Chapter 50: Boat Congee
Tanka customs are uninhibited, without the etiquette restraints on women from the shore, nor any rule that a girl’s name cannot be casually revealed.
Several people greeted each other.
Bai Qing called Lin Qian and the others aboard, then rowed to catch up with the fleet.
Lin Qian noticed that this small boat was much smaller than others’ Tanka boats and was feeling puzzled.
Bai Langzai asked first: “Elder Sister, why didn’t you row the big boat? Where is Mother?”
Bai Qing stood at the stern and said: “The big boat is moored at the pearl farm. Mother is getting old and it is inconvenient for her to travel at sea. I planned to return with the small boat. After the officials finished counting, I would head back early.”
Pearl commoners are counted by household, with one boat equaling one household, so only one boat needs to return per family.
If not for her shrill voice, Bai Qing would look just like a skinny dark-skinned man, dressed in men’s short attire, her bare feet stepping on the planks.
Lin Qian saw Bai Langzai remove his shoes and socks after boarding and assumed this was a Tanka custom, so he removed his own shoes and socks as well.
Zheng Zhilong followed suit.
Bai Qing saw this and smiled: “Elder Brother Lin, Brother Zheng, let’s eat on the boat tonight. I’ll cook boat congee for everyone.”
Bai Langzai had been following Lin Qian for the past two days, eating delicacies of land and sea at every meal, and figured Lin Qian would look down on their homemade boat congee.
So he spoke up: “Elder Sister, Elder Brother Lin he…”
Halfway through his words, Lin Qian interrupted: “Sounds great. Thank you, Elder Sister of the Bai Family.”
Bai Qing spoke Cantonese while Lin Qian spoke the official language. Though their accents differed vastly, with Zheng Zhilong and Bai Langzai translating in between, they could understand each other.
Bai Qing laughed: “What Elder Sister of the Bai Family? I’m not necessarily older than you. How old is Elder Brother Lin this year?”
Seeing Bai Qing so forthright, Lin Qian dropped the flowery speech and said bluntly: “Just turned twenty this year.”
“Yo, then you got that sister call wrong. I’m only seventeen. If anything, I should be calling you elder brother.”
Lin Qian smiled modestly on the surface but felt slightly surprised inside.
Bai Qing did not look like a seventeen-year-old at all. People would believe it if said she was twenty-five.
Sure enough, people age faster under heavy labor.
No wonder the two siblings, so young, would speak of “Mother getting old.” Under such cruel labor exploitation, even thirty or forty years old would count as advanced age among Tanka people.
……
The small boat sailed all the way to Poshan Wharf.
This was a sheltered harbor, far from Guangzhou City, with sparse habitation around.
It was the mooring ground for Bai Langzai’s group of Tanka people.
Lin Qian took a rough look: there were over a thousand boats in the port, gathered in groups of a hundred, with passageways left in between.
Arranged so neatly and orderly, each boat must have a fixed berth.
According to Zheng Zhilong, Great Ming also imposed a baojia system on Tanka people, just like shore folk: one boat counted as one household, ten households formed one jia, and ten jia formed one bao.
Bai Qing and her brother cooked porridge at the bow.
Once cooked, Bai Langzai brought a bowl over for Lin Qian: “Elder Brother Lin, try it.”
Lin Qian took it and stirred lightly with the spoon; it contained plenty of fish, shrimp, and river delicacies.
However, whether from the porridge’s watery consistency or the chipped utensils, their poverty was evident.
Lin Qian scooped a spoonful and instinctively blew on it with his mouth, only to find no steam at all—the porridge was lukewarm.
When he put it in his mouth, he realized it was all undercooked rice; the porridge was bitter and salty, which only accentuated the fishy taste of the shrimp.
Bai Langzai gave Lin Qian an apologetic look.
It was impossible to use a big fire to cook porridge on a boat, and even if cooked on shore, their family lacked enough firewood—they could only make it like this.
Bai Qing ate with a beaming smile. Even this undercooked, fishy rice porridge was probably not something their family ate often.
Lin Qian ate it down spoonful by spoonful, then smiled: “Very delicious.”
Bai Qing smilingly took the bowl and rinsed it in the river water, saying: “Glad Elder Brother Lin likes it.”
She was not pretending. Bai Qing had never left a Tanka boat; she genuinely thought boat congee was delicious—the best thing she had ever eaten.
While no one was looking, Zheng Zhilong tilted his head back and gulped down the porridge. Unable to speak, he just gave a thumbs up.
After the meal, Bai Langzai called his elder sister back to the cabin and mysteriously took a cloth bag from his clothes to hand to her.
Bai Qing opened it and saw lustrous white pearls inside, stacked layer upon layer, amounting to seven or eight taels.
Dealing with pearls daily, she could tell at a glance that every one in the bag was top-grade; a single one was worth ten lower-grade pearls.
This bag of top-grade pearls was enough to cover their whole family’s yearly tax and still leave plenty over.
Bai Qing jumped in fright, quickly sealed the bag, gripped the dagger at her waist with one hand, and eyed Lin Qian and Zheng Zhilong warily.
The boat was so small that the two of them must have seen the bag of pearls—no guarantee they would not covet it.
Among pearl households diving at sea, she had seen plenty of cases of mutual harm over a single top-grade pearl. Her survival intact thus far was not due to a soft heart.
At this moment, Bai Langzai blocked Bai Qing: “Elder Sister, this was all earned under Elder Brother Lin’s lead. There will be more pearls like this in the future.”
Bai Qing froze, just as Lin Qian’s gaze met hers—utterly fearless, with a hint of appreciation.
