Red Sorghum

a lesson for you. He wants you to take these ten silver dollars home to open a small business and forget about ill-gotten wealth.’
    Great-Granddad accepted the silver dollars and kowtowed gratefully, not rising to his feet until the black colt had crossed the railway tracks.
    Magistrate Cao had been sitting alone in the main hall of the government office thinking for half an hour when Little Yan returned from delivering the money. The magistrate led him into a small room and closed the door. ‘I’m convinced that the man sharing the woman Dai’s kang is Spotted Neck,’ he said, ‘the most notorious bandit in Northeast Gaomi Township. Nabbing him will be like cutting down the tree and watching the Northeast Gaomi Township monkeys scatter. The reason I had you beat the old man today was to keep the news from leaking out.’
    ‘You have great foresight,’ Little Yan said.
    ‘I was duped by the woman Dai that day.’
    ‘Even the wisest man occasionally falls prey.’
    ‘Take twenty soldiers on fast horses to Northeast Gaomi Township and capture the bandit leader.’
    ‘The woman, too?’
    ‘No,’ the magistrate cautioned him, ‘no, no, under no circumstances. If you took her into custody, it would be a great loss of face for you-know-who Cao, wouldn’t it? Besides, my judgement that day was intended to help her. What a tragedy for such a lovely young thing to be married to a leper. No wonder she took a lover. No, just nab Spotted Neck, and let her off the hook, so she can have a chance to live a good life.’
    ‘A high wall surrounds the Shan compound,’ Little Yan said, ‘and a pack of mean dogs guards the inside. We won’t catch Spotted Neck flatfooted. If we try to break down the gate orscale the wall in the middle of the night, he’ll pick us off like clay pigeons, won’t he?’
    ‘You’re too simple-minded,’ Magistrate Cao said. ‘I’ve got a wonderful plan.’
    Late that night, Little Yan and twenty soldiers rode out of the city, according to the magistrate’s plan, heading for Northeast Gaomi Township. Since it was late autumn – the tenth lunar month – the sorghum in the fields had already been harvested and lay in large piles. The riders reached the western edge of the village just before daybreak, when crystalline dew covered the dark weeds and the chilly autumn air cut like a knife. They dismounted and waited for orders from Little Yan, who told them to tether their horses behind a pile of sorghum and leave two soldiers to watch them. Then they changed clothes and prepared for action.
    The sun rose red in the sky, the black earth was covered by a blanket of white, and a fine layer of dew settled on the men’s eyelashes and brows and the downy hairs on the muzzles of the horses. Little Yan looked at his pocket watch. ‘Let’s go!’ he said.
    With eighteen soldiers behind him, he cautiously entered the village. They were armed with carbines, loaded and ready. Two took up positions at the village entrance, two more at the head of the lane. Another lane, two more soldiers in hiding, and so on. By the time they reached the compound gate, their number was reduced to Little Yan and six soldiers disguised as peasants, one carrying a pole with two empty wine crocks over his shoulder.
    When the woman Liu opened the gate, Little Yan signalled the soldier with the wine crocks who squeezed past her into the compound. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she said angrily.
    ‘I came to see the owner,’ the soldier said. ‘I bought two crocks of wine a couple of days ago, and ten people died from drinking it. What kind of poison did you put in it?’
    While he was stating his case, Little Yan and the other soldiers slipped into the compound and hid quietly by a cornerof the wall. The watchdogs surrounded the man with the wine crocks and barked frantically.
    Grandma walked out, sleepy-eyed, buttoning up her clothes. ‘Go to the shop if you have business here,’ she said testily.
    ‘There’s poison in your wine,’ the soldier said. ‘Ten people died from drinking it. I demand to see the owner.’
    ‘What kind of nonsense is that?’ Grandma shot back. ‘We sell wine all over this area, and we’ve never had any problems. How could members of
your
family alone die from drinking it?’
    As the dispute raged between Grandma and the tall soldier, surrounded by the five dogs, Little Yan signalled his troops, who streaked into the house on his heels. The soldier outside threw down