PFC Chapter 31: Free to Ask for a Price, Silver in Response
Chapter 31: Free to Ask for a Price, Silver in Response
The air in the warehouse seemed to freeze.
Seamus placed his hand on his weapon, scrutinizing the uninvited guest with undisguised hostility.
"Sons of Liberty".
In Boston's underworld, this name carries more weight and is more dangerous than "Butcher" Jack.
Li Wei waved his hand, signaling his men to relax.
He sized up Samuel before him; the young man possessed a fanaticism unique to idealists, which clashed with the filth and reality of the dock.
"Please sit down." Li Wei pointed to a simple wooden stool.
He showed no surprise or flattery.
Fiona brought over a steaming cup of tea and placed it on the wooden box in front of Samuel.
It wasn't top-quality Lapsang Souchong, just ordinary tea mixed with licorice and mint leaves, but on this cold night, it was enough to express the most basic hospitality.
Polite, but distant.
"Mr. Li, you should know who we are." Samuel didn't touch the teacup and went straight to the point.
"We represent the future of this land. We are fighting to free the British monarch from the tyranny of the colonies, and for the rights of everyone born here."
Samuel's voice was not loud, but it was full of inflammatory rhetoric.
"We have been watching you for a long time. You united the Irish people and overthrew the brutal rule of the 'Butcher.' You possess both strength and intellect. We invite you to join us and become one of us. On the day the rebellion succeeds, you will be a hero of this new nation, and your name will be etched in history."
The blueprint he outlined was grand and enticing.
Li Wei listened quietly until he finished speaking, then spoke again, asking a completely unrelated question.
"Mr. Samuel, does the 'freedom' you speak of include these Irishmen on the docks?"
He pointed to the workers who were sleeping in the warehouse, their clothes in tatters.
"Does that include the Black people on the plantations across the Charles River? Does it also include someone like me, an Oriental who appears suspicious to you?"
Li Wei's tone was calm, but every word he spoke was tearing at the veneer of Samuel's grandiloquent rhetoric.
"Or is the freedom you're pursuing just about replacing the current governor with a new group of people who will be the masters in the governor's mansion? Or rather, the masters of us?"
Samuel was taken aback by the question. He was the son of a wealthy merchant, well-educated at Harvard, and his mind was filled with the Enlightenment ideas of Locke and Rousseau.
He never really thought about this question.
In his world, "the people" is an abstract concept, and when uniting the forces of resistance, it naturally includes these illiterate, fish-smelling people from the lower classes.
But these people are a different matter from the free people in the future new nation.
"Of course it includes!" Samuel argued somewhat awkwardly.
"Our common and only enemy is the tyrant from London and the 'Red Shrimp' soldiers they have sent! Any talk of dividing our forces is helping the enemy!" Samuel's face flushed red, and he could only use more impassioned slogans to cover up his embarrassment.
Li Wei picked up his teacup and took a sip.
"See, you still haven't answered my question."
"I have no interest in politics, Mr. Samuel. I came to Boston simply to do some business peacefully and support myself and my people."
"However, while I have no interest in your 'great cause,' I can do business with the 'Sons of Liberty.'"
Samuel was stunned again.
He had imagined countless scenarios for the meeting, whether he would be harshly rejected or treated as an honored guest, but he never imagined that this meeting, which was about freedom and revolution, would turn into a business negotiation.
Li Wei stood up and walked to the only blackboard in the warehouse.
"I'm just a businessman who seeks stability and profit."
Li Wei wrote two words on the blackboard with charcoal: intelligence and security.
He turned around and looked at Samuel, who looked completely bewildered.
"I can provide you with intelligence. I know which official in the governor's mansion has accepted bribes, and which ship at the dock is secretly transporting weapons."
"I can also provide you with safe havens. My warehouses, my territory, are places the Red Shrimp soldiers won't easily set foot in. Your people, your goods, are safe here."
Samuel was completely dumbfounded.
He prepared a long, impassioned speech all night long, about freedom, about ideals, about the future.
He thought it would be a conversation about ideals, a mutual appreciation between heroes.
Unexpectedly, the other party turned all of this into a blatant transaction.
"Business? What...what do you mean by that?"
"Yes, business." Li Wei put down his teacup.
"I can provide you with intelligence, safe havens for your friends, and even, if necessary, sell you some... special items that can make sounds."
