The Qingshui Pier district.
In a remote alley near the slums, inside an unnad pawnshop, an old, weathered Shopkeeper was bundled in a thick, tattered cotton coat, leaning back against the counter with his eyes closed to rest.
Just then, a tall figure in plainclothes, a Long Saber at his waist, strode in.
"A custor pawn... Master Chen, what brings you here?"
The pawnshop’s Shopkeeper was none other than Jian Luchuan, an Incense Master of the Thief Gang. This pawnshop was one of their strongholds.
Using the pawnshop as a front made it easy to both sell stolen goods and for gang mbers to communicate—killing two birds with one stone.
"A wily rabbit has three burrows. The Thief Gang certainly operates in secrecy!" Chen Cheng nodded slightly, offering a word of praise.
Jian Luchuan quickly put on a servile smile. "It’s all just the petty tricks of the lower class, hardly worth ntioning."
Chen Cheng asked, "Is everything ready?"
On the surface, Chen Cheng had ignored the daylight thefts, but in reality, he had long ago arranged for the Thief Gang to monitor the movents of thieves outside their own organization, making it easier to make arrests when the ti ca.
The Thief Gang had already divided up their own territories and didn’t want others stealing on their turf, so they were naturally happy to cooperate. They had already scouted out the areas where those other thieves were active.
"It’s ready. Please wait a mont, Master Chen," Jian Luchuan replied, then whistled toward the doorway.
A little beggar in tattered clothes ran over from the alley’s entrance.
"Xiaoshanzi, go get Sister Ji and the others. Tell them Master Chen has a task for them."
Just as Xiaoshanzi was about to agree, Chen Cheng said, "No need. Just tell where they are. I will go find them myself."
"That works too." Jian Luchuan nodded, then instructed Xiaoshanzi to lead Chen Cheng to Ji Qing and Gou Yi.
Xiaoshanzi led the way from a distance, with Chen Cheng following at an unhurried pace.
Before long, they arrived at a marketplace. Heavy snow had fallen all morning, and many people only ca out to do business after it stopped around noon. As a result, the market was even livelier than usual.
Xiaoshanzi suddenly turned, blinked, and then quickly departed.
A woman with a large black mole on her forehead, a sallow complexion, and a worn-out cotton jacket approached Chen Cheng and whispered, "Ji Qing greets Master Chen."
’This Ji Qing, always in a different disguise. If I didn’t recognize her voice, I really wouldn’t have been able to pick her out,’ Chen Cheng thought.
’They may be petty thieves, but they can’t be underestimated,’ Chen Cheng mused, then whispered back, "Lead the way. We’re closing the net!"
"Yes." Ji Qing took the lead, heading toward a nearby shop selling coarse rice.
Chen Cheng followed her from a distance.
There were many poor families in the nearby streets who couldn’t afford millet and could only buy coarse rice to get by. Because of this, a large crowd had gathered in front of the shop.
A small, thin man in a gray coat and gray hat, with a dark spot on his chin, mingled at the back of the crowd. He pretended to be there to buy coarse rice, but he was actually observing the custors, looking for an opportunity to strike.
Ji Qing stood before the shop for a mont. Seeing Chen Cheng nod from a distance, she walked straight away.
Spotting a thief in a crowd at a single glance was a skill Chen Cheng had honed since joining the City Guard Departnt; his judgnt was almost always spot-on.
Just then, a scrawny old man in his fifties, dressed in coarse cloth, hurried toward the shop with a young boy in tow.
Seeing the crowd in front of the shop, the old man frowned.
"Erwa, let’s wait a bit. As soon as Grandpa buys the coarse rice, we’ll go ho and I’ll make you so porridge."
"Okay!" the boy called Erwa responded, pursing his lips. He was small and thin, with a sallow and emaciated face, looking as if he had been starving for so ti.
"Good boy, Erwa!" The old man patted his grandson’s cheek, then pulled a rather deflated cloth pouch from his coat. He carefully counted out so copper coins, stuffed the pouch back inside his coat, and waited, holding the coins in one hand and pressing the other over his heart.
The poor didn’t have much money to begin with, so they typically kept it hidden in an inner pocket close to their body. Most of the people waiting to buy coarse rice were just like this old man.
This made it difficult for a thief to steal their money.
The man with the dark spot loitered for a long while without finding an opportunity to make his move.
Just as Chen Cheng thought the scoundrel was out of options and would move to another spot, he saw the man suddenly pull out a small knife. With a quick slash, he cut a slit in the cloth sack of a middle-aged man in front of him.
The middle-aged man was so focused on guarding the Money Bag in his coat that he was completely unaware. The others were all either eagerly waiting to buy rice or guarding their own Money Bags, so no one noticed.
Soon, it was the middle-aged man’s turn to buy rice. He bought twenty catties at once. The shop assistant took his money and began scooping the rice into his sack with a wooden shovel. After just a few scoops, coarse rice started leaking from the sack, spilling all over the ground.
"Hey... why is your sack leaking?" the assistant cried out.
"It was fine when I got here!" the middle-aged man said, hurriedly checking his sack. "Huh, how did it get a hole here?!"
Seeing the large crowd and that the hole in the man’s sack wasn’t large, the assistant quickly grabbed another cloth sack. "Here, use one of our shop’s sacks. Give the broken one; I’ll patch it up later and it’ll be good as new."
The middle-aged man thanked him profusely. "Thank you so much, young man!"
"What a sha to spill all that good rice!"
"It’s fine, just pick it up off the ground."
"Yeah, just gather it back up."
Many people kindly helped pick up the spilled rice and put it back in the middle-aged man’s new sack. The man with the dark spot was, surprisingly, among them.
The kind-hearted old man was also about to help pick up the rice. Unexpectedly, however, the man with the dark spot stood up just then, and his forehead slamd into the old man’s chin, sending him staggering.
"Oh my, I wasn’t paying attention! Are you alright, old sir?" the man with the dark spot apologized profusely, reaching out to help the old man up.
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