Chapter Eighty-Three: The Pig That Gouged at the Precarious Tower (2)

Tiexinyuan’s eyes rolled frantically as he searched for a place to hide.

He could decide when things began, but he had no power over how they would unfold.

What kind of force could be unleashed by more than three hundred pigs gone mad? That was beyond even Tiexinyuan’s calculations.

By then, the people in the room had sensed that something was very wrong. He Yashi pricked up his ears and listened for a while, then said in surprise, “Horse riding and reckless charges are forbidden in the capital, much less cavalry assault formations on this scale. Which military unit is behaving with such wanton madness? No, I must go out and stop them.”

Just as He Yashi opened the door, Tiexinyuan, terrified, dragged his mother up the steps. No sooner had the door swung open than an enormously fat black pig came roaring in, knocking He Yashi flat with a single shove of its snout. It then trampled over his body and charged into the main hall.

Liu Guanshi shouted once and leaped up like a tiger, landing astride the pig’s back. With both hands he seized its ears, hoping to drive it out. If it got into the hall, he might as well stop living. Suddenly feeling a rider on its back, the black pig let out a scream and began bucking wildly. Liu Guanshi clamped his legs hard around its belly and pressed his body against its back, biting down on a tuft of bristles with his mouth, praying not to be thrown off.

As he watched Liu Guanshi fighting heroically atop the pig’s back, the accountant grabbed a weighing weight and smashed it hard into the beast. The pig shrieked, then whirled around and snapped viciously at the accountant, almost tearing his robe off. With another surge of its head, it knocked the accountant over, then, still carrying Liu Guanshi, smashed through the flower-carved door and crashed into the side chamber. The accountant roared, scrambled up from the floor, and chased after it with the weight in his hand.

The neighbors of West Water Gate all pressed themselves tightly against the wall in unison. The pig’s eyes were a terrifying red; it looked deranged.

Such pigs were not to be provoked. Back when Old Liang had slaughtered a pig, one stab had failed to kill it, and that red-eyed animal, a knife still stuck in its body, had run halfway across the city of Bian before finally collapsing from exhaustion.

Wang Rouhua screamed and clutched her son tightly, because another fat pig head had pushed aside the curtain and burst in from outside, snorting and wheezing.

The leatherworker, emboldened by fear and anger, was about to drive the pig out, but Old Gou grabbed him and said, “It has nothing to do with us. Saving our own lives is what matters.”

Once inside, the pig lifted its long snout and sniffed everywhere. Tiexinyuan’s hair was practically standing on end; he was terrified that the smell of mushroom powder might still cling to him.

Fortunately, after sniffing around for a while, the pig seemed satisfied. It defecated on the polished wooden floor of the side hall, emptied itself, and then, grunting softly, went along the broken flower door through which the first pig had entered into the smaller hall.

For quite a while no pig snouts lifted the curtain again. It seemed the danger had passed, and everyone let out a small breath, preparing to leave this perilous place at once. Then Tiexinyuan clearly felt the whole dangerous building tremble. A thunderous crash came from the direction of the main door, followed by a chorus of screams from the women inside, as though, in a woman’s darkest hour of despair, an even more ferocious bandit had suddenly appeared. The howling was ghastly beyond words, impossible to bear.

Tiexinyuan quietly lifted the drape and stole a glance that nearly made his eyes bulge out. He quickly let the curtain fall again; such a scene was not one he ought to see. Old Liang was actually astride the back of the pig king, riding it like a knight as he madly pursued the elegantly dressed women in the hall. Now he would rip off a lady’s face veil and slap her across the face; now he would yank off another’s skirt, laughing as he reached for the bright red undergarment left on her body. There were already three or four women stripped bare, each too desperate to care about modesty, screaming as they dodged and hid. The more miserable the ladies and scholars became, the more excited Old Liang grew. He threw back his head and roared like a mighty general in battle.

The pig king could not run fast, but it made up for it with hide and flesh like iron. Its massive body, like a tank, smashed cup, plate, bowl, and table to pieces. Everywhere it passed, chaos followed. The earth still trembled.

Behind the pig king, countless other pigs were charging down the earthen slope.

Through the shattered flower door, Old Gou saw the herd advancing and shouted, “The pigs are eating people!” Then he dashed out without hesitation. Poor He Yashi, just having been knocked senseless by a pig, struggled to his feet only to be trampled under Old Gou’s foot. He tried to curse in fury, but at once countless feet came crashing down on him.

Wang Rouhua was also in panic. Holding her son, she kept asking, “What do we do? What do we do? Are those pigs here for revenge? We’ve eaten so many of them…”

Before she could finish, the group of neighbors who had just run out cried out and rushed back in. Old Gou, leading them, shouted at Wang Rouhua, “Lady Tie, hold your son tight. A hundred pigs are charging in!”

As he spoke, he sprang up onto the corner staircase where Tiexinyuan and Wang Rouhua stood, huddling tightly with them inside and leaving enough room for the others to escape.

