silent for a while, listening carefully, and heard a little ticking coming from the deputy magistrate sitting next to him. After listening for a bit, he asked the deputy magistrate, "What's making that noise on you?" and turned to the others, "Did you hear that?" No one dared to speak. The deputy magistrate shifted uncomfortably, his ears turning red. Tong Ziliang was a pretty decent guy and didn’t expose him on the spot. The next day, when he met with the prefect, he commented, "That deputy magistrate is a real pretty boy, but pretty boys are all flash and no substance; they don't actually get anything done. That's why I prefer someone a bit more down to earth." The prefect was clueless, thinking Tong was criticizing someone for being dishonest. It was only later, after hearing from other superiors, that he understood it was about the watches, and he just shrugged it off. The imperial commissioner stayed in Jinan for about ten days. Most of his cases involved the River Works Bureau handing over extra cash—no biggie. It was public money, so to keep things smooth, he took the cash without complaint. Then it was a free-for-all—bosses, underlings, even friends—everyone was handing over gifts, and he happily accepted them all.
Let's talk about Baji, whose courtesy name was Xiangfu, the prefect of Pingdu Prefecture. His job in Pingdu was pretty middling among the prefectures in the east. Baji Xiangfu has been in office for five or six years, and he received the evaluation of "outstanding" that year; according to regulations, he had to report to the capital. His original official title was "holding the post of Zhili prefect," and after reporting back, he was promoted on his return. Back in the capital, they treated him like a veteran, sending him straight back to his old job. Not long after his return, there was a vacancy in Linqing Prefecture. Linqing Prefecture is also in Zhili Province, and Baji Xiangfu felt that his qualifications were sufficient, so he had the idea of climbing up. He went to the provincial capital himself, pulling strings to get a promotion. Before anything was decided, the Imperial Commissioner showed up, and after a hectic couple of weeks, the whole thing got shelved. Baji Xiangfu was anxious but had no choice.
Baji Xiangfu had an older brother who used to be a student of the Imperial Commissioner. Baji Xiangfu took the student's letter to pay a visit to the Imperial Commissioner. He actually got to meet the Commissioner, and they hit it off. After the meeting, one of his in-laws (also serving as a substitute in the province) advised him to send a generous gift to the Imperial Commissioner, get the Commissioner to put in a good word, and the Governor would be sure to approve. Baji Xiangfu thought it made sense and wanted to send eight thousand taels of silver to the Imperial Commissioner. His in-law said, "Cash isn't as classy as a proper gift." This in-law handled all of Baji's business in the capital. His in-law had recently helped a friend send a gift, supposedly to a certain high-ranking official, but the gift was not delivered, and the friend's money was not returned. The value of that gift was over five thousand taels of silver, and it was all on his in-law's shoulders, so he wanted it gone. It just so happened that Baji Xiangfu wanted to send a gift, so his in-law pretended to advise Baji, but really just wanted to unload this hot potato, so he pushed him hard. In that gift, there were two very valuable pieces of jewelry and jade. Baji Xiangfu glanced at them, figured it was good enough, and told his in-law, "Thanks," instructed him to write a gift list, and immediately sent someone to deliver it.
Unexpectedly, the person who sent the gift returned shortly after, saying there were a dozen gold watches on the gift list. The official remarked, "This is exactly what the master hates. How can you send this? Not only will it not bring any good, but if the master gets angry, it could affect your master's career." Ba Xiangfu said, "Since he was looking out for me, let’s take the watch back and swap it for something else." The family replied, "I said the same, but the official wouldn't let us take it back." Ba Xiangfu panicked and went himself. When he arrived, the official tried to intimidate him, saying, "I've already reported to the young master, and you can't take it back to exchange. If you want to be safe, you need to send three thousand taels of silver to the young master and ask him to help you resolve this; that's your only option." Ba Xiangfu had no choice but to haggle them down to two thousand. The official indeed went in to speak to the young master. The young master said, "Let him bring the silver, to make sure he’s safe." Ba Xiangfu hadta go back again, found his father-in-law, and gave him a two thousand taels silver note. Then the official took the watch and the silver inside and handed them to the young master. The young master then gave the official a wink and a nod.
