Chapter 2 Sing Chi’s little group was reaching the capital. The life over there wasn’t easy : near the palace, near the army, every day, hundred ofpeasants were dying, young women were raped and soldiers were actinglike barbarians : destroying and stealing everything. On their way, Sing Chi’s group helped as much as they could, but therewas so many persons who needed their help... And to help, Sing Chineeded more money... No one in Hwa Shan had lot’s of money, just enough to live quietly and now, it had became a problem. Most of thepopulation were poor and starving. There was still some incredible richfamilies, but those families were too selfish to help around them. Theywere trying to protect themselves by paying the soldiers and justforget the rest of the population and the worst was what they weredoing was understandable and normal. As for food, it was a difficultytoo. Because of Li Zhi Ching revolution, lot’s of fields were destroyed, so this year, peasants couldn’t cultivate almost anything.Hopefully, some regions weren’t too affect and they could still havesome food, but most of their harvesting was collected by Li Zhi Ching’s troops and there was just left enough for them to survive and thoseliving near the sea were facing the same situation. There was food inthe capital, but only for those who could afford it. People who were living in isolated regions were the luckiest since nothing had really affected them. On his way, Sing Chi heard horrible things like: in many villages, peasants were cannibalizing each others, mothers were eatingtheir own babies, etc. You could see beggars everywhere. Members partof Union Beggars weren’t in bad conditions, used to beg to live, theyhad their own techniques to find food, but the others were dying one byone, just like flies. People who were running establishments could continue to live quietly, not as comfortable as before, but at least,they wouldn’t die. Again, no one helped the others. When they finally arrived to the capital, Sing Chi’s group weresurprised and shocked. They couldn’t recognized the capital : beggarswere everywhere, in small alleys, death bodies were found, a bad smellwas floating in the atmosphere and lot’s of establishments were destroyed. Everyday, soldiers would picked up the bodies and threw themin a gully somewhere. Before entering the capital, Sing Chi’s group haddecided to split up and all get to the house which Sing Chi owned whenhe and his friends were living in the capital to help Li Zhi Ching,just before this guy had become the emperor. They all went, in small group and in a separate way. Soon, Sing Chi and Ching Ching arrived to the house... It wasn’t destroyed and no one seemed to live in : it wasan incredible chance. When they approached, they understood why thehouse was inhabited : on the doors, you could see two yellow paperscrossed meaning that no one could enter. Surprisingly, no soldierswere around. Ching Ching and Sing Chi looked at each other and nodded :they jump on the roof and in less than a minute, they were in thegarden. The gorillas were following without much noises and they went right away to their reserved place, while Ching Ching and Sing Chiwere heading for the living room... « Do you think it was a good idea to bring the gorillas ? asked ChingChing in a low voice. -Why wouldn’t it be ? asked back Sing Chi, surprised. -Well, she started answering with a smile, peasants are hungry and when they gonna see the gorillas, they might want to eat them... you know if they can cannibalized the others, why can’t they eat your gorillas... » He understood that she was joking and just smiled. They sat in the living room waiting for the rest of the group. Then Ching Ching started to ask more questions :« Why would the house be forbidden ?-I don’t know, maybe Li Zhi Ching thought about what I did for him andwanted to keep this place... -Do you really think what you just said ? Maybe it’s a trap, Li Zhi Ching wants to capture and kill you like he just did with your daigoh... I mean, he isn’t the kind of person who is grateful... if hewas, he wouldn’t kill Li Yan dai goh. -But there’s no soldiers around here. If it was a trap, wouldn’t it be some soldiers guarding the house ? -That’s the main point of the trap ! They make us think there’s no trap by not posting any soldiers, but in reality, there’s plenty of them near here... -If it’s a trap, what are we doing here ? -Well, we don’t have to worry too much, you can beat everyone, answered Ching Ching with a big smile. -Ching Ching..., he couldn’t find his words, so smiled and changed of subject. Let’s talk about serious thing. -If you want so... What’s your plan to help the peasants ? We needmoney and fast... -Why worry, Ha shuk shuk ? suddenly asked Thoi.... Ching Ching and Sing Chi looked at the door and saw Tit Sau, Thoi and Tieu Tue standing.Everyone in Hwa Shan knew that Sing Chi will marry Ching Ching one day,so they considered her as a Hwa Shan’s member and called her consequently. Since Thoi called Sing Chi « Young shuk shuk », he called Ching Ching « Young goo goo », but because she was now dressed as a man as usually, he called her « Ha shuk shuk » instead. At