During the reign of the Qing Dynasty of the Tongzhi Emperor (1856-1875), a Jiangsu merchant named Jin spent considerable money purchasing five maritime ships to trade between the Eastern and Western oceans.
Each ship had guards on board to ward off pirates, who were common enemies of merchants. Finally, in the spring of Jia-Zi (1864), the ships were ready to begin their voyages.
A feast and opera performance
Before the vessels sailed, a feast was held with a lively performance by a famous local opera troupe to entertain the guards seated at the main table as the guests of honor.
Merchant Jin was at another table accompanying the officials. He specifically told his son and nephew to look after the guards. His close relatives were both young men who were competitive, lively, and liked a bit of action.
So when they saw one of the guards being arrogant and snobbish, they talked privately about putting him to the test to see if his skills were as good as he was boasting. After getting drunk, everyone took a break and went to the back garden for a walk to enjoy the scenery. Jin’s nephew and others came forward to invite the arrogant guard to show off his skills.
The guard looked around him and saw a willow tree growing horizontally next to the road, so he said: “This willow tree hinders everyone from walking; I will remove it for you.”
With that, he instantly slapped his palm on the willow tree. There was a “click” sound, and the thick tree trunk was cut in half as if chopped with a sharp axe. Everyone admired the guard’s skills, but the tree was destroyed, which was not considerate toward the host and damaging to nature.
The girl from Huaiyin
At this moment, a group of refugees from Huaiyin passed by the garden, begging for money as they went. One of the group was a young delicate-looking girl who, despite her slight appearance, exuded a heroic spirit from between her eyebrows, the site of the legendary third eye.
Her demeanor was different to those of the ordinary people she was with. The girl went from door to door with the rest of the refugees to beg for money.
When the refugees arrived at the door of a firm trading foreign goods, they were ridiculed by several egotistical men. These frivolous people hastily drove away the old and young male refugees but kept back all the girls.
One of the men saw the delicate girl and deliberately played with a copper coin in his hand for a while. Then he threw the coin at the girl’s feet. He thought the girl would bend over to pick up the money, and he could take advantage of her.
Who would expect the girl to be furious? But she stretched her finger, pointed at the guy, and reprimanded him: “You are blind! How dare you humiliate me with your stinky coin. Today, I will penalize you for one thousand coins, or else I will not leave.” After that, the girl sat on the doorstep, blocking people from moving freely in and out. These frivolous people were stunned to see the girl so aggressive, and they looked at each other with dismay.
Encounter with the porters
At this time, a group of porters was hurrying to carry sugar bags from the company, each weighing about a hundred catties (approximately 60 kilograms). These porters have the strength to carry heavy loads. They saw the girl blocking their way when they arrived at the door, so they shouted at her to move away. However, the girl stayed put and deliberately stretched out her hand to stop them.
The porters became furious and wanted to drop the bags on her. But,surprisingly, the girl took a bag from one of the porters, flicked it with her hand, and threw it away from her with little effort.
The other porters started to shout and threw the bags at the girl. The girl was undaunted and countered. She tossed more than 10 bags thrown at her like “missiles” left to right into the street and repelled the group of porters.
The girl became even more furious and told the porters: “You rely on your numbers and power to bully me, an orphan girl, causing me to suffer internal injuries, and now trying to escape responsibility. If you don’t give me the money for treatment, this matter will not be settled.”
The noise of arguing and shouting between the two sides reached Merchant Jin’s mansion. When Jin heard the commotion, he quickly stopped the opera performance and ran out with the other guests to see what had happened.
A few young men told him: “Today, we can see the guards’ skills.” They added: “We have seen that this girl’s strength is unparalleled in the world; no one can match it. We wonder if you can defeat her.” They were provoking the arrogant guard to fight the girl.
To the arrogant guard, a girl is just a weak person. So he told the girl: “I can bring you down with only two fingers!” After saying so, he stretched out his arm and stepped forward. He was going to lift the girl by the collar.
A powerful force
Little did he know that the girl would not wait for him; before he could strike, she raised her palm and hit him on the chest. The force was powerful, and the guard was flung 20 to 30 feet away. He crashed straight into an empty cabinet in a sitting position with his eyes wide open. Everyone burst into laughter.
The young men were amused and also afraid. They quickly squeezed out from the crowd to report to Merchant Jin that the girl beat their guard, and he could not get up.
When Jin heard the news, he told his subordinates to return the guard to treat his injuries quickly. He also asked about the cause of the incident and told his son to take out 1,000 coins to give to the girl and persuade her to leave the place.
Back at the mansion, Jin called his son, nephew, and others and severely scolded them for creating trouble, causing the guard to lose face and get hurt. Merchant Jin then personally took his son and nephew to visit the injured man, but did not expect the guard to have quietly slipped away through the back door; he was nowhere to be seen.
Later, the young men secretly discussed: “If we could hire the girl to be the guard, there will be no rivals at sea. The next day, there was news that the government had prepared boats and money to escort the Huaiyin refugees out of the district. The young men immediately went to the pier when they heard the news.
The old man
They went from one boat to another to search for the girl. They finally found the girl on the last boat and saw an old man sitting inside, his clothes tattered, but the sapphire on top of his hat was shining. This sapphire was only available to officials of the fourth to sixth grades of the Qing Dynasty. This old man was not an ordinary person.
The old man was seen babbling and scolding the girl standing beside him, her head bowed and weeping. Then, finally, the young men requested to see the older man, and the girl was asked to enter the inner cabin.
The old man came out to greet them and respectfully invited them to sit in the cabin. Everyone sat down, and Jin’s son asked: “What is your position? How did you end up wandering here in this condition?”
The old man sighed and answered: “I was initially a native of Shenyang. I once served as a commander in the capital, but I am now retired due to old age and live in my hometown.
Unexpectedly, there was too much rain this summer, the Huai River burst, and my family’s fields and houses were flooded. Since there is no way to survive, I must come out with the other victims to beg.”
The young men looked at the old man sympathetically and said: “It is unfortunate. Did the girl come with you?”
The old man nodded and replied: “I don’t have any sons, only this daughter, who just turned fifteen. Yesterday, she used her palm to injure the guard to ask for money. How can a girl be so rough, injuring others and ruining other people’s livelihoods? So ignorant! I must teach her a lesson.”
After hearing what the older man said, the young men described what had happened during the incident the previous day. They even praised the girl for her skills. Then, they told the old man they intended to hire his daughter as a guard so he didn’t have to return to his hometown.
The old man shook his head and said to the young men: “My daughter and I are very grateful for your kindness. My in-law is the governor of Zhejiang, and my son-in-law is also an important official. So I am ready to send my daughter to Zhejiang to get married so I can rely on her to care for me for the rest of my life.”
On hearing this, the young men did not ask again. Instead, they congratulated the older man and left in disappointment.
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