The meal was served, and Tong Ziliang had just sat down when he saw the constable entering with a calling card and a gift list. The constable walked to the center of the courtyard, and the young master came out of the wing room without saying a word, stopped to inspect the gift box, and pulled out several items from it. As he held the items, he shouted, "What the heck?! Doesn't he know that the master here dislikes these things? How dare he send them!" With that, he rushed to report it. At this time, the constable had already walked up to Tong Ziliang. Tong Ziliang looked at the gift list and found a gold watch inside, feeling very unhappy. His face immediately darkened, ready to lose it, but he didn't get the chance. Unexpectedly, the young master slipped and fell just as he stepped up the stairs, with a loud crash, everything fell to the ground, pearls rolling everywhere, two things that looked like gold watches scattered among them. Tong Ziliang quickly asked the young master, "What happened?" The young master stood up panting, dusted off his clothes, didn't bother picking up the items on the ground, ran to his father's side, and said, "I found it strange that Mr. Ba sent this gift, so I brought it for you to see." Tong Ziliang now saw that it was a gold watch and said, "Don't you know that I can't stand this thing? And you still bring it here to provoke me! Get this mess cleaned up! Even if it's broken, get it out of here!" The servants agreed, and a few of them quickly took the watch away. After sweeping two or three times, not even a single pearl remained on the ground. Tong Ziliang, seeing the watch taken away, then complained to the constable, "They said they didn't know, but you are working for me here, don't you even know this? Couldn't you have told them not to bring this to annoy me?"
The bailiff took the watch and said slowly, "Reporting to you, sir, Ba Mu has two things to say. If it weren't for these two things, I wouldn't dare bring it for him." Tong Ziliang asked, "What are these two things?" The bailiff replied, "Ba Mu says this watch isn't foreign-made, but crafted by local artisans." Tong Ziliang asked, "Can locals really make watches? What's the point?" The bailiff answered according to the young master's instructions, "The idea was to discourage Chinese from buying foreign watches. But how many Chinese people are as upright as you, sir, and don't want these things? If foreign watches keep coming in, Chinese money will flow out. There's no other way now, so they came up with this method of resistance. They let local craftsmen imitate the appearance of foreign watches and make one that tells time the same way. The mechanism and lock inside are the same, so it's called the 'Da Huang Golden Watch' because of its intricate mechanism and gold casing. The surface is inlaid with pearls for beauty and value, so it's called the 'Pan Zhu Da Huang Golden Watch.' You didn't see it, but there are six characters on the bottom that say 'Made in China during the Guangxu era,' with no foreign words—truly a domestic product." Tong Ziliang believed it and said, "Wow, I see. Too bad it's broken; that was kind of him."
The constable saw that the imperial commissioner had calmed down and smiled as he said to the young master, "When Ba gave the gift, he made it clear himself." Tong Ziliang asked, "What did he say?" The constable replied, "He said, 'I, Ba, am presenting this item to the imperial commissioner as a bribe. If I don't explain clearly, the imperial commissioner will definitely be angry. If I explain clearly, perhaps he will see my sincere intentions and forgive me.' Ba also said, 'The imperial commissioner is a righteous person; as the saying goes, "Righteousness prevails over evil," so he does not like these things.' Now, with just one sentence, he got it spot on. It's things that the big man dislikes - as soon as they enter the courtyard, the high-ranking official will see it from afar and it will naturally fall to the ground and break, unable to approach him. It's not that the young master dropped it and broke it accidentally; there must be some higher power at work, taking the item and smashing it on the ground. Truly, 'Righteousness prevails over evil,' this statement is correct." Tong Ziliang listened to this flattering talk as he ate, and slowly said, "There are definitely gods. My grandfather used to be a magistrate in Shanxi. When faced with difficult cases of theft, he couldn't come up with a solution himself, so he asked the City God for help. After taking a bath, changing into new clothes, eating vegetarian food, and staying at the City God temple, the City God would appear in his dreams and tell him where the bandits or criminals were, and he would always find them. Later, after my grandfather passed away, my grandmother also dreamt that he had become the City God of that county. The gods definitely exist; one cannot help but believe." The constable said, "For someone in a position like yours, there must be guardian gods secretly protecting you; the City God's level is not enough." Tong Ziliang said sternly, "Don't talk rubbish. When Lu Zhongtang died, he was from the south and his funeral was conducted according to southern customs. They burned so much joss paper, and offered sacrifices to the ancestral shrine, the gates of hell, and the eighteen Yama halls. At the City God temple, from the City God to the minor deities, they all burned paper money. When someone dies, they must first register with the City God; no matter if you are a minister or a high official, no one can escape. Don't be daft; that's a load of rubbish!"
After finishing talking, and the meal was done. Tong Ziliang got off the table and carefully inspected the gift sent by Ba Xiangfu. He really liked the jade thumb ring. He put it on and showed it to the young master, asking, "Look, isn't this thumb ring just as good as your father-in-law's?" The young master replied, "Yes." Tong Ziliang also found the other gifts to be nice and instructed to keep them all. The watch was already broken, and they let it go. Because a thumb ring suited his taste, he spoke up for Ba Xiangfu, saying many good things to the magistrate. Later, Ba Xiangfu got his wish and was appointed to fill the vacancy in Linqing Prefecture. We'll get to that later.
