Among a crowd of half-grown children, one child who looked somewhat dull-witted and dazed stood apart, utterly out of place and exceptionally conspicuous.
Hearing Third Brother Jiang's question, the gang member sighed. "Third Brother, this child is called Zhang Xiaochen. He's a pitiful one too. Nearly everyone who makes a living off our canal transport belongs to the Nian Gang, but his father was a stubborn fool. He kept saying that our Nian Gang killed people and was no good, so he refused to join us.
"Damn it! Our Nian Gang does kill people, but if you don't kill others, they'll come kill you. If we didn't kill, how would the Nian Gang have seized all these docks?
"Once, our Nian Gang clashed with a small local family in western Sichuan. His father was out running ships with us as well. That time, it was that small western Sichuan family that was being unreasonable. They even wanted to strike first and wipe out everyone on our Nian Gang's ship. That kid's father stupidly ran out to stop them and was killed. But precisely because he held them off first, a few of our Nian Gang brothers managed to escape and seek help.
"Though the child's father wasn't one of us, he still died for the Nian Gang. So the Nian Gang began supporting his mother and him.
"When Hall Master Fang of our Lixia Hall learned of it, he even wanted to take the boy as his godson. Unfortunately, the boy was just like his father—a stubborn fool. His father had told him he must never get mixed up with gangs when he grew up, so he'd rather die than join the Nian Gang.
"But the Nian Gang is one of the Seven Great Gangs, and naturally we have to