inkydink | Tears for Coins (Reply)

This was the other story for

inkstains torrent thingy, but I couldn't quite make it work.
Oh well.

His six sworn siblings looked like they had everything handled at the Pavilion of the Drunken Duck, so Zhang Di decided to just take a walk.

He stopped at the end of the stone bridge, right by the weeping willow that looked like it would be good to take a nap under it, and was lighting a cigarette when he heard the crying.

It was a little boy, maybe eight or ten, he wasn’t really good with telling how old hill children were --they grew so fast these days, what with all that milk that was coming from the yak and oxen their scary folks had managed to steal from the lowlanders.

Still, he couldn’t stand crying, not so close to the tree he’d picked out for his nap.

“Boys don’t cry, “ he growled, and heard the sniffling that signified a child who wasn’t quite done with crying, but trying to stop.

“ I can’t help it, “ the boy said. “I’m hungry. “

Zhang Di sighed and reached into his jacket pocket. He was saving the steamed dumpling for after his nap, but never let it be said that The Great Woodchopper, ranked number three of the Seven Weirdoes of The South wasn’t one for feeding the hungry.

“Here.”

He tossed it to the boy, who caught it deftly, and was proceeding to muffle his tears by stuffing the dumpling in his mouth.

“Not so fast, you’ll choke and I don’t have anything to drink.“ Well, he did, but it didn’t seem to be a good idea to let a little kid like that drink beer, and the water seemed to murky to be drinkable. “And where’s your thank you?”

“Thank you, sir, “ the child mumbled as he continued eating.

“Not that thank you, I mean the thanks be to the gods and all that…” his voice trailed off as he saw the last bite of the dumpling disappear. “Never mind. “

The dumpling seemed to have stopped his crying, though there was still some sniffling.

“Still hungry?”

The boy shook his head and sat down beside him.

“Where are your parents?”

“Gone.“

The boy looked like he was about to cry again, so Zhang Di rummaged through his pockets, found a piece of sugared dried plum he’d put aside earlier and tossed it to the boy.

“Gone? You’re an orphan?” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted it, because it set the child off, wailing again, louder this time.

“N-no…no… they left me here! “

There goes my nap, Zhang Di thought. The kid’s crying was like a siren, and he started to worry people might pass by and wonder what kind of perv he was, and what he was doing to a little boy.

“Stop crying or I’m going to be sorry I gave you my dumpling and plum!”

This only made the child wail even louder so he rummaged once more through his pockets and found a dusty piece of rock sugar he’d been saving for the day he could find coffee and hot water at the same time. He gave it to the boy, who put it into his mouth immediately.

“Why did they leave you? Because you ate too much?” The last one was intended as a joke, but the boy shook his head. “Been a bad boy?”

“I…I… I didn’t know what I did was bad!”

“What did you do?”

“I found a lady who was gunna kill herself and I told her she shouldn’t. So she didn’t. And when my momma and poppa found out, they got mad. “ The boy started crying again and Zhang Di was annoyed. What kind of people would leave a child behind after saving someone’s life?

“She was gunna hang herself right there, “ the boy pointed to a tree in the distance. “And she had a big big tummy, so I knew she was going to have a baby, and I didn’t want the baby to die, so I told her she shouldn’t. “

“Why was she going to hang herself?”

“She heard that her husband got killed in the war against the Jin, then the soldiers came and burned their house, “ the boy sniffled. “I said she didn’t need a house, we didn’t have a house because we just go to all the towns and camp outside, then when someone dies people pay us to cry for them so the gods will think the dead one is good and will be missed and won’t give them back. “

So the kid was part of the crying folk. No wonder he could wail so much.

“But we’ve been through three towns and there was no one else who died, and we didn’t make much money, and momma got mad at me because…”

“Because there was someone about to die, and you stopped her.”

The boy nodded.

“But there’d be no one to pay you if she died, seeing as her husband was dead, no?”

The boy shook his head. “Town would have. They pay more for people who kill themselves because they’re the ones who become the scary ghosts if the gods make them go back.”

“I see. “ he dusted himself off and stood up. In the distance he could see his six siblings walking their way, laughing and throwing bags of coins. “ So your folks aren’t coming back for you?”

“No, “ the boy sniffled. “They say I’m bad for business. And I eat too much.”

“Well, then, “ Zhang Di said, waving at his brothers and sisters with one hand, while extending the other to the child. “ Come with me then, I guarantee that between me and those other six, we’ll be giving your folk something to cry about. “