16. Seeing Through the Scheme

Wang Ruo began to read aloud from the beginning: “Yunlong Lake of Jiujiang, land of great lakes and dreams, and the Dukey Post Station…” As she read, she watched the old cat’s expression. The cat perked its ears, staring intently, as if waiting for a particular word. Wang Ruo read through the entire chapter on Jiujiang.

“Jiujiang.”

The cat pressed its paw down on the book.

“Jiu, Jiang.”

Word by word, the old cat singled out the character for “Jiang”—the river. It was a stroke of luck; the very book was a gazetteer of Jiujiang. Zhao Jia had started his preparations early for the escort mission, so this book was set in the most prominent place in the study. Lu Xun, anxious as he was, had brought it over directly. Though he’d heard the name “Xunyang River,” he wasn’t sure enough to recognize it. Dialects and homonyms could easily cause confusion, so he settled on just the character for “river.”

…

“Bandits.”

Again the old cat pressed the book. Wang Ruo read these two characters over, one by one.

“Ban—dits.”

Suddenly, Wang Ruo’s expression changed. She seemed to sense what the old cat was getting at and quickly ordered, “Xiaoyue, bring paper and brush!”

“Yes!” Xiaoyue ran straight to the study.

After giving her orders, Wang Ruo saw the black cat break into a smile, as if to say, “Clever!” By now, nothing the old cat did could surprise Wang Ruo; even if it suddenly spoke, she wouldn’t be startled.

“Ma’am, here are the paper and brushes.” Xiaoyue spread out the rice paper and ground the ink. Wang Ruo wrote down the words she’d just remembered. The black cat pointed at the words on the paper.

“River.”

“Bandits.”

“…”

“Tiger.”

“Injury.”

The black cat pointed at itself.

Piecing together the words, Wang Ruo looked at the black cat again. “Tiger, injury, you.”

The black cat nodded.

Sudden realization dawned—so the black cat had indeed been wounded by a tiger.

“Xiaoyue, go bring all the books from Master’s study here.”

“No, let’s just go to the study ourselves.”

All afternoon, the mistress and servant kept the black cat company, searching for words in book after book—no fewer than a dozen, perhaps several dozen. By dusk, they had found nearly all they needed. The rice paper was covered with characters, some crossed out, others preserved and rearranged.

“Town, bandits, prison, theft, messenger, Taoist, man, ghost, tiger, tiger hurt me, plot, robbery, river, government, constable…” Wang Ruo frowned in concentration. This jumble of words must be what the black cat was trying to tell her—or rather, what it wanted her husband Zhao Jia to know.

“A river robbery.”

“But who’s planning it? Who’s the target?”

Wang Ruo looked at the old cat, wishing with all her heart that it could truly speak.

“Is there anything to eat at home, my dear?” Zhao Jia stepped over the threshold of the study. He’d spent all day running himself ragged, his investigation trailing off in the southern part of town. Then, with the monster trouble in the west, he’d not slept a wink, and his stomach was empty—he couldn’t sleep on an empty belly.

Just as he entered, he found the cat pointing straight at him.

Wang Ruo was holding several sheets of paper covered with scribbles and revisions.

“Him! Rob him!”

Under Wang Ruo’s astonished gaze, the black cat nodded seriously.

“That’s trouble, Jia-ge.”

“What is it?”

“Look!” She handed him the papers.

“My guess is, he’s saying that bandits are planning to rob you on the river. You’re transporting the tax silver, aren’t you? Does the route cross the river?”

Zhao Jia paused. There were indeed many rivers to cross on the way to Jiujiang Prefecture—Jiujiang was laced with waterways and famous for its shipping. To avoid river pirates, he’d planned to go by land as much as possible, but the broad Xunyang River was unavoidable; they’d have to take a ferry. That’s why he was surprised. He replied, “We’ll have to cross the Xunyang River.”

Wang Ruo said solemnly, “Then that’s it. The cat says bandits will attack your shipment on the Xunyang River.”

“There is a gang of river pirates on the Xunyang, led by a man called Dragon of the Waves.”

