“You wish the eyes of my children?”
“I wish to help you.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Kill us.”
“Will you not go?”
“Owls consort with owls; finches with finches.”
“My wish is to help you.”
“To-day you took away my house and gave it to Chun Ping, who is a Christian, a river-pirate, a buyer and seller of stolen goods. You know this, the mandarins know this, but you work together, you do these villainies together—weak governments and powerful gods sleep in the same bed.
“How many years have I sweated that I might have that little house? What man can say I am not honest? That I did not give alms to the blind and cash to the gods in the Temple? Did I not intend to save money that my sons could study and take the Examinations? Now—it is all gone.