'What a crowd!’ he muttered after a while. 'See that awful dwarf over there? Can't understand how I missed that ugly mug when I came in!'
Tao Gan looked at the small squat man sitting all alone at the table near the door. He had a flat, swarthy face with a low, deeply furrowed brow and a broad nose. Small, deep-set eyes lowered from under ragged eyebrows. His large, hairy hands were clasped round his empty beaker.
'The only fellow of decent appearance is our neighbour!’ Tao Gan whispered. 'Has the looks of a professional boxer.' He pointed with his chin at the wide-shouldered man sitting alone at the next table. He wore a neat, dark-blue gown, its black sash wound tightly round his slender waist. His heavy-lidded eyes gave his handsome, deeply tanned face a sleepy expression. He was staring into space, seemingly oblivious of his surroundings.
The slovenly waiter put two large jugs before them. Then he went back to the counter. He pointedly ignored the dwarf who was waving his empty beaker at him.
Chiao Tai took a sip, looking rather sceptical. 'Not bad at all!' he exclaimed, agreeably surprised. He emptied his beaker and added, 'Quite good, in fact!' He drank his second beaker in one long draught. Tao Gan followed his example with a happy grin.
The bearded man at the counter had been watching them all the time. He counted the beakers they drank. When he saw the two friends begin yet another round, their sixth, he started to leave the counter. Then his eye fell on the dwarf, and he checked himself. The boxer at the next table, who had been watching from the corners of his hooded eyes both the bearded man and the dwarf, now sat up straight. He pensively stroked his short, neatly trimmed ring-beard.
Chiao Tai set down his empty beaker. He clapped his heavy hand on his friend's bony shoulder and said with a broad grin:
'I don't like the city, I don't like the damned hot weather, and I don't like this smelly taproom. But by heaven the wine's all right, and anyway it's good to be out on a job again. What about you, eh, brother Tao?'
'I got fed up with the capital too,' the other replied. 'Be careful, your badge is showing.'
Chiao Tai pulled the lapels of his jacket close. But the bearded man at the counter had got a glimpse of the golden badge, and his lips curved in a satisfied smile. Then his face fell again as he saw a blue-turbaned Arab with a cast in his left eye come in and join the dwarf. The bearded man turned to the counter and gave the innkeeper a sign to fill his beaker.
'Heaven knows I am not cut out for the part of a parade colonel!' Chiao Tai exclaimed, as he refilled their beakers. 'Had four years of it now, mind you! You should see the bed I'm supposed to sleep in! Silk pillows, silk coverlets, and brocade curtains! Makes me feel like a blooming whore! Know what I do, every blasted night? Take out the reed mat I keep hidden behind the bed, roll it out on the floor, and lay me down there for a good night's rest! Only bother is that every morning I have to rumple the bedding a bit, to keep up appearances for my orderlies, you see!'
He guffawed. Tao Gan joined him. In their happy mood they did not notice that their laughter sounded very loud. Conversation had come to a standstill; the guests stared in sullen silence at the door. The dwarf was talking angrily to the waiter who stood with folded arms in front of his table. The boxer watched them too, then again turned his gaze towards the man by the counter.
'As for me,' Tao Gan said with his sly grin, 'tonight I can go to sleep in peace in toy attic. I won't have to first shoo away those young maidservants my house-steward keeps trotting out. The scoundrel still hopes to sell me one as a concubine some day!’
'Why don't you tell the rascal to stop that nonsense? Here, have another drink!’
'It saves money, my friend! Those wenches come to work for free, hoping to catch this wealthy old bachelor, you see!’ Tao Gan emptied his beaker, then resumed, 'Fortunately you and I are not the marrying kind, brother Chiao! Unlike our friend and colleague Ma Joong!'
'Don't mention the low wretch!’ Chiao Tai shouted. 'To think that after he married those twin-sisters four years ago, he has sired six boys and two girls! That's debasing into hard labour what ought to be a gentleman's pleasure! And he's afraid to come home drunk nowadays. Did you...'
He broke off and looked astonished at the commotion by the door. The ugly dwarf and the Arab had risen. Their faces flushed and angry, they had begun to curse the waiter who was trying to shout them down. The other guests were watching the scene with impassive faces. Suddenly the Arab groped for his dagger. The dwarf quickly took his arm, and pulled him outside. The waiter grabbed the dwarf's wine-beaker and threw it after him. It smashed to pieces on the cobblestones. An approving murmur rose from the crowd.
'They don't like Arabs here,' Chiao Tai remarked. The man at the next table turned his head. 'No, it wasn't the Arab, exactly,' he told them in good northern Chinese. 'But you are right, we don't like Arabs here either. Why should they come? They don't drink our wine, anyway. Aren't allowed to, by their creed.'
'Those black bastards miss the best things of life!’ Chiao Tai said with a grin. 'Join us in a round!’ As the stranger smiled and pulled his chair up to their table, Chiao Tai asked him, 'Are you from up north?'
'No, I was born and bred here in Canton. But I have travelled about a lot, and a traveller has to learn languages. I am a sea captain, you see. My name is Nee, by the way. What brought you people down here?'
'We are just passing through,' Tao Gan explained. 'We are clerks belonging to the suite of an official who is now touring the province.'
The captain gave Chiao Tai a judicious look.
'I'd have thought that you were army.'
'I used to do a bit of boxing and fencing, as a hobby,' Chiao Tai said casually. 'You interested in that too?’
'Fencing, mainly. Especially with Arab blades. Had to learn that, for I used to be on the regular run over to the Persian Gulf. There are plenty of pirates about in those waters, you know.'
'It beats me how they manage those curved blades,' Chiao Tai remarked.
'You'd be surprised,' Captain Nee said. Soon he and Chiao Tai were in animated conversation about different kinds of sword-fighting. Tao Gan listened absent-mindedly and concentrated on keeping the beakers filled. But when he heard the captain quote some technical terms in Arabic, he looked up and asked:
'You know their lingo?'
'Enough to get along. Picked up Persian too. All in the day's work!’ And to Chiao Tai: 'I'd like to show you my collection of foreign swords. What about coming along for a drink at my place? I live over in the east city.'
'Tonight we're rather busy,' Chiao Tai replied. 'Could you make it tomorrow morning?'
The other darted a quick glance at the man at the counter.
'All right,' he said. 'Where are you staying?'
'At the Five Immortals' Inn, near the Moslem mosque.'
The captain started to say something, but changed his mind. He sipped his wine, then asked casually, 'Is your friend staying there too?' When Chiao Tai shook his head, the captain resumed with a shrug, 'Well, you're fully capable of looking after yourself, I dare say. I'll send a litter to fetch you, say about an hour after breakfast.'
Tao Gan paid the bill, and they took their leave of their new acquaintance. The sky had cleared; the river breeze felt pleasantly cool on their flushed faces. The quay now presented an animated scene. Hawkers had set up their night-stalls all along the waterside, lit by strings of coloured lampions. The river was dotted with torches on small boats, moored stem to stern. The breeze wafted the smell of burning firewood to them. The waterfolk were preparing their evening rice.
'Let's rent a litter,' Tao Gan said. 'It's quite a long way to the Governor's Palace.'