Ten Taels a Night
Passing the gate into the capital was both easy and hard. Every soul had to pay a toll of one tael of silver, and in the teeth of this famine, one tael was no small sum to ordinary folk.
All the way in, Mui had been startled by how many people were sleeping in the streets. Cheongguk was sea on three sides, and the warm waters kept the weather mild the year round, with no winter to speak of. Rain could fall so suddenly and so hard a man couldn't see his own hand in front of him, but it stopped just as quickly, so even those who slept in the open did not freeze to death. And yet Cheongguk had far more people living on the streets than Namhanseong, a city that had actually been at war.
The moment they passed through the gate, Mui caught his breath. On the streets under the sinking glow of evening there were more people begging than people simply going by. The splendid clothes of those who walked only made the beggars' rags strike the eye harder. No one was sleeping rough the way they had outside the walls, but they looked little different from those who were.
Sa-ho, riding at Mui's side, swept the street with a cold gaze.
"Captain, a courtesan house would serve us better than an inn."
Mui turned a sharp look on him — a warning that jokes would not be tolerated. Sa-ho, as always, went right on and murmured exactly what he had meant to say.
"Take an inn and I expect we'll have to kill a few dozen before morning. There look to be more thieves in this city than bandits on the roads."
Mui knew it too. The moment they had come through the gate, more than a few gazes had latched onto them and stayed there. He turned his head toward Yuk-ho, and the man spurred his horse up alongside Sa-ho.
"Find the most famous, most lavish courtesan house there is. We sleep there tonight."
Yuk-ho only nodded and rode off at a brisk pace with O-ho.
Mui stared after the backs of their heads for a long moment, then turned his gaze on Sa-ho.
"I figured they'd be kicking up a damn fuss, thrilled to be headed for a courtesan house. Why so quiet?"
Sa-ho answered with the face of a man who couldn't believe he was being asked something so obvious.
"And how exactly are we supposed to kick up a fuss? You said if we disobeyed an order, you'd cut our hands off."
"You little bastards. Don't put on a show for every pair of eyes in the street — just do what you're told, nice and quiet, and why the hell would anybody lose a hand?"
"Wow, Captain. Didn't you hear it from the Squad Leader? She tells us every single day that every one of us in the squad is a simple, well-behaved child!"
Mui said it flat, his eyes gone cold and sharp.
"Yu-shin's crazier than the whole damn lot of you!"
Sa-ho was just drawing a sullen breath to argue when Mui dropped his gaze.
"What?"
A pretty little girl who looked about eight was coming toward him, holding the hand of a boy who couldn't have been more than three, her face flushed red.
"E-excuse me. S-sir."
The thin voice shook so hard it seemed ready to break into tears at any moment. Sa-ho started to turn his horse to keep the children from coming any closer. They had already heard the rumors back in Seohanseong — that even Cheongguk's child pickpockets killed without a second thought. But Mui lifted a hand and stopped him.
"If you've got no business, get out of the way!"
At the low, heavy sound of his voice the frightened boy hid behind the girl's back. She half-turned, clutched him tight against her, and lifted her head.
"What?"
Mui's mouth fell open. An axe brought down on his skull couldn't have hit any harder. The girl's words kept turning over in his head, and still he couldn't take them in.
"Well, well."
The four men clustered at his side looked down at her the way a man looks at something rare. Five of them sat their horses, each a full head taller than the men of Cheongguk, and under that gaze the two children's knees kept trying to buckle from sheer fright.
"I-if ten taels is too much, th-then for n-nine you can s-sleep w-with m—"
She never finished. Mui swung down in front of the trembling child and went to one knee so their eyes could meet. The costly silk of his robes spilled wide across the ground, all the way to her feet, and she flinched back in alarm. Step on clothes that expensive and even being sold into slavery wouldn't be enough to pay for them.
"How old are you?"
He asked it in a flat voice, and the girl swallowed hard. If the bargain went through there would be money, and that was good — but the fear of lying with a man, a thing she had only ever heard about, was still enormous.
"I'm twelve."
Through her mind flashed what the older girl from the neighborhood said, the one who sold her body to bring money home. Men didn't like it if you were too old, she'd said. So the child hurried to add more.
"I don't eat well, so the man down the lane said I look eleven — no, no, even ten!"
"You son of a—"
Mui choked the curse back down as it burst out of him, squeezed both eyes shut, and opened them again. The little girl was clutching the even smaller boy desperately to her chest. Even so, the boy's eyes were glued to the apple in Sam-ho's hand. Mui couldn't seem to get a breath out, as if someone had a hand around his throat.
