The Bund’s Turmoil, Chapter 31: A Tiny Handkerchief, Holding a Universe Within

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Inside the county yamen’s constables’ office, the wind hurled fallen camphor leaves against the window lattice, their faint rustling filling the room.

Tieliang clutched a crumpled slip of paper, his brows knotted tightly together. The strain had turned his knuckles white.

When he had reported for duty that morning, the paper had been lying squarely in the center of his desk.

There was no envelope and no signature, yet the writing seemed tempered in ice; merely looking at it sent a chill down one’s spine.

The murder of Liu Wei, which had troubled him for days, had been dissected with perfect clarity on that single sheet.

A fisherman had been killed while resisting eviction. His eldest son had entered a foreign trading house to work for foreigners, then secretly slipped back into the county town and killed Squad Captain Liu, the ringleader—all to avenge his father.

The boy’s name was Chen Lin.

The paper not only made the motive clear; it even recorded, word for word, who had seen Chen Lin enter the town that day.

“Who could it be?” Tieliang leaned against a cold wooden pillar and murmured pensively.

These days, there were not many people willing to meddle in other people’s affairs.

What, exactly, did the other party hope to gain?

“Chen Lin?”

He suddenly straightened, his eyes widening. The slip fluttered from his hand and landed on the floor with a rustle.

That name… How could it be him?

A figure sprang instantly into his memory—the tall, thin youth whose head had been covered by the kidnappers, yet whose gaze had remained resolute.

…

The sedan chairs arrived quickly, one corner of the blue cloth curtain lifting in the wind.

Chen Lin and Jenny each rode in a separate chair. Chen Lin’s was carried by Pan Qiliang and several others, whose footsteps were remarkably steady.

Chen Lin now regarded his life as precious beyond measure. He carried pepper spray against his chest and kept a bottle of ether in his pocket, touching it from time to time with his fingertips before he could feel at ease.

The county town was far safer than Yangjing Town.

They had encountered no troublemakers along the way; the only delay had come from a traffic jam at the town entrance.

The people at the morning market had packed the streets until there was scarcely room to pass. Vegetable sellers carrying baskets and men pushing handcarts shouted their wares so loudly that their cries drowned out the clatter of hooves.

Fortunately, Yu Garden was not far from the town gate. After two turns, they arrived.

The Gu family residence in town was not large. Its interior displayed an unmistakable frugality: a modest courtyard with two sections, and simple floral carvings on the lintel.

As they entered, Chen Lin took out the calling card from the Dandy Foreign Firm. His fingertips paused briefly over the gilded lettering.

The gatekeeper squinted at it, then hurriedly bent at the waist and ran inside. His heels struck the flagstones in a rapid rhythm.

Before long, he came hurrying back, gasping for breath, and led the two visitors toward the guest room in a fluster.

A middle-aged man sat inside. He appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties and wore three narrow strands of beard. His fair skin looked as though it had never seen sunlight, and his refined appearance suggested a mild and scholarly nature.

“I am Chen Lin, an assistant at the Dandy Foreign Firm. I have accompanied Miss Dandy to pay a visit to Mr. Gu.”

Chen Lin clasped his hands and bowed with precisely the right degree of courtesy, though his eyes did not miss the contempt lurking in the other man’s gaze.

He had already guessed that this was not Gu Fuchang, but most likely one of the Gu family’s sons.

“A mere assistant and a little yellow-haired girl dare demand an audience with my father?” The young man lifted his teacup, scraping the lid against its rim with an ear-piercing sound. “Are foreigners all so ignorant of etiquette?”

His voice was nothing like his refined appearance. It was barbed, pricking the ears.

“May I ask whom I have the honor of addressing?” Chen Lin clasped his hands again, not the slightest trace of anger on his face.

Back when he had worked in the technical department, he had accompanied the public-relations team on countless assignments. He had seen far too many people who began by putting on airs.

Who did this man think he was frightening?

Jenny, however, had less patience. Her expression immediately darkened. She tipped up her chin and waved her fan despite the bitter cold, making the panels rustle loudly as she deliberately pretended not to understand Chinese.

