"Gentlen, please listen to ...
The walls of Chongqing Prefecture City are sturdy, the Nine Gates stand majestically protecting the city.
The streets and alleys are deep and winding, one gate, two gates, three archways,
Connecting Shengcao shoes, Mawang Tang, Sanyuan Temple Street, Liangshui Well,
Half-street full of stories, two gates, three layers overlapping..."
At the pier, a beggar beat on bamboo clappers as he sang a ballad, weaving through the crowd, his eyes darting around.
But his appearance was not as though he was seeking easy prey.
This area of Chaotiann Pier is the territory of Brother Yu Zhengkui of the Brotherhood, known for its strict rules.
Thus, despite the mixture of elents at the pier, each adheres to its own way.
Stealing is stealing, tricking is tricking, you have to acknowledge your affiliations and gain permission to partake in this trade, plus if sothing happens, you need to find the responsible party.
Should you lack awareness and provoke the wrong people, others could trace you back to the Brotherhood, and within three quarters, items must be returned in full.
Additionally, the Beggar Gang also has its own rules.
Who does the stealing, who does the begging, who does the trafficking, all are ticulously organized with no room for crossing boundaries.
Chaotiann Pier, whether from the regions of Sword South West Sichuan or transported from Yunnan, Guizhou, Qin, Chu, Wu, Yue, Min, Yu, the two Guangs, the Yangtze River Basin or even Shaanxi, Henan, Fujian, Guangdong, all consider this place a "central hub for ship exchange."
Over thousands of years, a unique set of rules have been established.
This beggar singing the ballad is specifically responsible for guiding.
Chongqing Prefecture is notoriously irregular, built along the mountains, its streets and piers extrely complex, outsiders often lose their way.
Guides can earn a reward, get valuable information, and also help those who eavesdrop for inns.
Overall, once you step onto this pier, whether you roam the pugilistic world or are a traveling rchant, you will undoubtedly fall into soone’s sights.
What happens next depends on your own abilities.
Brokers may approach you, invites from the city’s brothels and theater halls might be sent, if you’re an easy target, schers will co in droves.
Of course, if you are tough, those with sharp eyes will not easily provoke you.
This beggar by the na of Liu San, squinting as he assessed for a long ti, eventually spotted his target after being rejected multiple tis.
A group of people cloaked and wearing Nuo masks.
Nurous, with heavy baggage, they were clearly from afar, observing their surroundings after disembarking.
Liu San recognized this guise.
They’re perforrs of the Yangyang opera, and skilled ones, the Tu Clan folks at the pier showed respect with clasped hands upon seeing them.
Normally, he wouldn’t ddle with these folks. But having worked all day with nothing to show for it, his stomach growling with hunger, he couldn’t afford to consider anything else.
He beat the bamboo clappers, repeating his ballad, indicating his familiarity with the locale, then bowed respectfully:
"Gentlen, do you need soone to guide you?"
"Find us a secluded place, no outsiders involved, the reward will be decent, but don’t pull any tricks."
Sha Lifei stepped forward and responded in a hushed manner.
"Outsiders" referred to non-locals or strangers.
Liu San imdiately understood, these folks knew the ways of the pugilistic world, he could only earn a piece of their reward, any more ddling would spell trouble.
"Certainly, certainly, please follow ."
Liu San hastily bowed and led the way ahead.
"Wait!"
Before he moved his foot, Sha Lifei’s voice ca from behind again, "The city gates are crowded, it’s inconvenient, take another route into the city."
Liu San sniffed discretely.
Entering the city through Chaotiann required passing three city gates, all heavily guarded due to the Southwest War, the inspection was exceedingly stringent, indeed causing a backlog of people.
The long staircase was also crowded with idle n from the Brotherhood.
But clearly it wasn’t the queue that worried them, there must be another reason!
Thinking of this, Liu San’s smile beca even humbler, deeply bowing as he said: "Alright, alright, but about the reward..."
"Double!"
"Generous!"
Liu San gestured and had the group head west.
Outside Chongqing Prefecture City was not desolate, along the pier, people had built hos, densely packed, uneven, stretching out of sight.
The residents here were mainly impoverished, from fishern to dock laborers, the streets were filthy and chaotic.
Liu San led the group straight into the alleys.
Possibly because of their numbers and distinctive attire, no one dared to disturb them, only the local ruffians squatted in corners with their clay pipes, observing coldly with detachnt.
Li Yan quietly chanted a mantra, taking a deep breath, and imdiately noticed various scents mixing in the air: sweat, blood, rotten food, mold... the overwhelming stench nearly made him dizzy.
Amidst this, there were so peculiar slls too.
For instance, three feet under the ground in the small courtyard to the left, there were two buried corpses...
Or a hundred ters away, a household with an unusually clean courtyard, but the kitchen jar bred Gu Worms...
In the rundown house ahead, a pair of vicious eyes stared through the crack of a door, bloodshot...
Li Yan ignored all these.
Disorder and chaos are forever interlinked.
Often in the lower levels of the pugilistic world, the fights are even fiercer.
Soon, beggar Liu San brought them to an old warehouse, once used to load and unload dock goods, now seemingly abandoned.
Liu San noted and introduced: "During the Great Xing Period of the forr dynasty, the court built a stone city based on the old town of the late Song, modeled after the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams, establishing seventeen city gates, the largest being ’Chaotiann’.
"At the beginning of this dynasty, only official business could pass through Chaotiann Pier, there was a saying then, ’Chaotiann, big pier, welcos officials and greets the holy’.
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