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A Prophet - Chapter 6 (Part 2)

Chapter 2 - Feigning Trapped by the Scheme, Heading to Sichuan

Because Grandpa had blocked the flow of information and sent back forged letters, Qin Bailian was kept completely in the dark.

A little over half a month later, Qin Bailian sent someone to deliver a letter inviting Grandpa to come to Sichuan to set up a scam.

Grandpa brought only me along. On August 2nd, the two of us arrived in Sichuan. This was my first time laying eyes on the legendary Qin Bailian: tall, with a thick beard and an air of great distinction. The moment he saw us arrive, he reached out eagerly to welcome us, beaming, "Grandpa, my good brother!"

Grandpa smiled warmly and replied, "Master Qin, trust you have been well since we last met!"

That very evening, Qin Bailian hosted a banquet to welcome us, and over the course of the meal, he laid out his plan for the upcoming scam.

He explained that this was going to be a massive operation designed to alleviate the current shortage of funds plaguing all major guild halls. He said he had been laying the groundwork for this scam for five years, and his target was a major bandit chieftain in western Sichuan.

Bandits were a unique social group in modern Chinese history. Following the Xinhai Revolution, the Qing Dynasty collapsed, and the rule of the Nationalist government grew weak, plunging China into a chaotic era of warlord fragmentation. Under these conditions, the phenomenon of bandits seizing mountains and declaring themselves kings emerged across the entire country.

Bandit origins generally fell into two categories. The first were wealthy landowners who had capital, recruited soldiers, purchased horses, and raised private armies to protect themselves internally while oppressing the common people externally. The second category consisted of bullies and desperate criminals from secret societies, which also included impoverished people driven to take desperate risks. These individuals banded together, putting their lives on the line to carry out their deeds, and as the years passed, they slowly built up their strength.

Bandits were quite fascinating in their own right. Once they formed their forces, they established their own military ranks; bandit leaders styled themselves "commanders," while those beneath them were appointed as "colonels" or "brigade commanders," even though most of them barely had a handful of men under their command.

It is worth noting that a faction among the bandits consisted of righteous outlaws. Although righteous outlaws still engaged in robbery and pillaging, they targeted only the wealth of wicked people; robbing the rich to help the poor was their guiding principle. Zhang Baima, a mounted bandit from the Northeast, was a famously renowned righteous outlaw in modern history. His forces maintained strict discipline: killing the poor was forbidden, executing revolutionary figures was forbidden, violating and defiling women was forbidden, and bullying the common people was strictly prohibited.

The bandit whom Qin Bailian spoke of had entrenched himself in western Sichuan for decades and was ranked alongside several famous bandit leaders in western Guizhou and western Yunnan as the Five Tigers of the Southwest. He was an absolute, unadulterated scoundrel. Qin Bailian remarked, "I've had my eye on this old roe deer for a long time. His family fortune is worth several million silver dollars, and right now, he trusts me implicitly. He's planning to relocate his ancestral tombs soon, so let's put together a Feng Shui scam for him."

Grandpa asked, "Why is he relocating his ancestral tombs?"

Qin Bailian replied, "To alter his destiny and pray for blessings, I suppose. The People's Liberation Army has already crossed the Yangtze River, and it's hard to say where old Chiang Kai-shek will end up. Once the Communists arrive, will bandits ever have good days left?"

Grandpa smiled and asked, "Why doesn't he just run away?"

Qin Bailian answered, "The political situation isn't settled yet. Who can guarantee that old Chiang won't make a comeback?"

Qin Bailian's words laid bare the contradictory mentality of the domestic reactionary clique at that time. If they ran, they had massive estates—uprooting and moving was tantamount to suffering a fire, and regardless of whether they were good people or bad, leaving one's ancestral soil was agonizing; if they didn't run, they had committed far too many atrocities and would inevitably face a reckoning.

Grandpa smiled at Qin Bailian and said, "With Master Qin's remarkable abilities, you could easily take this fellow down by yourself."

Qin Bailian shook his head. "Not at all! No matter how well I handle things myself, it's not as effective as having Grandpa step forward. Chinese people have always believed that 'monks from afar know how to chant better scriptures'; the less something is understood, the more mysterious it appears. I've been in Sichuan for so many years, playing a game of truth mixed with falsehood and falsehood mixed with truth, that they can no longer tell whether my skills are real or fake. Besides, if the money goes straight into my pocket, it's bound to arouse suspicion. Furthermore, this bandit and I have sworn blood brotherhood; just as a doctor cannot treat his own family, major undertakings like relocating ancestral tombs are best handled by an outsider!"

Grandpa burst into loud laughter. "Master Qin, brilliant! I am deeply impressed, truly impressed! However, since Master Qin shares a blood oath with him, that means the two of you swore an oath to the heavens together. Setting up a scam like this—aren't you afraid of karmic retribution?"

Qin Bailian chuckled. "Since when did Grandpa become so merciful? You and I are the good brothers who drank blood in a covenant; everyone else is just part of the scam!"

Grandpa cupped his fists in salute. "Well said!"

The next day, after dressing appropriately, Grandpa followed Qin Bailian to the bandit's estate.

Holding my Luopan compass, I followed closely behind Grandpa. I knew that Grandpa always prepared thoroughly for everything he did, but this time, I couldn't figure out where Grandpa's backup plan lay. I had always assumed someone would be here to meet and support us, but right up until now, it was still just the two of us. Two people facing Qin Bailian and a horde of bandits—this was literally walking into a tiger's den.

Thinking of this, I actually felt a sense of relief. Having chosen to follow Grandpa, life and death were entrusted entirely to him. If he were unfortunate enough to perish here, I would die alongside him; for a brother to follow his boss to the grave left no regrets.

Consequently, I remained completely calm along the journey. Once we stepped inside the gates, I acted proactively, helping Grandpa push his chair back and inviting him to sit. When the servants offered tea, I acted like a body-guard, blocking them from coming within three paces. I took the tea myself, and only after Qin Bailian and the bandit had both picked up their cups and taken a sip did I hand the tea to Grandpa, fearing the brew might be poisoned.

In truth, all my precautions were redundant. Qin Bailian would never let Grandpa die by such a crude method. If Grandpa died like that, Qin Bailian would lack all standards of finesse. Qin Bailian needed to build up immense momentum, orchestrating an intricate nested scheme so that the brothers across the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern guild halls would believe Grandpa deserved to die and that his death was entirely justified. Only then, after Grandpa was dead, could he present himself as innocent and benevolent, making it easy for him to clean up the aftermath.

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