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The young man glanced at Jenny, then turned back to Chen Lin. A mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

“Boy, you come knocking without even knowing who I am, and you still call that preparation? Has Mr. Dandy lost his temper?”

Chen Lin did not answer. Instead, he smiled.

“As the young master of the Gu family, you seem rather isolated from the world beyond your windows.” He clasped his hands once more, his voice perfectly steady. “Since Mr. Dandy sent me here, he naturally has his reasons.”

After a pause, he raised his chin slightly.

“My name is Chen Lin. Here in Shanghai, surely you have heard of me?”

Gu Shousong shook his head and spread his hands in imitation of a foreigner, deliberately drawing out his reply.

“Never heard of you.”

“Hahaha!”

Chen Lin laughed aloud, his voice carrying the swagger of youth.

“You jest, Brother Gu. I am only fourteen, yet I speak fluent English. I joined the Dandy Foreign Firm five days ago and have already instructed craftsmen in erecting the framework of a four-story office building. I even developed a cement accelerator myself. That one invention alone has earned me fifty thousand silver dollars.”

Arrogant! The boy was outrageously arrogant!

The teacup in Gu Shousong’s hand trembled, splashing tea onto his lapel. He did not even notice.

Those words had utterly overturned everything he thought he knew.

Yet Chen Lin was not finished.

He shot to his feet and walked over to Gu Shousong. Looking down at him, he spoke without the slightest hint of respect.

“I wonder what you were doing when you were fourteen, Brother Gu. In all the years since, have you ever earned fifty thousand silver dollars through your own efforts?”

“You… you arrogant little wretch!”

Gu Shousong sprang to his feet as well. His chest heaved violently, and he pointed at Chen Lin.

“If you keep this up, I’ll have the servants throw you out!”

But once he stood, he discovered that he was still shorter than Chen Lin.

The top of his head barely reached the boy’s shoulder. The humiliating difference only fueled his fury, and his face flushed the color of liver.

Chen Lin gave him no chance to continue. He leaned half a step closer and lowered his voice.

“Brother Gu, don’t be angry. I do not mean to look down on you.”

He paused, and his eyes sharpened.

“Think about it. Mr. Dandy was willing to spend fifty thousand silver dollars in a single payment to purchase something from an employee who had been with the firm for only five days. What does that tell you? It tells you that I can bring him even greater value.”

Gu Shousong panted, his neck stiff with indignation.

“So what? What does that have to do with my Gu family?”

“Because I have come today to present your family with a fortune from heaven.”

Chen Lin’s voice rang out like a struck bell. His eyes locked firmly on Gu Shousong.

“As the eldest son of the Gu family, are you in a position to refuse such a magnificent gift?”

The words struck Gu Shousong like a stone. He staggered backward two steps, then collapsed into his chair with a heavy thud.

A fourteen-year-old boy had radiated such overwhelming authority that a man nearing thirty had lost his composure.

Jenny stared at him, utterly transfixed.

At some point, her fan had stopped moving. Its face stood upright, conveniently covering her mouth—she was afraid someone might see how close she was to gaping in astonishment.

Just then, a cough came from beyond the rear door of the reception hall, hoarse as a cracked gong.

From the corner of his eye, Chen Lin saw Gu Shousong’s face turn deathly pale. All his earlier arrogance vanished.

Chen Lin also looked toward the rear door and saw an elderly man, nearly fifty, enter the room.

The old man was vigorous and alert. He wore a blue satin jacket with a high fur collar protecting his neck. His lean face was framed by bright, hawklike eyes that swept across the room with an oppressive force.

“Good day, Mr. Gu.”

Chen Lin clasped his hands before the newcomer could speak.

This had to be Gu Fuchang.

The trick of sending a lesser son forward to test the waters while keeping oneself out of sight was far too common.

Gu Fuchang maintained the dignity appropriate to his years. He nodded at Chen Lin and spoke in a leisurely tone.

“Please sit, Young Mr. Chen.”

Then his gaze shifted to Gu Shousong.