Just as they steadied themselves, there came a sharp crack. The exquisitely carved side door of the dangerous building crashed to the ground, and a black mass of pigs poured into the side hall like a flood. A hundred pink snouts sniffed wildly in every direction. The pig at the front seemed impatient with the cramped space; with one shove of its snout it toppled a heavy low table, then without pausing charged through the shattered flower door into the smaller hall. Presumably, when the smaller hall could no longer hold them, the herd would force open the connection between it and the main hall and surge through.

The terrified cries of Liu Guanshi and the accountant came from within the small hall. Bold as he was, Liu Guanshi leaped over pig backs like a man moving across rooftops. Just as he was preparing to vault onto the corner staircase, a not-too-large pig came flying through the air from atop a table and slammed him to the ground. Even the leatherworker, standing right nearby, could hear the crack of Liu Guanshi’s bones breaking. As Liu Guanshi tumbled heavily into the pig herd and reached out as if to grasp help, for some reason the leatherworker drew his hand back again, shut his eyes, and ignored Liu Guanshi’s piercing pleas. The leatherworker closed his eyes, and everyone else shut theirs tight as well; the more timid even covered their ears.

There were far too many pigs in the room. More than a hundred of them were rampaging madly through the tight space, countless hooves trampling over Liu Guanshi’s body. In the blink of an eye he could no longer make a sound. Only after part of the herd had gone into the main hall did Liu Guanshi’s mangled, ragdoll-like body become visible. As for the accountant, since entering the small hall he had made no sound at all.

Wang Rouhua kept her eyes shut and dared not look down. Then, with a sharp snap, one of the thick staircase posts was crushed by the herd. Everyone cried out and clutched whatever they could within reach.

In what felt like a long torment, though it had lasted only a short while, the black torrent before their eyes seemed finally to have vanished.

Just as they had barely come down from the damaged staircase, another fat pig came grunting slowly in from outside. It stepped over the scattered flesh on the ground, lowered its head, and swallowed a few mouthfuls of blood and meat. Then, with a crunching sound, it bit down on a bone that might have been from He Yashi’s arm or some other part of him, gnawing it hard. Perhaps finding such food unpalatable, it casually dropped the bone, stretched out its snout to sniff all around, and looked toward the people standing on the corner staircase with eyes so clear and black-and-white they almost seemed to be smiling.

It was not strange for people to eat pigs. But once it became pigs eating people, every hair on one’s body stood on end. No one had imagined that this creature, usually so stupid, so destined to be eaten, could be this terrifying.

Seeing that no one paid attention to it, the pig scratched itself against the damaged staircase, then turned and walked away in the direction the herd had gone.

Tiexinyuan saw clearly that this was a pig that had not gone mad.

The room stank of blood and filth. He Yashi, who had been lying on the floor, was gone. Liu Guanshi’s body lay curled in a corner, his mouth gaping wide as though still begging everyone to save him. Scattered across the floor were a few chunks of torn flesh and two blue-green loops of intestine, with blood smeared across the boards.

The screams from the main hall and the side hall could be ignored no longer. Everyone scrambled and rolled their way out of the dangerous building, and only after standing far away on the high slope did they finally feel somewhat safe.

Old Gou greeted every neighbor in turn, saw that all were present and none missing, and then placed the brand-new hemp money bag he had been carrying at Wang Rouhua’s feet. “Now,” he said, “we can enjoy the show.”

The leatherworker took a small jar of wine from his robes, drank a mouthful, handed it to Old Gou, and laughed. “Look, some places are already catching fire.”

Old Gou took a hearty swallow and laughed aloud. “Burn it down. The better!”

Wang Rouhua frowned. “We ought to report this to the authorities. There are still many people in the building. Besides, if we do not report it, the charge of seeing death and failing to help will fall on us. Then we’ll be held jointly responsible with Old Liang.”

After a brief discussion with the neighbors, Old Gou and the leatherworker agreed that Wang Rouhua was right. They entrusted Old Gou and the leatherworker with reporting to the authorities, while the rest stayed where they were to continue watching the spectacle.

What had rushed in were pigs, not tigers. As long as one kept out of their way, nothing would happen. Surely people were more nimble than pigs.

That was everyone’s current feeling. Of course, if the manager of the dangerous building had not done so many wicked things, no one would be sitting here watching the show. They would have been out looking for people to drive off these mad pigs instead.

Tiexinyuan said nothing. Better to keep a low profile now. If his mother learned that this slaughter had been orchestrated by her own son, she would skin him alive.

Old Liang fell from the back of the pig king and was then trampled by seven or eight fat pigs. By then, the only part of him still able to move was his right hand.

Even so, Old Liang still laughed himself hoarse. He saw the scholars, usually so lofty, losing their hats; the untouchable ladies tearing their gauzy skirts; the self-important nobles fleeing in panic; and the imperial kin crying out in disgrace.

He laughed and coughed up blood, and only when he was nearly unable to hold on any longer did he shove over a peacock lamp. Watching the oil inside slowly spill out and catch fire at the wick, he finally lay back contentedly on the gleaming lacquered floor of the dangerous building and murmured to himself, “Damn, that feels good...”