Bai Qing had only ever seen this look in one kind of person—sea bandits!
Only sea bandits would appreciate Tanka people, fierce in custom yet desperately poor.
Bai Qing was inexperienced, not stupid. In an instant, she understood where Bai Langzai’s pearls came from and figured out Lin Qian and Zheng Zhilong’s identities.
This actually put her at ease.
After all, sea bandits were better than ordinary shore people.
Moreover, her brother seemed to have boarded the sea bandits’ ship long ago, so she had even less to worry about.
Bai Qing released her grip on the dagger: “The leader has seen something laughable.”
Lin Qian laughed: “If not for your movement just now, I really would not have noticed the dagger at your waist. Now I know where Bai Langzai got his skills.”
Bai Qing said: “Water folk always need to stay vigilant.” Then she stepped out from under the boat awning and looked around left and right.
Seeing Tanka people on surrounding boats all busy with their own tasks and no one paying attention here, she finally relaxed.
Bai Qing ducked back into the cabin and first cupped her hands to Lin Qian: “My brother was well cared for by the leader at sea. I thank you on his behalf.”
Lin Qian waved his hand: “Still call me Elder Brother Lin. Calling leader every time is too conspicuous.”
“Yes.” Bai Qing glanced at Bai Langzai, then at the bag of pearls, steeled herself, and said: “Elder Brother Lin is my brother’s sworn elder brother and has shown grace to our family. If our siblings can be of use, please command us freely!”
“There really is one thing…”
Lin Qian had not originally planned to state his purpose, but with Bai Qing so open and frank, he held nothing back.
“Are there many doctors in Poshan Wharf?”
Hearing this question, Bai Qing was momentarily stunned.
……
The next day, Su Kang and his daughter rose early and came to Poshan Wharf outside the city to hold a free clinic for Tanka people.
He had not wanted to come, but he owed Lin Qian silver from before.
Even setting aside the favor, for the silver alone he had to come.
Upon reaching the dock, the father and daughter set up their stall, laid out various utensils, and soon Tanka people began rowing over one after another to come ashore for consultation.
In the port, the Bai Family’s small boat continued shuttling through the boat baos, informing everyone of the doctor’s free clinic.
Tanka lives were hard, with everyone suffering from ailments, but barely filling their stomachs left no room to speak of seeking medical care.
Even if they had silver and wanted to go ashore for treatment, they would face discrimination and be refused by medical halls.
Over time, this only deepened the Tanka estrangement from shore people, making them unwilling to go ashore for treatment, so many minor illnesses dragged on and worsened until death.
Having Su Kang hold a free clinic for Tanka people would win hearts and further test his medical skill—after all, many Tanka illnesses were also ones crew members were likely to get.
Besides Su Kang, Lin Qian had Zheng Zhilong and Bai Langzai separately recruit over ten renowned doctors from across the city to come hold free clinics as well.
It counted as a medical skill contest, allowing Lin Qian to decide which doctor to recruit based on the results.
For this, Lin Qian spent another over ten taels of silver.
To avoid alarming the yamen runners, Lin Qian had Zheng Zhilong pay them off with silver, costing another two taels.
During the consultations, Lin Qian stayed on shore, lingering at each medical stall for a while—first to assess the doctors’ levels.
Second, after all, the silver could not be wasted; the Tanka people needed to recognize his face.
At lunchtime, Su Kang let out a long sigh.
“Dad, why the sigh? Isn’t the meal good?” Mei’er said.
These meals had been bought fresh on Lin Qian’s orders, with both vegetables and meat—what he considered mere work fare.
But to poor doctors like Su Kang and his daughter, it was already rare meat and vegetables.
Su Kang said: “These Tanka may be ignorant and cunning, but they are human after all. Some had minor illnesses that went untreated too long, leaving roots of disease—truly a pity.”
Before Mei’er could speak, a nearby free-clinic doctor sneered sarcastically.
“Isn’t this Doctor Su of the ‘Orthodox Chinese Medicine’? Bringing your daughter out on calls now?”
Su Kang followed the lineage of Chen Shigong, who authored the book 《Orthodox Surgery》, so their branch was called the orthodox school.
Because they advocated bold surgery and incisions for combined internal-external treatment, they were disliked by other schools favoring internal medicine; plus Su Kang’s foul temper and poor networking, they faced even more suppression.
That doctor deliberately twisted 《Orthodox Surgery》 into “Orthodox Chinese Medicine” to mock them.
Su Kang just kept eating and ignored the man.
Mei’er said: “Instead of wasting time bickering, you could treat two more patients.”
The man snorted coldly: “A bunch of bent-feet. If not for the silver, who would care about them.”
Their quarrel was loud enough that “bent-feet” reached the ears of surrounding Tanka people, causing many to glare angrily at that doctor.
The doctor put on a fierce front to mask his cowardice and feigned anger: “What are you looking at, you filthy lot!”
Lin Qian had quietly arrived behind that doctor and calmly said: “Leave. You’re not needed this afternoon.”
The doctor whirled around in fury, recognized his patron Lin Qian, and immediately switched to a fawning face, apologizing profusely.
Lin Qian coolly uttered one word: “Scram.”
The doctor’s face flushed beet red. He wanted to argue but had no ground to stand on. His gaze swept over the wharf Tanka people and Su Kang’s father-daughter pair, all regarding him with composed leisure.
The doctor flicked his sleeve in rage and fled the scene like a routed soldier.
The Tanka people erupted in cheers.
Mei’er said to her father: “Dad, see? He really is a good person!”
Su Kang: “Shut up!”