first, Sing Chi and Ching Ching were embarrassed, but it was the others’ way to teaseand prove them that they’ve accepted her, so the couple didn’t say anything. -Yeah, Ching Ching, why worry ? You have your own way to find money !added Tieu Tue. The two young persons were referring to Ching Ching's past... she comes from a robbers’ family and last year, while Tieu Tue and Thoi were transporting Li Zhi Ching’s money, the 2 of them had anargue and went on a separated way. Then Ching Ching took advantage ofthe situation and stole all the money. It was just before she met Sing Chi, after meeting him, she had to give back the money and apologized for the misunderstand. At the same time, the « Dumb guy » and Hong Thang Hai arrived and satdown. -Stop you two ! Dai goh wants to talk about serious thing ! warned Ching Ching as if she was angry. And then, they all stared at Sing Chi and asked : -What’s the plan ? -Well, I agree that we have to find money and fast. Also, we have toprovide food... and avoid Li Zhi Ching’s men, at least those who could recognize us. So it’s mean that we can’t go and steal the rice’sprovisions of the capital and distribute it like that. We have to find another way... -And how are we going to find money ? asked Hong Thang Hai. - Sing Chi (he turned to face Tit Sau), Tieu Tue and Thoi’s idea isn’tbad. Ching Ching could go and steal just a part of very selfish andrich families’ fortunes, then we could buy food and distribute it to peasants...I don’t think there’s a rule forbidden us to steal things, told Ho Tit Sau. Everyone looked at him and waited for his answer. They saw Sing Chi hesitated, so Ching Ching added : -If you want, I can steal money only from Li Zhi Ching’s ministers,those who were part of his troops or the ministers of Ming dynasty that had surrendered under Li Zhi Ching’s power like chickens by giving himtheir fortunes. And it wouldn’t be stealing money, since they stole itfrom the peasants, it would be more like justice. Sing Chi thought and hesitated for a long time, but finally answered : -All right ! But only me and Dumb guy will accompany Ching Ching on herstealing affairs. Tomorrow, you guys (pointing at Thoi and Tieu Tue)will help the peasants, while the rest of us will try to spot Li ZhiChing’s ministers’ houses. And also, see mui, please, changed ofoutfit, if not, you’ll catch everyone attention !(Ho Tit Sau used to wear colorful outfit, she wasn’t wearing shoes and there was also heriron hand) Now, let’s get a rest ! » Tieu Tue and Thoi protested, they wanted to participate to the stealingmission, but Sing Chi explained that it was too risky, because lot’s of Li Zhi Ching’s men knew their faces, so they could get recognized more easily.They quickly cleaned their own room and went to sleep. Next day, Singchi gave all the money left to Thoi and Tieu Tue to buy rice and distribute it, and warned Thoi not get into troubles, he knew that thisyoung man was very impatient. That day, they spotted 5 big and nicehouses and late during the night, Ching ching had stolen a big amountof money. They continued the routine during 2 more nights.Strangely, after the second night, news spread that 10 houses werestolen and it was repeated on the next day, but Ching Ching only had stolen 5 houses each night. And of course, the soldiers were now afterthe robbers. On the fourth day, Sing Chi reunited the group to talk : « Who’s the other robbers ? Could it be someone of Hwa Shan ? asked Ching Ching. -I don’t think so, only our group headed the capital... answered Sing Chi. -And how come the robbers only started to steal money just like us,after we started ? asked Hong Thang Hai. It’s a strange coincidence... -It’s not a coincidence, the robbers want the soldiers to believe thatthere’s only a group of robbers, us, told Tit Sau. Sing Chi, I think that we should find the other robbers or group soon, at least, to know what they are doing with the money. Are they helping ? Or it’s fortheir personal use ? If it’s to help people, well we could become one group or leave the capital earlier to go to Shan Ghai Guan. I heard that the situation over there was critical... -I think you’re right, Tit Sau. We should know who are these people...This night, everyone will go out and try to find the robbers and there might be more than a group... Also try to avoid the soldiers and fights. » said Sing Chi. That night, they went all over the capital searching for robbers. Sing Chi and Ching Ching didn’t see anyone that looked suspicious. They wereon their way back when Ching Ching wanted to steal a house. She had to argue a while before convincing her lover. On their route, there was Thong Hien Sac’s big house, one of Li Zhi Ching’s man that didn’t like Sing Chi much. She was about to jump on the roof when Sing Chi stoppedher and pointed at a black shadow : someone dressed in black with aheavy bag on his back was getting out of the house by the roof. They could only see two brilliant eyes, since his face was hidden by a blackscarf, proving that this person’s inner power was really powerful. Then the black dressed man started to run away real fast. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------