"You don't need to help here. If your mom asks, I'll just say you went to work at the company and came home for dinner tonight."
Seeing his father acting like a thief, Song Tianyao couldn't help but laugh. He didn't bother to rummage through the tattered cloth bag his father had stuffed into it to see how much money he had saved up. He smiled and nodded to his Dad, then greeted Scribe Hui in the distance, asking him to look after things for him. Only then did he ask the waiter at the teahouse to call a rickshaw to take him to the pier to cross the harbor to Kowloon.
Song Chunliang's father, his grandfather Song Tianyao, sat in the rickshaw, his fingers lightly tapping the side of the cart as he fell into deep thought. The Song Tianyao before his transmigration had grown up with his grandfather Song Chengqi, who had taught him to read and write. However, since the fall of Hong Kong, Song Tianyao had had little opportunity to see his grandfather. It wasn't that he didn't want to see him, but Zhao Meizhen had fallen out with him. Whenever any of the other three family members suggested seeing Song Chengqi, she would fly into a rage. Even during holidays, she would only send Song Chunliang to visit him. Song Tianyao and his sister Song Wenwen were not allowed to even think about kowtowing and paying New Year's respects to their grandfather. Over the years, Song Tianyao had secretly visited his grandfather behind his mother's back.
After transmigrating, Song Tianyao was busy improving his living conditions and didn't have time to visit the old man. In fact, he was very interested in his grandfather's legendary experiences.
After taking the ferry to Kowloon Pier, Song Tianyao didn't take a rickshaw this time. Instead, he happened to find a taxi dropping someone off at the pier. Song Tianyao never compromised his comfort. Although taxi fares were several times higher than rickshaw fares, Song Tianyao was still willing to enjoy the comfort and superiority brought by modern technology.
After opening the taxi door and sitting in the back seat, Song Tianyao told the driver, who was in uniform, to go to Kowloon Walled City. The driver smiled humbly at him and started the car.
There are only about two hundred of these red-painted taxis in all of Hong Kong. It's not that there are few taxis, but rather that becoming a taxi driver is much harder than becoming a police officer. To become a police officer, even if you're illiterate, you can bribe the examiners and get a job. But to become a taxi driver, you first need to learn English, otherwise how will Foreign Devil know where the taxi is going if they don't understand English? You also need to pass a Chinese test, at least to be able to read map signs and text. Finally, you need to pass a driving skills test. If you fail any of these, don't even think about getting the job.
However, if your child knows both English and Chinese, it's better to find a respectable job in a business. That's why there aren't many taxi drivers in Hong Kong. The less intelligent ones can't pass the exams, and the smart ones are unwilling to work. As a result, if you want to take a taxi, unless you make an appointment in advance, you might not be able to hail one even after standing on the street for an hour or two.
The taxi was much faster than the rickshaw, and there weren't many pedestrians on the street in the afternoon. In just twenty minutes, the taxi came to a smooth stop on Longjin Avenue Kowloon City.
Song Tianyao paid the fare and gave the driver an extra one yuan tip before looking at the building complex that would later be known as the most famous slum in Asia.
At this time, Kowloon Walled City was far from the towering skyscrapers and dazzling lights of the 1970s and 80s. Instead, it consisted of a chaotic mix of three- to five-story wooden and stone buildings that expanded and piled up around a few core buildings. Further out were more wooden and tin-roofed houses. The walls of Kowloon Walled City had been completely destroyed by the Japanese army during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Without the walls to shield them, these buildings grew wildly like weeds. As for the old buildings, most of them were razed to the ground during the armed demolition by the Hong Kong Colonial Government in 1940. Only Longjin Charity School, built in 1847, and an Elderly Home remained. All the remaining buildings were rebuilt by homeless people after the war.
Along the street were several opium dens with signs displaying opium pipes, and some brothels with half-open doors and red bellybands hanging from the second-floor windows, from which came the sounds of men and women flirting. Right next to the opium dens, the sounds of dice being shaken and gamblers placing bets mingled together, clearly indicating that the people inside were engrossed in gambling.
Although most of the people living here are poor, there is no shortage of fertile ground for the proliferation of prostitution, gambling, and drugs.
Seeing Song Tianyao, a young man in a suit and tie, appear in Kowloon Walled City, some of the people outside who were preparing to solicit customers were a little surprised. They had obviously rarely seen someone so well-dressed in such a poor place, and for a moment they forgot to come up and greet him.
Song Tianyao walked along Longjin Avenue, the only remaining main road in Kowloon Walled City, to the center of the Walled City. A stone archway bearing the marks of history appeared before him. In the center of this archway, which is over a hundred years old, are four powerful characters that remain unchanged despite a century of wind and rain: Longjin Charity School.
To the left and right are a couplet. "Is it not like a dragon? In future years, the carp will transform into a dragon and soar, washing away the smoke and rain of barbarians; this is the way! May we trace the stream from this source and share the tides of Suzhou and Han."
Next to this archway is a stone tablet that is half broken off. You can still vaguely see an inscription on it. "Preface to the Construction of Longjin Charity School Kowloon". The inscription is signed at the end by Huang Mingding, the magistrate of Xin'an County, in the 23rd year of the Daoguang reign.
Behind the archway is the oldest building in the entire Kowloon Walled City, and also the earliest Chinese school in Hong Kong, Longjin Charity School.
Song Tianyao couldn't help but reach out and gently touch the mottled cursive script stone carving, which was completely cleansed of the smoke and rain of the barbarians and divided equally between the tides of Suzhou and Han.
In his previous life, Song Tianyao had visited Hong Kong and the Kowloon Walled City area, which had been transformed into a park. However, he had no chance to see this archway, which had been demolished by the Britain along with the Walled City. Now, seeing this inscription, which was filled with high hopes, and this magnificent couplet, he felt a sense of nostalgia for the Battle of Red Cliffs.
Walking into Longjin Charity School, one finds that the school buildings and examination rooms were completely demolished by the British Army back then, leaving only two buildings: the two-story Kuixing Pavilion and the council hall. Kuixing Pavilion is now the place where Song Tianyao's grandfather Song Chengqi, lived and taught, while the council hall is where the residents of Kowloon Walled City discussed and debated the affairs of the Walled City. Since the village office of Kowloon Walled City was demolished, Longjin Charity School has continued to serve as the Kowloon Walled City.