Samuel's breathing quickened. He finally understood what kind of person he was facing.
This is not a reckless man who can be swayed by ideals and slogans.
He was a businessman through and through, a speculator who put a price tag on everything.
"What's your price?"
"One hundred pounds for every piece of intelligence regarding the Governor's Palace's movements. Fifty pounds per month to rent a safe house under my name. As for those 'special goods' that can make noise, the price is negotiable."
"Furthermore, I only accept hard currency. Spanish silver dollars are preferred, or gold."
Samuel's face flushed, and his previously calm expression turned somewhat agitated. "One hundred pounds? You're profiteering! You opportunist! You have no faith whatsoever!"
"Faith can't feed my brothers. Even the most sacred cause needs money to support it, doesn't it?" Li Wei's tone remained calm.
"As far as I know, most members of the 'Sons of Liberty' are respectable people like you—wealthy businessmen, lawyers, and landowners. This amount of money shouldn't be much to you."
Li Wei leaned forward slightly. "And my intelligence and safe houses can keep your people alive. Only by surviving can you continue your sacred cause."
"Isn't it a worthwhile deal to exchange valuable resources for priceless security?"
The negotiations have reached a stalemate.
The only sound in the warehouse was the crackling of burning charcoal.
Samuel stared intently at Levi, as if trying to find a hint of wavering on his face.
But Li Wei's expression was as calm as a deep pool.
Just as Samuel was about to storm off, Livy suddenly spoke again.
"Sir Gage is very troubled lately. A shipment of new printing press parts from England has mysteriously disappeared at the docks. He suspects it was done by 'traitors' and is secretly investigating all printing houses."
Li Wei's voice was unhurried, as if he were talking about some trivial neighborhood gossip, but with each additional word he spoke, Samuel's body stiffened a little more.
"And I happen to know that the parts were hidden in the basement of a printing shop in the south of the city. The owner of that printing shop also seems to be an important member of the 'Sons of Liberty'."
Samuel's face turned deathly pale instantly.
This is a top secret within the "Sons of Liberty"! No more than five people know about it!
He finally realized that the Easterner in front of him was not some rough-and-tumble hero who could be easily won over.
The enemy's intelligence capabilities are far more terrifying than I imagined.
Li Wei wasn't offering a price at all; he was demonstrating his ability to make the "Sons of Liberty" pay a heavy price.
Cold sweat kept seeping from Samuel's forehead.
He looked at Li Wei with the feeling of an amateur chess player facing a master player who could calculate every move.
Finally, he took a heavy cloth bag out of his pocket and placed it on the table.
The bag was opened, revealing gleaming Spanish silver dollars inside.
"This is the deposit." Samuel's voice was a little hoarse, with a hint of resentment and humiliation, the high spirits he had when he first entered the door gone.
"We agree to your terms. How shall we contact each other next time?"
"You don't need to contact me." Levi pushed the money bag in front of Fiona.
"If necessary, I will send someone to fly a black kite under the clock tower of the old South Conference Hall."
Samuel stood up, pulled his hood back up, and without glancing at Levi again, strode out of the warehouse and disappeared into the night. Only his steps as he left were noticeably unsteady.
When he left, his perception of Li Wei had changed from "someone who could be won over" to "an extremely dangerous partner".
After Samuel left, Fiona came over, massaging Levi's shoulders with a worried expression on her face.
"Mr. Li, it's too dangerous to associate with these rebels. If the Governor's Office finds out..."
Li Wei did not answer her.
He poured the bag of silver coins onto the table, and the coins clinked together, making a crisp and pleasant sound.
"Fiona, I've got it."
He picked up a silver coin and twirled it between his fingers.
"Never take sides for free in this world. You are the most valuable one when everyone wants to use you."
"Now, we have a second source of income."
The light from the silver coin reflected on his calm face and also illuminated Fiona's eyes, which were beginning to change.
Fiona hesitated for a moment, but still asked what was on her mind, "Mr. Li, you've been right here with me these past few days, how do you know about the Sons of Liberty, especially about the printing press?"
Li Wei laughed nonchalantly, "Let's just consider this a kind of magic from the East!"
He enjoyed Fiona's gentle massage, the fragrance of her hair wafting into his nose, but his thoughts drifted far away, two hundred years into the future, silently reciting in his heart:
"Of course I know. I still need to find out how the dockworkers are doing. But I've seen these important people many times."