The young master unexpectedly received a dozen gold pocket watches and was naturally very happy. This time out with the old master, people gave gifts to the commissioner, so they also gave gifts to the young master. Although he also received a lot of silver, people always feel it's not enough; the more, the better. Since the old master arrived in Shandong, he had received a substantial amount of cash and silver notes. He had a lot of money. Later, the old master found the cash too heavy, so he exchanged it all for silver notes, locked them in a box, and placed it by the bedside. Not to mention others, even his own son was not allowed to come near. Every door in the room was locked, and the old master kept the key. He counted his 156,000 taels of Shandong silver three times a day. The young master advised him to put the money in a bank in the capital for safekeeping and interest. But the old man was too worried to listen.
After a while, the silver in Shandong was collected, and the old man ordered them to set off, going by land to Qingjiangpu to change boats and head south. On the way, the strongbox was placed in the sedan chair. Whenever they stopped for meals or overnight stays, when no one was around, the old man checked the silver notes three times a day. He had banknotes of various denominations, from a hundred taels to two thousand, totaling more than 300 notes. Checking the notes took half a day each time. When he was counting, visitors had to wait until he'd finished and secured the strongbox. Upon arriving at Qingjiang, they boarded a large passenger boat, with a commissioner’s boat, a young master’s boat, and more than twenty escort boats lined up in the middle of the river. The young master, worried his father was lonely, wanted to share his boat to take care of him. The old man, fearing his son would steal his silver, firmly disagreed. The young master had no choice but to obey. The large passenger boat had many cabins, and Tong Ziliang had two strong doors added to his cabin, which could be locked at any time. When they arrived at Qingjiang, the magistrate invited them to dinner, and Tong Ziliang only went after locking the cabin door. The magistrate said to him, "I have a small steamer here. I’ll send two to take you to Suzhou, so you won’t waste time on the road." Tong Ziliang repeatedly declined, "You know how I am. I’d rather walk slowly, not even three miles a day, and I’m fine with that. Although the steamer is fast, it’s foreign stuff, and I’ve always hated imported things for decades. It would be absolutely humiliating to me. Besides, if I really wanted to be fast, I would have taken a steamer from Tianjin to Shanghai long ago, without having to detour to Shandong." Seeing how stubborn he was, the magistrate just smiled and dropped it.
The young master, seeing all that silver belonging to his old man but none of it his own, felt pretty cheesed off. He figured he'd swipe one of the old geezer's silver tickets to ease the burn. He'd been stewing over it ever since they left Qingjiang. Morning and night, the young master would go and pay his respects to the old man. The young master knew the old man was worried he'd swipe the loot, leaving nothing for his kids. However, he couldn't let go of this idea. One night, the boat docked in Changzhou and it was still early. After dinner, the father and son chatted casually for a while, but Tong Ziliang hurriedly urged his son to return to the boat. The young master wasn't too happy about that, so he went to the front of the boat and mulled it over. It was a moonless night, and he couldn't see anything on the other side. He quietly told the boatman, "I gotta pee over the side." The crew warned him about falling in, but he was insistent. He slowly walked to the cabin where the old man lived. There was a gap in the window shutter, so he crouched down and looked inside. He saw the old man counting the tickets, not even bothering to check how much each one was for. After counting, he bundled 'em up, locked 'em in a box, and stashed it by his bed. The old man then settled in, looking all comfy. The young master quickly returned to his own boat. The next day, they sailed to Wuxi. That night, the young master sneaked another look and saw the same thing. He thought, "The old coot only counts the tickets, not the amount. If I swapped a few, would he even notice? In Suzhou, I'll do this and that... Even if I don't get it all, I can still snag sixty or seventy percent!" With his plan set, he started lining up his guys.
After the boat arrived in Suzhou, I took the opportunity to go ashore, first took out a few large silver ingots, and exchanged them for banknotes at the money exchange. There were ten taels, eight taels, and the smallest was four taels. The people at the money exchange asked me what I needed the money for, and I said it was for tipping people, and they didn't suspect anything. Back on the boat, I waited for the official to go ashore to handle business, meet guests, or attend banquets. At this time, I quietly opened the door to the cabin where my father lived; the key had been prepared long ago. I found the box containing the banknotes, exchanged a few large denomination notes for several small denomination ones, and then put the box back in its original place. When my father counted the money at night, I secretly took a look; he counted correctly and found nothing amiss. My courage grew, and the next day I swapped out another ten notes, and my father still didn't notice. In less than five days, I had exchanged all those large denomination notes for small ones. Although the official checked every day, he never figured it out. Fortunately, this official was stingy, and these banknotes would probably be used as wallpaper after he returned to the capital. I estimated that as long as he was alive, he'd never figure it out. Now I was relieved, I got slicker and bolder, and I ended up with almost eighty to ninety percent of the money my father earned from this task. To be continued!