Gu Shousong looked like a rat that had seen a cat. He immediately hunched over, lowering his head until it nearly touched his chest.

“You useless wretch!”

Gu Fuchang’s voice suddenly turned cold.

“I told you to entertain an honored guest, and this is how you do it? You have brought shame upon the reputation of the Gu family. Go back and kneel before the ancestral tablets!”

Gu Shousong no longer dared to argue. Head bowed, he hurried out of the reception hall almost as though fleeing. The soles of his shoes scraped across the floor with a soft rasp.

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“Mr. Gu, this is the eldest daughter of the Dandy Foreign Firm.”

Chen Lin turned and gestured toward Jenny.

“May I ask whether there are any ladies of the household? If it is convenient, perhaps someone could accompany Miss Dandy on a tour of Yu Garden.”

He was trying to send Jenny away.

There were certain matters that outsiders had no need to hear.

Gu Fuchang was far more perceptive than Gu Shousong. He immediately nodded and called toward the door, “Someone!”

Before long, a woman in a blue cotton jacket entered and respectfully led Jenny out of the reception hall.

Only Chen Lin and Gu Fuchang remained.

It was difficult to imagine that this lean, wiry man before him was the foremost of Nanxun’s Four Great Wealthy Families, a titan of the Huzhou silk trade whose fortune amounted to tens of millions.

Seated in his chair, he kept his back perfectly straight and tapped his fingers lightly against the edge of the table. He said nothing, yet an air of authority emanated from him.

“Young Mr. Chen, it is just the two of us now.” Gu Fuchang spoke first, his tone direct and businesslike. “When discussing business, there is no need for circumlocution.”

That suited Chen Lin perfectly.

He turned and drew a piece of brilliant purple silk from the bundle behind him. It was no larger than a handkerchief, and the material appeared ordinary enough, with only simple stitching along the edges.

Yet Gu Fuchang’s eyes lit up at once.

After spending decades in the silk trade, his sensitivity to fabric was keener than a cat’s sense for fish.

Under the dim light, that square of purple silk seemed to glow like a piece of gold, fixing his gaze in place.

He could not stop himself from rising. His steps quickened as he approached Chen Lin.

Beneath his smooth beard, the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably. His eyes opened wide, and even his breathing grew heavier.

Chen Lin respectfully handed him the silk, releasing it gently with his fingertips.

When Gu Fuchang took it, his hands trembled slightly.

He had lived more than half a century and weathered every kind of storm. His mastery of composure had long since reached perfection. Yet at that moment, he could not suppress the excitement surging through him.

The smoothness beneath his fingertips, the vivid yet gentle purple—he had never seen anything like it.

The silk trade consisted of one stage upon another: raising silkworms and producing silk floss, reeling and spinning, weaving plain cloth, then dyeing and patterning.

The further one advanced, the greater the profit—and the more sophisticated the technology.

Before chemical dyes appeared, people throughout the world relied on plant-based or mineral dyes.

Such natural dyes were most vulnerable to sunlight and washing. The slightest carelessness caused them to fade.

Bright red, vivid purple, and golden yellow were especially precious. In earlier times, golden yellow had been reserved for the imperial household, far beyond the means of ordinary people.

The women of wealthy and powerful families took pride in wearing brilliant reds and purples. In time, the phrase “brilliant red and purple” came to describe someone rising spectacularly in the world.

But the dye used on this purple handkerchief was unquestionably something he had never encountered before.

The color was vivid, the texture smooth, and the dye appeared to have penetrated the fibers thoroughly.

If the Gu family could obtain the formula for such a dye…

Gu Fuchang’s heart began to beat faster. He could not resist scraping the silk lightly with his fingernail.

No color came off. The fibers did not even roughen.

Suddenly, he regretted sending his eldest son to test the young man.

If Gu Shousong had truly driven him away, would the Gu family not have missed an opportunity that came once in a thousand years?

He lifted his eyes to Chen Lin, a new solemnity in his gaze.

This fourteen-year-old boy was certainly not as simple as he appeared.

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