“
Where is your guard captain?”
Everyone looked around: the captain seemed to have disappeared, which was not that uncommon. No
one really knew where he would go. The captain had named Chang his deputy for this reason.
“
I’m the captain’s second,” announced Chang.
“
No captain, hmmm. Very well, I suppose you must give me the tour of this... place,” requested Li
As the official paraded around the barracks, the official simply looked around disdainfully and muttered
the occasional criticism.
Finally, to Chang’s relief, they returned to the courtyard. It was rather late and the sky was already dark.
Li told the men to line up for their wages with Chang first.
Li reached ceremoniously into the cart and took out an ornate gold box, decorated with carvings of
dragons that had pearls for eyes and a jade lid. Out of the box, he removed a small green pouch and tossed it to
Chang. Chang quickly undid the string and saw three coins.
“
What's this?” Exclaimed Chang “Three coins? How are we supposed to get food?”
“
Those are your wages, take them or starve”
“
If we take them we will starve. This isn't enough to buy food or water.”
“
Not my problem”, replied Li smugly.
Chang glared at Li. They locked eyes for what seemed like hours. Chang shook his head and turned
around, walking angrily away.
The men got their pay and Li, announcing that he was tired, walked up to lodgings he had claimed earlier.
Chang met him at the foot of the stairs.
“
What is it-”
“
I know you're taking guard’s wages for yourself. That’s why you have such fine robes and a gold box,
but we get three coins for wages,” accused Chang, grabbing Li by his robes.
“
Well look at you, figuring it all out. What are you going to do now? Go to Beijing and report me? Then
it will be your word against mine and your word counts for nothing. You can’t stop me Chang, so get used to it.
Now if you will excuse me, I will go to bed.”
Li casually brushed Chang away like a cleaner would brush dust from a table and continued with a
confident sneer. Chang glared at him from behind. He stormed out of the dorms and into the mess hall, flinging
the doors open, fueled by five years of anger and frustration. Now was the time to act.
Li was right, Chang couldn't win. Not fairly at least.
“
Any of you want your wages back?” Chang asked in an authoritative manner. Everyone turned and
stared at Chang. The whole room went silent. Chang could sense the guards’ anger at being cheated by Li, and
he used this to his advantage. They wanted their wages and their dignity back, however more importantly, they
wanted revenge.
Fortunately for Chang, unfortunately for Li, Li's room was flanked by two corridors, which made
sneaking up on his bodyguard's easy.