about trying to talk to me.’
The carter leaned against his donkey cart and blocked Binu’s way with his leg. It was a skinny, filthy leg that stuck out from under his fancy jacket, but it was more aggressive than an arm. He rudely but forcefully placed it against Binu’s hip. ‘Leaving already?’ he said. ‘Where to? I hear the sound of sabre coins in that bundle of yours. You’re going to have to leave some as a road tax.’
With a mixture of anger and shame, Binu pushed his leg away. Though she had vowed only moments ago not to speak, with his leg blocking her way, she had to say something. ‘What do you mean, a road tax? You’re a highwayman, one who uses his feet!’ She rubbed her cheek with one finger, trying to shame the man. ‘Elder Brother,’ she said, ‘I don’t like to curse people, but that foot of yours is more obscene than other people’s hands!’
He mocked her with a sneer. ‘I thought you were going to be a mute,’ he said. ‘Why are you talking?’ He abruptly lifted his crossed arms out from his armpits and said ‘Hands? Hands are for fools. I’ve never touched a woman with my hands. Here, look for my hands. Where are they?’
Binu was astounded. There were no hands, just two stumps sticking up in the air, a pair of tree stumps flaunting their withered, severed stubs, the fingers and palms long gone. With a dreadful shriek, she covered her eyes. ‘Elder Brother,’ she asked, despite her fear, ‘who chopped off your hands?’
The carter deliberately displayed his handless stumps, first the left and then the right. ‘Why are you so interested in these? Thinking of marrying me?’ He sniggered menacingly. ‘Who cut them off? Guess. I tell you, you can try till the end of time, but you’ll never guess. I did it myself to avoid being taken to Great Swallow Mountain! First I cut off my left hand, but the pressgang man said that missing the left hand made no difference, since I could still carry stones with my right. So I asked my father to help me cut the right one off. I’ll make your hair stand on end when I tell you what happened then. The pressgang messenger was outside pounding on our door while I was inside cutting off my right hand, but with my father’s help both hands were gone just as he broke down the door.’
‘I can see that your hands are gone, Elder Brother,’ said an ashen-faced Binu as she peeked through the gaps between her fingers. ‘But how can you drive a cart with no hands?’
‘I’ve got feet! Everyone in Bluegrass Ravine knows the carter with no palms. My legs and my feet are known far and wide by everyone except a stupid woman like you, who doesn’t know what I can do with them. They are itching to put on a show.’ He raised them slowly, brought them together like a pair of hands, and clasped the reins between them. ‘I tell you,’ he said, looking Binu in the eye, ‘I’m a retainer in the employment of Lord Hengming, who would never have taken me on if I hadn’t possessed the unique skill of driving a cart with my feet.’
At a loss to understand the special status that the carter was boasting about, Binu’s face wore only an expression of deep-seated fear, without admiration or respect. Apparently displeased, Wuzhang, or ‘No Palms’ said. ‘What are you staring at? Is that pity I see? You pity me? You can keep your damned pity. If I hadn’t chopped off my hands, I’d have been dragged off to Great Swallow Mountain to work like a slave. If I’d kept my hands, I’d never have developed the special skill of driving a cart with my feet, and I’d never have had a chance of being employed by Lord Hengming. Stop staring at me and look at that hunchback there with his oxcart. That hump did him no good, because they said it would have been perfect for carrying stones to the Great Wall. No need to bend over. The only way he was able to keep driving an oxcart in Bluegrass Ravine was to pay off the pressgang messenger.’
Binu glanced at the hunchbacked oxcart driver, who was raking blue grass in his cart and sneaking looks at Binu and the palmless carter. Why, she wondered, was he smiling crookedly, salaciously? He laid down his rake when she looked at him, rested one hand against his belly, and blinked rapidly. ‘Is there something wrong with his eyes?’ Binu asked Wuzhang. ‘Why does he keep blinking?’ Wuzhang just laughed.
Then the hunchback became audacious; he slid his hand down into his pants and started making strange gestures. ‘How much?’ he shouted.
Binu did not understand. ‘How much for what? I am not selling baskets.’
The hunchback then made an obscene gesture with his fingers, the sight of which turned Binu’s face scarlet. She turned and angrily banged her hand against her eyes, saying, ‘If all I see are people like that, what good are eyes?’
Showing no emotion, Wuzhang said, ‘Hit your eyes, go ahead, blind yourself. But then how will you get to Great Swallow Mountain? And, even if you manage that, with no eyes, how will you tell which one of the thousands of labourers is your husband? As a young woman alone on a long journey, remember that you wear your chastity on your sleeve. If a hen comes running out of the coop, you can bet there will be a rooster hot on her trail. The only way you will keep your eyes clean is, in fact, to go blind!’
Her anger mounting, Binu shrieked at Wuzhang, ‘If the world were full of obscene men like you, then being blind like my frog would be a blessing!’
The carters were clearly not good men. It was time for her to carry on through the pass and be on her way; she’d see what the wealthy people living up on the terrace were like, see if there were good people there. But was she going to walk straight past one man’s donkey cart and another man’s oxcart? No. Instead, she walked around the donkey cart owned by Wuzhang, who was patting his donkey lovingly on the rump as she went by. It was one of those light-coloured, long-and-low animals unique to Blue Cloud Prefecture. It was shod. As she passed by, grey droppings spilled out of its rump, immediately attracting a swarm of flies. Kind-hearted Binu tried to wave them away with her hand, a kindness that the donkey was not pleased to accept. Suddenly rearing up, it brayed in Binu’s face, then edged its rump up beside her and let loose another burst of droppings. Even the Bluegrass Ravine animals showed her no respect, and yet she had a soft spot for this donkey; she could not help herself. Gazing into its big grey eyes, she said, ‘This donkey is better-looking than its owner. It’s a good donkey, just slightly bad-tempered.’
‘I thought you wanted to go blind,’ the carter said. ‘You couldn’t gaze at my donkey if you were blind, could you now? I’m telling you, you cannot gaze at my donkey for free. Every look will cost you one coin!’
‘Let me ask you, Elder Brother. Which is more expensive, an ox or a donkey?’
‘An ox is expensive, but a donkey is not cheap. More expensive than buying a person,’ the carter said.
Binu gazed timidly at the carter. ‘I know that livestock is expensive these days. If I cannot afford it, I won’t buy. But I do have nine sabre coins. Would that be enough to hire your donkey cart?’
‘So you are favouring me, are you? You want to hire my cart to take you up north, is that it?’ Wuzhang glared at her before exploding in rage. ‘Don’t you have ears? I told you, I’m in the employment of Lord Hengming. Weren’t you listening when I mentioned his name? He is the King’s brother! How else could I have such a fine cart? Bend down and take a look at this axle, at these wheels. Do you really think they are made for the likes of you? Take a look at the panther insignia on the canopy. That is Lord Hengming’s insignia. Everything that carries this insignia belongs to him, including me. Do you understand? If not, take a look at the back of my jacket. See that, it’s a panther insignia too.’
Binu walked around the cart. A circled panther insignia was displayed proudly on the man’s back. ‘I understand,’ she said solicitously. ‘You cannot hire the cart out because it does not belong to you. Then will you take me to see Lord Hengming, and speak to him for me? Ask him if he will