When that gaze, gone harsh, fixed on the boy, the girl shook her head hard.
"My little brother's a boy! He's too young — he can't do that kind of thing!"
For an instant the words struck Mui speechless. He looked at the two children for a long moment, then shot to his feet. The startled girl's head snapped back to follow him up.
"Tell me why you have to make this deal. Then I'll think about it."
She was watching his face in anxious little fidgets, and he went on in a cold voice.
"I hate liars. If you're thinking of spinning me some story, the deal is off."
"My lord, since yesterday none of my family has eaten anything but water. We used to boil porridge once a day, but now there's nothing left to boil. That's why I need the money."
Mui reached out, snatched the fresh apple from Sam-ho's hand, and held it out to the boy.
"Fine. I'll buy you."
The little brother's wide eyes went from the big, bright-red apple to his sister, then to Mui. Mui drew the boy's two hands up and closed them around the fruit.
"Eat, little one. This is your share, for holding tight to your sister's hand and following her properly."
He turned to the girl.
"Let's go to your house. I'll give you the money there."
Then he glanced back at the four men grinning and staring straight at him, and spoke to Il-ho and Sa-ho among them.
"Round up the boys and follow."
"Yes, yes."
Il-ho said it playfully, and he and Sa-ho set their horses to an easy pace and rode off. In the meantime Sam-ho swung down and pressed the remaining apple into the girl's hands. She looked at it — so big it wouldn't fit in both of them — swallowed several times, and hugged it preciously to her chest. Then, wrapping an arm around the shoulder of her brother, who was devouring his apple in a daze, she looked up at Mui.
"My lord, forgive me. Our house has two rooms, but they're both small. Grandfather is very sick and can't get up. So... um... we can't do it at our house."
Her face burned red, and she could barely get the words out. Mui had said he would buy her, so of course the night would have to be spent. He had said he would give her the money at home, and she was telling him it couldn't be done there. He patted her head with an indifferent face.
"Little one, lead me home before I change my mind."
Afraid he might do exactly that and the bargain would fall through, she turned at once. But at a look from Mui, Sam-ho lifted her up and set her in front of Yi-ho, then put the boy on his own horse. He mounted at once and wrapped one arm around the child's waist.
"Ah— ah— ah—"
Startled and flustered, she couldn't get a proper word out. But under Mui's gaze she stretched one arm straight ahead, and Yi-ho smiled and urged his horse on. Riding a little behind the men who carried the children, Mui let his eyes drift over the street with the idle air of a man out sightseeing.
The little thatched house showed the touch of many careful hands. The roof and the fence were sound, and even the small wooden veranda gleamed with polish. Wildflowers had been planted in neat rows along the fence, and off to one side of the little yard lay several toys someone had carved from wood for the children. Happiness had been set down in every corner of the place.
The girl had them tie the horses to the trees behind the house, asked Mui and his men to wait a moment in the yard, and went into the room holding her brother's hand. From behind the closed door her voice drifted out.
"Grandfather, Grandfather, please have this. It's an apple. Grandfather, hurry and try it. It smells so sweet."
Sam-ho crumpled his face, slung an arm over Yi-ho's shoulder, and burst out.
"What do I do? I think I'm about to lose my mind! That tiny thing hasn't had anything but water since yesterday either — she must have been dying to eat it, and she still held out and carried that apple all the way here to feed her grandfather! Ah, fuck! I want to reach into my gut and pull my apple back out so I can give it to her!"
Yi-ho laughed, bright as anything.
"Shut your mouth. Throw up and I'll fold your neck in half."
"Grandfather, Grandfather, open your eyes a little. Eat the apple, and then you can sleep."
Mui, who had been standing outside the fence and looking around, strode across the yard and carefully opened the door. He turned his head and gave Yi-ho and Sam-ho a look.
"Hey, squirt. Fetch some water."
Yi-ho said it as he stepped up to the door, and the girl sprang to her feet and hurried out.
"Yes. Just a moment."
The instant she rushed into the kitchen, Sam-ho set one knee on the veranda and stretched his arm deep into the room. A thick piece of jerky dangled from his hand.
"And what might this be?"
The little brother, who had been sucking the apple down to its core as if it were a rib bone, shot up and came pattering over. Sam-ho popped the meat into the child's small mouth, scooped him lightly up, and carried him outside the fence.
Mui went into the room. The ceiling was so low he couldn't even straighten his back. He made his way to the warmest stretch of the heated floor, bent one knee, and sat. His fingers brushed the space beneath the old man's nose, settled against his throat, and drew away.