“But how could they know this so clearly?” Zhao Jia was baffled. The tax silver transport wasn’t exactly top secret, but few knew of it. The pirates wouldn’t dare come into town, so how did they get such accurate information?

Wang Ruo pointed at the paper. “It’s right here in the first part: Town, bandit, prison—thief, messenger.”

“Didn’t you say a notorious thief escaped from prison?”

“Yes!” Suddenly it was all clear to Zhao Jia. No wonder Jin Sheng had been probing for news—he was planning to collude with the river pirates to rob the tax silver.

While Zhao Jia sat down to consider, Wang Ruo had Aunt Chen warm up the food, and they ate right there in the study before falling into an exhausted sleep.

…

He was jolted awake at the fifth watch.

Zhao Jia pushed open the door and walked to the courtyard.

The moon was bright.

The black cat sat atop the roof, gazing at the moon, its outline haloed with a faint glow like fireflies.

The cat turned its head, its golden beast-eyes shining.

Lu Xun landed lightly on the ground and headed for the main gate, but halfway there, he looked back and beckoned for Zhao Jia to follow.

Zhao Jia didn’t know where the black cat wanted to go, but he trusted it and followed.

Both were masters of rooftops and walls. Because the city was hemmed in by water and terrain, the lanes were narrow and cramped—perfect for moving swiftly above the ground. Following remembered routes, they arrived at the southern edge of town and slipped into a deep, narrow alley. The solid wooden door of the second-to-last house remained tightly shut, more imposing in the night.

The black cat halted, pressed Zhao Jia’s wrist, and with its paw traced a character into his palm.

“Bandit!”

Zhao Jia’s expression sharpened. He narrowed his eyes, hand on the hilt of his saber, and asked, “So this is the river pirates’ hideout?”

The black cat nodded.

“Best not to startle them.”

“Let’s go.”

Man and cat returned to the government office and dragged the magistrate out of bed.

As the magistrate straightened his clothes, his face was red with anger. He took a long draft of tea to quell his fury. “Head Constable Zhao, do you know what hour of the night it is?”

“Master, there is grave trouble!”

The magistrate’s anger vanished at once. “What trouble?”

“Sir, the river pirates of Xunyang have learned of the tax silver escort. They have gathered their men and scouted my movements. The thief who escaped last night is in fact a scout for the pirates, and right now they are plotting how to rob the silver on the Xunyang River. This is a calamity of the highest order!”

“Oh, what shall we do?” The magistrate sprang up, hands clasped behind his back, pacing in agitation.

“Fortunately, thanks to your good fortune, I discovered the thieves’ lair while investigating in town.”

“Send men to raid them at once!”

“I advise against acting rashly.”

“Why?”

“The pirates of the Xunyang are entrenched in their water stronghold, well-armed and bold. Now that we know their plans, if you lead a force of soldiers, you can take the head of Dragon of the Waves in a single stroke—a deed of great merit!”

The magistrate considered it and found the reasoning sound. The river pirates of Xunyang had troubled even the prefect. If he could rid the region of them, he’d earn a great achievement and could transfer to a richer post; no need to remain a magistrate in this poor, wild place.

“Are you confident?”

“Sixty percent.”

“Hmmm…” The magistrate hesitated.

Zhao Jia added fuel to the fire: “A thief can hide for a thousand days, but there’s no defending against a thief for a thousand days. The tax silver must reach Jiujiang on time; there’s no other way.”

“Very well! At noon I will summon them to the county office.”

…

Zhao Jia returned to the jail.

The black cat, Lu Xun, was yawning lazily—he could not stand the strange, mixed smells inside and preferred to wait by the airy entrance.

“The magistrate will summon them to the office at noon.”

“That settles half the matter,” Zhao Jia said between bites of breakfast brought by the constables.

A few of the constables looked surprised, not knowing what was going on. Who could have guessed he was talking to a cat?

Lu Xun narrowed his eyes, a cold light flickering within.

Vengeance must be repaid.

Yet more important was the head of that fierce, white-browed tiger.

Three-legged as he was, the old cat was formidable, but before that tiger, he was powerless, unable to resist at all. If not for Toad-head serving as a ladder, he would have become the tiger’s meal already.

The tiger’s head—

He had set his sights on it!